VMA 2.58-59 : Remember the forms of Radha's kinkaris and bow down to them

The word smara in verse 59 is taken by most interpreters as a second-person singular imperative of √smṛ, to remember. The plural imperative was used in the previous verse, however, so I think the plural verb should be carried over to this one. In that case, smara would be taken as a name for Kamadeva (Eros).

 

The next two verses are in fact to be joined syntactically with the previous verse, since the accusative plural in each verse is the object of the verb smarata "remember, meditate upon"

kiśora-vayasaḥ sphurat-puraṭa-rociṣo mohinīḥ

sucāru-kṛśa-madhyamāḥ pṛthu-nitamba-vakṣoruhāḥ |

suratna-kanakāṣcita-sphurita-nāsika-mauktikāḥ

suveṇīḥ paṭa-bhūṣaṇāḥ smarata rādhikā-kiṅkarīḥ ||

suramyā dor-vallī-valaya-gaṇa-keyūra-rucirāḥ

kvaṇat-kāṣcī-maṣjīra-karmaṇi sutāṭaṅka-lalitāḥ |

lasad-veṇī-vakṣoruha-mukula-hārāvali-rucaḥ

smarānanya-snigdhāḥ kanaka-rucirādhāṅghry-anucarīḥ ||

Meditate upon Radhika's adolescent maidservants,
whose complexions are splendid as gold, so enchanting.
their charming slender waists, large breasts and hips,
and each wearing in her nose a pearl set with jewels and gold.
their hair braided, and wearing beautiful garments and ornaments.

These attendants to the golden-hued Radha's feet
are very beautiful: the vines of their arms and wrists
are charmingly decorated with many bracelets and armlets;
the bells on their sashes and anklets tinkle melodiously,
the tips of their breasts are adorned
with multiple necklaces and their dangling braids
they are softened with exclusive erotic sentiments

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The word smara in verse 59 is taken by most interpreters as a second-person singular imperative of √smṛ, to remember. The plural imperative was used in the previous verse, however, so I think the plural verb should be carried over to this verse. In that case, smara should be taken as a name for Kamadeva (Eros). I have written something about this in VMA 1.83.

In the previous verse we mentioned briefly the important role of the Guru-rüpā sakhīs.

sakhī-gaṇa mama parama suhṛt, yugala-premera guru
tad-anugā hoẏe, sebiba rādhāra, caraṇa kalapataru

All the sakhis are my best friends,
and they are my gurus in Radha and Krishna's love.
Following them, I will serve the lotus feet of Radha,
which are just like desire-fulfilling trees.
(Bhaktivinoda, Siddhi-lālasā 9.3)

The process of rägänugä bhakti is änugatya-mayI, based on following the more advanced Vaishnavas, those who have trodden the path before us, mahäjano yena gataù sa panthä. That path has been shown to the followers of Thakur Bhaktivinoda as receiving the eleven aspects of the siddha-deha from the guru in the siddha-paramparä leading back to the associates of Lord Caitanya, who are non-different from the residents of the eternal abode of Radha and Krishna.
There are two kinds of rägänugä-bhakti in the madhura-rasa. These are called respectively sambhogecchä-mayé, when the devotee desires to be the mistress of Lord Krishna, and tad-bhävecchätmikä, found in those devotees who desire to partake of the mood of Krishna's supreme beloved Radha.

There are various reasons for which the latter is considered superior by Srila Rupa Goswami, who is the primary acharya for the process of rägänugä bhakti in madhura-rasa. For this reason, he has given the name bhävolläsä rati to the sthäyi-bhäva of the manjaris who only wish to see their divine mistress, who is their all-in-all (sarvasva), be united with the Rasa-räja Sri Krishna. For those who are situated in the mood of the manjaris, there is not the slightest desire for personal enjoyment, and it is even considered by them a flaw to desire Krishna independently of Radha, even if Radha herself should arrange for it.

This is not because they do not have the capacity to be enticing and attractive to Krishna, who is the lampaöa-çiromaëi, so avid for love that he runs after the merest scent of devotion. The description of Radha's anucarés as given in the above verses, as smarānanya-snigdhāḥ "exclusively affectionate with erotic sentiments" is evidence of this, but their affections and desires are fulfilled by seeing Radha united with Krishna. Their love for Radha is so full of admiration, they are convinced that no other person can equal the pleasure she gives to the epitome of masculine love, Krishna.
In the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta, Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti writes,

tā vidyud-dyuti-jayi-prapadaika-rekhā
vaidagdhya eva kila mūrti-bhṛtas tathāpi |
yūtheśvarītvam api samyag arocayitvā
dāsyāmṛtābdhim anu sasnur ajasram asyāḥ ||

Rupa Manjari and the other handmaidens of Rādhāraṇī, one sparkle of whose toenails is brighter than a flash of lightning, are certainly qualified in all respects, whether in talents or in coquettishness, to become yūtheśvarīs or nāyikās themselves, and yet they are completely devoid of any attraction for such glories. They would much rather bathe constantly in the nectarean ocean of Radha’s service.

This can be understood properly only if one grasps the concept of änugatya and by that of the pleasure potency. This is described in Prīti-sandarbha, Anuccheda 65, which can be paraphrased as follows:

The Sruti states:
bhaktir evainaṁ nayati, bhaktir evainaṁ darśayati
bhakti-vaśaḥ puruṣo bhaktir eva bhūyasī

Only bhakti leads one to the Lord’s abode, only bhakti makes one realize the Lord;
The Supreme Spirit is under the control of bhakti. Bhakti is therefore the most powerful. (Māṭhara-śrutiḥ)

So we must examine what is the characteristic of bhakti that maddens the Lord by its pleasure. It could not be the pleasure derived from the mode of goodness as the followers of the Sankhya doctrine say, because according to the Sruti the Lord is never overpowered by Maya, and He is satisfied in His own self.

Nor could it consist of the innate bliss (svarūpānanda) of the Lord as understood by the nirviśeṣa-vādīs because that would be irrelevant to our discussion as we are looking for the characteristics of bhakti not those of the Lord's innate nature. Bhakti or love requires a second, which the non-dualists do not accept in the Absolute Reality.

Therefore, it is most certainly not the svarūpānanda of the living entity, which is also blissful in nature, even without bhakti, but that bliss is very insignificant. Therefore, what remains as the only possible conclusion is that it is the bliss of the Lord's personal energy known as hlādinī. This is accordance with the following statement of Viṣṇu Purāṇa (VP 1.12.69):


hlādinī sandhinī saṁvit tvayy ekā sarva-saṁśraye |
hlāda-tāpa-karī miśrā tvayi no guṇa-varjite ||

One energy in the form of hlādinī, sandhinī and saṁvit exists in You, the shelter of everything. The energy which is a mixture of the guṇas and gives pleasure and pain is not present in You who are beyond the material guṇas. (VP 1.12.69)

By his hlādinī potency the Lord experiences his own innate bliss (svarūpānanda) whereby he becomes even more blissful, and it is by this hlādinī alone that He gives the experience of such kinds of bliss to others.

Although this bliss ever abides in the Lord's essence, it does not always manifest fully. The reason for this is as follows: According to the proof based on the impossibility of it being other than the explanation given in the scriptures, it can be inferred that there is a particular, extremely blissful function of the hlādinī śakti that is constantly being cast into the devotees where it exists by the name of love for the Lord. Then, as a result of feeling the love of His blessed devotees, the Lord also responds with a flood of love for them. As a result, the Lord and the devotees both become mutually absorbed in each other through that happiness. As Sri Vishnu said to Durvasa:


sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham |
mad-anyat te na jānanti nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api ||

The saints are my heart to me, and so too am I the heart of the saints. They know nothing other than Me nor I anything but them, even in the slightest. (9.4.46)

The reason for the identity of the Lord with the devotee’s heart is that because of their extreme absorption in him, they are described as non-different, just as red hot iron is called fire.

The point being made here is that the individual jiva has insufficient resources on his own to attract the attention of the Lord. He must be infused with the internal potency to attract the Supreme Lord. Therefore the Lord's fullest pleasure comes through the fullest manifestation of that hlādinī potency. The cleverness of the manjaris is that they become non-different from Radha through the process delineated above by Jiva Goswami. In fact, this is the most direct method for pleasing Krishna, Serving Radha is the culmination of the process of bhakti in the spirit of obedience to the descending process.

This is why the Bhāgavata says that one should consider worship of the devotee as prior to and more important that even the worship of Krishna. mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā (BhP 11.19.19) Jiva Goswami supports this contention with a well-known verse from Padma Purana:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param |
tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam ||

Of all kinds of worship, that of Lord Vishnu is the best. Greater than such worship, however, is reverence for his devotees. (PP 6.253.176)

One can look up Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 10.130-136 where Krishna and Arjuna's conversation from Ādi-purāṇa is quoted at length. We will just cite the best known of those verses:

ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha na me bhaktāś ca te janāḥ |
mad-bhaktānāṁ ca ye bhaktās te me bhaktatamā matāḥ ||

O Arjuna, those who are my devotees are not truly my devotees. I consider the devotees of my devotees to be the best of all bhaktas. (HBV 10.133)

So, to make it perfectly clear, devotion to Radha, who as the personification of the hlādinī potency is the entirety of devotion and therefore unquestionably the supreme devotee, she is bhūyasī, the greatest of all. But just as one does not approach Krishna directly but through her, one does not approach Radha directly but through her kinkaris, more specifically, through the guru-rüpā sakhī.

VMA 2.57 : That delicious moment
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