VMA 2.57 : That delicious moment

It is almost impossible to be entirely svārasikī or mantramayī in one's upāsanā. Some aspects of the one have a way of entering into the other. It is impossible for the līlā to remain still, since the movement of time no matter how limited is a necessary part of līlā. On the other hand, every verse of any svārasikī text like Govinda-līlāmṛta is a meditation in itself, a still picture as it were, just as a film is made up of a series of still images.

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rādhā-kṛṣṇau rahasi latikā-mandire sūpaviṣṭau

raty-āviṣṭau rasa-vaśa-lasad-dṛṣṭi-vāg-aṅga-ceṣṭau |

dṛṣṭvānyādṛg-vara-vilasitau sādhu yāntīr bahis tās

tābhyām āttāḥ sahasam avanamyāḥ sahrī-saukhya-magnāḥ ||2.57||

Radha and Krishna enter the private temple of vines
and there sit comfortably, absorbed in erotic desire,
the langourous movements of their eyes, words and limbs
all determined by the pleasure of the moment.

On seeing them like this, their playful attentions elsewhere,
the kinkaris start to demurely exit the kunja,
but the Divine Duo stops them with a laugh.
Immersed in a mixture of shyness and joy,
these maidservants are to be venerated.

---

It is almost impossible to be entirely svārasikī or mantramayī in one's upāsanā. Some aspects of the one have a way of entering into the other. It is impossible for the lila to remain still, since the movement of time no matter how limited is a necessary part of lila. On the other hand, every verse of any svārasikī text like Govinda-līlāmṛta is a meditation in itself, a still picture as it were, just as a film is made up of a series of still images. There are always some of these frozen images that capture the imagination of a lover, such as the way the beloved glances surreptitiously, or brushes away a strand of hair from her face. The manjaris are particularly blessed for they can enjoy the ubhāsvaras displayed by either Radha or Krishna and keep them frozen in their memory for repeated revisiting.

We have already seen earlier in VMA 1.54 ( All the Supreme Lord’s festive pleasures, and more) how Prabodhananda holds the manjaris in the most exalted estimation in extraordinary terms:

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

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

The pleasure felt by the eyes of the sakhī alone in seeing Radha merged in the ocean of love for Krishna makes all the Supreme Lord’s festive arrangements for his own happiness seem insignificant.

The picture presented in this verse is particularly dear to the sādhakas of the mañjarī-bhāva because it reveals the area where the mañjarīs are unique and distinctive.

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payo-dānādibhisārādibhir
vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ |
prāṇa-preṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ
kelī-bhūmiṣu rūpa-mañjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye ||

I take shelter of the handmaidens of the Queen of Vrindavan,
who are led by Sri Rupa Manjari
and who lovingly satisfy her
by offering hazelnuts and other condiments,
massaging her feet, bringing fragrant water
and arranging trysts with her gallant
and have thus become most dear to her.
They are thus allowed to enter the scene
of the Divine Couple’s most intimate affairs
without the slightest discomfiture
a reward not given even to the friends
who are dearer to her than life itself. (VVS 38)

This verse (VMA 2.57) illustrates that delicious moment when the Divine Couple reveal to Prabodhananda in his mañjarī-svarūpa that he, or the manjaris he wishes to follow, are indeed not only permitted but welcome in the kunja during their most intimate moments. Though it is not unknown for lovers in this world to like being watched during such moments, we cannot compare the lilas of Krishna with Radha and her girlfriends and handmaids to the voyeurism or exhibitionism of this world. Strictly speaking, for the manjari there is nothing else in the universe but Radha and Krishna's loving union.

Krishnadas Kaviraj has summarized the proper transcendent understanding in the following blissful verse from 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 who enlivens
the lily-like hearts of the residents of Vrindavan.
His pleasure-giving potency is personified in Radha,
who is like a creeper whose fruits are prema.
Her girlfriends are like the unlimited
branches, leaves and flowers that expand out from her self,
and are thus equal to her.
For this reason, when that winding creeper of love
is watered with the heavenly potion of Krishna’s sporting activities,
then these leaves and flowers find hundreds of times more pleasure
than if they were themselves to be so sprinkled.
All this seems not at all unusual.

Sometimes the mañjarīs 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 has described such an instance in the Nikuñja-rahasya-stava (“Praises of the secrets of the forest-bower”):

praṇayamaya-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 Vṛndāvana.
Their sakhīs, 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. (NRS 24)

The mañjarīs are dedicated to the service of the Divine Couple, that service is their life and soul and such service performed after their union in exhausted intimacy is the highest object of their desires. Radha Mohan Das, the grandson of Shrinivas Acharya, has written a song which is appropriate to this situation:

rati-raṇe śrama-yuta, nāgarī-nāgara, mukha-bhari tāmbūla yogāy |
malayaja kuṅkuma, mṛgamada karpūra, militahi gāta lāgāy ||
aparūpa priya-sakhī prem |
nija-prāṇ koṭi, dei niramañchañ, naha tula lākh-bān hem ||
manorama mālya, duhuṅ gale arpañ, bījañ śīta mṛdu bāt |
sugandhī śītala, karu jala arpaṇa, jaiche hota duhuṅ śāt ||
duhuṅka caraṇa puna, mṛdu sambāhana, kari śrama karalahī dūr |
iṅgite śayana, karala duhuṅ sakhīgaṇa, sabahu manoratha-pūr ||
kusuma śeje duhuṅ, nidrita herañ, sevana parāyaṇa sukh |
rādhā-mohana dās, kiye heraba, meṭaba sab manodukh ||

When the lover and beloved
are exhausted after their erotic battles,
the manjaris bring them condiments of betelnut;
sandalwood and saffron, musk and camphor,
which they mix and smear upon their bodies;

How incomparably beautiful the love of these priya-sakhīs!
Radha is worth ten million lives to them;
Not equaled in purity by gold smelted thousands of times,
they offer her the lamps of their lives.

They place enchanting garlands around their necks;
they fan to give a cooling breeze;
they offer water, cold and fragrant,
drinking which the lovers’ thirst is pacified.

They massage their feet gently
and rid them of their fatigue.
The lovers signal them to take rest, and they all do so,
feeling that their every desire has been fulfilled.

Radha and Krishna close their eyes in slumber on the flower bed,
the mañjarīs, seeing them do so, feel the happiness
resulting from service executed well.
Radha Mohan Das, seeing all these things
is liberated from all mental pain.

The word avanamyāḥ means "to be lowered or bowed own to." Most translators have made it seem that the kinkaris are the ones bowing, but that is a forced translation. Here it is clear that this is a continuation of the previous verse where Prabodhananda is envisioning the guru-rūpā sakhīs and holds them in veneration for the exalted good fortune that they enjoy.

The position of the guru in path of rāgānugā bhakti cannot be overestimated. Lalita Prasad Thakur writes in his Śrī-siddha-bhajana-praṇālī --

mama siddha bhāba yāhā, guru ājñā kaila tāhā
sebya sebā sambandha āmāra |
rādhā kṛṣṇa kuñja bane sebya tattba eka mane
nitya sebā āmāra ācāra ||10||

My eternal mood as a manjari was created by my guru's order,
establishing my specific relation of service to the object of service.
The object of service is Radha and Krishna in the Vrindavan groves
and service to them is my eternal natural activity.

This is confirmed by his guru Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, who concludes his description of the varaṇa-daśā ("the phase of acceptance") in Hari-nāma-cintāmaṇi as follows:

After the guru and disciple have thus discussed the matter,
and the disciple's spiritual identity is finally settled,
he should fall down at his spiritual master's feet and entreat him,
begging him for success in attaining this spiritual mood.
Then the spiritual master mercifully gives his order
and the disciple enters into that spiritual identity.
The disciple should then fall down at the feet of his master and say,
“I wholeheartedly accept the identity you have given me.
Never again shall I give up this mood;
it shall accompany me forevermore, in life or in death.” (HNC 15.75-78)

Thus it is normal to bow down and venerate the spiritual master who reveals this identity, both externally in the sādhaka-deha and in the siddha-deha.

VMA 2.56 : The order to serve the Divine Couple
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