Just delight in the Lord’s glories – he govinda he gopala song meaning

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hey Govinda, Hey Gopal song by Jaydev Goswami Jaydev Goswami is a Vaishnav poet who lived before Gaudiya Vaishnavism manifested to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his Gita Govinda had become a devotional blockbuster within just a few decades of being written and it is a song that was widely cherished and that is his most celebrated work but apart from that there are many other songs also and one of them is this song now Vaishnav songs are of different types some are meditations on how we are fallen some are meditations on how Krishna is glorious some are meditations on how a devotee aspires for spiritual perfection and in this way the entire spectrum of emotions within the human divine relationship are manifested in the Vaishnav songs and in this particular song the focus is entirely on the lord whereas in some songs like Uptina Thakur says I am very fallen or I chant the names of Gopal or Amal Harina or Amiya Vilas this is my treasure which also comes in some Vaishnav songs in this particular song the mood is simply glorifying the lord and relishing his glories so Hey Govinda, Hey Gopal Keshava Madhava Dheena Dayal this is practically just a list of the names of the lord now just we may say but just as the name of the lord is supreme just the name is enough rather than saying it is just a name just the name is enough and the lord manifests his full potency in the name and whichever manifestation we feel inspired whether it is a name, whether it is a deity whether it is his manifest in Shastra we try to take shelter of him in various ways so here there are five names of the lord manifested, spoken and this is the poetry, so poetry doesn’t have to necessarily follow strict rules of grammar the way prose has to follow so first he in the first line there is hey a form of address and in second line there are no forms of address so Hey Govinda, Hey Gopal now there is a repetition of the word hey hey and there is the repetition of the sound go go which creates a very sweet musical and musical effect it’s a kind of what in English we call as alliteration, repetition of sounds now Govinda and Gopal are two names of Krishna which are very much Vrindavan centred and as you see this whole song is a celebration of Krishna’s beauty and glory as manifested in Vrindavan so Hey Govinda, Hey Gopal Govinda has various meanings Vrindati means to delight in Go is the cow it can also mean the senses so Govinda is the one who gives joy to the cows and he is also the person who gives joy to the senses normally we think that when we have to practise Bhakti we have to give up sense gratification yes at one level we do have to give up sense gratification when the sense gratification is at the bodily level but there is spiritual satisfaction that even the senses get when they are engaged in the lord’s service it means that the eyes when they behold the beautiful form of the lord they get great satisfaction the tongue when it sings the sweet glories of the lord it gets great satisfaction so Govinda so he gives the senses pleasure in a harmonious way rather than in a disharmonious way in a way that brings about our elevation rather than bringing about our degradation in a way that brings us closer to realisation of our spiritual nature rather than taking us away from that realisation so hey Govinda hey Gopal hey Gopal so Gopal is the name of the lord who protects the cows Gopal is again it can also refer to Go can refer to cows and Go can refer to the senses Krishna is of course famous as the protector of the cows and he personally goes to the forest to graze the cows so the Gopis in the Gopi Gita in the 29th chapter of the 10th canto of Bhagavatam they appreciate and admire and are astonished at the paradox that that lord who Sri Niketanam on whom Sri resides that means who always has all good fortune he does the menial service of going behind the cows so he doesn’t go behind the cows because he’s forced to but he loves to do that because the cows love him and he loves the cows now Gopal can also refer to one who is the protector of the senses, Go can mean senses so Gopal has a beautiful song by Vishwamitra I think below on the Ghatkot he says that Krishna when you take the cows out for grazing and you take the cows out for grazing at that time you ensure that not even one cow gets lost you ensure that all the cows are safe and you safely bring them back home at the end of the day without losing even one cow although there are countless cows there so he says my dear lord I have so many I have various senses and all the senses are running here and there just as you bring the cows back you keep the cows safe you protect the cows similarly you bring my senses back to you you keep my senses safe protected under your control so hey Govinda hey Gopal this lord who is he further Keshava Madhava Din Dayal he is Keshava the word Keshava has many meanings K Keshava so that refers to actually one who is the controller of both K is a way used to refer to Brahmaji based on Upanishadic anecdote and then Isha is used to refer to Shiva so he is the lord of Kesh, lord of both Brahma and Shiva and Keshava you can also refer to one who has beautiful Kesha another name of Krishna which is related with Kesha is Keshi one who is the killer and deliverer of the Keshi Keshava Madhava Din Dayal Madhava lord who is the deliverer of Madhu one who is the one who is the lord of the goddess of fortune Madhava Din Dayal Din Dayal so he is merciful to the fallen sometimes when people are very wealthy and very powerful they just delight so much in their own position and pleasure that they forget others so Krishna is extremely powerful as Keshava he is the lord of Brahma and Shiva he is Madhava he is the lord of the goddess of fortune also he is in the most elevated position but he doesn’t forget the fallen rather he is very merciful to everyone including the fallen so Din Dayal is a different glorification of the lord different epithet for the lord from the standard Bhakta Vatsala he is the lover of his devotees that is understandable those who love him he loves them back but what about those who don’t love him they are truly fallen Krishna cares for them also and he stays in the super soul in their heart and he tries to deliver them by trying to by giving them good instruction through the voice of conscience and inspiration Krishna in Bhagavad Gita 5.29 states that he is the well-wisher of all living beings suratam sarva-bhutana not just some bhutana but all bhutana such is the lord that is being meditated on so Govinda Govinda Din Dayal that lord who is the delighter of the cows in the senses that lord who is the protector of the cows in the senses that lord who is the lord of the lords that lord who is the lord of the goddess of fortune that lord who is the merciful even to the fallen so what is this lord this is the lord he is being invoked in this song and further tumi param dayal prabhu param dayal keshava madhava din dayal so tumi param dayal prabhu my dear lord you are not just dayal it was said din dayal now when a devotee glorifies the lord after glorifying the devotee feels that oh this glorification is not enough i should have glorified the lord more and therefore tumi param dayal prabhu param dayal so he says that you are not just merciful you are supremely merciful and the words are inadequate so sometimes to emphasise a point the words are repeated that is also poetic ornament tumi param dayal prabhu param dayal now what is the supreme mercy of the lord supreme mercy of the lord is that he never ever gives up on anyone that there is nothing that he can do which will make him stop being merciful to us in this world when there is a relationship between two people there are always chances that the relationship may break and if one person behaves in an egregious way then the other person may say i have nothing to do with you get lost so although in this world people can do things which will cause the breakdown of their relationship which will make the other person reject them but nothing that we can do which can stop krishna from loving us in the bhagavad gita krishna describes those who approach him even for fulfilling material desires or removing material distresses as udara ha udara sarve vaite jnanitvaatmaivame matam this is bhagavad gita 6.16 and prior to this in 6.15 krishna has talked about who the sarva are chitravidha bhajante mam janasukrtino arjunar tojigyansur atharthi jnanichabharadarshabas these four categories of people who come to him the distress, the wealth seekers, the inquisitive and those who seek knowledge those who have knowledge all of them so udara ha sarve vaite so all of them are udara and ramanacharya in his commentary in the gita stated udara means that he is normally udara means charitable so the lord is charitable but here it said the devotees who approach him are charitable what does that mean that the lord is so hungry for our devotion that he feels that if a soul just comes and offers me his devotion or her devotion for whatever reason i am grateful and i will offer my mercy to him so he is so merciful that even the slightest indication of devotion that someone shows he considers it as very precious and he can call such a person as udara to be param dayal prabhu param dayal keshava madhava dina dayal and the chorus repeated over here keshava madhava dina dayal that lord who occupies the greatest position who is the lord of the greatest those who are the greatest in the universe brahma, shiva and lakshmi that lord is merciful to everyone keshava madhava dina dayal pitabhasana parimayure rashikha dhori murudil vayitule bolera dhanam so now after describing the position of krishna now jidegoswami’s focus shifts more onto the person krishna and here he states pitabhasana krishna wears various different kinds of dresses he is most celebrated for wearing the yellow dress pitambara pitambara dharo hari neelambara dharo hara jeevanena dhanenityam radha krishna gatirmama so in the radha krishna expressed to radha krishna jidegoswami says that krishna wears pitambara and radha rani wears neelambara so pitabhasana the yellow dress, yellow colour itself is beautiful but yellow it contrasts captivatingly with krishna’s bluish black complexion and who is already irresistibly attractive becomes manifests his attractiveness all the more in this pitabhas so he has a yellow dress and then parimayure shikhadhuri and he wears on a peacock feather peacock themselves are very beautiful especially when they are spread out there magnificent feathers and when they dance those feathers so practically there is no parallel to the beauty of a peacock in nature and just as the peacock feathers are extraordinarily beautiful similarly krishna accepts as his crown that which is the most beautiful which is one of the most beautiful manifestations in nature and thus he reveals to the world that actually the beauty of everything in this world attains perfection when it is used to glorify krishna actually the peacock it is not krishna’s glory that he wears a peacock feather it is the peacock’s fortune and glory where krishna chooses to wear its feather but the point is this is the vision of beauty which the devotee can meditate on it becomes more and more beautiful as it becomes more and more specific and more and more vivid so he wears mayurera shikha mayurera shikha is the peacock feather and then muralirvani tule bola radhana muralirvani and krishna can speak sweetly madhuraya gira valgu vakya ya buddha mano gaya pushkar ek shaha the gopis when they talk about krishna they say that krishna your speech is madhuraya gira your speech is very sweet valgu vakya ya and with that sweet speech sweet voice you speak very endearing captivating words and that is krishna normal sound in speech that is further enhanced when it manifests as the song of his flute so sound is generic sound is anything that we somebody may somebody may cry all that is sound speech is specific which is much more meaning packed and song is actually emotion packed so krishna when he plays his flute it is a love of his heart that manifests through his from his heart through his through the way he plays his flute into the flute and outside it goes to the heart of the gopis and captures their heart and pulls them to him so krishna plays the flute to call the gopis at that time it is like invisible rope that manifests in the form of the sound of the flute and the gopis just leave everything whatever they may be doing sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja just give up everything else and surrender to krishna and just come to him so bole radhanam now interestingly here jaydev Goswami says that krishna sings not just any sound but he sings the sound of the name of Radha he is calling out Radha Radha Radha please come now we use the word prabhupada introducing very respectful honorific for Radha as shrivati Radharani to counter the cheap depictions of Radha that came because of misappropriations and imitations of the love of Radha Krishna now when krishna calls her for krishna it is Radha and the pilas acharyas also refer to her primarily as Radha so bole radhanam so through the sound of his flute krishna is calling out the name of Radha and he is captivating the hearts of of Radharani Radharani hears her name being called out by krishna she cannot resist whatever she is doing she puts it aside and runs to offer krishna whatever he wants and then further he goes on tumi madhera gopal prabhu madhera gopal keshava madhava dina doyan tumi madhera gopal so madha here refers to its related to similar to the word mudha mudha means joy so tumi madhera gopal you are a joy filled gopal you are a joy filled gopal so you are filled with joy and you give great joy to others when the gopis hear the sound of your flute they cannot resist they feel such a current of joy go through them and just want to come to you and when our heart becomes pure we too will feel similarly attracted to the lord tumi madhera gopal prabhu madhera gopal so this lord gopal is supremely attractive and he manifests attractiveness so that the devotees can delight more and more in him and he can delight more and more in them and again there is a chorus that comes here keshava madhava dina doyan that lord we also need to just become pure and then we will delight more and more in him to the extent our heart is not pure to that extent although the lord is filled with joy we cannot relish that sweetness as rupa goswami the example of this person who cannot relish the sweetness of sugar ki juice similarly we cannot relish the joy as much but even now if we associate with devotees and we hear from devotees that we chant and sing in the association of devotees their devotion the devotion from their hearts which overflows through their speech and their actions comes and spills into our heart and we also start experiencing some ecstasy and we realise that this is for real and then we can move forward towards krishna feeling inspired to become more pure so that we can relish his love more and more and then he concludes by saying bhava bhaya banjana tumi narayan so bhava bhaya banjana my dear lord you are the destroyer of the bhaya of the fear of material existence now bhava bhaya banjana very beautiful again poetic alliteration three words all starting with not just with the same sound of bha bha bha so bhava bhaya banjana bhava is material existence bhaya is fear so most people think that oh i want to become more powerful i want to become more famous i want to make it big in the world but those who are wise they don’t want to make it big in the world they realise that the world is a big danger so they don’t want to make it big in the world they keep a big red sign whenever they are interacting with the world not that they renounce the world but they are very cautious in dealing with the world because they don’t want to become captivated by its illusions and get entangled so bhava bhaya banjana so although the wise people are fearful of material existence the fear goes away or is destroyed by krishna that does not mean that they become foolhardy and they get entangled material existence like the ignorant people no it means that they become so absorbed in higher taste that they have no more any reason to be afraid of the material world because the material world allures us by endangers us through its promises of pleasure but if somebody is not captivated by its promises then there is no danger for that person such a person can very well continue on in this world without getting entangled and that’s how the fear of material existence gets destroyed for the devotees who are relishing the higher taste of krishna, krishna’s beauty krishna’s glory, krishna’s mercy Prahlad Narayan also says this may god Udvijay Paraduratyaya Vaitaranyas PadVigayan MahaMritaMagnaChittaha so he says Naiva udvijay udvijay na udvijay I am not agitated I am not worried I am not fearful Paraduratyaya Vaitaranyas that which is very difficult to cross over the vaitarany river across which we need to go to attain spiritual existence so being trapped in material getting out of material existence is very difficult but I am not afraid of this material existence because padhvire gayen mahamrita matna chittaha because my chitta, my consciousness is absorbed in padhvire gayen and in glorifying you in singing your glory what happens by singing your glory is I relish mahamrita not just amrita, not just nectar but mahamrita the great nectar a great great nectar and that means there are three stages here there are materialistic people who have bhava prema that means they think that they are lusty for the world and they think that oh they’re lusty greedy they think that the more I can control and enjoy the world the happier will be they are actually very deep in illusion are going to go deeper into illusion then there are people who come to goodness and move towards transcendence that they are relatively enlightened and they have bhava bhaya they are fearful that this world will trap them but beyond them are the people who have bhagwat prema and those who have bhagwat prema for them there is no fear of this world because they know they see this world also as an arena for serving krishna and shri prabhupada could go to america and he just went not just to america normally sannyasis are not recommended to go to the west because the land outside of bharat varsha are considered very are very degraded and sannyasis may not be able to maintain their floor standards if they go to the degraded places but prabhupada went to the west and not only did he go to the west even in the west that was which is considered highly degraded by by people in by the traditional vedic culture even in the west prabhupada went to a place which is considered degraded even by western standards that is the lower east side and later the lower east side in new york and the hiteshbari in los angeles so so prabhupada went to the hitti headquarters in various places and that’s where he got his first followers also although he went to places which were ultra degraded you could say degraded squared but still there there was no there’s no fear that he would fall rather he went there to elevate people what was prabhupada doing over there there he was absorbed in the glories of the lord and that’s why he was fearless bhavabhaya bhanjana shri madhusudana he says oh lord at the start of the universe universal manifestation when knowledge of brahma was killed by the demon madhu was seized away by the demon madhu you came and delivered that knowledge to him delivered that knowledge back by killing the demon similarly please kill away my demoniac desires and here actually when we become attracted to the lord we can absorb in the glorifying the lord that madhusudana destroys whatever anarthas are there which make us attracted to this world and that’s why when there is no attraction by the world when we are relishing a higher happiness when the lower pleasures become pale and stale then at that time there is no fear of mortal existence so that lord who is the killer of the demon madhu that lord is also destroyer of the fear of mortal existence because he’s the awarder of higher taste of pure devotion of devotion now when i say oh but actually i have not come to the level of devotion and there are so many obstacles in my practise of bhakti so he says that vipada bhanjan yes there will be difficulties but the lord will destroy the difficulties also krishna is omnipotent he can send difficulties and he can remove difficulties what he wants to see is how strong we are in our desire to persevere on the path of bhakti one time a devotee asked prabhupada when we want to serve krishna why is maya so strong and prabhupada immediately replied that because your purpose is not strong so your purpose is not strong so rather than seeing difficulties as something that are meant as things that are meant to meant that we should become discouraged by and things that are meant to make us give up we should see difficulties as things that are meant to meant to make us buck up buck up means become strong become determined become ready to fight so we may not we may not and we do not have the strength to overcome whatever difficulties may come in our life but if we just by our actions show krishna our determination to continue serving him he will remove difficulties if we become conscious of krishna he will remove obstacles from our path vipad bhanjanatumi narayan that lord who is a destroyer of obstacles he is none other than narayan so narayan is normally the lord who is worshipped in awe and reverence and he and krishna as a god is so endearing that sometimes people might think that he’s just a cowherd boy but the last thought with which jnana goswami leaves us with change the song is a reminder that this intimate divinity is the same as the majestic divinity the intimate divinity krishna is non-different from the majestic divinity narayan and if we think that oh this cowherd how will he protect you you should know that this cowherd is non-different from that lord who is besieged by even the greatest of the gods when they are in danger from demons to be narayan so we are in the safest hands because even the devtas who are meant to administer the world when they face danger they go to the same person for shelter and we are under the shelter of that person that’s why we are safe and the more we meditate on krishna’s glories the more we realise and relish the safety the serenity and the ecstasy of devotion thank you