yugayitam nimeshena
cakshusha pravrishayitam
sunyayitam jagad sarvam
govinda virahena me

O Govinda! Out of separation from You, the whole world appears to be void. Tears are streaming from My eyes like showers of rain and a single moment appears to Me like a millennium.

The Lord now leaves His sadhaka-consciousness and shows His mahabhava-condition by speaking this verse. Srila Kaviraja Gosvami depicts it as follows:

rasantaravese hoilo viyoga sphurana
udvega vishada dainye kore pralapana

“When the Lord entered another mood (rasa) He felt separation and He uttered this verse in an agitated and humble state of mind.”

The sadhaka-condition of the Lord disappeared and He entered into His usual mood of Srimati Radharani’s love-in-separation as He felt it while staying at Puri. The waves of agitation, lamentation, and humility, which are sancari-bhavas in the ocean of mahabhava that is in the Lord’s heart, began to come up when He spoke this seventh verse.
The highest love in Vraja, epecially that of the gopis, is love in separation from Sri Krishna. Separation is one of the reasons why the love of the gopis is so great and glorious. Love has two bodies: one is called meeting and the other is called separation. If prema is the ingredient of separation, then everyone must accept that there is as much bliss and astonishment invested in it as in union. That’s why viraha has been called a “rasa” and the Gosvamis have said that the taste of separation is even more astonishing than the taste of meeting. Srimat Sanatana Gosvami writes in his Brihad Bhagavatamrita (1.7.125-128):

prag yady api premakritat priyanam viccheda davanala vegato’ntah
santapa jatena duranta soka-vesena gadham bhavativa duhkham
tathapi sambhoga sukhad api stutah sa ko’py anirvacyatamo manoramah
pramoda rasih parinamato dhruvam tatra sphuret tad rasikaika vedyah
tac choka duhkoparamasya pascac cittam yatah purnataya prasannam
samprapta sambhoga maha sukhena sampannavat tishthati sarvadaiva
icchet punas tadrisam eva bhavam klishtam kathancit tad abhavatah yat
yesham na bhatiti mate’pi tesham gadhopakari smritidah priyanam

Sri Krishna told Devarshi Narada: “O Divine sage! Although separation may at first burn severely like a forestfire in the remembrance of the beloved and may cause sorrow and pain, still this misery is ultimately the topmost ecstasy, which is even more praiseworthy than the bliss of meeting the lover. It manifests itself as an indescribable abundance of joy, because it is a transformation of transcendental love. Only the rasikas (transcendental connoisseurs) know this. After the misery of separation has ceased, the heart is immersed in the exquisite ecstasy of meeting the beloved. In this way, the heart and mind will always be fully pleased when one is always conscious of the beloved. The heart that is afflicted by feelings of separation will always desire to be fixed in moods of great sorrow and will be very sad if there can be no moments in which there is no eagerness and sorrow because of separation. Even those who have no taste for the sorrow of separation will consider feelings of separation to be very helpful in giving them intense remembrance of the beloved.”

Srila Sanatana Gosvami praises the ecstasy of separation from Krishna here as being greater than the ecstasy of meeting. He personally comments on his own words ko’py anirvacatamo in verse 126 as follows:
brahmanando’nirvacyas tasmad apy adhikyena bhajananando ’nirvacatarah tatra ca premanando ’nirvacyatamah tatrapi viraharti dvara jatah san param-antyakashtha visesha praptya parama mahanirvacyatama ity arthah –
“The bliss of brahman is called ‘indescribable’ in the Upanishads (with the words yato vaco nivartanta aprapya manasa saha: words return when they are sent there and it can also not be attained by the mind). The bliss of bhajana is attracting even the minds of the brahmanandis, and is therefore called ‘more indescribable’. When bhajanananda becomes very intense it is called premananda and this is called ‘most indescribable’. This premananda again reaches its extreme limits in the ecstasy of painful separation from one’s beloved deity and is therefore called ‘the utmost indescribable’.”

Although the pain of separation externally appears as misery, it is actually the pinnacle of transcendental bliss. Sripada Sanatana Gosvami gives another example of this in his commentary on the abovementioned verses: yathagni pratiyogi ghana himadi sparsena padady angeshu jayamana parama maha jadyasya jvalad angara sparsavad abhijna syat. tatra hi yathangara sparsa pratitir mithya parama maha jadyam eva satyam. tathatrapi duhkhasya pratiter mithyatvam eva sukhasyaiva satyatvam vijneyam.
“A block of ice which has been in touch with fire feels hot to the hands and feet, although it is very cold. The touch of fire is a complete imagination, actually the substance is very cold. In the same way the misery the pure devotee feels when he is separated from God is a complete imagination, it is actually the pinnacle of transcendental bliss.”
Srila Rupa Gosvami quotes in his Padyavali:

sangama viraha vikalpe varam iha viraho na sangamas tasyah
sange saiva tathaika tribhuvanam api tanmayam virahe

Sri Radhika said: “When I consider the difference between union and separation, I think that separation is better. When I am together with Krishna I see Him only at one place, but when He is away from Me I see all the three worlds filled with Him!”
When one is separated from someone in the material world one feels just misery, only separation from Krishna is the pinnacle of bliss. How can someone who has never cried while saying “Krishna” know how blissful that is?

ei prema yara mone, tara vikrama sei jane,
yeno vishamrite ekatra milana
bahir visha jvala hoy, antara anandamoy,
krishna premara adbhuta carita
(Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 2)

“Only a person who has this prema (in his mind) can know its power. It is like the meeting of poison and nectar. Externally it burns like poison, but internally it is full of bliss. How wonderful is the nature of love for Krishna!”

While He was at Puri, Mahaprabhu was fixed (sthayi-bhava) in Sri Radha’s feelings of separation from Krishna. The Lord would show the agony that sprang forth from the depth of His heart only to the sensitive Svarupa Damodara and Ramananda Raya, holding His arms around their necks and lamenting to them while He stayed in the Gambhira. How many nights and days did He spend in this way? He thought of them as His (Her) girlfriends while He clasped their necks, and said: “Sakhi! Where has My Prananatha Sri Krishna gone, neglecting Me? What has happened? Everywhere I see only darkness, and a moment appears like hundreds of ages to Me! Sakhi! Tell Me how can I spend My time in this intolerable fire of separation?” Sometimes He would look for Krishna in the sky and sing:

tomara darsana vine, adhanya ei ratri dine,
ei kala na yaya katano.
tumi anathera bandhu, apara karuna sindhu,
kripa kori deho darasana
(Caitanya Caritamrita)

“Without You, these days and nights are miserable and the time simply won’t pass. You are the friend of the helpless, the boundless ocean of mercy! Please show Yourself to Me!”
In this verse the Lord says yugayitam nimeshena: “Out of separation from Govinda a moment appears to be like an age to Me”. This is a sign of mahabhava. The definition of rudha (advanced) mahabhava is:

nimeshasahatasanna janata hrid vilodanam
kalpa kshanatvam khinnatvam tat saukhye’py arti sankaya
mohady abhave’py atmadi sarva vismaranam sada
kshanasya kalpatetyadya yatra yoga viyogayoh

“Whether one is in a state of separation or union, mahabhava is intolerable for even a moment. It agitates the heart, it makes one experience an age to be like a moment (during union) and it makes the lover emaciated and worried about Krishna’s happiness although He is perfectly happy. The lover always forgets everything, although he is not under the influence of (ordinary) illusion, and he considers a moment to be like an age (during separation).”

Adhirudha mahabhava is even more exalted than this. When the Lord was at Puri, He relished the sweetness of the highest phase of Sri Radha’s divine madness called adhirudha-mahabhava, so all the symptoms of this mahabhava were manifest in Him to the utmost.
Even in this material world we experience the miserable moments to last longer than the joyful ones. When we suffer from some very painful disease then the nights seem to last like ages. It seems as if we can not pass those nights. The burning separation from Krishna in mahabhava is so unlimited that even a split second seems to last like a long millennium. The unlimited happiness of meeting Krishna and the unlimited sorrow of being separated from Him cannot be compared to any worldly experience. All other comparisons – a forest fire, a slowfire or the burning sensation of fresh poison – are insignificant and utterly useless. Srila Rupa Gosvami writes in his Lalita Madhava Natakam (Act 3):

uttapi puta pakato’pi garala gramad api kshobhano
dambholer api duhsahah katur alam hrin magna salyad api
tivrah praudha visucika nicayato’py uccair mamayam bali
marmany adya bhinatti gokulapater vislesha janma jvarah

Sri Radharani told Lalita: “Sakhi! The burning sensation of separation from the Lord of Gokula is breaking My heart! It feels hotter than puta paka (a scale in which pigments are melted), it is more troubling than poison, more intolerable than Indra’s thunderbolt, more sharp than a spear plunged into the heart and more horrible than cholera!”
This greatly burning condition makes the slightest moment seem to be like an intolerable age for the loving devotee.

tas tah kshapah preshthatamena nita
mayaiva vrindavana gocarena
kshanardhavat tah punar anga tasam
hina maya kalpasama vabhuvuh
(Srimad Bhagavata, 11.12.11)

Sri Krishna said: “O Uddhava! When I was the beloved of the gopis in Vraja, they thought the nights they spent with Me went by like a flash and the nights that they were separated from Me lasted like ages!”

Then the Lord says cakshusha pravrishayitam – “When I am separated from You tears stream from My eyes like monsoon-rains!” The same thing happens with all the loving devotees when they feel separation from Sri Krishna. Their eyes are like clouds that constantly pour down torrents of rain. There is no other way for them but to cry like this to become free from the burden that weighs on their hearts, but although they constantly cry hot tears like the rains in the monsoon-season, they cannot reach the limits of their heartbreaking lamentations. Virahini (Radha, Who is separated from Govinda) embraces Her girlfriends and says:

sunalahum mathura colobo murari
calatahi pekhalum nayana pasari
palati neharite ham raha heri
sunahi mandire ayalum pheri
dekho sakhi nilaja jivana seya
piriti janayata aba ghana roya
so kusumita vana kunja kutira
so yamuna jala malaya samira
so himakara heri lagaye canka
kanu vine jivana kevala kalanka
eto dine janalum vacanaka anta
capala prema thira jivana duranta
tahe ati durajana asa ki pasa
samvadi na ayata govinda dasa

“I heard that Murari is going to Mathura, I have stared at Him as He left. I stood there for a moment looking and then I returned to My empty home. Look, O sakhi, how I maintain My shameless life! Now I am loudly crying to announce My great love for Him! Here is the cottage in the grove in the flowergarden, here is the water of the Yamuna, here the southern winds are blowing, and here the sight of the moonlight frightens Me! Without Krishna My life is simply a stain! All these days I knew My words would end (my days were counted). Love is capricious and a steady life is unruly. In it there are the rope-like desires of the wicked. Words do not come to Govinda Dasa.”

…

Then the Lord says: sunyayitam jagad sarvam govinda virahena me – “O Govinda! The whole world seems empty to Me when I am separated from You!” Not any material or spiritual attainment can fill up that void other than the attainment of Govinda Himself. Any deficiency in material life can be filled up with the attainment of some insignificant enjoyment, but when a person starts missing the Greatest Thing there is, then that Greatest Thing Itself is the only thing that can fill up that void. Not even the audience of any other form of God can fill up that void, since Govinda is the embodiment of transcendental sweetness, what to speak of the attainment of some insignificant material object? Srila Rupa Gosvami writes in his Lalita Madhava Natakam (7.6):

yasyottamsah sphurati cikure keki pincha pranito
harah kanthe viluthati kritah sthula gunjavalibhih
venur vaktre racayati rucim hanta cetas tato me
rupam visvottaram api harer nanyad angikaroti

Sri Radha tells Bakula in the new Vrindavana-garden: “Sakhi! My heart cannot accept any other form of Hari, no matter how extraordinary, than the form whose hair is beautified by a crown made of peacockfeathers, who wears a string of big gunja-beads around the neck and who keeps a flute to His beautiful mouth!”

Sri Caitanya Caritamrita states (Adi-lila, chapter 17):

gopika bhavera ei sudridha niscoy-
vrajendra nandana vina anyatra na hoy
syamasundara sikhipincha gunja vibhushana
gopavesa tribhangima murali vadana
iha chadi krishna yadi hoy anyakara
gopibhava nahi yay nikate tahara

“The mood of the gopis is that they are fixed in their love for the prince of Vraja and for no-one else. If Krishna assumes another form than His usual beautiful blackish form with the peacock feather-crown, the gunja-bead decorations, the cowherders’ dress and the threefold bending form which holds the flute to the mouth, the gopis will not go near Him. Such is their mood towards Him.”

For Mahaprabhu, who accepted the feelings of Sri Radha, the crownjewel of all the gopis, the world is void without Krishna. Srila Vidyapati Thakura sings:

ab mathura pura madhava gelo
gokula manika ko hari nelo
gokule uchalalo karunaka rol
nayanaka jole dekho bohoye hilol
suna bhelo mandira, suna bhelo nagari
suna bhelo dasa disa suna bhelo sagari
kaisane yaobo yamuna tira
kaise niharabo kunja kutira
sahacari saie korolo phulavari
kaise jiyabo ham tahi nihari
vidyapati kohe – koro avadhana
kautuke chapi tahi rahu kana
(Pada Kalpataru)

“Now Madhava has gone to Mathura. Who has stolen the jewel of Gokula? A cry of pity is rising in Gokula and tears are flowing there in waves. The houses have become empty and the villages have become empty. The ten directions have become empty and everything has become empty. How can I go to the bank of the Yamuna now, how can I look now at the cottage in the love-grove? How can Krishna’s girlfriends tolerate Cupid’s arrows, and how can I survive while witnessing all this? Vidyapati says: “Watch out! Happiness is lost wherever Krishna stays!”

When Krishna has gone to Mathura, Sri Radha feels separation from Him (mathura virahini rai) and thinks that the house, the village, the ten directions, nay the whole world is empty. But then again She remembers Sri Hari whenever She looks at anything in Vraja. The feeling of voidness becomes stronger as She remembers Sri Hari while looking all around Her. Each object in Vrindavana is studded with the remembrance of Sri Hari. Her breath is choking and it is hard for Her to stay alive, but still She must stay alive so that She can serve Krishna. King Dasaratha committed suicide when he was separated from his son Ramacandra, but Nanda Maharaja could not even think of such a thing. No matter how much he suffered of separation from Krishna, he had to stay alive. After all, how much misery would his Gopala have to go through otherwise as an orphan? How wonderfully the beautiful girls of Vraja were serving Krishna with their bodies! They thought that perhaps Krishna could also not stay alive if He were to be separated from them! Sri Krishna sings in Sri Caitanya Caritamrita (Madhya-lila, 13.152):

priya priya sanga hina, priya priya sanga vina,
nahi jiye e satya pramana.
mora dasa sune yabe, tara ei dasa hobe,
ei bhaye donhe rakhe prana

“When the lover is separated from the beloved and the beloved is separated from the lover, neither of them can live, that is a fact. When She (Radha) hears that this is My condition (that I died out of separation from Her), She will also attain that condition.” With this fear both Radha and Krishna keep Themselves alive.
Thus the heart burns in a slowfire, unable to stay alive because of separation, and also unable to die. In this difficult dilemma each second seems to last like an age, the eyes are like clouds that shower torrents of rain-like tears and the whole world seems to be empty. Only the devotees who actually feel this separation can know how this love is burning on the surface, but at the same time causes great ecstasy within the heart. The Lord, accepting the mood of Sri Radha, is always floating in the ocean of this wonderful “suffering”.

eimata dine dine, svarupa ramananda sane,
nija bhava korena vidita.
bahye visha jvala hoy, bhitore anandamoy,
krishna premara adbhuta carita

“In this way the Lord revealed His feelings to Svarupa Damodara and Ramananda Raya each day. Externally He was burning from the poison of separation, but inwardly He felt blissful. How amazing is the nature of love of Krishna!”

ei premara asvadana, tapta ikshu carvana,
mukha jvale, na yay tyajana.
sei prema yara mone, tara vikrama se-i jane,
vishamrite ekatra milana.
(Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 2)

“This prema tastes just like boiling sugarcane juice: it burns the mouth, but still it is too sweet to resist. Anyone who has this prema in his mind (heart) knows it’s power. It’s like the meeting of poison and nectar in one place!”

Apane kori asvadane, sikhailo bhaktagana (Caitanya Caritamrita). The Lord tasted this sweet love-in-separation of Vraja and also expertly taught it to the devotees who surrendered to His lotus feet, the Gaudiya Vaishnava-acaryas. The six Gosvamis, headed by Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami, also gave perfect examples of love-in-separation. That can be clearly seen in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s prayer Utkalika Vallari and Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami’s prayer Vilapa Kusumanjali. Srila Rupa Gosvami opens his Utkalika Vallari with the following verse:

prapadya vrindavana madhyam ekah
krosann asav utkalikakulatma
udghatayami jvalatah kathoram
vashpasya mudram hridi mudritasya

“O merciful Radhe! O merciful Krishna! I have taken shelter of Vrindavana, and I am crying there anxiously. Now I will open my heart and show You the burning marks My tears of misery have made there! You can both see now how much the heart of Your Rupa is burning!”

A person who does not have the wealth of bhajana cannot possibly understand these burning feelings of separation. Ever-new waves of anxious desire to see one’s beloved deity rise on the ocean-like heart of the devotee who suffers from this separation, breaking the bondage of his patience. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana comments as follows on the abovementioned verse: iyam avastha khalu bhaktajanasya purushartha-datri – “This condition is certainly bestowing the highest good of human life to the devotee (anxious love-in-separation).” These feelings of separation are an even greater bhava sampad (wealth of emotions) than the joy of meeting the Lord. Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami has similarly revealed his pain of separation in his prayer Vilapa Kusumanjali:

aty utkatena nitaram virahanalena
dandahyamana hridaya kila kapi dasi
ha svamini kshanam iha pranayena gadham
akrandanena vidhura vilapami padyaih

“O Svamini (my queen Radharani)! I am Your miserable maidservant and I am burning in the severe fire of separation from You, anxiously crying. Now I have given up all other activities and I’m simply sitting on the bank of Sri Radhakunda, at the base of Govardhana Hill, lamenting out of love with these verses!”

devi duhkha kula sagarodare
duyamanam ati durgatam janam
tvam kripa prabala naukayadbhutam
prapaya sva pada pankajalayam

“O Playful goddess! This miserable maidservant has fallen into an ocean of sorrow and feels helpless and miserable! Please take her across this ocean on the strong boat of Your mercy and bring her to the abode of Your lotus feet!”

tvad alokana kalahi damsair eva mritam janam
tvat padabja milal laksha bheshajair devi jivaya

“O Devi! This person has died from the bites of the black snake of separation from You. Please revive her with the medicine of the lac that has anointed Your lotus-like footsoles!”
The depth of this ocean of misery, the terrifying severeness of the snakebites and the heat of the forest fire of separation are inconceivable to ordinary people. The renunciation of the Gosvamis is identical with this pain separation and is a natural manifestation of it.
The poet Radha Vallabha Dasa describes Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami’s renunciation as follows:

radha krishna viyoge, chadilo sakala bhoge,
sukha rukha anna matra sara
gaurangera viyoge, anna chadi dilo age,
phala gavya korilo ahara

“Out of separation from Radha-Krishna he gave up all enjoyment and ate only dry, stale food. Out of separation from Lord Gauranga, he gave up eating grains and ate only fruits and milkproducts.”

sanatanera adarsane, taha chadi sei dine,
kevala koroye jalapana
rupera viccheda yabe, jala chadi dilo tabe,
radha-krishna boli rakhe prana

“When Sanatana Gosvami disappeared from earth, he gave up eating fruits and milk and drank only water, and when he became separated from Rupa Gosvami, he gave up also water and kept himself alive by saying: ‘Radha-Krishna’.”

sri rupera adarsane, na dekhi tahara gane,
virahe vyakula hoiya kande
krishna katha alapana, na suniya sravana,
uccasvare dake artanade

“When Sri Rupa disappeared and Raghunatha Dasa could also not see his (Rupa’s) friends anymore, he anxiously cried out of separation. His ears could not hear talks about Krishna anymore, he was just crying out loudly.”

ha ha radha-krishna kotha, kotha visakha lalita,
kripa kori deho darasana
ha caitanya mahaprabhu, ha svarupa mora prabhu,
ha ha prabhu rupa sanatana!
kande gosai ratri dine, pudi jay tanu mone,
kshane anga dhulaya dhusora
cakshu andha anahara, apanara deha bhara,
virahe hoilo jarajara

“Day and night Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami cried: “O Radha-Krishna! Where are You? O Lalita and Visakha! Where are You! Please show yourselves to me! O Caitanya Mahaprabhu! O my lord Svarupa Damodara! O masters Rupa and Sanatana!” His mind and body were burning and sometimes he greyed his body by rolling in the dust. He became blind from fasting and his body felt like a heavy burden because of the intolerable misery of separation.”

radhakunda tate podi, saghane nihsvasa chadi,
mukhe vakya na hoy sphurana.
manda manda jihva node, prema asru netre pode,
mone krishna koroye smarana.

“He fell on the bank of Radhakunda, breathing out deeply. Words could not be heard from his mouth. His tongue was vibrating slowly and tears of love trickled from his eyes as he remembered Krishna within his mind.”

sei raghunatha dasa, puraho monera asa,
ei mora bodo ache sadha.
e radha vallabha dasa, mone bodo abhilasha,
prabhu more koro parasada

“May that Raghunatha Dasa fulfill my desires! This Radha Vallabha dasa has one great desire on his mind: O Lord, be merciful unto me!”

The essential thing that we can learn from the pastimes of Sriman Mahaprabhu and the Gaudiya Vaishnava-acaryas, which were filled with the flavours of love-in-separation, is that some of this feeling of want, of deficiency must be awakened within the hearts and minds of the practising devotees for Vraja-bhava as well. “How much deficiency of money, friends, followers, profit, adoration and distinction I feel, but I never miss my beloved deity! I am living in the same Vraja-dhama that the acaryas took shelter of, swimming in a terrible ocean of love-in-separation day and night, but I’m thinking to myself: ‘I have my food, my sleep, I’m having fun here, everything is all right, and in this way my hearing, chanting, remembering and worship of the deity continues in a mechanical way! I should be ashamed of myself, being in such a low condition as a sadhaka!’” The devotee should condemn himself in this way and repent. One should pray with an anxious heart and an anxious voice, mixed with anuraga for such a devotional life, feeling the absence of the Lord, by reciting the prayers of the acaryas, which are most powerful.

hari hari ! kobe mora hoibe sudina ?
phala mula vrindavane, khabo diva avasane,
bhramibo hoiya udasina

“Hari! Hari! When will that blessed day be mine? When will I wander around in Vrindavana completely detached, eating only some fruits and roots at the end of the day?”

sitala yamuna jole, snana kori kutuhole,
premavese anandita hoiya
bahu pora bahu tuli, vrindavane kuli kuli,
krishna boli bedabo kandiya

“When will I eagerly bathe in the cool Yamuna-water in loving ecstasy? When will I wander around in Vrindavana, raising my arms and crying out ‘Krishna!’ ?”

dekhibo sanketa sthana, judabe tapita prana,
premavese gadagadi dibo
kaha radha pranesvari, kaha girivaradhari,
kaha natha boliya dakibo

“I will soothe my heart by seeing Radha and Krishna’s trystingplace and I will roll around there in loving ecstasy, crying out :”O Radhe! O Queen of my heart! O Girivaradhari, lifter of Govardhana Hill! O Lord! Where are You?”

madhavi kunjera’pori, sukhe bosi suka sari,
gaibek radha-krishna rasa.
taru mule bosi taha, suni judaibe hiya,
kobe sukhe goabo divasa

“When I blissfully sit in a grove of Madhavi-trees I hear the male and female parrots singing romantic songs about Radha-Krishna. When will I blissfully spend my days sitting at the foot of a tree, soothing my heart by hearing these beautiful songs?”

sri govinda sri gopinatha, srimati radhika satha,
dekhibo ratana simhasane.
dina narottama dasa, koroye durlabha asa,
emati hoibe koto dine

“The fallen Narottama Dasa has a very ambitious desire: I like to see Sri Govinda Gopinatha sitting on a jewelled throne with Srimati Radhika! When will that day be mine?”

– commentary by Radhakunda Mahanta Pandit Sri Srimat Ananta das Babaji
– translation by Sripad Advaita das