उज्जृम्भमाणरसवारिनिधेस्तरङ्गै-
रङ्गैरिव प्रणयलोलविलोचनायाः ।
तस्याः कदा नु भविता मयि पुण्यदृष्टि-
र्वृन्दाटवी-नवनिकुञ्जगृहाधिदेव्याः ॥ १२ ॥
ujjṛmbhamāṇa-rasa-vāri-nidhes taraṅgair
aṅgair iva praṇaya-lola-vilocanāyāḥ |
tasyāḥ kadā nu bhavitā mayi puṇya-dṛṣṭir
vṛndāṭavī-nava-nikuñja-gṛhādhidevyāḥ || 12 ||
“When will the auspicious glance of Śrī Rādhā, the goddess of Vṛndāvana’s new bower cottage, fall upon me? Her restless, thirsty eyes fill with love at the sight of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s smiles, sidelong glances and so on that rise like waves in the billowing ocean of rasa.”
Śrī Rādhā, Ocean of Love
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: In the previous verse, a deep longing for Śrīmatī’s mercy awoke in Śrīpāda’s mind when his vision of līlā faded and he returned to sādhaka consciousness. The sādhaka advances on the path toward his objective according to the amount of longing in his heart. Specifically, this eager desire or longing is the life of rāga-bhakti. In the heart of a jīva like me, desires for so many things constantly arise, but not even a scent of longing for the divine beloved appears. Longing will arise in the sādhaka’s heart if he continuously hears about the loving affairs of the divine couple. This is the way to obtain strong desire for the beloved.
tat-tat-bhāvādi-mādhurye śrute dhīr yad apekṣate |
nātra śāstraṁ na yuktiṁ ca tal-lobhotpatti-lakṣaṇam ||
“The indication of the appearance of lobha, or strong desire, is that upon hearing about Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sweet loving affairs from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other līlā-granthas written by rasika-bhaktas, one gains a slight experience of that bhāva. Then, without regard for scriptural injunctions or logic, a desire to obtain it arises in one’s mind.” (Śrī-Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 1.2.292)
This intense desire for tasting mādhurya is the primary support for rāga-bhajana. Śrīpāda longs for Śrīmatī’s merciful glance. Woven within her compassionate glance is the attainment of sevā to the beloved. In his Prārthanā, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has written the following:
prāṇeśvari! kabe more habe kṛpā-diṭhi |
ājñāya āniyā kabe, bibidha phulabara, bacana śunaba duṅhu miṭhi ||
mṛga-mada tilaka, sindura banāoba, lepaba candana gandhe ||
gāṅthi mālatī-phula, hāra pahirāoba, dhāoyāba madhukara-bṛnde |
lalitā kabe more, bījana deoyaba, bījaba māruta mande ||
śrama-jala sakala, miṭaba duṅhu kalebara, heraba parama ānande ||
“Goddess of my life! When shall I get your merciful glance? When, by your order, shall I bring varieties of beautiful flowers and hear your sweet conversations with Kṛṣṇa? I shall prepare tilaka of musk and vermilion for the two of you, and anoint your bodies with fragrant sandal-paste. I shall string garlands of mālatī flowers, replace your necklaces and chase away the bees. When will Lalitā give me the opportunity to fan you, removing the perspiration from your bodies with a gentle breeze. I shall behold all this in great joy!”
By Śrīmatī’s mercy, a vision of līlā has appeared before Śrīpāda’s eyes. Śrī Rādhā, filled with profound love, has departed for the kuñja today to meet her lover. Śrī Rādhā’s mood during the journey is truly amazing: on the one hand, she is eager, while on the other, she is apprehensive. Then there is the difficulty of the path itself. People say that love is tender, but they will be astonished if they consider that such tenderness is the source (or vessel) of infinite power.
māthahi tapana, tapata patha bāluka, ātapa dahana bithāra |
nanika putali tanu, caraṇa kamala janu, dinahi kayala abhisāra ||
hari hari! premaka gati anibāra |
kānu paraśa rase, parabaśa rasabatī, bichurala sakala bicāra ||
“On the day of Rādhā’s journey to see her lover, the sun overhead was hot and the sand on the road even hotter. Her body was like a doll made of butter and her lotus feet like glowing coals. Hari Hari! The movement of one with divine love is unstoppable. Overcome by Kṛṣṇa’s charm, Rādhā forgot all caution.” (Govinda Dāsa)
Longing intensely to serve Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī prevailed over all obstacles and hazards and has now arrived at the meeting place. When her eager lover, waiting in the bower, saw his devoted Śrī Rādhā’s moonlike face, he was filled with joy. Because Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the incomparable ocean of mādhurya-rasa, when he saw Śrī Rādhā’s moonlike face, waves of beauty began to surge in him. Waves of smiles, sidelong glances and so on rose within that expanding ocean of rasa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is an ocean full of nectarous rasa. Śruti has said, raso vai saḥ, ānandaṁ brahma. Śrī Bhagavān is full of rasa or joy; but all rasas are not fully manifested in all avatāras. After Nṛsiṁhadeva killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, the gods sent Śrī Lakṣmīdevī to allay his anger, but she could not find any madhura-rasa in him. Śrī Prahlāda Mahāśaya found vātsalya-rasa(1) within him. In no other incarnation of Śrī Bhagavān are all the rasas displayed at once. But Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the full embodiment of rasa; all rasas are completely manifested in him. He has so many qualities that nourish rasa and those qualities are called his mādhurya (sweetness). Śrī Kṛṣṇa's rūpa-mādhurya (bodily sweetness) is one of them. With the support of pure love, the devotee perceives Kṛṣṇa's sweetness, and in the presence of that devotee's love, Kṛṣṇa's sweetness is seen to surge. In the invocation to his Durgama-Saṅgamanī commentary on Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has written, tatrāpi rasa-viśeṣa-viśiṣṭa-parikara-vaiśiṣṭyenāvirbhāva-vaiśiṣṭyaṁ dṛśyate; ataevādi-rasa-viśeṣa-viśiṣṭa-sambandhena nitarām. The meaning is that Kṛṣṇa's sweetness surges in response to the degree of the devotee's love. Therefore, in the presence of the damsels of Vraja, whose pure love in madhura-rasa surpasses all others, the bodily sweetness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the king of the erotic sentiment, surges in abundance. In the presence of Śrī Rādhārāṇī, who possesses mādanākhya-mahābhāva, the highest of all, endless waves of mādhurya surge in that ocean of śṛṅgāra-rasa.(2)
In his kiṅkarī form, Śrīpāda observes that when the delighted nāgara (lover boy) sees Śrī Rādhā's face, his own boundless beauty is displayed. His sweetly smiling face is very attractive, and upon that face his captivating eyebrows play. When Śrīmatī sees the face of her beloved, her eyes become restless with love. The jewel of lovers reveals boundless sweetness in her sidelong glances. Śrī Rādhā's eyes swim like fish in the waves of the ocean of the lover king's beauty. Śrī Rādhā is a transformation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's love. rādhikā hayena kṛṣṇera praṇaya-bikāra (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.59). The love in Śrīmatī’s heart emerges through her eyes and paints countless pictures of rasa on the canvas of Kṛṣṇa’s heart.(3) The reason for saying praṇaya-lola-vilocanā rather than prema-lola-vilocanā is that where there is an abundance of love, one considers one's own body, mind and soul to be one with his or her lover's.(4) Today, the jewel of lovers Śrī Rādhā is very open-hearted, so by means of his beauty and sweetness the lover king drives away her naturally contrary nature and enchants her. Her loving, sidelong glances are restless. This restlessness reveals her countless erotic moods. Through her eyes she makes love-offerings to her beloved. The ornament named vilāsa, or flirtatious behavior, is expressed by her beautiful limbs.
gati-sthānāsanādīnāṁ mukha-netrādi-karmaṇām |
tātkālikaṁ tu vaiśiṣṭyaṁ vilāsaḥ priya-saṅga-jam ||
“The particular manner of the girl's walking, standing, sitting and so on, as well as the movements of her mouth and eyes that manifest when she meets with her lover is called vilāsa.” (Ujjvala-Nīlamaṇi 11.31)
When he saw the sweetness of Śrīmatī's mouth, eyes and limbs, Kṛṣṇa was enticed by her beauty and became eager for romance. The kiṅkarī left the bower, knowing that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa were going to make love. Such sweet union! The fortunate kiṅkarī was blessed with a taste of that sweetness by peeking through an opening in the bower. After the lovemaking, the kiṅkarī knew there would be an opportunity for sevā, so she reentered the bower, where Śrīmatī was sitting on the bed. It seemed as though a cascade of mādhurī was falling from her beautiful form. Kṛṣṇa was spellbound.
līlā-ante sukhe ihāra ye aṅga mādhurī |
tāhā dekhi sukhe āmi āpanā pāsari ||
“Seeing the beauty of her body after our love play, I forget myself in ecstasy.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.256)
By observing Śyāmasundara, the kiṅkarī understood that Śrīmatī is the presiding deity of the new bower cottage and she illuminates it with her beauty.
debī kahi dyotamānā paramā-sundarī |
kimbā kṛṣṇa-krīḍā-pūjāra basati nagarī ||
“The word devī means luminous and most beautiful, or the abode of the worship of Kṛṣṇa and his pastimes.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.84)
The enchanted nāgara relishes insatiably the beauty of Śrīmatī's form. The kiṅkarī engages in sevā. Suddenly the vision came to an end. In sādhaka consciousness he prayed with deep anguish, “When will Śrī Rādhā’s auspicious glance fall upon me?” Here, the word puṇya-dṛṣṭi (auspicious glance) means “charming or pleasant glance.” He hopes to relish Śrīmatī's sweet glance as she, with longing eyes, savors the sight of Śyāmasundara. Or the word puṇya can mean “conferring happiness.” In his sādhaka state, he humbly said, “Śrī Rādhā’s glance confers the greatest happiness. When will that sweet glance deliver me from this wretched condition and lead me to the most auspicious kingdom of līlā?”
1. Parental sentiment
2. Śṛṅgāra is the erotic mood.
3. Could this mean that when Kṛṣṇa sees the love in Rādhā’s eyes, the possibility of countless rasika pastimes with her appears in his heart?
4. Prema and praṇaya both generally mean love or affection, but praṇaya seems to specifically indicate intimacy.
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