What is RadhaKalyanam ? I had heard of Rukmani kalyanam , Seeta kalyanam , Gauri kalyanam , Valli kalyanam ..but does ever Radha get married to Krishna ? what is this marriage ritual all about ?
I guess the first Radhakalyana I ever attended was the one conducted by Guru Vittal Das in Indiranagar Sangeeta Sabha 2009 I guess. It started with discourse of the Maha Bhakata Vijaya , stories of the saints of India during Bhakti movement period , Divyanamam and then the last day he explained Jayadeva's Ashtapadi , all 24 chapters and concluded the Radha kalyanam , perfect. This was my first experience and I am mesmerized till date. The experience I had cannot be explained in words , I have been attending many Radhkalyanam's till date what made me wonder is the people conducting , the manner in which it is being done and the content.
Majorly the people who conduct this are Tamil Brahmins I guess mostly Smarthites i.e. Iyers , its conducted for two days and they sing songs form all language , whatever concerns Krishna!!
We all know the names of saint , but learning their life , doing extensive studies on their Kritis ,to sing them to perfection to the ragas they were composed many years ago is a challenge..Amazing! I always thought that Tamilians would not learn another language at any cost ! I am mistaken here , how many Kannadigas know PurandaraDasa , his life history or the meaning of his Kritis ?? how many telugu people know Bhadrachala Ramadas or Tyagaraja or Annamaya's life history or the meaning to their kritis ? leave alone meaning can they identify the kritis when sung ? how many Maharastrians know all the saints who were ardent devotees of Vittal , their biography , or the meaning to those Abhangs along with the enchanting hindustani raags they are composed in. How many Eastern Indians know Ashtapadis all 24 by heart ? or the bhajans of Tulasi das or Kabir das ?
How manay Malayalees know Jnapanam composed by Poonthanam ? or the story of the Guruvayoor temple and Narayana Bhattathiri ? How many know Narayana theertha's Krithis or Sadashiva Brahmendra ?
All of these are know in detail and sung in the matter of two days :) its not just the feast to the ears but so divine ? this is such a wonderful culture singing songs that originated from different corners of country all covered under one ritual ie Radhakalyanam. Its like plucking flower from different gardens making a garland of variety of flowers and decorating Lord Vittal's feet. I am still mesmerized waiting to attend the next Radhakalyana event.
The origin of Radhakalayana is from the Rass leela of Maha Bhagavat , that which inspired Sadguru Jayadeva to write Ashtapadi , Gita Govindam..which is majorly sung to wed Radha and Krishna during this ritual.
I guess the first Radhakalyana I ever attended was the one conducted by Guru Vittal Das in Indiranagar Sangeeta Sabha 2009 I guess. It started with discourse of the Maha Bhakata Vijaya , stories of the saints of India during Bhakti movement period , Divyanamam and then the last day he explained Jayadeva's Ashtapadi , all 24 chapters and concluded the Radha kalyanam , perfect. This was my first experience and I am mesmerized till date. The experience I had cannot be explained in words , I have been attending many Radhkalyanam's till date what made me wonder is the people conducting , the manner in which it is being done and the content.
Majorly the people who conduct this are Tamil Brahmins I guess mostly Smarthites i.e. Iyers , its conducted for two days and they sing songs form all language , whatever concerns Krishna!!
We all know the names of saint , but learning their life , doing extensive studies on their Kritis ,to sing them to perfection to the ragas they were composed many years ago is a challenge..Amazing! I always thought that Tamilians would not learn another language at any cost ! I am mistaken here , how many Kannadigas know PurandaraDasa , his life history or the meaning of his Kritis ?? how many telugu people know Bhadrachala Ramadas or Tyagaraja or Annamaya's life history or the meaning to their kritis ? leave alone meaning can they identify the kritis when sung ? how many Maharastrians know all the saints who were ardent devotees of Vittal , their biography , or the meaning to those Abhangs along with the enchanting hindustani raags they are composed in. How many Eastern Indians know Ashtapadis all 24 by heart ? or the bhajans of Tulasi das or Kabir das ?
How manay Malayalees know Jnapanam composed by Poonthanam ? or the story of the Guruvayoor temple and Narayana Bhattathiri ? How many know Narayana theertha's Krithis or Sadashiva Brahmendra ?
All of these are know in detail and sung in the matter of two days :) its not just the feast to the ears but so divine ? this is such a wonderful culture singing songs that originated from different corners of country all covered under one ritual ie Radhakalyanam. Its like plucking flower from different gardens making a garland of variety of flowers and decorating Lord Vittal's feet. I am still mesmerized waiting to attend the next Radhakalyana event.
The origin of Radhakalayana is from the Rass leela of Maha Bhagavat , that which inspired Sadguru Jayadeva to write Ashtapadi , Gita Govindam..which is majorly sung to wed Radha and Krishna during this ritual.
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DeleteWith corrections:
DeleteThis is what I heard about Raasaleela:
According to a popular way of describing the relationship between bhakta and bhagavan, bhaktas were called females and bhagavan(has really no gender) as male in Bhagavata. The bhaktas who were at the final step of attaining Bhagavan(moksha) only heard divine venunadha and proceeded leaving all their worldly bandhans to attain parabrahma. It is important to know that the bhakti marga leads to Gnana(Moksha) and you will not know when. So we have to put efforts to stay in bhakti marga.
If you are just worried about present life then also Bhakti marga should be your way. You know what happened to Kuchela and his family when Krishna took a small gulp of stuffed rice. It is important to note that Kuchela (Ku-chela: did not have a proper clothing) was a bramhagnani and was happy with whatever he had got(one of the requirement for a real Brahmin) and actually he did not ask Krishna anything. The above characteristics made him as one of the greatest devotees of Krishna.
Jai Krishna parabrahma!
Simha you should be writing more blogs ..
ReplyDeleteYes sure :)
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