Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 6 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

 

दिव्य-प्रमोद-रससार-निजाङ्गसङ्ग-

पीयूषवीचिनिचयैरभिषेचयन्ती ।

कन्दर्पकोटि-शर-मूर्छित-नन्दसूनु-

सञ्जीवनी जयति कापि निकुञ्जदेवी ॥ ६ ॥

divya-pramoda-rasa-sāra-nijāṅga-saṅga-

pīyūṣa-vīci-nicayair abhiṣecayantī |

kandarpa-koṭi-śara-mūrchita-nanda-sūnu-

sañjīvanī jayati kāpi nikuñjadevī || 6 ||

“By the touch of her body, this preeminent Goddess of the Bowers rejuvenates Śrī Nandanandana as he swoons from the countless arrows sent by the god of love. She bathes him in waves of the nectar of transcendental joy.”

The Goddess Who Rejuvenates Śrī Kṛṣṇa

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: In the previous three verses, the respected author has in the mood of a sādhaka described the glories of Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust. By the grace of that foot-dust, he thinks of himself in his siddha-deha, near to his beloved Śrī Yugala and filled with the joy of prema. How sweet rādhā-dāsya is! Even while he is absorbed in the mood of a sādhaka, the low hum of his siddha-deha remains. If the state of engrossment is deep enough, no separate effort is needed to experience the desired object because in the siddha-deha the desired object appears to be nearby. While in the realm of sādhana, the sādhaka remains aware of both his svarūpa* and his physical body, and he remembers the history of his body and things related to it. In bhakti-sādhana, when the sādhaka reaches the level of bhāva or rati, he becomes jīvan-mukta, or liberated while still in his physical body. In the seventh shower of his book Mādhurya-Kādambinī, Śrīpāda Viśvanātha Cakravartī describes the condition of a sādhaka’s mind in the state of bhāva-bhakti: ahaṁtā ca prāpsyamāne sevopayoginī siddha-dehe praviśantīva sādhaka-śarīraṁ prāyo jahātīva virājeta. mamatā ca tac-caraṇāravinda-makaranda eva madhukarī bhavitum upakrameteti. At the stage of bhāva-bhakti, the self-concept of the sādhaka is that he has entered a siddha-deha that is appropriate for sevā. He has to a great degree abandoned his sādhaka-deha, and with a sense of ownership (mamatā), he becomes eager to drink the nectar of Śrī Yugala’s lotus feet. At the level of prema, he remains profoundly absorbed in his svarūpa and the flow of līlā continues without interruption. Rādhā’s dāsīs reside within the circle of her mahābhāva; thus, their absorption is the deepest. If one is not familiar with the bhāva of Śrī Rādhā’s kiṅkarīs, he will have no possibility of following them in his contemplation of sevā. Moreover, without following the bhāvas of Kṛṣṇa’s dearest ones, one has no chance of experiencing vraja-rasa. In Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s Prārthanā 33 we find the following:

prāṇeśvari! eibāra karuṇā kara more |

daśanete tṛṇa-dhari, añjali mastake kari, ei jana nibedana kare ||

priya-sahacarī saṅge, sebana kariba raṅge, aṅge beśa karibeka sādhe |

rākha ei sebā-kāje, nija-pāda-paṅkaje, priya-sahacarī-gaṇa mājhe ||

sugandhi candana, maṇimaya ābharaṇa, kauṣika basana nānā-raṅge |

ei saba sebā yāṅra, dāsī yena haṅa tāṅra, nirantara thāki tāṅra saṅge ||

“O Goddess of my life! Please give me your mercy now. I dedicate myself to you with straw in my teeth; my hands are folded at my head. Along with my dearest friends,# I will lovingly dress and decorate your beautiful limbs. Please keep me in this service at your lotus feet. Among my companions, I will adorn you with fragrant sandalwood paste, jeweled ornaments and a colorful silken dress. Let me remain always with those who serve you in this way as maidservants.”

The lives of Śrī Rādhikā’s kiṅkarīs are sustained by their longing for such loyal service. This is the beauty of the rāga-sādhaka’s worship. The esteemed author is one of Śrī Rādhā’s nitya-siddha companions. One follows in their footsteps by hearing and singing their enlightened words.

Immersed in the rasa of remembering Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s foot-dust, Śrīpāda’s heart and mind have gone to the realm of līlā. One sweet pastime unfolded before him: It was a full-moon night in springtime. Seeing the moon rising in the sky, Śrī Kṛṣṇa was reminded of Śrī Rādhā’s lovely face. Arriving secretly in the Vṛndāvana forest, he began to play his captivating flute to attract the minds of the vraja-sundarīs. Drawn by the sounds of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, Śrī Rādhā and the other girls all joined him on the banks of the Yamunā and began their rāsa dance. śliṣyati kām api cumbati kām api kām api ramayati rāmām. “Śrī Hari is embracing one beautiful gopī, kissing another and making love to another.” Seeing such romantic behavior, Śrīmatī was angered somewhat as she felt Kṛṣṇa’s love should only be for her.

sādhāraṇa-preme dekhi sarbatra samatā | 

rādhāra kuṭila-preme haila bāmatā ||

krodha kari rāsa chāḍi gelā māna kari | 

tāṅre nā dekhiyā byākula hailā śrī-hari ||

“In ordinary prema, we see equanimity in all cases, but Śrī Rādhā’s crooked love is contrary by nature. Becoming angry, Śrī Rādhā left the rāsa dance in a huff. No longer able to see her, Śrī Hari became anxious.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.110, 112)

Seeing the rāsa-maṇḍala as empty without Śrī Rādhā, Śyāmasundara left the company of countless Vraja girls and went to search for her.

itas tataḥ bhrami kāhāṅ rādhā nā pāiyā | 

biṣāda karena kāma-bāṇe khinna haiyā ||

śata-koṭī gopīte nahe kāma nirbāpaṇa |

 ihātei anumāni śrī-rādhāra guṇa ||

“Wandering here and there, Kṛṣṇa was unable to find Śrī Rādhā and became dejected, pierced by Kāmadeva’s arrows. Even countless other gopīs could not allay his desire. We can only imagine Śrī Rādhā’s qualities.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.115-116)

If he so desired, Kṛṣṇa could have easily united with countless vraja-gopīs. But the transcendental youthful God of Love, Śyāmasundara, was stricken by the arrows of passion and longing for Śrī Rādhā. He cried, “Hā Rādhe, Hā Rādhe!” and fell to the ground in a swoon. In Vṛndāvana, there is no mundane god of love; there is nothing mundane at all in Vṛndāvana. Therefore, the meaning of “Kāmadeva’s arrows” here is that, even though Saccidānanda-Vigraha Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is ātmārāma (self-satisfied), he still always longs for the prema-sevā of his bhaktas. The degree to which Śrī Kṛṣṇa wants to receive sevā also depends upon the type and extent of the bhakta’s prema. Even though the state of mahābhāva exists abundantly in the vraja-sundarīs, the heroines of madhura-rasa, Śrī Rādhārāṇī overflows with it. Thus, the extraordinary mahābhāva known as mādana^ exists only in her. No other gopī has it. When Śrī Rādhā’s mādanākhya-bhāva awakens Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eager desire for her mādana-rasa-sevā, he is no longer satisfied in the company of other vraja-sundarīs. For this reason, even if he cannot get Śrī Rādhā, he does not go to the other gopīs. He therefore swoons because of his intense longing to receive her sevā. This has been described as “Kāmadeva’s countless arrows.”

Meanwhile, Śrī Rādhā became agitated by seeing Śyāmasundara in the beautiful springtime forest, so she left him in a huff and entered Vṛndāvana. Śrīpāda always remains close to Śrīmatī as a kiṅkarī engaged in her service. Seeing Īśvarī’s distress caused by her separation from Kṛṣṇa, the kiṅkarī went searching for him. After finding him insensible in the gentle breeze, she returned to Śrīmatī and, without mentioning Kṛṣṇa’s fainting, immediately told her of his distressed condition and urged her to go to him.

vahati malaya-samīre madanam upanidhāya | 

sphuṭati kusuma-nikare virahī-hṛdaya-dalanāya ||

sakhi he! sīdati tava virahe vanamālī |

dahati śiśira-mayūkhe maraṇam anukaroti | 

patati madana-viśikhe vilapati vikalataro’ti ||

dhvanati madhupa-samūhe śravaṇam apidadhāti | 

manasi kalita-virahe niśi-niśi rujam upayāti ||

vasati vipina-vitāne tyajati lalita-dhāma | 

luṭhati dharaṇī-śayane bahu vilapati tava nāma ||

“O Rādhā! I have returned after seeing your Vanamālī, who suffers deeply from the pain of separation. The fragrance of the spring flowers has joined with the Malaya breeze to intensify his anguish. In your absence, the touch of the moon’s rays has brought him near to death. He wails in agony, stricken by the merciless arrows of the god of love. Hearing the humming of the bees, he covers his ears. His agony increases throughout the night; even a moment without you has become unbearable. Having abandoned his comfortable home for you, he cries out your name as he rolls on the thorny ground of the woods.” (Gīta-Govinda) 

In this way, the kiṅkarī strongly urged and encouraged Śrīmatī to relieve the burning in Śyāmasundara’s heart. Anxious after hearing of her prāṇanātha’s suffering, Śrīmatī went with the kiṅkarī to see her swooning lover, stricken by Kāma’s arrows in the guise of a gentle breeze. When Śrīmatī saw her beloved Śyāmasundara’s condition, she became extremely distressed and tried to allay his swooning with the touch of her own body, which is the manifest essence of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa: divya-pramoda-rasa-sāra-nijāṅga-saṅga-pīyūṣa-vīci-nicayair abhiṣecayantī. “She bathes him in waves of the nectar of transcendental joy.“ ānanda-cinmaya-rasa premera ākhyāna (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.159). “The word prema means ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, or joyful spiritual love.” The essence of that prema-rasa is the touch of her body. premera parama-sāra mahābhāva jāni, sei mahābhāva-rūpā rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.160). “The true essence of prema is mahābhāva, and Śrī Rādhā Ṭhākurāṇī is the embodiment of that mahābhāva.” Mahābhāva Svarūpā Śrī Rādhā is in every way bathing her swooning lover in the waves of the surging ocean of mādana-rasa. Binding Kṛṣṇa with the ropes of her lotus-stalk arms, Śrīmatī began to kiss his face, sprinkling it with the sweet nectar from her lips. A heroic man, swooning from the strikes of his enemy’s arrows, regains consciousness after being sprinkled with cool water infused with some invigorating medicine. Getting his strength back, he once again becomes enthusiastic for battle. In the same way, by the power of his beloved’s sweet fragrance and nectarous lips, this swooning king of lovers once again came to his senses and blossomed with prema. Seeing the immediate delight of the swooning lover's five senses upon their contact with the rasa of Śrīmatī’s form and so on, the author has described the scene with the words pīyūṣa-vīci-nicayair abhiṣecayantī, or “bathed with waves of nectar.” One mahājana has sung,

saṅginī sahacarī,        dūrahi parihari,

rāi ekākinī kuñje |

ballabha mūrchita,        heri jiyāota,

rūpa sudhā-rasa puñje ||

“After abandoning her companions, Śrī Rādhikā entered the kuñja alone. Seeing that her sweetheart had fainted, she revived him with the nectar of her form.”

After that, Śrī Yugala entered a secluded bower. Understanding that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa would go there for vilāsa, the dāsīs had previously prepared and decorated the place. They created a beautiful bed of flowers, with soft pillows also made of flowers. The bed was covered by a canopy of fragrant flowers, illumined by lamps made of jewels and shaped like campaka buds. Garlands, tāmbūla, pots of scented water, aguru, candana, musk, red lac and other ingredients for dressing and decorating were all placed in a beautiful arrangement. On the gateway into the kuñja, the dāsīs had created stimulating erotic pictures with paint made of ground saffron. Inside the kuñja, the dāsīs had placed garlanded paintings depicting Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s pūrva-rāga. How beautiful Śrīmatī looked within that kuñja! Śyāmasundara sees her as the Goddess of the Bower. debī kahi dyotamānā paramā-sundarī, kiṁbā kṛṣṇa-krīḍā-pūjāra basati nagarī (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.84). “Devī means ‘the most resplendent and beautiful girl,’ or it can also mean ‘the abode where Kṛṣṇa and his pastimes are worshipped.’” After witnessing the sweet pastimes while absorbed in his svarūpa, Śrīpāda praised Śrī Nikuñja Devī, saying jayati kāpi nikuñjadevī: “Glory, glory to the Goddess of the Bower! You are the greatest of all!” The use of the present tense jayati here also indicates the perpetuity of līlā.

*True spiritual form

# In his commentary on this Prārthanā verse, Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī has explained that in this context, the word priya-sahacarī, or dear companions, refers to the other kiṅkarīs.

^ Mādana means related to Madana, the god of love. It also means intoxication, exhilaration.

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Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 10

Vrajadhāma: Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Go Home and to Bed

When the sakhīs saw Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s ārati in the Vraja bower, they danced and sang and forgot to go home. Alarmed, Śrī Vṛndādevī signaled the mynah named Śubhā to send them on their ways. Śubhā said, “O lotus-eyed one! Your mother-in-law has already risen from bed. She will soon say to you, ‘O Rādhā! Your husband is coming now with his servants as they carry milk from the cowshed. Quickly, get up and do your housework!’ O friend, before this happens, you must leave the kuñja and go secretly to your bedroom.” Then Śubhā said to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, “O Kṛṣṇa! Śrīmatī’s mother-in-law is always suspicious about her behavior. Abhimanyu also lives up to his name by constantly being angry and therefore rude in speech and critical of others. Moreover, her dull-headed sister-in-law is forever grumpy and uselessly slanders her. The night is almost over; why do you not part with this innocent girl?” When the Mandara Mountain of the mynah’s words came crashing down, the ocean of Śrī Rādhā’s heart began to churn and her eyes whirled about like restless minnows. Distressed that she must leave Śrī Kṛṣṇa, she rose from the bed with his yellow upper cloth still on her body. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa saw the fear and anxiety in Śrīmatī’s restless eyes and the pleasing luster of her lovely face, he took her blue cloth and also rose from the bed. Holding hands, they emerged apprehensively from the kuñja. Śrī Kṛṣṇa held Priyājī’s hand in his left hand and his flute in his right. They were beautiful, like a new raincloud beset with a streak of lightning. Then her devoted sakhīs emerged from the kuñja, carrying various things. Someone brought a golden pitcher; someone else brought a fan with a golden handle. Another sakhī carried a jeweled mirror, while another carried a tray of kuṅkuma and candana. Someone else brought a jeweled tray of tāmbūla, and yet another carried a caged mynah. Someone brought a small box of vermilion; someone else had gathered up the pearls from their broken necklaces and tied them in the border of her dress. Śrī Rati Mañjarī brought Śrīmatī’s ear-ornament from the bed and placed it on her ear again. Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī brought Śrīmatī’s bodice from the bed and gave it to her privately. Śrī Guṇa Mañjarī brought Śrī Yugala’s chewed tāmbūla from the spittoon and passed it out to the mañjarīs as she walked. Mañjulālī Mañjarī distributed the remnants of Śrī Yugala’s broken garlands, candana and so on to the kiṅkarīs. When the sakhīs saw the blue cloth on Śyāma’s body and the yellow cloth on Rādhā’s, they with great delight covered their mouths with their cloths and began to laugh and make eye-gestures at each other. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa could not understand the reason for this, so they just looked at each other and stood there perplexed. 

Then Śrī Lalitā Sakhī reproached the sun for disrupting their enjoyment of Śrī Yugala’s nectarous pastimes: “O Rādhā, look at that! Although Aruṇa’s legs have melted from leprosy due to his sin of ending the play of young lovers, he still cannot abandon his nature in the morning. Therefore, the mahājanas’ statement that ‘giving up one’s nature is difficult for everyone’ is true.” Śrīmatī replied with a smile, “Lalitā, although Aruṇa has no legs, within half a moment of sinking below the horizon, he crosses the sky and again rises in the east. If he had legs, the night would lose even its name.” After Śrī Kṛṣṇa saw Vṛndāvana’s morning beauty, he began to describe it to Priyājī in an erotic way. “O dear one, look there! When a nāyikā sees her lover arrive in the morning marked by the passion of another woman, she turns red with jealousy. In the same way, when the eastern sky sees her husband the sun arrive in the morning, his form tinged crimson from contact with another lover,* she turns red with jealousy. When a nāyikā is making love with her nāyaka, she sometimes makes a sound by quickly drawing in her breath.# This forest, under the guise of doves’ cooing, makes such a sound at the arrival of her lover the springtime. Look there! A ruddy goose longing for the arrival of her lover is joyfully kissing a red lotus brightened by the rays of the sun. A cool vernal breeze perfumed by lotuses blows gently to teach the creepers how to dance and to dry the perspiration of the beautiful girls.” Seeing that Śrī Yugala were engaged in playful banter with their sakhīs and had forgotten to go home, Vṛndādevī signaled for the old monkey named Kakkhaṭī. Kakkhaṭī sat up in a tree and began to speak. “A virtuous and honorable female ascetic has arrived as the morning twilight, dressed in red cloth and emanating rays of matted locks (jaṭilā).” As soon as Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa heard the syllables ja-ṭi-lā,^ they were filled with fear. They gathered up their disheveled clothes, hair and garlands and ran away on separate forest paths. Startled to see them running, the sakhīs also dashed off in all directions. Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava dreaded the separation from each other, so their lotus faces appeared ashen. Agitated by the unbearable pain of separation, they each anxiously drank in the sight of the other’s face. 

Understanding the situation, the sakhīs tried to console them with assurances of their reunion. In this way they arrived in great distress at Kadamba-Khaṇḍi, where with a heavy heart Śrī Kṛṣṇa headed in the direction of Nandīśvara and Śrī Rādhā and her sakhīs headed toward Yāvaṭa.+ Naturally eager for love, Śrīmatī said to Lalitā, “Friend! After enticing me to get the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s touch, you took me from my home and now you’re bringing me right back again. Why?” The sakhīs understood that Śrīmatī had forgotten everything due to her powerful thirst for love, so they took her on home, joking all the way. In this way, Śrī Rādhā entered the village through a hidden back gate without her elders knowing. The sakhīs then also came through this gate and went to their respective homes. After Śrī Rādhā entered her home along with Viśākhā, the sādhaka-mañjarī sat her on a golden stool on her bedroom’s veranda. She washed Śrīmatī’s lotus feet with scented water and then affectionately dried them with her own scarf. Śrī Rādhā entered her bedroom and lay on a jeweled bed, where a kiṅkarī began to massage her lotus feet. Śrīmatī felt anxious about being away from Kṛṣṇa, so in hopes of seeing him in a dream, she fell asleep. Then the mañjarīs, the guru-mañjarīs and the sādhaka-kiṅkarī all went to their respective homes. The sādhaka-dāsī helped the mañjarīs and guru-mañjarīs get in their beds and one by one she massaged their feet until they went to sleep. Afterwards, she went to her own home and fell asleep.

* A different direction

# The Sanskrit word used here is śītkāra, which is described as a sound made by drawing in the breath to express any sudden thrill of pleasure or pain, and especially pleasurable sensations during sexual enjoyment. Monier-Williams

^ Jaṭilā means having matted hair, but is also the name of Rādhikā’s mother-in-law.

+ During the time Śrī Rādhā resides in Varṣāṇā they separate when they reach the Dyumana Forest.