Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
Bilvamangala Thakura was a famous Vaishnava saint who performed solitary bhajana on the banks of Brahma-kunda. There are many legends about him and it is said that he lived in Vrindavana for seven hundred years, but this cannot be confirmed by any historical evidence. The details of his life are somewhat sketchy and the date of his birth is not known, but probobly appeared in the eighth century and originally hailed from the Southern Indian state of Kerala. He is said to have been a disciple of Vishnuswami of the Rudra Vaishnava sampradaya. There were three acharyas in that sampradaya with the same name: Adi Vishnuswami (3rd century BCE) was the first Vaishnava acharya to adopt tridandi-sannyasa, which he brought into practice and initiated over seven hundred sannyasa disciples. It was he who introduced the Astottara-satanami-sannyasa (108 designations of sannyasis), including the dasanami which was later adopted by Sankaracharya in his sect. The second was Raja Gopala Vishnuswami (8th or 9th century CE), and the third was Andhra Vishnuswami (14th century CE). It appears that Bilvamangala lived during the period of Raja Gopala Vishnuswami. However, in the preface to his book Krishna-karnamrita, Bilvamangala mentions Chintamani as his shiksha-guru and Somagiri as his diksha-guru. Therefore it is plausible that Somagiri was a guru in the Vishnuswami sampradaya during the period of Raja Gopala Vishnuswami. It appears that Bilvamangala was a life-long follower of the Vishnuswami sampradaya and some say he became an acharya in that sampradaya. According to some old inscriptions found at Dwarka in Gujarat State, one Bilvamangala established the temple of Lord Dwarkadisha there, but whether it is the same Bilvamangala is unclear.
Bilvamangala Thakura is famous for his devotional songs and he also wrote the celebrated book Krishna-karnamrita, about Radha and Krishna’s transcendental pastimes in Vrindavana. This particular book was a favorite of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Swarupa Damodara would regularly recite the verses of this book for the Lord’s pleasure. Because of his expertise in presenting the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, he was given the name Lilasuka (the Sukadeva of Krishna-lila). Sometimes he is confused with another blind saint of Vrindavana named Surdas, who lived at Chandra-sarovara near Govardhana Hill in the late 16th century. Bilvamangala composed many verses, poems and songs about Radha-Krishna prema-rasa but his most famous work is Krishna-karnamrita, which was the first book to reveal the supreme position of Srimati Radharani. In the later writings of Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, Ramananda Raya, Prabodhananda Saraswati, Krishna Dasa Kaviraja, and Vishvanatha Chakravarti, they expanded on the concept of exclusively serving and worshiping Srimati Radharani, the Queen of Vrindavana and the supreme controller of even Krishna Himself. Krishna-karnamrita is an extremely exalted scripture meant for the most advanced devotees; the word ‘karnamrita’ means ‘nectar to the ears’. Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami wrote an important commentary on this book entitled Saranga-rangada.
Legend says that one day as Bilvamangala Thakura was singing his bhajanas on the bank of Brahma-kunda, Krishna appeared before him in the guise of an ordinary Vrajavasi cowherd boy and said, “Oh, my dear sir, why are you not eating anything? Why don’t you take some milk?” The Thakura replied “Oh, who are you, my dear boy?” Krishna replied “Oh, I am a cowherd boy of this village and if you like I can bring you milk every day.” The Thakur was very happy and said “All right.” So Krishna supplied Bilvamangala milk every day and they became friends. The cowherd boy would also help Bilvamangala by guiding here and there and make sure he had a comfortable resting place. At first Bilvamangala had no clue about the identity of this wonderful Vrajavasi cowherd boy. But then one day Bilvamangala heard the cowherd boy play his flute and was immediately enraptured by the transcendental sound of the flute. Suddenly, Bilvamangala realized that this cowherd boy was non-other than Krishna Himself, the Lord of his life. He eagerly reached out to touch Krishna, but Krishna instead touched Bilvamangala’s hand and while laughing He ran away. Bilvamangala then said, “You can run away from my hand, but You can never run away from my heart.”
There is a very famous story about Bilvamangala Thakura during his youth, which says that he fell in love with a very beautiful prostitute named Chintamani. She was a beautiful dancing girl, a musician and also a harlot. He was so overcome and smitten by her charms, that he was prepared to risk even his own life to see her. Bilvamangala had just performed the last rites of his father, but regardless he was overcome with such a blazing passion that he could only think of enjoying sex with Chintamani. As night fell there was a dark and fearful storm, but he was so obsessed that he just had to see Chintamani even though the weather conditions were really bad. In order to reach Chintamani’s house Bilvamangala had to face the onslaught of the powerful wind and driving rain. He also had to cross a swollen river and as there were no boats, he latched onto what he thought was a log to paddle across; in fact when he reached the other side, the log turned out to be a dead corpse. It is said that once he reached the house of Chintamani, the gate was locked and due to the howling wind, no one could hear him knocking on the door. He then decided to scale the high compound wall surrounding the house and began to climb the wall with the help of a long vine that was hanging down. When he reached the top of the wall, he realized that the long vine was in fact a very long snake entwined within the vines. Unperturbed, he made his way to Chintamani’s bedroom and knocked on the door.
When Chintamani opened the door, she could not believe her eyes, she was simply amazed to see Bilvamangala standing there, soaking wet and having braved such a terrible storm in order just to see her. Although Chintamani was a prostitute, she had great faith in Lord Krishna. On realizing that Bilvamangala had gone through such an incredible endeavor just to meet her she exclaimed, “If you had just one thousandth of the affection for Bhagavan as you have for me, you would be able to become a siddha-purusha and behold the transcendental beauty of Lord Krishna. On hearing these wise words of Chintamani, Bilvamangala was both shocked and embarrassed. Accepting the words of Chintamani as those of his guru, he immediately resolved to renounce the world and devote his life to the service of Lord Krishna. Having taken sannyasa and set out on the path of renunciation, Bilvamangala was once again allured to enjoy sex. While begging alms from a brahmana’s house, he became captivated by the beauty of the brahmana’s young wife. As it was the religious duty of a brahmana to offer a sannyasi whatever he wished, Bilvamangala was about to ask if he could enjoy the company of the brahmana’s wife, but at that moment he suddenly realized what a dastardly thing he was about to do. Instead Bilvamangala asked the brahmana’s wife to give him her hair-pin, saying, “Alas, these eyes have become my worst enemy,” and he immediately pierced both of his eyes with the pin and was instantly blinded.
