SRI VISHNUPRIYA DEVI

Пятница, 22 Июня 2012 г. 03:32 + в цитатник

SRI VISHNUPRIYA DEVI
by Srila B.B. Tirtha Goswami Maharaja
President of the WVA
sri-sanatana-misro'yam pura satrajito nrpah
visnupriya jagan-mata yat-kanya bhu-svarupini

King Satrajit in Krishna lila became Sanatan Mishra in Chaitanya lila. The mother of the universe, the incarnation of the Lord's bhu-sakti, is his daughter Vishnupriya.
(Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika 47)

Krishna married Satyabhama, the daughter of King Satrajit and a Yadu princess. In Gaura lila, this same Satrajit became Sanatan Mishra and she became Vishnupriya Devi. All manifestations of Vishnu tattva have three energies, known as Sri, Bhu and Nila (or Lila). Lakshmipriya Devi is the sri-sakti of Mahaprabhu in his majestic Gaura-Narayan attitude; Vishnupriya is his bhu-sakti and Nabadwip Dham is his lila-sakti. Srila Gadadhar Pandit Goswami is the sakti of Gaura-Krishna, or Mahaprabhu in the mood of Krishna.

Knowledge is of two kinds, apara vidya or material knowledge and para vidya or transcendental knowledge. Vishnupriya Devi is the personification of transcendental knowledge. Devotees worship her on her appearance day on the sukla pancami of the month of Magh. On the same day, materialistic persons seeking the perfection of worldly knowledge worship the goddess of learning. Saraswati. Vishnupriya Devi's grandfather was Durga Das Mishra. Some people believe that Durga Das was Vishnupriya's father. In the Prema-vilasa, the family of Durga Das Mishra's descendants through Yadavacharya is known as Vishnupriya's parivara.

Mahaprabhu's marriage to Vishnupriya Devi

Vrindavan Das Thakur describes the birth of Gaura-Narayan's sakti, Vishnupriya Devi, in his Chaitanya Bhagavata. Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has also mentioned the event in his Chaitanya Charitamrita.

In the Adi-khanda, the disappearance of Mahaprabhu's first wife is described, and then his second marriage to the daughter of the court pandit.
(Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.1.110)

Then the Lord was married to Vishnupriya Thakurani, after which He defeated the Digvijayi Pandit.
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.16.25)

For the materialistic person, the marriage of a man and woman is the source of bondage. When the Lord marries in imitation of ordinary mortals, it becomes something quite different: it is a transcendental affair. By chanting and hearing about the union of the Supreme Lord with His divine potency, one is liberated from the material energy.

Whoever hears about the holy pastime of the Lord's marriage will be liberated from his bondage to this world. Lakshmi sat beside the Lord and the house of Sachi was filled with light.
(Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.10.110-1)

All who saw the Lord's effulgent form on that day were freed from their sins and went to Vaikuntha. This is why the Lord is known as the merciful Lord of the fallen.
(Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.15.216-7)

Mahaprabhu's first wife, Lakshmipriya, left the world prematurely. In order to support her and His mother, Mahaprabhu made a trip to eastern Bengal to teach some students. However, He was away longer than planned and Lakshmipriya Devi found it impossible to tolerate His absence. So, meditating on His lotus feet, she departed from this world. When Mahaprabhu finally arrived back in Nabadwip, He found His mother grieving for her daughter-in-law.

Though Mahaprabhu consoled her with spiritual instructions, soon afterwards, Sachi Mata started looking for another wife for her son. For that purpose, she consulted Kashinatha Pandit, a well-known matchmaker described in Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (50) as having been Kulaka in Krishna lila. Kulaka was the Brahmin who was sent by Satrajit to arrange the marriage between his daughter Satyabhama and Krishna. Kashinath went to the court pandit Sanatan Mishra and his daughter, the devotionally minded Vishnupriya. Kashinath persuaded Sanatan Mishra with the following words:

"Give your daughter to Vishwambhar Pandit; it is a perfect combination. She alone is worthy of such a divine husband, while He deserves just such a pious and chaste wife. Vishnupriya and Nimai Pandit are worthy of each other, just as Rukmini and Krishna were."
(Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.15.57-59)

From her very early childhood, Vishnupriya Devi had been deeply devoted to her parents and to Vishnu. She would take bath in the Ganga three times daily. Sachi Mata would see her there and bless her when she saw her paying obeisances. Sachi thus already knew Vishnupriya's good qualities and happily agreed to accept her as a wife for her son.

Buddhimata Khan was a rich and wise friend of Nimai's family who volunteered to bear the entire expense of His marriage. Once it had been decided that Vishnupriya and Vishvambhar would be married, an auspicious day and moment were fixed for the ceremony. With great pomp, the adhivasa rituals were carried out on the eve of the marriage. The Lord arrived at Sanatan Mishra's house in a palanquin at dusk and Gaura and Vishnupriya's wedding ceremony was performed according to both scriptural and popular traditions.

On the following day, Vishnupriya joined her new husband on the palanquin and returned with Him to His house. Those who hear the eternal pastime of the wedding of Lakshmi and Narayan lose their desire for a material relationship of enjoyer and enjoyed, for they come to understand that Narayan alon is the supreme enjoyer of the entire universe. For his service, Buddhimata Khan received Mahaprabhu's embrace and mercy.

Vrindavan Das describes how the pious women who saw the newly, weds compared them to various heavenly couples:

Some said, "They remind me of Gauri and Shiva." Others said, "It seems that they are Lakshmi and Narayan." Yet others said, "No, they rather resemble Rati and Kamadeva." Some compared them to Indra and Sachi, and others to Rama and Sita.
(Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.15.205-8)

Vishnupriya Devi after Nimai's sannyas

When Mahaprabhu left home to go to Katwa and take sannyas, He was only 24 years old. Lochan Das Thakur has described Vishnupriya's terrible feelings of separation in the days that followed His departure in the Chaitanya-mangala:

The earth split from the sound of Vishnupriya's crying: the birds and beasts, even the trees and stones shed tears when they heard it. Falling to the ground she would lament, crying out "Why does my sinful life not end?" In separation, her breath was like fire drying her lips and her body trembled constantly.
(2.14.15-6)

The Advaita-prakasa also describes how Vishnupriya lived her life in terrible separation from the Lord after His departure. Every morning, she would go for her bath in the Ganges with mother Sachi, after which she spent the entire day inside the house, never allowing the moon or sun to see her. Not even the devotees were allowed to see anything more than her feet, nor hear her voice. Constantly shedding tears and eating only Mother Sachi's remnants, she became pale and thin. She took intense delight in the Holy Name, chanting all day long in solitude before a portrait of Gauranga, serving it as though He were present in it and surrendering herself to His lotus feet. In this way, she demonstrated the ideal character of a devoted wife as well as the forbearance spoken of by the Lord in His verse, trnad api sunicena taror iva sahisnuna.

Srinivas Acharya would come to see her. He observed her daily activities, which are beyond description. She had completely renounced sleep, and if ever she closed her eyes, it would be while lying on the bare ground. Her bodily luster, which had formerly glowed more brilliantly than gold, had become dull and she was as thin as the waning moon on its fourteenth day. She set aside grains of rice to count the Holy Names she chanted, and would cook only rice and offer it to her Lord. Of this amount, she would only eat a small portion. No one understood how she managed to stay alive.
(Bhakti-ratnakara 4.47-51)

Jahnava Devi's disciple Nityananda Das has also described the standard Vishnupriya Devi set for bhajan in his Prema-vilasa.

Listen, brothers, to the way which Isvari Vishnupriya would take the names of the Lord. By listening to this, you will get a feeling for the lila. Every day she would place two clay pots on either side of her, one filled with uncooked rice, the other empty. Each time she completed on mantra of sixteen names and thirty-two syllables, she would joyfully place a grain of rice into the empty container. She would chant in this way until three o'clock in the afternoon, and then would take whatever rice had accumulated and cook it. This is the only food that she prepared, drenching it with her tears before she offered it to the Lord. It is not possible to estimate how many names Mahaprabhu Himself chanted, for He chanted all day and night. Similarly, His beloved wife Vishnupriya chanted incessantly through the day and the night. Such dedication to the Holy Name was not impossible for her, for the Lord had planted the seed of His power in her.

It is said that Vishnupriya Devi was the first to establish worship of a murti of Gauranga. This has been stated in Murari Gupta's diary, karaca:

prakasa-rupena nija-priyayah
samipam asadya nijam hi murtim
vidhaya tasyam sthita esa krsnah
sa laksmi-rupa ca nisevate prabhum

Krishna came to His beloved wife in this expansion form to remain by her side as the Mahaprabhu deity. Thus she, the incarnation of the goddess of fortune, was able to serve Him constantly.

The devotees of Mahaprabhu sometimes say that just as Ramachandra, who had taken the vow of monogamy, performed a sacrifice to a golden Sita made during His exile in the forest rather than marry a second time, so Vishnupriya repaid her debt to her Lord in the pastime of Gaura-Narayan by having an image of Mahaprabhu created so she could perform the sacrifice of the Holy Name to Him. This deity is still present and worshiped in Nabadwip.

Sri Vamsivadana Thakur and Ishan Thakur were blessed by the service of caring for Vishnupriya Devi and Sachi Devi after Mahaprabhu took sannyas.

overflowing with tears. She was chanting Gour-nm. The tears of prem bathed her bosom and she repeatedly paid obeisance to Neelchal Dhm. Poet Balarm ds has drawn a beautiful picture –

“bishnupriy nababl, hte loye japaml,

Rui rui jope gour nm,

Nobeen jogini dhani, birahini knglini,

Pronomeya neelchala dhm.

Sarba ange dhool mkh, lamb kesh elochul,

Sonar anga ati durbal,

Balarm ds koy, shuno prabhu doymoy,

Muchhye do debi nkhi-jol.”

Meaning – “Bishnupriy, who was still at a very tender age, held a japa-ml in her hand. She was crying while she chanted Gour-nm. Separated from her Beloved she was a young yogini. Stripped of her most precious possession, she repeatedly paid obeisance to Neelchal-Dhm. She was bathed in dust, and her long lustrous hair was disheveled. He golden form had weakened. Balarm das is praying – My dear Lord! please wipe her tears with your own lotus hands.”