As I mentioned at the outset of this page, the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita continues to draw and overpower me. In the following essay I look at Sri Chaitanya's powerful presence in the Kathamrita through songs, anecdotes, Sri Ramakrishna's application of Vaishnava Madhura as an important spiritual, epistemological and aesthetic tool for God exploration, understanding and enjoyment. I see in Sri Ramakrishna the embodiment of the Radha bhava, something he himself acknowledged. The following article was published in the Prabuddha Bharata in 2016.
Sri Chaitanya as affect and epistemology in the Sri Sri
Ramakrishna Kathamrita
In the richly layered and plural text that the Sri Sri
Ramakrishna Kathamrita is, Sri Chaitanya is one of the most referred to
figures, at once an historical example through whom Sri Ramakrishna grounds the
states of bhava and mahabhava, yet, also
mythical, in participating and extending the divine Eros of Radha or Sreemati,
herself. Even if it is possible to establish Radha as a historical personality,
it is for her quality of affect, her absolute and complete self-- forgetfulness
in her love for Krishna, that she functions as myth and archetype to the Indian
mind, setting absolute standards for love, both quotidian and spiritual. She
becomes the pivot or the fulcrum through whom generations of poets and singers
have explored the limits of self-- transcendence offered by Love, as an
integral response to life.Sri Chaitanya becomes
a participant in Radha’s affective continuum by
embodying in himself, her consummate love for Krishna, and of
being able to lose the world in a state of perfect divine eros,
that Thakur describes in the following
manner: ‘Bon dekhe brindavan bhave/samudra dekhe Sri Yamuna bhave’ which
translates into ‘ He sees the forest and thinks it is Vrindavan, and when he
sees the sea, he thinks that it is the Yamuna’ (599).1
However, to the reader of the Kathamrita, Sri Ramakrishna,
who often remained immersed in a state of
Samadhi, who was transported to
intense bhava during Kirtan singing, and
who pined for his devotees with such longing that he felt that his heart
was being wrung like a wet towel, inhabits the same affective continuum as
Radha and Sri Chaitanya. As Master Mahasay describes Sri Ramakrishna
‘nishidin Haripreme—Ma-r preme—matowara’
which translates into ‘ constantly intoxicated with the love of Hari and Kali’
(130). In this context, one is also
reminded of how during his pilgrimage to Benares with Mathur Babu in his early
life, Ganga Mata, the famous woman saint
of Benares, identified Sri Ramakrishna as ‘dulali’ or Radha. 2
Thus, if in the Kathamrita,
Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Chaitanya
and Sri Radhika, seem simultaneous, where
Radhika is mythical, and the other two historical personages, the
text demonstrates how myth and history
may mutually inhere in each other, and
set up a rich universe of correspondences, parallels and affective
mutuality. Through Sri Ramakrishna’s
constant recall and remembrance of Sri Radhika and Sri Chaitanya, his ecstatic responses to songs from the
Gaurchandrika and Chaitanya Lila, Madhura resounds through the text, is
constantly recalled and reinforced, creating an incredible sound universe,where
Radha and Chaitanya become powerful leitmotifs, both epistemologically and
artistically. If Radha is Ananta premamayee,
who worshipped in the madhura rasa,
then Sri Chaitanya who worshipped in the Radha mode, is similarly
premamay, and a yogi in the madhura rasa. Sri Ramakrishna, who in Swamiji’s
words was “Love personified” was similarly both premamay and rasamay, so
compelling was the joy that emanated from him,
through conversation, song, and his ecstatic response to both Kali and
Krishna, Radha and Chaitanya.
Before one goes further, one needs to talk of the madhura
bhava, of which Radha is the prime exemplar, and Sri Chaitanya, an equally
important one. And their inclusion in this text, throws a different light on
Sri Ramakrishna, where they function as extensions of each other, complementary
to eavh other and variations of each other, which unquestionably leads to great
richness. The most important bhavas through which the Vaishnav worships Krishna
are madhura(love) shanta(quietness), dasya (servanthood) and vatsalya
(childlike worship of God) and sakhya (friendship).These bhavas are all
mentioned in the RamkrishnaKathamrita too. Sri Ramakrishna cites the case of
Sreemati or Radha and says, “Sreemati had madhurbhava” (65). He further adds
that within the “madhurbhava” there is “shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya” (64),
and adds, “I have the attitude of a child.”(65). Vatsalya which is to relate to
God as a parent, is how Sri Ramakrishna related to Kali whom he
called the ‘Divine Mother’. Shivaprasad Bhattacharya claims that “happiness over
love,” or “Premananda”, “happiness in the world,” “Bhumananda”, and “experience
of the ultimate happiness of Brahman,” or
“Brahmananda,” come together in
the madhurabhava, the bhava with which Radha worships Krishna (55).
This tattwa also merges with Shaktatattwa where the Divine
Unity is seen in the conjunct figures of Shiva and Shakti or Brahman (Krishna)
and Shakti (Radha). Refracted through
this Shakta epistemology, Radha also becomes Adhyashakti On October 5, 1884,
Sri Ramakrishna refers to an incident where Jashoda not being able to bear the
absence of Krishna, seeks solace from Radha. Whereupon, Radha tells Jashoda
that the latter should take a boon from her, because she is Adyashakti
(630). Radha is also Brahman’s Hladini
form that allows the lila of form, color, beauty, emotion to take place, in
infinite combinations and variations. 4
Some of the most memorable moments of the Kathamrita, or one
of the most charged descriptions in the Kathamrita, are of Thakur’s ecstatic
references to Radha and Chaitanya, and his singing and dancing on such
occasions. That Sri Ramakrishna was a great artist, in fact, a consummate
artist, is well demonstrated in his frequent use of song to elucidate subtle
philosophical issues, and his use of stories, to constantly draw in the world
of everyday lived and observed experience, with spiritual states, inabilities,
progress and elevation. He was a born musician and a born storyteller. His
parables, like Jesus’s contain great immediacy, and simplicity of appeal, have
a wide range of accessibility, because the language is direct and unpretentious.
They are of the style of folk artists or baul songs, or Ramprosad’s lyrics,
where the spiritual aspirant speaks in simple language and homely metaphors,
and draw him/her, depending on the reader’s level of artistic and spiritual
discrimination, to read wider and wider circles of meaning, in these stories.
This also locates Sri Ramakrishna, within a very grounded folk tradition of
Bengal, which once again, strikes a resonating chord, with the great mass
involvement of the Sri Chaitanya
movement.
I will now refer to the events of 18th June, 1883. The
occasion is the Panihati festival where Thakur is described as dancing in front
of the Radha Krishna temple. M refers to his state as ‘gargar matowara’ or ‘drunk with ecstasy’
(224). Sometimes he is described as passing into a state of Samadhi (224). The Sri Chaitanya and Sri
Ramakrishna tie that the text highlights, which leads to the mutuality of
Radha/Chaitanya/Ramakrishna, to deepening and intensifying of the madhura
bhava, is brought out by narratorial comments like the following, where M says
the many people assembled at the Panihati (Peneti) festival
were thinking that ‘Sri Gauranga must have manifested himself inside this
Mahapurusha.’ Indeed ‘some were thinking
that he was Sri Gauranga incarnate’(225).
After the dancing and the kirtan, Thakur sits down to talk
to Nabdwip Goswami. He tells him that when Bhakti matures it becomes bhava,
which leads to mahabhava, which in turn leads to prema and after that ‘bastu labh’ (the thing itself) or Ishwar.
He further tells Nabadwip Goswami that ‘Gauranga had
mahabhava. Also love Prem (love). That is why he jumped into the blue ocean
thinking that it was the Yamuna’ (225).
He then adds, ‘Jiva
does not have mahabhava or prema. They stay with bhava only. Gauranga had three
states—right?’ (225)
Nababweep answers: antardasha( entirely immersed within the
SELF), ‘ardhabajhyadasha’ (when the consciousness is divided between the world
and the SELF ) and ‘bajhyadasha’ or ( state when one is fully engaged or aware
of the world)
Sri Ramakrishna responds to Nabadweep’s answer by adding:
‘in the state of antardasha he used to stay in Samadhi, in ardhyabajhyadasha he
used to only dance, and in bajhyadasha he used to do naamsamkirtan.
An epistemological and intellectual dimension comes in with
Thakur explicating Sri Chaitanya. Not only does he respond to Chaitanya with joy, inhabiting his
affective space like a sahardaya, but he also has keen intellectual perception
of the many spiritual ontologies of this celebrated medieval Bengali saint.
Therefore, a dialogue between Thakur’s affect and intellect also takes place
through Sri Ramakrishna’ exegesis, adding to the splendour if both spiritual
figures and of the Kathamrita as intertextual and myriad faced text.
On 14th December, 1883, Thakur tells Ramlal to sing the
following Kirtan. A kirtan often has akhar or refrain, and it comes out in the
following song, through the words in the parenthesis
Ramlal sings:
Ki dekhilam re , Keshav Bharatir kutire
Oh, what did I see in Keshav Bharati’s house
Aparupa jyoti , Sri Gauranga murati, du nayane prem bohe
satadhare
The glorious and
resplendent Gauranga, from whose eyes Love flows out in mighty streams
(327)
The greatness of
Radha’s personality, and the rareness of
the Radha like state, is brought out through the haunting questions that the
next song asks:
Radha-r dekha ki pai sakale
How many people get to see Radha?
Radhar prem
ki pai sakale
How many people can love like Radha?(327)
Thakur then asks Ramlal
to sing the following song: “Gaur and Nitai, you are two brothers”, and then
Thakur himself starts singing with Ramlal:
Gaur Nitai, tomra du bhai, param dayal he Prabhu
Gaur and Nitai you are two brothers, very compassionate
Lords
I have always heard that, Oh Lords
Ami giyecchilam Kashipur e, amai koye dilen Kashi Bisheshwar
I had gone to Kashi and the Lord of Kashi, Kashi Bisheshwar,
said to me,
Se je parambrahma Sachi r ghar e[Sachi is Sri Chaitanya’s
mother]
The Parabramhan resides in Sachi’s house (I have recognized
you, O Lord),
Ami giyechhilam anek thain, kintu emon dayal dekhi nai
(tomader moto)
I have gone to many places, but nowhere have I seen anybody
like the two of you
Tomara braje chhile kanai balai, Node hole Gaur Nitai (se
roop lukaye)
In Brajadham you were Krishna and Balaram, in Nadia, you are
Gaur and Nitai
(You have hidden that original beauty, Oh Lords).
I will now refer to another incident of July 3,1884, which enacts a magical coalescence
of song, dance, and of Kali and Krishna songs together. As Thakur dances at
Rathayatra in front of Balaram Bose’s house, M describes Thakur as being full
of the bhava of Sri Chaitanya (502). M further states that it was like Gaur was
dancing full of ‘Hariprema’ (love of Krishna) at Sribas’s courtyard. . M
further says that Balaram’s house was Nabdweep from outside and Brindavan
inside (503). The song in this context
is:
Amar gour nache sribas angane bhakta sange (503)
My Gaur dances with his devotees in Sribas’s courtyard
In The Chaitanya Movement, Melville T Kennedy posits that:
Chaitanya gave himself whole heartedly to his musical
worship, called kirtan. The courtyard of a certain Srivasa was the centre for
the evening devotions. Here, night after night, Chaitanya found an atmosphere
so highly emotionalized and a fellowship so congenial and enthusiastic as to
arouse him to a high pitch of excitement. This courtyard figures very
prominently in the history and hymnology of the sect in Bengal. Chaitanya
himself in later days, when a sannyasi residing at Puri, used to speak of it
with affection and a trace of
homesickness (20).
In another instance too, when Thakur starts dancing
ecstatically in response to Neelkantha’s singing of kirtan, M concludes that
Thakur’s room at Dakshineshwar, was like Srivas’s courtyard. The educated and
erudite references of the narrator and documenter of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna
Kathamrita, help to set up mythical as well as historical parallels and
correspondences to Sri Ramakrishna’s lila at Dakshineshwar.
These references widen and broaden the historical and
mythical implications of this invaluable text. It creates a historical
continuum, in which Sri Chaitanya and Sri Ramakrishna figure, it also creates a
continuum sahardya, or affect, whereby Bengal, itself, becomes implicated,
whereby kirtan, khol and dancing becomes a Bengali cultural and spiritual
response. The added strain of Radha as
an affective pivot, a centripetal source from which Sri Chaitanya and Sri
Ramakrishna, are both taking their spiritual charge, brings bhakti and kirtan,
into a wider field of Indian spiritual modes. Past and present, inhere through myth and history, setting up
intricate and rich interrelationships and correspondences. Dakshineshwar, Vrindavan
and Nadia become coterminous and co extended. Each inheres in the other and
sets up an intricate and layered symbolic liturgy, which resounds with the
madhura bhava. Panihati, Balaram Bose’s house, and all such places are drawn
into this magnificent universe of call, response and echo. This
interpenetration also makes the Kathamrita one of the most musically resonant
of texts, as various melodies cross and interfuse.
This incident in the Kathamrita, is a very interesting one.
It is October 5, 1884. Neelkantha, the kirtan singer has come and Thakur tells
him that his song, ‘shyamapada asho nadi teere bash’ is a very nice one
(631).Whereupon Neelkantha starts singing. After this song, Neelkantha sings,
‘Mahishamardini’. As he listens, Thakur becomes ‘samadhisthha’ or goes into
Samadhi (631). After this Neelkantha sings’ ‘jar jatai Ganga, tini
Rajrajeshwari ke hridaye dharan koriya acchen’(631), which translates into ‘He
who carries the Ganga on head, carries Rajrajeshwari in his heart’. The
reference is obviously to Shiva.
Intoxicated with divine love (premunmattwa), Thakur starts
dancing. Neelkantha and the devotees encircle him and also sing and dance
(631). What a scene of divine beauty and the transporting delight to music! How
music, dance and a common spiritual goal, creates these contingent and also
permanent communities where love of the divine is established and resonates. M
says, the room was full of people who all seemed drunk on divine bliss. The
place was reminiscent of Sribas’s courtyard. Thakur’s devotee, Manmohan Mitra
seemed to go into a trance. Women from his household had also come, and one of
them, was also similarly affected (631).
Soon Thakur himself starts singing,
Jader Hari bolte du nayan jhure, tara dui bhai eshecche re
(631).
Oh, those two brothers whose eyes overflow with tears on
hearing the name of Hari (631)
After this ecstatic singing and dancing, Neelkantha boldly
declares, ‘Apniy sakkhat Gauranga’ or ‘You are Gauranga, himself’! (632). Sri
Ramakrishna is of course,incredulous and in his humble way says, ‘ What on
Earth! I am everyone’s servant’s servant. The wave is of the Ganga, not the
Ganga of the wave (632).
I will now refer to the Kirtan singing on 24th April, 1885.
The various states of Radha or Sreemati’s vyakulata (yearning for Krishna) are
described—Her state of complete abandonment on hearing Krishna’s flute-- how
she becomes ‘vyakul’ (lost with yearning) to see Krishna (816). On hearing the
words ‘aha sakal madhuryamaya Krishna naam’ (Oh all sound is full of the sweet
resonance of Krishna’s name) in the kirtan, Thakur cannot remain seated
anymore, and stands up in a state of Samadhi. On partially regaining
consciousness, he sweetly keeps uttering the name ‘Krishna, Krishna’. He seems
close to the state of Radha, who says in the kirtan, ‘je dekhechi Yamuna
tate/sei dekhi ei chitrapate’ (816), which translates into ‘He who I saw on the
banks of the Yamuna, is He who I see now in the painting’. This would imply a
state of complete oneness with one’s chosen ideal.
Therefore, we find the two distinct strands of the madhura
bhava, one focused on Radha and the
other on Sri Chaitanya, closely interlocked or intertwined in the Kathamrita,
where mention of Radha, often leads to the mention of Sri Chaitanya, and vice
versa. The interlocking,
interpenetration and merging of the two heightens the quality of madhura
based affect in the text, and sets up as I have mentioned a system of recall,
whereby each distinctive strand of madhura is refracted through the other,
causing ever expanding levels of melodic and thought resonance.
Another interesting musical seam that enters the Kathamrita,
comes in through the Kali or Shyama songs, which many of the Kirtan singers
mentioned here, also had as part of their repertoire. In fact, it is a frequent
occurrence that right after the bhava of the kirtan singing, focusing on Radha
and Chaitanya, many of the Kirtan singers, like Vaishnavcharan and Neelkantha,
break out into Kali songs. Amateur singers like Ramlal, and also Swami
Vivekananda, during Ratha Yatra day at Balram Bose’s house, also do the same.
A significant instance is when Thakur comes to Adhar Lal’s
Sen’s house on October 1, 1884. Among the people who are present are Kedarnath
Chatterjee, himself a kirtan singer,
Vijaykrishna Goswami ( a leader of the Brhamo Samaj, yet, initially born into a
family of Krishna worshippers), Baburam Ghosh (later Swami Premananda), and
Master Mahasay. Vaishnavcharan, a
renowned Kirtan singer, who is also present, requested by Thakur, to sing. M describes him to have an extremely sweet
voice.
Vaishnavcharan starts with the Abhisar (journey of Radha
amdist difficult circumstances ,to meet Krishna) and also sings the Raaskirtan
(the union of Radha and Krishna). Dance is another performance oriented
response to Life and music, that the text sometimes highlights, as Thakur
responds in delight to Kirtan and starts dancing. The above instance is a case
in point. M describes the situation:
As soon as the kirtan based on the union of Radha and
Krishna started, Thakur started dancing and the devotees too, encircled him and
danced (598).
After the dancing was over, Thakur says to Vijaykrishna, he
(Vaishnavcharan) sings well (589). Vaishnavcharan sings an oft repeated song in
the Kathamrita:
Sri Gaurangashundor naba natabar, tapata kanchan kai
Sri Gauranga who has skin like molten gold is the new actor
of this stage (589)
Yet oddly Vaishnav Charan, the kirtan singer, soon turns to
the singing of Kali or Shyama songs. This signals a change of mode, mood and
aesthetics. However, this must have been culturally a la mode, where Kirtan
singers not only sang Radha/Krishna and Chaitanya lila based songs, but also
songs based on love for the divine mother Kali.
All the bhavas flow into each other Vaishnavcharan sings:
Sri Durga nam japa sada rasana amar
Oh, my tongue chant the name of Durga
Durgame Sri Durga bine ke kore nist
Oh, who except Durga, will protect us during times of
trouble?
The fact that Neelkantha, Vaishnavcharan, Ramlal,
Narendranath, and Sri Ramakrishna all
sing both Shakta and Vaishnav songs, attests to the rich plurality and
synthesizing characteristics of Bengali culture. This is a culture marked by deep community appreciation of
music, where the appreciation was so keen, that during moments of whole hearted
musical response, the philosophical disputes between Shaktas and Vaishnavas
would be forgotten. This great
catholicity is to be seen in the figure of Sri Ramakrishna who often ordered
for both modes of music, who constantly spoke of ‘joto mat, tato path’.
Attesting to the simultaneity of Kali and Krishna worship, are the Radha
Govinda temples at two very significant Kali temples of Bengal, Dakshineshwar
and Kalighat.
In the Kathamrita all the bhavas flow into each other, reinforce and recall each other, set up rich parallels, contrasts and
interfaces, startling juxtapositions, and interpenetrating symbolic layers that
render the text inexhaustible and incomparable. Perhaps no other religious text
in the world is this polyphonic or multitudinous, with a melodic resonance that
is almost unsurpassable. . Affect,
performance, melody, philosophy, and orality, merge dramatically and
unforgettably in this great text, which is also one of the most performance
oriented texts as well.
The impact of the rhythmical and melodic ethos Sri
Chaitanya’s sankirtan, lives in Bengal, even today. Rabindranath Tagore modeled
his ‘O amar desher mati’ from ‘sonar Gaur kene kende elo O Narahari’. The song
is sung within and without nationalist contexts. ISKCON adopted Chaitanya’s
‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama,
Rama, Hare Hare’, and made it a world mantra, which had and continues to have
global impact. The latest and most
entrancing pop melody, arousing the magical power of the sankirtan is a song sung
by the pop band Bolepur Bluz, which
expresses deep yearning for the figure of Sri Chaitanya. The song carries the
power to enfold hundreds within its rhythmical and melodic world: “boli chhede dile sonar Gaur, aar to pabo
na/boli chhede dile sonar Gaur, ar to pabo na, na, na, chhede dibo na / amar
hrid majhare rakhibo chhede debo na/…../ bhuvanamohana Gora, koto muni janer
mono hora. Jaya Radhar name pagol hoye thakbo mono na/na, na chhede debo na.
Notes
1. All
references to the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita are from the Udbodhan edition. Kolkata:
Bagbazar. 23rd impression. 2007. Translations are mine.
2. Swami
Saradananda. The Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga. Udbodhan: Kolkata. 11th Impression.
1963.68.
3. Shivaprasad
Bhattacharya. PadavalirTattwasoundarya O
KaviRabindranath. Kolkata: RabindraBharatiVishwavidyalaya. 1967. 1.
4. Melville
T. Kennedy translates from Chapter II of the Chaitanya Charitamrita, which explains Hladini Shakti : “ Hladini is so
named because of giving delight to Krishna, who tastes delight through that
power. Krishna himself is delight and tastes delight. Hladini is the cause of
the bhakta’s delight; the essence of Hladini is called prema (love). 94.
Works Cited
Bhattacharya,
Shivaprasad PadavalirTattwasoundarya O KaviRabindranath. Kolkata:
RabindraBharatiVishwavidyalaya. 1967.
Bolepur Bluz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TkwtPWTUks
Gupta, Mahendralal. Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. Vols.
I&II. Kolkata: Udbodhan Karyalaya.
23rd Impression. 2007.
Kennedy, Melville T. The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of
Vaishnavism in Bengal. Delhi: Munshiram Manohar Lal Publishers. 1993. First
published in 1925.
Swami Saradananda. Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga. Vol 2.
Kolkata: Udbodhan Karyalaya. 11th Impression.
1963.
Acknowledgements: I thank Srimat Swami Prabhanandaji
Maharaj, for introducing me to Melville Kennedy’s book.
Sreemati Mukherjee
Associate Professor
Department of English
Basanti Devi College
