वृन्दानि सर्वमहतामपहाय दूराद्
वृन्दाटवीमनुसर प्रणयेन चेतः ।
सत्तारणीकृत-सुभाव-सुधारसौघं
राधाभिधानमिह दिव्यनिधानमस्ति ॥ ९ ॥
vṛndāni sarva-mahatām apahāya dūrād
vṛndāṭavīm anusara praṇayena cetaḥ |
sat-tāraṇī-kṛta-subhāva-sudhā-rasaughaṁ
rādhābhidhānam iha divya-nidhānam asti || 9 ||
“O mind, leave all the great endeavors far behind and go with love to Śrī Vṛndāvana. There you will find a divine treasure named Śrī Rādhā, who, like a stream of sweet nectar, carries the saintly ones to safety.”
Śrī Vṛndāvana's Divine Treasure
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: A vision of the incomparable glory of Śrī Rādhā’s dāsīs has appeared in Śrīpāda’s mind while in the mood of a sādhaka. Filled with humility, he expressed his desire to become a broom in the courtyard with the hope of obtaining the dust from their feet. When this powerful longing arose, his mind became agitated. Such longing is at the heart of rāga-bhajana. gāḍha-laulyaika labhyā: to be obtained only by intense longing. After merely hearing about the pure, eternal love of the Vrajavāsīs, who are the nitya-siddha companions of the Lord, one longs to obtain that love and rāga appears. If a person becomes truly enticed to acquire some object, he forgets his body, home and everything else and searches for that object like a madman, with no tranquility until he obtains it. This is genuine lobha. If, like lightning, something appears in the mind for an instant and then the next moment the mind is distracted by something else, that can never be defined as lobha. atiśayena pravṛttiḥ syāt, yathā kāmārthināṁ kāmopāyeṣu (Rāga-Vartma-Candrikā). Just as a person who desires a material object becomes intently engaged in pursuit of that object, in the same way a rāga-bhakta is intently engaged in pursuit of his cherished objective. If there is no intense longing, the sweetness of rāga-bhajana is never realized. The feeling of “When shall I get to serve my beloved?” should always be present in one’s heart. This longing is the lifeblood of rāga-sādhanā.
Śrīla Sarasvatīpāda feels so much distress! When he contemplates the rare position of Rādhā’s kiṅkarīs, he is overcome with humility and longs to become a broom in the courtyard of her kuñja. Moreover, he wonders how he can easily attain that position of a broom. When such considerations arise, he instructs his mind: “O mind! Leave far behind the grand worship of Brahmā and other gods, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, traveling to various holy places and so on. Just go with love to Śrī Vṛndāvana.” All these ostentatious activities are unfavorable for śuddhā-bhakti. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said the following in Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 94-95:
jñāna-kāṇḍa karma-kāṇḍa, kebali biṣera bhāṇḍa,
amṛta baliyā yebā khāya |
nānā yoni sadā phire, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare,
tāra janma adhaḥ-pāte yāya ||
rādhā-kṛṣṇe nāhi rati, anya-debe bale pati,
prema-bhakti rīti nāhi jāne |
nāhi bhaktira sandhāna, bharame karaye dhyāna,
bṛthā tāra se chāra jībane ||
“Those who follow jñāna-kāṇḍa and karma-kāṇḍa only drink pots of poison, thinking them to be nectar. Continuously wandering from one womb to another, they feed on abominable things and take lower and lower births. With no attraction for Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, they call other gods their masters and don’t understand the nature of prema-bhakti. Without inquiring into bhakti, they meditate in illusion. Their lives are useless.” Śuddha-bhaktas should give up any association with persons who are attached to such grand endeavors.
yogī nyāsī karmī jñānī, anya-deba pūjaka dhyānī,
iha loka dūre parihari |
dharma karma duḥkha śoka, yebā thāke anya-yoga,
chāḍi bhaja giribaradhārī ||
tīrtha yātrā pariśrama, kebali manera bhrama,
sarba-siddhi gobinda-caraṇa |
“Stay away from yogīs, sannyāsīs, karmīs, jñānīs and those who meditate upon and worship other gods. Give up varṇāśrama-dharma, fruitive activities, sorrow, lamentation and whatever other attachments you may have. Just worship Girivaradhārī. Traveling to holy places is troublesome and merely the wandering of the mind. Govinda’s lotus feet are the abode of all success.” (Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 16-17) Śrīpāda’s heart is devoted to Śrī Rādhā, so why should he leave her abode of Vraja and travel to other holy places?(1)
His mind may ask, “Śrīpāda, if this is so, then which sādhana path will you adopt to reach your goal?” He replies, vṛndāṭavīm anusara praṇayena cetaḥ: “O mind! Go with love to Śrī Vṛndāvana. Listen—the sound of charming Śyāmasundara’s enchanting flute comes from the center of Vṛndāvana!” sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. “Abandon all these dharmas and take shelter at my feet.” In sādhana-bhakti, the devotee whose mind has become pure gets to hear the call of the flute. At that time, the bhakta’s heart becomes engrossed in vraja-bhāva and goes to Vṛndāvana. His heart longs to meet with his beloved! Brahma-jñāna has dropped far away from this path of sweet union. The faint impression of paramātmā realization has disappeared like the horizon fades in the distance. The loving vraja-bhakta has also given up devotion to God in the aiśvarya mood. The vraja-premika is no longer seen in the company of others. He takes love alone with him on the path to Vraja. Vṛndāvana is always on his mind. His ears fill with the sweet sound of the flute and he loses all composure. His heart longs to meet his beloved. In this way, Bilvamaṅgala, Jayadeva, Vidyāpati, Caṇḍidāsa, Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana and the other gosvāmīs, as well as many more loving sādhakas and sādhikās have arrived on the path to Vraja. Śrīman Mahāprabhu was lost in the intoxication of this rasa, but until that time, no one had come who was capable of bearing it. Weeping day and night, a premika maddened by the divine intoxication of vraja-rasa has written,
hāhā kāṅhā bṛndābana, kāṅhā gopendra-nandana,
kāṅhā sei baṁśī-badana |
kāṅhā se tribhaṅga-ṭhāma, kāṅhā sei beṇu-gāna,
kāṅhā prabhu madana-mohana ||
“Alas! Where is Vṛndāvana? Where is the son of the gopa king? Where is that player of the flute? Where is the one whose form bends in three places? Where is the song of the flute? Where is my Lord Madana-Mohana?”(2)
The word praṇaya means love. Without the support of love, it is impossible to enter Śrī Vṛndāvana, the kingdom of prema. Though lacking sufficient love, jīvas like us have entered prema-dhāma Vṛndāvana, but due to their strong desires for profit, adoration, fame and so on, they committed offenses and were ruined. Excessively attached to the body and things related to it, their lives of progressive sādhana were obstructed and many anarthas surfaced. Without relishing the rasa of love, there is no way for the soul to be free from the influence of anarthas. If true loving devotees accept bodily comforts and pleasures, they cannot live in Śrī Vṛndāvana in a carefree way. We see the following in Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s passionate Prārthanā (verses 22 & 24):
sukhamaya bṛndābana, kabe habe daraśana,
se dhūli mākhiba kabe gāya |
preme gadagada haiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāma laiyā,
kāṅdiyā beḍāba ubharāya ||
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śītala yamunā-jale, snāna kari kutūhale,
premābeśe ānandita haiyā |
bāhu’para bāhu tuli, bṛndābane kuli kuli,
kṛṣṇa bali beḍāba kāṅdiyā ||
dekhiba saṅketa sthāna, juḍābe tāpita prāṇa,
premābeśe gaḍāgaḍi diba |
kāṅhā rādhā prāṇeśvari, kāṅhā giribaradhārī,
kāṅhā nātha baliyā ḍākiba ||
mādhabī kuñjeropari, sukhe basi śuka-śārī,
gāibeka rādhā-kṛṣṇa rasa |
taru-tale basi tāhā, śuni juḍāibe hiyā,
kabe sukhe goṅyāba dibasa ||
“When shall I see blissful Vṛndāvana and smear my body with its dust? When, overwhelmed by love, shall I wander about crying Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s names at the top of my voice? When shall I bathe with delight in the cool waters of the Yamunā, absorbed in love and filled with happiness? When shall I roam the Vṛndāvana paths crying ‘Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’ with arms crossed on my chest?(3) When shall I see the places of their trysts? When shall they cool my burning heart? When shall I roll on the ground, overwhelmed with love? When shall I call out, ‘Where is Śrī Rādhā, the goddess of my life? Where is Girivaradhārī? Where is my lord?’ When shall the parrots and mynahs sit joyfully atop mādhavī bowers and sing of rādhā-kṛṣṇa-rasa? When shall I happily pass my days sitting beneath a tree, listening to their heart-soothing songs?”
Or the words sarva-mahatām apahāya could mean that since in his sannyāsa life he had associated with big paṇḍitas, ascetics and māyāvādī-mahātmās, he is worried that it may now cause him distress. “O mind! Quickly abandon the association of all those jñānī-mahātmās and just go to Śrī Vṛndāvana! All of this māyāvādī-saṅga is a powerful impediment to your desired success, so stay away from these great souls.” Or, “Abandon the sublime mukti-dhāma Kāśī and go to Śrī Vṛndāvana. You are seeking the great treasure of rādhā-dāsya; what will you get in Kāśī? That rādhā-dāsya belongs only to Vṛndāvana.” His prior associates may say, “Śrīpāda! You are so eager to go to Vṛndāvana. What is so valuable there?” To that, he replies, “There, rādhābhidhānam iha divya-nidhānam asti: In that place is a most precious divine treasure named Śrī Rādhā.” Having been shown the prominence of this supremely divine treasure over all material or spiritual treasures of the world, he said, “That treasure is sat-tāraṇī-kṛta-subhāva-sudhā-rasaugham. satām uddhāropāya-svarūpī-kṛtaḥ yaḥ subhāvaḥ sa eva sudhā-rasas tasya oghaḥ pravāhaḥ vidyate yasmin tat. The divine treasure named Śrī Rādhā is there; she is a stream of sweet nectar and the embodiment of the ultimate means for the deliverance of the highest sādhus.” Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has explained the word sādhu in this way: sādhubhiḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ mokṣa-paryantaḥ kāmanā-rahitair ity arthaḥ. “Those who have abandoned dharma, artha, kāma and even mukti, considering them to be deceitful, and who have devoted themselves to pure prema-bhakti are genuine sādhus.” Prema-bhakti is the best means for their deliverance: nothing else will do. Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the presiding deity of that prema—Prema-Lakṣmī herself. Therefore, there is always a nectarous stream of prema-rasa within her. Simply by seeing her, one obtains vraja-prema without effort. Accepting her mood and complexion, Śrīman Mahāprabhu has submerged the world in a stream of prema-rasa. Merely by taking shelter of Śrī Rādhā, the sādhus are bathed in ceaseless cascades of vraja-prema-rasa and attain supreme success. Therefore, she has been called a stream of nectar that carries the sādhus to freedom.
Or, the word sat is derived from the verbal root as. The meaning of the verbal root as is “existence.” He whose existence is eternal is the original being. That is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The divine treasure named Śrī Rādhā, who embodies a stream of nectar that delivers Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the supreme person and eternal reality, lives in Śrī Vṛndāvana. The question may arise: Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not a bound jīva; why would he need to be delivered? The answer is that deliverance here refers to his being rescued from the burning fire of amorous desire. That divine treasure named Śrī Rādhā, who by the nectar-stream of her bodily touch rescues her distressed lover from the pain of Kandarpa’s(4) arrows and makes him most satisfied, lives in Śrī Vṛndāvana. The verbal root div means “to play.” The purport is that through various kinds of love-play, Śrī Rādhā makes Śrī Kṛṣṇa very happy. In Vṛndāvana, one gets the great fortune of relishing the sweetness of that play. Therefore, Śrīpāda is so eager to go to Vṛndāvana. Or, after having tasted rādhā-prema in Vraja, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the foundation of all reality, adopted the sweet mood of Śrī Rādhā and manifested as Śrī Gaurāṅga to fulfill three desires. That divine treasure Śrī Rādhā, like a stream of nectar, has rescued him from the torment of those three desires. Simply by accepting her shelter, one attains the most rare vraja-prema-rasa.
Or, in extreme humility, he thinks, “I am the servant of desire and longing. If I go to prema-dhāma Vṛndāvana, will my nature be transformed?” Or perhaps he thinks, “There in Vṛndāvana is the divine treasure of Śrī Rādhā’s name (abhidhāna), which is like a steady boat for joyfully roaming the ocean of nectar that is her sweet nature.” The meaning is that through the qualities of Śrī Rādhā’s name, my sinful nature will disappear and my true spiritual nature will be awakened. In this way, I can become a broom in the courtyard of Śrī Rādhā’s pleasure bower.
1. After taking shelter of Vraja, out of curiosity, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, the siddha-bābā of Raṇabāḍi, traveled to see the four holy places. In Dvārakā, he accepted tapta-mudrā (symbols of Viṣṇu branded on his body) and then returned to Vraja. Śrī Rādhārāṇī entered his dreams and instructed him, “Having accepted tapta-mudrā, you have become one of Śrī Satyabhāmā’s attendants. Therefore, you should return to Dvārakā.” When the dream ended, Śrī Bābā disappeared, burnt in the fire of separation from Śrī Rādhārāṇī. By his own behavior he taught the world that for sādhakas devoted to Śrī Rādhā, leaving Vraja and going to another dhāma is unfavorable for their bhāva. A more detailed account may be found in the second chapter of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Jībana, compiled by Śrīla Haridāsa Dāsajī.
2. One who infatuates even the god of love
3. This is called doḥsvastika and indicates extreme humility.
4. Kandarpa is the god of love.
