VMA 1.42 :: The Abode of the King of Rasa

P.C. Vrindavan Experience

vṛndāvane sakala-pāvana-pāvane’smin

sarvojjvalojjvalad-udāra-matiḥ sadāste |

sarvottamottama-mahā-mahimany anante

sarvādbhutādbhuta-mahā-rasa-rāja-dhāmni ||

My mind always remains lofty,
illuminated by the ujjvala-rasa
here in this Vrindavan,
which purifies even the purifiers,
which has infinite glories,
greater than the greatest of all glories,
the abode of the most wondrous manifestation
of the supreme king of rasa!

---

Commentary

Prabodhananda continues to glorify the Dham with arms upraised and spirits lifting. This is the ecstatic abode of the ujjvala rasa, which as we will gradually see throughout this book, is meant the very same spirit that is at the heart of the Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi.

kiṁ brūmo’nyatra kuṇṭhīkṛtaka-janapade dhāmny api śrī-vikuṇṭhe
rādhā-mādhurya-vettā madhupatir atha tan-mādhurīṁ vetti rādhā |
vṛndāraṇya-sthalīyaṁ parama-rasa-sudhā-mādhurīṇāṁ dhurīṇā
tad-dvandva-svādanīyaṁ sakalam api dadau rādhikā-kiṅkarīṇām||

In this land of Vrindavan, Krishna knows Radha’s sweetness
and Radha knows the sweetness of Krishna.
But what can we say of elsewhere, for no one knows
even in the Holy Dham of Vaikuntha,
which renders insignificant the abodes of Brahma and other gods and men.
This abode of Vrinda’s forest is the headquarters
of the supreme sweetness of rasa and has given
everything related to the tasting of this Yugala to Radha’s dasis. (RRSN 175)

Krishna is the rasarāja and Radha is mahābhāva.

The word rasa-rāja can be understood in two ways: it refers either to the madhura-rasa itself, or to Krishna, the akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti, whose greatest pleasure is to relish the madhura-rasa with his eternal consort, Srimati Radharani. Vrindavan is the only abode where madhura-rasa is the most prominent.

jaẏa rāsa sthali jaẏa śrī rādhā śyāma

jaẏa jaẏa rāsa līlā sarba manorama

jaẏa jaẏojjbala rasa sarba rasa sāra

parakīẏā bhābe yāhā brajete pracāra

All glories to the place where the Rāsa-līlā took place,
all glories to Radha Shyam!
All glories to the Rāsa-līlā, the most enchanting of all.
All glories to the ujjvala-rasa, the essence of all rasas,
in the mood of the paramour, which is found only in Braj.

Ujjvala ("bright or brilliant") is a synonym for madhura-rasa. Krishna's blue color (nīla or śyāma) is also the color of madhura-rasa. Other prominent synonyms are śuci ("pure") and śṛṅgāra which is the most official name for erotic love in the works of the poeticians.

śṛṅgaṁ hi manmathodbhedas tad āgamana-hetukaḥ |
uttama-prakṛti-prāyo rasaḥ śṛṅgāra iṣyate ||
paroḍhāṁ varjayitvātra veśyāṁ cānanurāgiṇīm |

"The word śṛṅga is taken to mean the sprouting forth of love. The sentiment which produces this love is nearly always of the highest nature (uttama-prakṛti-prāya) and is called śṛṅgāra. Thus, the nāyikā can be neither one married to another man nor a prostitute who has no genuine affection for the hero." (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 3.211)

The reasoning is that because this love is so pure, it cannot be blemished by the sin of adultery. Such tings fall into the category of rasābhāsa. But in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Rupa Goswami disagrees in the case of Krishna, the great enjoyer of rasa, the akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti.

neṣṭā yad aṅgini rase kavibhir paroḍhā
tad gokulāmbuja-dṛśāṁ kulam antarena |
āśāṁsayā rasa-vidher avatāritānāṁ
kaṁsāriṇā rasika-maṇḍala-śekhareṇa ||

The adulterous woman has been declared by the poets to be undesirable as the heroine for the principle rasa in a play or literary work, but this does not apply to the the beautiful girls of Vraja, because Krishna is the crowning glory of all the kinds of that in madhura-rasa, a woman married to another man is an impediment to rasa. (UN 5.3)

Because of the similarity of the erotic love described in the scriptures and that of the material world

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ
śraddhānvito'nu śṛṇuyād atha varṇayed vā
bhaktiṁ parāṁ bhagavati parilabhya kāmaṁ
hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ ||

Any level-headed person who hears of these games (vikrīḍitam)
of Vishnu with the women of Vraja (vraja-vadhūbhiḥ) with faith,
or describes them, shall attain supreme devotion to the Lord
and very quickly give up the disease of the heart
which is desire (kāma).(BhP 10.33.40)

Some devotees still fear that due to insufficient capacity or adhikāra, it is dangerous to hear or describe the rāsa-līlā. Although the power of the rāsa-līlā has been glorified in itself as a remedy for the disease of lust, Prabodhananda Saraswatipada says that Vrindavan is the purifier pf all purifiers. It is the land where this most pure and brilliant rasa has made its abode. So if one comes to Vrindavan, one should fearlessly hear and chant about these most confidential subjects and the Dham itself will give adhikāra and intensify the purifying process from the very beginning. In Vrindavan one has the opportunity to hear from those who are adept in such matters and will not mislead you.

For more on this subject see The Rasa Shastra Perspective.

VMA 1.41 :: The treasure house of the flavors of devotion
VMA 1.40 :: Only after lifetimes of piety can one live in Vrindavan
VMA 1.39 : May Vrindavan protect and transform me.
VMA 1.38 : Vrindavan can destroy the seed of sin.
VMA 1.37 : Vrindavan is the Light of the Self
VMA 1.36 : One speck of Braj dust has such glory
VMA 1.35 : The unlimited mine of nectar
VMA 1.34 : The Vrindavan Desire Tree
VMA 1.33 : The most fortunate person residing in Vrindavan
VMA 1.32 : VMA 1.32 : Meditate on that Eros-addled Couple of colors black and gold