Śrī Kuñja-vihary-aṣṭakam (2)
Śrī Kuñja-vihary-aṣṭakam (2)
Eight verses in praise of the Frolicker in the bowers
By Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda
Rāsa-līlā
jayati jayati vṛndāraṇyam etan murāreḥ
jayati jayati vṛndāraṇyam etan murāreḥ
priyatamam ati-sādhu-svānta-vaikuṇṭha-vāsāt |
ramayati sa sadā gāḥ pālayan yatra gopīḥ
svarita-madhura-veṇur vardhayan prema rāse ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.5)
“This Vṛndāvana—
Which is dearmost to Murāri,
More so than the hearts of great sādhus
And [more so than even] residence in Vaikuṇṭha,
And in which he,
Tending the cows,
Sweetly playing the flute,
And increasing prema for rāsa,
Ever delights the gopīs—
Triumphs!
Triumphs!”
niśamya gītāṁ tad anaṅga-vardhanaṁ
niśamya gītāṁ tad anaṅga-vardhanaṁ
vraja-striyaḥ kṛṣṇa-gṛhīta-mānasāḥ |
ājagmur anyonyam alakṣitodyamāḥ
sa yatra kānto java-lola-kuṇḍalāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.29.4)
“Upon hearing that song [of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s flute] intensifying of kāma [i.e., of prema for Śrī Kṛṣṇa], the women of Vraja, their minds stolen by Kṛṣṇa, their departing [from wherever they were upon hearing the flute’s song] unseen by one another, and their earrings swinging from [the] swiftness [of their running through the forest to meet Kṛṣṇa], arrived where he, their lover, was present.”
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!”
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.”
sā maṇḍalī-bandhana-cāturī prabhoḥ
sā maṇḍalī-bandhana-cāturī prabhoḥ
sā nṛtya-gītādi-kālāsu dakṣatā |
sāpūrva-śobhādhikatā-paramparā
muñcāti ceto mama viśva-mohinī ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.156)
“That skill of Prabhu in assembling [the gopīs] in a circle,
That expertise [of Prabhu] in the arts of dancing, singing, and so forth
[i.e., and in play in the water, in the forest, and elsewhere],
And that successive flow of a profusion
Of extraordinary beauty,
Enchanting to the world,
Steals away my heart.”
bibhemy asmād dhanta durbodha-līlāt
bibhemy asmād dhanta durbodha-līlāt
kva tat tasyāḥ sāra-saubhagya-dānam |
kva sadyo’ntardhānato rodanābdhāv
anāthāyā yātanaikākinī yā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.154)
“Hanta! I fear he of unfathomable līlā! Where is that granting of the ultimate fortune to her? And where is that solitary anguish of hers as she was helpless in an ocean of [her own] tears because of his sudden disappearance?”
aho vaidagdhī sā madhura-madhurā śrī-bhagavataḥ
aho vaidagdhī sā madhura-madhurā śrī-bhagavataḥ
samākarṣaty uccair jagati kṛtinaḥ kasya na manaḥ |
kula-strīṇāṁ tāsāṁ vana-bhuvi tathākarṣaṇam atho
tathā vāk-cāturyaṁ sapadi ruditaṁ tābhir api yat ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.151)
“Aho! What adept’s mind in this world does Śrī Bhagavān’s sweet, sweet artistry [in flute playing], [his] thereby attracting those noble women [i.e., the gopīs] into the region of the forest, and [his] similar expertise with speech because of which weeping was resorted to immediately even by them [i.e., the gopīs, once he spoke to them upon their arrival in his midst in the forest], not intensely attract in full?”
rāso hi tasya bhagavattva-viśeṣa-gopyaḥ
rāso hi tasya bhagavattva-viśeṣa-gopyaḥ
sarvasva-sāra-paripākamayo vyanakti |
utkṛṣṭata-mādhurīmāpara-sīma-niṣṭhāṁ
lakṣmyā manoratha-śatair api yo durāpaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.150)
“Rāsa, the confidential, special feature of his Bhagavattva [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ‘Bhagavān-hood’] constituted of the complete perfection of the essence of his whole being which is difficult to attain [even] for Lakṣmī even with hundreds of yearnings divulges the culmination of the ultimate limit of the sweetness of his excellence.”
sva-premāmṛta-kallola-vihvalī-kṛta-cetasaḥ
sva-premāmṛta-kallola-vihvalī-kṛta-cetasaḥ |
sadayaṁ nandayan gopīr udgato nanda-nandanaḥ ||
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.32.1)
“Graciously delighting the gopīs,
They whose hearts were overwhelmed
By the waves of the nectar
Of [their] prema for himself,
The Son of Nanda emerged.”