सत्प्रेमराशिसरसो विकसत्सरोजं
स्वानन्द-सीधु-रससिन्धु-विवर्धनेन्दुम् ।
तच्छ्रीमुखं कुटिलकुन्तलभृङ्गजुष्टं
श्रीराधिके तव कदा नु विलोकयिष्ये ॥ २५ ॥
sat-prema-rāśi-saraso vikasat-sarojaṁ
svānanda-sīdhu-rasa-sindhu-vivardhanendum |
tac-chrī-mukhaṁ kuṭila-kuntala-bhṛṅga-juṣṭaṁ
śrī-rādhike tava kadā nu vilokayiṣye || 25 ||
“O Śrī Rādhikā! When will I see your lovely face, which is like a lotus blooming in a lake of pure love? It is filled with the nectar of your own joy, is served by bee-like curling locks of hair, and is like a moon that increases the ocean of rasa.”
A Lotus in a Lake of Love
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: Śrīpāda’s absorption in his svarūpa has continued from beginning to end in one bhāva. There was no personal effort involved in his visions; visions are spontaneous. Floating in the waves of his prayer, Śrīpāda’s heart and mind have gone to the kingdom of līlā. He has obtained a vision of that līlā by the mercy of Śrī Rādhā. The massage of Śrīmatī’s lovely body has been completed. Nāgarendra Śrī Kṛṣṇa, seen by the kiṅkarī but not by Śrīmatī, has been blessed to relish the beauty of Śrīmatī’s naked form. Svāminī was deep in thought. The kiṅkarī called out, “Svāminī! Get up and take your bath.” Śrīmatī was startled. “Who said that? Were you massaging me? I’m confused; it felt just like my lover’s touch.” The kiṅkarī is blessed. A touch of śyāma-rasa is woven into every sevā. These are eternal sevikās; the sādhaka must learn the decorum of sevā from them.
priya-sahacarī saṅge, sebana kariba raṅge,
aṅge beśa karibeka sādhe |
rākha ei sebā-kāje, nija pada-paṅkaje,
priya-sahacarī-gaṇa mājhe ||
sugandhi candana, maṇimaya ābharaṇa,
kauṣika basana nānā-raṅge |
ei saba sebā yāṅra, dāsī yena haṅa tāṅra,
anukṣaṇa thāki tāṅra saṅge ||
“I will happily perform sevā alongside my dearest companions.(1) I long to dress your lovely form. Please keep me engaged in this sevā of your lotus feet in the company of my friends. I will decorate you with fragrant candana, jewel-studded ornaments and colorful silk cloth. I will be the maidservant of all these who perform sevā and remain close to them at every moment.” (Prārthanā 33) It is impossible to experience sevā-rasa without getting a drop of their mercy. Before explaining the four essential verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Brahmā, Śrī Bhagavān said,
yāvan ahaṁ yathā-bhāvo yad-rūpa-guṇa-karmakaḥ |
tathaiva tattva-vijñānam astu te mad-anugrahāt ||
“O Brahmā! By my mercy, may you have a true experience of the characteristics of my nature; of my forms, such as Śyāmasundara and so on; of my qualities, such as being the friend of the bhaktas; and of the līlās that accompany each of my forms. Without this mercy, you will not be able to understand. Hence, my compassionate blessing.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.31) The secrets of rāga-bhajana are to be known by mercy alone. kṛṣṇa-tad-bhakta-kāruṇya-mātra-lābhaika-hetukā (Śrī-Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 1.2..309). “The mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and his bhaktas is the only cause for one’s engagement in rāga-bhajana.” In Śrī Jīvapāda’s commentary, he says, “Sometimes the dedication of one’s actions and so on can be a gateway to the vidhi-mārga, but on the rāgānugā-mārga, the only cause is mercy.” The ācāryas are most compassionate; they wrote books about their realizations. This Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ is a prayer from Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s soul. A sādhaka becomes blessed by tasting a single drop of this ocean of nectar. After completing Śrīmatī’s bath, the kiṅkarī began to dress and adorn her. Noticing the unusual look on the kiṅkarī’s face, Svāminī quickly covered her body with a cloth. Alarmed, she looked this way and that. “Is Kṛṣṇa watching me from behind?” Śyāma was enchanted by Śrīmatī’s beauty in that moment. The kiṅkarī felt herself successful. Svāminī saw the kiṅkarī glance at the top of the kadamba tree and understood there is some mystery hidden there. As Svāminī was looking toward the treetop, she noticed a dark-blue luster. Śyāmasundara tried to hide, but her bashful gaze captured him. Śrīmatī’s body became adorned with the ornament of bhāva known as vilāsa. Numerous emotions began to appear. Shyness and contrariness want to pull her toward home. Dissimulation inspires her to pick flowers in the forest, as though she had come to this remote ghat on the Yamunā to bathe and collect flowers for sūrya-pūjā. Moreover, joy and passion have caused an unimaginable state to awaken in Śrī Rādhā’s mind and body. Seeing the sweetness of her bhāva at that time, Śyāmasundara considered himself successful. ei bhāba yukta dekhi rādhāsya-nayana; saṅgama haite sukha pāya koṭi-guṇa (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 14.179). “When Rādhā feels this bhāva and I see her face and eyes, I become millions of times happier than when we unite.” Śrīmatī scolded the kiṅkarī with a gesture of her eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me you saw him?” The kiṅkarī also replied with a gesture of her eyes, “I didn’t see him either; I saw him when you did.”
Coming to bathe in the Yamunā also demonstrates the variety of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes of love. Śrī Rādhā’s heart’s desire was to meet with Kṛṣṇa under the guise of bathing. The bejeweled temple of her mind was brightened by the light of her fulfilled yearning. How beautiful is her sweet face as it reveals the bhāvas of shyness, contrariness, joy, desire and so on! This verse contains a description of the sweetness of her face. The poets have tried to describe Śrī Rādhā’s lovely face by comparing it to the moon or a lotus, but how can these mundane objects be compared to the transcendental embodiment of prema? One must try to understand Premamayī Śrī Rādhā through love; there is no other way. Because of that, moreover, the bhāvas thoroughly manifest according to their natures. Therefore, Śrīpāda has written, sat-prema-rāśi-saraso vikasat-sarojam. “Her lovely face is a blossoming lotus in a lake of pure love for Kṛṣṇa.” If Śrīmatī’s face is compared with a lotus in a lake full of the nectar of śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema, rather than with a lotus in ordinary water, then a slight comparison can be useful. Śrīmatī’s expressive visage blooms with joy and passion when she sees Kṛṣṇa, and it becomes relishable like nectar (svānanda-sīdhu). Or, svānanda-sīdhu means svasya priyatamasya ānandasya sac-cid-ānanda-rūpatvāt śrī-kṛṣṇasya unmādaka-sīdhu-svarūpam. The mādhurī of Śrīmatī’s face is intoxicating to Kṛṣṇa. The inebriating quality of this nectar drives him mad. Or, svīyānāṁ sakhī-mañjarīṇām ānanda-sīdhu. Those who relish the sweetness of Śrī Rādhā’s face at this time attain a great fortune. This nectarous joy belongs to the sakhīs and mañjarīs. Thoughtful sādhaka-bhaktas also become intoxicated by joyful love when they remember the beauty of her face. The taste of devotion is very sweet. The sādhaka’s heart matures as a result of him practicing smaraṇa and he experiences Śrī Rādhā as directly present. Contemplation of Śrī Rādhārāṇī does not lead to absorption in the world. Engrossment in worldly life muddies the mind. As a result of sādhana, the sādhaka gradually gives up his worldly saṁskāras and masters the saṁskāras of transcendental rasa. If you do bhajana with your mind, you will feel something.
Śrīmatī has been freshly bathed. Forelocks have fallen upon her beautiful face like black bees on a golden lotus in an ocean of prema. It seems the bees are serving the lotus in hopes of getting some nectar. Śyāmasundara slowly climbed down from the tree branch, thirsty for Śrīmatī’s love. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of śṛṅgāra-rasa, saw Śrīmatī’s moonlike face, he was tossed about in waves of bhāva. The love-thirsty nāgara had previously begged the kiṅkarī through an eye-gesture to arrange a meeting with Śrīmatī in a Yamunā bower. Svāminī was also eager to fulfill her thirsty lover’s desires. The kiṅkarī succeeded in bringing the yearning couple together in a kuñja on the Yamunā bank. Through an opening in the vines, the fortunate kiṅkarī tasted with her eyes the sweetness of Śrī Yugala’s pastimes. Suddenly, his vision ended and he began to wail, “When will I get to see that madhura-līlā?”
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1. In his commentary on this Prārthanā verse, Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja says that in this case, priya-sahacarī means other devoted kiṅkarīs. Their mutual love and friendship is very strong.
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