Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 5 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

आधाय मूर्धनि यदापुरुदारगोप्यः 

काम्यं पदं प्रियगुणैरपि पिच्छमौलेः ।

भावोत्सवेन भजतां रसकामधेनुं 

तं राधिकाचरणरेणुमहं स्मरामि ॥ ५ ॥

ādhāya mūrdhani yad āpur udāra-gopyaḥ 

kāmyaṁ padaṁ priya-guṇair api piccha-mauleḥ |

bhāvotsavena bhajatāṁ rasa-kāmadhenuṁ 

taṁ rādhikā-caraṇa-reṇum ahaṁ smarāmi || 5 ||

“I meditate upon the dust from Śrī Rādhikā’s lotus feet. Like a wish-fulfilling cow, this dust grants the experience of rasa to those who worship with intense love. After the high-natured vraja-gopīs placed this dust upon their heads, they obtained their desired service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as well as charming qualities that are pleasing to him.”

A Cow Who Gives the Blessing of Rasa

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: The two preceding verses have sung the praises of Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust, the glory of which has awakened within Śrīpāda’s mind. This verse also is a transcendental revelation of the power of the dust from her lotus feet. In the first half of the verse, he says, udāra-gopyaḥ yat mūrdhani ādhāya piccha-mauleḥ priya-guṇair api kāmyaṁ padam āpuḥ. “After the high-natured vraja-gopīs placed this dust upon their heads, they were blessed with not only their desired service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but also with charming qualities that are pleasing to him.” His description of the gopīs as udāra (high-natured) signifies their unselfish love, devoid of any desire for their own sense pleasure.

ātmendriya-sukha-bāñchā nāhi gopikāra | 

kṛṣṇe sukha dite kare saṅgama-bihāra ||

kṛṣṇa lāgi āra saba kari parityāga | 

kṛṣṇa sukha hetu kare śuddha anurāga ||

“The gopikās have no desire for their own sense enjoyment; they engage in romantic pastimes with Kṛṣṇa only to make him happy. Being attached to Kṛṣṇa, they let go of everything else and out of pure love devote themselves to his happiness.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.218, Ādi 4.175) 

This generous, independent and unadulterated love, devoid of any self-interest, is most rare in this world. Those who completely abandon all dharmas through the powerful impulse of love for Kṛṣṇa become intoxicated by their deep absorption in sevā.

loka-dharma beda-dharma deha-dharma karma | 

lajjā dhairya deha-sukha ātma-sukha-marma ||

dustyaja ārya-patha āra nija parijana | 

svajane karaye yata tāḍana bhartsana ||

sarba-tyāga kari kare kṛṣṇera bhajana | 

kṛṣṇa-sukha hetu kare prema-sebana ||

ihāke kahiye kṛṣṇe dṛḍha anurāga | 

svaccha dhauta bastre yaiche nāhi kona dāga || 

“Giving up dearly held social duties, scriptural regulations, bodily duties, fruitive actions, shyness, patience, bodily pleasures, personal happiness, the varṇāśrama system and their own friends and family, who scold and oppress them so much, the gopīs engage in śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana. They give up everything and perform loving service only for Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. This is called firm attachment for Kṛṣṇa. It is spotlessly pure, like a freshly washed white cloth.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.167-170) 

To reveal the greatness and purity of the gopīs’ love through their own words, Śrīpāda Śukamuni says in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.31.19,

 

yat te sujāta-caraṇāmburuhaṁ staneṣu 

bhītāḥ śanaiḥ priya dadhīmahi karkaśeṣu |

tenāṭavīm aṭasi tad vyathate na kiṁ svit 

kūrpādibhir bhramati dhīr bhavad-āyuṣāṁ naḥ ||

Distressed by separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa when he disappeared from the rāsa-līlā, the vraja-sundarīs said, “Dear one! Your feet are even softer and more beautiful than a beautiful species of lotus born in a beautiful season. When we place one of your feet upon our breasts, we hold it very gently, fearing that our firm breasts may hurt you. When we, whose lives depend on you, think of you roaming about in the dark of night on this hard ground of Vṛndāvana, covered with tiny stones and sharp thorns, our minds begin to reel.” It is worth noting here that when a woman holds her beloved to her chest, she is beside herself with joy. This is the natural way of love. But when the vraja-devīs hold Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s feet, which are more dear to them than millions of lives, to their chests, they are not beside themselves with their own joy. Instead, because Kṛṣṇa’s happiness is their goal, they are beside themselves with fear that they may hurt him, so they hold his feet ever so gently. This demonstrates that the rasika devotees reach a state wherein they have no desire for their own happiness. In the realm of prema, no one but the vraja-devīs speaks like this. They know better than anyone how, by pleasing Kṛṣṇa, one abandons the desire for personal satisfaction. Even simple pleasures like the cleansing of their own bodies and so on result in Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmipāda said the following in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.181-183: 

tabe ye dekhiye gopīra nija-dehe prīta | 

seho ta kṛṣṇera lāgi jāniha niścita ||

ei deha kaila āmi kṛṣṇe samarpaṇa | 

tāra dhana tāra ei sambhoga-sādhana ||

e-deha-darśana-sparśe kṛṣṇa-santoṣaṇa | 

ei lāgi kare dehera mārjana-bhūṣaṇa ||

“Know for certain that whatever one may see the gopīs doing for the satisfaction of their own bodies, they are doing it only for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. ‘I have dedicated this body to Kṛṣṇa; it is his property and the instrument for his enjoyment. Kṛṣṇa is pleased by seeing and touching this body. It is for this reason that I cleanse and decorate it.’” 

The question may arise that if the gopīs have no desire for their own happiness, they will get no happiness. And if they get no happiness, how can gopī-prema be beneficial, because happiness is the object of life? Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmipāda has given a beautiful solution to this puzzle in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.187-189, 199-200:

gopikā karena yabe kṛṣṇa-daraśana | 

sukha-bāñchā nāhi sukha haya koṭī-guṇa ||

tāhā sabāra nāhi nija-sukha-anurodha | 

tathāpi bāḍaye sukha paḍila birodha ||

e birodhera ekamātra dekhi samādhāna | 

gopikāra sukha kṛṣṇa-sukhe paryabasāna ||

prīti-biṣayānande tad-āśrayānanda | 

tāṅhā nāhi nija-sukha-bāñchāra sambandha ||

nirupādhi prema yāṅhā tāṅhā ei rīti | 

prīti-biṣaya-sukhe āśrayera prīti ||

“Although a gopikā has no desire for her own happiness, when she sees Kṛṣṇa, her happiness is boundless. None of the gopīs prays for her own happiness, and yet it increases. I see only one explanation for this contradiction: That which makes Kṛṣṇa happy makes the gopikā happy. The lover’s happiness lies in the happiness of the beloved. It is not a relationship based on the desire for one’s own happiness. The nature of pure love is such that the lover’s satisfaction lies in the satisfaction of the beloved.” 

By worshiping the foot-dust of the high-natured gopikās, who are devoid of any desire for their own sense-satisfaction, one will be blessed with one’s longed-for service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as well as with qualities that are pleasing to him. By using the metaphor “worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust,” it is implied that her mood is to be followed. Without following the mood of the nitya-siddhā-gopīs, one cannot attain gopī-bhāva.

gopī-anugati binā aiśvarya-jñāne | 

bhajileha nāhi pāya brajendranandane ||

tāhāte dṛṣṭānta lakṣmī karilā bhajana | 

tathāpi nā pāila braje brajendranandana ||

“If one worships in the aiśvarya mood instead of following the gopīs, he will not get Vrajendranandana. For example, even though Śrī Lakṣmī performed bhajana, she was unable to obtain Vrajendranandana in Vraja.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.230-231)

Among the gopīs, Śrī Rādhā is the greatest of all. Therefore, by worshiping the dust from her lotus feet, one reaches the highest level of gopī-bhāva. By worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust, one attains gopī-prema as well as develops qualities similar to Śrī Rādhā’s. Even though for serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa these qualities are not as important as love, still, because they are suitable for sevā in this mood, they spontaneously take shelter in the bhakta.* This is the meaning applied here to the words priya-guṇair api. 

Or they could refer to Śrī Rādhā’s high-natured kiṅkarīs (maidservants), who, after taking her foot-dust upon their heads, have attained not only the qualities suitable for her service, but that service as well, something desired even by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When Rasika-Śiromaṇi Śrī Kṛṣṇa sees the kiṅkarīs’ devotion and skill in their delightful sevās, the desire for such sevā awakens in his own mind. Śrī Rādhā is a svādhīna-bhartṛkā, a woman whose lover is under her control. She freely gives orders to Śrī Kṛṣṇa: “You must dress and decorate me. If my sakhīs see me like this, they will tease me.” Kṛṣṇa is eager to follow Śrīmatī’s order to dress her. Understanding her intention, the kiṅkarīs bring all the articles he will need. Śrīmatī says, “Paint lac-dye on the soles of my feet.” Kṛṣṇa takes Rādhikā’s lotus feet upon his lap so he can apply the lac-dye. A kiṅkarī brings a bowl of the paint and a brush; she places the brush in Śyāmasundara’s hand and holds the bowl in her own. Kṛṣṇa becomes overwhelmed by the beauty of Śrīmatī’s lotus feet. At one moment, he holds her feet to his chest, and the next, he kisses them! Glistening tears of love flow from his eyes. Śrīmatī says, “What are you doing? Paint them quickly!” Because of sāttvika-vikāras,** his hands tremble so much he cannot do his sevā! Seeing his condition, Svāminī smiles slightly and says to her kiṅkarīs, “Lover Boy can’t do it, so you’ll have to dress me.” Accepting Śrīmatī’s order, the kiṅkarīs give Kṛṣṇa a gentle push and say, “Move! You’ll not be doing this.” Nāgara Kṛṣṇa thinks, “Alas! When will I be blessed with sevā like the kiṅkarīs? How will such qualities arise in me?” A vision of one charming pastime has been described. Even Śrī Kṛṣṇa wants to serve Śrī Rādhā as well as acquire the appropriate qualities for doing so. Śrīmatī’s high-minded dāsīs, whose lives are devoted to śrī-yugala-sevā, attain this spontaneously when they take the dust from her lotus feet upon their heads.

Moreover, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is like a kāmadhenu who gives rasa to those who worship in the festival of bhāva. If one knows what bhāva is, then the phrase “festival of bhāva” will be understood. The particular state of one’s mind is called bhāva. The propensity of the mind to become absorbed in the contact of the senses with their objects is generally called bhāva. The mind is solid like lac. Just as lac melts by the heat of fire, the mind melts by association with sense-objects. Then, if the sense-object is established within the melted mind, the mind assumes the shape of the object. The faculty of the mind that allows it to assume the shape of an object without having any perceivable contact with it is called bhāva. When the mind is introduced to Śrī Bhagavān’s name, form, qualities, pastimes and so on and subsequently assumes a similar shape, meaning when it becomes engrossed in those topics, that is known as bhagavad-bhāva. This bhāva can be of two types: one is favorable toward the object (Śrī Bhagavān), while the other is hostile toward the object. Kaṁsa, Śiśupāla and others were always engrossed in thoughts of Śrī Kṛṣṇa with fear and malice, but that antagonistic type of bhāva has not been called bhakti. One cannot experience Śrī Bhagavān’s mādhurya in such a hostile mood; it can only be tasted by one who is favorable. The word favorable (ānukūlyātmaka) means that one has an eager desire for Śrī Bhagavān’s favor or longs to please him by service. According to how pure or spiritual the desire is, to that degree the bhāva is joyful. The attitude of Śrī Rādhā’s kiṅkarīs toward Śrī Yugala is so pure and selfless that it does not contain even the subtlest of mundane attributes. (We shall discuss this in due course.) Therefore, the bhajana of Rādhā’s dāsīs is one of joyful love. For her kiṅkarīs, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is like a kāmadhenu that provides rasa in the form of yugala-sevā. The mythical cow of plenty that rose from the ocean of milk is called a kāmadhenu. Just as the kāmadhenu can fulfill anyone’s wishes, the dust from Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet can bestow the realization of all rasas upon her kiṅkarīs. Although being her friends, they are also her maidservants, so they experience sakhya-rasa within the dāsya-rasa. According to even those who compose rasa-śāstras, madhura-rasa is incompatible with vātsalya-rasa. But for the dāsīs, in Śrī Rādhā’s storehouse there is no lack of even vātsalya-rasa. So Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is like a kāmadhenu who bestows upon her kiṅkarīs the ultimate gift of tasting dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and madhura-rasas all at the same time.

* yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ | 

harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ || 

“All good qualities as well as all the gods reside in one who has exclusive devotion to Śrī Bhagavān. But if a person has no devotion, where are his good qualities? He runs always on an illusory path following his desires for temporary material happiness.” (Bhāg. 5.18.12)

** An external indication of an (internal) feeling or emotion (Apte)

Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 9

At Śrī Gurudevī’s signal, the sādhaka-dāsī then brought a golden basin and a golden pitcher filled with scented water. After helping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa wash their faces, she lovingly dried them with a piece of fine cloth. Then she offered nectarous fruit drinks and tāmbūla to them, decorated them with garlands and sandalwood paste and showed them a jeweled mirror. All the sevā was heartfelt and performed with affection. After that, the sādhaka-kiṅkarī placed a previously prepared ārati-tray in the hands of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, who then passed it on to Lalitā. Śrī Lalitā offered ārati to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. The ārati was a great celebration of love. After burning away any misfortune surrounding Śrī Yugala with lamps of ghee and camphor, she removed all inauspiciousness from them with a soft cloth. She then sprinkled their bodies with nectar-like water poured from a conch shell.* Some of the sakhīs fanned them with cāmaras, while others clapped their hands or played karatālas. Others began to shower them with flowers while making the ulu sound. After seeing Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s effulgent beauty, everyone immersed themselves in joyful singing and dancing.

Navadvīpa: The Three Prabhus’ Ārati and Ecstasies

Śrīman Mahāprabhu sat on his bed surrounded by his companions in the sleeping pavilion of Śrīvāsa’s flower garden in Śrī Navadvīpa. Absorbed in prema, Prabhu remembered Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s ārati in the Vraja bower and let out a joyful roar. The bhaktas heard this, returned to external consciousness and finished the ārati song. Śrīman Mahāprabhu returned to external consciousness and affectionately embraced Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Advaita Prabhu. All the bhaktas then offered daṇḍavat-praṇāma at Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet. Mahāprabhu sat on an ornate, bejeweled seat on the verandah, with Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu on his right and Śrī Advaita Prabhu on his left. Then, at Śrī Gurudeva’s signal, the sādhaka-dāsa brought a golden basin and scented water in a golden pitcher. He assisted the Three Prabhus in washing their faces and drying them with a fine cloth. Then he dressed and decorated them, adorned them with garlands and sandalwood paste, and showed them a jeweled mirror. After that, he gave the ārati articles to Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, who passed them on to Śrī Svarūpa Gosvāmī, who offered them to the Three Prabhus. Upon seeing his complexion in the mirror, Śrīman Mahāprabhu became absorbed in vraja-bhāva. Śrī Svarūpa understood Mahāprabhu’s mind, so he began to sing songs about Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa leaving the nikuñja-mandira and going home, as well as about other pastimes in Vraja. Hearing this, everyone became absorbed in the mood and sank into vraja-rasa.

*This seems out of order, but that’s what it says.

Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 4 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

यो ब्रह्म-रुद्र-शुक-नारद-भीष्ममुख्यै- 

रालक्षितो न सहसा पुरुषस्य तस्य ।

सद्योवशीकरण-चूर्णमनन्तशक्तिं 

तं राधिका-चरणरेणुमनुस्मरामि ॥ ४ ॥

yo brahma-rudra-śuka-nārada-bhīṣma-mukhyair 

ālakṣito na sahasā puruṣasya tasya |

sadyo-vaśīkaraṇa-cūrṇam ananta-śaktiṁ 

taṁ rādhikā-caraṇa-reṇum anusmarāmi || 4 ||

“I always meditate upon the dust from the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhikā. This dust is like some magical powder with boundless power, able to immediately subjugate even Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself, whose darśana is difficult to achieve for great devotees like Brahmā, Mahādeva, Śuka, Nārada and Bhīṣma.”

Śrī Rādhā's Foot-Dust

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: In this verse also, Śrīpāda sings the glories of Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s foot-dust while absorbed in the mood of a sādhaka. After having described the astonishing power of this celebrated foot-dust in the previous verse, he now mentions its extraordinary capacity to control Śrī Kṛṣṇa. First of all, by singing the glories of the most exalted Vrajavihārī Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is immediately subjugated by the power of Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust, he is confirming the supreme importance of that foot-dust. Vrajavilāsī Śrī Govinda* is not readily visible even to such great devotees as Brahmā, Mahādeva, Śuka, Nārada and Bhīṣma. One may ask if the word puruṣa in this verse might refer to Mahāviṣṇu or some other avatāra rather than Vrajavihārī Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In reply it may be said that by the infallible touch of Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust, one obtains vraja-prema, and by that prema one obtains Vrajavihārī Śrī Govinda. Reference to any other form of God here would be unrelated to the topic at hand. Particularly, in the śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣa verse of Śrī-Brahma-Saṁhitā, the word parama-puruṣa has been intended for Vrajavilāsī Śrī Kṛṣṇa, meaning that among Śrī Rādhā and his other lovers, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is devoted to his amorous sports, is the parama-puruṣa or supreme male. Here, the author means to say that even though Brahmā, Nārada and others sometimes see Śrī Kṛṣṇa engaged in his pastimes of childhood, youth and so on, they are never able to witness his confidential pastimes with the affectionate vraja-sundarīs. These pastimes are extremely difficult to see for either the siddha or sādhaka who regards himself as male. sabe eka sakhī-gaṇera ihā adhikāra. sakhī binā ei līlāya anyera nāhi gati (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.202, 204). “Only the sakhīs have this right. Without the sakhīs, there is no entrance into this līlā.” Specifically, Vraja’s type of worship is pure mādhurya. It is impossible for one in aiśvarya-bhāva to see the Lord of Vraja, the deity of mādhurya. aiśvarya-jñāne nāhi pāya braje brajendranandana. rāga-bhaktye braje svayaṁ bhagavān pāya, bidhi-bhaktye pārṣada-dehe baikuṇṭhe yāya (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.230, 24.85, 24.87). “A person in the aiśvarya mood does not attain Vrajendranandana in Vraja. By rāga-bhakti, one gets Bhagavān in Vraja; by vidhi-bhakti, one becomes a companion of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha.” Therefore, Śrī Govinda, the embodiment of mādhurya, is always difficult for aiśvarya-bhāva devotees such as Brahmā and Mahādeva to see. Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is like a magical powder endowed with the unfailing power to immediately enchant Śrī Govinda.

rādhikā-caraṇa-reṇu,        bhūṣaṇa kariyā tanu, 

anāyāse pābe giridhārī |

rādhikā-caraṇāśraya,        ye kare se mahāśaya, 

tāre mui  yāu balihārī ||

“One who adorns his body with the dust from Śrī Rādhikā’s lotus feet will easily get Śrī Giridhārī. Whoever takes shelter of Śrī Rādhikā’s lotus feet is a great soul. To him I say, ‘Bravo!’” (Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya) 

Bhakti or prema is the only way to enchant Śrī Kṛṣṇa. bhakti-vaśaḥ puruṣaḥ (Śruti). “The Lord is obedient to love.” premā haite haya kṛṣṇa nija bhakta-baśa (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.145). “Kṛṣṇa becomes controlled by his bhakta’s love.” The highest level of that love is mahābhāva. prema krame bāḍi haya sneha māna praṇaya, rāga anurāga bhāba mahābhāba haya. premera parama-sāra mahābhāba jāni, sei mahābhāba-rūpā rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 19.178, 8.160). “Prema gradually increases through the stages of sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga, bhāva and mahābhāva. The quintessence of prema is mahābhāva, and the embodiment of that mahābhāva is Śrī Rādhā Ṭhākurāṇī.” Because she is mahābhāva-svarūpiṇī, the nectar of mahābhāva flows from her lotus feet in an endless stream.** Therefore, because the dust from her lotus feet is infused with mahābhāva-rasa, its unfailing power to control Śrī Kṛṣṇa is self-evident. There is also a very powerful scriptural argument in support of this conclusion. It is the unanimous judgement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other śāstras that without honoring the foot-dust of the bhaktas, there is no means to attain bhakti.

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ 

spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ |

mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ 

niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat ||

Prahlāda Mahāśaya said, “If one has not bathed in the foot-dust of the great devotees who are free from material attachments, devotion to the feet of Śrī Bhagavān, which relieves one of all anarthas, does not appear.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.32) Even though one may perform some laborious type of sādhana, without serving the foot-dust of the great devotees, knowledge of bhagavat-tattva or eagerness to serve Śrī Bhagavān will not arise. This has been expressed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.12.12, in Śrīla Bharata’s instructions to Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa:

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti 

na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā |

na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair 

vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam ||

“O Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa! If one has not bathed in the foot-dust of a great devotee, then neither the practice of asceticism, performance of Vedic rituals, feeding and clothing others, building houses, philanthropy, study of the Vedas, worshipping the gods of water, fire or sun, nor any other sādhana will bring one knowledge of God.” And the greater the devotee, the more powerful is his foot-dust in subduing Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In Bhakti-Sandarbhaḥ 187 Anuḥ, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda wrote, prema-tāratamyenaiva bhakta-mahat-tāratamyaṁ mukhyam. “The more love someone has, the greater a devotee she is.” In determining the greatness of a devotee, this is the principal characteristic. In the Ānanda-Candrikā commentary on Śrī-Ujjvala-Nīlamaṇi 5.6, it is written, sa ca premā jātyā ananto’pi kvāpi paramāṇu-mātraḥ kvāpi paramahān kvāpi mahān kvāpi āpekṣika-nyūnādhikyamaya iti catuḥ-parimāṇakaḥ. tatrādyo’jāta-ratikeṣu bhakteṣu teṣu premṇo durlakṣyatvāt bhagavato’dhīnatvam api durlakṣyam eva. dvitīyo vṛndāvaneśvaryām eva tatra premṇaḥ sampūrṇatamatvena adhīnatvam api sampūrṇatamatvam eva. ...atha tṛtīyo vrajaloka eva tatra premṇo mahattvena adhīnatvam api sampūrṇam eva na tu sampūrṇatamam. ...atha caturtho nāradādiṣu teṣu teṣu premānurūpam adhīnatvam. The meaning is that even though there are endless varieties of prema, in the matter of extent, there are four categories: aṇu (minute), parama-mahān (most powerful), mahān (powerful) and āpekṣika-nyūnādhikamaya (relatively more or less). In the sādhaka-bhakta, prema has only developed to a minute degree. Therefore, his capacity to charm Śrī Kṛṣṇa is also minute or difficult to discern. In Nārada and others, prema has developed relatively more or less and they have a proportionate capacity to charm Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the Vrajavāsīs, prema has developed to a great amount and their capacity to charm Śrī Kṛṣṇa is therefore complete. Only in Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī Śrī Rādhā has prema become most powerful and, for this reason, her capacity to charm Śrī Kṛṣṇa is most complete. Following our previous logic, because prema in Śrī Rādhārāṇī is parama-mahān, the power of her foot-dust to always subdue Śrī Kṛṣṇa is also parama-mahān. Thus we have a solid argument that the power to always subdue Śrī Kṛṣṇa is stored in the dust of her lotus feet.

Śrīpāda says taṁ rādhikā-caraṇa-reṇum anusmarāmi: “I always meditate upon the dust from Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet.” By mentioning his constant remembrance of Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust, he also implies that he meditates upon her aṣṭa-kālīna-līlā (eightfold daily pastimes). Smaraṇa is the principal component of rāga-bhajana. manera smaraṇa prāṇa, madhura madhura dhāma, yugala-bilāsa smṛti-sāra (Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya). “Remembering the pastimes of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is my life. This is the sweetest state of mind and the cream of all meditation.” Without remembering God, the mind is lifeless. The jackals and dogs of desire, anger and so on attack and feed upon it at will. Moreover, among types of meditation, contemplation of the sweet pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is the apex. The significance of the words madhura madhura dhāma is that the sādhaka devoted to līlā-smaraṇa should be careful that he does not become like a machine ardently obedient to rules and miss out on tasting the sweetness. While meditating, the mind should be blessed with the experience of Śrī Yugala’s sweetness. The ultimate aim of sādhana is for the soul to taste the sweetness of its beloved. Specifically, a sādhaka eager to taste mādhurya is referred to as a rāga-sādhaka. Concerning Govardhana resident and Guṭikā compiler Siddha Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, it is said that one day a certain Vaiṣṇava mahātmā arrived at his abode and, without saying a word, began to weep. After Bābājī Mahāśaya asked why he was crying, the Vaiṣṇava replied, “I’m not able to do any bhajana today. After placing an ornament on Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s right hand this morning, my mind sank so deeply into the beauty of her hand that I was unable to think of anything else all day.” Siddha Bābā replied, “Today you have done real bhajana.” While meditating on līlā, the mind of a genuine rāga-sādhaka is spontaneously submerged in Śrī Yugala’s mādhurya-rasa. Then, after stopping the meditation, his mind is unable to go anywhere else. This is called anusmaraṇa. This condition gradually appears as a result of the devoted sādhaka’s regular practice of smaraṇa. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said, sādhana smaraṇa līlā, ihāte nā kara helā, kāya-mane kariyā susāra. “Do not neglect to perform līlā-smaraṇa as part of your sādhana. Success comes from using both body and mind.”

In the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya, two streams of sādhana flow simultaneously. Along with hearing, chanting and other types of bhajana performed in the external body, the devotee also contemplates his mentally conceived siddha-deha and his service in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eightfold daily pastimes.

bāhya antara ihāra duita sādhana | 

bāhye sādhaka-dehe kare śrabaṇa kīrtana ||

mane nija-siddha-deha kariya bhābana | 

rātri-dina cinte braje kṛṣṇera sebana ||

“There are two kinds of sādhana: external and internal. Externally, in the sādhaka-deha, one engages in hearing and chanting. Mentally, one contemplates his own siddha-deha, thinking day and night of his service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Vraja.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.156-157) 

After taking shelter of the lotus feet of a guru, the sādhaka obtains the particulars about his young male form suitable for serving Śrīman Mahāprabhu in navadvīpa-līlā, as well as about his mañjarī form, suitable for serving Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda in vraja-līlā. He meditates on his sevā in both forms, in both līlās. As a result of deep meditation, the sādhaka abandons his absorption in the external body and attains absolute absorption in both siddha-svarūpas. At the maturity of his sādhana, he is simultaneously blessed with the privilege of service in both līlās. hethā gauracandra pāba, sethā rādhā-kṛṣṇa (Ṭhākura Mahāśaya). “Here, he gets Gauracandra; there, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.” This practice of meditation epitomizes the highest spiritual psychology and reveals within the sādhaka the highest manifestation of Bhagavān’s mahāmādhurya-rasa! This is the highest level that the jīva-śakti can attain on the path of bhakti.

*Vrajavihārī and Vrajavilāsī both mean one who sports in Vraja.

** sāndrānanda-ghanānurāga-laharī-nisyanda-pādāmbuja-dvandve śrī-vṛṣabhānu-nandinī sadā vande tava śrī-padam (Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 94). “O Śrī Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī! I forever praise your beautiful lotus feet, from which waves of intense, joyful love continuously flow.”

Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 8

     After that, the mynah Mañjubhāṣiṇī began to sing, “O friend of Gokula! O ocean of nectar! May you be victorious. Now abandon your bed, white as the moon, and wake your weary lover who rests upon your shoulder. O guardian of Vraja! The sun, by nature merciless toward young women, quickly rises above the eastern mountains. Leave the bank of the Yamunā and promptly go home.” Then the mynah named Sūkṣmadhī sang to Priyājī Śrī Rādhā, “O Goddess! By your good fortune, you amaze the most amazing women in the three worlds. May you be victorious. O lotus-faced one! Though the night has ended, you remain submerged in pleasant slumber, deeply fatigued from your amorous sports. There is no fault in this, O virtuous one, but the eastern sky has become tinged with red, like a friend of Candrāvalī who is intolerant of your happiness. Therefore, quickly rise from your bed.” After hearing the repeated wake-up calls of the parrots and mynahs, Śrī Kṛṣṇa gently pulled his body from Priyājī’s, slowly got up and sat on the bed. Filled with affection, he lifted Śrī Rādhā on his lap and began to gaze at her beauty with tearful eyes. Śrīmatī tried to cast off her lethargy by stretching her limbs and yawning. Śrī Kṛṣṇa seemed to offer ārati to her moonlike face with the ruby splendor of his teeth. Through the chalices of their eyes they began to drink the sweet wine of each other’s beauty. The moon of Vraja felt great joy in seeing his lover’s charming form lying on his lap, with face upturned, sweetly smiling but softly weeping. Her plait was half-loosened, her garland crushed and her jeweled necklace fallen asunder. Externally she was tired, internally delighted. When each saw the other’s beauty, they both became aroused and began to make sweet, languid love.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the arrival of morning, the sakhīs covered their smiling, moonlike faces with their cloths and modestly entered the bower, one after the other. When Priyājī saw her sakhīs, she quickly and humbly rose from her lover’s lap, covered her body with his yellow cloth and sat shyly by his left side. The sakhīs sank into an ocean of transcendental joy after seeing various signs of love-making on Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s beautiful bodies and pleasure bed. They said to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, “O Mādhava, you have ruined all of our well-dressed sakhī’s clothing and ornaments. Now quickly dress her again and we’ll take her home.” At the sakhīs’ command, Śrī Kṛṣṇa began to dress Śrī Rādhā. Hoping to see her display a mixture of emotions, he proceeded to tell Śrīmatī’s sakhīs about her amorous boldness during the previous night’s pastimes. When bashful Priyājī heard this, her gestures and demeanor became saturated with śṛṅgāra-rasa.* Seeing her incomparable beauty and charming side-glance, Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the sakhīs began to swim in the waves of an ocean of bliss.

*The erotic sentiment

Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 3 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

 

ब्रह्मेश्वरादि-सुदुरूह-पदारविन्द-

श्रीमत्पराग-परमाद्भुत-वैभवायाः ।

सर्वार्थसार-रसवर्षि-कृपार्द्रदृष्टे-

स्तस्या नमोऽस्तु वृषभानुभुवो महिम्ने ॥ ३ ॥

brahmeśvarādi-sudurūha-padāravinda-

śrīmat-parāga-paramādbhuta-vaibhavāyāḥ |

sarvārtha-sāra-rasa-varṣi-kṛpārdra-dṛṣṭes

tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānubhuvo mahimne || 3 ||

“I bow to the glory of Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī Śrī Rādhā, the dust of whose lotus feet is difficult for even Brahmā and Śiva to obtain. She possesses astonishing power, and from her compassionate glance, that most valuable of all things, love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, showers in ceaseless streams.”

The Glory of Śrī Rādhā

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: In the first two verses, the venerable author has followed the method handed down by the mahājanas in offering a maṅgalācaraṇa praising the object of his devotion. In most verses of the book, he has described his experience of līlā obtained through visions while in his siddha-svarūpa, as in the preceding verse where he defines the subject-matter to be discussed while experiencing one of his visions. In this verse, he sings the glories of his object of devotion while in sādhaka consciousness. citta-dṛḍha kari lāge mahimā-jñāna haite (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 2.118). “The mind becomes strong and firm through knowledge of divine power.” Rasa is established on the basis of tattva (principle, philosophy). If the tattva is excluded, one may consider līlā-rasa to be mundane. Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has said, bhagavāṁs tāvad asādhāraṇa-svarūpaiśvarya-mādhuryas tattva-viśeṣaḥ (Laghu-Toṣaṇī-Vyākhyā of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.10). “Bhagavān is a particular tattva that by nature possesses both extraordinary power and sweetness.” Śrī Rādhā, non-different from Śrī Kṛṣṇa and known as his hlādinī-śakti, also possesses extraordinary power and sweetness. We can read Śrī Nārada’s glorious praise of Śrī Rādhā in the fortieth chapter of Padma-Purāṇa, Pātāla-Khaṇḍa. Vrajadhāma is the abode of mādhurya and Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the direct embodiment of mādhurya. For this reason, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas have held up the descriptions of Śrī Rādhā’s mādhurya before the vraja-rasa-sādhakas of the world. Still, because the beautiful palace of mādhurya has been built upon a foundation of aiśvarya, the Gosvāmīs from time to time have given us a hint of Śrī Rādhā’s power or glory. Therefore, Śrīmatī’s vast power has been described in this verse and the next.

The dust from Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet, which is difficult for Brahmā and the other gods to attain, possesses astonishing power. In Brahmā’s prayers of glorification in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he offers a beautiful hymn filled with power and sweetness. He is amazed by the mādhurī of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s boyhood pastimes of eating with his friends on the river bank and so on. Then he prays,

tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ 

yad gokule’pi katamāṅghri-rajo-’bhiṣekam |

yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas 

tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva || (Bhāg. 10.14.34)

“O Lord! By your mercy I will obtain a birth wherein I will be anointed with the dust from the feet of a Vrajavāsī, whose entire life rests in you, Mukunda, whose foot-dust is sought by the śrutis even now. I think such a birth would be a million times more virtuous than my birth as Brahmā!” In his Sārārtha-Darśinī commentary on this verse, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda has essentially written that Brahmā, astounded by the good fortune of the vraja-gopas, was not courageous enough to desire their foot-dust. He instead prays for birth as a pebble by the gate of a lower class family living on the outskirts of Gokula so he may anoint his body with the dust from their feet. Therefore, one can easily deduce that the dust of the most loving Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet is in all respects very difficult for Brahmā to obtain. Because the foot-dust of the gopas and gopīs is very rare in Kailāsa, Śiva’s realm, Śrīman Mahādeva resides in Vraja as Gopīśvara with the hope of obtaining some. But, knowing that one may obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa by seeing and serving Śrīman Mahādeva, Śrī Rādhā and the other gopīs desire the dust from his feet. Therefore, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust remains very difficult for Śrīman Mahādeva to obtain. Or it could be deduced that the pollen from Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet is so glorious that it is even difficult for the powerful Śrī Lakṣmīdevī to obtain. In the statements of the nāgapatnīs in the kasyānubhāvo’sya na deva vidmahe verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.16.36), we see that even though Śrī Lakṣmīdevī voluntarily gives up the treasure of Śrī Nārāyaṇa’s personal association and performs severe austerities in the hope of obtaining Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s foot-dust in Śrī Vṛndāvana, she is still unable to do so. The Gosvāmīs have said that because Śrī Lakṣmīdevī, the queen of vast opulence, is unable to worship the foot-dust of mādhuryamayī Śrī Rādhā, it is not possible for her to obtain the mercy of Śrī Govinda. gopī-anugati binā aiśvarya-jñāne, bhajileha nāhi pāya brajendranandane; tāhāte dṛṣṭānta lakṣmī karilā bhajana, tathāpi nā pāila braje brajendranandana (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.230-231). “If one worships Vrajendranandana in the aiśvarya mood rather than following the mood of the gopīs, one will not attain him. For example, even though Śrī Lakṣmīdevī worshipped Vrajendranandana, she was still unable to fulfill her desire.” If she were able to worship the dust from Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet, then she would undoubtedly attain Śrī Govinda’s companionship. Without that, her austerities bear no fruit. Therefore, Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust has perpetually remained very difficult for Śrī Lakṣmī, the Goddess of Vaikuṇṭha, to obtain. It should be understood that in the phrase brahmeśvarādi, ādi (and so on) refers to Uddhava and others. Astonished by seeing the exalted nature of the gopīs, Śrī Uddhava Mahāśaya worshipped them from afar, thinking their foot-dust most difficult to obtain. Eager to be anointed with that dust, he prayed to be born as a blade of grass or a shrub in Vraja. His statements have been written in letters of gold in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.57-63. So it goes without saying that the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhā, the foremost of the gopīs, is extremely difficult for him to obtain.

Or by saying brahmeśvarādi, it could mean that Śrī Rādhā’s glory is so astonishing that her lotus foot-dust is difficult for even the primeval Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself to obtain, not to speak of Lord Brahmā. People always yearn for things that are hard to get. It is said that while longing for Śrī Rādhā’s incomparable foot-dust, Śrī Kṛṣṇa assumed the form of the poet Jayadeva and personally supplied a missing line of verse in Śrī-Gīta-Govinda, writing the words dehi pada-pallavam udāram. The gist of Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 201 is that one day, Śrīmatī was sulking because of a lover’s quarrel with Kṛṣṇa, so to win her sakhīs over to his side, Kṛṣṇa placed Śrīmatī’s feet upon his head. This appeased Śrīmatī, but now her feet began to perspire a bit and the crimson lac-dye on them became moist. The dampened lac-dye colored Kṛṣṇa’s head and caused his peacock-feather crown to slip off! This is why Śyāma is the emperor of the kingdom of rasa! By taking her feet upon his head he became the foremost of rasikas. This is not a decline in his status, but rather his greatest glory and the essence of his divinity. Therefore, to discover his own virtue, he had long yearned for the dust of Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet. But Śrī Rādhā is very difficult for him to attain. kabhu mile kabhu nā mile daibera ghaṭana (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.31). “By destiny we meet or remain apart.” So Śrī Rādhā’s foot-dust is also very difficult for him to obtain. The reasoning behind his abundant love for Śrī Rādhā is not just based on someone’s personal opinion or contrivance, but rather on powerful scriptural authority. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.16, Śrī Bhagavān said to Śrī Uddhava, anuvrajāmy ahaṁ nityaṁ pūyeyety aṅghri-reṇubhiḥ. “I follow at the heels of the bhaktas, hoping to be purified by smearing their foot-dust on my body.” In the Krama-Sandarbha commentary on this verse, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmipāda has written, tad-bhakty-aniṣkṛti-doṣāt pavitritaḥ syām iti bhāvenety arthaḥ. “Unable to repay those devotees who always selflessly worship me, I secretly smear their foot-dust on myself, purifying me of any sins for which I have not yet atoned.” It goes without saying that by this reasoning, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s desire for the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhā, his greatest and most loving devotee, is everlasting and very logical. Such sweet interpretations are most enjoyable for Vṛndāvana’s rasa-sādhakas.

Moreover, sarvārtha-sāra-rasa-varṣi-kṛpārdra-dṛṣṭeḥ: Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance showers rasa, that most valuable of all things. It means that wherever her compassionate glance falls, śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema-rasa, the highest of all human objectives, is showered in ceaseless streams. Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been called the highest of all human objectives. kṛṣṇa-viṣayaka-premā pañcama-puruṣārtha, yāra āge tṛṇa-tulya cāri puruṣārtha; pañcama-puruṣārtha premānandāmṛta-sindhu, mokṣādi ānanda yāra nahe eka-bindu (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 7:84-85). “The fifth puruṣārtha (object of human pursuit) is love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, before which the other four are like straw. This fifth puruṣārtha is an ocean filled with the nectar of joyful love, compared to which the joy of liberation and so on is less than a drop.” Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa blesses the bhakta with the boundless experience of Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness. pañcama-puruṣārtha ei prema mahā-dhana, kṛṣṇera mādhurya-rasa karāya āsvādana; premā haite kṛṣṇa haya nija-bhakta-baśa, premā haite pāya kṛṣṇera sebā-sukha-rasa (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.144-145). “This prema is the greatest treasure; it causes one to taste Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya-rasa. Because of prema, Kṛṣṇa comes under the control of his bhakta. Because of prema, the bhakta feels the joy of serving Kṛṣṇa.” By Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance alone, even without performing sādhanā, one is showered with an endless stream of prema-rasa, the highest puruṣārtha. There are no words to describe her compassionate glance. Just by seeing Śrī Rādhārāṇī, one obtains love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa without any endeavor. In Padma-Purāṇa, Pātāla-Khaṇḍa, chapter 40, Śrī Nārada personally experienced this after receiving Śrī Rādhā’s darśana. He said, asyā sandarśanād eva govinda-caraṇāmbuje, yā premārddhir abhūt sā me bhūta-pūrvā na karhicit. “By merely seeing her, I obtained love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, something I had never experienced before.” In Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta 2.5.233, Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda wrote, sā rādhikā bhagavatī kvacid īkṣyate cet, premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ. “If one directly sees Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s most beloved Śrī Rādhikā, he then directly perceives the embodiment of prema, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.” Now the time has come for this to manifest in this particular kali-yuga. Accepting the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā, Śrī Bhagavān has incarnated in the world as Śrī Gaurasundara. Because it is Śrī Rādhā’s complexion, when the worldly jīvas see his bright, golden radiance, they are blessed with prema. This is the power of Śrī Rādhā’s splendor. In the next verse of Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta (234), we see the following:

cet kṛṣṇa-candrasya mahāvatāras 

tādṛg nija-prema-vitānakārī |

syād vā kadācid yadi rādhikāyāḥ 

premānubhūtiṁ tad upaity athāpi ||

“If some great incarnation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa comes to distribute prema, or if some incarnation of Śrī Rādhā appears, then by seeing that avatāra one can realize prema.” This verse is speaking of Śrīman Mahāprabhu.

Or, Śrī Rādhā’s merciful glance is a nectar-shower of śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema, the highest of all things desired. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema combined with Śrī Rādhā’s prema-mādhurya is so very sweet. Śrī Rādhā is the embodiment of Śrī Vṛndāvana’s mādhurya; she is the essential element of vṛndāvana-līlā. The gist of Śrī Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 80 is that the enjoyment one gets from worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa without Śrī Rādhā is only an insignificant drop. Śrīman Mahādeva said,

gaura-tejo vinā yas tu śyāma-tejaḥ samarcayet |

japed vā dhyāyate vāpi sa bhavet pātakī śive ||

“O Pārvatī! Those who perform meditation, japa or worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa without Śrī Rādhā remain sinful.” Therefore, the very life of kṛṣṇa-prema is love for Śrī Rādhā. I bow to the glory of Śrī Rādhā, whose merciful glance showers us with love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 7

The minnow-like eyes of the sakhīs and mañjarīs swam happily in the ocean of Śrī Yugala’s incomparable beauty. The girls began to talk with each other, speaking in sweet, muffled voices. Someone said, “Look friend! Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa together are beautiful like a sapphire inlaid with gold.” Someone else said, “But friend, that is too hard. I’m thinking of something very soft, like a blue lotus and a golden lotus glistening with the nectar of beauty.” Hearing that, someone replied, “But a lotus withers at night. In my mind, they are like a streak of lightning embraced by a newly-formed rain cloud.” Someone else said, “A streak of lightning is restless; they are tranquil. They are like a young tamāla tree caressed by a golden creeper.” Another girl said, “But friend, those are immobile. These two are directly the sweet union of śṛṅgāra (the erotic sentiment) and prema-rasa (the nectar of love). Nothing in the world compares to our Śrī Yugala. They can only be compared to themselves.” Another said, “Friend! Look! Look at the sweet smile blossoming on Śrīmatī’s lovely face as she sleeps in her lover’s arms.” Yet another girl said, “I think she smiled after looking at her sweetheart’s face and then immediately fell asleep. Therefore, her smile remains.” After hearing the sakhīs’ conversation, the sādhaka-dāsī felt delighted and began to swim in a sea of rasa.

Meanwhile, at Vṛndā’s cue, the birds, bees and so on began to sing in soft, sweet tones. The nectar-thirsty bees made a humming sound like that of Kāmadeva’s auspicious conch shell as they flew about a cluster of blossoming flowers. Like Kāma’s vīṇā, the cuckoos began to sing kuhū kuhū in the fifth note. The peacocks and peahens tried to rouse Śrī Yugala with the sound ke kā. Though being awakened by the sweet calls of the birds, Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa remained on the bed in close embrace, dreading their separation. They were unable to give up their charming pleasure-bed, though being anxious that the night had ended. Śrī Śuka Muni, who is an expert on the Bhāgavata, is skillful (dakṣa) and wise (vicakṣaṇa) in waking the world from its illusory sleep through beautiful stories. In the same way, two parrots named Dakṣa and Vicakṣaṇa in the Vraja bower were directed by Vṛndā to sing a melodious song to waken the tired couple from their pleasant slumber. Dakṣa sang, “O one who is skilled in all the pastimes of love! O one who is nectar for the gopīs’ eyes! O one who is like a drunken elephant in his sweetheart’s river of love! O one who floods the whole world with a river of his sweetness! O ocean of rasa! It is no wonder that you fell asleep after drowning in the joy of tasting your lover’s lips. But the night, which gives the time for your līlā, has now ended and cuts short your festival of rasa.* Therefore, you must quickly wake up!”

Then Vicakṣaṇa began to sing, “O joy of Gokula! O moon risen from the ocean of Nanda’s heart! O blossom from the creeper of Vrajeśvarī’s virtue.** O master! Please give up your sleep and loosen the bond of your darling’s close embrace. Get ready to go to Vraja. The night has become morning and the sun has risen in the east. Eager to see your moonlike face, your mother is right now headed to your bedroom along with Paurṇamāsī Devī. Therefore, go home and make your family happy.”

*The word for night here is kṣaṇadā. Kṣaṇa means a length of time. Dā means either giving or cutting.

**Vicakṣaṇa is trying to awaken Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s madhura-rasa-submerged mind by reminding him of his mother and father. The reason for this is that vātsalya-rasa and madhura-rasa are disharmonious. 

Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 6

After the rāsa-līlā, Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are lying on a bed in Hemāmbuja Kuñja. All the sakhīs are sleeping in their respective kuñjas. In the north, the sādhaka-dāsī sleeps at the feet of Śrī Gurudevī and the other guru-mañjarīs. The birds and bees sleep in various trees and creepers in all directions. Male and female cuckoos sleep in mango trees covered by mādhavī creepers. Parrots sleep in pomegranate trees covered by mālatī creepers. Mynahs sleep in grapevines covered by svarṇa-yūthī creepers. Peacocks and peahens sleep in kadamba trees covered by yūthī creepers. Male and female pigeons sleep in pīlu trees covered by navamallikā creepers.* The bees sleep on creepers and the cocks on the ground.

The kiṅkarīs awoke spontaneously when the end of night arrived, as they were accustomed to performing sevā. Dazed, they looked anxiously about in all directions. Realizing that the time for their sevā had not passed, they sat silently on their beds, yawned and then began to joke with one another. After being touched by the vernal breeze and the moonlight, the flowers blossomed and spread their fragrances all around. The bees, cuckoos and so on then awoke and became eager to wake Śrī Yugala. They waited silently for Vṛndā’s order. The sādhaka-dāsī rose from bed and, after washing her hands and face, she woke Śrī Gurudevī by massaging her lotus feet and then helped her to wash her hands and face. Like this, she served the guru-mañjarīs along with Śrī Rūpa and the other mañjarīs. Then, by the order of Śrī Gurudevī, she prepared sitting places by cleaning the terraces and benches of the nikuñja-mandira with fragrant water and a golden broom, and then dried them with a cloth. For washing Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s faces, the sādhaka-dāsī placed a golden basin next to a golden pot filled with fragrant water and covered with a delicate cloth. She ground sandalwood paste, saffron, other flower filaments and so on and kept them in individual golden vessels. She squeezed the juice from grapes, pomegranates and other sweet fruits and kept it in golden jars alongside goblets. She prepared golden tāmbūla scented with camphor and so on. She prepared ghee and camphor lamps for ārati. She gathered flowers and strung garlands. In this way, she created the articles required for all the seasonal sevā.

Meanwhile, Vṛndādevī awoke at the appropriate time. Alarmed, she looked around and then realized it was time to wake Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. She signaled the birds to make noise and then joined Lalitā and the other sakhīs at the four sides of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s sleeping mandira. They gazed through the holes in the lattice windows at Śrī Yugala as they slept. The sādhaka-dāsī bowed to everyone’s feet and then stood to the left of Śrī Gurudevī, overwhelmed by the sight of Śrī Yugala’s sweetness. 

Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava were sleeping in a bed of flowers on a jeweled bedstead. Their transcendental beauty illuminated the sleeping mandira. They were tired from making love; their clothing and ornaments had fallen. One end of the mandira appeared bluish due to the luster of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s body, while the other was tinged yellow by Śrī Rādhā’s. Priyājī’s head rested on Kṛṣṇa’s left arm and with hers she embraced Kṛṣṇa’s neck. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s right knee rested on Priyājī’s large hips. Her breasts had been entrusted to his chest and her moonlike face touched his. At the top of four golden poles at the four corners of the jeweled bedstead, a colorful canopy fringed with pearls and marked with swastikas, lotuses and so on had been tied. Golden statuettes bearing jeweled lamps were attached to the surrounding walls along with garland-decorated paintings of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pūrva-rāga. The bower house was perfumed with the aroma of fragrant essential oils, rose-water, musk and so on. Around the bed sat small golden tables holding fruit juices, sweets, tāmbūla and other articles meant for sevā.

*Mādhavī means myrtle creeper and the others are all types of jasmines.

 

Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhiḥ 2 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

 

यस्याः कदापि वसनाञ्चलखेलनोत्थ-

धन्यातिधन्य-पवनेन कृतार्थमानी ।

योगीन्द्रदुर्गमगतिर्मधुसूदनोऽपि 

तस्या नमोऽस्तु वृषभानुभुवो दिशेऽपि ॥ २ ॥

yasyāḥ kadāpi vasanāñcala-khelanottha-

dhanyātidhanya-pavanena kṛtārtha-mānī |

yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi 

tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe’pi || 2 ||

I bow in the direction of Śrī Rādhā, the beloved daughter of Vṛṣabhānu. Even Madhusūdana Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is difficult for the greatest yogīs to attain, thinks himself crowned with success when now and then he is touched by the blessed breeze risen from the movement of the border of her dress.

Invocation 2

Rasa-Varṣiṇī-Vyākhyā: By the boundless mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda has experienced Vraja’s lofty ujjvala-rasa-bhakti and considers himself a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā, devoted to her service in the bowers of Vraja. In his book Śrī-Gaura-Gaṇoddeśa-Dīpikā, Śrīpāda Kavi Karṇapūra has referred to Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī as vraja-līlā’s Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī. But when reflecting upon this book, Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhi, one sees a very wonderful expression of rādhā-dāsya or mañjarī-bhāva in Śrīpāda’s heart. He is the embodiment of Śrī Gaura’s compassion. In many verses of this book, we get to see Śrīpāda’s eager and charming prayers for service to Śrī Rādhā. The highest and most cherished ambition for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas is to attain rādhā-dāsya, or more specifically, rādhā-snehādhikā-bhāvollāsa-rati. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmipāda wrote the following:

sañcārī syāt samonā vā kṛṣṇa-ratyāḥ suhṛd-ratiḥ |

adhikā puṣyamāṇā ced bhāvollāsa itīryate || (BRS 2.5.128) 

“Among the friends of Śrī Rādhārāṇī, some possess love for Śrī Rādhā that is equal to or a little less than for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is their sthāyī-bhāva and their love for Śrī Rādhārāṇī is a sañcārī-bhāva. But those whose love for Śrī Rādhā is greater than for Śrī Kṛṣṇa possess the love called bhāvollāsā.” This bhāvollāsā-rati is the sthāyī-bhāva for those maidservants of Śrī Rādhā whose love is greater for her. This is the most enjoyable and attractive subject matter for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. Śrīpāda Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmicaraṇa wrote the following in Vraja-Vilāsa-Stava 38:

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payo-dānābhisārādibhir

vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ |

prāṇapreṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ

keli-bhūmiṣu rūpa-mañjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye ||

“I take shelter of those maidservants of Vṛndāvaneśvarī Śrī Rādhā headed by Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. They provide for Śrī Rādhā’s pleasure by offering tāmbūla, massaging her feet, bringing water, arranging love trysts and so on. Their roles allow them to enter and leave Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s secret pastime sites even more freely than the prāṇapreṣṭha-sakhīs like Śrī Lalitā and others.”

After observing the abundance of that kiṅkarī-bhāva (maidservant mood) in Śrī-Rādhā-Rasa-Sudhā-Nidhi and finding Śrīpāda in the form of Śrī Rādhā’s devoted friend and maidservant, we shall try to taste the rasa-mādhurya here. Śrīpāda’s experiences in his cherished siddha-deha and his prayers as a sādhaka shall combine to give us one charming means to our end.

Occasionally when Śrīpāda is in his siddha-svarūpa—in the consciousness of being a devoted maidservant of Śrī Rādhā—he is blessed with sudden direct mystical visions of līlā and sevā. After the vision is over, in his external consciousness or sādhaka state of mind, he prays longingly for sevā at Śrīmatī’s feet. In this way, he experiences each verse in sequence. Even in his sādhaka mood, the deep hum of rādhā-dāsya is present. He thinks of himself as a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā. For the sādhaka also, it is necessary that this mood be awakened to some degree. Meditation upon oneself in the siddha-svarūpa given by one’s guru is the bhūta-śuddhi for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. Therefore, by adopting this meditation during śravaṇa-kīrtana, the sādhaka will no doubt become competent to taste the abundant rasa-mādhurī of this book.

First, absorbed in his sādhaka mood, he offers another maṅgalācaraṇa. sei maṅgalācaraṇa haya tribidha prakāra, bastu-nirdeśa āśīrbāda āra namaskāra (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.22). “The maṅgalācaraṇa includes three processes: ascertaining the subject matter, giving blessings and offering obeisance.” In the verse under discussion, the three aspects of a maṅgalācaraṇa have been clearly expressed. tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe’pi. “I bow in the direction of Śrī Rādhā, the beloved daughter of Vṛṣabhānu.” This statement is a namaskāra (obeisance). yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi. This is a vastu-nirdeśa (determination of the subject matter). Śrī Rādhā’s exalted position is the subject matter of this book. “He who is difficult to attain for even the best of yogīs” means that endeavors to attain him by yoga-sādhana and so on simply end in frustration: He can be known only through pure love. That Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa considers himself blessed by the breeze risen from her dress. Statements like these proclaiming Śrī Rādhā’s glory comprise the book’s contents. “I offer obeisance toward the place where Śrī Rādhā resides, that bower of love located on the banks of the Kālindī in beautiful Śrī Vṛndāvana.” This statement expresses a profound blessing that the desires of Vṛndāvana’s rasa-sādhakas will be fulfilled. One may ask why a statement like yogīndra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi, which implies bhakti in aiśvarya-bhāva, would be placed at the beginning of a description of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya-līlā. In reply, it may be said that in the Brahma-Vaivarta-Purāṇa, in the description of the etymology of the word madhusūdana, we see the following:

madhu-klībaṁ ca mādhvīke kṛta-karma śubhāśubhe |

bhaktānāṁ karmaṇāṁ caiva sūdanaṁ madhusūdanam ||

pariṇāmāśubhaṁ karma bhrāntānāṁ madhuraṁ madhu |

karoti sūdanaṁ yo hi sa eva madhusūdanaḥ ||

The word madhu means good and bad karma. He who destroys both the good and bad karma of the devotee, or he who ultimately destroys the harmful but seemingly sweet karma of deluded persons is called Madhusūdana. Feeling humble, Śrīpāda thinks, “While in my life as a māyāvādī, acting as guru to countless sannyāsīs, I obtained the title Yogīndra, King of Yogīs, and considered the inauspicious māyāvāda to be the best of doctrines. Consequently, since māyāvādīs are offensive to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Madhusūdana remained inaccessible to me. But that Madhusūdana, so difficult for even the best of yogīs to reach, has descended in the form of Śrī Gaura, mercifully refuting my harmful māyāvāda and blessing me with the taste of vraja-rasa.” Or, the word madhusūdana can mean madhu puṣpa-rasaṁ sūdayati khaṇḍayatīti madhusūdanaḥ, meaning “that rasika bumblebee Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who drinks the nectar of Śrī Rādhā’s lips.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa is difficult to attain for even the greatest yogīs like Mahādeva. The pastimes of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are difficult for even Brahmā and Mahādeva to attain. rādhā-kṛṣṇera līlā ei ati gūḍhatara, dāsya bātsalyādi bhābera nā haya gocara, sabe eka sakhī-gaṇera ihā adhikāra, sakhī haite haya ei līlāra bistāra (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.201-202). “The līlā of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is very deep, beyond the reach of dāsya, vātsalya and other bhāvas. Only the sakhīs can participate in it, and from them it is expanded.” How may I be fortunate enough to taste the rasa-mādhurī of that yogīndra-durgama-gati Madhusūdana’s vraja-līlā? Thinking like this, by Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mercy Śrīpāda obtained a mystical vision of one madhura pastime while absorbed in his siddha-svarūpa.

Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava sported in a secret grove of Vṛndāvana. sukhamaya bṛndābane sukhamaya śyāma, sukhamayī rādhā doṅhe anupāma (Mahājana). “Rādhā and Śyāma are most joyful together in the blissful forest of Vṛndāvana.” After making love with Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī sat upon the pleasure-bed like a flower garland ravaged by a bumblebee. When Rasika-Śiromaṇi Kṛṣṇa saw Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue, he felt compassion for her. This compassion is not like the compassion toward any other lover. A hint of the kind of compassion that Śrī Kṛṣṇa feels toward Śrī Rādhā, a particle of whose own compassion he always covets, is found in the Sāraṅga-Raṅgadā commentary of verses like taruṇāruṇa-karuṇāmaya vipulāyata-nayanam in Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam. taruṇe madana-madodgāriṇī svato madhu-pānena cāruṇe ca vījanādinā tac-chramāpanodanārthaṁ hṛdy-udgatvā yā karuṇā tad-udgāriṇī ca svato vipule āyate ca nayane yasya. “To allay Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue from making love, Śrī Kṛṣṇa fans her, and drinking in the honey-wine of her youthful beauty, his reddened lotus eyes widen with compassion for her.” Here also, we can understand that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is feeling this kind of compassion at seeing Śrī Rādhā’s fatigue. In the mood of a svādhīna-bhartṛkā, Śrīmatī demands, “Quickly! Dress and decorate me! If my girlfriends see me like this, they will all laugh.” Understanding the situation, her devoted maidservants have arrived with sandalwood, aloe, musk, collyrium, lac dye and other materials for dressing and decorating her. Rasika-Śiromaṇi Kṛṣṇa dresses Śrīmatī with great attention. When Svāminī sees Kṛṣṇa’s profound absorption in dressing her, a gentle smile comes to her face. The kiṅkarīs also smile as they cover their mouths with their cloths. While dressing her, Śyāma repeatedly looks with tearful eyes at Śrīmatī’s beautiful face. His thirst for tasting the sweetness of her face is never satiated. tṛṣyan muhuḥ smita-sudhāṁ paripāyito’pi. “Even though he constantly drinks the nectar of Śrīmatī’s smile, his thirst remains.” After painting collyrium around Śrīmatī’s restless eyes, Kṛṣṇa becomes agitated! The sight of her beautiful eyes causes a sāttvika-vikāra to appear and his body becomes drenched in sweat. svidyan dṛganta-capalāñcala-vījito’pi. “Though cooled by the side-long glances of Śrīmatī’s restless eyes, he remains covered with perspiration!” Seeing Kṛṣṇa so overwhelmed and perspiring as he dresses his beloved, Śrīmatī gestures to Śrīpāda, standing before her in the form of a kiṅkarī (maidservant), to begin fanning him. By her skillful fanning, Śyāma’s drops of perspiration soon disappear. Then, a curious thought awoke in the kiṅkarī’s mind. She modified her method such that by fanning Śrīmatī’s body the flow of air also goes to Śyāmasundara. The air is happy! Śyāma thinks himself blessed by the touch of the breeze that bears Śrī Rādhā’s fragrance as it rises from the movement of her dress. He considers this breeze to be extremely fortunate. It’s name, gandhavaha, or aroma-bearer, is significant. It carries the extraordinary fragrance of Śrīmatī’s body joined with the aroma of musk smeared upon her breasts. “The wind is fortunate, but I am not.” Seeing Śyāma’s condition, the kiṅkarī drowns in an ocean of joy. One of Śrīmatī’s names is Gandhonmādita-Mādhavā (she whose fragrance drives Mādhava mad)! Śrīpāda is appreciating the significance of this name in the realm of līlā. Suddenly the vision came to an end. Wailing loudly, he rose to his feet. “Hā Rādhe! Where is your sweet līlā?” In his sādhaka mood, he humbly said, “I bow in the direction of Gandhonmādita-Mādhavā Śrī Rādhā.” Śrī Mādhava, intoxicated with love for Śrī Rādhā, also prays in that direction, saying “O direction! Show me the love of my life!” As far as the sādhaka-bhaktas are concerned, for those living in the outside world, the direction of Śrī Vṛndāvana is the direction of Vṛṣabhānu-Nandinī. For those who have taken shelter of Vraja, the direction of Vṛndāvaneśvarī is determined by the statements of śāstra and the mahājanas concerning her presence in either Yāvaṭa or Varṣāṇā during various times of the year. For those sādhakas who have taken shelter of Vraja and are well-established in smaraṇa, wherever Śrīmatī goes during her daily līlā is her direction. Śrīpāda says, “I bow in that direction.”