jaya sanatana rupa,                         prema bhakti rasa kupa
yugala ujjvalamaya tanu
yahara prasade loka,                       pasarilo sab soka,
prakata kalapa taru janu (8)

  “All glories to Sanatana and Rupa Gosvami, the wells of the nectar of loving devotion! Their bodies are filled with the blazing flavours of the pastimes of the Divine Couple! By their grace a wish yielding tree was manifest to remove all the distress of the people!”

– Srila Narottama das Thakur Mahasaya (Prema Bhakti Chandrika)

Srila Visvanatha Cakravartipada’s tika— jaya— santa dasya sakhya vatsalya bhaktebhyah sarvebhyah utkarshena vartase kavya prakase jayatyarthena namaskara akshipyate jaya tau prati mama namo’stvityarthah. prema bhaktir eva rasas tasya kupa rupah.

Bodies filled with the blazing flavours of the Divine Pair:

Sudhakanika vyakhya (by Radhakunda Mahanta Sri Srimat Ananta das Babaji)

— In this tripadi Srila Thakura Mahasaya proclaims the glories of the greatest Gaudiya Vaishnava-acaryas, Sri-Sri Rupa Sanatana and mentions their extraordinary gift to humanity.

First he says: jaya sanatana rupa. The word jaya indicates Sri Rupa and Sanatana’s supreme status. Of all the different gifts of Sriman Mahaprabhu the elevated brilliant and unprecedented practice of manjari bhava or the service of Radha is the greatest form of devotion, and Sri Rupa and Sanatana have practised and preached it to the utmost. Knowing them to be extraordinarily qualified for preaching devotion, He Personally gave elaborate instructions on devotional principles and the principles of transcendental flavours to Sri Sanatana in Kasi and to Sri Rupa in Prayaga, and then He kindly empowered or inspired them to preach and practice it. Srila Kavi Karnapura has written in Sri Caitanya Candrodaya Nataka (9.48) —

kalena vrindavana keli varta lupteti tam khyapayitum visishya#
kripamritenabhishisheca devas tatraiva rupam ca sanatanam ca

“In due course of time the holy places connected with Sri Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavana had become lost, but Sriman Mahaprabhu had showered Sri Rupa Sanatana with His grace (power) so that they could reveal them to the world once more (for the sake of preaching those pastimes).” From this statement we can learn of Sri Rupa-Sanatana’s elevated position within the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya.

Apart from that, in Sri Vrindavana no one equals Sri Rupa-Sanatana. Their practice of bhajana, renunciation, dispassion, and relishing of loving flavours all remain exemplary for everyone, like the pole star. Srila Kaviraja Gosvamipada has written about their exemplary bhajana —

mahaprabhura joto borio borio bhakta matra; rupa sanatana sabara kripa gaurava patra
keho yadi dese jay dekhi vrindavana; tara prasna koren prabhur parishada gana
koho- taha koiche rohe rupa sanatana? koiche rohe vairagya, koiche va bhojana?
koiche ashta prahara koren sri krishna bhajana? tabe prasamsiya kohe sei bhakta gana
aniketana donhe rohe, joto vrikshagana; ekeka vrikshera tale ekeka ratri sayana
vipra grihe sthula bhiksha kahan madhukari; sushka ruti cana cabay bhoga parihari
karowa matra hate kantha chida bahirvasa; krishna kotha krishna nama nartana ullasa
ashta prahara krishna bhajan— cari danda sayane; nama sankirtane seho nohe kon dine
kabhu bhakti rasa sastra koroye likhan; caitanya kotha sune, kore caitanya cintana
ei kotha suniya mahantera maha sukha hoy; caitanyera kripa jaha, tahan ki bismoy?
 – (C.C. Madhya Ch.19)

“All the great (nitya siddha) devotees of Mahaprabhu were very proud of Rupa and Sanatana and bestowed their grace upon them. If someone travelled from his own country to see Vrindavana, he would ask the Lord’s associates: ‘Tell me, how do Rupa and Sanatana live? How renounced are they, how do they eat? How are they performing 24-hour worship of Sri Krishna?’
Then those devotees would glorify them as follows: ‘They have no fixed abodes, but rather they sleep under a different tree every night. They either beg raw food (like wheat or flour) from the brahmins’ houses, or do madhukari (eating whatever they get from a number of houses). They eat only dry rotis, renouncing the enjoyment of luxurious food. In their hands they carry only karuas (earthen pots) and on their bodies they only wear torn quilts and outer garments. They dance of joy when they speak of Krishna and sing His name. They worship Krishna 24 hours a day and recline for just an hour and a half, but, on days when they get deeply absorbed in singing Krishna’s names they do not even sleep at all. Sometimes they compose rasika scriptures and sometimes they hear topics on Sri Caitanya or think of Him.'”
Hearing this news, the leading devotees would be very happy. What is astonishing for one who has received Sri Caitanya’s grace?

From this we can learn of the special elevated status of Sri Rupa-Sanatana. Another meaning of jaya is ‘obeisances’. Srila Thakura Mahasaya offers his humble obeisances to Sri Rupa-Sanatana’s lotus feet to glorify them.

First of all he says that Sri Rupa-Sanatana are prema bhakti rasa kupa, a well of tasty loving devotion. Earlier we have shown the renunciation, dispassion and exemplary bhajana of Sri Rupa-Sanatana. If someone then starts considering them to be ordinary practitioners, then it is said they were prema bhakti rasa kupa. Sri Rupa-Sanatana are the Lord’s eternal associates in Vraja, named Sri Rupa Manjari and Labanga Manjari. Together with Sriman Mahaprabhu they have descended to the earth as His associates to preach the practice of rasika Vraja-devotion. Just as Sriman Mahaprabhu is constantly immersed in relishing the sweetness of Sri Radha’s prema, although He is Himself the joint avatara of Radha-Krishna, and relishes the flavours of devotion-in-practice, thinking Himself to be an ordinary practitioner with strict precision, similarly Sri Rupa and Sanatana are relishing the mellows of bhajana just like practising devotees, although they are the Lord’s eternal associates; actually they are prema bhakti rasa kupa, wells with the flavour of loving devotion.

The question may be raised here, “We have heard of the boundless love that Sri Rupa-Sanatana had for the lotus feet of Sriman Mahaprabhu and Radha-Krishna, and we see the huge storehouse of books that they have written, each filled with loving syllables— it would be proper to call them ‘oceans of loving devotional flavours’; why does Srila Thakura Mahasaya calls them just ‘wells’ instead?”
The ocean is mixed with water from different incoming rivers, but well-water is not mixed with any other water; it remains always itself. In the same way the loving devotional flavours that are preached by Sri Rupa-Sanatana are most pure. They are not mixed with jnana or yoga or so, nor with feelings of awe and reverence. It is most pure and completely sweet. Secondly, the water of the ocean is mixed with salt and is therefore unfit for drinking. The water of rivers and ponds are very hot in the summer and muddy as well, so they are also not nice to drink. Well-water, however, is both cool and tasty. In the same manner, jnana, yoga etc. are never able to stop the suffering and lamentation of the conditioned souls that are constantly afflicted by the pangs of the Kali age; only loving devotion is able to soothe their life airs.
Loving devotion soothes the burning pangs of the suffering and lamentation in material existence for the conditioned souls, and blesses them with the relish of Sri Krishna’s nectarean sweetness. Sri Rupa and Sanatana are called prema bhakti rasa kupa, since they are the shelter of this most sweet and cooling juice of loving devotion. Actually the extent of their loving devotion was not as small as the contents of a well— it is vast and deep as an ocean. The flavours of loving devotion that dwell in their hearts are manifest in the form of the books they composed, and even now thousands of people escape from the fire of the threefold material miseries by diving in the rasa-well of these books, become blessed with the relish of the flavours of loving devotion and will forever remain blessed— of this there is no doubt.

  After this, Srila Thakura Mahasaya calls Sri-Sri Rupa-Sanatana yugala ujjvalamaya tanu, which means that their bodies are made of the brilliant transcendental erotic mellows, or yugala ujjvala rasa that also form the bodies of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava. This yugala ujjvala rasa is the greatest of all rasas.
There are five main bhakti rasas (devotional flavours) — tranquillity, servant hood, friendship, parenthood and sweet, brilliant or erotic love. Since the attributes or feelings of the preceding four rasas are contained in it, the madhura, brilliant or erotic rasa is the greatest of them all.
In this connection Sriman Mahaprabhu’s following words of instruction to Sri Rupa Gosvamipada are found in Sri Caitanya Caritamrita—

krishna nishtha, trishna tyaga— santera dui gune; ei dui guna vyape sab bhakta jane
santera svabhava krishne mamata gandha hina; param brahma paramatma jnana pravina
kevala svarupa jnana hoy santa rase; purnaisvarya prabhu jnana adhika hoy dasye
isvara jnana sambhrama gaurava pracura; seva kori krishne sukha den nirantara
santera guna dasye ache adhika ‘sevana’; ataeva dasya rasera hoy dui guna
santera guna dasyera sevana— sakhye dui roy;
dasye sambhrama gaurava seva, sakhye visvasamoy
kandhe corie kandhe coriay; kore krida rana; krishne seve krishne koray apana sevana
visrambha pradhana sakhya— gaurava sambhrama hina;
ataeva sakhya rasera tina guna cin
mamata adhika krishne atma sama jnana; ataeva sakhya rase vasa bhagavan
vatsalye santera guna, dasyera sevana; sei sei sevanera iha nama ‘palana’
sakhyera guna asankoca agaurava ara; mamata adhikye tariana bhartsana vyavahara
apanake ‘palaka’ jnana krishne ‘palya’ jnana; cari rasera gune vatsalya amrita samana

“The two attributes of the tranquil flavour are ‘loyalty to Krishna’ and ‘renunciation of material desires’. These two attributes permeate all the devotees. The nature of the tranquil devotee is that he cherishes not the slightest feeling of possessiveness towards Krishna. His knowledge is mainly centered on Krishna’s paramatma and param brahma features. In the mood of tranquillity there is only knowledge of Krishna’s philosophical status, whereas in servant-hood there is more of an awareness of Krishna being the Lord full in six opulences. In this awareness of Krishna’s Godhead there is an abundance of reverence and dignity, but the servant always gives great delight to Krishna with his service. The mood of a servant has more of a service-attitude than the mode of tranquillity, therefore the mode of servant-hood has two attributes. The tranquillity’s attribute and the service attitude of servant-hood are included in the mood of friendship; in servant-hood and friendship there is full faith and confidence (as an additional attribute). Krishna climbs on His friends’ shoulders and makes them mount His shoulders also, and they play combat tournaments. The friends not only serve Krishna, they also make Him serve them. The mood of friendship is predominated by confidence and is devoid of awe and reverence. Therefore friendship is recognised with three attributes. Here the feeling of possessiveness is greater, the friends see Krishna as their equal— hence the Lord is subdued by the mood of friendship. Parental love has the attribute of tranquillity, the service attitude of servant-hood, and their service bears the name of ‘rearing Krishna’. It has the attributes of absence of reverence and hesitation that are inherent to the mood of friendship, but has more qualities of possessiveness, and the parent can even chastise and punish Krishna. They consider Krishna the reared and themselves the responsible protectors. Since parenthood has four attributes it is just like nectar…..”

madhura rase— krishna nishtha, seva atisaya; sakhyera asankoca lalana mamatadhika hoy
kanta bhave nijanga diya korena sevana; ataeva madhura rase hoy panca guna
akasadira guna yeno para para bhute; eka dui tina krame panca prithivite
ei mata madhure sab bhava samahara; ataeva svadadhikye kore camatkara
– (C.C. Madhya

“In the conjugal mellow there is great loyalty to Krishna and service attitude, the lack of hesitation characteristic to the mellow of friendship and the feeling of possessiveness is also much more intense. In the mood of a lover the devotee serves Krishna with her own body, therefore the conjugal mellow has five attributes. Just as the five gross elements are endowed with five progressive attributes, starting with sky having one attribute and ending with the earth having five attributes, similarly the conjugal mellow has the five attributes of all five mellows. Hence it is the most relishable and astonishing of all mellows.”

When Vraja’s conjugal mellow is linked to the great astonishment of extra-marital love, its tastiness attains an endless variety. Above all is the yugala ujjvala rasa, or the relish of the mellow of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava’s incomparably sweet meeting. The sakhis in the yutha or party of Sri Radha are blessed with the relish of this matchless sweetness. Amongst them are again the maidservants of Sri Radha, or manjaris, which are dedicated to the service of the Divine Pair while cherishing greater love for Radha than for Krishna— their relish is the greatest and most astonishing, for they are able to witness the very confidential pastimes of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava that even the sakhis cannot behold.
Their fish-like eyes freely swim in the ocean of bliss of these relishable pastimes and at the same time they become more blessed than blessed with the good fortune of engaging in Their service according to the time.
They are so united with Srimati in feeling that Srimati considers them as non-different from Her own divine form, therefore they show no sign of any hesitation in beholding the Divine Pair Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava at that time and engaging in Their private service. What’s more, as a result of their very wonderful oneness in feeling with Srimati the signs of Krishna’s enjoyment on Srimati’s body is exactly reflected on their bodies as well! Therefore the leaders of these eternally perfect manjaris, Sri Rupa Manjari and Labanga Manjari, who are Rupa and Sanatana in Sri Gaura’s pastimes, are called yugala ujjvalamaya tanu the embodiments of Radha-Krishna’s brilliant amorous love.

The question may now be raised— ‘Why would those who are Vraja’s eternally perfect manjaris, now humbly and eagerly perform such sadhana as if they are ordinary practitioners?”

The blessed author explains this by saying: yahara prasade loka, pasarilo sab soka, prakata kalapa taru janu—

“By their grace a wish yielding tree was manifest to remove all the distress of the people” Actually Vraja’s nitya siddha Sri Rupa Manjari and Labanga Manjari have descended with Sri Gauranga, Who is Himself the joint form of Radha-Krishna, to personally practise His beloved worship in the sweet loving mood of Vraja, and to preach it to the world as well, by writing a huge storehouse of sacred books on the subject. By their grace the people of the world attained the example of how to practise this Vraja-devotion, and through their books they attained knowledge on the principles of sambandha (the soul’s relationship with God), abhidheya (the means to attain God) and prayojana (the ultimate goal of life, love of God), so that they can forever be saved from the grip of the threefold mundane miseries, the repetition of birth and death and the pangs of lamentation. However, the destruction of suffering and lamentation are only concomitant results of their preaching; actually the people of the world have been blessed with the attainment of the loving service of the lotus feet of their most beloved Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava, and to reveal this the blessed author said: prakata kalapa taru janu, meaning that Srila Rupa and Sanatana are like wish-yielding trees, descending to bestow the fruits of prema in the form of manjari bhava that is part of Vraja’s conjugal mellows. In this world it is very rare to find a wish-yielding tree, but Sri Rupa-Sanatana are prakata kalapa taru, or manifest wish-yielding trees, which means that they revealed themselves to all people of the world and blessed everyone who lived in their time, and blessed everyone else for the eternal future by promulgating the path of prema through their hand-written books, that are filled with syllables of love.

Another meaning of the word prakata is ‘the best’. Sri Rupa Sanatana are the best of all wish-yielding trees of the world, for ordinary wish-yielding trees can only give worldly objects to the petitioners, but they are unable to bestow prema. Sri Rupa-Sanatana are prema kalpatarus, who bless those who take their shelter by given them the highest love of Vraja, therefore they are the greatest or prakata kalpatarus. Again, if someone out of ignorance asks something from a wish-yielding tree which is not good for him, the tree will give it to him. The wish-yielding tree does not distinguish between what is good and what is not good for the applicant, but Rupa-Sanatana, the greatest wish-yielding trees, will bless the applicant by giving him prema, even if he actually desires something else but Krishna. For instance, in the village of Manakara there was a poor brahmin who attained a vision of Kasisvara Sri Visvanatha (Siva) in a dream. Lord Siva ordered him to go to Sri Sanatana Gosvamipada to get a touchstone from him. However, when he attained the darsana and association of Srila Sanatana Gosvamipada he gave up his desire for the touchstone and became blessed with the treasure of prema. This is a well-known story. That is the great difference between the best or prakata wish-yielding trees Sri Rupa-Sanatana and the wish-yielding trees of this world. (8)

prema bhakti riti yoto,                     nija granthe suvekata
likhiyachen dui mahasaya
yahara sravana hoite,                     premanande bhase cite,
yugala madhura rasasraya (9)

  “These two saints have revealed all the ways of loving devotion by writing them down in their books. By hearing these topics the heart floats in ecstatic love and takes shelter of the madhura rasa (amorous mellow)”.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravartipada’s tika: dvabhyam mahasayabhyam sri rupa sanatanabhyam sarva prema bhakti ritir vyaktam yatha syat tatha nija granthe likhita. yat sravanat bhaktanam cittam premananda rupa samudre plutam syat. sri gauranga prema samudram avagahya tasmat prema ratnam uddhritya yuvam prakasitavantau: “They dive deep in the ocean of Gauranga’s prema, pick up the jewels of prema from the bottom, and reveal them to the world.”

Shelter of the sweet flavours of the Divine Pair:

Sudha kanika vyakhya—

After the previous tripadis, Srila Narottama Thakura Mahasaya now glorifies the books of Sri-Sri Rupa Sanatana, which are filled with syllables of pure love.
Revealing their great gift he sings: prema bhakti riti joto, nija granthe suvekata, likhiyache dui mahasaya —
“These two saints have revealed all the ways of loving devotion by writing them down in their books.” Sri Rupa and Sanatana are both mahasaya, which means they are generous and high-minded. Hence, although they are constantly floating in an ocean of dhruvanusmriti, constant meditation, and are always immersed in the relishing of transcendental mellows, they are still very compassionate towards the conditioned souls, and have, out of their own generosity, recorded their transcendental experiences within their sacred books. Another meaning of mahasaya is ‘a bee-like relisher of devotional flavours’. They relished bhakti rasa by hearing, chanting and recollecting in exactly the same manner as they relished it in writing their sacred books. Those who are engaged in composing bhakti or rasa-scriptures can understand how much relish of wonderful bhakti or bhajana rasa is attained through that writing-work. Or Srila Thakura Mahasaya personally wants to reveal a very beautiful meaning of the word mahasaya. — radhika caranasraya, ye kore se mahasaya “Whoever takes shelter of Radhika’s lotus feet is called a mahasaya.”
Sri Rupa-Sanatana are themselves exclusively surrendered to Sri Radha’s lotus feet, since in reality they are Srimati’s loving maidservants, who are non-different from Her. This is only how they were able to compose such sacred scriptures, filled with loving syllables.

Srila Thakura Mahasaya describes how wonderful the books are that were composed by Sri Rupa-Sanatana
— prema bhakti riti yoto, nija granthe suvekata, likhiyachen dui mahasaya
“These two saints have revealed all the ways of loving devotion by writing them down in their books.”
In the dictionary we can find different synonyms for the word riti— ‘order/succession, kind/sort, nature/disposition, rules/regulations, attribute, religion/virtue, etc.’
Here all these meanings can apply. Srila Thakura Mahasaya is so wonderfully eloquent that from a small two-syllable word like riti he can make a wide ranging implication of the subjects discussed in the huge pile of books that were composed by Srila Rupa and Sanatana.

When the word riti means ‘successive order’ —
In his two books Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu and Ujjvala Nilamani, Srimat Rupa Gosvamipada has wonderfully outlined the successive stages of attaining loving devotion, from faith and associating with saints to engagement in bhajana, then the successive stages of more advanced loving devotion, from sneha and mana up to pranaya and mahabhava, and finally the emotional depth of the various manifestations of mahabhava — rudha, adhirudha, modana, mohana and madana.
In the first Canto of his Sri Brihad Bhagavatamrita, Srimat Sanatana Gosvamipada has given a wonderful description of the successive stages of devotion of the devotees who became the object of Sri Krishna’s grace, and in the second Canto he has made a wonderful description of the succession of loving devotion in various transcendental abodes like Vaikuntha, according to their rasa.

In the same manner the word riti may mean ‘kind’ or ‘sort’ — the Gosvamis have expertly divided the five prema bhakti rasas into santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhura and have given nice examples of each of them. Similarly, when riti is taken to mean ‘nature’ as in ‘disposition’— their books also extensively describe how to become absorbed in Krishna-consciousness after removing all other, non-Krishna-conscious, absorptions. riti can also mean paddhati, which means the rules and regulations of sadhana bhakti, bhava bhakti and prema bhakti, which have also been elaborately described in their books, along with their wonderful qualities and virtues. Apart from this, Srimat Sanatana Gosvamipada has revealed different rules and regulations in devotional practice, or devotional theologies in his books Sri Haribhakti Vilasa, Lilastava or Dasama Carita and Brihat Vaishnava Toshani-tika. Sri Rupa Gosvamipada has similarly described the secrets of loving devotion in books like Laghu Bhagavatamrita, Vidagdha Madhava, Lalita Madhava, Stavamala and Dana Keli Kaumudi, in order to make those grave secrets of bhakti rasa easily understandable for the people of this world.

Sri Rupa and Sanatana have revealed the ways of loving devotion in their books. In other words, they have revealed the deep secrets of loving devotion by elaborately describing them. Srimat Rupa Gosvamipada has written — srimad prabhupadambhojaih sarva bhagavatamrite; vyaktikritasti gudhapi bhakti siddhanta madhuri (Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.4.20) “My master Srila Sanatana Gosvamipada has clearly described all the sweetnesses of the devotional theology in his own book named Brihad Bhagavatamrita, although they are so confidential.” This must also be understood of Sri Rupa Gosvamipada’s own books. For the benefit of the people of this world they have clearly revealed these devotional theologies, and the brightest example of this is the fact that Srimat Sanatana Gosvamipada wrote a commentary on his own book Sri Brihad Bhagavatamrita. This means that although he had quoted examples from the Puranas in Brihad Bhagavatamrita to elaborately describe the devotional theology, he still wrote a commentary on each of these verses to make this theology easily understandable for everyone. Therefore Srila Thakura Mahasaya justly says: prema bhakti riti joto, nija granthe subekata, likhiyache dui mahasaya. — “These two great souls have revealed all the ways of loving devotion in their own books.”

After that the blessed author says: yahara sravana hoite, premanande bhase cite jugala madhura rasasraya —
“Hearing (as well as broadcasting and recollecting) the books of Sri Rupa Sanatana inundates the heart and mind in a pool of ecstatic loving flavours.”
The purport of this is that in the words of the scriptures and the mahajanas the greatest means to attain love for Sri Krishna or to relish mellows is to associate with saints who are like minded, pleasant and more advanced than oneself, but such association is extremely rarely attained in this world. Sri Rupa-Sanatana have placed all their great and deep realisations about the treasure of their beloved devotional practice in their books. Secondly, each syllable of any of these books is filled with prema, therefore the best and most powerful means to attain prema and relish rasa is to hear and chant them. These books are especially kanthaharas (texts to be memorised) for the Gaudiya Vaishnavas who worship Radha-Krishna, for they are the vessels filled with Radha-Krishna’s madhura rasa. All the books of Sri Rupa Sanatana are filled with the flavours of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava’s forms, attributes, and pastimes, the expertise of worshipping Them in order to attain prema, and theologies that are favourable to this aim. Thus the hearts of the worshippers of the Divine Pair are filled with the flavours of ecstatic love when they savour these sacred books. Sometimes we see the reading parananda hoy cite, but that can have the same meaning as the above, for premananda is parananda (the paramount bliss). There is no greater bliss than this anywhere in the world! On the other hand, without relishing these books there is no way in which one can take shelter of the sweet flavours of Sri Radha-Madhava, or have any experience of them — that is indicated here. (9)

yugala kisora prema,                      laksha bana yeno hema
heno dhana prakasilo yara
jaya rupa sanatana,                         deho more prema dhana
se ratana more gole hara (10)

  “They revealed the treasure of love of the Adolescent Pair of Vrindavana, which is a hundred thousand times purer than gold. All glories to Rupa and Sanatana! Give me this treasure! I will wear this gift like a jewel necklace around my neck!”

Srila Visvanatha Cakravartipada’s tika — se ratana mora gole hara— tena prema ratnena kanthe haram karavaniti bhavah.

Gold molten a hundred thousand times:

Sudha kanika vyakhya—

In the previous tripadi Srila Narottama Thakura Mahasaya mentioned that the books of Sri Rupa and Sanatana are the shelter of the sweet mellows of Radha-Krishna, and in this tripadi he explains that they have defined the highest purity of prema in their own scriptures, and that they have revealed this most confidential form of prema in all details to the world. First he says: yugala kisora prema, laksha bana yeno hema “They revealed the treasure of love of the Adolescent Pair of Vrindavana, which is a hundred thousand times purer than gold.” The more often gold is kept in the fire, the purer it gets. No base metal can be imagined anymore in gold that is molten a hundred thousand times, and similarly there is not even an iota of personal interest in the mutual love of Sri Radha-Krishna, or gopi prema.

na gani apana duhkha,                 sabe vanchi tara sukha
tara sukhe amara tatparya
more yadi dile duhkha,                tara hoilo mahasukha
sei duhkha mora sukha varya
– (C.C.)

“I don’t count My own unhappiness, I just want His happiness. His happiness is My purpose. If He feels very happy in giving Me pain, then that pain is My greatest happiness.” These words can be spoken by the Vrajasundaris — not by anyone else, for their love is called samartha, or fully able. When the desire to enjoy remains able to follow rati or pure love then it is called samartha. Just as iron becomes identical with fire when it is heated and fire removes the iron’s coldness and darkness, making it hot and luminous, similarly rati or the pure passionate desire to make Sri Krishna happy becomes identical with the desire for enjoyment, only the deep darkness of selfish enjoyment is cast far away and the heart is dyed with the vermilion colour of pure love (anuraga). Here rati, with which it has become identical, is primary and the desire for enjoyment is secondary. The gopis have reached accomplishment by serving Sri Krishna— personal happiness simply does not exist within their hearts — atma sukha duhkha gopira nahiko vicara; krishna sukha hetu ceshta mano vyavahara. krishna vina ara sab kori parityaga; krishna sukha hetu kore suddha anuraga (C.C.) “The gopis do not think of their personal happiness. All their thoughts and activities are for Krishna’s happiness. They have given up everything else but Krishna and their passions are purely for Krishna’s happiness.”
Therefore, kanta seva sukha pura, sangama hoite sumadhura — “The service of my lover is full of happiness, and is much sweeter than the bliss of uniting with Him.” — this is the heart’s cry of the Vraja-gopis.

It is described in scriptures like Srimad Bhagvata that when Sri Krishna went to Mathura in the manifest pastimes (prakata lila), the Vraja Sundaris suffered severe pangs of separation from Him. No devotee was able to survive such pangs, but the girls of Vraja kept themselves alive. The only reason for that, though, was their desire to see their heart’s lover Sri Krishna happy. If they died Sri Krishna would miss them and that would make Him unhappy. That is the only reason why they decided to stay alive. If they desired even a drop of personal happiness, it would have been impossible to survive such pangs of separation.

priya priya sanga hina,                  priya priya sanga vina,
nahi jiye e satya pramana
mora dasa sune jabe,                   tara ei dasa hobe,
ei bhoye donhe rakhe prana

“It is proven to be true that a man cannot live without his ladylove and a lady cannot live without her lover. When He (Krishna) hears of My condition He will attain that condition (He will die), and out of fear of that I keep Myself alive.” (C.C.)

Above all of them is the madanakhya mahabhava of Srimati Radharani, in which even the most subtle selfish desires have vanished and which is even more pure than gold molten a hundred thousand times. In their books, Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami have elaborately described the love of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava with all detailed examples.
The confidential love of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava, which was previously hard to comprehend even by Lord Brahma and Uddhava, has been revealed by Sri Rupa and Sanatana in their books in such a way that ordinary souls of the Kali age can easily comprehend as well as practise it. heno prema prakasilo yara — “They have revealed such a love.”

Then again, yugala kisora prema, laksha bana jeno hema means that the love of Sri Radha’s girlfriends for the Adolescent Pair Sri Sri Radha Madhava is even purer than gold molten a hundred thousand times. They are always happy when Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava are happy. The relish of the sweetness of Sri Radha-Madhava’s purest love is their sole treasure. Srila Kaviraja Gosvamipada has written—

radha-krishnera lila ei ati gudhatara; dasya vatsalyadi bhavera na hoy gocara
sabe eka sakhiganera iha adhikara; sakhi hoite hoy ei lilara vistara
sakhi vinu ei lilara pushti nahi hoy; sakhi lila vistariya sakhi asvadoy
sakhi vinu ei lilay anyera nahi gati , etc.
– (C.C.)

“Radha and Krishna’s pastimes are very confidential; those in servant mood or parental mood cannot perceive them. Only the sakhis are able to gauge them. From these sakhis Their pastimes extend. Without the sakhis these pastimes cannot be nourished; the sakhis extend them and the sakhis relish them. Without the sakhis these pastimes have no goal….”

Amongst the sakhis the manjaris, Sri Radha’s maidservants, who love Radha more than Krishna have the purest love for the Divine Pair, for even though the sakhis do not desire to amorously meet Sri Krishna either, by Sri Radharani’s wish or efforts they may still meet with Sri Krishna. It is described in Caitanya Caritamrita (Madhya Ch.8)—

sakhira svabhava eka akathya kathana; krishna saha nija lilaya nahi sakhira mana
krishna saha radhikara lila ye koray; nija keli hoite tahe koti sukha pay
……………
yadyapi sakhira krishna sangame nahi mana; tathapi radhika yatne koraya sangama
nana chale krishne preri sangama koray; atma krishna sanga hoite koti sukha pay
anyonye visuddha preme kore rasa pushta; ta sabhara prema dekhi krishna hoy tushta

“The nature of the sakhis is indescribable. They do not covet personal pastimes with Krishna. Rather, they are millions of times happier when Krishna plays with Radhika than if He would enjoy with them.
………
Although the sakhis do not think of enjoying with Krishna, still Radhika diligently endeavours to have them meet Him. She sends them to meet Krishna under various pretexts, and that makes Her again millions of times happier than if She would personally meet Krishna. In this way the purity of their mutual love nourishes the mellows and when Krishna sees the love of all of them He is satisfied.”

However, the maidservants who love Radha more than Krishna, also known as manjaris, never desire to meet with Sri Krishna personally. They are exclusively fixed in a service attitude, are totally surrendered to devotional service and their entire constitution consists of only the flavours of devotional service. This practice of manjari bhava is the greatest desired goal of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Sriman Mahaprabhu’s unprecedented merciful gift. Sri Rupa-Sanatana are the teachers of this manjari bhava, and they have elaborately described the principles of this practice of manjari bhava in their books. Aiming at this practice of manjari bhava and wanting to establish this practice as the greatest of all, they have propounded different principles, philosophies, and narratives. The best proof of that is Srila Sanatana Gosvamipada’s scripture ‘Brihad Bhagavatamrita’. In this way the manjaris most pure love for the Adolescent Pair has been revealed in all details by Sri Rupa-Sanatana in their books.

Srila Thakura Mahasaya prays: jaya rupa sanatana, deho more prema dhana, se ratana mora gole hara —
“O merciful Sri Rupa-Sanatana! Please bestow upon me the love which focuses on manjari bhava! May this ever beautify my soul like a necklace of love-jewels around my neck!” Here prema is called a treasure. Just as poverty is destroyed by gaining wealth, and enjoyment is concomitantly attained, similarly on the attainment of prema the miseries of material existence are concomitantly destroyed and the relish of loving transcendental flavours is attained. Then again, prema makes one relish Sri Krishna’s boundless sweetness— pancama purushartha sei prema mahadhana; krishnera madhurya rasa koray asvadana (C.C.) “This great treasure of prema is the fifth human pursuit, which causes one to relish the sweet mellows of Krishna.” In the prema of manjari bhava one gains the relish of Sri Radha-Krishna’s boundless sweetness along with this excellent loving flavour. It must be understood that Srila Thakura Mahasaya begs alms of grace from Sri Rupa-Sanatana, so that he can wear this necklace of love-gems around his neck and he can relish both kinds of flavours of love. (10)

– translated by my friend Sripad Advaita das