Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-līlā

tat-saundaryaṁ sā ca lāvaṇya-lakṣmīs

tat-saundaryaṁ sā ca lāvaṇya-lakṣmīs
tan-mādhuryaṁ tasya kiṁ varṇitaṁ syāt |
dravyair yogyā laukikair nopamā syāt
kiṁ vānyena dvārakendreṇa nāpi ||
kṛṣṇo yathā nāgara-śekharāgryo
rādhā tathā nāgarikā-varāgryā |
rādhā yathā nāgarikā-varāgryā
kṛṣṇo tathā nāgara-śekharāgryaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.110–111)

“Can that beauty, that wealth of loveliness, or that sweetness of his [i.e., Kṛṣṇa’s] be described? Neither with worldly objects, nor with others [i.e., Nārāyaṇa of Vaikuṇṭha, or Rāma of Ayodhyā], nor even the Lord of Dvārakā shall any comparison [thereof] be appropriate. [There is only one appropriate object of comparison:] As Kṛṣṇa is the foremost of cultured lovers, so Rādhā is the foremost of cultured ladyloves, and as Rādhā is the foremost of cultured ladyloves, so Kṛṣṇa is the foremost of cultured lovers.”

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ghana-praṇaya-medurau śarad-amanda-candrānanau

ghana-praṇaya-medurau śarad-amanda-candrānanau
kirīṭa-mukuṭe dhṛtau vidhṛta-nīla-pītāmbarau |
śarat-sukhada-kānane sarasa-yogapīṭhāsane
puraḥ kalaya nāgarau madhura-rādhikā-mādhavau ||
(Unknown source; cited in Sādhana-dīpikā: 2)

“Brimming with deep, uninhibited love,
Faces like the full, early autumn moon,
Wearing a tiara and diadem,
Sporting blue and yellow garb,
In the delightful early autumn forest,
On the seat at the charming yogapīṭha—
Behold before you
The Clever Pair,
Sweet Rādhikā and Mādhava.”

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kṛpā kari kahe śuna nityānanda dāsa

kṛpā kari kahe śuna nityānanda dāsa |
yei yei sthāne sadā kṛṣṇera vilāsa ||
padma-prāya yena vṛndāvanera ghaṭana |
śāstra vākye āche mahāprabhura sthāpana ||
mudita prakāśa haila dui ta prakāra |
vilāse mudita hana līlāya vistāra ||
ei-rūpe haya saba gamanāgamana |
tad-āśrita yei tāra haya ei mana ||
yogamāyā bale ihā ghaṭanā āchaya |
yāhāra gamana sei kichu nā jānaya ||
(Prema-vilāsa: 16)

“Graciously, he [i.e., Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, in response to a question as to how Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa, and the sakhīs can walk between sites in Vraja that are numerous miles apart in less than half an hour] said, ‘Listen, Nityānanda Dāsa. The formation of Vṛndāvana, that is, all the places in which Kṛṣṇa’s play continues forever, is nearly like a lotus. Mahāprabhu’s establishment [of this conclusion] is in accord with the statements of the śāstra. It [i.e., the lotus of Vṛndāvana] has two states: contracted and open. It becomes contracted in the case of pleasure (vilāsa) [i.e., when Kṛṣṇa has intimate exchanges with Rādhā and the sakhīs that require seclusion] and expansion [of it] occurs in the case of līlā [i.e., when they engage in their various other līlās in general]. In this way everyone’s [i.e., Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa, and their sakhīs’] coming and going occurs. One who is sheltered in them has this understanding. This phenomenon occurs by the power of yogamāyā, she who does not make known her movements at all [i.e., she who causes this expansion and contraction of Vṛndāvana without anyone noticing it].”

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aprākṛte tu paroḍha-ramaṇī-ratir eva sarvottamatayā bhūyasī

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.”

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cintāmaṇir jayati somagirir gurur me

cintāmaṇir jayati somagirir gurur me
śikṣā-guruś ca bhagavān śikhi-piñcha-mauliḥ |
yat-pāda-kalpa-taru-pallava-śekhareṣu
līlā-svayaṁvara-rasaṁ labhate jayaśrīḥ ||
(Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛtam: 1; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.1.57)

“My guru,
The thought-jewel Somagiri,
Triumphs,
As does my instructing guru,
Bhagavān,
Whose crest is a peacock feather
And at the tips of the shoots of the desire-tree of whose feet
Jayaśrī playfully tastes the rasa of svayaṁvara.”

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aurva-stomāt kaṭur api kathaṁ durbalenorasā me

aurva-stomāt kaṭur api kathaṁ durbalenorasā me
tāpaḥ prauḍho hari-virahajaḥ sahyate tan na jāne |
niṣkrāntā ced bhavati hṛdayād yasya dhūma-cchaṭāpi
brahmāṇḍānāṁ sakhi kulam api jvālayā jājvalīti ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.187)

“[Rādhā to Viśākhā:]
Scorching even more so
Than a cluster of submarine volcanos,
How is the brutal heat [alt., sorrow, or, pain]
Produced by separation from Hari
Endured by my weak chest?
This I do not know.
If even a puff of its smoke
Is released from my heart,
O Sakhī,
Even the multitude of universes
Will be incinerated in a blaze.”

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itthaṁ śrī-rādhikā-prāṇa-nātha-pāda-sarojayoḥ

itthaṁ śrī-rādhikā-prāṇa-nātha-pāda-sarojayoḥ |
yena premānubhūty-āśā dattā taṁ nāradaṁ bhaje ||
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.234)

“I worship him,
Nārada,
By whom was given in this way
The hope of experience of prema
For the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhikā’s Beloved (Prāṇanātha).”

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rāsa-līlā jayaty eṣā yayā saṁyujyate’niśam

rāsa-līlā jayaty eṣā yayā saṁyujyate’niśam |
harer vidagdhatā-bheryā rādhā-saubhāgya-dundubhiḥ ||
(Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 3)

“This rāsa-līlā—
By which the dundubhi of Rādhā’s charm
Is continuously united
With the bheri of Hari’s cleverness—
Triumphs!”

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yad-bhāva-bhāvita-dhiyaḥ praṇayottha-vācāṁ

yad-bhāva-bhāvita-dhiyaḥ praṇayottha-vācāṁ
mudrāpi durgamatamā muni-puṅgavānām |
rāsotsukaṁ madana-mohanam acyutaṁ taṁ
rādhā-samedhita-rasollasitaṁ nato’smi ||
(Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 1)

“I offer obeisance unto him,
Acyuta,
The Enchanter of Madana—
Eager for rāsa
And elated with rasa
Greatly increased by Rādhā—
Even the literal expression of the speech
Arising from the uninhibited love
Of those whose minds are imbued with bhāva for whom
Is most difficult to understand
For the foremost of sages.”

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