VMA 1.54 : All the Supreme Lord’s festive pleasures, and more

B.G. Sharma

rādhā-nāgara-keli-sāgara-nimagnālī-dṛśāṁ yat sukhaṁ

no tal-leśa-lavāyate bhagavataḥ sarvo’pi saukhyotsavaḥ |

tatrāśāṁ 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, how could it be possible that someone with such a strong taste for renunciation as Prabodhananda would waste his time with such imaginings? How could one with such insight into the failings of the ephemeral creation renounce it only to bury himself in vicarious enjoyments, jumping from the frying pan into the fire of material bondage?

Here he says that the sakhis, the friends and handmaids of Radha, Krishna’s pleasure potency and the Supreme Queen of Vrindavan, experience a pleasure that is beyond even that of Narayan himself in Vaikuntha, or even the other forms of Bhagavan. This can only be understood if we recognize the tattvas presented in the previous verses: Radha, Krishna, the sakhis and Vrindavan Dham are a single, non-dual reality.

Those who mistake the devotion of the rasika Vaishnavas as sexual fantasy do not know the workings of the divine rasa, which operates on the platform of the soul and not the gross material senses.

We get some light on this point from the following passage from the Govinda-līlāmṛta:

sakhyaḥ śrī-rādhikāyā vraja-kumuda-vidhor hlādinī-nāma-śakteḥ

sārāṁśa-prema-vallyāḥ kiśalaya-dala-puṣpādi-tulyāḥ sva-tulyāḥ |

siktāyāṁ kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta-rasa-nicayair ullasantyām amuṣyāṁ

jātollāsāḥ sva-sekāc chata-guṇam adhikaṁ santi yat tan na citram||

Just as the moon enlivens the lilies, so Krishna is the bright moon that enlivens the lily-like hearts of the residents of Vrindavan. His pleasure-giving potency is personified in Radha, who is like a creeper bearing fruits of prema. Her sakhīs are like the unlimited branches, leaves and flowers that expand out from her self, and thus they are one with her. For this reason, when that winding creeper of love is watered with the heavenly potion of Krishna’s sporting activities, then the leaves and flowers (the sakhīs) find hundreds of times more pleasure than if they were themselves to be sprinkled; this all seems to be quite normal. (GLA 10.16)

Therefore, the sakhis are essential to the Gestalt of Vrindavan līlā, especially when manifest most fully in the madhura-rasa of Radha and Krishna.

vibhur atisukha-rūpaḥ sva-prakāśo’pi bhāvaḥ

kṣaṇam api nahi rādhā-kṛṣṇayor yā ṛte svāḥ

pravahati rasa-puṣṭiṁ cid-vibhūtīr iveśaḥ

śrayati na padam āsāṁ kaḥ sakhīnāṁ rasajñaḥ

The love of Radha and Krishna is by nature infinitely expansive, exceedingly joyful and self-manifest. Even so, it does attain fulness for even a moment without the presence of her girlfriends, the sakhis and manjaris, who are non-different from her, in the same way that 
the all-pervading, omnipotent God needs his spiritual potencies to fulfill his desire for rasa. What person genuinely learned in the science of sacred rapture, would not therefore take shelter of them? (GLA 10.17) 

Another quote from the Govinda-līlāmṛta (11.137) of Krishnadas Kaviraj illustrates how the manjaris are one with Radha and how they enjoy the very same pleasure as Radha through complete identification with her:

spṛśati yadi mukundo rādhikāṁ tat-sakhīnāṁ

bhavati vapuṣi kampa-sveda-romāñca-bāṣpam|

adhara-madhu mudāsyāś cet pibaty eṣa yatnād

bhavati bata tadāsāṁ mattatā citram etat ||

If Krishna should touch Radha, my dear,
then lo! her sakhis start to shake;
they sweat, tears well up in their eyes,
the hair bristles upon their neck.
And when Sri Krishna carefully sips
the maddening liquor of her lips,
they are the ones who swoon and fall!
Is this not truly wonderful?

In his commentary to this verse, Vrindavan Chakravarti observes that this verse contains the rhetorical embellishment (alaṁkāra) known as asaṅgati or paradox. Asaṅgati is defined as arising when causes are described as being inflicted on one entity have their effects reproduced in a completely distinct one. Here, the Lord is touching and kissing Radha, but the effects of trembling and intoxication are described as taking place in the bodies of the sakhīs. This appears to be a contradiction, but it is only apparent because the sakhis are so identified with Radha, so attuned to her pleasures and pains that they are not different from her, but are her extensions.

Another verse can be quoted here from the Āhnika-kaumudī (5.28) of Kavi Karnapur where Krishna says:

pataty asre sāsrā bhavati pulake jāta-pulakāḥ

smite bhāti smerā malimani jāte sumalināḥ |

anāsādya svālīr mukuram abhivīkṣya svav-adanaṁ

sukhaṁ vā duḥkhaṁ vā kim api kathanīyaṁ mṛga-dṛśaḥ ||

When tears fall from your eyes, your girlfriends also cry;
when you excite, their hairs stand on end;
when you laugh they also do so;
and when you become depressed,
they also look downhearted.

Oh doe-eyed Radhe!
When your sakhis are absent,
you may have to look at your face in a mirror
before you can tell whether you are happy or sad!

In other words, the sakhis reflect Radha’s every mood, and thereby perform all the services of a looking glass!

In the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta, there is another verse that illustrates this point:

yās tv etayoḥ keli-vilokanaṁ vinā

naiva śvasanty āsu gavākṣa-sañcayam|

śritāsu kācin nijagāda paśyatā-

nayor daśā keyam abhūd ihādbhutā ||

Radha’s handmaids are unable to maintain their lives if they cannot see the pastimes of the beautiful Divine Couple. With great eagerness they gathered about the window of the forest cottage in which Radha and Krishna were locked in embrace, and one of them said, “Friends, what an amazing and wonderful situation they have gotten themselves into!” (20.26)

Sometimes the manjaris even faint from the ecstasies they feel when they watch the intimate pastimes of the Divine Duo through the spaces between the forest vines. Prabodhananda Saraswatipada has described such an instance in his Nikuñja-rahasya-stava:

praṇaya-maya-vayasyāḥ kuñja-randhrārpitākṣīḥ

kṣiti-talam anu labdhvānanda-mūrcchāṁ patantīḥ |

prati rati-vidadhānau ceṣṭitaiś citra-citraiḥ

smara nibhṛta-nikuñje rādhikā-kṛṣṇa-candrau ||

O mind! remember Radha and Krishna,

shining in the groves of Vrindavan.

Their sakhis, saturated with love,

fasten their eyes on them

through the branches of the forest grove

where they are expanding their work of love

in wondrous variety; and overwhelmed

with ecstasy, they fall to the ground in a swoon. (Verse 24)

If the sakhis can feel intoxicated when Krishna kisses Radharani, then it is not altogether surprising if they get an even greater pleasure by watching the intimate activities of the Lord and his mistress than they would from their own. The reason for this is that they are not lovers in the mundane sense, but are supreme, the transcendental Lord and his celestial mistress.

Krishna is romantic love personified. He has appeared in his form as the king of sacred rapture (rasarāja) and thus he attracts all the minds of everyone in the universe, including his very self. Radha is the supremely worshipable personification of mahābhāva, the ultimate achievement in the domain of prema. Verily she is the embodiment of prema herself, for her entire body is vibrant with pure devotional love for Krishna.

Not only are Radha and Krishna transcendental, but so too are the sakhis and manjaris. In the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta they are described in the following way:

tā vidyud-dyūti-jayi-prapadaika-rekhā

vaidagdhya eva kila mūrti-bhūtās tathāpi |

yūtheśvarītvam api samyag arocayitvā

dāsyāmṛtābdhim anusasnur ajasram asyāḥ ||

"These handmaidens of Radharani are unexcelled in this universe for their beauty is without bounds. The rays coming from the nails of their toes defeats the glory of the lightning bolt. Each one of them is an incarnation of Radharani’s expertise in loving dalliance and thus competent to herself become a competitor for Krishna’s affections. Yet such desires do not enter their minds for even a moment because they are completely desireless. In this way, they are eligible to eternally dive into the ambrosial sea of service to her."

Without bhāva or feeling, the ecstasies of sacred rapture cannot be experienced. Without feeling, the ecstasies of love cannot be appreciated. To relish Krishna’s sweetness, one must become similar to him in quality, otherwise it will not be possible. Just as Radharani’s competent affection is not separable from her identity, and is both eternal and self-manifest, so too the sakhis and manjaris have love for the Divine Couple that is similarly uncaused, self-manifest and directly produced from their own identities.

This is beyond normal experience and thus inconceivable. “Those things which are inconceivable are not accessible by mental speculation” (acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁstarkeṇa yojayet). The actions of the Lord are supramundane, their ways and means are all transcendental; thus the unfortunate hear about them and even so develop no faith in him.

See also Manjari Bhava is Rupa and Raghunath's heart's desire

VMA 1.53 : Take shelter of Vrindavan and merge into the ocean of rasa
VMA 1.52 : Be indifferent to all other duties: go to Vrindavan!
VMA 1.51 : The intelligence of recognizing Vrindavan
VMA 1.50 : “Do you know the secret of defeating death?”
VMA 1.49 : Even while in Vrindavan, you wander about in externals!
VMA 1.48 : Never leave Vrindavan
VMA 1.47 : What can Vrindavan give you?
VMA 1.46 : Vrindavan: The ripe fulfillment of Krishna prema
VMA 1.45 :: Vrindavan, worshiped by munis, gods and divine beings