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The Be-all and End-all

Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj summarises the truth revealed in the gāyatrī-mantra.

I think that I am able to take out from gāyatrī the meaning of Rādhā-Govinda-līlā, which is śrutibhir vimṛgyam (SB: 10.47.61) [sought after even by the Vedas]. Veda-mātā Gāyatrī, the mother of all revealed truth, is present within this formula of the Brahma-gāyatrī. If we can see the deeper meaning there, we see Rādhā-dāsyam. The gāyatrī wants to teach us the service of Rādhārāṇī. Gāyatrī means ganāt trāyate: by singing which we can get liberation. Liberation, to the utmost means to Goloka; it means svarūpeṇa-vyavasthitiḥ (SB: 2.10.6): to get back the identification of our function in Goloka, in the highest, innermost corner of our hearts. Kīrtan and vaṁśī-dhvani [the sound of the flute], set us right and put us in the proper service. Trāṇa, liberation, as in ganāt trāyate, in the fullest sense, means to come to the position where we can get the opportunity of rendering our best service to Kṛṣṇa, to Rādhikā. And by gāyatrī, by chanting this formula, we can hope to have such realisation, that realised position.

I have also written a verse about this meaning of gāyatrī. Bhargo means the land of dedication, the svarūp-śakti-nirmitta-jagat [the world constructed by Kṛṣṇa’s personal energy]. Devasya means Kṛṣṇasya, līlāmaya Puruṣasya. Deva means līlāmaya, playful, and deva means sundara, beautiful. Deva means He who is playful and beautiful, who has a habit of beautiful playfulness. Bhargo means the whole territory of dedicating service, and that is the extension of Rādhārāṇī, the other half, the negative half of the Absolute. The Absolute has both a positive and negative aspect [Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa]. Gāyatrī points each and every one of us towards that goal, that end. Veda-mātā Gāyatrī contains in a nutshell the whole truth of the Veda: “Go to the beautiful! Go to that love! That is the desired end, the be-all and end-all of everyone.” We can’t deny it. None can deny it. We may not have it, but still we can’t deny it. It is of such position.

Nitāi came to give Gaurāṅga, Gaurāṅga came to give Rādhā-dāsyam—Rādhā-Govinda, our Gurudev came to give them all to the world, and your Prabhupād give them to the world at large, the whole world beyond India. So, we bow down to those great personalities here.

Reference

Spoken 10 March 1981.

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