Jagannatha Ashtakam 6 – The rasanandi Lord relishes the highest ananda through the highest rasa reciprocated with his highest devotee

Transcript

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Hare Krishna परं ब्रह्म पीड़ा कुवलय दलोत फुल नयनो निवासि नीलाद्रो नीत चरणो अनंत शिरसी रसानन्दि राधा सरस्व पुरालिन मनसु को जिगनात स्वामि नयन पत्थ गाम भवत्तु मे so here in this 6th verse of the जिगनात अश्टकम a further meditation on lord जिगनात is being described so he is निवासि नीलाद्रो he resides in नीलाद्रो नीलाचेड Mountain अनंत शिरसी नीत चरणो so lord बलराम is manifest next to him but that बलराम is also there as अनंत शेष अनंत शेष is manifested as the नीलाचेड Mountain and just as lord Vishnu resides on अनंत शेष similarly he resides here on the bed of the नीलाचेड Mountain नीत चरणो and he offers his feet to अनंत शिरसी on the place of the head of अनंत that means he offers his feet to lord अनंत and when he does this he offers thereby the supreme blessing not just to अनंत but similarly he is offering the blessing to all those who offer service to him so this is the part which is directly connected with जगन्नाद and apart from it परंब्रह्मपीड so he is the supreme jewel on the head of ब्रह्माजी he is the supreme lord of ब्रह्माई कुवलया दलोत्फुल नयनो कुवलया so his eyes are नयनो are like दलोत्फुल they are उत्फुल they are bright like fully blossoming lotus petals and रसानन्धी he delights in रसा and राधा सरस्वपुर आलिंगण सुखो so Radharani her form is सरस्वपुर it is like a cool pond of water and आलिंगण सुखो he gets a great joy in embracing her so in one sense the second line and this stanza describes Jagannath how he is merciful but the three lines seem to be saying three distinct things which do they have any correlation yes first the glory and the beauty of that lord is being described that okay don’t think of him to be an ordinary person he is the lord of even Brahma परंब्रम्पीडा and his beauty is extraordinarily beautiful lotus eyes so his glory, his beauty, his mercy is described that he can give mercy and he gives mercy even to great persons like Ananta and similarly he gives mercy to all those who approach him with a desire for service but then his greatest glory is the Madhurya Rasa which he relishes with his devotees now in one sense with Jagannath on the altar Radharani is not there so then what does it mean रसानन्धि राधा सरसपुरालिंगन so how can he embrace Radharani if Radharani is not there on the altar with Jagannath actually the previous verse describes the Ratha Yatra how the lord is going from Neelachal to Sundarachal, how he is going from Kurukshetra to Vrindavan now this verse is describing how when the lord returns to Vrindavan then he is reunited with the Vrajivasis and especially he is reunited with Radharani and the lord is burning in separation from Radharani just as Radharani is burning in separation from the lord and what does he do as the separation ends and union begins and the lord embraces his topmost devotee in love and that fire of separation that was burning his heart now ends and because the union with Radharani is going to end that fire of separation that’s why her body is described as Saraswapur extremely cooling extremely soothing, extremely loving this is Rasanandhi so the lord is not just an object of meditation but he is a subject of reciprocation he is a person and he is not just something which is impersonally meditated … … … … but the lord is not just a passive person who is forever available to us as an object of meditation he is but he is much more than that he is also a person who invites us for participation in his pastimes and the way we participate in his pastimes is by joyfully entering into them is by actually offering our hearts love to him so normally speaking in this world we get caught up in in relationships which are often temporary which are temporary inevitably and often they are filled with grief even while they are there but the relationship with the lord is filled with ecstasy eternal and everlasting ecstasy now so here this is the climax the lord is reunited with his topmost devotee and he is Rasanandhi that ananda which he desires through the exchange of rasa he gets the topmost ananda by reciprocating the topmost rasa with the topmost devotee so the topmost rasa is Madhurya rasa the topmost devotee is Mahabhava Mahabhava Suropani Radhata Kurani as Chaitanya Chaitanya would say that she is the personified form of Mahabhava the topmost devotion for Krishna so the lord by reciprocating the topmost rasa with the topmost devotee gets the topmost rasa ananda and it is this that is the aspiration of all Gaudiya Vaishnavas it was this that lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was when he was when he was dancing in front of lord Jagannath so when he was dancing there what was happening actually he is Krishna who is in the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna and Jagannath is Krishna in separation from Radharani and both of them are ecstatically transformed Krishna’s form changes to Jagannath and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s form changes in miraculous sometimes fear inducing ways arms become extremely long limbs become contracted and it’s stunning displays of ecstasy are there and these two the same lord manifesting in two moods of two different persons is now cherishing the reunion and that is the ecstasy that the lord was experiencing and that is the ecstasy that the lord was offering to others offering to those with whom he is who are associating with him his devotees who are there around him and it is to this ecstasy that the lord invites us when we meditate on and participate in the Ratha Yatra festival so that Rasa Ananda which is the top most Ananda not just in material existence not just in impersonal existence but also in spiritual existence you know in material existence there are higher levels of happiness with the heavenly happiness being far higher than earthly happiness and like that there are higher and higher happiness now above them all is Brahmananda now above Brahmananda is Bhakti Ananda the happiness of devotion and even within Bhakti Ananda there is a hierarchy of happiness and the top most happiness is the happiness of pure devotion to Krishna in the mood of amorous affection so romantic affection that is Madhuri Bhavam and that is what the lord is relishing and the lord although we may not understand it but he is offering us the opportunity to all enter into and relish that supreme rasa thank you Hare Krishna