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Loving devotion

CHENNAI : When the qualities Rajas and Tamas dominate over man's Sattvic nature, ego raises its head and distances him from God. The Gita Govinda of Jayadeva is centred round Radha (the individual soul) pining for union with Lord Krishna when He abandoned her once during His divine sport (Rasa lila) with the Gopis. When the sweet strains of Krishna's flute drifted into Gokul from the banks of Yamuna deep in the forest, the cowherd women abandoned whatever they were doing and rushed to His side. But not Radha who thought that Krishna would not commence dancing without her (ego) and to her consternation He did.

In his Harikatha, Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudachariar said on the lines of the Nacchiyar Tirumozhi of Andal in which this mystic saint pours out her heart's agony over separation from the Lord, Jayadeva composed the Gita Govinda (known also as Ashtapadi) in the genre of bridal mysticism with the Rasa lila portrayed in the Bhagavata Purana as its theme. Andal addresses the god of love (Kama) to convey her plight to the Almighty. In the Ashtapadi it is Radha's friend who mediates between her and Krishna, first by heightening her anguish by describing the Rasa lila which was going on without her, and then conveying her predicament to the Lord. When surrender to God is adopted as the means to liberation this is the role of the preceptor (Acharya) who pleads to the Almighty to condone the sins of the devotee.

Though the Lord sported with the Gopis, His heart was with Radha (as the Lord is bound by devotion). When He heard about Radha's condition Krishna asked her to convey His message to her. Jayadeva then builds a climax to bring out the poignancy of the soul's yearning for the Divine and the Lord's reciprocation of His devotee's unconditional loving devotion (Prema bhakti) in this exquisite poem. Tradition has it that when Jayadeva shied away from describing the scene wherein Krishna seeks Radha's pardon for deserting her, and went to bathe in the river, the Lord came in his guise and completed the verse— the highest form of approbation.

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