Happy Janmastami

pujala ragapath..

I had a message from a devotee the other day, asking me why we read Caitanya Caritamrita on Krishna’s appearance day.

What came to mind was Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s insistence on the aphorism of Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati Ṭhākura: pujala-ragapath-gaurava-bhange, matala-harijana kirtana range, where we always put more emphasis on the kirtan of Mahaprabhu in Nabadwip than we do the pastimes of Krishna in the 10th Canto.

By remembering Śrī Caitanya, we avoid trivialising the Lord’s pastimes in the style of the imitationists. We hold the pastimes of Krishna on our heads. 

As Śrīdhar Mahārāja said, "The whole life of my Guru Maharaja is expressed in this verse in a nutshell. His own expression, the whole tenor of his preaching expedition, the very nature of the sampradaya is this: pujala ragapata gaurava bhange matala harijana visaya range. 

“The ragapat is above us, on our head. That is the goal; we are to go there. But we will not be able to go if we are attracted to other things. So we must learn to use what otherwise charms us in the service of that great domain of love."  http://harmonist.us/2015/01/sanga-pujala-ragapata-gaurava-bhange/

I found an interesting exchange on the subject of Janmastami that was posted by Golden Volcano: janmastami reflection

His Divine Grace Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev Goswāmī was describing his own experience of Janmastami in the early days of the Gaudiya Math.

Śrīdhar Mahārāja: Krsna is born in the heart of the devotee...

Devotee: Mahārāja, a devotee who is trying to remember the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, then does that come into the category of imagination?

Srila Srīdhara Mahārāja: That will depend upon the category of realisation of the devotee. When I was first trying to join the Gauḍīya Maṭha, the day of Janmastami I attended, so many lectures of the sannyāsīs. I was told, at least I heard, repeatedly, what is Janma? The birth of the aja, the unborn, and they told that today at midnight, Kṛṣṇa will be born, in the heart of the suddha-sattva devotees.

Then, the daytime lecture over, there was some gap in the middle, then again at 12 O'Clock, there will be a kirtana and Bhagavata lecture.

All went away, I took my seat, just near the door of Prabhupāda.

There was only one room on the second story, and there Prabhupāda used to live. In darkness, I was sitting just near the door of Prabhupāda. Kṛṣṇa will be born here in his heart, as I am told. In the heart of the devotee, Kṛṣṇa will take His birth.This midnight. Then I took my seat there, that I may have some influence of that, and I began to think that Kṛṣṇa is being born. Kṛṣṇa is coming. With this attitude I passed the time.

Then one gentleman came and said, "O who is here?" "Why are you here?" I was not a member of the Maṭha at that time, but I had come from outside.

I told that “I am so and so, I have come from outside.”

And he asked, "Why are you here, what are you doing in this place?""I am sitting and thinking of the birth of Kṛṣṇa." He said that "No-one is here at present, you may come again when the Bhagavata is explained, at that time, there will be a class, you may come at that time.

Then perhaps, I had to go downstairs and wait and return again later...

So, what was your question?

...To think, that depends on the realization of the devotee, heart to heart.

Although Kṛṣṇa is nitya, and not only His birth, but all His pastimes are eternal. Just as sunrise is eternal. In the general sense. Sometimes here sometimes there, twenty four hours, the sun is always somewhere. The sunrise is always taking place. So although Kṛṣṇa is eternal, His pastimes are also eternal, and every moment, they are taking place.

So in the heart of the devotee, when they are attracted to a particular lila, then that is going on, that is reality. Every lila is reality. And when a devotee is attracted by a particular lila, it is real.

And what is imagination? In the case of imagination that is the question of adhikara.

For one who has not come in the śuddha-sattva, it is imagination in his case: That may be in sattva guna or raja guna.