When there is prema, tolerating separation is very complicated. These things are very nicely described in Ramayana and also in Rama-charita-manasa. Rama-charita-manasa explains that when Hanuman returned from Lanka, he brought a message back from Sita-devi. At that time, Ramachandra asked Hanuman, “O Hanuman. Did you see My consort Sita-devi? Is she alive or has she left her body? I believe you have seen Sita-devi. But did you see her dead body or was she alive?” Then, Hanuman asked Ramachandra, “Prabhu. Why do You ask this question?” “O Hanuman. Do you know? This is a prema-katha. If priya and priya-jana, lover and beloved, or wife and husband are separated from each other, they cannot tolerate being away from each other,” answered Lord Ramachandra.
akaitava kṛṣṇa-prema, yena jāmbūnada-hema,
sei premā nṛloke nā haya
yadi haya tāra yoga, nā haya tabe viyoga,
viyoga haile keha nā jīyaya
Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila 2.430)
[Pure love for Krishna, just like gold from the Jambu River, does not exist in human society. If it existed, there could not be separation. If separation were there, one could not live.]
In Chaitanya-charitamrita, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami explains, ‘yadi haya yoga’, once the lover and beloved meet together, it is not possible to separate from each other.
yadi haya tāra yoga, nā haya tabe viyoga,
viyoga haile keha nā jīyaya
They cannot tolerate or survive being separated from each other. These things are also very nicely explained in the katha of Jayadeva Gosvami and his chaste wife Padmavati-devi. Their story is very beautiful. Once, Jayadeva Gosvamipada went out from his house for some task. During those times, Jayadeva Gosvamipada was great sabha-kavi (a poet in a royal assembly house) for Lakshmana Sena. For the sake of the katha, I am telling it in this brief way; it is a very nice and beautiful story.
Padmavati’s Test
At the time, Jayadeva Gosvamipada, left his house for royal work. The king sent him somewhere to perform a royal task for around three or four days. Jayadeva Gosvami’s chaste wife, Padmavati-devi then met the queen, the wife of King Lakshmana Sena. And she had so much love and affection with her. On one occasion, Padmavati-devi was glorifying the meaning of being a chaste wife. She explained to the queen, “A chaste wife cannot tolerate hearing the message of her husband dying. If she hears that, she must give up her body.” The queen became surprised upon hearing this and said, “How is this possible? Both their life-airs are separate, and you are saying a chaste woman cannot tolerate separation from her deceased spouse?”
Padmavati-devi then answered, “Yes, what I am saying is true. A chaste woman cannot tolerate hearing her husband has died. Because she and her husband are each other’s life-air. From such condensed love and affection, such a wife cannot tolerate separation from her husband.” This statement caused the queen to take a moment to think, “Okay, Padmavati. You are always glorifying chastity. I will test how much love and affection you have for your husband, and see how you will tolerate separation from him.” So, what happened? One day, Padmavati-devi was sitting alone and the queen arrived with one message. “Come, your husband has left his body,” said the queen. She simply gave this message to Padmavati-devi.
When Padmavati-devi heard that her husband, Jayadeva Gosvamipada, had left his body, she closed her eyes, and due to the separation from her husband, she too left her body. When the queen witnessed this, she became shocked and lamented, “Oh, maybe I have committed an offence!” Then, she gave a message to the king, informing him of everything that just occurred. Shortly after, when Jayadeva Gosvamipada returned, they informed him of what had happened. Then, Jayadeva Gosvamipada went to the body of his deceased wife, and just by placing his hand on the head of Padmavati-devi, she instantly returned back to her body.
This katha shows the kind of love and affection a chaste woman has for her husband. There is so much love and affection between each other; their bodies may be two, but their soul is one. In this way, in our spiritual lives, it is also explained, when prema manifests, separation is very difficult.
How Sita-devi Maintained Her Life-airs
yadi haya tāra yoga, nā haya tabe viyoga,
viyoga haile keha nā jīyaya
If you meet with Krishna once, you will never want to be separated from Him. And if you are separated from Krishna, you cannot remain alive, you have to die. The conclusion of this shloka is evident in the katha of Ramachandra and Sita-devi. As mentioned earlier, Ramachandra had spoken this to Hanuman, “Hanuman, how can Sita-devi possibly survive separation from Me? She must give up her body. Because during separation from Me, even My father, Dasharatha Maharaja left his body.” When Ramachandra left Ayodhya, exiled in the forest, His father could not tolerate separation from Him. Dasharatha Maharaja uttered, “Ha Rama! Ha Rama! Ha Rama!” and then left his body. Ramachandra continued, “Even My father could not tolerate being separated from Me. How can My wife, Sita-devi, possibly tolerate this? How can she survive?” For this regard, Ramachandra asked Hanuman, “Hanuman have you seen My wife Sita-devi’s dead body or is she alive?” At that time, Hanuman very nicely spoke these things:
nāma pāharū divasa nisi dhyāna tumhāra kapāṭa, nija pada locana jaṁtrita jāhiṃ prāna kehi bāṭa
Rama-charita-manasa (Sundarakanda)
[Your name, said Hanuman, is the watchman who guards her by day and night; her contemplation of You is the gate; her eyes fixed on Your feet are the fetters; through what door, then, can her life flit away?]
Tulasi dasa in Rama-charita-manasa, very nicely explained how Sita-devi protected her life-air and kept it inside her body. Hanumanji very sweetly explains in this Hindi verse poem:
nāma pāharū divasa nisi dhyāna tumhāra kapāṭa, nija pada locana jaṁtrita jāhiṃ prāna kehi bāṭa
Hanumanji said, “O, my Master Lord Ramachandra, You know everything. But for the teachings of others, loka shiksha, I will answer You. Sita-devi cannot actually survive and maintain her life-air in her body. She wants to give up her body, she wants to die, but it is not possible for her to do so. Why? ‘Nāma pāharū divasa nisi’ - Mother Sita-devi is always chanting Your sweet name – Ra – Ma, rama-nama. Actually, they are two security guards named Ra and Ma, and these two securities are guarding the life-air of mother Sita-devi. So, ‘nāma pāharū divasa nisi’ - Sita-devi is day and night chanting rama-nama.”
Hanuman continued, “So ‘nāma pāharū’, pāharū means security guard. ‘Dhyāna tumhāra kapāṭa’ - what is Sita-devi’s mind doing? Meditating on You. ‘Dhyāna tumhāra kapāṭa ‘- kapāṭa means door, which also keeps Sita-devi’s life air from escaping her body.”
‘Nija pada locana’ – Sita-devi’s eyes are completely concentrated on the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra. This is the lock on the door. With these three security measures in place, how can Sita-devi’s life-air possibly exit her body? How can you enter a house with three security systems or three obstacles? First, there are two gatekeepers. After the gatekeepers, there is one big phataka. Phataka means door. Then, the door is also protected by a lock. Sita-devi wants to surrender her life-air, but by chanting rama-nama, by meditating her mind on the Lord, and concentrating her eyes on the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra, Sita-devi was unable to give up her life-air. Tulasi dasa explains this concept in this way.
nāma pāharū divasa nisi dhyāna tumhāra kapāṭa, nija pada locana jaṁtrita jāhiṃ prāna kehi bāṭa
How could Sita-devi’s life-air possibly escape her body? Which way would it exit? So, the conclusion is, once a lover meets with a beloved, it is impossible for them to separate. Uddhava elaborated on this tattva-siddhanta also:
viraheṇa mahā-bhāgā
mahān me ’nugrahaḥ kṛtaḥ
Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.47.27)
[O most glorious gopis. Indeed, by exhibiting your love for Krishna in separation from Him, you have shown me great mercy.]
Uddhava spoke these things, actually, it was Yogamaya who manifested on the tongue of Uddhava when he told the gopis, “Viraheṇa mahā-bhāgā mahān me ’nugrahaḥ kṛtaḥ. O vraja-devi-gana, this is your viraha, separation from Krishna, but this separation is not true. Through your viraha mood, you are just showing how much love and affection you have with Krishna. ‘Viraheṇa mahā-bhāgā’ - you are only mercifully showing me what kinds of love and affection you have towards Krishna.”
As I mentioned earlier, during the time of viraha (separation) you can measure what kinds of love and affection you have towards your ishtadeva, your worshipable deities. When meeting with your ishtadeva, you perhaps will not be able to measure the amount of love and affection. Krishna, Himself shared this katha with the gopis. He said, “Yathā dūra-care preṣṭhe.” A chaste lady will always remember her husband during the time of their separation. In this way, during viraha both are actually meeting each other. This means the viraha nourishes the meeting. Try to understand this.
Jaya Sita-devi ki jaya!
Jaya Bhagavan Ramachandra ki jaya!
Gaura Premanande!Hari Haribol!
Date: 30 April 2016 Location: Skype
Transcriber: Sanatana dasa (USA) Editor: Damodara dasa (UK), Sanatana dasa (USA) Proofreader: Chandrika dasi (UK), Sanatana dasa (USA) Integrity check: Divya-premamayi dasi (Slovakia) Image: Navina-krishna dasa (Holland)
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