গোবিন্দ গোকুলচন্দ্র, পরম আনন্দকন্দ,
পরিবার-গোপ-গোপী-সঙ্গে ।
নন্দীশ্বর যাঁর ধাম, গিরিধারী যাঁর নাম,
সখী-সঙ্গে তাঁরে ভজ রঙ্গে ॥ ১০৩ ॥
gobinda gokulacandra, parama ānandakanda,
paribāra-gopa-gopī-saṅge |
nandīśvara yāṅra dhāma, giridhārī yāṅra nāma,
sakhī-saṅge tāṅre bhaja raṅge || 103 ||
Śrī Govinda is the moon of Gokula and the source of the highest joy. He lives in Nandīśvara and is also known as Giridhārī. Lovingly worship him in the company of his family, cowherd friends and girlfriends.
The Joy of Bhajana
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After describing love-filled yugala-bhajana, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya now explains the way to perform it. gobinda gokulacandra, parama ānandakanda, paribāra-gopa-gopī-saṅge. The name Govinda means one whose senses have attained Śrī Rādhārāṇī. He is the embodiment of concentrated joy, but the mahājanas have sung of his condition when he longs to meet with Śrī Rādhā. From the Pada-Kalpa-Taru:
cānda nehāri, candane tanu lepai, tāpa sahai nā pāra |
dhabala nicola, bahai nāhi pārai, kaiche karaba abhisāra ||
sundari! to binu ākula kāna |
birahe kṣīṇa tanu, anukhana jara jara, jībaite bidhi bhela bāma ||
yatanahi megha, mallāra ālāpai, timira payāna gati āśe |
āota jalada, tatahi uḍi yāota, utapata dīgha niśāse ||
tuyā guṇa nāma, gāma japi jībai, bahu pulakāyita dehā |
gobinda dāsa kaha, iha aparūpa naha, yāṅhā iha naba naba lehā ||
“After seeing the full moon, he smears his body with sandalwood paste; he cannot bear the heat. Unable to tolerate even a white cādara,* how can he meet with his lover? O beautiful one, Kṛṣṇa is distraught without you. His body has become thin in separation from you. He is tormented at every moment and fate has turned against him. Hoping to go on abhisāra** in the darkness, he carefully plays rāga megha-mallāra on his flute. (The clouds appear when this rāga is played.) The clouds come, but Śyāma blows them away with his long, hot breaths. He sustains his life by reciting your names and qualities; his body erupts in goosebumps. Govinda Dāsa says, ‘This is no surprise where there is ever-fresh love.’”
Or, the well-known meaning of the name Govinda is “the king of the cows.” Govinda and his friends daily herd countless cows to the slopes of Govardhana Hill to graze them. After turning over responsibility for the cows to his friends, he goes to the banks of Śrī Rādhā-Kuṇḍa to meet with Śrī Rādhārāṇī and her girlfriends. There, they freely engage in various kinds of romantic pastimes. The purpose of Govinda’s grazing pastime is to attain Śrī Rādhārāṇī. He said, rākhāla laiyā bane, sadā phiri dhenu sane, tuyā lāgi bane banacārī (Pada-Kalpa-Taru). “Because of you, Kṛṣṇa always goes to the forest with his gopa friends to graze the cows.” The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas worship this form of Govinda with love, meaning absorbed in their own siddha-svarūpas, the sādhakas meditate on the sweet līlā of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava submerged in the play of śṛṅgāra-rasa.*** Within that līlā, they contemplate their loving service to the Divine Couple. In Pada-Kalpa-Taru, a sakhī describes Śrīmatī’s condition during pūrva-rāga**** to Gokulacandra:
kāñcana-gaurī, bhorī bṛndābane, khelai sahacarī meli |
tuyā diṭhi miṭhi, garale tanu jārala, taikhane śyāmarī bheli ||
mādhaba! so abicala kula-rāmā |
maramahi goi, roi dina yāminī, guṇi guṇi tuyā guṇa-gāmā ||
gurujana abudha, mugadha-mati parijana, alakhita biṣama beyādhi |
ki karaba dhanī maṇi, mantra-mahauṣadhi, locane lāgala samādhi ||
kheṇe kheṇe aṅga, bhaṅga tanu moḍai, kahata bharamamaya bāṇī |
śyāmara nāme, camaki tanu jhāṅpai, gobinda-dāsa kiye jāni ||
“Lovely, fair-skinned Rādhā sports with her girlfriends in Vṛndāvana. Poisoned by your sweet glance, her body has become emaciated. She is dark and despondent. Mādhava! This faithful, noble girl secretly cries day and night, thinking always of your virtues. Her elders are unaware, her friends and family bewildered. Her terrible disease goes unnoticed. Will gems, mantras or herbs help a beautiful girl whose eyes are lost in you? Her every movement or gesture reveals her lethargy. Her speech is delusional. Hearing the name ‘Śyāma,’ she is startled and her body jumps. How can Govinda Dāsa understand such things?”
After attaining Śrī Rādhārāṇī, Govinda floats in an ocean of bliss. After attaining Gokulacandra, Śrī Rādhārāṇī is immersed in a sea of happiness. A mahājana sang the following in Pada-Kalpa-Taru:
tanu tanu milane upajala prema | marakata yaichana beḍhala hema ||
kanaka-latāye janu taruṇa tamāla | naba jaladhare janu bijurī rasāla ||
kamale madhupa yena pāola saṅga | duṅhu tanu pulakita prema-taraṅga ||
duṅhu adharāmṛta duṅhu karu pāna | gobinda dāsa duṅhuka guṇa-gāna ||
“With their two bodies in union, prema arose. Together they appeared like an emerald encircled by gold, a young tamāla tree embraced by a golden vine, a streak of lightning on a newly formed raincloud, or a black bee with a golden lotus. Both their bodies were delighted by waves of love; both drank the nectar of each other’s lips. Govinda Dāsa sings of their wonderful qualities.”
In this way, Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava are paramānanda-kanda, meaning they are the source of the highest joy. A stream of the flower nectar of supreme happiness flows incessantly from their lotus feet. Śrīman Mahāprabhu descended to save the souls of kali-yuga. Along with the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas who are sheltered at his feet, he has pointed the joy-seeking jīvas toward a fountain of this paramānanda-rasa. Śrīmat Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda wrote the following in Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛta 6.30-32:
mahāścaryāṁ rītiṁ dṛśi vacasi gatyādiṣu dadhan
mahāpremāveśonmada-madana-vaivaśya-madhuram |
aho yatraivānandati sahaja-kaiśorakam aho
dvayaṁ gaura-śyāmaṁ tad udayati vṛndāvanam idam ||
vicinvantaṁ nīlān alaka-nikarāṁś cāru-karajair
vijighrantaṁ phullad-vadana-kanakāmbhojam asakṛt |
vicumbantaṁ bimbādharam asakṛd unnamya cibukaṁ
nidhāyāṅke rādhāṁ smara madana-mūrtiṁ madhu-patim ||
aho gaura-śyāme madhura-madhure divya-mahasī
kiśore sarvāṅgotthita-madana-bādhātivivaśe |
rati-krīḍāmbhodhāv ativiharatī pāra-rahite
subhāvaiḥ śrī-vṛndāvana-nava-nikuñjeṣu bhajata ||
“Śrī Vṛndāvana is very beautiful. There, fair Rādhā and dark Kṛṣṇa joyfully reveal their astonishing natures through their eyes, speech, movements and so on. They are deeply in love and their sweet adolescent forms are helpless against the impassioned god of love. Meditate on Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of the god of love and the leader of the Madhu dynasty. After taking Śrī Rādhā on his lap, Kṛṣṇa affectionately arranges her dark locks of hair with his graceful fingers. He repeatedly smells her cheerful, golden lotus face, then lifts her chin and kisses her reddish lips again and again. Aho! The beautiful Gaura-Śyāma Yugala are sweeter than sweet. Their limbs are overwhelmed by love’s afflictions. They always play in the infinite ocean of love-sports. Take shelter of madhura-bhāva and worship Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa as they enjoy the newly blossomed bowers of Śrī Vṛndāvana.”
Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, paribāra-gopa-gopī-saṅge; nandīśvara yāṅra dhāma, giridhārī yāṅra nāma, sakhī-saṅge tāṅre bhaja raṅge. “Śrī Govinda is the moon of Gokula and the source of the highest joy. He lives in Nandīśvara and is also known as Giridhārī. Lovingly worship him in the company of his family, cowherd friends and girlfriends.” For the full nourishment of madhura-rasa, Kṛṣṇa must be worshiped in connection with his mother, father, relatives, friends and so on. The sādhaka should meditate on serving Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava along with their companions. Śrī Rādhārāṇī comes to Nandīśvara daily to cook for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The sādhaka in mañjarī-bhāva contemplates herself as being with Śrī Rādhā at all times. The sādhaka must meditate on performing service in his internally conceived siddha-svarūpa to Kṛṣṇa’s mother, father, relatives, friends, gopas and gopīs at Nandīśvara. Śrī Kṛṣṇa performs pastimes such as the lifting of Govardhana Hill in order to see Śrī Rādhārāṇī for an extended time. All of the Vrajavāsīs are there together and Rādhā’s kiṅkarī maintains the appropriate respect, affection and devotion toward each of them. Specifically, the sādhaka joyfully contemplates himself as one of Rādhā’s maidservants rendering sevā to Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava and their sakhīs in the bowers. The sādhaka is blessed at the time of siddhi with the service he contemplated during sādhana, now performed directly in the kingdom of līlā.
* A sheet of cloth worn over the body, in this case, to hide him from the bright light of the full moon
** A lover’s journey to meet with his or her beloved.
*** The erotic sentiment
**** Amorous attraction felt even before two lovers meet
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