Jagat

śrī-vṛndā-kānane'tyadbhuta-kusuma-lasad-ratna-vallī-nikuñja- prāsāde puṣpa-candrātapa-caya-rucire puṣpa-palyaṅka-talpe | rādhā-kṛṣṇau vicitrau smara-samara-kalā-khelinau vīkṣya vīkṣyā- nandād vihvālitaṁ saṁluṭhad avani-tale vandyatām āli-vṛndam || In the Vrindavan forest in a palatial grove filled with most wondrous blossoms, where, upon a bed of petals, under garlanded awnings and and glistening vines , Sri Sri Radha and Krishna are engaged in a wonderfully playful amorous battle,   Watching over and over, Radha's sakhis are overcome and roll about on the ground in bliss! May they be ever venerated! As we have seen, the VMA has four principal subjects the supreme subject and object of divine love, Radha and Krishna. The other two are the  sakhī s and the dham itself. Together they form the single tattva . So far, we have gone into some detail about sakhī-bhāva or  mañjarī-bhāva , which distinction Prabodhananda does not make, in the fo...

B.G. Sharma rādhā-nāgara-keli-sāgara-nimagnālī-dṛśāṁ yat sukhaṁ no tal-leśa-lavāyate bhagavataḥ sarvo’pi saukhyotsavaḥ | tatrāśā ṁ  yadi kasyacin nirupamāṁ prāptasya bhāgya-śriyaṁ tad vṛndāvana-nāmni dhāmni parame svīyaṁ vapur naśyatu || All the festive pleasures of the Supreme Lord cannot match even the smallest drop of the happiness the sakhis feel when their eyes are absorbed in the līlā ocean of Radharani’s lover. If anyone is so fortunate as to desire to attain the hope for this incomparable happiness, then let him give up his body in this supreme abode named Vrindavan. (1.54) Commentary Although they have been mentioned briefly a couple of times in earlier verses, we now come to this important glorification of the sakhis, whose mood is the one aspired to by rasika sādhakas everywhere. It is often said that the mood of Vrindavan is feminine, that Krishna is the only male. Although this may appear to the uninitiated as just another kind of fantasy, ...