Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 47 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

আভরণ মণিময়,        প্রতি অঙ্গে অভিনয়,

কহে দীন নরোত্তম দাস ।

নিশি দিশি গুণ গাই,        পরম আনন্দ পাই,

মনে মোর এই অভিলাষ ॥ ৪৭ ॥

ābharaṇa maṇimaya,        prati aṅge abhinaya,

kahe dīna narottama dāsa |

niśi diśi guṇa gāi,        parama ānanda pāi,

mane mora ei abhilāṣa || 47 ||

     Like actors, Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are adorned with jeweled ornaments on every limb. Lowly Narottama Dāsa says, “My heartfelt wish is that I may attain the highest joy by singing day and night of your glories.”

Personal Aspiration

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After describing Śrī Yugala-Kiśora’s adornments of love as he perceived them in his mystic vision, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then submits his personal aspiration at the tips of their lotus feet. First, he speaks about their jeweled ornaments: ābharaṇa maṇimaya, prati aṅge abhinaya, kahe dīna narottama dāsa. Śrī Yugala-Kiśora are not only adorned with various ornaments of love, but each of their limbs are also beautified by ornaments made with gems and jewels. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s body is always adorned with the great kaustubha jewel and Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s with the splendid syamantaka. Beyond that, Mother Yaśomatī also puts ornaments made of various kinds of gems and jewels on Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s limbs. The sakhīs and mañjarīs similarly decorate Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s beautiful limbs with ornaments made of gems and jewels. Moreover, when Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are enjoying pastimes in the arboreal cottage, the sakhīs and mañjarīs adorn them with jeweled ornaments. Like actors and actresses, Śrī Yugala-Kiśora are always adorned with various kinds of colorful clothing and ornaments.

     After describing the sweetness of Śrī Yugala as experienced in his vision, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya now offers his prayer at their lotus feet: niśi diśi guṇa gāi, parama ānanda pāi, mane mora ei abhilāṣa. “Singing day and night of your virtues, I shall attain the highest joy; this is my heart’s desire.” Śrī Bhagavān is ānandamaya (filled with joy) or rasamaya (filled with rasa). We learn of Śrī Bhagavān’s joyful nature from statements in śruti such as prajñānam ānandam brahma, raso vai saḥ and so on. That ānanda or rasa is most fully manifested in Śrī Bhagavān’s names, forms, qualities and pastimes. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is therefore revealing his personal desire at the lotus feet of his most beloved Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava: that he may be able to sing day and night of their virtues. In this way, he will be blessed with the ultimate joy that he desires. But bhaktas have no desire to attain joy; they merely remain absorbed in service to their beloved. By saying parama ānanda pāi here, is Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then desiring happiness for himself? Such a question is no doubt justified, but in this instance, the author is not saying this with the intent to attain personal happiness. By saying niśi diśi guṇa gāi, he is asking that he may sing of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s qualities. Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava feel great joy when they hear their glories being sung. Śrī Hari even leaves his own abode to reside in the places where his pastimes are sung. nāhaṁ vasāmi vaikuṇṭhe na yogi-hṛdaye ravau, mad-bhaktā yatra gāyanti tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada (Padma-Purāṇa). “O Nārada! I reside neither in Vaikuṇṭha, nor in the yogī’s heart nor within the sun; I remain where my devotees sing.” When he hears the singing of his glories, he feels great joy; his joy then causes ecstasy to awaken in the heart of the bhakta. After receiving this spiritual joy, the bhakta never again seeks happiness independently.

     The purport is that when the bhakta performs service to Śrī Bhagavān, the devotion in his heart causes the naturally joyful Lord to become even more pleased. prītaḥ svayaṁ prītim agāt (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.15.13). This experience is very powerful. “When Śrī Bhagavān feels happy, I also become happy.” The search for personal happiness does not arise independently in a bhakta’s heart, but, just as when a tree is watered at the root, the branches and leaves are delighted, so also when Śrī Bhagavān is happy, the bhakta’s own heart and mind are filled with joy. Because of that pleasurable feeling, a powerful thirst for even more bhagavat-sevā arises in the bhakta’s heart. It shall be understood that Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is expressing his desire here for the highest joy: that which is filled with longing for bhagavat-sevā.

Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 46 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

শ্রীমুখ সুন্দর-বর,        হেম-নীল-কান্তি-ধর,

ভাব-ভূষণ করু শোভা ।

নীল-পীত-বাস-ধর,        গৌরী-শ্যাম মনোহর,

অন্তরের ভাবে দুঁহু লোভা ॥ ৪৬ ॥

śrī-mukha sundara-bara,        hema-nīla-kānti-dhara,

bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā |

nīla-pīta-bāsa-dhara,        gaurī-śyāma manohara,

antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā || 46 ||

     Their faces are most beautiful, they bear golden and dark-blue complexions and are adorned with ornaments of love. Charming Gaurī and Śyāma respectively wear clothing of blue and yellow. They long for each other’s love.

The Ornaments of Love

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After having a vision of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava adorned with love, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya now describes it further in this verse: śrī-mukha sundara-bara, hema-nīla-kānti-dhara, bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā. One extraordinary characteristic of the spiritual poetry composed by great, thoughtful poets who have attained direct realization is that by hearing and singing these poems, the members of the audience easily gain some insight into the poet’s heart and mind. By reading or reciting the above-mentioned simple and easily understood verses, one naturally concludes that the author is describing the forms of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa that he had seen directly before him. He is describing their innate mādhurī, or sweetness, not some kind of make-believe. śrī-mukha sundara-bara. By using this one small word, bara, he has indicated the boundless depth of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s charm and beauty. The beauty of their lotus faces is beyond the beauty of all others. It must be understood that such beauty does not exist either in the material world or even in any other realm or form of Śrī Bhagavān. Even compared to the beauty of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s lotus faces when they are separated, their beauty when together is bara, meaning greater or more delightful. gopī-preme kare kṛṣṇa-mādhuryera puṣṭi, mādhurya-bāḍhāya premā haiyā mahātuṣṭi (CC. Ādi 4.198). The gopīs’ love increases Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness, and his sweetness greatly increases their love. Above all, in the presence of mahābhāvamayī Śrī Rādhā, the crest-jewel of all gopikās, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ocean of sweetness swells immensely. When Śrī Rādhā sees Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s moonlike face, her own ocean of sweetness swells with powerful waves of infinite beauty. Śrī Kṛṣṇa says in Śrī Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.140-142,

yadyapi nirmala rādhāra sat-prema-darpaṇa |

tathāpi svacchatā tāra bāḍe kṣaṇe kṣaṇa ||

āmāra mādhuryera nāhi bāḍite abakāśe |

e darpaṇera āge naba naba rūpe bhāse ||

man-mādhurya rādhā-prema doṅhe hoḍa kari |

kṣaṇe kṣaṇe bāḍe doṅhe keha nāhi hāri ||

     “Even though Śrī Rādhā’s mirror of true love is pure, still, its transparency increases at every moment. And though my own mādhurya has no room to increase, before this mirror it appears in ever fresher form. My mādhurya and Rādhā’s prema challenge each other, and though both increase at every moment, neither knows defeat.”

     Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is relishing Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness in his mystic vision. After first describing the beauty of their lotus faces, he now describes their radiant complexions:  hema-nīla-kānti-dhara. With their respective fair and dark complexions, Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s mādhurī is resplendent. The forests of Vraja are illumined by Śrī Rādhā’s golden luster and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s dark-blue luster. In Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 10.38, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda has written,

ananta-rati-manmathonmathana-darpa-śobhāmayaṁ

mithaḥ praṇaya-kīlitaṁ kim api gaura-nīla-cchaviḥ |

ananta-rasa-vāridhau buḍitam antapārojjhite

mahaḥ prathama-yauvanaṁ dvayam udeti vṛndāvane ||

     “The beauty of that youthful couple crushes the pride of countless gods of love and their wives. They are bound to each other by their mutual love. Their complexions are golden and dark-blue, and they are submerged in an endless, boundless ocean of rasa. Their splendor now spreads throughout Śrī Vṛndāvana.” Spreads throughout means their splendor is spreading like moonlight. Moreover, bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā: those two with the dark-blue and golden complexions are adorned with ornaments of love, such as goosebumps and tears.

sarvāṅge pulakāvalīm aruṇatām akṣṇor vaco’nanvayaṁ

yānaṁ ca skhalitaṁ mitho vivadanaṁ keśāmbarāsaṁvṛtim |

mālyādi-truṭanaṁ muhuḥ prahasitaṁ bhūyo rasātyunmadaṁ

yatrābhūd dvaya-gaura-nīla-mahasas tan naumi vṛndāvanam ||

     “I bow to Śrī Vṛndāvana, where unprecedented ornaments of love are displayed. The golden and dark-blue limbs of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are covered with goosebumps, their eyes reddened, their speech incoherent. They stumble when they walk and quarrel lovingly with each other. Their hair and clothing are disheveled, their garlands and necklaces broken. They laugh constantly and repeatedly become delirious, overwhelmed with rasa.” (Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 10.32)

     Or, ornaments of love means (1) bhāva: emotion; (2) hāva: artistic gestures or poses; (3) helā: amorous desire; (4) śobhā: beauty; (5) kānti: beauty enhanced by love; (6) dīpti: splendor; (7) mādhurya: sweetness; (8) prāgalbhya: boldness, confidence; (9) audārya: generosity; (10) dhairya: patience; (11) līlā: playful sport, such as imitation of one’s lover; (12) vilāsa: feminine gestures indicative of amorous desire; (13) vicchitti: a particular type of amorous gesture consisting of carelessness in dress and decoration; (14) vibhrama: confusion; (15) kilakiñcita: amorous agitation such as weeping, laughing, being angry, merry and so on in the company of one’s lover; (16) moṭṭāyita: silent, involuntary expression of affection toward an absent lover, as when a woman, her mind being taken up by her lover, scratches her ear and so on when he is remembered or spoken of; (17) kuṭṭamita: affected repulse of a lover’s caresses; (18) bibboka: affectation of indifference toward a beloved object through pride and conceit; (19) lalita: charm; (20) vikṛta: changes in behavior, appearance and so on; (21) maugdha: innocence; and (22) cakita: trembling.* When Śrī Kṛṣṇa sees these bhāvālaṅkāras adorning Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s beautiful body, corresponding ones appear on his own. The forms of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are made even more enchanting by these wonderful and extraordinary ornaments of love.

     He then says, nīla-pīta-bāsa-dhara, gaurī-śyāma manohara, antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā. The captivating Gaurī and Śyāma have respectively donned blue and yellow clothing. By wearing blue clothing from head to toe on her love-filled body, fair-complexioned Śrī Rādhārāṇī is proclaiming that Śyāmasundara has occupied her heart and is personally present with her. By wearing yellow cloth, Śyāmasundara is proclaiming that Gaurī Śrī Rādhārāṇī has occupied his heart and accompanies him always. In this way, they both long for each other with heartfelt affection.

     Or, antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā can also be interpreted to mean that Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are allured by the love in their devotee’s heart rather than to various kinds of external worship devoid of love. From Padyāvalī 13:

nānopacāra-kṛta-pūjanam ārta-bandhoḥ

premṇaiva bhakta-hṛdayaṁ sukha-vidrutaṁ syāt |

yāvat kṣud asti jaṭhare jaṭharā pipāsā

tāvat sukhāya bhavato nanu bhakṣya-peye ||

     “O devotee! When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the friend of the afflicted, is lovingly worshiped with various kinds of articles, his heart melts with joy.** As long as there is strong hunger and thirst in the stomach, food and drink are no doubt enjoyable and satisfying.” The loving devotee of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa gradually becomes enticed by the rasa of their forms, qualities and pastimes. The love in the sādhaka’s heart similarly awakens Śrī Yugala-Kiśora’s attraction for him or her. Because their hearts and minds are charmed by the fortunate devotee’s love, their desire to taste that love is expressed within and without.

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*The characteristics of each of these as well as examples can be seen in the Anubhāva Prakaraṇa of Śrī Ujjvala- Nīlamaṇi.

**Another interpretation of this verse: “When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the friend of the afflicted, is lovingly worshiped with various kinds of articles, the devotee’s heart melts with joy.” (Translator)