Sri Sri Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi – Sripada Prabodhananda Sarasvati

VERSE 1:

NINDANTAM PULAKOTKARENA VIKASAN NIPA PRASINA CCHABIM
PRORDDHIKRiTYA BHUJA DVAYAM HARI HARITY UCCAIR VADANTAM MUHUH
NRiTYANTAM DRUTAM ASRU NIRJHARA CAYAIH SINCANTAM IRVI-TALAM
GAYANTAM NIJA PARShADAIH PARIVRiTAM SRI GAURACANDRAM NUMAH

I offer my obeisances unto Lord Gauracandra, Who is surrounded by all His associates and Whose body is studded with goose pimples of ecstasy that mock the beauty of blossoming Kadamba flowers. He raises His arms, repeatedly and loudly crying ‘Hari! Hari!’ as He dances and sings, showering the surface of the earth with cascades of tears.

Commentary:

Sripada Prabodhananda Sarasvati is the object of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s great mercy, so his mind and heart are always absorbed in the sweet pastimes, attributes and sentiments of Srimati Radharani in Vraja. Now he begins his delicious book of eager prayer named ‘Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi’ out of compassion for the devotees who aspire for the confidential service of Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet. In this verse he praises his worshipable deity, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Vraja Vihari Sri Krishna accepted the mood and complexion of Sri Radha and became Gaura to fulfill three desires: To understand the greatness of Radha’s love, the wonderful qualities that She alone relishes in Him and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love. In Vrindavana-lila, Krishna was the witness of the sweetness of Sri Radha’s love of which He Himself was the object, and in Gaura-lila He accepted the mood and luster of Sri Radha to understand the gravity of Her love. In the opening verse of his book ‘Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi’, Sripada Prabodhananda Sarasvati draws a beautiful picture of how the full transcendental truth of Vraja (Sri Krishna) experienced the sweetness of Radha’s emotions. Here Sripada follows the custom in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition to praise Lord Gaura before commencing the description of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava’s sweet pastimes. This is called ‘Gaura candrika’.
In his book ‘Sri Caitanya Candramrta’ (88), Sripada writes:

yatha yatha gaura padaravinde vindeta bhaktim krita punya rasih
tatha tathotsarpati hridyakasmat radha padambhoja sudhambu rasih

“When a very fortunate soul experiences devotion for Lord Gaura’s lotusfeet, the nectarocean from Radha’s lotus feet suddenly floods his heart.” Sri Gaurasundara has brought an unprecedented torch of Vraja-rasa, whose bright effulgence shows the devotees the way to the sweet bhajan of Sri Vrindavana, which is otherwise hard to see. And along with that sweet transcendental Vraja-rasa, Mahaprabhu introduced Himself to the devotees of this world. Sri Vasu Ghosha sings:

yadi gaura na hoto, ki mene hoito,
kemone dharitam de
radhara mahima, prema rasa sima,
jagate janato ke ?

“If Gaura had not come, how would the world have been? Who would have tought the world the greatness of Radha and the limit of prema rasa?”

madhura vrinda- vipina madhuri,
pravesa caturi sara
varaja yuvati, bhavera arati,
sakati hoito kara?

“Who would have shown the way to enter into the sweetness of Vrindavana and the anxious mood of the young girls of Vraja?”

The only way to extinguish the burning sensation of the threefold material misery (caused by the elements, one’s own body or mind, or by other creatures) with a nectar-stream of love for Sri-Sri Radha-Govinda is the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu.

In this verse Sripada Prabodhananda describes the sattvika ecstasies of Sri Gaurasundara as He takes pleasure in performing kirtana. Srila Rupa Gosvami defines these sattvika ecstasies as follows in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhuh (2.3.1):

krishna sambandhibhih sakshat kincid va vyavadhanatah
bhavais cittam ihakrantam sattvam ityucyate budhaih
sattvad asmat samutpanna ye ye bhavas tu sattvikah

“When the heart is touched by emotions directly (in the form of the five basic relationships of servanthood, friendship, parenthood etc.) or indirectly (in the form of the seven secondary moods such as laughter, chivalry etc.) related to Krishna, the wise call it sattva, and the emotions coming from that are called sattvika bhavas.”
The Lord had accepted the mood and lustre of Sri Radha and had become the main shelter for His own rati, therefore the sattvika and other bhavas had become fully manifest in Him. This is confirmed in Caitanya Caritamrita:

tahe mukhya – rasasraya, hoiyachen mahasaya,
tate hoy sarva bhavodoy

“The Lord had become the main shelter of His own rasa, and so all ecstasies arose in Him.” Sripada sweetly depicts how Sri Gauranga’s body displayed the unrivalled ecstasies derived from relishing the sweetness of Radha’s rasa within Himself by saying: nindantam pulakotkarena vikasan nipa prasuna cchabim “His body was beautified by goose pimples that mocked freshly blossoming Kadamba-flowers.”
Mahaprabhu’s body manifested uddipta sattvika bhavas. Srila Rupa Gosvami says in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (2.3.79):

ekada vyaktim apannah panca shah sarva eva va
arudha paramotkarsham uddipta iti kirtitah

“When five or six sattvika ecstasies simultaneously arise to the greatest extent, they are called uddipta.”
Again, Sripada says prorddhikritya bhuja dvayam hari harity uccair vadantam muhuh: “He lifts His arms and loudly chants “Hari! Hari!!” This is an anubhava called krosana. Srila Rupa Gosvami says in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu: anubhavas tu cittastha bhavanam avabodhakah “Activities that awaken ertain moods in the heart are called anubhava” When rati is relished within the heart it will be externally manifest. The echo of Mahaprabhu’s loud chanting of Harinama immersed all the moving and nonmoving creatures in the taste of love of Krishna. Srila Haridasa Thakura revealed this secret of the loud chanting of Hari nama :

tumi yei koriyacho ucca sankirtana; sthavara jangamera sei hoyoto sravana
sunitei jangamera samsara hoy kshaya; sthavare se sabda lage – tate pratidhvani hoy
pratidhvani nahe sei – koroye kirtana; tomara kripaya ei akathya kathana
(Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Ch.3)

“All the moving and nonmoving creatures have heard Your loud chanting. Hearing it, all the moving creatures were liberated from material existence, and after the nonmoving creatures hear it there is an echo. It’s actually not an echo, it is the chanting of these nonmoving creatures. All these indescribable things are possible by Your mercy.”
Mahaprabhu dances with restless feet and sprinkles the earth with His tears. The padakarta (singer) Raya Sekhara describes the sweet dancing of Sri Gaurasundara and His associates as follows:

madhura madhura gaura kisora madhura madhura nata
madhura madhura saba sahacara madhura madhura hata

“How sweet is Gaura Kisora (the youthful golden Lord Caitanya)! How sweet is His dancing! How sweet are His associates!”

madhura madhura mridanga bajata madhura madhura tan
madhura rase matala bhakata gaoye madhura gana

“How sweetly the drums are playing, how sweet is their rhythm! How sweetly the devotees are maddened by transcendental mellows and how sweetly they sing!”

madhura helana madhura dolana madhura madhura gati
madhura madhura vacana sundara madhura madhura bhati

“How sweetly He moves, how sweetly He swings and how sweet are His steps! How sweet are His beautiful words and how sweet is His radiance!”

madhura adhara jini sasadhara madhura madhura hasa
madhura arati madhura piriti madhura madhura bhasa

“How sweet are His lips and how sweet are His smiles, that defeat the sweetness of the moon! How sweet is His eagerness, how sweet is His love and how sweet are His words!”

madhura yugala nayana ratula madhura ingite cay
madhura premera madhura badare vancita sekhara raya

“How sweetly His reddish eyes are making sweet hints! Unfortunately, Raya Sekhara is deprived of this sweet love!”

While Mahaprabhu dances, His eyes manifest the sattvika ecstasy of asru. In Caitanya Caritamrita it is described how Mahaprabhu manifested this ecstasy while dancing before the chariot of Lord Jagannatha :

jalayantra dhara yeno bohe asrujala;
asapasa loka yoto bhijilo sakala (C.C.)

“Tears were flowing from His eyes like fountains, sprinkling all the people that stood around.” This sattvika transformation is so wonderful that one may ask: “Does the Ganga-water, that normally flows from His (Lord Vishnu’s or the selfsame Sriman Mahaprabhu’s) lotus feet now flow from His eyes?”
apani kori asvadane, sikhaila bhakta-gane, prema cintamanira prabhu dhani
(Caitanya Caritamrita)
“The Lord not only taught the world about prema, He also gave a splendid example of how to relish its flavours. The Lord is the wealthy owner of the Cintamani-gem of prema.”

The people of the world will be blessed with initiation into the mantra of prema by voluntarily selling themselves to the lotus feet of that sweetly, blissfully dancing and chanting Sri Gaura. Even the stones melt when they remember how sweetly Lord Gaura dances and how He rolls on the ground like a golden mountain!

jaya sri jagad ananda, jaya jaya gauracandra,
sri gauramandala sudhakara
vikasita nipa- prasuna cchabi aparupa,
pulake purnita kalevara

“All glories to Sri Gauracandra, who gives joy to the world, Who is the moon of Gauramandala (the holy circle around Navadvipa) and Whose body is studded with goose pimples of ecstasy that are as wonderful as blooming Kadambaflowers!”

punah punah bahu tuli, uccaih svare hari boli,
nace gora natana suthama
nirjhara nayana dhara, sincana koriya gora,
abhishikta koila dharadhama

“How nicely Gora (Mahaprabhu) dances, repeatedly lifting His arms and loudly chanting “Hari! Hari!!” A stream of tears flows from Gora’s eyes and sprinkles the surface of the earth!”

saparshade gaurahari, kirtane darsana kori,
punah punah koriya pranama
sripada prabodhananda, arambhila rasa grantha,
radha rasa sudhanidhi nama

“Thus Sripada Prabodhananda Sarasvati begins his rasika book named ‘Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi’ by offering his repeated obeisances to Lord Gaurahari and His associates and witnessing His kirtana-pastimes.”

mangalacarana sloka, sravane smarane sukha,
bhakta korii parama sampad
guru padapadma renu, bhushana koriya tanu,
chanda kori gaya haripada

“This verse serves as the auspicious invocation of this book, it is the highest wealth of all the devotees and it makes them happy by remembering and hearing it. Decorating his body with the dust of his guru’s lotus feet, Haripada sings these poetical songs.”

– commentary by Radhakunda Mahanta Sri Srimat Ananta das Babaji Maharaja
– translated by my friend Sripad Advaita das