अन्योन्य-हास-परिहास-विलास-केली-
वैचित्र्य-जृम्भित-महारस-वैभवेन ।
वृन्दावने विलसतापहृतं विदग्ध-
द्वन्द्वेन केनचिदहो हृदयं मदीयम् ॥ ५० ॥
anyonya-hāsa-parihāsa-vilāsa-kelī-
vaicitrya-jṛmbhita-mahārasa-vaibhavena |
vṛndāvane vilasatāpahṛtaṁ vidagdha-
dvandvena kenacid aho hṛdayaṁ madīyam || 50 ||
“Alas, my heart has been stolen by some clever couple in Śrī Vṛndāvana who are adorned with the power of the great rasa, expanded by the varieties of mutual laughing, joking, love-play and games.”
The Power of the Great Rasa
Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: Śrīpāda’s stream of visions has not ended. In kiṅkarī form, she has gone to search for Śyāmasundara, bearing the viraha-stricken Śrī Rādhā in her heart. Śrīpāda’s love for his cherished deity is being expressed in every verse. All of his devotion is centered upon Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet. In his intense vision, he is getting a taste of līlā-rasa as though directly. There is some similarity between prema-bhakti and sādhana-bhakti. Through the experience of sādhana-bhakti, one’s absorption in the outer world fades away. This is the teaching of our ācāryas. The sādhaka begins to feel the absence of the deity to some extent and gradually all of his efforts become centered around the deity’s feet. Longing for the deity is the essence of bhakti-sādhana. Those who have a thirst for prema-bhakti in their hearts will pray for it and adopt the means to attain it. Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has said that if authentic faith based on śāstra has appeared in the sādhaka’s heart, a beautiful perseverance will manifest and he will naturally become indifferent to matters contrary to bhakti. jātāyāṁ (śāstrīya) śraddhāyāṁ siddhāv asiddhau ca svarṇa-siddhi-lipsor iva sadā tad-anuvṛtti-ceṣṭaiva syāt….tasyāṁ svārtha sādhanānupravṛttau ca dambha-pratiṣṭhādi-lipsādi-maya-ceṣṭā-leśo’pi na bhavati. na teṣāṁ sutarāṁ jñāna-pūrvakaṁ mahad-avajñādayo’parādhāś cāpatanti, virodhād eva (Bhakti-Sandarbhaḥ 175 Anuḥ). The meaning is that if a faith based on śāstra has arisen in the heart of a sādhaka, whether he has been successful in bhajana or not, he always exhibits a beautiful determination, like one who longs to obtain gold. Therefore, we never see pride, endeavors for profit, adoration or fame in such a sādhaka, or offenses such as knowingly showing disrespect to saintly people. Jīvas like me are so anxious to obtain sense-objects that we even try to enjoy them in our dreams! For those who practice genuine bhajana, that state arises in regard to their deity. There is never a lack of love in a life of true sādhana. A pure-hearted bhakta can never forget his deity’s lotus feet.
dhautātmā puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa-pāda-mūlaṁ na muñcati |
mukta-sarva-parikleśaḥ pānthaḥ svaśaraṇaṁ yathā ||
“Just as a traveler, having returned from a foreign land, does not want to leave his own happy home, in the same way, a pure-hearted bhakta, having been freed from all miseries, never wants to leave the lotus feet of Śrī Govinda.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.8.6) The nectar of remembering Śrī Rādhāraṇī is even sweeter. The glow of Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet remains awake in the hearts and minds of those who are dedicated to her, while awake, dreaming and in deep sleep.
Śrīpāda is at the highest level of love for Śrī Rādhāraṇī. In a vision in kiṅkarī-form, she has gone in search of Kṛṣṇa, carrying Śrīmatī in her heart. She saw him walking on the path to the saṅketa-kuñja (trysting bower) to meet with Śrī Rādhā. Kṛṣṇa’s slight delay in his journey was meant solely to cause Śrī Rādhā’s emotional sweetness to surge. When Kṛṣṇa saw the kiṅkarī’s lovely face, he began to long for Śrī Rādhā. The kiṅkarī carried Śrī Rādhāraṇī in her heart and the beauty of her face painted a picture in Kṛṣṇa’s mind of a girl suffering the pain of separation. Through this, she has performed a wonderful service. Fortunate is Śrī Rādhā’s kiṅkarī, praiseworthy is her sevā. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa saw the kiṅkarī, he became agitated by his separation from Śrī Rādhā. With folded hands, he begged forgiveness from the kiṅkarī, citing various reasons for his delay. The kiṅkarī reassured Kṛṣṇa that she had arranged for him to meet with Śrī Rādhā. As Śrīmatī is a little contrary by nature, Kṛṣṇa’s delayed arrival was causing her fire of wounded pride to smolder. On Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s behalf, the kiṅkarī had infused rasa into Śrī Rādhā’s heart through various stories. The ocean of prema was surging in Śrī Rādhā’s heart like the surging of the sea at moonrise. The memory of the pain of separation was also awake in her heart. Therefore, with a mixture of mild anger and joking, Śrīmatī said,
tuhuṁ yadi mādhaba! cāhasi leha |
madana sākhi kari khata lekhi deha ||
choḍabi kelī-kadamba-bilāsa |
dūra karabi nija gurujana-āśa ||
mo binu svapane nā herabi āna |
hāmāri bacane karabi jalapāna ||
rajanī dibasa guṇa gāobi mora |
āna yubatī koi, nā karabi kora ||
aichana kabaca dharaba yaba hāta |
tabahuṁ tuyā sañe marama ki bāta ||
“Mādhava! If you truly want my affection, put it in writing, with the god of love as your witness. You will give up your love-games under the kadamba tree and cast away the expectations of your elders. You will not see anyone but me in your dreams. You will drink water only with my permission. You will sing of my virtues throughout the day and night. You will not hold any other girl in your lap. Only when I hold such an amulet (your vow) in my hand will I share with you the secrets of my heart.” (Vidyāpati)(1)
Accordingly, Śyāmasundara signed the pledge to amplify the humor. The glory of the mahā-rasa revealed through Śrī Yugala’s astonishing pastimes of love gradually increased. Śyāma was overwhelmed by the surging growth of mādana-rasa. Śrī Yugala were immersed in waves of nectar. The kiṅkarī witnessed the couple’s sweet love-play through an opening in the vines. For Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas, this is both the goal and the means to attain it. Through his own siddha-deha, the sādhaka must convey the experience of this rasa to his soul. If the śrī-rādhā creeper is showered with śrī-kṛṣṇa-rasa, the power of that mahā-rasa is infused into the sakhīs and mañjarīs in a wonderful way.
rādhāra svarūpa—kṛṣṇa-prema-kalpa-latā |
sakhī-gaṇa haya tāra pallaba puṣpa pātā ||
kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛte yadi latāke siñcaya |
nija-sukha haite pallabādyera koṭi-sukha haya ||
“Śrī Rādhā is by nature a wish-fulfilling creeper of śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema. Her sakhīs are her twigs, flowers and leaves. If that creeper is showered with the nectar of kṛṣṇa-līlā, the happiness of the twigs, flowers and leaves becomes ten million times more than that of the creeper.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛtam, Madhya 8.209-210)
After ascertaining the measure of happiness of Śrī Rādhā’s sakhīs and mañjarīs, Śrīpāda said the following in Śrī-Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 1.54:
rādhā-nāgara-keli-sāgara-nimagnālīdṛśāṁ yat sukham |
no tal-leśa-lavāyate bhagavataḥ sarvo’pi saukhyotsavaḥ ||
“The eyes of the sakhīs and mañjarīs are submerged in the ocean of Śrī Rādhā’s play with her lover. The complete joy of God’s kingdom cannot compare to even a speck of such happiness.” The descriptions of joy (ānanda-śruti) seen in the Taittirīya-Upaniṣad have their roots in the Ṛg-Veda as well. In the Ānanda-Mimāṁsā (philosophical inquiry into the nature of bliss) of Taittirīya-Upaniṣad, brahmānanda has been given a position above all others. The infinitude of brahmānanda has been ascertained in the words yato vāco nivartante aprāpya manasā saha and so on. “Speech and the mind seek brahma, but must return in failure.” However, in the madhu-vātā ṛtāyate verse in Ṛg-Veda, the endless varieties of joy in the sweet worship of Śrī Govinda have been shown. The highest stage of joy is found in govinda-bhakti, and within that, the bhāva of the sakhīs and mañjarīs is the zenith.
spṛśati yadi mukundo rādhikāṁ tat-sakhīnāṁ
bhavati vapuṣi kampa-sveda-romāñca-bāṣpam |
adhara-madhu mudāsyāś cet pibaty eṣa yatnād
bhavati bata tadāsāṁ mattatā citram etat ||
“If Śrī Kṛṣṇa touches Śrī Rādhā, then trembling, perspiration, goosebumps, tears and other sāttvika-bhāvas appear on the sakhīs’ bodies. If Śrī Kṛṣṇa joyously drinks the nectar of Śrī Rādhā’s lips, her sakhīs become intoxicated. This is astonishing!” (Śrī-Govinda-Līlāmṛtam 11.137) When Śrīpāda, in kiṅkarī-form, saw Śrī Yugala’s pastimes, he obtained a taste of this unprecedented rasa. Because he relished this rasa, a sense of astonishment awakened in his citta (heart, mind). To express this, he said, “My heart and mind have been stolen by a clever couple who sport in Śrī Vṛndāvana.” At the end of Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Sandarbhaḥ, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmipāda said, rādhā-mādhava-mādhurībhir abhitaś cittaṁ mamākramyatām. “May my heart and mind be invaded by Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s sweetness.” It is not that the sādhaka will be able to relish the self-manifesting sweetness of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava at will. The mādhurī of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava personally appears and steals the citta of the fortunate sādhaka who has been purified by sādhana-bhakti. Then, an experience of that mādhurya remains constantly in the citta. No other vibration endures. All of the sādhaka’s desires are fulfilled when he or she experiences the sweetness of Mādhava united with Śrī Rādhā, the possessor of mādanākhya-mahābhāva. Śrīpāda’s heart and mind have been stolen by this indescribable mādhurī.
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1. Vaiṣṇava-Padāvalī attributes this poem to Ghanaśyāma Dāsa Kavirāja.
