Today’s
full moon is celebrated by bhakti-yogis all over the world, as a holy day...
Each year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to this the holy land
of Mayapura--a little village in West Bengal, to submerge their hearts in the sea of divine love as expressed and illuminated by Sri Gauranga. Gauranga appeared in Mayapura in the sixteenth century and began what is now a worldwide movement of chanting the Holy Names of Goddess and God, (Radha and Krishna), in musical gatherings called kirtans.
As a practitioner of bhakti yoga, I
constantly ask myself: How to find sufficient ways to paint my increasing
astonishment about the immensity of the golden Lord's love? How to pour
the sky of His unlimitedness into an instant? How to encompass the ocean of His
personality in a drop of meager words?
But how can I give up trying, upon
realizing my fortune of being in the moonlight of His love? Especially, when
His embrace is there, available, tangible, and reachable by everyone!
Still, I am faced with my own
shortcomings: the lack of devotion for passing on the beauty, the stupor, etc.
Yet the attraction beyond materiality, the love and the prism of His mercy are
so strong, that I must make this attempt to speak about Lord Gouranga, and hope
the readers take my good intentions to heart, despite my shortcomings.
(Editors note: In the bhakti yoga
tradition, Lord Gauranga is considered to be a divine avatar, or descent of
the Supreme Divinity, consisting of both the Feminine Divine aspect, Radha, and
the masculine divine aspect, Krishna, having appeared together in one body:
that of a male who possessed the love sentiments, or prema, of a female, known as Sri Krishna Chaitanya, or Gauranga)
Untold Love
I do not find
words
and I need no
ink
but tears of
love,
to write
about Gouranga Avatari
adorned of
these gems
belonging to
Radha's eyes
and shining of
her golden splendor.
I need no
paper,
but many hearts
to write on
the love where
these tears belong,
I need an
inkpot
filled of the
sweetest mercy
to flavor
each word
telling of the
Munificent Lord
seen on this
Earth
not so long
before,
I need the
dancing and chanting
of millions of
souls
to describe His
pleasure,
and the delight
of His Moon-like
smile.
I need no
letters,
but notes and
tones
to intone the
mood of Vraja
the faints, the
shivers,
the ecstatic
runs,
rhapsodies of
Gourahari’s love,
overcome by the
love
of His Loved
One;
and I need the
magnitude
of all the
stars in the sky
to draw His
marvelous form,
the effulgence
of His limbs,
the lotus of
His face,
the petals of
His eyes.
How many colors
would I need
to paint the
infinite nuances
waves of
His prema,
the mellows
inundating
from Navadvip
to Sri Kshetra?
And, then, a
mile-long desk
as the many
streets,
Lord
Gouranga touched
with His feet,
so large to
contain
all the steps
of His dance,
the echoes of
His chant.
But above all,
I need Devotion,
the independent
Muse,
for the vision
of the Lord
to appear on my
tongue,
or this poet's
song,
remain the
attempts
of a deaf man
to sing
out of his own
silence.
~
Madhava Lata Dasi: “Though I am originally from Italy, today I live in India in the very South, in the State of Kerala where I own a small hotel named the Paradesh Inn facing the Arabian Ocean. For 6 months it is open and our customers are mostly Yogi/Yogini who retreat in this area every year for weeks of full immersion. (For video of hotel click here) I follow Bhakti Yoga and writing poems is part of my meditation on Krishna, since I draw inspiration for my poems from the many books I read about Him. I usually publish my poems on my blog here."
*For submission guidelines, click here.*
Very beautiful. Thank you.
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