Bhakti and Embodiment
Page 35
In this passage the Bhāgavata uses the terms Vraja and Vṛndāvana interchangeably to designate a place that is invested with special qualities (guṇas) because Kṛṣṇa is embodied there in a visible form that can be discerned with the eyes (sākṣāt). Elsewhere the Bhāgavata suggests that Kṛṣṇa’s bodily investment in the land of Vraja extends beyond his visible presence there to the direct engagement of his hands, knees, and feet with the soil. In his early childhood, he crawls about on his hands and knees, moving his infant body across the dusty ground of Vraja (Vraja-kardama).23 As he romps and plays in his later youth, Kṛṣṇa adorns the land of Vraja with the imprints of his feet, which bear the distinguishing marks of a flag, thunderbolt, goad, and lotus.24 Moreover, the Bhāgavata maintains that the soft soles of Kṛṣṇa’s feet, which resemble the petals of a lotus, soothe the land of Vraja (Vraja-bhū), relieving the ground of the prickling pain caused by the hooves of cows constantly treading upon it.25 According to the Bhāgavata, the pure dust of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus-feet adorns the crowns of the guardians of the worlds (loka-pālas) and is not attained by yogins even after countless lifetimes of austerities, and it is this dust that renders sacred the land of Vraja.26 Even Brahmā the creator longs to be born in this sacred place so that he can bathe in the dust of the residents of Vraja, who themselves revel in the dust of the lotus-feet of Bhagavān:
How very fortunate are the cows and the cowmaiden lovers of Vraja (vraja-go-ramaṇīs).… How great is the good fortune of the residents of Vraja (vrajaukases) headed by the gopa Nanda, whose friend is the complete (pūrṇa) and eternal (sanātana) Brahman consisting of transcendent bliss (paramānanda).… My greatest fortune would be to take any birth whatsoever here in this forest [Vṛndāvana], in Gokula, where one can bathe in the dust of the feet of any [of the residents] whose entire life is Bhagavān, Mukunda [Kṛṣṇa], the dust of whose feet is sought after even to this day by the Vedas (śruti).27
Vraja is thus celebrated in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as a place consecrated by the bodily traces of Kṛṣṇa, and these bodily traces in turn mark the sites of his līlā, the sites where he engages in play (vihāra, krīḍā, or vikrīḍā), during his sojourn on earth. Kṛṣṇa’s līlā in Vraja is represented as occurring in two main phases: the kaumāra phase, Kṛṣṇa’s early childhood from his birth to the age of five; and the paugaṇḍa phase, Kṛṣṇa’s later youth from the age of six to sixteen.28 The kumāra-līlā of Kṛṣṇa that unfolds in his kaumāra phase in Vraja encompasses his childhood antics (bāla-ceṣṭita) as an adorable, mischievous child who engages in exuberant, uninhibited play with his buddies, the cowherd boys of Vraja.29
Giving delight to the residents of Vraja (vrajaukases) with their childhood antics (bāla-ceṣṭita) and melodious words, the two [Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma] in due time became caretakers of the calves. Equipped with various playthings, they pastured the calves nearby, in the land of Vraja (Vraja-bhū), together with the other cowherd boys. Sometimes they played on the flute. Sometimes they hurled [stones] with slings and at other times with their feet, which were adorned with ankle bells. Sometimes, acting like bulls with others pretending to be bulls and cows, they fought with one another, bellowing. Imitating animals with their cries, they wandered about like two ordinary mortals (prākṛtas).… In this way the two spent their kaumāra phase in Vraja in childhood games (kaumāra vihāras) such as playing hide-and-seek, constructing dams, and jumping about like monkeys.30
In his paugaṇḍa phase in Vraja, Kṛṣṇa and his brother Balarāma attain the status of full-fledged cowherds, moving beyond their earlier role as small boys caring for calves into the role of young men tending herds of cows.31 It is during his paugaṇḍa phase, as we shall see, that Kṛṣṇa engages in various heroic exploits, rescuing the residents of Vraja from demons and a series of other calamities. It is also during this period that he engages in passionate love-play with the gopīs, the women of Vraja, in the rāsa-līlā.32
The land of Vraja, as the pastoral playground where Kṛṣṇa manifests his bodily presence and unfolds his līlā, encompasses Nanda’s cowherd encampment along with the two forests where the encampment is located during the two main phases of Kṛṣṇa’s youth: Bṛhadvana, the forest where the cowherd encampment is located during Kṛṣṇa’s kaumāra phase, from the time of his birth to the age of five; and Vṛndāvana, the forest to which the encampment moves when Kṛṣṇa is five, which provides the setting for the final year of his kaumāra phase and for the playful exploits of his paugaṇḍa phase, from the age of six to sixteen. I will now turn to a brief analysis of the Bṛhadvana and Vṛndāvana periods of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā in Vraja in which I will highlight in particular those līlā episodes that are ascribed special significance when the scriptural narratives are mapped onto specific geographic locales in the Māhātmya literature of the later Purāṇas and in the works of the early Gauḍīya authorities.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa in Vraja I: The Butter Thief of Bṛhadvana
Bṛhadvana is represented in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as the “great forest” where Kṛṣṇa grows up during his kaumāra phase, his early childhood years, from the time of his birth, when Vasudeva takes him from Mathurā to Nanda’s cowherd encampment and places him in the care of Nanda and Yaśodā, to the age of five, when the encampment moves to the forest of Vṛndāvana. Bṛhadvana, as the forest where Nanda’s cowherd encampment is located during this period, is portrayed as the site of many “wonders” (adbhutas) as well as the site of “ominous portents” (mahotpātas).33 In the episodes of the kumāra-līlā that unfold in the Bṛhadvana period of his life in Vraja, as recounted in chapters 5 to 11 of the tenth book, Kṛṣṇa is represented as a “wonder baby,” who slays demons, overturns carts, and performs other marvelous feats, and as a mischievous butter thief, who steals the products of the cow, breaks butter-churning pots, and uproots trees in his insatiable quest for fresh butter.
Wonder Baby. One of the most renowned feats of the wonder baby is his slaying of Pūtanā, the infant-slaying demoness, who was sent to Vraja by Kaṃsa, Kṛṣṇa’s evil uncle, to kill him. Disguised as a beautiful woman, she picks up the baby Kṛṣṇa and gives him her poison-smeared breast. Kṛṣṇa squeezes her breast tightly with both hands and sucks out the poison together with her life-breath, after which her body reverts to its demonic form and the infant plays on the huge corpse of the demoness.34 In another līlā episode, which occurs during the festivities following the ceremony celebrating the baby Kṛṣṇa’s first turning in the bed, Yaśodā places the infant in a cradle under a cart (śakaṭa). The baby Kṛṣṇa subsequently begins to cry, desiring his mother’s breast, and kicks up his feet. With a single kick by his tiny feet, the wonder baby overturns the cart, shattering its yoke, inverting its wheels and axle, and smashing the metal pots filled with various liquids that were on the cart.35 In a later līlā episode, soon after Kṛṣṇa has begun to walk, Balarāma and the other cowherd boys complain to Yaśodā that he has eaten dirt, which he denies. Kṛṣṇa then opens his mouth, and Yaśodā is struck with amazement to see the entire universe, including Vraja as well as herself, in the body (tanu) of her young son, in his wide-open mouth.36
Mischievous Butter Thief. Kṛṣṇa is celebrated in the kumāra-līlā as an adorable butter thief who delights in the products of the cow. Yaśodā and the other cowherd women of Vraja are not able to restrain the mischievous prankster and his cowherd playmates from repeatedly stealing their milk, butter, and yogurt—even when the milk products are hidden in pots hanging high up on the ceiling.37 In one līlā episode, after Yaśodā discovers that the playful butter thief has broken her butter-churning pot and finds him sharing the fresh butter from a hanging pot with a monkey, she binds her young son with a rope to a heavy mortar to keep him out of mischief. He drags the mortar between a pair of arjuna trees (yamalārjuna) and uproots them, thereby liberating two celestial beings (guhyakas) who had been forced to incarnate as trees due to a curse by
the celestial ṛṣi Nārada.38
Departure to Vṛndāvana. In the course of the various episodes of his kumāra-līlā, Kṛṣṇa, in his guise as a wonder baby and mischievous butter thief, is represented as lifting the veil of māyā momentarily and revealing to his foster parents Nanda and Yaśodā and the people of Vraja his wondrous powers as the Lord of the universe who contains the entire cosmos within his body. However, through the illusory power of his māyā he then causes them to forget his cosmic nature in order to preserve their intimate loving relationships with him as an adorable, mischievous child. Amazed and confounded by the wonders (adbhutas) and the ominous portents (mahotpātas) that they have observed during their sojourn in the forest of Bṛhadvana—the threat of the infant-slaying Pūtanā, the overturning of the cart, the uprooting of the arjuna trees, and other potential calamities—the cowherd elders of Vraja become fearful for the safety of their children and decide to move the cowherd encampment from Bṛhadvana to the forest of Vṛndāvana.39
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa in Vraja II: The Cowherd of Vṛndāvana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa represents Vṛndāvana as the forest where Nanda’s cowherd encampment is located during the later phase of Kṛṣṇa’s youth, from the age of five, the final year of his kaumāra phase, to the age of sixteen, the conclusion of his paugaṇḍa phase. In contrast to Bṛhadvana, which it does not describe in any detail, the Bhāgavata provides lavish representations of Vṛndāvana as a large forested area to which Nanda and the gopa elders decide to move the cowherd encampment because it “has fresh groves, sacred (puṇya) mountains, grass, and plants and is suitable for habitation by gopas, gopīs, and cows.”40 Vṛndāvana is represented as abounding in groves, meadows, mountains, hills, and rivers and includes within its pastoral arena Mount Govardhana and the Yamunā River.41
While Vraja in its narrow sense as the cowherd encampment is distinguished from the forest of Vṛndāvana that provides the setting for the encampment,42 in its broader sense as the land of Vraja it encompasses both the encampment and the forest, and in this context the terms Vraja and Vṛndāvana are at times used interchangeably to refer to the place where Kṛṣṇa is visibly embodied and unfolds the later phase of his līlā. For example, in one passage, quoted earlier, the terms Vraja and Vṛndāvana are used to designate a place that is endowed with special qualities (guṇas) because Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Bhagavān, is present there before one’s eyes (sākṣāt) and plays (root krīḍ + vi) there in the guise of a cowherd boy (gopāla-chadman). The special qualities (guṇas) of this place manifest in the nature of the seasons, in which summer appears as though it were spring.43 The passage goes on to provide a luxuriant description of this pastoral playground of Kṛṣṇa, with its sensual display of verdant woods and meadows, rippling streams, cascading waterfalls, cool breezes, fragrant blossoms, dancing peacocks, buzzing bees, and crying cuckoos.44
In another passage the Bhāgavata emphasizes the existential qualities of Vṛndāvana, which, like Vraja, is celebrated as the abode (āvāsa) of Kṛṣṇa:
Immediately looking around in all directions, he [Brahmā] saw (root dṛś) spread before him Vṛndāvana, which was filled with trees that provide a livelihood for the inhabitants and was pleasant throughout the year, where those who bear natural enmity for one another, such as human beings and wild animals, lived together as friends, and from which anger, desire, and so on had disappeared because it is the abode (āvāsa) of Ajita [Kṛṣṇa]. The supreme deity [Brahmā] saw there the transcendent (para), limitless (ananta) Brahman, who is without a second (advaya) and possessed of fathomless knowledge, playing the role of a boy (śiśutva-nāṭya) in the lineage of a cowherd.…45
In this passage, as in the aforementioned passage, Vṛndāvana is invested with special qualities because Kṛṣṇa, the transcendent Brahman, makes his abode (āvāsa) there and plays there, enacting the part of a cowherd boy (śiśutva-nāṭya). The special qualities of Vṛndāvana are again manifested in the seasons, which are pleasant all year round. However, in this passage the idyllic nature of this bucolic world extends beyond the external qualities of the environment to the existential qualities of those who dwell there, who are portrayed as free from vices such as enmity, anger, and desire.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa represents the forest of Vṛndāvana, like the land of Vraja that encompasses it, as consecrated by the bodily traces of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is held to have “rendered Vṛndāvana extremely sacred (puṇya)” by his footprints,46 and Vṛndāvana in turn “enhances the glory of the earth because it has been graced by the lotus-feet of the son of Devakī [Kṛṣṇa].”47 The trees of the forest are portrayed as bowing down, laden with fruits and flowers, to touch his lotus-feet as he consecrates the ground with his footsteps.48 Within the pastoral domain of Vṛndāvana, the Bhāgavata suggests that Mount Govardhana is particularly blessed, for it not only delights in the touch of Kṛṣṇa’s feet,49 but it is also graced by the touch of his hand when, as I will discuss subsequently, he uproots the mountain and holds it up with one hand as an umbrella for seven days in order to protect the inhabitants of Vraja from the torrents of Indra’s rain.50 Moreover, as we shall see, the Bhāgavata goes even further and suggests that during this līlā episode Kṛṣṇa assumes the form (rūpa) of Mount Govardhana.51 Mount Govardhana thus not only bears the imprint of Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd body but is itself represented as an embodiment of Kṛṣṇa.
In the līlā episodes that unfold in the Vṛndāvana period of his life in Vraja, as recounted in chapters 11 to 39 of the tenth book, Kṛṣṇa is represented as a heroic friend, who rescues the cowherd boys and other residents of Vraja from various demons and a series of other calamities, and as a passionate lover, who dances and frolics with the cowmaidens of Vraja in the rāsa-līlā in the groves of Vṛndāvana.
Subduer of the Serpent Kāliya. One of the most renowned of Kṛṣṇa’s heroic exploits in the Vṛndāvana period of his līlā in Vraja is his subduing of the serpent Kāliya. One day Kṛṣṇa perceives that the Yamunā River has become polluted by the poison of the serpent Kāliya, who has taken up residence there in a hrada, pool. He climbs a towering kadamba tree and plunges into the pool of poisoned water, where he becomes caught in the coils of the serpent. Freeing himself from the coils, Kṛṣṇa dances on the many heads of the serpent and, crushing them with the blows of his feet, subdues Kāliya. The wives of Kāliya pay obeisance to Kṛṣṇa and propitiate him to spare their husband’s life, after which he releases the serpent, banishing him and his family to the ocean.52
Upholder of Mount Govardhana. In another of his wondrous feats, Kṛṣṇa rescues the residents of Vraja from the wrath of Indra, king of the gods, and becomes renowned as the upholder of Mount Govardhana (Govardhana-dhara). Kṛṣṇa convinces Nanda and the other cowherds to stop their preparations for the annual sacrifice (yāga) in honor of Indra and to make ritual offerings instead to Mount Govardhana. He then assumes the form (rūpa) of Mount Govardhana and consumes the offerings. Along with the people of Vraja, Kṛṣṇa then pays obeisance to himself in the form of the mountain. Indra becomes angry when he discovers that the people of Vraja have ceased to worship him, and he retaliates by unleashing torrential rains, hail, thunder, and lightning to punish them. Threatened with destruction, the gopas and gopīs approach Kṛṣṇa for help. He immediately uproots Mount Govardhana with one hand and holds it up as an umbrella without stirring from his position for seven days, providing refuge to the cowherds, cowmaidens, and cows of Vraja.53
Slayer of Demons. In the course of his romps through the forest of Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa encounters numerous demons and quickly and effortlessly disposes of them. For example, in one līlā episode the demon Agha assumes the form of a huge boa constrictor, one yojana (eight miles) long54 and as vast as a mountain, and lays down on the path. Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd friends, mistaking it for a beautiful land formation with caves and mountain peaks, venture into the cavernous mouth of the boa-demon along wi
th their calves and perish. Kṛṣṇa then enters the mouth of Agha and expands in his throat until he chokes him to death, after which he revives the gopas and calves.55 In another līlā episode the demon Ariṣṭa assumes the form of a huge, ferocious bull and enters the cowherd encampment, bellowing loudly, terrifying the gopas and gopīs and causing the cows to flee in fear. Coming to the rescue of the inhabitants of Vraja, Kṛṣṇa challenges Ariṣṭa, and the bull-demon charges his cowherd adversary, who grabs him by the horns and drives him back. When Ariṣṭa charges again, Kṛṣṇa seizes him by the horns, hurls him to the ground, and after tearing out one of his horns, bludgeons the bull-demon with it until he expires.56 Among the other demons with whom Kṛṣṇa grapples is the demon Keśī, who assumes the form of a gigantic horse for the purpose of slaying him. Shaking the earth with his pounding hoofs and causing terror in the cowherd encampment with his neighing, the horse-demon charges Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa playfully thrusts his arm into the mouth of the horse-demon, and as Keśī tries to bite his arm, it expands more and more until the demon chokes to death.57
Rāsa-Līlā. The rāsa-pāñcādhyāyī, chapters 29 to 33 of the tenth book of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, celebrate Kṛṣṇa’s festival of love with the gopīs, the cowmaidens of Vraja. With the intoxicating sound of his flute, Kṛṣṇa calls the gopīs to play, dance, and make love with him in the groves of Vṛndāvana. Captivated by the alluring sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, the gopīs drop whatever they are doing—whether milking cows, serving their husbands food, or nursing their infants—and rush to meet their beloved, ignoring the protests of their husbands and relatives. With intoxicating, unrestrained exuberance Kṛṣṇa frolics with the gopīs in the groves of Vṛndāvana, sometimes with one, sometimes with five or six, sometimes with all the gopīs at once. When the circle dance commences, the gopīs array themselves in a maṇḍala, or circle, to form the rāsa-maṇḍala. Entering into the rāsa-maṇḍala, Kṛṣṇa multiplies himself by means of his inconceivable power and assumes a separate form for each gopī. In this way he dances with all of the gopīs individually at the same time, expressing a paradigm of love that is simultaneously communal and personal.58