ब्रह्मेश्वरादि-सुदुरूह-पदारविन्द-
श्रीमत्पराग-परमाद्भुत-वैभवायाः ।
सर्वार्थसार-रसवर्षि-कृपार्द्रदृष्टे-
स्तस्या नमोऽस्तु वृषभानुभुवो महिम्ने ॥ ३ ॥
brahmeśvarādi-sudurūha-padāravinda-
śrīmat-parāga-paramādbhuta-vaibhavāyāḥ |
sarvārtha-sāra-rasa-varṣi-kṛpārdra-dṛṣṭes
tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānubhuvo mahimne || 3 ||
“I bow to the glory of Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī Śrī Rādhā, the dust of whose lotus feet is difficult for even Brahmā and Śiva to obtain. She possesses astonishing power, and from her compassionate glance, that most valuable of all things, love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, showers in ceaseless streams.”
The Glory of Śrī Rādhā
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: In the first two verses, the venerable author has followed the method handed down by the mahājanas in offering a maṅgalācaraṇa praising the object of his devotion. In most verses of the book, he has described his experience of līlā obtained through visions while in his siddha-svarūpa, as in the preceding verse where he defines the subject-matter to be discussed while experiencing one of his visions. In this verse, he sings the glories of his object of devotion while in sādhaka consciousness. citta-dṛḍha kari lāge mahimā-jñāna haite (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 2.118). “The mind becomes strong and firm through knowledge of divine power.” Rasa is established on the basis of tattva (principle, philosophy). If the tattva is excluded, one may consider līlā-rasa to be mundane. Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has said, bhagavāṁs tāvad asādhāraṇa-svarūpaiśvarya-mādhuryas tattva-viśeṣaḥ (Laghu-Toṣaṇī-Vyākhyā of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.10). “Bhagavān is a particular tattva that by nature possesses both extraordinary power and sweetness.” Śrī Rādhā, non-different from Śrī Kṛṣṇa and known as his hlādinī-śakti, also possesses extraordinary power and sweetness. We can read Śrī Nārada’s glorious praise of Śrī Rādhā in the fortieth chapter of Padma-Purāṇa, Pātāla-Khaṇḍa. Vrajadhāma is the abode of mādhurya and Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the direct embodiment of mādhurya. For this reason, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas have held up the descriptions of Śrī Rādhā’s mādhurya before the vraja-rasa-sādhakas of the world. Still, because the beautiful palace of mādhurya has been built upon a foundation of aiśvarya, the Gosvāmīs from time to time have given us a hint of Śrī Rādhā’s power or glory. Therefore, Śrīmatī’s vast power has been described in this verse and the next.
The dust from Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet, which is difficult for Brahmā and the other gods to attain, possesses astonishing power. In Brahmā’s prayers of glorification in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he offers a beautiful hymn filled with power and sweetness. He is amazed by the mādhurī of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s boyhood pastimes of eating with his friends on the river bank and so on. Then he prays,
tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ
yad gokule’pi katamāṅghri-rajo-’bhiṣekam |
yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas
tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva || (Bhāg. 10.14.34)
“O Lord! By your mercy I will obtain a birth wherein I will be anointed with the dust from the feet of a Vrajavāsī, whose entire life rests in you, Mukunda, whose foot-dust is sought by the śrutis even now. I think such a birth would be a million times more virtuous than my birth as Brahmā!” In his Sārārtha-Darśinī commentary on this verse, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda has essentially written that Brahmā, astounded by the good fortune of the vraja-gopas, was not courageous enough to desire their foot-dust. He instead prays for birth as a pebble by the gate of a lower class family living on the outskirts of Gokula so he may anoint his body with the dust from their feet. Therefore, one can easily deduce that the dust of the most loving Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet is in all respects very difficult for Brahmā to obtain. Because the foot-dust of the gopas and gopīs is very rare in Kailāsa, Śiva’s realm, Śrīman Mahādeva resides in Vraja as Gopīśvara with the hope of obtaining some. But, knowing that one may obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa by seeing and serving Śrīman Mahādeva, Śrī Rādhā and the other gopīs desire the dust from his feet. Therefore, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust remains very difficult for Śrīman Mahādeva to obtain. Or it could be deduced that the pollen from Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet is so glorious that it is even difficult for the powerful Śrī Lakṣmīdevī to obtain. In the statements of the nāgapatnīs in the kasyānubhāvo’sya na deva vidmahe verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.16.36), we see that even though Śrī Lakṣmīdevī voluntarily gives up the treasure of Śrī Nārāyaṇa’s personal association and performs severe austerities in the hope of obtaining Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s foot-dust in Śrī Vṛndāvana, she is still unable to do so. The Gosvāmīs have said that because Śrī Lakṣmīdevī, the queen of vast opulence, is unable to worship the foot-dust of mādhuryamayī Śrī Rādhā, it is not possible for her to obtain the mercy of Śrī Govinda. gopī-anugati binā aiśvarya-jñāne, bhajileha nāhi pāya brajendranandane; tāhāte dṛṣṭānta lakṣmī karilā bhajana, tathāpi nā pāila braje brajendranandana (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.230-231). “If one worships Vrajendranandana in the aiśvarya mood rather than following the mood of the gopīs, one will not attain him. For example, even though Śrī Lakṣmīdevī worshipped Vrajendranandana, she was still unable to fulfill her desire.” If she were able to worship the dust from Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet, then she would undoubtedly attain Śrī Govinda’s companionship. Without that, her austerities bear no fruit. Therefore, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust has perpetually remained very difficult for Śrī Lakṣmī, the Goddess of Vaikuṇṭha, to obtain. It should be understood that in the phrase brahmeśvarādi, ādi (and so on) refers to Uddhava and others. Astonished by seeing the exalted nature of the gopīs, Śrī Uddhava Mahāśaya worshipped them from afar, thinking their foot-dust most difficult to obtain. Eager to be anointed with that dust, he prayed to be born as a blade of grass or a shrub in Vraja. His statements have been written in letters of gold in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.57-63. So it goes without saying that the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhā, the foremost of the gopīs, is extremely difficult for him to obtain.
Or by saying brahmeśvarādi, it could mean that Śrī Rādhā’s glory is so astonishing that her lotus foot-dust is difficult for even the primeval Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself to obtain, not to speak of Lord Brahmā. People always yearn for things that are hard to get. It is said that while longing for Śrī Rādhā’s incomparable foot-dust, Śrī Kṛṣṇa assumed the form of the poet Jayadeva and personally supplied a missing line of verse in Śrī-Gīta-Govinda, writing the words dehi pada-pallavam udāram. The gist of Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 201 is that one day, Śrīmatī was sulking because of a lover’s quarrel with Kṛṣṇa, so to win her sakhīs over to his side, Kṛṣṇa placed Śrīmatī’s feet upon his head. This appeased Śrīmatī, but now her feet began to perspire a bit and the crimson lac-dye on them became moist. The dampened lac-dye colored Kṛṣṇa’s head and caused his peacock-feather crown to slip off! This is why Śyāma is the emperor of the kingdom of rasa! By taking her feet upon his head he became the foremost of rasikas. This is not a decline in his status, but rather his greatest glory and the essence of his divinity. Therefore, to discover his own virtue, he had long yearned for the dust of Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet. But Śrī Rādhā is very difficult for him to attain. kabhu mile kabhu nā mile daibera ghaṭana (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.31). “By destiny we meet or remain apart.” So Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is also very difficult for him to obtain. The reasoning behind his abundant love for Śrī Rādhā is not just based on someone’s personal opinion or contrivance, but rather on powerful scriptural authority. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.16, Śrī Bhagavān said to Śrī Uddhava, anuvrajāmy ahaṁ nityaṁ pūyeyety aṅghri-reṇubhiḥ. “I follow at the heels of the bhaktas, hoping to be purified by smearing their foot-dust on my body.” In the Krama-Sandarbha commentary on this verse, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has written, tad-bhakty-aniṣkṛti-doṣāt pavitritaḥ syām iti bhāvenety arthaḥ. “Unable to repay those devotees who always selflessly worship me, I secretly smear their foot-dust on myself, purifying me of any sins for which I have not yet atoned.” It goes without saying that by this reasoning, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s desire for the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhā, his greatest and most loving devotee, is everlasting and very logical. Such sweet interpretations are most enjoyable for Vṛndāvana’s rasa-sādhakas.
Moreover, sarvārtha-sāra-rasa-varṣi-kṛpārdra-dṛṣṭeḥ: Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance showers rasa, that most valuable of all things. It means that wherever her compassionate glance falls, śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema-rasa, the highest of all human objectives, is showered in ceaseless streams. Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been called the highest of all human objectives. kṛṣṇa-viṣayaka-premā pañcama-puruṣārtha, yāra āge tṛṇa-tulya cāri puruṣārtha; pañcama-puruṣārtha premānandāmṛta-sindhu, mokṣādi ānanda yāra nahe eka-bindu (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 7:84-85). “The fifth puruṣārtha (object of human pursuit) is love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, before which the other four are like straw. This fifth puruṣārtha is an ocean filled with the nectar of joyful love, compared to which the joy of liberation and so on is less than a drop.” Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa blesses the bhakta with the boundless experience of Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness. pañcama-puruṣārtha ei prema mahā-dhana, kṛṣṇera mādhurya-rasa karāya āsvādana; premā haite kṛṣṇa haya nija-bhakta-baśa, premā haite pāya kṛṣṇera sebā-sukha-rasa (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.144-145). “This prema is the greatest treasure; it causes one to taste Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya-rasa. Because of prema, Kṛṣṇa comes under the control of his bhakta. Because of prema, the bhakta feels the joy of serving Kṛṣṇa.” By Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance alone, even without performing sādhanā, one is showered with an endless stream of prema-rasa, the highest puruṣārtha. There are no words to describe her compassionate glance. Just by seeing Śrī Rādhārāṇī, one obtains love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa without any endeavor. In Padma-Purāṇa, Pātāla-Khaṇḍa, chapter 40, Śrī Nārada personally experienced this after receiving Śrī Rādhā’s darśana. He said, asyā sandarśanād eva govinda-caraṇāmbuje, yā premārddhir abhūt sā me bhūta-pūrvā na karhicit. “By merely seeing her, I obtained love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, something I had never experienced before.” In Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta 2.5.233, Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda wrote, sā rādhikā bhagavatī kvacid īkṣyate cet, premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ. “If one directly sees Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s most beloved Śrī Rādhikā, he then directly perceives the embodiment of prema, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.” Now the time has come for this to manifest in this particular kali-yuga. Accepting the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā, Śrī Bhagavān has incarnated in the world as Śrī Gaurasundara. Because it is Śrī Rādhā’s complexion, when the worldly jīvas see his bright, golden radiance, they are blessed with prema. This is the power of Śrī Rādhā’s splendor. In the next verse of Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta (234), we see the following:
cet kṛṣṇa-candrasya mahāvatāras
tādṛg nija-prema-vitānakārī |
syād vā kadācid yadi rādhikāyāḥ
premānubhūtiṁ tad upaity athāpi ||
“If some great incarnation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa comes to distribute prema, or if some incarnation of Śrī Rādhā appears, then by seeing that avatāra one can realize prema.” This verse is speaking of Śrīman Mahāprabhu.
Or, Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance is a nectar-shower of śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema, the highest of all things desired. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema combined with Śrī Rādhā’s prema-mādhurya is so very sweet. Śrī Rādhā is the embodiment of Śrī Vṛndāvana’s mādhurya; she is the essential element of vṛndāvana-līlā. The gist of Śrī Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 80 is that the enjoyment one gets from worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa without Śrī Rādhā is only an insignificant drop. Śrīman Mahādeva said,
gaura-tejo vinā yas tu śyāma-tejaḥ samarcayet |
japed vā dhyāyate vāpi sa bhavet pātakī śive ||
“O Pārvatī! Those who perform meditation, japa or worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa without Śrī Rādhā remain sinful.” Therefore, the very life of kṛṣṇa-prema is love for Śrī Rādhā. I bow to the glory of Śrī Rādhā, whose merciful glance showers us with love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
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