महाप्रेमोन्मीलन्नवरससुधासिन्धुलहरी
परीवाहैर्विश्वं स्नपयदिव नेत्रान्तनटनैः ।
तडिन्मालागौरं किमपि नवकैशोरमधुरं
पुरन्ध्रीणां चूडाभरणनवरत्नं विजयते ॥ ५१ ॥
mahā-premonmīlan nava-rasa-sudhā-sindhu-laharī
parīvāhair viśvaṁ snapayad iva netrānta-naṭanaiḥ |
taḍin-mālā-gauraṁ kim api nava-kaiśora-madhuraṁ
purandhrīṇāṁ cūḍābharaṇa-nava-ratnaṁ vijayate || 51 ||
“Śrī Rādhā reigns supreme. She is the crown jewel of all young women. Golden like a streak of lightning, she embodies the sweetness of youth. Her dancing eyes bathe the world in the overflowing waves of the ocean of nectar, surging with the power of her great love.”
Śrī Rādhā’s Dancing Eyes
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: Śrīpāda’s līlā-visions are manifesting one after another before his eyes, expanding their boundless charm. His heart and mind have been stolen by the sweetness of the divine couple. Śrī Rādhā is the embodiment of mahābhāva, the great love. She by nature causes Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of condensed saccidānanda, to taste śṛṅgāra-rasa (the erotic sentiment). kṛṣṇake karāya śyāma-rasa madhu-pāna (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛtam, Madhya 8.180). During līlā, powerful waves of love for Kṛṣṇa sport in the layers of Mahābhāva Śrī Rādhā’s heart, their surges evident in her body. The sādhakas who are devoted to contemplation obtain a taste of the sweetness of this love through their thoughts. They get unobstructed mental association with their svāminī. “During intense smaraṇa, I feel so near to my deity that I forget I’m merely remembering.” After meditation, a powerful longing to directly experience the object of meditation arises. The sādhaka’s insatiability is a measure of his taste for the object. One does not usually feel satisfied after getting only a little taste. As much as one’s thirst and eagerness for something increases, that much closer he is to attaining his goal. He frequently has visions of his deity’s sweet pastimes. The experience of a sphūrti or vision is more intense than that of remembrance, meditation or a dream. In a vision, one’s perception is clear. You can relish it through your eyes. Meditation is experienced with the eyes closed. Through wholehearted bhajana, the sādhaka gradually enters the realm of sphūrti (revelation, manifestation). Through bhajana, a new life is created. The sādhaka is able to examine himself. Sādhana and bhajana are only for obtaining the sevā of one’s deity! A true sādhaka’s heart becomes anxious if he has no sevā. This anxiety awakens a wave of compassion in the deity’s heart. The deity then comes to such a sādhaka and accepts his sevā.
The longing in Śrīpāda’s heart is at its highest. In a vision, he has obtained an unobstructed experience of the charm of a radiant and clever couple in Vṛndāvana. He has been blessed with a taste of Śrī Yugala’s beauty, sweetness and affection through observing their mutual skill in the art of love. In this way, his tasting of rasa has proceeded in a sequence. Śrīpāda’s heart and mind have been stolen by Śrī Yugala’s mādhurī. His vision of līlā has not ended. This verse describes the beauty of Śrī Rādhā’s dancing eyes. She is the youthful crest-jewel of the girls of Vraja. A previous verse described the charming sidelong glance that Śrīmatī cast toward Śyāmasundara during their love-play. This verse is a description of the power of that glance. Śrī Rādhā is made of mahābhāva; it pervades her every limb. The powerful love for Śyāmasundara in her heart has manifested in the borders of her eyes. By the slight movement of those eyes, she inundates the world with surging waves of her ocean of love.
In Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā 11.40, at the end of his darśana of the universal form, Śrī Arjuna said, sarvaṁ samāpnoṣi tato’si sarvaḥ. “You complete everything; therefore you are everything.” In his commentary on this part of the verse, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda wrote, sarvaṁ svakāryaṁ jagad āpnoṣi vyāpnoṣi svarṇam iva kaṭaka-kuṇḍalādikam atas tvam eva sarvaḥ. “Just as gold pervades the inside and outside of an earring or bracelet, in the same way, you pervade the entire world, which is your own creation. Therefore, one of your names is Sarva (everything).” Similarly, because he is the soul of the universe, one of his names is Viśva (the universe). By the movements of her eyes, she submerges Viśva Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the billowy waves of the great ocean of love. Countless waves of ecstasy! Countless waves of mādanākhya-rasa manifest from her eyes. These waves awaken a stirring of rasa in Rasarāja Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s heart. Śrīpāda Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmicaraṇa has said,
yat-prānta-deśa-lava-leśa-vighūrṇitena
baddhaḥ kṣaṇād bhavati kṛṣṇa-karīndra uccaiḥ |
tat-khañjarīṭa-jayi-netra-yugaṁ kadāyaṁ
sampūjayiṣyati janas tava kajjalena ||
“O Śrī Rādhā! By the slight movement of your eyes, you at once bring Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the king of elephants, firmly under your control. When shall this poor person worship those eyes, which defeat the dancing of wagtails, by applying collyrium around their borders?” (Vilāpa-Kusumāñjaliḥ 42)
Śrī Rādhā, anxious to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is in the candraśālikā (1) with her sakhīs, looking out toward the northern pasture. A sakhī says, “O lovely one! Look—Vanamālī (2) is coming.” Kṛṣṇa was not looking toward her at the time, so Svāminī gazed at him with full attention. When she saw the beauty of Śyāma’s form, her accumulated pain of separation was relieved. She drank in the nectar of his form through the chalices of her eyes. Her affection for him manifested fully. Now Śyāma was looking toward Śrī Rādhā. Feeling shy, she pulled up her veil and started to walk away. After having gone a step or two, she stopped and turned around. She hoped to see him once more before he left. She spoke respectfully to her shyness: “O Shyness! Please set free the corner of my left eye and bless me to drink just once the sweetness of Śyāma’s form through it.” She looked briefly toward Śyāma’s face through the corner of her eye, which had now been released by Shyness. Because of her modesty, her gaze was restless. What an amazing sight! How beautiful is a gaze filled with modesty! She smiled slightly in delight. Her eyes were beautiful, as though smeared with modesty and shyness. “I am unable to give you anything.” Hence, the modesty. “Once, at the end of the day, I got to see you.” Hence, the delight. So much has been said about the movements of her eyes. Svāminī’s playful eyes are the great elixir that sustains Śyāma’s life. They are the object of his contemplation throughout the night. The one who controls everything has himself been controlled by a sidelong glance. Countless beautiful gopīs are eager to get a brief, merciful glance from him. But he is bewildered and overwhelmed by Śrī Rādhā’s glance, which is imbued with the nectar of mahābhāva. Śyāmasundara kept the sweet image of that playful glance in his heart; it sustained him throughout the night. Thus, the kṛṣṇa-elephant was captured by the movements of Śrī Rādhā’s eyes. Śrīpāda Sarasvaticaraṇa has experienced this nectarous pastime from within his mystical vision. By the movements of Śrīmatī’s eyes, the currents of the great ocean of love renew themselves moment by moment. Floating on those currents, Rasarāja Śrī Kṛṣṇa drifts toward infinity.
Or, Śrī Rādhā is submerging the whole world in a stream of prema-rasa with the sweetness of her loving glance toward Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the maṅgalācaraṇa verse of his book Dāna-Keli-Kaumudī, Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmipāda has expressed his desire that the jīvas of the world be blessed by Śrī Rādhā’s kilakiñcita glance. rādhāyāḥ kilakiñcita-stabakinī-dṛṣṭiḥ śriyaṁ vaḥ kriyāt. “May Śrī Rādhā’s loving glance at Śrī Kṛṣṇa, permeated by the bhāva known as kilakiñcita,(3) bestow supreme auspiciousness on you and bless you with the gift of prema.” The purport is that one who meditates on that glance is blessed with prema at Śrī Yugala’s lotus feet.
A question may arise here. It is said that the sweetness of her glance can transfer prema-rasa into the hearts and minds of the bhaktas, but what about bathing the universe in prema-rasa? In Śrī-Ujjvala-Nīlamaṇiḥ 14.186, Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmipāda has mentioned an anubhāva (4) of Śrī Rādhā’s mohana-bhāva known as brahmāṇḍa-kṣobha-kāritva (causing distress to the universe). Citing an example of this, he said, pūrṇānande’py uṣitvā bahir idam abahiś cārtam āsīd ajāṇḍam. “When the mist from Śrī Rādhā’s sigh of love had spread in all directions, the jīvas of the universe, though living in complete joy, became extremely distressed.” Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda has commented, pūrṇānande’pīti tat-prema-jāter ānanda-svabhāvakatvāt. It is understood by the word pūrṇānande (in complete joy) that there has been an infusion of prema everywhere in the universe. Therefore, Śrī Rādhā’s sweet glance can also submerge the universe in prema-rasa. Regarding this, the topic of sarva-mukti or universal liberation cannot arise. In whichever universe Śrī Rādhā’s līlās are unfolding, the jīvas living there at the time may become submerged in prema-rasa. When the līlā disappears, countless subtle jīvas from other universes are roused into action in that universe.
Now, in this particular kali-yuga, the time has come for the worldly jīvas to realize the truth of this tattva. After accepting the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā, Śrīman Mahāprabhu flooded the universe with the sweet prema-rasa of his loving glance.
bāhu tuli ‘hari’ bali prema-dṛṣṭe cāya |
kariyā kalmaṣa-nāśa premete bhāsāya ||
“With raised arms, he chants the name ‘Hari’ and looks upon all with love. He destroys their sins and floods them with prema.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛtam, Ādi 3.62)
Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmipāda described the pervasiveness of this flood of prema in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛtam, Ādi 7.25-27:
uthalila prema-banyā,—caudike beḍāya |
strī bṛddha bālaka yubā sabāre ḍubāya ||
sajjana durjana paṅgu jaḍa andha-gaṇa |
prema-banyāya ḍubāila jagatera jana ||
jagata ḍubila, jībera haila bīja-nāśa | ityādi
“This flood of prema swelled in all directions, submerging old men, young men, women and children; good people, bad people, the crippled, the simple-minded and the blind—everyone! All the people of the world were submerged in the flood of prema. The world itself was submerged and the jīvas’ seed of material affinity was destroyed.”
Having accepted the sweet mood and complexion of Premamayī Śrī Rādhā, Śrī Gaurāṅga Sundara manifested the power to flood the whole world with prema. Śrīmatī Rādhāraṇī has therefore, by the dancing of her eyes, immersed the Prince of Gokula Śrī Śyāmasundara in a flood of śṛṅgāra-rasa. The rising waves of this flood have crossed the shores of Śrī Vṛndāvana and inundated the universe with prema-rasa.
Śrīpāda’s mystic vision has ended. His heart and mind have been illuminated by Śrī Rādhāraṇī’s splendor. In sādhaka-consciousness, Śrīpāda has declared victory for his most beloved Śrī Rādhā, the movements of whose eyes have submerged the entire universe in prema-rasa: taḍin-mālā-gauraṁ kim api nava-kaiśora-madhuraṁ, purandhrīṇāṁ cūḍābharaṇa-nava-ratnaṁ vijayate. That jewel among adolescent girls has a golden complexion like a streak of lightning. Lightning, a transformation of the radiant principle of the universe, dazzles the eyes with a display of intensely bright light. But the Rādhā streak of lightning is very sweet due to her fresh adolescence. kim api nava-kaiśora-madhuram. When Śrī Govinda, the embodiment of sweetness, sees her youthful lightning-like golden complexion, he also becomes immersed in paramānanda-rasa, the nectar of the highest joy. In Śrī-Ujjvala-Nīlamaṇiḥ 10.14, Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmipāda said,
āśās te patituṁ kaṭākṣa-madhupo mandaṁ dṛg-indīvare
kiñcid vrīḍa-bisāṅkuraṁ mṛgayate ceto-marālārbhakaḥ |
narmālāpa-madhu-cchaṭādya vadanāmbhoje tavodīyate
śaṅke sundari! mādhavotsava-karī kāñcid daśām añcasi ||
Upon seeing the signs of adolescence on Śrī Rādhā’s body, Viśākhā teased her by saying, “O lovely one! The honeybee of your sidelong glance is trying to gently settle on your blue-lotus eyes today. The young swan of your mind is investigating the lotus-stalk fibers of your shyness. A stream of honey is flowing from your lotus mouth in the form of playful banter. Therefore, I suspect that you have attained some indescribable state that creates a festival for Mādhava.” Śrī Rādhā is the crown-jewel of the gopīs, the beautiful girls of Vraja. Among ornaments, those meant for the head are best. Moreover, if they are adorned with extraordinary jewels, their beauty increases even more. In the same way, Śrī Rādhā is preeminent among the vraja-gopikās in terms of beauty, sweetness and influence. Or, the body of Śrī Rādhā, the crown-jewel of the vraja-sundarīs, is adorned with nine jewels. For this reason, she is called nava-ratna, as in the following verse:
māṇikyaṁ pārṣṇideśe vadana-jalaruhe mauktikaṁ syāt
pravālauṣṭha-prānte manasi haritaṁ puṣkaraṁ deha-varṇe |
vajraṁ danteṣu netre sura-pati-maṇir gomedakaṁ meda-madhye
hy asthau gārutmakaṁ… || (5)
“Rubies shine from her heels, pearls from her lotus face, corals from her lips, haritmaṇis (a green gem) from her mind, padmarāgas (a slightly reddish gem) from her complexion, diamonds from her teeth, blue sapphires from her eyes, honey-hued hessonites from her marrow and emeralds from her bones.” In this way, Śrī Rādhā reigns supreme in the bowers of Śrī Vṛndāvana.
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1. A small apartment atop a house meant for viewing the surroundings
2. One who wears a garland of forest flowers
3. Kilakiñcita means the combination of several emotions experienced simultaneously by a woman in the company of her lover. The word stabakinī is used to show that these emotions are like clusters of flowers.
4. An external indication of a feeling
5. The remainder of this verse seemed to be corrupted, and I couldn’t find the original, so I didn’t translate it.
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