Part 2 – Ambition for Divine Love
Shree Krishna is the biggest rasik of all and is rightly called Rasik Shiromani, which means the crest jewel of rasiks. Yet we learn from the scriptures that Shree Krishna is enslaved by His devotees.
aham bhakta-parādhino, hy asvatantra iva dvija (Bhagavatam 9.4.63)
Shree Krishna says in the Bhagavatam, “I am not independent. I am a slave of my Devotees.”
But we also know that He is ‘Atmaram’. Atmaram refers to that personality who is complete in Himself. He does not need anything from the external world to make Him happy. He is ever blissful. But even beyond the bliss of ‘Swarūpanand’ which he experiences Himself, lies the bliss of ‘Swarūpshaktyanand’. It is the bliss of His ‘yogmaya energy’ that he grants to His devotees. The bliss of ‘Swarūpshaktyanand’ is much sweeter than His own bliss and therefore Shree Krishna sits in the hearts of His devotees and relishes it.
One could light-heartedly compare this to the bliss a child gets from watching television. A child is glued to the television set because he find’s bliss in that. Similarly, Shree Krishna is enslaved by His Devotees because He is experiencing Swarūpshaktyanand from them. This is the reason why Sri Krishna descends in this world and engages in delightful pastimes with other devotees. He displays to us how He dances to the tunes of His devotees.
Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says the following in this context:
‘albelo hamaro yar, prema ke bandan mein’
Here Albela means strange and He says Shree Krishna acts strangely under the bondage of love. “Where there is no Love, His rule is different; where there is Love, His rule is different”.
Shree Kripaluji Maharaj further explains:
nahiṁ jāta samādhina yogina jei,
nāchata tā thei tā thei thei thei,
braj-nārin ki tārin ki tār, prema kē bandan mein
Great yogis sit in the Himalayas in samadhi (deep trance) for ages, just to get a glimpse of the Light of God. But He doesn’t even care to enter their samadhi, to give them His Darshan. On the other hand, the simple Gopis of Braj are telling the same God, “Krishna! dance, and we will give you chaach.” And the Lord of the universe is dancing to please the Gopis.
That Supreme Lord, whose Maya (material energy) makes us all dance, is being made to dance by the power of His Love. Therefore Divine Love Bliss, Prem Ras, is undoubtedly the highest thing that the soul can ever hope to achieve or attain in his life. There is nothing higher!
In life we all wish to attain something or the other. Some people are easy-going, but some others may be very ambitious by nature. They desire to be the best at work place or accumulate wealth and become the richest. It is quite natural for all people to have an ambition or a desire to achieve something in life. In fact it is quite interesting to introspect and find our own ambition. What is driving us in life, what is our ambition?
Is it to get ahead of Bill Gates? Is it to own a big car and a palatial house? Or is to get riddhis and siddhis (opulence and mystic powers)?
Well now that we have learnt from the Scriptures and Saints that Divine Bliss of God is the highest bliss of the entire universe, the above dreams seem quite insipid in comparison. In simple words: If we wish to be ambitious, why not be ambitious for the ultimate thing – the Power that can make God dance!
A Saint puts it in beautiful words:
daulat mili hai ishq ki, ab aur kyā milē?
vo chīz mil gayi hai, jis sē kudhā milē!
He says, “I have got the wealth of Divine Love, now what else remains? I have got that, by which God Himself is attained!”
If we offered chocolate from one hand and a million dollars cheque from the other to a little child, what do you think will he choose? The child would obviously choose to take the chocolate because he does not yet realize the value of a million dollars. All he has tasted so far is the bliss of a chocolate. Similarly we are the little children of God who are still hankering for material pleasures, though He is offering His Divine Love which is the highest bliss in the world.
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