95. Union in Separation

Union in Separation:

In a lecture given on his last visit to Alarnath, Orissa, on the morning of 18 May 1934, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur described, "Sri Kshetra, Jagannath Puri Dham, is vipralambha-kshetra, the place of separation."

Sri Srimad Goura Govinda Swami has similarly described the nature of Puri and Jagannath:

Mahaprabhu is feeling the pangs of separation from Krishna and always crying, rorudhya mana. Gaura is crying for Krishna and Jagannath is crying for Radha. Two crying forms are there in Jagannath Kshetra. Therefore that kshetra is known as vipralambha-ksetra, crying kshetra. Krsna-viraha-vidura and radha-viraha-vidhura. Two viraha- vidhuras meet together in Purushottama Kshetra. So we should understand who is Gaura, who is Jagannath, and the strange meeting between these two... Gaura is crying for Krishna and Jagannath is crying for Radha. Two are crying in the ecstatic mood of mahabhava.

The exalted nature of vipralambha is described in these words of Ujjwala-nilamani, (srngara-bheda- prakarana, text 3):

na vina vipralambhena

sambhogah pustim asnute

kaşayite hi vastradau

bhuyan rago vivardhate

Just as one cannot redden cloth or some other object without the use of red dye, in the same way the happiness of conjugal love cannot reach its fullness without there having been separation of the lovers.

There is no question of separation between Radha and Krishna. According to the philosophy of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, what appears to be external separation is actually internal union. Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami describes:

"When we speak of viraha, separation, it is the topmost level of prema. Because in viraha, separation, you cannot describe the ananda you get, the pleasure you get in the heart. Viraha means external separation, but internal union. This union is in the heart. Externally Krishna is away, but internally He is in the heart, internal union. That is viraha."

This is Mahaprabhu's teaching. The more you cry for Krishna, the more your love increases for Krishna and the more you feel His presence in the core of your heart. That is external separation with union in the heart. That is viraha, vipralambha-bhava. Krishna crying for Krishna is Gauranga. Krishna crying for Radha is Jagannath. madhurya-rasa-ghanayita-murti jagannatha - Lord Jagannath, the condensed form of conjugal mellows.

Text thirty-one of the Yugala-kisora-antottara-sata- nama-stotram (108 names of the youthful divine couple), spoken by Lord Shiva in the Rasolläsa-tantra, describes one of the names of Krishna as radhika-hṛdayangama - He who always lives in the heart of Radha. Similarly, the same verse describes one of the names of Radha as govinda-hydayangama - She who always lives in the heart of Govinda. " Similarly, Srila Jiva Goswami states in his Yugalastakam prayers (texts 4-5):

krsna-drava-mayi radha 

radha-drava-mayo harih

jivane nidhane nityam

radha-krsnau gatir mama

Radha is totally melted with Krishna and Hari is totally melted with Radha - in life or in death - Radha and Krishna are my eternal shelter.

krsna-gehe sthita rädhä

rädhä-gehe sthito harih

jivane nidhane nityam

rädhä-kṛṣṇau gatir mama

Radha is situated in the body of Krishna and Hari is situated in the body of Radha- in life or in death, Radha and Krishna are my eternal shelter.

Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has written in the introduction to his Teachings of Lord Caitanya:

Radha and Krishna are one, and when Krishna desires to enjoy pleasure, He manifests himself as Radharani. The spiritual exchange of love between Radha and Krishna is the actual display of the internal pleasure potency of Krishna. Although we speak of "when" Krishna desires, just when he did desire we cannot say. We only speak in this way because in conditional life we take it that everything has a beginning; however, in the absolute or spiritual life there is neither beginning nor end. Yet in order to understand that Radha and Krishna are one and that they also become divided, the question "When?" automatically comes to mind. When Krishna desired to enjoy His pleasure potency He manifested himself in the separate form of Radharani, and when He wanted to understand Himself through the agency of Radha, He united with Radharani, and that unification is called Lord Chaitanya.