{"id":6373,"date":"2019-02-13T08:30:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T15:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6373"},"modified":"2019-02-13T08:30:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T15:30:41","slug":"rasakhan-nectar-radha-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/13\/rasakhan-nectar-radha-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasakhan – Nectar Radha"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nectar Radha
\nby Rasakhan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Shyamdas<\/font><\/p>\n

When Radha\u2019s eyes bashfully meet Hari\u2019s,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 their delightful gestures
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 entice His heart.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her enchanting banter swindles His mind.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her words divulge an exquisite disposition.<\/p>\n

She puts Her lips to His,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 filling that Abode of elixir
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with the nectar of Her very soul.<\/p>\n

<\/em>Although Krishna is an expert in all of love\u2019s spells,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Radha captivates God
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with a few soft syllables.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Treasure House of Love: Poems of Rasakhan<\/a>, Translated by Shyamdas<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\/ Image by Vishnu108<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

How about some bhakti verses in honor of Valentine\u2019s Day?<\/p>\n

As with many bhakti poems, this is, on the surface, a poem of lovers, Radha and Krishna (also referred to as Hari). But these, like the Song of Songs in the Bible, are usually understood to reflect deeper spiritual truths. Radha is the soul, the spiritual seeker. Krishna is the one the soul seeks, the eternal Beloved, God. Radha\u2019s yearning and seeking is the spiritual journey. Their love play is spiritual union.<\/p>\n

Most bhakti poems dwell on how Krishna\u2019s enchanting beauty draws Radha (the soul) to him. God\/Krishna is, after all, \u201can expert in all of love\u2019s spells,\u201d for all sincere seekers are in love with the Divine One. In truth, every soul, no matter how closed off, has a deep-seated hunger for something, and that yearning, whether recognized or not, is ultimately for the eternal Beloved. Every single being is caught up in Krisnha\u2019s love spell.<\/p>\n

But these lines by Rasakhan point out that there is a reciprocal attraction, as well. The soul doesn\u2019t just reach out to the Divine. Turning one\u2019s attention eagerly toward the Beloved magnetically draws the Divine to the individual soul, as well. When done with total sincerity and with one\u2019s full, unedited being, a response from the Beloved becomes unavoidable.<\/p>\n

In this way, \u201cRadha captivates God \/ with a few soft syllables.\u201d We can be more specific and understand Radha\u2019s \u201cenchanting banter\u201d and \u201cfew soft syllables\u201d as being her use of mantra. The repetition of mantra helps the mind, the heart, all of our energies to be enlivened with a focused attention on the Divine. It awakens awareness of the inner mantra, the inner vibration. One\u2019s whole being becomes a love song directed toward God. How can the Beloved not be lured by this enticing melody?<\/p>\n

The soul and God draw each other, the two becoming enfolded within their mutual love.<\/p>\n

Have a beautiful Valentine\u2019s Day with your beloved \/ Beloved.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Rasakhan<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Treasure House of Love: Poems of Rasakhan<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\nRasakhan<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

India (1534? \u2013 1619?) Timeline<\/a>
\nYoga \/ Hindu<\/a> : Vaishnava (Krishna\/Rama)<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Like Kabir and a few other celebrated poet-saints of India, Rasakhan melded within himself both Islam and Hinduism.<\/p>\n

He was born to a wealthy Muslim family in India, possibly near Delhi. His birth name was Saiyad Ibrahim, and he later took the spiritual name Rasakhan. He is said to have had a good education and he spoke both Hindi and Persian (Farsi).<\/p>\n

Most of his poems are ecstatic bhakti songs exploring the love between Radha and Lord Krishna, written in the Hindi language.<\/p>\n

Rasakhan also translated the Srimad Bhagavatam (one of the great scriptures in the Krishna bhakti tradition) into Persian<\/p>\n

More poetry by Rasakhan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nectar Radha by Rasakhan English version by Shyamdas When Radha\u2019s eyes bashfully meet Hari\u2019s, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 their delightful gestures \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 entice His heart. Her enchanting banter swindles His mind. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her words divulge an exquisite disposition. She puts Her lips to His, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 filling that Abode of elixir \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with the nectar of Her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[475,16,14,931,474,1541,2240,974,19],"class_list":["post-6373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-beloved","tag-bhakti-poetry","tag-hindu-poetry","tag-krishna-poetry","tag-lover-and-beloved","tag-nectar","tag-radha-krishna","tag-rasakhan","tag-sufi-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6374,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6373\/revisions\/6374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}