The
first full moon of spring is about to rise, and I feel my heart turning into a
wild pilgrim of love as I meditate on the Lord of Love himself!
In the Bhakti Yoga tradition they call The Lord of Love Gaurasundara (The Golden Beauty). This is because his
complexion matched that of the golden moon on which he first appeared, in the
sixteenth century, in a little village in West Bengal called Mayapura, also
known as Gaudadesh.The land of Gaudadesh is like a cone of light
illuminating the night when all around is enveloped by deep darkness.
On that full moon night each year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to this holy land to submerge their hearts in the sea of his divine love. They do so by chanting the Holy Names, just as occurred over 500 years ago, when Lord Gaurasundara was first born.
This land is forever welcoming the whirling
steps of the ecstatic dances of love pilgrims, who follow in his footsteps.
Millions have come to this land to receive a drop of divine love. The kirtans,
the cheers, the praises, the chanting of the name of Hari always resound upon
this land, filling hearts with devotion.
It is said that the Golden Lord never
leaves Gaudadesh, and dances among His devotees bestowing Bhakti: pure love.
To the devotees of this holy land, all the gold in the world loses its value and lure in comparison to the attractive golden form of Lord Gaurasundara. Love and devotion is the gold of the soul: the liquid to quench its thirst for Divine Love.
Inspired by a chronicle of the time
describing one of the many occurrences when myriads of people moved across this
land to meet the Golden Lord, this poem draws a parallel into modern days
through a true prophecy of the time –in the poem foretold by an imaginary character
“the pilgrim of Kuliya” (Kuliya = the present Navadvip) - that people from all
over the world will gather to this place to get this inestimable gift of
devotion.
So, on this full moon, my heart becomes a pilgrim of love
wandering in remembrance of this special land and the magical, spiritual
stories of when the Munificent Lord walked on this land.
Pilgrim of Love
Bards
and poets
give
up tales
of
golden cities and magic lands
and
sing of Gaudadesh!
As
the pilgrim of Kuliya said,
the
Sun and the Moon 1
there
at one time arose
presaging
a golden age.
Hear
of the Golden Lord
the
pilgrim of Kuliya saw
once
in that land
when
He walked on this Earth;
people
in millions set forth
crossed
meadows, forests and waters
for
that gold of Divine Love
hue
of His limbs
never,
no one before had seen!
Hundreds of thousands of choruses,
multitudes
of voices
re-echoed
in prayers and cheers,
the
pilgrim of Kuliya recalls an ocean,
no
doubt, formed by love tears;
‘cause myriads chanted the Name of Hari
the jewel of refulgent love Goura Avatari
came
amidst that delirious crowd,
and
soft as a saffron cloud,
danced
hardly touching the ground,
chanting
Krishna’s names
and
pure love abounded from all parts
flowing
from His to everyone heart.
For
long time to come,
the
pilgrim of Kuliya foretold,
many
will gather for that gold,
more
people, more difficult to imagine
from
all countries, of all races
in
festive crowds, in a festival of raised hands
and
in a feast of cheers shouting “Hari Hari”
for
a drop of that aurous mercy
will
come to this land
and
in raptures over the chant
He'd
appear to dance
pouring
love as fluid gold
on
the iron cage of the soul.
These
words I repeat as I heard
from
the pilgrim of Kuliya,
my
heart sings and dances
as
a pilgrim of love
again
returns midst that crowd
to
call out to the Golden Lord
for
that sparkle of gold
chanting,
I beg for His love
"Hari
Hari' , and at once
as
in a spell, I’m in Gaudadesh.
~
~
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.*
loved it....jai chaitanya mahaprabhu...:)
ReplyDeleteLovely, and thank you so much for explaining the spiritual references. Blessings and love, Anita Neilson 🙏❤️
ReplyDelete