Arati kīrtana — songs for Arati

Arati-kirtana is the second section of Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's 1893 collection of seventy songs glorifying Sri Gaura and Sri Krishna, coming directly after Arunodaya-kirtana and holding four songs. Arati is the ceremony of offering lamps, incense, and other items to the Deities at set times through the day, and songs written for it are meant to accompany that specific ritual rather than serve as private reflection read at leisure. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura placed this section right after the book's opening dawn songs, and its four songs are addressed in turn to Gaura-Gadadhara, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu together with His constant companion Sri Gadadhara Pandita; to Gauracandra, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself; to Radha-Krishna directly; and, in a bhoga-arati for the midday offering, to Sri Gaurahari as none other than Krishna who sports in the pastures of Vraja — giving the book's opening ceremonial songs a deliberate pairing of Mahaprabhu's own worship with the worship of Krishna and Radha that the rest of Gitavali will go on to explore at much greater length. Unlike the Radhastaka section much later in the book, which is written for reflection on Radharani's glories, this section's songs exist to be sung in real time, during the ritual itself, which likely accounts for their brevity and their focus on the concrete act of offering rather than extended theological development.