Ujjvala-nīlāmaṇi

jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo

jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo
yadu-vara-pariṣat svair dorbhir asyann adharmam |
sthira-cara-vṛjina-ghnaḥ susmita-śrī-mukhena
vraja-pura-vanitānāṁ vardhayan kāma-devam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.90.48; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 3.23; Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.154; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.1; Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.430; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 63, 116, 136, 182; Prīti Sandarbha: 52; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.13.79; Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 15.185)

“He who is the abode of all beings [alt., he whose abode is all beings],
He whose birth is said to be from Devakī,
He whose retinue is the best of the Yadus,
He who destroys adharma with his own arms,
He who dispels the distress of the stationary and the moving—
Enkindling divine desire in the women of the abode of Vraja
With his beautiful, sweetly smiling face—
Triumphs!”

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lokātītam ajāṇḍa-koṭigam api traikālikaṁ yat sukhaṁ

lokātītam ajāṇḍa-koṭigam api traikālikaṁ yat sukhaṁ
duḥkhaṁ ceti pṛthag yadi sphuṭam ubhe te gacchataḥ kuṭatām |
naivābhāsa-tulāṁ śive tad api tat kuṭa-dvayaṁ rādhikā-
premodyat-sukha-duḥkha-sindhu-bhavayor vindeta bindvor api ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.171)

“[Bhagavān Śiva:] The happiness and the sorrow which exist beyond the world [i.e., in Vaikuṇṭha and in sāyujya-mukti] and across the three phases of time throughout crores of universes—if separately both of these were to become visibly stacked [beside each other so that their ultimate magnitudes could be measured], still O Śivā [i.e., O Pārvatī] those two stacks would certainly not be equal to a semblance of even two drops [of the nectar] produced by the ocean of the happiness and sorrow arising from Rādhikā’s prema.”

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vartitavyaṁ śam-icchadbhir bhaktavan na tu kṛṣṇavat

vartitavyaṁ śam-icchadbhir bhaktavan na tu kṛṣṇavat |
ity evaṁ bhakti-śāstrāṇāṁ tātparyasya vinirṇayaḥ ||
rāmādivad vartitavyaṁ na kvacid rāvaṇādivat |
ity eṣa mukti-dharmādi-parāṇāṁ naya īryate ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 3.24–5)

“[Conduct] is to be observed like a bhakta, and not, rather, like Kṛṣṇa, by those who desire well-being—this is the proper determination of the intent of the bhakti-śāstras. [Conduct] is to observed like Rāma and others [i.e., other forms of Bhagavān], and never like Rāvaṇa and others [i.e., those who are inimical to Bhagavān]—this is said to be proper for those who seek mukti, dharma, and so on [but not for those who follow bhakti-śāstra].”

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vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham

vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham |
na tathā samprayogeṇa syād evaṁ rasikā viduḥ ||
yathā—
balena parirambhaṇe nakha-śikhābhir ullekhanaṁ
haṭhād adhara-khaṇḍane bhuja-yugena bandha-kriyām |
dukūla-dalane hatim kuvalayena kurvāṇayā
ratād api sukhaṁ harer adhikam ādadhe rādhayā ||
yathā vā—
narmotseka-kalā dṛg-añcala-camatkārī bhruvor vibhramaḥ
saṁvyānasya vikarṣaṇe caṭulatāṁ karṇotpalenāhatiḥ |
krīḍeyaṁ vraja-nāgarī-rati-guror gāndharvikāyās tathā
bhūyiṣṭhaṁ suratotsavād api navāsvādaṁ vitene sukham ||
ata eva śrī-gīta-govinde—
pratyūhaḥ pulakāṅkureṇa niviḍa-śleṣe nimeṣeṇa ca
krīḍā-kūta-vilokite’dhara-sudhā-pāne kathā-narmabhiḥ |
ānandābhigamena manmatha-kalā-yuddhe’pi yasminn abhud
udbhūtaḥ sa tayor babhūva suratārambhaḥ priyaṁbhāvukaḥ ||

(Ujjvala-nīlāmaṇi: 15.253–256)

“For the cultured, pleasure shall not arise from full union (samprayoga) as it shall from sportive coquetry (līlā-vilāsa) with one another. This rasikas know.
As [is described in the following verse]:
‘By scratching [him on the chest] with the tips of her nails
When he embraces [her] by force,
By blocking [him] with her arms
When he forcibly bites her lip,
And by striking [him] with a water lily
When he pulls her raiment,
Pleasure for Hari
Greater than even [that of] union [i.e., samprayoga]
Was created by Rādhā.’
Or as [is described in the following verse]:
‘The art of pouring forth jokes [exhibited by Kṛṣṇa],
And the waggling of the eyebrows
[That was] Astonishing with sidelong glances [exhibited by Rādhā in return],
The vivacity in pulling upon the upper garment [of Rādhā exhibited by Kṛṣṇa],
And the blow with a lotus from her ear [dealt to Kṛṣṇa by Rādhā in return]—
This play
Between the ladies of Vraja’s Love-teacher (Rati-guru) and Gāndharvikā
Manifested pleasure abundant and freshly relishable
Even more so than the delight of full union (samprayoga).’
Therefore, in Śrī Gīta-govinda (12.10) [the following is found], ‘Wherein obstruction arose
To their tight embraces
By their horripilation,
To their observation of the plentitude of their play
By the blinking of their eyes,
To their drinking the nectar of one another’s lips
By their talks and jokes,
And to their battle in the arts of the Mind-churner [i.e., Kāma]
By the arrival of bliss—
That [wonderful] beginning of their amorous union,
Being [most] pleasing [to them both],
Became perceptible.’”

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aṅga-pratyāngakānāṁ yaḥ sanniveśo yathocitam

aṅga-pratyāngakānāṁ yaḥ sanniveśo yathocitam |
suśliṣṭa-sandhi-bandhaḥ syāt tat saundaryam itīryate ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 10.31)

“Formation as is felicitous of the parts and sub-parts [of the body] which shall be that wherein the unions with the joints are well-set is called beauty (saundarya).”

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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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gurubhir api niṣiddhā tām ahaṁ yāvad akṣṇoḥ

gurubhir api niṣiddhā tām ahaṁ yāvad akṣṇoḥ
padam anayam ananta-śreyasāṁ sadma rādhām |
tṛṣitam iva mano me prekṣate tanvi tāvad
diśi diśi viharantīṁ śyāmalāṁ śālabhañjīm ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.27)

“[A gopī newly arrived near Vṛṣabhānupura:]
O slender one [i.e., O Sakhī],
Although forbidden by elders,
Ever since I brought that Abode of infinite virtue,
Rādhā,
Onto the path of my eyes,
My mind,
As though thirsty,
Sees a sporting swarthy figure
In every direction.”

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lokottara-padārthānāṁ prabhāvaḥ ko’py anargalaḥ

lokottara-padārthānāṁ prabhāvaḥ ko’py anargalaḥ |
ratiṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāsau bhāsayet tūrṇam ekadā ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.16)

“Otherworldly objects have extraordinary unchecked potency, and one [such object] can immediately at once manifest rati [for Śrī Kṛṣṇa] and the object thereof [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself, the object of rati].”

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pada-dyuti-vinirdhuta-smara-parārdha-rūpoddhatir

pada-dyuti-vinirdhuta-smara-parārdha-rūpoddhatir
dṛg-añcala-kalā-naṭī-paṭimabhir mano-mohinī |
sphuran-nava-ghanākṛtiḥ parama-divya-līlā-nidhiḥ
kriyāt tava jagat-trayī-yuvati-bhāgya-siddhir mudam ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 1.5)

“[Paurṇamāsī blesses Śrī Rādhā:] He by the luster of whose feet
The pride of beauty
In a hundred quadrillion Kāmadevas
Is destroyed,
He alluring to the mind
By means of the deftness of the dancing
Of the artistry [i.e., side-long glances] in the corners of his eyes,
His whose figure resembles a shining fresh cloud,
He who is an ocean of paramount, divine līlā,
He who is the fruition of the good fortune
Of the young women throughout the three worlds—
May [he] bring about your delight.”

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