Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-līlā

pahilahi rāga nayana-bhaṅga bhela

pahilahi rāga nayana-bhaṅga bhela |
anudina bāḍhala—avadhi nā gela ||
nā so ramaṇa nā hāma ramaṇī |
du̐hu mana manobhava peṣala jāni |
e sakhi! se-saba prema-kāhinī |
kānu-ṭhāme kahabi, vichuraha jāni ||
nā kho̐jalu̐ dūtī, nā kho̐jalu̐ āna |
du̐hukeri milane madhya ta pā̐cabāṇa ||
aba soi virāga, tu̐hu bheli dūtī |
supurukha-premaki aichana rīti ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.193)

[Rādhā:] “Rāga first arose with a sidelong glance;
It increased daily,
And reached no limit.
He was not the male lover,
And I was not the female lover;
It was as though Manobhava ground our minds [together].
O sakhī! Tell Kānu this whole tale of prema;
May you not forget.
We did not seek a messenger;
We did not seek anyone;
In our [first] meeting [only]
Pā̐cabāṇa was the intermediary.
Now he is void of rāga,
And you have [thus] become the messenger.
Such is the nature of that fine man’s prema.”

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rādhāyā bhavataś ca citta-jatunī svedair vilāpya kramād

rādhāyā bhavataś ca citta-jatunī svedair vilāpya kramād
yuñjann adri-nikuñja-kuñjara-pate nirdhūta-bheda-bhramam |
citrāya svayam anvarañjayad iha brahmāṇḍa-harmyodare
bhūyobhir nava-rāga-hiṅgula-bharaiḥ śṛṅgāra-kāruḥ kṛtī ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.155; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 81; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.194)

[Vṛndā addresses Kṛṣṇa:] “O elephant king of the mountain arbors, the expert artisan of amorous love has gradually melted the lac of the hearts of Rādhā and yourself with heat, stirred them, removed any appearance of separation [between them, i.e., made them one], and then personally dyed them with a rich abundance of fresh red vermillion dye to decorate [alt., to paint a picture within] the interior of the palace of the universe.”

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nirupadhi hi prema kathañcid apy upadhiṁ na sahata iti

nirupadhi hi prema kathañcid apy upadhiṁ na sahata iti pūrvārdhe bhagavatoḥ kṛṣṇa-rādhayor anupadhi-prema śrutvā tad eva puruṣārthīkṛtam | bhagavatā mukha-pidhānaṁ cāsya tad-rahasyatva-prakāśakam |
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.17)

“Guileless prema does not tolerate any sort of guile. After hearing of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā’s guile-free prema in the first half [of the verse], Bhagavān determined it to be the puruṣārtha, and Bhagavān’s covering his [i.e., Rāmānanda’s] mouth is indicative of its [i.e., the statement in the first half of the verse’s] confidentiality [alt., it is indicative of the confidentiality between them, i.e., Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa].”

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ahaṁ kāntā kāntās tvam iti na tadānīṁ matir abhūn

ahaṁ kāntā kāntās tvam iti na tadānīṁ matir abhūn
mano-vṛttir luptā tvam aham iti nau dhīr api hatā |
bhavān bhartā bhāryāham iti yad idānīṁ vyavasitis
tathāpi prāṇānāṁ sthitir iti vicitraṁ kim aparam ||
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.15)

[Rādhā speaks to Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā through a messenger:] “‘I am the female lover, and you are the male lover.’ I did not have this notion then [when you were here in Vraja]. This mentality was absent, and even our awareness of ‘you’ and ‘I’ was lost. Although we now [again] have the certainty that you are the man and I am the woman, still my prāṇas are present [in my body]. What is more astonishing than this?”

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sakhi na sa ramaṇo nāhaṁ ramaṇīti bhidāvayor āste

sakhi na sa ramaṇo nāhaṁ ramaṇīti bhidāvayor āste |
prema-rasenobhaya-mana iva madano niṣpipeṣa balāt ||
(Caitanyacandrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.14)

“[Rādhā:] O sakhī, he was not the male lover, and I was not the female lover, as any distinction between us had ceased; it was as though Madana had forcibly ground our minds [together] with prema-rasa.”

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tataḥ sa gītaṁ sarasāli-gītaṁ

tataḥ sa gītaṁ sarasāli-gītaṁ
vidagdhayor nāgarayoḥ parasya |
premno’tikāṣṭhā-pratipādanena
dvayoḥ paraikya-pratipādy avādīt ||
(Caitanya-carita-mahākāvya: 13.45)

“Then he [i.e., Rāmānanda Rāya] sang a song full of rasas which, by explaining the ultimate climax of the expert lovers’ supreme prema, explained their supreme oneness.”

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imau gaurī-śyāmau manasi viparītau bahir api

imau gaurī-śyāmau manasi viparītau bahir api
sphurat tat-tad-vastrāv iti budha-janair niścitam idam |
sa ko’py accha-premā vilasad-ubhaya-sphūrtikatayā
dadhan mūrti-bhāvaṁ pṛthag apṛthag apy āvirudabhūt ||
(Gopāla-campū: 15.8)

“These two, fair and dark [in complexion], are the opposite [in “color”] in their minds and externally also manifest such respective cloth [i.e., cloth opposite in color to their complexions, that is, corresponding in color to one another’s complexions]. Thus it has been ascertained by the wise that some sort of pure prema, on account of its being a playful revealer of them both [in one another’s hearts], has appeared donning a state of form that is both separated [i.e., dual, bearing the two separate forms of bearer and receiver] and unseparated [i.e., non-dual, being one in nature and function as the medium of exchange between them].”

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gaura-śyāma-rucojjvalābhir amalair akṣṇor vilāsotsavair

gaura-śyāma-rucojjvalābhir amalair akṣṇor vilāsotsavair
nṛtyantībhir aśeṣa-mādana-kalā-vaidagdhya-digdhātmabhiḥ
anyonya-priyatā-sudhā-parimala-stomonmadābhiḥ sadā
rādhā-mādhava-mādhurībhir abhitaś cittaṁ mamākrāmyatām
(Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 189)

“The brilliance of their fair and blackish lusters, their dancing amid a festival of pure delight in their eyes [as they gaze upon one another], their figures anointed with mastery in all the arts of amour, their inebriety brought about by the fragrances of the nectars of their love for one another—let my heart be continuously and completely overwhelmed by the [aforementioned] sweetnesses of Rādhā and Mādhava.”

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kam prati kathayitum īśe samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu

kam prati kathayitum īśe samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu |
go-pati-tanayā-kuñje gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma ||
(Raghupati Upādhyāya; cited in Padyāvalī: 98; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.98)

“Who can I tell, and who will now believe, that Brahman is a hunter of the wives of cowherd men in the groves along the Yamunā?”

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yat pālitaṁ tāta-mukhair vardhitaṁ

yat pālitaṁ tāta-mukhair vardhitaṁ
līlā-rasair mitra-gaṇair niṣevitam |
bhaktaiḥ sadāsvāditam etad ālibhiḥ
śrī-rādhayā kṛṣṇa-rasāmṛtaṁ phalam ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 23.92)

“This fruit—Kṛṣṇa, the nectar of rasa [i.e., Kṛṣṇa, who is the nectar of prema personified]—which is continuously nourished with the rasas of līlās [i.e., with līlās full of varieties of rasa] by his father and so forth, [continuously] increased [with the rasas of līlās] by his friends, and [continuously] served [with the rasas of līlās] by his bhaktas [i.e., his servants], is [continuously] tasted [through the rasas of līlās] by Śrī Rādhā and friends.”

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