raganuga bhakti - Beauty of Real Love

Vilapa Kusumanjali 81 part 1

Recorded India 2017

  O Sumukhi (fair-faced girl)! When will I have goosepimples of ecstasy all over my body as I fan You in a temple that gives bliss to Cupid, where You enjoy ever-so-sweet talks with Your lover, Your cheeks blossoming with a smile as You lie on a playbed made of Mālatī-flowers?

Explanations: Devotional service coincides with relishing the līlā-rasa, as it did in the descriptions of Līlāśuka. Sweet pastimes burst out of each and every verse of his ‘Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta’, showing how expert he was in relishing this sweetness. Without being transcendentally cognizant this cannot be understood. The example of this is Śrīla Kṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja’s Sāraṅga-Raṅgadā-commentary on ‘Kṛṣṇa Karnāmṛta’. One’s svarūpāveśa will come automatically by regularly reciting Śrī Vilāpa Kusumāñjali. One feels like being right there with Svāminī.

These are very powerful words, that are revealing Rādhārāṇī. There are only descriptions here of sweetness (mādhurya), there is not even a whiff of aiśvarya (lordliness) here.

mādhuryam asamordhvatayā sarva manoharaṁ svābhāvika rūpa guṇa līlādi sauṣṭhavam (Śrī Jīva)

“Unrivalled loveliness or beauty of forms, qualities and pastimes is called mādhurya, or sweetness.”

Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava-upāsanā is mādhurya. The truth of mādhurya is inscrutable, and it cannot be experienced without associating with mādhurya-devotees and without attaining the favor of the Lord. As soon as a devotee experiences mādhuryā he loses his taste for Kṛṣṇa’s svarūpa (Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, He is the Creator, He is transcendental, and the evidence of all these facts) and His aiśvarya (lordliness).

The compilations Stavamālā of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Stavāvalī of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī are describing the sweetness of the Divine Pair. Something can be understood of what is Rādhārāṇī by reciting Śrī Rādhā’s 108 names and the ‘Premāmbhoja Marandākhya Stavarāja’ from Stavāvalī.  It is as if Śrī Raghunātha floats on the waves of the sweetness of the Yugala Kiśora. Both in separation and in union he relishes the stream of the amazing sweetness of Their forms, qualities and pastimes. Now a transcendental vision comes to him, and he says: “I’ve made a bed of Mālatī-flowers within the Madana Sukhadā-kuñja, where You’re having an ever-so-sweet conversation with Your lover.

I see that Your cheeks are blossoming (with goosepimples). I will serve You by fanning You, while my hairs are standing on end of ecstasy – sapulaka-tanur esā tvāṁ kadā vījayāmi. “Won’t I fan Śyāmasundara then?” No. She fans Svāminī in such a way that Her sweet fragrance reaches Śyāma’s nostrils as Her prasāda. That will make Śyāma feel happy and satisfied. yasyāḥ kadāpi vasanāñcala khelanottha dhanyāti dhanya pavanena kṛtārtha mānī (Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi – 2)

“Madhusūdana feels His life is successful when He catches even the slightest breeze that has touched the tip of Śrī Rādhā’s veil!” How wonderful is the expertise of this service! The mañjarīs of the kuñja are the teachers (guru) of the service of the Yugala Kiśora.

The practising devotees must learn the expert service in the groves of Vraja from the eternally perfect kinkarīs like Tulasī. One of the 25 qualities of Śrī Rādhā that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī enunciated is Gandhonmādita Mādhava, Her fragrance intoxicates Mādhava. Tulasī thinks: “Can I neglect the lover of My Svāminī? I will make Them both float in oceans of bliss!” Svāminī is the leader in this intimate joking conversation and enchanted Kṛṣṇa is the attendant. How submissively He inquires from Her!

He cannot get enough of Her nectarean words. He feels as if they don’t even touch His earlobes, although He drinks their nectar at every moment! kohilo kāhinī puchaye koto beri (Kavi Rañjana). Again and again He asks Her what She said to Him:

vacana amiyā rasa anukhana piyaluṁ, śruti-pathe paraśa nā bheli

(I drank the nectar of Her words constantly, but still it did not touch the paths of My ears).

How submissively Śyāma keeps on inquiring! Svāminī accepts Him as Her Prāṇa Ballabha (heart’s lover) and has an ever-so-sweet talk with Him. Svāminī sweetly smiles while She says:

“There is nothing that I will not give You!” Because of this sweet smile She is called ‘Sumukhi’, or fairfaced girl in this text. The beauty of Her face should be seen! Tulasī says: “You are not my Sumukhī, You are the Sumukhī of He who relishes the beauty of Your face!”

This loving conversation takes a form. It does not float on the surface, but it enters Śyāma’s heart. I see this sweet conversation in the same way as I hear it. The conversation crystallizes. So many bhāvas become manifest on the bhāva vigrahā (Śrī Rādhikā, the embodiment of ecstatic love). Svāminī says: “Śyāma! How beautiful You are!” The words that come from Her mouth are seen on all of Her limbs also. “You are really My Lover! O dearest One! I cannot live without You!” Svāminī says with faltering voice:

prāṇanātha! kemon koribo āmi! tomā vine mon, kore ucāṭan,  ke jāne kemona tumi  nā dekhi nayana, jhure anukhana,  dekhite tomāya dekhi  sowaraṇe mon, murachita heno,  mudiyā rahiye āṅkhi  

“O My Prāṇanātha! What shall I do? Without You, My mind is so upset! Who knows how You are now? When My eyes don’t see You, they are filled with tears and when My mind remembers You, I faint while keeping My eyes closed!”

śravaṇe śuniyā, tomāra carita,  ān nā bhāviye mone  nimiṣera ādha, pāsarite nāri,  ghumāle dekhi svapane  jāgile cetana, hārāiyā āmi,  tomā nāma kori’ kāndi  parabodha dei, e rāy vasanta,  tileka thira nāhi bāndhi  

“When I hear about You I cannot think of anyone else anymore, I cannot forget You for even half a moment and even when I sleep I dream about You! When I wake up I go out of My mind and I cry out Your name. This Rāya Vasanta consoles Rādhā, but She cannot stay calm for even a moment.”

Sometimes She hugs Herself against Śyāma, sometimes She pulls Him on Her lap and whispers sweet words into His ears. When Tulasī sees how beautiful She is then, she calls Her ‘Sumukhi’. Some feelings are expressed by colliding with the beloved, and the rest is expressed through smiles and laughter. Śyāma asks:

“Shall I tell Lalitā what You have done just now?” Svāminī stutters, so Śyāma consoles Her by saying: “No, no! I won’t say anything!”

Rādhikā and Śyāma begin to perspire, so Tulasī starts fanning them with a whisk made of vine-buds, thinking: “I will give Śyāma the touch of Your breasts by fanning the scent of Your breasts His way!

Those breasts do not want this breeze, they want pleasure! I will give Śyāma touch of Your breasts by fanning in this way, and I will give You also the touch of Śyāma’s chest!” vratati camarī cāmara marud vinodena (Utkalikā Vallari: 52).

Śyāma becomes intoxicated by that fragrance and Tulasī, seeing her service is successful, gets goosepimples of ecstasy on her skin. The practising devotees should also become invigorated like this. When his service is successful he is happy and when he is deprived of devotional service he is unhappy. Devotional service helps one forget one’s own interest. During the Gambīrā-pastimes Śrīla Govinda dāsa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s personal servant, committed a grave offense (by stepping over the Lord as He slept), but he did it just to serve the Lord, and therefore the Lord did not count this offense at all. Like a bumblebee Śyāma relishes the honey from Svāminī’s lotuslike mouth.

How many ages are passing during this conversation! When this vision disappears Śrī Raghunātha prays:

sukhada madana kuñje, bhramarā bhramarī guñje,  mandirete navīna yugala.  mālatī śayyāra’pori, sukhe boise śyāma gaurī,  aṅga chaṭā kore jholamola.  

“In a temple in a kuñja that gives joy to Cupid and where the male and female bees are humming, the Youthful Couple Śyāma and Gaurī are blissfully sitting on a jasmine-bed with Their effulgent forms.”

  rasera prasaṅga tuli, paraspara kothā boli,  rase nimajjita kalevara.  sei vākya bhaṅgī yoto, sumadhura parāmṛta,  ucchalita gaṇḍa sarovara.  

“Their forms are immersed in rasa as They speak rasika words to Each other. These words are like the highest nectar, that causes Their lake-like cheeks to swell.

“  he rādhe rāja-nandini! kuñjavana vilāsini, dekhi pulakita gaṇḍasthala.  doṅhe guṇa gāhi mukhe, cāmara ḍhulabo sukhe,  bohibe ki nayanera jala?   (Śrī Haripada Śila)

“O Princess Rādhe! O girl who enjoys in the forests and the groves! When I see this, my cheeks are studded with goosepimples of ecstasy! When will tears of love stream from my eyes as I sing the glories of the both of You and I blissfully fan You with a whisk?”