VMA 2.56 : The order to serve the Divine Couple

After describing the bhāva-bhakta, Prabodhananda Saraswati suddenly has an inspiration, a sphūrti of his siddha-svarūpa, as if glorifying such devotees bestows such grace.  Of the eleven aspects of the siddha identity, one is to be the protected servant of one of the senior sakhis. What pleasure it is to get such an order from the sakhis!

mālāṁ kaṇṭhe'rpaya sulalita-candanaṁ sarva-gātre

tāmbūlaṁ prāśaya kuru sukhaṁ sādhu saṁvījanena |

vyatyāśleṣāt sukha-śāyiyor lālayann aṅghrim itthaṁ

rādhā-kṛṣṇau paricara rahaḥ kuñja-śayyām upetau ||2.56||

Please place a flower garland around their necks.
Anoint their every limb with pleasing sandal paste.
Give them pan and betel to chew.
Make them happy by nicely fanning them.
Massage their feet when they lie down together
enjoying the happiness of a tight embrace,
In this way serve Radha and Krishna as they enjoy
their dalliances on a cot in the solitary forest groves.

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After describing the bhāva-bhakta, Prabodhananda Saraswati suddenly has an inspiration, a sphūrti of his siddha-svarūpa, as if glorifying such devotees bestows such grace.  Of the eleven aspects of the siddha identity, one is to be the protected servant of one of the senior sakhis. What pleasure it is to get such an order from the sakhis!

e sabhāra anugā hoiẏā, prema sebā niba cāiẏā,
iṅgite bujhiba sab kāja |
rūpe guṇe ḍagamagi, sadā hoba anurāgī,
basati kariba sakhīra mājha ||53||

bṛndābane dui jana, catur-dike sakhīgaṇa
samaẏa bujhiba rasa sukhe |
sakhīra iṅgite hobe, cāmara ḍhulāba kobe,
tāmbūla yogāba cāṅda mukhe ||54||

Following all these manjaris, I will beg from them for service,
recognizing what needs to be done by their signs.
Enchanted by their beauty and virtues, I will always feel passionate love
and make my abode amongst the sakhis.

In Vrindavan, the Divine Couple surrounded on all sides by sakhis
I will easily recognize the appropriate mood and time.
When will the sakhis give me a sign to fan with the chamara
or to serve tambula to their moon-like faces.(PBC 53-54)

The next four verses are about Radha's kiṅkarīs, recapitulating some of what we saw in VMA 2.40 and 2.41-43. In the commentary there we reviewed some of the service activities of the mañjarīs, who are also known as kiṅkarīs. The word kiṅkarī is derived from a compound kiṁ kara meaning "what should I do?" As described in 2.40, the essence of devotion is service and this designation perfectly illustrates the function of the dāsīs or sevikās.

The kiṅkarīs belong to a special class of sakhī, as we already saw in a previous verse, so they follow those activities which are manifested by the body and senses after the different causes of love (vibhāvas) have acted on the dominant feeling of love are called anubhāvas. We introduced the term in VMA 2.29 and 2.53-55.

In other words, the anubhāvas are the expressed effects of those causes. The definition given in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is as follows:

anubhāvās tu cittastha-bhāvānām avabodhakāḥ |
te bahir vikriyā-prāyāḥ proktā udbhāsvarākhyayā ||

Those activities which appear almost as spontaneously as physical transformations revealing internal feelings are called anubhāvas or sometimes as udbhāsvaras. (BRS 2.2.1)

The term udbhāsvara (“shining, radiant”) is used for a subcategory of anubhāvas in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. (11.1, 11.69-70) (“Those activities which appear almost as spontaneously as physical transformations revealing internal feelings are called anubhāvas or sometimes as udbhāsvaras.”). They include such reactions to inner feelings as the spontaneous loosing of clothing, slipping of flower decorations from the hair, yawning, sighing, etc. The term itself appears to be original to Rupa Goswami. In the BRS (2.2.3), Rupa subdivides anubhāvas into “cool” or passive and “hurling” or active expressions of love, the former include yawning, etc., the latter dancing, etc. The different kinds of service would fall into the latter category.

These anubhāvas or expressions of love in turn nurture the feelings of love and make them more relishable after the causes of rasa (vibhāvas) have awakened the first loving responses.  

In the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (8.97-99), the major activities of the sakhīs and mañjarīs are listed as follows:

(1) glorifying the qualities of the lover to his beloved or of the beloved to her lover;
(2) increasing their attachment for one another;
(3) taking them out to meet one another;
(4) offering their dear friend (the nāyikā, i.e. Radha) to Krishna;
(5) joking with them;
(6) giving consolation to them in times of anxiety;
(7) dressing and decorating the Divine Couple;
(8) getting them to reveal their inner feelings;
(9) concealing the faults of the nāyikā;
(10) deceiving her husband and other guardians;
(11) giving beneficial instructions;
(12) bringing the two together at the appropriate time;
(13) fanning with yak-tail whisks and performing other timely services;
(14) chastising both lover and beloved for their faults in the course of their romantic affairs;
(15) delivering messages;
(16) protecting the nāyikā from all types of dangers.

Of course, besides these sixteen activities there are many other things that Radha’s handmaids and friends can do, such as glorifying the qualities, beauty and sweetness and love of Srimati Radharani, investigating the activities and intentions of the other competing nāyikās, bringing the food Radha has prepared to Nanda Maharaj’s house to be served to Krishna and returning with his remnants to be relished by her, finding out what Krishna is doing from Subala and Dhanishtha, etc.

Generally speaking, Prabodhananda is more interested in the kind of mantra-mayī upāsanā that manifests in the bliss of Radha and Krishna's union in the forest bowers of Vrindavan, while Rupa Goswami, as the above list of relations/services indicates, preferred the svārasikī upāsanā.

This distinction between mantra-mayī and svārasikī is made in Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha (153ff). In the former, the separation is minimized and only the union emphasized. Therefore the services that are described in the ekādaśa-bhāva, which are meant for training the mind in meditations of the Yoga-pitha, are like those found in this verse. In the latter, the comings and goings of Radha and Krishna are emphasize, namely Radha and Krishna's attempts to find union. Rupa Goswami concludes the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi by saying that clever lovers (vidagdha) prefer the ins-and-outs of their loving affairs even more than the union.


vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham
na tathā samprayogeṇa syād evaṁ rasikā viduḥ

Clever lovers find that there is more pleasure
in all the varieties of their mutual dealings
than in sexual union per se.
This is the conclusion of the knowers of rasa. (15.253)

This is perhaps the major distinction between the Gaudiya school and the other rasika sects of Vrindavan, such as that of Harivansh.

For more on this subject, see Five Essential verses of Gita Govinda (Verse 5).

In his commentary on the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Srila Vishnudas Goswami has quoted the following thirteen verses from the Kṛṣṇa-keli-manjari (an hitherto unknown work, seemingly of Vishnudas's own composition) that describe the service of the manjaris to Srimati Radharani:

At that time Srimati Radharani’s friends brought pitchers of water scented with camphor and slowly, rapturously, washed her lotus face. Then drying it with a soft, delicate cloth they made quick preparation for her bath. Taking her into the courtyard to the jeweled platform under the shade of a large bakula tree, they rubbed her limbs with scented oils, the color of red sindūra, and then removed the oil with other fragrant unguents. Others enthusiastically brought jeweled jugs of scented water to the platform and placed them there for her bath. Absorbed in glorifying her beauty and pastimes, they never became fatigued although their bodies were worn by repeatedly walking back and forth and carrying heavy jugs of water.

After being bathed with that water, Radharani rose from the platform and sat nearby on a golden throne, her golden body appearing like Mount Meru and her scattered hair like a row of black clouds decorating its peaks. Rati Manjari quickly removed her wet bathing garments and dressed her in a fresh clean sari made of silk. Rupa Manjari flailed her wet hair with a cloth removing the excess water and then in great ecstasy combed the glistening long, slightly kinky locks with a jeweled comb. Other manjaris came forth with cosmetics of saffron, camphor, musk and other perfumes mixed in sandalwood and smeared them over her body, in some places drawing colorful designs with the paste.

When Radha and Krishna are fatigued after many and various dalliances, the manjaris also have an important opportunity for service:

Then Sri Rupa Manjari, seeing her worshipable mistress Srimati Radharani exhausted from the enmaddened rapturous pastimes with her Lord, engaged her followers in different types of service suitable for the time and mood. She herself wiped their faces of perspiration with a fine, soft cloth; her hands became moist due to the manifestation of many ecstatic symptoms as a result of directly touching the Divine Couple; thus being slowed, she nevertheless completed her service of rearranging their clothing.

Rati Manjari extracted camphored pān from a jeweled container and with a trembling hand placed it in their lotus mouths. All their crowns and ornaments had been displaced due to their erotic dalliances; Guna Manjari came forth with new strings of pearls as well as flowers and peacock feathers and quickly rearranged everything to make them as tidy as before. Then at the indication of Srila Rupa Manjari, Sri Rati Manjari undid Radha’s braids and Krishna’s hair-knot and with great expertise did them up again, intertwined with fresh flowers. Then on Sri Rupa’s word, Prema Manjari rearranged the disarrayed flower-bed with new fresh blossoms.

VMA 2.53-55 : How a certain most fortunate person resides in Vrindavan
VMA 2.52 : Most fortunate is the one who has given up everything to take shelter of Vrindavan
VMA 2.51 : The wealth, intelligence and praiseworthiness of the Vrindavan sadhaka
VMA 2.50 : Respect for the residents of Braj, even from afar, leads to the greatest benefit
VMA 2.47-49 : May that pair of adolescent lovers manifest before my eyes
VMA 2.44-46 : Vrindavan is the celestial stage for the Divine Couple's dance of love