VṚNDĀVANEŚVARI TAVAIVA PADĀRAVINDA
PREMĀMṚTAIKA MAKARANDA RASAUGHA PŪRṆAM
HṚDYARPITAṀ MADHUPATEḤ SMARA-TĀPAM UGRAṀ
NIRVĀPAYAT PARAMA ŚĪTALAM ĀŚRAYĀMI
O Queen of Vṛndāvana! When Madhupati (Kṛṣṇa, the rasika bee) holds Your most cooling lotus-feet, which are filled with the honey of nectarine love taste, to His heart He extinguishes the terrible fire of His desire. I take shelter of these feet!
ŚRī RĀDHĀ’S COOLING LOTUS-FEET:
Commentary: Śrīpāda suffers of separation from Svāminī and humbly prays:
“O Svāmini! Cast Your favorable glance on Your lowly maidservant!”
One may ask: “Svāminī’s compassion is unlimited, how can She stay at ease while Her maidservant suffers so much?”
The answer to this question is:
One must experience separation in order to increase the happiness of union.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī teaches us:
na vinā vipralambhena sambhoga puṣṭim aśnute
kāṣāyite hi vastrādau bhūyan rāgo vivardhate
(Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi, Śṛṅgāra bheda)
“Just as one can remove the dirt from a cloth with alkali and thus can not only give it its original color back, but can even make its color brighter than it was before washing it, so also one cannot nourish the experience of meeting without first feeling separation.”
(The word rāga means both ‘colour’ and ‘love’, Ed.)
Not only that, the Gosvāmīs also say that the ecstasy of separation is superior to the ecstasy of meeting, and that is why there is so much separation experienced in the pure sweet pastimes of Vraja! The gopīs all have mahābhāva, so they are constantly feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa, even when they are actually united with Him .
Even the greatest saints feel themselves blessed when they can witness the gopīs’ love in separation. When Uddhava Mahāśaya came to Vraja, he told the Vraja devīs: virahena mahābhāgā mahān me’nugrahaḥ kṛtaḥ (Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.47.27) – “You have shown great mercy on me by exhibiting your ecstatic love in separation, O greatly fortunate girls! If you had not suffered so much out of separation, Kṛṣṇa would never have sent me here to console you, and I would never have been able to see your astonishing love for Him!”
Feeling great separation Śrīpada thinks: “There is no other recourse but to take shelter of Śrī Rādhā’s most cool lotus-feet!” parama śītalaṁ tavaiva padāravindam āśrayāmi.
Then a new pastime suddenly appears before Śrīpāda’s love anointed eyes. He sees Śrīmatī sitting in a trystingbower, agitated by feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa, Who is somewhat late for His appointment. Śrīmati embraces Her girlfriends and laments as follows:
bandhura lāgiya seja vichāyaluṁ gāṅthiluṁ phulera mālā
tāmbūla sājalum dīpa ujāraluṁ mandira hoilo ālā
soi, pāche e sob hoibe ān!
se heno nāgara, guṇera sāgara, kāhe na milalo kāna
“I made the bed for My lover and strung a flower garland for Him. I prepared betel-leaves and I lit the lamps. I made the bower house very beautiful; but, O My friend, all this will turn out different¬ly! I will not meet My hero, Who is an ocean of attributes!”
śāśurī nanade, vāncanā koriyā, āiluṁ gahana vane
boḍo sādha mone, e rūpa yauvane, milabo bandhura sane
path pāne cāhi, koto na rahibo, koto prabodhibo mone,
rasa śiromaṇi, āsibo ekhoni, dīna caṇḍī dāsa bhaṁe
“I deceived My mother in law and My sister in law to come into the deep forest, and with great effort I decorated My youthful beautiful body to meet My lover. I’m looking down the road for Him to come, telling My mind that this crown-jewel of relishers will certainly come now. Thus sings the wretched Caṇḍī Dāsa.”
As a maidservant, Śrīpāda pacifies virahavati, separated Rādhā, saying: “Stay calm a little! Your lover will come just now!” And indeed, after a slight delay Kṛṣṇa arrives. Although Rādhikā blooms up of joy when She sees Her lover coming, She becomes proud because of Her natural vāmya svabhāva (unsubmissive nature) which makes Her pull Her veil over Her face and turn Her back on Her lover. Vidagdha rāja (Kṛṣṇa, the king of clever pranksters) tries to pacify Her by using so many clever words. Sitting at Her beautiful feet, He prays to Her with folded hands: “Lift Your face and look at Me, O Rāi! Give up Your pride and look at Me once, then the darkness in My heart will be dispelled! Rāi! How much more will You test Me? Take My flute if You want, as long as I can touch the dust of Your lotus-feet! You are the ointment of My eyes, that are absorbed in staring at You, and You are the thief of My heart! The creator has given You the most beautiful form, qualities and tender youthfulness in the whole world! O beautiful girl! Why should You be miserly when You possess all this wealth of beauty?”
Today the jewel of lovers is not able to soften Śrīmatī’s heart. His heart is burning severely with lust as He thinks to Himself: “Let Me see what happens if I touch Her beautiful feet just once?” When He thinks like that, a wave of bliss flows through His heart. Śrī Rādhikā sits on a jewelled throne, keeping Her feet on a footstool.
Kṛṣṇa tries to please Her and catches these feet to place them on His head, but at the same time Śrīmatī pulls Her feet back, so that they end up on Kṛṣṇa’s chest. Śrīmat Kavi Karṇapura describes how beautifully Śrīmatī’s footlac then shines on Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s chest:
śrīvatsasya ca kaustubhasya ca ramā devyāsya garhākaro
rādhā pāda saroja yāvaka raso vakṣaḥ-sthalastho hareḥ
bālārka dyuti maṇḍalīva timiraiś chandena vandīkṛta
kalindyāḥ payasīva pība vikacaṁ raktotpalaṁ pātu vah
“May the lac on Rādhā’s lotus-feet, that sticks on Hari’s chest and that defeats the beauty of the Śrīvatsa sign, the Kaustubha gem and the goddess of fortune there, that is praised by the rising sun at the end of night, and that looks like a big blossoming red lotus-flower in the water of the Yamunā, protect You!”
Śrī Hari has extinguished the burning fire of lust in His heart by keeping Her cool lotus-feet to it. The word madhupati in the text means ‘relishing bee’. A bee’s heart is soothed by a cooling drink of honey, but this bee (Madhupati Kṛṣṇa) is cooling Himself off by keeping lotus flowers to His chest. These are extraordinary lotus-flowers! Normally a lusty man feels even more agitated by the fire of lust when he sees a lotus-flower, which may remind him of his beloved’s feet, but Kṛṣṇa extinguishes the strong fire of lust in His heart with the cooling touch of Śrī Rādhikā’s lotus-feet, that are filled with the sweetest nectar-stream of love. Nectar is both cooling and intoxicating. The word makaranda rasa (honey juice) in the text can also indicate a love called madhu sneha, which is defined by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’ as follows:
madīyatvātiśaya bhāk priye sneho bhaven madhu
svayaṁ prakaṭa mādhuryo nānā rasa samāhṛtaḥ
“Madhu sneha is that kind of self-manifest sweet love that consists of different mellows and that makes the lover think “Kṛṣṇa is Mine!”
Candrāvalī has ghṛta sneha (love like clarified butter) and Rādhā has madhu sneha (love like honey). Because Rādhikā’s lotus-feet contain different mellows, they are called rasaugha in the text. When sneha increases in intensity it is called māna:
snehas tūtkṛṣṭatāvāptya mādhuryaṁ mānayan navam
yo dhārayaty adakṣiṇyaṁ sa māna iti kīrtyate
(Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi)
“When sneha increases it shows an ever fresh sweetness. It makes the beloved crooked and unsubmissive and this is called māna”. Rasarāja (Kṛṣṇa) soothes His heart by being touched by this excellent sneha rasa. He manages to soothe Rādhā’s pique by keeping Her feet to His chest and Śrīpāda is so fortunate to relish the sweetness of Their amorous meeting. Suddenly the vision slips away from Śrīpāda, whose heart then begins to burn in the fire of separation once more. Desiring the shelter of Rādhā’s cooling lotus-feet to extinguish that burning fire, he says: “Those same cooling lotus-feet, that extinguish the fire of Kṛṣṇa’s lusty desires, are the only means to pacify the pain of separation that I feel!”
he vṛndāvaneśvari! hari citta manohāri,
nitya nava nayanābhirāma
he bhānu kulacanda, tomara padāravinda,
premāmṛta makaranda dhāma
“O Queen of Vṛndāvana! O enchanter of Hari’s heart who gives ever new pleasure to the eyes! O moon of Mahārāja Vṛṣabhānu’s dynasty! Your lotus-feet are the abode of the nectarean honey of love!”
ugra smarānala tāpe, uttāpita hoy yabe,
śrī harira sarvendriya gaṇa
smara tāpa nirvāpane, hṛde dhare se caraṇe,
madhupati vrajendra nandana
“When all the senses of the Hari bee, the prince of Vraja, are burning in the horrible fire of lust, He holds Your feet to His chest to extinguish that fire.”
he rādhe! duṭī pada, bhakta koṭi sampada,
sarva śreṣṭha sukha niketana.
bhaṇe śrī prabodhānanda, sei se paramānanda,
pāda padme loinu śaraṇa
“O Rādhe! Your feet are the treasure of all the devotees and they are the highest abode of bliss! Śrī Prabodhānanda takes shelter of these lotus-feet while singing this in topmost bliss!”
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