Beauty of Real Love

Vilapa Kusumanjali 77:

Will the joy of my eyes increase when I see one maiden swiftly and happily bringing various blooming flowers, big guñjā-beads and peacock feathers? While Hari makes the braid of my Svāminī with this He shivers and Her whole body bloomsup withgoose pimples!

Explanations: In a transcendental vision Śrī Raghunātha perceives how sweetly Nāgara is dressing Svāminī, and when he loses this vision he prays. Now he sees how Svāminī’s hair is being done. “When will Your braided hair give my eyes great ecstasy? This braid is being beautified by Hari with various flowers, guñjā-beads, peacockfeathers and other items. Your body will be studded with goosepimples. How delighted my eyes will be when Your hair becomes so beautiful!” It is unusual to make a girl’s braid with peacock feathers. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa have made love before Tulasī spoke this verse. Now Rādhikā wears a yellow cloth and Kṛṣṇa a blue one. They have exchanged dresses, unable to distinguish between Each other anymore, as a result of reaching a climax of loving ecstasy. Svāminī now has the peacock feather-crown on and Kṛṣṇa has braided hair and a jewel in His part. The cause of this confusion is Their absorption in Their erotic pastimes.186 In the rasa-śāstra, the scriptures that deal with spiritual flavours, this is called prema vilāsa vivarta and has two characteristics: contrariety and confusion. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī writes in his Gopāla Campūḥ (Pūrva 33.13):

rādhā’jānād asaṅge danuja-vijayinaḥ saṅgam ārād asaṅgaṁ saṅgaṁ saṅge caivaṁ samantād gṛha samaya sukha svapna śītādikāni. etasyāḥ vṛttir eṣājani sapadi yadānyad vicitraṁ tadāsīt kāntā kānta svabhāvo’py ahaha yad anayor vaiparītyaya jajñe

“When Śrī Rādhā is with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, She is also separated from Him and when She is separated from Him, She is also together with Him. In the same way She experiences all conditions to be contrary: at home She feels like being in the forest, in the forest She feels like beingat home, Shefeels a moment lasts like a millennium and a millennium lasts like a moment, She feels happy in sorrow and sad in happiness, She feels awake when She’s sleeping and She feels like She’s sleeping when She is awake, She feels cold when it is hot and She feels hot when it is cold. Not only that, but the most wonderful thing is that She also feels like She is Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa feels like He is Her!”

This means that They exchange nature and thus They may be found wearing Each other’s dresses and ornaments. mādana rasa is the assemblage of the entire variety of transcendental amorous ecstasies, and they are all eternally present in Śrī Rādhā.

sarva bhāvodgamollāsī mādano’yam parātparaḥ rājate hlādinī sāro rādhāyām eva yaḥ sadā

(Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi Sthāyi 219)

Śrī Hari is the cause of this exchange of clothes in the līlā. He managed to steal the mind of Mādanākhya Mahābhāvavatī Śrī Rādhā. Svāminī does not hesitate when Śyāmasundara acts in such an enchanting way. Śyāmasundara is completely sold to Svāminī’s lotus feet. Svāminī feels that She possesses Him, in the mood of madīyatā (He is Mine!) and even Śyāmasundara cannot end that feeling. Falling at Her feet He begs Her: “Give Me one festival-like embrace!”

How eager Rādhā’s Prāṇa-bandhu is falling at Her feet, as if He’s missing something! Svāminī stretches out Her hand, lifts Him up and holds Him to Her chest, saying: “Is there anything that I cannot give You?”188 Kṛṣṇa is expert in stealing Rādhikā’s heart – therefore He is known as ‘Hari’. This love is mutual, otherwise it is not beautiful. Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has written:

parasparaṁ prema-rase nimagnam aśeṣa sammohana rūpa keli vṛndāvanāntar nava kuñja gehe tan nīla pītaṁ mithunaṁ cakāsti

(Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi 197)

“There is an enchanting blue and yellow Pair immersed in the flavour of Each other’s love, showing innumerable enchanting forms and pastimes in a bowerhouse in Vṛndāvana”. Svāminī is notsatisfied in Their pastimes and thinks: “Śyāma does not smile enough; His smile is not fully blooming!”, so She causes a smile to blossom on His face by kissing Him again and again. Now She can relish the nectar of His mouth, that makes His flute-song so sweet and that reveals such wonderful jokes. Svāminī’s desires cannot be satisfied anymore; Hari has taken away all Her hesitation. The ācāryas say that a higher level of prema is praṇaya. In this stage the loving Couple is no longer aware that They are separate beings. The very life-force of this praṇaya is viśrambha. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī writes:

viśrambhaḥ priya-janena saha svasyābheda mananam

“Viśrambha means that the lover feels him/herself to be nondifferent from the beloved.”

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains this further:

viśrambho viśvāsaḥ sambhrama rāhityaṁ tacca sva prāṇa mano buddhi deha paricchadādibhiḥ kānta prāṇa mano buddhyāder aikya bhāvana janyam.

“Viśrambha means faith or freedom from awe and reverence, so that one considers the life, mind, intelligence and dress of the beloved to be one with one’s own.”

It is the stage of intimacy in which one feels no hesitation when the hand of the beloved goes over one’s body. It is the same feeling of trust and intimacy as if one would move one’s own hand over one’s body. In the same way Praṇayinī Rādhā considers each of Śyāma’s limbs that She touches to be Her own.

This Hari is the causeof all this! Svāminī’scurly braid resembles a big dark cloud and Hari sits behind Her, slowly arranging that hair. Each hair is dearer to Him than millions of lives! He pours His whole life-airs into them! There is no limit to His ecstasy when He obtains the service of His beloved and His shivering hands are studded with goosepimples while He braids Her hair. Svāminī’s body is also studded with goosepimples when Hari touches Her. Śyāma looks at Priyājī’s face from behind, over Her shoulders, afraid that She may feel pain, but Svāminī consoles Him with a blossoming smile, saying: “Why are You so worried? It didn’t hurt!” When Nāgara-rāja hears that He smiles.

After Kṛṣṇa has made Rādhikā’s braid, one sakhī comes with peacock feathers, slightly blooming flowers and guñjā-beads (shining red beads with black spots on them) which Śyāma uses to make Svāminī’s crown.189 Also in Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.30.34) there is a description of this prema vilāsa vivarta. Śrī Śuka Muni said: tāni cūḍayatā kāntām: “Kṛṣṇa made a crown (like for Himself) for His beloved (Śrī Rādhikā)”. Seeing Kṛṣṇa’s expertise in decorating Rādhikā, Tulasī is beside herself of ecstasy. It is as if ecstasy Himself appears before her eyes instead of in her mind. It is as if this ecstasy is not enjoyed within the mind, but within the eyes. The practising devotee who is fixed in smaraṇa must dive into this rasa also. The yearning for Rādhārāṇī’s devotional service does not arise within an ordinary heart. It will arise within the heart of someone who can give up everything in the world and who is not dependent on anything. In the Bhagavad-Gītā Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna: bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ: “A person who is devoted is dear to Me.” But to attain Rādhā’s service is even harder. Without total absorption it cannot be attained. The ācāryas have revealed how one can become dear to Rādhārāṇī. Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī exclaims: tavaivāsmi tavaivāsmi na jīvāmi tvayā vinā “I am Yours! I am Yours! I cannot live without You!” We must experience some of this absorption also. We must expell the influence of māyā from the mind. The great words (mahā vāṇī) of the ācāryas will strengthen the weak devotees and will gradually bring them back on the path. Tulasī is absorbed in bliss when she sees Svāminī’s hair being done. Suddenly the vision vanishes and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa prays:

ardha vikaśita nānā kusuma nikara; nava guñjā-mālā śikhi-puccha manohara kona sakhī tāhā loye praphulla antare; premānande pulaka vivaśa kalevara Kṛṣṇa-kare avilambe koribe arpaṇa; sādare loiyā tāhā vrajendra-nandana

śrī rādhāra keśapāśa koribe bhūṣita; kāntā-sparśa-sukhe koro hoibe kampita tāhāte utphulla-citta ho’be śrī rādhāra; svāminīra se keśa-racanā camatkāra koto dine āmi hāya heribo nayāne; kobe vā hoibe netra ānanda magane

(Śrī Rasika-Candra dāsa)

“Some sakhī with blossoming heart, and Her body overwhelmed with goosepimples of ecstatic love places half-blooming flowers, fresh guñjā-garlands and enchanting peacockfeathers into Kṛṣṇa’s hands without delay, and Vrajendra-nandana carefully takes them and ornaments Śrī Rādhā’s hair with them. His hands start shivering when He experiences the blissful touch of His beloved and this again causes Śrī Rādhā’s heart to blossom. Alas! How many more days will pass before my eyes will be absorbed in ecstasy by seeing Svāminī’s hair being braided in this astonishing way?”