Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 2 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

 

यस्याः कदापि वसनाञ्चलखेलनोत्थ-

धन्यातिधन्य-पवनेन कृतार्थमानी ।

योगीन्द्रदुर्गमगतिर्मधुसूदनोऽपि 

तस्या नमोऽस्तु वृषभानुभुवो दिशेऽपि ॥ २ ॥

yasyāḥ kadāpi vasanāñcala-khelanottha-

dhanyātidhanya-pavanena kṛtārtha-mānī |

yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi 

tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe’pi || 2 ||

I bow in the direction of Śrī Rādhā, the beloved daughter of Vṛṣabhānu. Even Madhusūdana Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is difficult for the greatest yogīs to attain, thinks himself crowned with success when now and then he is touched by the blessed breeze risen from the movement of the border of her dress.

Invocation 2

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: By the boundless mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda has experienced Vraja’s lofty ujjvala-rasa-bhakti and considers himself a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā, devoted to her service in the bowers of Vraja. In his book Śrī-Gaura-Gaṇoddeśa-Dīpikā, Śrīpāda Kavi Karṇapūra has referred to Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī as vraja-līlā’s Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī. But when reflecting upon this book, Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhi, one sees a very wonderful expression of rādhā-dāsya or mañjarī-bhāva in Śrīpāda’s heart. He is the embodiment of Śrī Gaura’s compassion. In many verses of this book, we get to see Śrīpāda’s eager and charming prayers for service to Śrī Rādhā. The highest and most cherished ambition for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas is to attain rādhā-dāsya, or more specifically, rādhā-snehādhikā-bhāvollāsa-rati. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmipāda wrote the following:

sañcārī syāt samonā vā kṛṣṇa-ratyāḥ suhṛd-ratiḥ |

adhikā puṣyamāṇā ced bhāvollāsa itīryate || (BRS 2.5.128) 

“Among the friends of Śrī Rādhārāṇī, some possess love for Śrī Rādhā that is equal to or a little less than for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is their sthāyī-bhāva and their love for Śrī Rādhārāṇī is a sañcārī-bhāva. But those whose love for Śrī Rādhā is greater than for Śrī Kṛṣṇa possess the love called bhāvollāsā.” This bhāvollāsā-rati is the sthāyī-bhāva for those maidservants of Śrī Rādhā whose love is greater for her. This is the most enjoyable and attractive subject matter for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. Śrīpāda Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmicaraṇa wrote the following in Vraja-Vilāsa-Stava 38:

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payo-dānābhisārādibhir

vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ |

prāṇapreṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ

keli-bhūmiṣu rūpa-mañjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye ||

“I take shelter of those maidservants of Vṛndāvaneśvarī Śrī Rādhā headed by Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. They provide for Śrī Rādhā’s pleasure by offering tāmbūla, massaging her feet, bringing water, arranging love trysts and so on. Their roles allow them to enter and leave Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s secret pastime sites even more freely than the prāṇapreṣṭha-sakhīs like Śrī Lalitā and others.”

After observing the abundance of that kiṅkarī-bhāva (maidservant mood) in Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhi and finding Śrīpāda in the form of Śrī Rādhā’s devoted friend and maidservant, we shall try to taste the rasa-mādhurya here. Śrīpāda’s experiences in his cherished siddha-deha and his prayers as a sādhaka shall combine to give us one charming means to our end.

Occasionally when Śrīpāda is in his siddha-svarūpa—in the consciousness of being a devoted maidservant of Śrī Rādhā—he is blessed with sudden direct mystical visions of līlā and sevā. After the vision is over, in his external consciousness or sādhaka state of mind, he prays longingly for sevā at Śrīmatī’s feet. In this way, he experiences each verse in sequence. Even in his sādhaka mood, the deep hum of rādhā-dāsya is present. He thinks of himself as a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā. For the sādhaka also, it is necessary that this mood be awakened to some degree. Meditation upon oneself in the siddha-svarūpa given by one’s guru is the bhūta-śuddhi for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. Therefore, by adopting this meditation during śravaṇa-kīrtana, the sādhaka will no doubt become competent to taste the abundant rasa-mādhurī of this book.

First, absorbed in his sādhaka mood, he offers another maṅgalācaraṇa. sei maṅgalācaraṇa haya tribidha prakāra, bastu-nirdeśa āśīrbāda āra namaskāra (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.22). “The maṅgalācaraṇa includes three processes: ascertaining the subject matter, giving blessings and offering obeisance.” In the verse under discussion, the three aspects of a maṅgalācaraṇa have been clearly expressed. tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe’pi. “I bow in the direction of Śrī Rādhā, the beloved daughter of Vṛṣabhānu.” This statement is a namaskāra (obeisance). yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi. This is a vastu-nirdeśa (determination of the subject matter). Śrī Rādhā’s exalted position is the subject matter of this book. “He who is difficult to attain for even the best of yogīs” means that endeavors to attain him by yoga-sādhana and so on simply end in frustration: He can be known only through pure love. That Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa considers himself blessed by the breeze risen from her dress. Statements like these proclaiming Śrī Rādhā’s glory comprise the book’s contents. “I offer obeisance toward the place where Śrī Rādhā resides, that bower of love located on the banks of the Kālindī in beautiful Śrī Vṛndāvana.” This statement expresses a profound blessing that the desires of Vṛndāvana’s rasa-sādhakas will be fulfilled. One may ask why a statement like yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi, which implies bhakti in aiśvarya-bhāva, would be placed at the beginning of a description of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya-līlā. In reply, it may be said that in the Brahma-Vaivarta-Purāṇa, in the description of the etymology of the word madhusūdana, we see the following:

madhu-klībaṁ ca mādhvīke kṛta-karma śubhāśubhe |

bhaktānāṁ karmaṇāṁ caiva sūdanaṁ madhusūdanam ||

pariṇāmāśubhaṁ karma bhrāntānāṁ madhuraṁ madhu |

karoti sūdanaṁ yo hi sa eva madhusūdanaḥ ||

The word madhu means good and bad karma. He who destroys both the good and bad karma of the devotee, or he who ultimately destroys the harmful but seemingly sweet karma of deluded persons is called Madhusūdana. Feeling humble, Śrīpāda thinks, “While in my life as a māyāvādī, acting as guru to countless sannyāsīs, I obtained the title Yogīndra, King of Yogīs, and considered the inauspicious māyāvāda to be the best of doctrines. Consequently, since māyāvādīs are offensive to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Madhusūdana remained inaccessible to me. But that Madhusūdana, so difficult for even the best of yogīs to reach, has descended in the form of Śrī Gaura, mercifully refuting my harmful māyāvāda and blessing me with the taste of vraja-rasa.” Or, the word madhusūdana can mean madhu puṣpa-rasaṁ sūdayati khaṇḍayatīti madhusūdanaḥ, meaning “that rasika bumblebee Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who drinks the nectar of Śrī Rādhā’s lips.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa is difficult to attain for even the greatest yogīs like Mahādeva. The pastimes of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are difficult for even Brahmā and Mahādeva to attain. rādhā-kṛṣṇera līlā ei ati gūḍhatara, dāsya bātsalyādi bhābera nā haya gocara, sabe eka sakhī-gaṇera ihā adhikāra, sakhī haite haya ei līlāra bistāra (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.201-202). “The līlā of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is very deep, beyond the reach of dāsya, vātsalya and other bhāvas. Only the sakhīs can participate in it, and from them it is expanded.” How may I be fortunate enough to taste the rasa-mādhurī of that yogīndra-durgama-gati Madhusūdana’s vraja-līlā? Thinking like this, by Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mercy Śrīpāda obtained a mystical vision of one madhura pastime while absorbed in his siddha-svarūpa.

Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava sported in a secret grove of Vṛndāvana. sukhamaya bṛndābane sukhamaya śyāma, sukhamayī rādhā doṅhe anupāma (Mahājana). “Rādhā and Śyāma are most joyful together in the blissful forest of Vṛndāvana.” After making love with Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī sat upon the pleasure-bed like a flower garland ravaged by a bumblebee. When Rasika-Śiromaṇi Kṛṣṇa saw Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue, he felt compassion for her. This compassion is not like the compassion toward any other lover. A hint of the kind of compassion that Śrī Kṛṣṇa feels toward Śrī Rādhā, a particle of whose own compassion he always covets, is found in the Sāraṅga-Raṅgadā commentary of verses like taruṇāruṇa-karuṇāmaya vipulāyata-nayanam in Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam. taruṇe madana-madodgāriṇī svato madhu-pānena cāruṇe ca vījanādinā tac-chramāpanodanārthaṁ hṛdy-udgatvā yā karuṇā tad-udgāriṇī ca svato vipule āyate ca nayane yasya. “To allay Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue from making love, Śrī Kṛṣṇa fans her, and drinking in the honey-wine of her youthful beauty, his reddened lotus eyes widen with compassion for her.” Here also, we can understand that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is feeling this kind of compassion at seeing Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue. In the mood of a svādhīna-bhartṛkā, Śrīmatī demands, “Quickly! Dress and decorate me! If my girlfriends see me like this, they will all laugh.” Understanding the situation, her devoted maidservants have arrived with sandalwood, aloe, musk, collyrium, lac dye and other materials for dressing and decorating her. Rasika-Śiromaṇi Kṛṣṇa dresses Śrīmatī with great attention. When Svāminī sees Kṛṣṇa’s profound absorption in dressing her, a gentle smile comes to her face. The kiṅkarīs also smile as they cover their mouths with their cloths. While dressing her, Śyāma repeatedly looks with tearful eyes at Śrīmatī’s beautiful face. His thirst for tasting the sweetness of her face is never satiated. tṛṣyan muhuḥ smita-sudhāṁ paripāyito’pi. “Even though he constantly drinks the nectar of Śrīmatī’s smile, his thirst remains.” After painting collyrium around Śrīmatī’s restless eyes, Kṛṣṇa becomes agitated! The sight of her beautiful eyes causes a sāttvika-vikāra to appear and his body becomes drenched in sweat. svidyan dṛganta-capalāñcala-vījito’pi. “Though cooled by the side-long glances of Śrīmatī’s restless eyes, he remains covered with perspiration!” Seeing Kṛṣṇa so overwhelmed and perspiring as he dresses his beloved, Śrīmatī gestures to Śrīpāda, standing before her in the form of a kiṅkarī (maidservant), to begin fanning him. By her skillful fanning, Śyāma’s drops of perspiration soon disappear. Then, a curious thought awoke in the kiṅkarī’s mind. She modified her method such that by fanning Śrīmatī’s body the flow of air also goes to Śyāmasundara. The air is happy! Śyāma thinks himself blessed by the touch of the breeze that bears Śrī Rādhā’s fragrance as it rises from the movement of her dress. He considers this breeze to be extremely fortunate. It’s name, gandhavaha, or aroma-bearer, is significant. It carries the extraordinary fragrance of Śrīmatī’s body joined with the aroma of musk smeared upon her breasts. “The wind is fortunate, but I am not.” Seeing Śyāma’s condition, the kiṅkarī drowns in an ocean of joy. One of Śrīmatī’s names is Gandhonmādita-Mādhavā (she whose fragrance drives Mādhava mad)! Śrīpāda is appreciating the significance of this name in the realm of līlā. Suddenly the vision came to an end. Wailing loudly, he rose to his feet. “Hā Rādhe! Where is your sweet līlā?” In his sādhaka mood, he humbly said, “I bow in the direction of Gandhonmādita-Mādhavā Śrī Rādhā.” Śrī Mādhava, intoxicated with love for Śrī Rādhā, also prays in that direction, saying “O direction! Show me the love of my life!” As far as the sādhaka-bhaktas are concerned, for those living in the outside world, the direction of Śrī Vṛndāvana is the direction of Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī. For those who have taken shelter of Vraja, the direction of Vṛndāvaneśvarī is determined by the statements of śāstra and the mahājanas concerning her presence in either Yāvaṭa or Varṣāṇā during various times of the year. For those sādhakas who have taken shelter of Vraja and are well-established in smaraṇa, wherever Śrīmatī goes during her daily līlā is her direction. Śrīpāda says, “I bow in that direction.”