आमुक्तमाल्यदा (विजयनगर सम्राट् श्रीकृष्णदेवराय - गोदा देवी आण्डाल भक्ति एवं साम्राज्य-नीति)

60 Goda's Garland of Devotion
II
Goda's years of childhood and girlhood
were one long tune of bliss-consciousness.
Hers was a home where Father's rhapsodies
envisioned Krishna's childhood and boyhood,
and she too learned to sing, dance, praise,
weave exquisite flower-garlands,
and presently lisp in numbers
and re-live radiant Krishna's feats.
When Vishnuchitta sees maiden Goda
beautify herself with Krishna's garlands,
He has a father's joy of fulfilment:
"How well they suit her ..
but this is truly a flame-born bride!"
He tells her admonishingly: "But child,
you shouldn't wear the garland first."
"Why not?" the words leap out of her lips:
"Isn't Krishna mine, mine?"
"True, my child, yet there's custom, law..."
"Change them, then !"
Krishna smiles and abides by her wish:
"Let Goda wear the garlands first,
then offer them to me!"
Amazed Vishnuchitta bows in his dream
before the blinding Glory.
Strange the rites of self-consecration:
seeking Krishna, who had accepted
the champak-jasmine-bakul ensembles
that carried the scent of her tresses,
Vishnuchitta's beloved daughter
is certain of her destiny:

Goda Devi: A Lyric Dawn 61
"With him, with Krishna, I breathe;
without him, I cannot exist!"
III
Meet him she must, but how? Will he come?
Didn't he give the slip to the Vraja girls?
But he responded to Rukmani's call,
and he'll not fail me either:
isn't he Nandagopa's darling son,
the flute-player of Brindavan,
the indwelling universal,
the life-throb in all creation:
he'll not fail me, my lord Kirshna!
Yea, how shall I seek him?
He's the Lord supreme of all the worlds;
I'm no Garuda to reach him
in a heady canter...
Four his powers and manifestations,
yet they elude my human grasp.
Isn't he the king of the Castle within,
the Antaryāmi in my heart's cave?
I cannot dig so deep, I'm human,
and want him human too.
This is no age for an avatar,
but in his auspicious archa form
I will certainly be his bride.
Now commence Goda's austerities:
the month of godliness, Mārgasīrsa,
finds her engaged in askesis
along with other Vraja maidens:

62 Goda's Garland of Devotion
body, life-force, mind, feeling, will, soul,
all are surrendered to the Lord Divine.
A new light lit in her consciousness,
Goda plunges into the deeps of devotion
and makes herself God's true serviteur.
The cold days swiftly pass by
in music, dance, meditation and prayer.
She visits the Temple of Kāma
and with datura and palasa invokes
the elusive God of Love.
She begs the kuyil and the parrot,
other birds, flowers, and even the cloud,
to convey her message to Krishna.
As she feels self-lost remembering
how Krishna sang his way to Brindavan,
the Vision grows clear, she has seen:
she has seen the Lord in Brindavan.
IV
Holding the dear image in her heart,
her ardour giving her wings of flight,
Goda journeys to distant lands
in search of the Lord of her being.
Single-pointed her action,
and a frenzy of consecration:
but where is Krishna, where his ready Grace?
Vishnuchitta accompanies her
as she goes the round of shrines,
and seeks remedies for his ailing child!

Goda Devi: A Lyric Dawn 63
As the two walk at last the foot-path way
mid the fields of waving paddy golden-sheened,
the spires of Srirangam beckon to them,
and they enter the sacred city.
Isn't this holy spread on earth
a twin of the celestial world above?
Isn't this picturesque island formed
by the parted waters of Kaveri?
Isn't this marvellous corner Nature-blest
chosen by the cosmic Spirit
for his ineluctable Yogic trance?
Isn't this the refuge of the struggling soul
that has seen aeons of births and sorrows?
Isn't this the centre of earth-existence
for the soul caught in the noose of Bhakti?
Isn't this the elected sanctuary,
for Goda Devi's Tryst with the Divine?
V
As Vishnuchitta leads his wonder-child
towards the eternal Bridegroom,
the sum of all auspicious attributes,
Goda becomes Krishnachitta.
Her being plunges into an ocean of bliss.
Whither has reason gone? Has her ego
raced to the abyss of nothingness?
Has she still a body? Isn't she all-soul now?
And isn't this Soul the Truth of Truths?
a power of all-consciousness, all-joy?
Ah how explain this Delight of Existence!
this all-beautiful, all-blissful?

64 Goda's Garland of Dev.
Yea, this is the moment in human time
that cuts across timeless time:
this is the movement is terrestrial terms
that alchemises earth-clay into divine Light.
This is the journey's end for those
who choose the path of Divine Life.
The Lord smiles as Goda gets merged in him:
ah whither has gone the bright young bride?
Vishnuchitta grasps the secret
of the wedding of the Lord and his Spouse,
comprehending the eternities.
For the present, the colour, joy and the smile;
For all future time, Truth's self-delight.
Ah, infinite Lover! compassionate Lord!
Was it to make us see and sing
this symphony of divine Delight
grown native on our beautiful earth,
you missioned your consort Vasundhara
to take a human birth as Goda
in Villipputtur, in Pandyan land?

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