Residing in Vraja-Dhāman
The representations of Vraja-dhāman in the works of Rūpa Gosvāmin and Jīva Gosvāmin point to three different ways in which the earthly Vraja functions as a mesocosmic mode of divine embodiment—as what I term a dhāma-avatāra—through which Kṛṣṇa descends to earth and becomes instantiated in a particular geographic place. First, as the place where Kṛṣṇa appeared in his imperishable absolute body in Dvāpara Yuga and displayed his manifest līlā, romping through the hills and forests, bathing in the rivers and ponds, and dancing in the groves of Vraja, the entire landscape is held to be imprinted with his footprints, marking the līlā-sthalas, the sites of his playful exploits. Second, as the immanent counterpart of the transcendent dhāman, the terrestrial Vraja is held to be infused with Kṛṣṇa’s abiding presence as the living abode where he continues to dwell eternally and from which he never departs, even after he concludes his manifest līlā. Third, the sacred geography of Vraja is revered not only as Kṛṣṇa’s abode but as his actual body—an image that is elaborated, as we have seen, by Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa, who correlates the twelve forests and other important pilgrimage sites with specific parts of Kṛṣṇa’s body.
Rūpa and Jīva recommend a number of practices through which bhaktas can engage Kṛṣṇa’s mesocosmic form in Vraja-dhāman. In the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu Rūpa includes “residing (sthiti) in Mathurā-maṇḍala” among the five most important practices of vaidhī-bhakti. In this context, as in his Mathurā Māhātmya, he uses the term Mathurā-maṇḍala to designate the city of Mathurā and the surrounding pastoral region of Vraja, which he also calls Gokula or Vṛndāvana.303 In his broader enumeration of the sixty-four practices of vaidhī-bhakti, he also includes three additional practices pertaining to tīrthas: service (sevana) to Mathurā-maṇḍala; living (nivāsa) in other tīrthas associated with Kṛṣṇa such as Dvārakā and Jagannātha Purī; and visiting (gati) such tīrthas through pilgrimage.304 Jīva, following Rūpa’s lead, includes a brief section in the Bhakti Sandarbha on serving Kṛṣṇa’s feet (pāda-sevā) through residing (nivāsa) in or visiting (gamana) the tīrthas that have been consecrated by his feet, which culminates in a celebration of Mathurā-maṇḍala as the mahādhiṣṭhāna, foremost of sacred sites, where Kṛṣṇa abides in his complete fullness as pūrṇa Bhagavān.305 Although Jīva thus emphasizes the importance of engaging the earthly Vraja-dhāman through bodily practices such as pilgrimage, his primary concern is with realizing the transcendent Vraja-dhāman through meditative practices, as I will discuss in the following section and in Chapter 6.
Rūpa maintains that those who engage Vraja-dhāman through residing in or visiting Mathurā-maṇḍala can attain not only the four puruṣārthas—the three mundane goals of kāma, artha, and dharma, together with the transmundane goal of mokṣa, liberation306—but they can also attain the ultimate goal of human existence: bhakti, devotion, to Kṛṣṇa. He invokes two unidentified verses from the Padma Purāṇa, which are also cited in his Mathurā Māhātmya, to establish that among all the tīrthas throughout the Indian subcontinent, the networks of tīrthas that constitute Mathurā-maṇḍala are the most efficacious, for while other sacred sites may yield the fruit of liberation, Mathurā-maṇḍala alone yields the supreme fruit of bhakti, which is sought after even by those who have attained liberation.
The greatest fruit (phala) attained at other tīrthas is mukti, but bhakti to Hari, which is sought after even by those who are liberated, can be attained only in Mathurā. What wise person would not take refuge in Mathurā, which bestows the three mundane goals [kāma, artha, and dharma] on those who seek such goals, bestows mokṣa on those who seek mokṣa, and bestows bhakti on those who seek bhakti?307
Rūpa further substantiates his claims regarding the preeminent status of Mathurā-maṇḍala by invoking an unidentified verse from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, which is also cited in his Mathurā Māhātmya, that maintains that the “state of perfection (siddhi) consisting of supreme bliss (parānanda-mayī),” which is difficult to attain even by serving all the tīrthas in the three worlds, can be attained by merely touching (sparśa) the sacred ground of Mathurā-maṇḍala. In his commentary Jīva glosses parānanda-mayī as “distinguished by preman (prema-lakṣaṇā),” suggesting that merely touching the land that embodies Kṛṣṇa yields the perfected state of prema-rasa, the fully mature expression of bhakti.308
Both Rūpa and Jīva maintain that Mathurā-maṇḍala, as the embodied form of Kṛṣṇa, who is pūrṇa Bhagavān, the perfect and complete Godhead, is not only foremost among all the tīrthas in the three worlds—including not only the earthly tīrthas that are visited by human pilgrims but also the supramundane tīrthas that are frequented by the gods and other celestial beings in the midregions and heavens—but it is even greater than Paravyoman, or Vaikuṇṭha, the transcendent domain where Kṛṣṇa’s avatāras and other partial manifestations reside. “Blessed is the area of Mathurā, which is greater even than Vaikuṇṭha. Simply by residing (nivāsa) there for one day bhakti to Hari arises.”309
Rūpa suggests a progression of perceptual, cognitive, and corporeal modalities through which bhaktas can engage Vraja-dhāman through the senses, mind, and organs of action. The progression begins with śravaṇa, smaraṇa, and kīrtana, in which the bhakta hears about, remembers, and sings of the glories of the land where Kṛṣṇa danced and played during his sojourn on earth in Dvāpara Yuga. A longing then arises in the heart of the bhakta to travel to Vraja, to receive darśana of Kṛṣṇa embodied in the landscape, to visit the sites of his playful exploits, and to embrace the sacred ground through sparśana, touching, the dust that has been consecrated by his lotus-feet. The progression culminates in the bhakta taking refuge in Vraja-dhāman by moving there in order to perform lifelong sevā to it.
Mathurā fulfills all the desires of those people who hear about it, remember it, sing of it, long for it, see it, visit it, touch it, take refuge in it, and serve it.310
Rūpa encourages those who live in Vraja as permanent residents, as well as those who visit the dhāman from elsewhere, to undertake periodic pilgrimages, tīrtha-yātrās, in which they circumambulate (parikrama) the network of līlā-sthalas, the sites associated with particular episodes of Kṛṣṇa’s manifest līlā, and track the footprints where he left his mark—literally—on the landscape.
When will I be fortunate enough to walk around the area of Mathurā with tears of bliss while drinking the stream of nectar flowing from the mouths of the elders of Mathurā in the form of words such as these: “Right here was the house of Nanda. Here is where the cart (śakaṭa) was destroyed. Here is where Dāmodara [Kṛṣṇa], who severs all bondage, was himself bound by ropes.”311
While Rūpa thus celebrates Vraja-dhāman’s role as a pilgrimage place where bhaktas can track the footprints of Kṛṣṇa and visit the līlā-sthalas where he once played in Dvāpara Yuga, at the same time he insists that the true power of Vraja-dhāman derives from its preeminent status as the place where Kṛṣṇa continues to abide eternally and where mahā-bhāgavatas can “see” (root dṛś) him playing even today.312 Rūpa emphasizes this point when reflecting on why the splendor of Vṛndāvana, which enthralls the entire sensorium with its lush green groves, flowing waters, buzzing bees, fragrant blossoms, and unbounded sweetness, has such power to stimulate the sthāyi-bhāva of Kṛṣṇa-rati, love for Kṛṣṇa.
How is it that the splendor of this forest [Vṛndāvana]—whose beauty is enhanced by being situated on the bank of the dark blue [Yamunā] river, where buzzing bees alight on newly blossoming kadamba trees, and which is adorned by unlimited sweetness—produces such a state of bhāva in my heart?313
Rūpa responds to his own question by declaring that Vraja-dhāman is one of five “transmundane (alaukika) forms” of Kṛṣṇa—along with the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, nāman, mūrti, and Kṛṣṇa bhaktas—that possess the inconceivable power (acintya śakti) not only to stimulate the sthay
ī-bhāva of Kṛṣṇa-rati but also to manifest the object of this love: Kṛṣṇa himself.314 The distinctive power of Vraja-dhāman arises from its special status as a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa in the form of a geographic place, which makes it possible for bhaktas to directly experience his presence in the landscape.
Meditation on Vraja-Dhāman
In his discussion of Vraja-dhāman in the Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha, as we have seen, Jīva maintains that while the earthly Vraja can be engaged with the material senses through bodily practices such as pilgrimage, the transcendent Vraja-dhāman, Goloka-Vṛndāvana, is beyond the material senses (atīndriya) and can only be apprehended through direct experience (anubhava). Although Goloka-Vṛndāvana is not visible to the material eye (carma-cakṣus), it can be “seen” (root dṛś) through direct visionary experience (sākṣāt-kāra or sākṣāt-darśana). Jīva invokes the authority of Vyāsa and the other great ṛṣis and sages who, while immersed in samādhi beyond the guṇas of prakṛti in the depths of meditation, attained a direct cognition of Gopāla Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent Vraja-dhāman and then recorded their cognitions in the śāstras.315 He declares the direct experiences of the sages (vidvad-anubhava) to be the “crest-jewel of all pramāṇas” in that the records of their experiences preserved in the śāstras are authoritative testimonies of valid knowledge for future generations.316 He claims, moreover, that these experiences are not the exclusive prerogative of the sages of the past but can be attained even today by advanced practitioners of rāgānugā-bhakti who incorporate meditation into their regimen of sādhana-bhakti as a form of devotional practice.317 In the following chapter I will examine Jīva’s representations of a range of meditative practices through which rāgānugā sādhakas can attain direct experiential realization of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent Vraja-dhāman.
6 Meditation as Devotional Practice
Experiencing Kṛṣṇa in His Transcendent Dhāman
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, as discussed in Chapter 3, claims for itself the status of the Kārṣṇa-Veda that is the culmination of the entire śruti and smṛti canon. The Bhāgavata invests itself with the transcendent authority of śruti as the record of that which was “heard” (root śru) and “seen” (root dṛś) by the sage Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, the greatest of all ṛṣis, who is represented as endowed with the faculty of divine sight (divya cakṣus) and unerring vision (amogha-dṛś). It maintains that Vyāsa, while immersed in samādhi in the depths of meditation, “saw” (root dṛś) by means of his divine sight Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Bhagavān, and attained direct experiential realization of his divine līlā. He then recorded his cognitions in the form of the narratives of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.1 The Bhāgavata thus emulates the Vedic paradigm by claiming that its transcendent authority is grounded in the direct experience (anubhava) of the ṛṣi Vyāsa attained by means of meditation, just as the transcendent authority of the Vedic mantras is grounded in the direct experiences of the ancient Vedic ṛṣis attained by means of meditative tapas. The Bhāgavata allots a central role to meditation (dhyāna or smaraṇa) in the complex of practices that constitute bhakti-yoga, for it claims that by means of meditation the bhakta, like Vyāsa, can attain direct experiential realization of Kṛṣṇa and his līlā.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is not unique in singling out Vyāsa as the paradigmatic ṛṣi, for, as discussed in Chapter 3, all of the Purāṇas, in reflecting on their own canonical status, invoke the authority of Vyāsa, who is credited with compiling all of the eighteen principal Purāṇas. The Padma Purāṇa in particular is concerned in the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya with exploring the epistemological dimensions of Vyāsa’s cognitions of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent dhāman. Moreover, it establishes a direct connection between the experiential realization attained by Vyāsa in meditation (dhyāna) and its own complex of devotional practices in which meditation is ascribed a pivotal role as the preeminent means of attaining realization of Kṛṣṇa.
The early Gauḍīya authorities, like the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa, invoke the authority of Vyāsa and the other great sages who attained direct experiential realization of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent dhāman while immersed in samādhi in the depths of meditation. The direct experience of the sages (vidvad-anubhava), as mentioned in Chapter 5, is declared to be the “crest-jewel of all pramāṇas,”2 and the practice of meditation is deemed to be a critical component of the Gauḍīya path of sādhana-bhakti, and more specifically rāgānugā-bhakti. By incorporating meditation into their regimen of sādhana-bhakti as an advanced form of devotional practice, sādhakas can emulate the sages and attain direct experiential realization of Kṛṣṇa’s vigraha, absolute body, and his aprakaṭa līlā, unmanifest līlā, in the transcendent Vraja-dhāman.
In this chapter I will begin with a brief analysis of several examples of meditative practices discussed in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa. I will then provide an extended analysis of a range of meditative practices discussed by the early Gauḍīya authorities that are allotted a vital role in the Gauḍīya discourse of embodiment as the central method of rāgānugā-bhakti through which the sādhaka can realize a siddha-rūpa, a perfected nonmaterial devotional body, in eternal relationship with Bhagavān in his absolute body.
Mantra Meditation and Maṇḍala Visualization: Purāṇic Perspectives on Meditation
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, as discussed in Chapter 4, gives primacy of place to śravaṇa, kīrtana, and smaraṇa in its enumeration of the nine forms of bhakti,3 and it repeatedly extols this triad, along with the virtually identical triad śravaṇa, kīrtana, and dhyāna, as the foremost modes of devotional practice.4 The internal meditative practices of smaraṇa, contemplative recollection, and dhyāna, meditation, are thus ascribed a central role, along with the external bodily practices of śravaṇa, hearing, and kīrtana, singing, as the most important modes of engaging Kṛṣṇa. The Bhāgavata discusses a number of types of meditative practices, including meditation utilizing mantras that incorporate Kṛṣṇa’s names (nāmans), visualization of Kṛṣṇa’s forms (rūpas), and contemplation of his qualities (guṇas) and playful activities (līlās, caritas, or karmans). The Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa, even more than the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, allots a pivotal role to dhyāna, meditation, which it singles out among the various modes of devotional practice as the most efficacious means to attain realization of Kṛṣṇa. It makes reference to several different types of meditative practices, including mantra meditation and visualization of Kṛṣṇa’s forms, that are also found in the Bhāgavata. However, as discussed in Chapter 5, it places special emphasis on a particular form of meditation that involves utilizing a cosmographic lotus-maṇḍala of Vṛndāvana as a meditation device designed to facilitate visualization and thereby catalyze experiential realization of Kṛṣṇa in his transcendent dhāman.
My analysis of Purāṇic perspectives on meditation will focus on two examples: (1) the Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s representations of mantra meditation; and (2) the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya’s representations of maṇḍala visualization.
Mantra Meditation
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa maintains that there are three systems of worshiping Kṛṣṇa—Vedic, tantric, and a “mixed” system that incorporates elements of both—and ultimately declares that the most expeditious means of severing the knot of bondage is to worship Kṛṣṇa through a mixed system that combines Vedic rituals together with tantric rituals.5 This mixed approach is evidenced in the Bhāgavata’s formulations regarding the soteriological function of mantras as meditation devices, for while the Bhāgavata grounds its formulations in the canonical authority of Vedic constructions of mantra, at the same time it draws on certain tantric—and more specifically Pāñcarātra—perspectives on mantra.6
A number of passages in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa recommend mantra meditation utilizing mantras that incorporate the name(s)
of Kṛṣṇa. One key passage recounts how the young boy Dhruva, who has left home with the aim of attaining the highest state of realization, is approached by the celestial ṛṣi Nārada, who suggests that he meditate (root dhyā + abhi) on Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Bhagavān, in order to achieve his goal. Nārada recommends a specific meditation that involves a lavish visualization of Kṛṣṇa’s four-armed form (rūpa) as Vāsudeva, bearer of the discus, conch, club, and lotus. Having established Vāsudeva’s resplendent four-armed form in the lotus of the heart, the bhakta then invokes his sonic form by mentally repeating in meditation the twelve-syllable mantra that is nondifferent from him: oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya (“Om, obeisance to Bhagavān Vāsudeva”). This mantra is extolled as the mantra-mūrti, or sound-form, of Vāsudeva, and thus this mantra meditation serves as a means of enlivening the divine presence embodied in the mantra.7
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