सा राधिका भगवती क्वचिदीक्ष्यते चेत्
प्रेमा तदानुभवमृच्छति मूर्तिमान्सः ।
शक्येत चेद्गदितुमेष तया तदैव
श्रूयेत तत्त्वमिह चेद्भवति स्वशक्तिः ॥
sā rādhikā bhagavatī kvacid īkṣyate cet
premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ |
śakyeta ced gaditum eṣa tayā tadaiva
śrūyeta tattvam iha ced bhavati sva-śaktiḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.233)
“If ever she,
Bhagavatī Rādhikā,
Is seen,
Then one attains experience
Of the embodiment of prema.
If this [viz., prema] shall be able to be described by her,
Only then the quiddity [thereof] shall be heard,
If one’s own ability for that remains.”
Commentary
evaṁ tat-premā nirūpita eva na syāt, kathañcid yatnena nirūpitaś cādhunā tava hṛdi samyak pratīto’pi naiva syāt, kintu tādṛśa-premavato lokasya darśanād eva sa sākṣādanubhūto’pi syāt ity āha—seti dvayena | sā śrī-bhagavat-priyatamatvena gopī-gaṇa-madhye suprasiddhā parama-prema-bharavatī | samayokta-lakṣaṇaḥ premā mūrtimān sākṣād-bhūta eva anubhavaṁ prāpnoti pratyakṣam anubhūyata evety arthaḥ | tayā ca bhagavatyā eṣa premā gadituṁ tattvato nirūpayituṁ ced yadi śakyeta, tadā tasya tattvaṁ paramānandātmakaṁ parama-śoka-duḥkhātmakam ity ādi śrūyeta | iha tat-tattva-śravaṇe svasya ātmanaḥ śaktiś ced yadi bhavet, evaṁ tayāpi vaktuṁ na śakyate nirantara-parama-prema-bharāvirbhāvena sadā mahonmādādimayatvāt | anyenāpi śrotuṁ na śakyate prema-moha-prāpter ity arthaḥ | ataḥ kevalaṁ tasyā bhagavatyā darśane vṛtte saty eva sadā tasyāṁ prādurbhavatāṁ mahāprema-lakṣaṇānāṁ sākṣād-darśanāt sa premā tattvato vijñātaḥ syād iti bhāvaḥ |
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“In this way [i.e., just by my brief description in the previous verse], that prema [viz., the prema of the Vraja-gopīs] cannot be definitively delineated, and if by some sort of [additional] effort it were delineated, it would certainly not also be fully realized in your heart now. But certainly as a result of [having] the sight of a person possessed of such prema it would also be experienced directly [by you, i.e., then you would realize it in your heart its quiddity]. Thus, he speaks with two [verses]: sā … [i.e., thus Śrī Nārada speaks this and the following verse]. ‘She’ (sā) indicates she who is most well known among the gopīs by virtue of being the dearmost of Śrī Bhagavān and possessed of a profusion of paramount prema. [If ever she, Bhagavatī Rādhikā, is seen, then] One attains experience indeed directly, that is, one indeed experiences directly, the embodiment of prema possessed of the characteristics [to be] stated at the appropriate time [ahead in this text]. Also, if (cet) this (eṣa), prema, shall be able to be described—delineated as per its quiddity—by her, Bhagavatī [viz., Rādhikā], then the quiddity of that [i.e., of prema] shall be heard—that it is constituted of the highest bless, constituted of the greatest sorrow and suffering, and so on. [That shall occur, however, only] If one’s own (sva) ability (śaktiḥ) for that (iha), meaning, for hearing about the quiddity of that [i.e., of prema], shall remain. Thus, [the sense is that] it is not able to be described even by her because of [her] being filled with intense madness (unmāda) and the like continuously as a result of the endless manifestation [in her] of an abundance of paramount prema, and it is not able to be heard about by anyone either because of the occurrence of stupor as a result of prema [i.e., even if Bhagavatī Rādhikā were somehow able to maintain her composure long enough to narrate a full delineation of prema for someone who somehow had the incomparable fortune of being able to even begin hearing about prema from her, that listener would not be able to hear the entirety of such a delineation because in the course of hearing about it the listener would become overwhelmed by prema to such an extent that they would fall into a state of stupor in which they would be rendered unable to hear the entire delineation]. Therefore, indeed only when the sight of her, Bhagavatī, occurs shall that, meaning, prema, become known as per its quiddity as a result of direct sight of a manifestation of the characteristics of paramount prema ever-present in her. This is the purport [i.e., one can only come to to know the quiddity (tattva) of prema when one perceives its essential, distinguishing characteristics (lakṣaṇas) in the divine person of Bhagavatī Rādhikā].”