सखीनां सङ्गिनीरूपामात्मानं वासनामयीम् ।
आज्ञासेवापरां तत्तद्रूपालङ्कार-भूषिताम् ॥ ५८ ॥
sakhīnāṁ saṅginī-rūpām ātmānaṁ vāsanā-mayīm |
ājñā-sevā-parāṁ tat-tad-rūpālaṅkāra-bhūṣitām || 58 ||
टीका–सखीनां श्रीललिता-श्रीरूपमञ्जर्यादीनां सङ्गिनीरूपाम् आत्मानं ध्यायेदिति शेषः । किम्भूताम्? आज्ञासेवापराम् आज्ञया तासामनुमत्या सेवापरां श्रीराधामाधवयोरिति शेषः । पुनः किम्भूताम्? तत्तद्रूपालङ्कारभूषितां सुप्रसिद्ध-श्रीकृष्णमनोहररूपेण श्रीराधिका-निर्माल्यालङ्कारेण भूषिताम्; निर्माल्यमाल्य-वसनाभरणास्तु दास्य इत्युक्तेः । पुनः किम्भूताम्? वासनामयीं चिन्तामयीम् ईक्षेत चिन्तामयमेतमीश्वरमित्यादिवत् ॥
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhaka shall contemplate himself as being an adolescent female companion of the sakhīs. She is devoted to serving Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava according to the sakhīs’ orders and is adorned with the flowers, garments and ornaments worn by Śrī Rādhikā.
Contemplating the Siddha-Deha
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya previously established the essential doctrines of the mañjarī-svarūpa and mañjarī-bhāva. As primary evidence of that he quotes one verse from the Śrī-Sanat-Kumāra-Saṁhitā tantra and one verse from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmipāda’s book Śrī-Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ. He first gives evidence from Śrī-Sanat-Kumāra-Saṁhitā: sakhīnāṁ saṅginī-rūpām ātmānaṁ vāsanā-mayīm, ājñā-sevā-parāṁ tat-tad-rūpālaṅkāra-bhūṣitām. “A rāgānugīya-sādhaka shall contemplate his own desired body as being in the form of an adolescent female companion of the sakhīs headed by Śrī Lalitā, Śrī Viśākhā and Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. She is devoted to serving Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava according to the sakhīs’ orders and is adorned with the flowers, garments and ornaments worn by Śrī Rādhikā.” Besides meditating on Śrī Lalitā, Śrī Viśākhā, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and the other sakhīs, following the siddha-praṇālī of his guru-paramparā the sādhaka also contemplates his own guru-mañjarī as a priya-narma-sakhī devoted to the loving service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. He contemplates himself as a kiṅkarī (maidservant) devoted to the order of his guru-mañjarī. In allegiance to Śrī Lalitā, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and so on, and by the order of śrī-guru-mañjarī, he contemplates his own loving service to Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. Corresponding evidence of this is also found in Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s words in verse thirty of his poem Prārthanā: guru-rūpā-sakhī-bāme, tribhaṅga-bhaṅgima-ṭhāme, cāmarera bātāsa kariba ity ādi. “With my body curved in three places, I shall stand to the left of my guru-rūpā-sakhī and cool the Divine Couple with a yak-tail fan.” The person who initiates his student in śrī-kṛṣṇa-mantra and teaches him how to perform rāgānugīya-bhajana is also the student’s guru-rūpā-sakhī in vraja-līlā. Even so, in the sādhaka-deha, the student must think of Śrī Gurudeva as the direct embodiment of Śrī Bhagavān’s kindness. Externally, the sādhaka should never approach Śrī Guru in an informal or familiar way because that would be against the words of the sādhus and śāstras.
Before the sakhīnāṁ saṅginī-rūpām verse in the Śrī-Sanat-Kumāra-Saṁhitā we find this verse: ātmānaṁ cintayet tatra tāsāṁ madhye manoramām, rūpa-yauvana-sampannāṁ kiśorīṁ pramadākṛtim. “The sādhaka shall meditate upon himself as a beautiful and charming adolescent girl living among Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s gopī lovers and their sakhīs.” In this verse, the word cintayet should be understood to mean that the sādhaka shall perceive himself as possessing a nature, form and so on similar to the nitya-siddha-sakhīs (according to the particulars of his ekādaśa-bhāva given by Śrī Gurudeva in the siddha-praṇālī). In this way, he maintains the firm self-concept that, “I am that body possessed of a certain nature and form.” If able to establish a firm self-concept in that svarūpa, the sādhaka is said to be very near to success (siddhi). Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has established this siddhānta by saying, astu tāvad bhajana-prayāsaḥ kevala tādṛśatvābhimānenāpi siddhir bhavatīti. “Not to speak of success by endeavoring in bhajana, one can attain siddhi simply by thinking of oneself as that svarūpa.”
The rāgānugā-bhajana of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas is an extraordinarily powerful spiritual psychology. Psychologists say that among the many powers that people are known to have, the power of thought that appears spontaneously in the brain is the greatest. In this world, objects rise and fall, are created and destroyed, introduced and rendered extinct. By research we can understand that at the root of them all, individually or collectively, sits the golden throne of thought. This is the fundamental reason for the customary honor given to the power of thought. The nature or characteristic of this power is that it is independent; for this reason, it is not confined to any fixed place. Its unrestricted movement extends to all places on earth and in the heavens. The fruit of this power is everlasting. Even after death, this power remains with one from whose brain it has expanded. When a pot is broken, the air within is not destroyed but rather mingles with the greater atmosphere. In the same way, the fruit of this mahāśakti is not destroyed when the human body dies. After that also, this creative power continues to govern the soul’s next human mind, just as the book of a powerful writer or the music of a powerful composer continues to increase the joy of their audience, offering them a bouquet of mental delight, even though no one speaks of the artist’s life or death. If worldly psychology has such power, then it is beyond the range of the human intellect to understand just how powerful thought can be with the help of a spiritual psychology or the sādhaka’s single-minded, transcendental devotion to Śrī Bhagavān. In fact, if the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhaka is intently engaged in meditating upon the sevā of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava while contemplating his own siddha-deha, considering that siddha-deha to be his true, natural form, he will with the help of the compatible, mercy-laden thoughts of the past sages very quickly become absorbed in bhāva and be brought to the kingdom of siddhi (success). Of this there is no doubt. In this we find the highest expression of spiritual psychology as well as the highest manifestation of Bhagavān’s mahāmādhurya-rasa in the heart of the sādhaka. Regarding meditation on the siddha-deha, the sādhaka should particularly understand that the primary way to prepare his heart and mind for being saturated with gopī-bhāva is to practice rāgānugā-sādhana in the mood of a gopī. Therefore, if one thinks of himself as having only the form of a gopikā, his contemplation of his siddha-deha will not go smoothly. His meditation will progress nicely if he contemplates his gopikā form as being steeped in gopī-bhāva. We have been instructed in how to meditate on Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s līlās in the mood of a gopī: ataeba gopī-bhāba kari aṅgīkāra, rātri-dina cinte rādhā-kṛṣṇera bihāra; siddha-deha-cinti kare tāṅhāi sebana, gopī-bhābe pāya rādhā-kṛṣṇera caraṇa (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.228-229). “Therefore, accept the mood of a gopī and think of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes day and night. If you perform sevā in gopī-bhāva while contemplating your own siddha-deha, you will attain the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.” Absorbed in mañjarī-bhāva, the highest state of gopī-bhāva, the sādhaka who longs for prema-sevā must always meditate upon herself as a female companion of Śrī Lalitā, Śrī Viśākhā, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and so on. In obedience to their orders, she serves as a maidservant devoted to the sevā of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. She decorates herself with the ornaments, clothing and so on previously worn by Śrī Rādhā. Her heart and mind are formed by her desire for the prema-sevā of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava and her body is made from the nectar of yugala-sevā.
