alaukikī tv iyaṁ kṛṣṇa-ratiḥ sarvādbhutādbhutā |
yoge rasa-viśeṣatvaṁ gacchanty eva hari-priye ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.108)
“This otherworldly rati for Kṛṣṇa, an astonishment beyond all [other] astonishments, however, certainly in union [i.e., when a meeting with Kṛṣṇa occurs] reaches the distinctive state of rasa in a dear one of Hari.”
aprākṛte tu paroḍha-ramaṇī-ratir eva sarvottamatayā bhūyasī śrūyate, na tasyā anaucitya-pravartitattvam alaukikatva-siddher bhūṣaṇam eva na tu dūṣaṇam iti nyāyāt, tarkāgocaratvāc ca, tathā ca ‘alaukikāś ca ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet’ iti ca | vraja-vadhūnāṁ kṛṣṇaikatāna-mānasatvena sva-pati-niṣṭhatvābhāvāt teṣāṁ ca māyā-kalita-tac-chāyānuśīlanena tad-aṅga-saṅgamāt, pratyuta kevalānurāga-mātropādhitayā ceto-rañjakatāyāḥ śuddhatvam eva |
(Alaṅkāra-kaustubha: 5.13)
“In the case of the supramundane [i.e., supramundane rasa], however, love (rati) for a woman married to another is heard to be greater [than love for a wife] on account of [its] being the most excellent of all [types of love]. It’s not being prompted by impropriety is (1) because of the principle that its accomplishment on the basis of otherworldliness is verily an ornament and not rather a fault, (2) because of [its] being beyond the scope of argument (tarka), and (3) because [it is said in Mahābhārata], ‘Do not assess otherworldly states of being [e.g., such otherworldly love] with argumentation;’ on the contrary the veritable purity of that delighter of the heart [i.e., of that supramundane love (rait) which Kṛṣṇa has for a woman married to another] on account of [its] having an adjunct only of pure loving desire (anurāga) is (1) because of the ladies of Vraja’s absence of having attachment to their own husbands by virtue of [their] being of one-pointed mind upon Kṛṣṇa and (2) because of their [i.e., the gopīs’] contact with their [i.e., those husbands’] bodies [having occurred only] by means of lying with a shadow form of themselves fabricated by māyā.”
na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam |
pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ ||
taṁ matvātmajam avyaktaṁ martya-liṅgam adhokṣajam |
gopikolūkhale dāmnā babandha prākṛtaṁ yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.9.13–14)
“Who has neither interior, nor exterior, nor anterior, nor posterior, who is the anterior, posterior, interior, and exterior of the universe, who is the universe, and who is beyond sensory perception, unmanifest, and possessed of human characteristics—considering him her son, the gopīkā bound [him] with a rope to a mortar like an ordinary child.”
yatreme sad-asad-rūpe pratiṣiddhe sva-saṁvidā |
avidyayātmani kṛte iti tad brahma-darśanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.3.33; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 3)
“That [vision] wherein the gross and subtle bodies are negated [i.e., understood to not be the self] through full knowledge of the self, such that they are [recognized to have been] superimposed upon the self by ignorance (avidyā) is vision (darśana) [i.e., direct experience (sākṣātkāra)] of Brahman.”
tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ
yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ |
na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro
netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.3.24)
“That heart which cannot become transformed [i.e., melted] by Hari’s names being chanted, oh! That is iron! When transformation [i.e., melting of the heart] occurs, [however,] water in the eyes and horripilation in the pores appear.”
śrutaya ūcuḥ—
kandarpa-koṭi-lāvaṇye tvayi dṛṣṭe manāṁsi naḥ |
kāminī-bhāvam āsādya smara-kṣubdhāny asaṁśayam |
yathā tval-loka-vāsinyaḥ kāma-tattvena gopikāḥ |
bhajanti ramaṇaṁ matvā cikīrṣājani nas tathā ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca—
durlabho durghaṭaś caiva yuṣmākaṁ sumanorathaḥ |
mayānumoditaḥ samyak so’pi bhavitum arhati ||
āgāmini viriñcau tu jāte sṛṣṭy-artham udyate |
kalpaṁ sārasvataṁ prāpya vraje gopyā bhaviṣyatha ||
pṛthivyāṁ bhārate kṣetre māthure mama maṇḍale |
vṛndāvane bhaviṣyāmi preyān vo rāsa-maṇḍale ||
jāra-dharmeṇa susnehaṁ sudṛḍhaṁ sarvato’dhikam |
mayi samprāpya sarve’pi kṛtakṛtyā bhaviṣyatha ||
(Bṛhad Vāmana Purāṇa; cited in the Locana-rocanī-ṭīkā and Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamāṇi: 3.47)
“The Śrutis say, ‘Upon seeing you possessed of the loveliness of a crore of Kandarpas, our minds take on the bhāva of a ladylove (kāminī) and are undoubtedly agitated by passion. As the gopikās residing in your abode worship you with the essence of kāma, having accepted you as their lover, so [too] our desire has arisen to do so.’ Śrī Bhagavān says, ‘This excellent desire of you all is difficult to attain and difficult to accomplish. [When] Approved by me in full [however], it too can come to be. When a future Brahmā is born and arises for the purpose of emanation [of the universe], you all will arrive in the Sārasvata-kalpa and become gopīs in Vraja. In the rāsa circle in Vṛndāvana within my district of Mathurā in the land of Bhārata on Earth, I will become the beloved of you all. Attaining in full profound affection for me that is profoundly firm and all-surpassing, you all too will become successful.”
vidagdhānāṁ ca yathā vanitānurāgāsvādane vāñchā na tathā tat-sparśādāv api |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 376)
“The cultured [i.e., rasikas], furthermore, do not have desire even for the touch and so forth of the beloved woman (vanitā) as they do for relishment of her love (anurāga).”
tava vikrīḍitaṁ kṛṣṇa nṛnāṁ parama-maṅgalam |
karṇa-pīyūṣam āsādya tyajanty anya-spṛhāṁ janāḥ ||
śayyāsanāṭana-sthāna-snāna-krīḍāśanādiṣu |
kathaṁ tvāṁ priyam ātmānaṁ vayaṁ bhaktās tyajema hi ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.6.44–45; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 164; Prīti Sandarbha: 111)
“O Kṛṣṇa, having attained [i.e., heard about] your superb play, which is the highest auspiciousness for human beings and nectar for the ears, people relinquish [their] desire for all else. [So,] How could we, your bhaktas while lying down, sitting, walking, standing, bathing, playing, eating, and so on, relinquish you, our Beloved, our very Self?”
tasya ca bhaved dvayaṁ vipralambhaḥ sambhogaś ceti | tatra vipralambho viprakarṣeṇa lambhaḥ prāptir yasya sa tathā | yathoktam—‘yūnor ayuktayor bhāvo yuktayor vā tayor mithaḥ | abhīṣṭāliṅganādīnām anavāptau prakṛṣyate | sa vipralambho vijñeyaḥ sambhogonnati-kārakaḥ ||’ iti | … tasya vipralambhasya catvāro bhedāḥ—pūrva-rāgo mānaḥ prema-vaicittyaṁ pravāsaś ceti | atha sambhogaś ca yūnoḥ saṅgatayoḥ sambaddhatayā bhogo yatra sa bhāva ucyate | yathoktam—’darśanāliṅganādīnām ānukūlyān niṣevayā | yūnor ullāsam ārohan bhāvaḥ sambhoga ucyate ||’ iti |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 370)
“It [i.e., ujjvala-rasa], furthermore, shall have two varieties: (1) vipralambha [i.e., separation] and (2) sambhoga [i.e., enjoyment together]. Therein, vipralambha is [known as] that the attainment (lambha) of which occurs because of distance (vipra—viprakarṣa) [between the couple, lit., the ‘drawing apart’ of the couple], as is described [in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.2], ‘That bhāva of a couple, [be they] non-united or united together [at a given time], which is distinctly brought forth when their mutually desired embraces and so forth are not attained, and which is a cause of the elevation of [their] sambhoga, is to be known as vipralambha [i.e., separation].’ … This vipralambha has four varieties: (1) pūrva-rāga [lit., ‘prior attachment,’ that is, the vipralambha felt by a couple after they have developed attachment (rāga) to one another but prior to their ever meeting one another], (2) māna [i.e., jealous anger], (3) prema-vaicittya [lit., ‘bewilderment because of prema’], and (4) pravāsa [i.e., dwelling abroad]. Then, that bhāva in which a united couple’s enjoyment (bhoga) occurs on account of being joined together is called sambhoga [lit., ‘enjoyment (bhoga) together (sam)’], as is described [in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.188], ‘That bhāva that elevates a couple’s elation by means of acts of service [for one another], such as looking [at one another] and embracing [one another], out of favorability (anukūlya) [towards one another] is called sambhoga [i.e., enjoyment together].’”
The author [of Stavāvalī’s] earnest prayer to Śrī Kṛṣṇa
By Śrīmad Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmīpāda
