Sri Sri Raga-Vartma-Chandrika (Sripad Vishvanatha Cakravartipad)

 

TEXT 5:

                atha bhakta niṣṭham aiśvarya-jñānam (1). ataeva ‘yuvāṁ na naḥ sutau sākṣāt pradhāna puruṣeśvarau’ ityādi vasudevokteḥ sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yad uktam ityarjunokteś ca īśvaro’yam ityanusandhāne’pi hṛt-kampa-janaka sambhrama  gandhasyānudgamāt svīya bhāvasyāti sthairyam eva yad utpādayati tan mādhurya-jñānam. yathā ‘vandinas tam ūpadevagaṇā ye gīta-vādyavalibhiḥ parivabruḥ’. iti ‘vandyamāna caraṇaḥ pathi vṛddhaiḥ’. iti ca  yugala gītokteḥ goṣṭhaṁ prati gavānayana samaye brahmendra nāradādibhiḥ kṛtasya kṛṣṇa stuti gīta vādyaṁ pūjopahāra pradāna pūrvaka caraṇa-vandanasya  dṛṣṭatve’pi  śrīdāma  subalādīnāṁ sakhyabhāvasyāśaithilyam. tasya tasya śrutatve’pi vrajābalānāṁ madhura-bhāvasyāśaithilyam. tathaiva vrajarāja kṛta tad āśvāsana vākyair vrajeśvaryā api nāsti vātsalya-śaithilya gandho’pi pratyuta dhanyaivāhaṁ yasyāyaṁ mama putraḥ parameśvara iti manasy abhinandane putra-bhāvasya dārḍhyam eva. yathā prākṛtyā eva mātuḥ putrasya pṛthvīśvaratve sati tat putra prabhāvaḥ sphīta evāvabhāti. evaṁ dhanyā eva vayaṁ yeṣāṁ sakhā ca parameśvara iti yāsāṁ preyān parameśvara iti sakhānāṁ preyasīnāṁ ca sva svabhāva dārḍhyam eva jṣeyam.

                Now follows the description of the devotees who are fixed in their conception of Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord (aiśvarya jñāna niṣṭhā bhaktāḥ). Śrī Vasudeva tells Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata): “You are not our sons, You are directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”, and (when) Arjuna (sees Kṛṣṇa’s universal form, in Bhagavad Gītā, chapter eleven, he) says: “O Kṛṣṇa! Please forgive me for whatever I may have said to You in the past due to love and bewilderment, thinking You to be my friend!” And mādhurya jñāna is that feeling which does not cause even the slightest feeling of heart throbbing awe after seeing some display of His prowess, because feelings of intimacy are already firmly established in the heart. For example, the gopīs described Kṛṣṇa as follows (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata’s ‘Yugala Gīta’, Canto Ten, chapter 35) when He returned to the village after herding His cows in the forest: “Kṛṣṇa is being praised by demi-gods who surround Him and worship Him with songs and flowers” and: “On the way Brahmā and other lords praise His feet.” Despite the fact that Śrīdāma, Sudāma and the other cowherdboys saw the demigods like Brahmā, Indra and Nārada offering prayers and flowers to Kṛṣṇa, there was no slackening of their pure fraternal love for Him visible in them, and the beautiful girls of Vraja remained fixed in their sweet romantic feelings for Him despite hearing about His prowess. In the same way the pure parental love of Queen Yaśodā was not diminished even slightly despite Nanda Mahārāja’s consoling words to the Vrajavāsīs. Her love for Kṛṣṇa rather increased and thoughts like: “I am blessed that my son is the Supreme Lord Himself” appeared in her heart. Even a mundane mother whose son becomes the ruler of the world shows even more motherly love for him. The intimate feelings of the cowherdboys, who may think: “We are blessed that our friend is the Supreme Lord”, and the gopīs, who may think: “we are also blessed that our beloved is the Supreme Lord”, are also strengthened when they hear about Kṛṣṇa’s divine prowess.

                Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā by Srila Ananta das Babaji:

After describing the Lord’s display of His prowess the blessed author now describes the experience of this prowess by the devotees. īśvaro’yam ityanusandhāne sati hṛt kampa janaka sambhrameṇa svīya bhāvasyāti śaithilyaṁ yat pratipādayati tad aiśvarya jñānam “That mood in which one thinks “He is the Lord”, which creates heart-throbbing awe and reverence in the devotee and thus greatly slackens his feelings of a pure loving relationship, is called aiśvarya.” In Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.85.18-19) it is seen:

yuvāṁ na naḥ sutau sākṣāt pradhāna puruṣeśvarau
bhū-bhāra kṣatra-kṣapaṇa avatīrṇau tathāttha ha
tat te gato’smyaraṇamadya padāravindam āpanna saṁsṛti-bhayāpaham ārta bandho
etāvatālamalam indriya lālasena martyātma dṛk tvayi pare yad apatya buddhiḥ

Śrī Vasudeva Mahāśaya told Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Baladeva: “You are not our sons; You are the Supreme Lords. Tell me frankly if You have descended to destroy the miscreant kings and thus lighten the burden of the earth! O friends of the distressed! Now we, souls surrendered to You and who are afraid of material existence, have taken shelter at Your lotus feet! All this time we have considered You to be just our sons, since we were so engrossed in considering ourselves to be the mortal material body through constantly yearning for extremely paltry sense gratification.” Through this statement of Śrī Vasudeva Mahāśaya we can see how his feelings for Kṛṣṇa as a son were slackened by a heart-throbbing feeling of awe and reverence for Him as the Supreme Lord. This is called aiśvarya jñāna. After giving an example in vātsalya bhāva the author now gives an example in sakhya bhāva. In the eleventh Chapter of the  Bhagavad Gītā the Lord shows Arjuna His universal form, and when Arjuna sees this gigantic, effulgent universal form he fearfully prays to the Lord:

sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yad uktaṁ he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti
ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi
yac cāvahāsārtham asatkṛto’si vihāra śayyāsana bhojaneṣu
eko’thavā’py acyuta tat samakṣaṁ tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam
(Bhagavad Gītā 11.41-42)

“O Lord! Not knowing the glories of Your universal form I have, out of bewilderment or out of love, considered You a mere friend and have repeatedly addressed You as ‘O Kṛṣṇa! O Yādava! O friend!” I have disrespected You in jest while we were playing, lying down or sitting, sometimes alone and sometimes with our friends. For all these offenses I now pray to You, the unlimited universal form, for forgiveness!” From these words of Arjuna to Kṛṣṇa we can also see how his fraternal love was slackened and shrunk by a heart-throbbing feeling of reverential and majestic God-consciousness. This is the nature of the reverential attitude.

The attitude which does not generate any feelings of heartthrobbing awe and reverence, even though there may be an awareness of ‘He is the Lord’, and which firmly establishes its own feelings within the heart, is called mādhurya jñāna. The abode of pure love is called Vraja. Here all of Kṛṣṇa’s associates either in the fraternal, paternal or amorous mood have a purely sweet conception of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the blessed author has proven that the Vraja-associates’ feelings of personal relationship are not even slightly slackened when they hear about Kṛṣṇa’s  supernatural prowess or see it, and they do not feel even the slightest awe and reverence towards Him. In the Yugala Gīta in Śrīmad Bhāgavata it is described how, when Śrī Kṛṣṇa returns to His village in the afternoon with His friends and His cows (uttara goṣṭha), some gopī pacifies mother Yaśomatī by explaining her why Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s arrival is delayed – vandinas tam upadevagaṇā ye gīta vādya balibhiḥ parivabruḥ “O Yaśode! The demigods like the Gandharvas are worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa with songs, flowers and instrumental music, hence He will be home a little later, since He is busy accepting their worship and honouring them!” Then again they say: vandyamāna caraṇaḥ pathi vṛddhaiḥ “Brahmā and other universal elders are praising His lotus feet while He is on the way.” From these statements of Śrīmad Bhāgavata’s Yugala Gīta it is known that the fraternal love of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s friends like Śrīdāma and Subala is not even slightly slackened when they personally see Brahmā, Indra, Nārada and other divinities worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa by praising His lotus feet, showering Him with flowers and singing and playing musical instruments for Him as He takes His cows out of the forest back into the meadows. In Śrī Govinda Līlāmṛta Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written –

vrajapati sevita viṣṇur yasya sva balaṁ harau nihantya’surān
tān hasantyam iti matvā mūḍhā devāḥ stuvantyenam
itthaṁ devān hasantas tān teṣām ākāra ceṣṭitaiḥ
sakhāyas te’nukurvantaḥ sakhelaṁ hariṇā yayuḥ  (19.47-48)

When Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to Vraja in the afternoon the demigods approached Him and offered different praises to Him in connection with His various kinds of prowess, such as killing so many demons. After the demigods left, the cowherdboys said: “Look at these foolish demigods, praising Kṛṣṇa like that! They don’t know that Lord Viṣṇu gave the strength to Hari to kill those demons, being pleased with Nanda Maharaja’s worship of Him!” In this way the cowherdboys mocked the forms and the activities of the demigods, and imitated their forms and activities for fun. Then they went back to Hari to play with Him. Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote the following about the friendship of Kṛṣṇa’s cowherdboyfriends  in Vraja:

unnidrasya yayus tavātra viratiṁ sapta kṣapās tiṣṭhato
hanta śrānta ivāsi nikṣipa sakhe! śrīdāma pāṇau girim
ādhir vidhyati nas tam arpaya kare kiṁ vā kṣaṇaṁ dakṣiṇe
doṣṇas te karavāma kāmam adhunā savyasya samvāhanam
(Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 3.3.18)

“Seeing Kṛṣṇa lifting Girirāja with His left hand for seven days and nights, one of His friends told Him: “O friend! You have stood here now for seven nights, without sleeping, Aho! You must surely have become tired by now, therefore hand Girirāja over to Śrīdāma! We feel very distressed by seeing You go through this hardship. Or alternatively, shift the mountain to Your right hand, so that we can massage Your left hand!” Although they saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s great prowess while He lifted Girirāja, their fraternal love for Him was not even slightly weakened – this is the best evidence to that.

The blessed author says that although the Vraja-gopīs heard from Kṛṣṇa’s cowherdboyfriends that Brahmā, Nārada and others praised Kṛṣṇa while He returned to Vraja in the afternoon, it did not even slightly weaken their sweet feelings for Him. After Kṛṣṇa lifted Girirāja the subjects of Śrī Nanda Mahārāja described Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s supernatural prowess to their king Nanda and Nanda Mahārāja consoled and pacified them by quoting the statement of Śrī Garga about Śrī Kṛṣṇa being able to display the prowess and attributes of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Then it was seen that mother Vrajeśvarī’s motherly love was not even slightly weakened, although she heard these consoling statements about Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s prowess. Rather, her motherly love for her son was only greatly strengthened when she realized ‘My son is the Supreme Lord! Therefore I am fortunate!’ In the material world it is also seen that when a mother hears that he has become the President or any kind of big universal leader, her love for her son does not weaken, it only increases. In the form of the legislation he imposes the king or President is present throughout the world, and everyone must follow it. That is the characteristic of the king. Then again, when he performs his royal duties in his royal court with his friends and ministers he wears his jewel studded crown and coat and many ornaments and everyone praises him with awe and fear – this is his prowess. Then, when his royal duties are finished he gives up his dress and ornaments and changes into his ordinary clothes, bathing, eating and resting in his private chambers, where he will not be honoured or praised in such a reverential manner by his mother, wife and friends as he was in his royal court by his subjects, although they too are aware of his royal status. They simply deal with him according to their own moods and they may even get on his case, according to their own individual feelings towards him, when he becomes so absorbed in his royal duties that he comes home a little too late for his bath and supper. This is their mādhurya. In the same way it is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s characteristic that He is all-pervading and omnipresent. In abodes like Śrī Vaikuṇṭha He displays unlimited majesty in His vilāsa mūrti-form, this is His aiśvarya, and in His original form He relishes the love of His mother, father, friends and sweethearts that all act according to their own feelings towards Him in His ‘inner chamber’ Śrī Vṛndāvana. That is His mādhurya. Here, because the Vrajavāsīs’ love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is greater, their feelings, that fit their own relationship, become more firm, even though they beheld His prowess. Just like His mother, His friends also think: “Our friend is the Supreme Lord, therefore we are blessed that we have found ourselves such a qualified friend!” The beloved gopīs also think: “Our darling is the Supreme Lord, therefore we are blessed.” This is the nature of the sweet conception of the Vraja-associates.

kiṁ ca saṁyoge sati aiśvarya-jñānaṁ na samyag avabhāsate saṁyogasya śaityāt candrātapa-tulyatvāt virahe tvaiśvarya-jñānaṁ saṁyag avabhāsate virahasyauṣṇyāt sūryātapa-tulyatvāt. tad api hṛt-kampa sambhramādarādyabhāvān naiśvarya-jñānam. yad uktam – mṛgayur iva kapīndraṁ vivyadhe lubdha dharmā striyam akṛta virūpāṁ strī-jitaḥ kāmayānām. balim api balimattvāveṣṭayad dhvāṅksavad yas tad alam asita sakhyair dustyajas tat kathārtha iti. atra vrajaukasāṁ govardhana-dhāraṇāt pūrvaṁ kṛṣṇa īśvara iti jñānaṁ nāsīt. govardhana-dhāraṇa varuṇaloka gamanānantaraṁ tu kṛṣṇo’yam īśvara eveti jñāne’py ukta prakāreṇa śuddhaṁ mādhurya-jñānam eva pūrṇam. varuṇa vākyenoddhava vākyena ca sākṣād īśvara-jñāne’pi yuvāṁ na naḥ sutāv iti vasudeva vākyavat vrajeśvarasya na me putraḥ kṛṣṇa iti manasy api manāg api noktiḥ śruyate iti tasmād vrajasthānāṁ  sarvathaiva śuddham eva mādhurya-jñānaṁ pūrṇaṁ purasthānāṁ tu aiśvarya-jñāna miśraṁ mādhurya-jñānaṁ pūrṇam.

                In times of meeting the aiśvarya jñāna is not fully manifest. The moonrays of union are very cool, but the time of separation, in which aiśvarya-jñāna is fully manifest, is as hot as the sunrays.  Nevertheless, if there is no heart-throbbing reverence and esteem during the manifestation of aiśvarya jñāna, then it cannot be really accepted as aiśvarya jñāna.  For instance, Śrī Rādhārāṇī said: “O bumblebee! There’s no more need for us to make friends with dark-complexioned men. One black man (In His descension as Rāma) pierced the monkey-king Bāli like a hunter. Again, being controlled by a woman (His wife Sītā) He cut lusty Sūrpaṇakhā’s nose and ears off. Then, like a black crow (in His descension as Vāmana) He accepted the worship of Bāli Mahārāja and then bound him up.  But still it is difficult to give up speaking about Him!”  After Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill and had gone to Varuṇa-loka, the hearts of the Vrajavāsīs were, after initially realising that He is the Lord Himself, at once filled with sweet feelings of love towards Him. One has never heard even a single word like “You are not our sons, You are the Original Godhead” from the mouth of Nanda Mahārāja, like they were spoken by Vasudeva to Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, even after he had heard from Varuṇa-deva and Uddhava that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. Therefore the Vrajavāsīs were always full of madhurya jñāna, but Kṛṣṇa’s associates in Dvārakā were filled with aiśvarya jñāna mixed with mādhurya jñāna.

Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā:

When the Vrajavāsī-pārṣadas, who are all endowed with sweet feelings for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are together with Him, there is no awareness of prowess manifest, because this meeting is as cool and pleasant as the moonrays. At the time of separation their awareness of Kṛṣṇa’s prowess is somewhat manifest, because this time is scorching like the rays of the sun. In Vraja aiśvarya is like a blade of grass on the bottom of a milkpot that vanishes in the vast and bottomless ocean of the Vrajavāsī-pārṣadas’ sweet conception. Just as the blade of grass which is situated below, comes floating on the surface of the pot when the milk is stirred while being boiled by the fire in the hearth, similarly prowess becomes manifest or sought after when the immaculate rāga-ocean of the Vrajavāsīs’ love is being heated and stirred by the slow fire of separation. Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has written in his book Śrī Siddhānta Ratna: mādhurya niṣṭhānām aiśvarya jñānaṁ triveṇyāṁ sarasvatī pravāhad gauṇatayāsti. virahe vismaye vipadi ca tasyodaya parvaṇi sārasvatasyeva pravāhasya “Just as the Sarasvatī-river is underlying in the Triveṇī, aiśvarya is underlying the sweet conception the Vrajavāsī-devotees are fixed in. Just as the Sarasvatī-river is  visible in the Triveṇī-saṅgama during the full moon or other auspicious occasions, similarly a conception of prowess and majesty may be slightly manifest within the Vrajavāsī-devotees at the time of separation, astonishment or danger, so that they may be consoled. Still this cannot be properly called a conception of prowess or majesty, because there is no heart-throbbing reverence or hesitation at the time of its manifestation. The pure awareness of sweetness in Vraja is of such a nature that even when they witness hundreds of divine manifestations of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, it will not cause even the slightest reverence or hesitation in the hearts of the people of Vraja, nor will it weaken their relationship with Him, rather it will make their relationship with Him only more firm.

In Śrī Vṛndāvana a lot of great prowess was manifest, starting from Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s childhood-pastimes all the way up to the crownjewel of all transcendental pastimes, Śrī-Śrī Rāsa-līlā, and it was all inconceivable. Although all the Vrajavāsīs had witnessed the pastimes of killing Pūtanā, Aghāsura and Bakāsura, lifting Govardhana Hill, defeating the Kāliya-serpent and swallowing the forestfire, they felt no hesitation towards Kṛṣṇa in their hearts at all. Rather, all these pastimes were manifest to them decorated with limitless sweetness. During the Rāsa-līlā Śrī Kṛṣṇa simultaneously manifested Himself between each pair of the countless gopīs, entering in between them to show His pleasure pastime of dancing, and after the Rāsa He entered into the kuñjas of innumerable gopīs in all separate forms to make love with them, but all these signs of prowess drowned within the bottomless ocean of the gopīs’ matchless sweetness, and simply nourished their sweet feelings. The limitless sweetness that was established on top of the foundation of endless prowess, and its pride, attracts the hearts of everyone.

To give an example of how aiśvarya manifests itself at the time of separation in Vraja in a sweet, yet majestic way, accomplishing a nourishment of the mādhurya rasa, the blessed author provides evidence from the Bhramara Gīti, in which Śrī Rādhārāṇī speaks in the condition of divyonmāda, divine madness.

mṛgayur iva kapīndraṁ vivyadhe lubdha dharmā striyam akṛta virūpāṁ strī-jitaḥ kāma-yānām
balim api balimattvā veṣṭayad dhvaṅkṣayad ya tad alam asita sakhyair dustyajas tat kathārthaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.47.17)

In his commentary on this verse Śrīdhara Svāmī has written: kiṁ ca śrī kṛṣṇasya pūrvāṇi karmāṇi anusandadhānā vibhemya’smāt ityāha mṛgayur iti “During separation Śrī Rādhārāṇī perceives Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s divine prowess and this reminds Her of His pastimes in previous descensions. Thus She tells the bumblebee in this verse: “O Bumblebee! Those who have a dark complexion are extremely crooked, merciless and irreligious! It is not just that I am afraid of the behaviour of Your friend, I am very much afraid of dark-complexioned people altogether!” Here Śrīmatī’s sañcārī bhāva (transitory ecstasy) of nirveda (remorse) is so intense that She becomes afraid even when She pronounces the word ‘śyāma’. Hence She just uses the word asita, not white. “O rey! One asita (Śrī Rāmacandra) has secretly killed the monkey-king Bāli with His arrows, just like a merciless hunter. O rey! Those who are hunters do not kill monkeys, for they know that monkey-meat is uneatable, but this person, simply because He was endowed with a blackish complexion, acted in a way that is despicable even for a hunter, although He was the greatest among the righteous. Then again He was so enamoured by Sītā that He maimed Sūrpanakhā by cutting off Her nose. The fault of Sūrpanakhā was that she wanted to marry Him because she was so attracted to His looks, but He did not marry her and made it also impossible for anyone to marry her by cutting of her nose and thus making her ugly. Another asita (Śrī Vāmana) took birth in a brāhmaṇa-family and was a brahmacārī endowed with all good qualities such as self-control and equilibrium. He showed His small feet to the righteous Bali Mahārāja and asked him for three steps of land, but in the end He came out with very big feet that covered the whole universe and then bound him up and took his articles of worship on the pretext of taking His third step of land. O rey! Just as a crow first eats the food of a donor and then hurts him by striking him with its beak, similarly He had the righteous Bali bound up by His associates like Garuḍa and Sunanda and finally had him thrown into the nether worlds known as Pātāla. Although He was the son of the great sage Kaśyapa and he was even a brahmacārī, He makes My heart tremble of fear when I remember His evil behaviour, caused by His assumption of a dark complexion!!”

Then it was as if the bumblebee replied through its humming: “Ṭhākurāṇi! If He is so full of faults, then why are You constantly speaking about Him? Is it proper always to speak about the faults of people who are faulty?” To this She replied: dustyajaṁ tat kathārthaḥ “O rey! Although I do not need any friendship with this black person, I am still unable to give up the treasure of speaking about Him! I can give up everything, including your friend, but I cannot give up speaking about Him! I can only survive this harsh separation from Him by continuing to talk about Him!” These ecstatic words that emanate from Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s beautiful mouth serve as the best example of how the Vrajavāsīs experience the majesty and prowess of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as sweet and relishable, according to their own feelings towards Him.

Although the Vraja-devotees, who are swimming in sweet flavours, witnessed many of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sports of prowess, like the killing of different demons, after He descended, they did not consider Him to be the Supreme Lord, but when they saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa lifting Govardhana Hill and bringing Śrī Nanda Mahārāja back from Varuṇa-loka, they started calling Him the Supreme Lord. After Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill the Vrajavāsīs told Śrī Nanda Mahārāja (Bhāgavata 10.26.2,3 and 14):

bālakasya yad etāni karmāṇyatādbhutāni vai;
katham arhatyasau janma grāmyeṣvātma jugupsitam
yaḥ sapta hāyano bālaḥ kareṇaikena līlayā; kathaṁ vibhrad girivaraṁ puṣkaraṁ gajarāḍ iva
kva sapta hāyano bālaḥ kva mahādri vidhāraṇam; tato no jāyate śaṅkā vrajanātha tavātmaje

“O Mahārāja! It is not possible for a child that took birth in a family of cowherders to perform such astonishing feats! This seven-year old boy has lifted the Govardhana Hill with just one hand with the same ease as Airāvata, the king of elephants, holds a lotus flower in his trunk.” Then, after describing all the other extraordinary pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, such as killing Pūtanā, Śakaṭāsura, Tṛṇāvarta and Bakāsura, as well as the subjugation of Kāliya, they finally said: “Where is this seven-year old boy, and where is that great mountain of Govardhana? O Lord of Vraja! When we see all these amazing activities of your son, we are overcome with many doubts. This son of yours can never be an ordinary human child; this is certainly the Supreme Lord, who is endowed with great inconceivable potencies!”

Hearing their words Śrī Nanda Mahārāja quoted the words Garga Muni spoke when he performed Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s name giving ceremony, ending with manye nārāyaṇasyāṁśaṁ kṛṣṇam akliṣṭa-kāriṇam (Bhāg. 10.26.23) “O cowherders! From then onwards I consider Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be a particle of Śrī Nārāyaṇa who is able to do anything.” After Śrī Nanda Mahārāja spoke these words the cowherders had no more doubt in the supernatural activities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, such as His lifting of Govardhana Hill, and most blissfully they began to praise Śrī Nanda and Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the same way Śrī Śuka Muni told Śrī Parīkṣit when Śrī Kṛṣṇa took Śrī Nanda Mahārāja from Varuṇaloka:

nandas tvatīndriyaṁ dṛṣṭvā lokapāla mahodayam
kṛṣṇe ca sannatiḥ teṣāṁ jñātibhyo vismito’bravīt
te tvautsukya-dhiyo rājan matvā gopās tam īśvaram
(Bhāg. 10.28.10-11)

“O King! Seeing the transcendental opulence of Varuṇaloka and seeing the inhabitants of Varuṇaloka behaving like servants towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Goparāja Nanda became most astonished and told it to his friends and relatives. Hearing Śrī Nanda’s words the cowherds considered Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme Lord!” Still, even then the Vrajavāsīs’ conception of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the extraordinary good wordly friend remained unchanged, because of their fixation in a sweet attitude. Although both Śrī Varuṇa-deva and Śrī Uddhava Mahāśaya, who was sent to Vraja to console Śrī Nanda and the cowherds when they suffered separation from Kṛṣṇa when He resides in Mathurā (Māthura-viraha), told Śrī Nanda that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord Himself, Śrī Nanda Mahārāja never uttered statements like Śrī Vasudeva, when he told Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Baladeva that ‘You are not our sons; You are the Supreme Lord Himself!”, and such feelings did not even awaken within his mind! He just considered Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be his very own son. In this way the Vrajavāsīs were always filled with purely sweet feelings, while the sweet conceptions of the residents of Mathurā and Dvārakā were mixed with a knowledge of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s prowess.

TEXT 6:

nanu pure vasudeva-nandanaḥ śrī kṛṣṇo’yam īśvara eva iti naralīlatve’pi jānātyeva yathā tathaiva nandanandanaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ svam īśvaratvena vraje jānāti na vā. yadi jānāti tadā dāma-bandhanādi līlāyāṁ mātṛ bhīti hetukāśru-pātādikaṁ na ghaṭate. tadādikam anukaraṇam eveti vyākhyā tu  manda-matīnām  eva  natvabhijna  bhaktānām.  tathāvyākhyānasyābhijñatva sammatatve ‘gopyādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad yā te daśāśru kalilāñjana sambhramākṣam. vaktraṁ nilīya bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasya sa māṁ vimohayati bhīr api yad vibheti’. ityuktavatyāṁ kuntyāṁ moho naiva varṇyeta. tathāhi bhīr api yad vibheti ityuktyatyāṁ kuntyāṁ moho naiva varṇyeta. tathāhi bhīr api yad vibheti ityuktyaiva kuntyā atraiśvarya jñānaṁ vyaktī-bhūtaṁ bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasya ityantar bhayasya ca tayā satyatvam evābhimatam. anukaraṇa mātratve jñāte tasyā moho na sambhaved iti jñeyam. yadi ca svayam īśvaratvena na jānāti tadā tasya nitya jñānānanda ghanasya nitya jñānāvaraṇaṁ kena kṛtam iti – atrocyate.  yathā saṁsāra-bandhe nipātya duḥkam evānubhāvayituṁ māyāvṛttir avidyā jīvānāṁ jñānam āvṛṇoti yathā ca mahā madhura śrī kṛṣṇa-līlā sukham anubhāvayituṁ guṇātītānāṁ śrī kṛṣṇa parivārāṇāṁ vrajeśvaryādīnāṁ jñānaṁ cicchakti-vṛttir yogamāyaivāvṛṇoti tathaiva śrī kṛṣṇam ānanda svarūpam apyānandātiśayam anubhāvayituṁ cicchakti sāra vṛttiḥ premaiva tasya jñānam āvṛṇoti. premṇas tu tat svarūpa-śaktitvāt tena tasya vyāpter na dosaḥ.

 

                The next question is: Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as the son of Śrī Vasudeva played human-like pastimes in Dvārakā-līlā, He knew it that He is God, but did He also know it as the son of Nanda in Vraja, or not? If you say ‘Yes, He knew it’, then I say that He would not have been able to cry tears of fear while He was bound up with ropes by mother Yaśodā in Vraja-līlā. Those who explain that ‘He was simply pretending to be afraid, and that’s why He was crying tears’ are less intelligent. The wise and learned do not say this. If intelligent devotees would give this explanation, then the words of Queen Kuntī (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata 1.8.31) “Mother Yaśodā took up a  rope to bind You when You committed an offense by smashing Her yoghurt-pot, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the collyrium off Your eyes. And You were afraid, trying to hide Your face, although fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me”, would never contain the word ‘vimoha’ (bewildered). The purport of this verse is that Kuntī’s conception is aiśvarya jñāna. That is why she says that ‘even fear personified is afraid of You’. With the words bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasya, that He contemplates fear, it is proven that Kuntī finds Kṛṣṇa genuinely afraid in His heart. If Kuntī had known that Kṛṣṇa was simply pretending to be afraid, then she would not have been bewildered. And if you say ‘allright, so Kṛṣṇa did not know that He is God, but then by whom or what was His eternal omniscience covered over, whereas He is the embodiment of eternal blissful and complete knowledge?’ About this it is said: “It is the essence of Kṛṣṇa’s cit, or knowledge-potency, named prema, or love of God, that covers Him over, making Him forget His actual identity, although He is ecstasy personified, for the sake of increasing His own ecstasy, just as avidyā, or the ignorance-potency of māyā keeps all the living beings bound up in the material world, making them experience only suffering, and the transcendental energy of yogamāyā covers over the God-know-ledge of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental associates in Vraja like mother Yaśodā to make them experience His all-sweet humanlike pastimes. There is no fault in prema covering over Kṛṣṇa’s knowledge of His svarūpa (true identity).

                Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā:

After describing how the Vrajavāsīs always keep a sweet conception of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and are thus able to relish His sweetness accordingly, even if they see His prowess, the blessed author now describes how Śrī Kṛṣṇa is able to relish the sweetness of the Vrajavāsīs’ prema, considering Himself to be just the son of Śrī Nanda. The question is this: In His Pura-līlā (urban pastimes in Dvārakā and Mathurā) Śrī Kṛṣṇa always knew Himself to be God, despite performing human-like pastimes. Through Pura-līlās such as Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s assuming four-armed forms, mounting Garuḍa and kidnapping Rukmiṇī, taking the Sudarśana-disc to kill the demons, speaking of His opulences to Śrī Arjuna during the Kurukṣetran war and showing His universal form it is proven that Śrī Kṛṣṇa knew Himself to be God in the Pura-līlās. Now did Vrajendranandana similarly know Himself to be God during His Vraja-līlā, or not? If one answers to this question “Yes, He knew it”, then He would not have shown fear of mother Yaśodā during the Dāma-bandhana-līlā and He would not have shed tears because of it. Actually the basic characteristic of prema is that it awakens a desire in the loving devotee’s heart to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa that causes a corresponding desire in the heart of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is actually the crownjewel of all those who are self-satisfied and self-delighted, to accept the loving service of the devotee. The Pura-vāsīs consider Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be their son, friend or lover, and they feel hesitation and reverence towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa as being the Lord accordingly. Their prema thus  makes  Śrī Kṛṣṇa consider Himself simultaneously to be both their relative and their Lord. The abode of pure love is Vraja, here everyone’s heart is constantly filled with increasing feelings for Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the good worldly friend, be He their son, friend or lover. The awareness that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord does not cause feelings of reverence or hesitations in their minds even in dreams. Since Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s heart always corresponds with the feelings of His various devotees He also does not consider Himself to be the Supreme Lord in Vraja-dhāma.

When someone thinks, during the Dāma Bandhana-līlā Śrī Kṛṣṇa was just imitating a human child by weeping and being afraid, then this is not correct. The blessed author says that the experienced devotees never think like that, only unintelligent people do, for in the prayers of Śrī Kuntī-devī in Śrīmad Bhāgavata we see:

gopyādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad yā te daśāśru kalilāñjana sambhramākṣam
vaktraṁ ninīya bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasya sā māṁ vimohayati bhīr api yad vibheti
(Bhāg. 1.8.31)

Śrī Kuntī-devī said: “O Kṛṣṇa! When You committed the prank of breaking mother Yaśodā’s yoghurt-pot, Your mother caught a rope to bind You up with. Then Your eyes became filled with fear and anxiety and Your eyeblack became muddled by Your tears. There You stood with lowered face, although fear personified fears You, contemplating fear. When I remember You thus in this condition I become bewildered!” If Śrī Kṛṣṇa was just imitating a child’s fear and weeping, then the bewilderment of a knower of transcendental truths like Kuntī-devī would never have been described here. The explanation here is that Kuntī-devī revealed her majestic awareness (aiśvarya jñāna) here by saying that even fear personified fears Kṛṣṇa. Then again Kuntī-devī expresses that Śrī Kṛṣṇa felt actual fear in His heart by saying bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasya, He became afraid by contemplating fear. In his Krama-Sandarbha Ṭīkā on this verse Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmī has written: atra bhīr api yad vibhetītyuktyā tasyā aiśvarya jñānaṁ vyaktam. tato yadi sā bhīḥ satyā na bhavati tadā tasyā moho’pi na sambhaved iti gamyate. sphuṭam eva cāntar bhayam uktaṁ bhaya bhāvanayā sthitasyeti. Thus it is known that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s fear was real and not an imitation.

Then again if it is said that “If Śrī Kṛṣṇa did not know Himself to be the Supreme Lord, then one may doubt by whom His knowledge is covered over, although the full knowledge potency is serving Him at every moment? Generally the māyā-potency covers over the knowledge of the people of the world, through its ignorance-faculty (avidyā-vṛtti). Śrī Kṛṣṇa is like the sun and the self-manifest māyā resides in the place of darkness. Hence ‘yāhā kṛṣṇa tāhā nāhi māyāra adhikāra (C.C.)” “Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, māyā has no right to enter.” Because Śrī Kṛṣṇa knows the deceitfulness of māyā, she is too shy to appear before His eyes – vilajjamānayā yasya sthātum īkṣa-pathe’muyā. vimohitā vikatthante mamāham iti durdhiyaḥ (Bhāg. 2.5.13)  Māyā has no power at all over any of the bhagavat svarūpas (Personalities of Godhead). Although the Puruṣāvatāras have no relationship with māyā they ultimately glance towards her, so that the universes can be created, but the Original Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, does not have even the slightest such connection with māyā. tā’ sabhāra darśanādye āche māyā gandha; turīya kṛṣṇera nāhi māyāra sambandha (C.C.) By whom then is the knowledge potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa covered over so that He just considers Himself the son of Śrī Nanda in Vraja, although He is the Original Personality of Godhead and an ocean of endless prowess?

To this question the answer is: “Just as māyā gives misery to the conditioned souls, keeping them bound in the material world by covering over their knowledge with her ignorance-faculty, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Yogamāyā potency covers over the knowledge of the transcendental Vraja-associates like Śrī Vrajeśvarī Yaśodā with its transcendental potency that can accomplish even the impossible, similarly for the sake of making Śrī Kṛṣṇa relish some unprecedented flavour of bliss, the purely sweet prema of the Vraja-associates, which is the essential faculty of the cicchakti (knowledge potency), covers over His knowledge, although He is the embodiment of the full jñānānanda, the bliss of transcendental knowledge. Since prema is a faculty of the svarūpa-śakti (Kṛṣṇa’s innate potency) there is no fault here in its covering over Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s awareness of His innate prowess, rather it makes the greatest glories arise, as is shown below.

yathā hy avidyā svavṛttyā mamatayā jīvaṁ duḥkayitum eva badhnāti; tathā daṇḍanīya janasya gātra-bandhanaṁ rajju nigaḍādinā mānanīya janasyāpi gātra-bandhanam anargha sugandha sūkṣma kañcukoṣṇīṣādinā; ity avidyādhīno jīvo duḥkī; premādhīnaḥ śrī kṛṣṇo’ti sukhī. kṛṣṇasya premāvaraṇa svarūpaḥ sukha viśeṣa bhoga eva mantavyaḥ yathā bhṛṅgasya kamalakoṣāvaraṇa rūpaḥ. ataevoktaṁ ‘nāpaisi nātha hṛdayāmburuhāt svapuṁsām’ iti ‘praṇaya rasanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padme’ iti ca.  kiṁ ca yathaivāvidyayā svatāratamyena jñānāvaraṇa tāratamyāt jīvasya pañcavidha kleśa tāratamyaṁ vidhiyate tathaiva premṇāpi svatāratamyena jñānaiśvaryādyāvaraṇa tāratamyāt sva viṣayāśrayayor ananta prakāraṁ sukha tāratamyaṁ vidhiyate iti. tatra kevala premā śrī yaśodādi niṣṭhaḥ sva viṣayāśrayau mamatā rasanayā nibadhya  paraspara vaśībhūtau vidhāya  jñānaiśvaryādikam  āvṛtya yathādhikaṁ sukhayati na tathā devakyādi niṣṭho jñānaiśvarya miśra iti. tasmāt tāsāṁ vrajeśvaryādīnāṁ sannidhau tad vātsalyādi prema mugdhaḥ śrī kṛṣṇaḥ svam īśvaratvena naiva jānāti. yat tu nānā dānava dāvĀnalādyutpātāgama kāle tasya sārvajñaṁ dṛṣṭaṁ tat khalu tat tat prema parijana pālana prayojanikayā līlā-śaktyaiva sphuritaṁ jñeyam. kiṁ ca maugdhya samaye’pi tasya sādhaka bhakta paricaryādi grahaṇe sārvajñam acintya śakti siddham iti prāk pratipāditam.

                 Just as ignorance binds up the conditioned souls with the ropes of possessiveness, giving them simply misery and prisoners are bound with ropes and chains, that give them much pain, similarly the body of a respectable person is bound up by valuable, pleasurable thin clothes like a shirt and a turban. In the same way the conditioned soul’s ignorance leads to his misery and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ignorance makes Him very happy, because He is controlled by love. Śrī Kṛṣṇa enjoys great happiness being covered over by prema, just as a bumblebee feels very pleasant being covered over in the whorl of a lotus flower. Therefore it is said: “O Lord! You don’t leave the lotuslike hearts of Your devotees!” and: “The devotees have bound Your lotus feet with the ropes of their love”. Just as one experiences the five kinds of misery to a greater or lesser extent according to the amount in which one is covered over by ignorance, so also prema covers over the knowledge and prowess of both its object and subject to a greater or lesser extent, expanding innumerable ways of transcendental ecstasy. Because their love for Kṛṣṇa is mixed with knowledge of His divine prowess, the inhabitants of Dvārakā like Devakī do not experience as much bliss as pure devotees like Śrī Yaśodā do. They (the Vrajavāsīs) are experiencing ever-increasing bliss, being bound to Kṛṣṇa, the object of their love, by the ropes of ‘mine-ness’, that keeps the object and the subject of that love subdued by each other. Therefore Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being bewildered by such love of the Queen of Vraja (Yaśodā) and others, does not know about His own Godhood. When some disturbance is caused by a demon or by a forestfire, then Kṛṣṇa manifests His omniscience, but that is only for the sake of protecting such loving devotees and the līlā-śakti (playpotency) then makes Him aware of His power. Previously (in verse one) it was already corroborated that His inconceivable potency enables Him to be omniscient so that He can accept the service offered to Him by the practising devotees, even when He is bewildered by loving bliss.

  Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā:

It has been ascertained that prema binds up Śrī Kṛṣṇa by covering over His knowledge about His real Self, and this makes Śrī Kṛṣṇa most happy. A criminal offender is given much misery when he is bound up with ropes and chains, whereas the bondage of a valuable shirt, turban and garlands makes a respectable person most happy. In the same way the bondage of the conditioned souls by ignorance is felt as very miserable and the bondage of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is experienced by Him as most delightful. Just as a drunken bumblebee may be locked up within the whorl of a lotus petal, but he actually feels very happy because he is relishing the honey of the lotus flower, similarly Śrī Kṛṣṇa enjoys the greatest happiness drinking the honey of love while being locked up in the lotuslike heart of his pure devotees. Hence He has no desire to ever leave the hearts of His devotees. In his prayers to Lord Garbhodaka-śāyī Lord Brahmā said: bhaktyā gṛhīta caraṇaḥ parayā ca teṣāṁ nāpaiṣi nātha hṛdayāmburuhāt svapuṁsām (Bhāg. 3.9.5) “O Lord! You are unable to leave the lotuslike heart of Your devotees, since You are bound up by the ropes of their love for You!” In the ascertainment of the Mahābhāgavata it is also said:

visṛjati hṛdayaṁ na yasya sākṣād dharir avaśābhihito’pyghaugha nāśaḥ
praṇaya rasanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padmaḥ sa bhavati bhāgavata pradhāna uktaḥ
(Bhāg. 11.2.55)

Śrīpāda Kavi Yogīndra told Nimi Rājā: “O Mahārāja! When Śrī Hari, who can destroy all the sins of anyone who even accidentally pronounces His holy name, does not leave the heart of someone who has bound His lotus feet with the ropes of love, then such a person is called the greatest Bhāgavata (devotee)!” In his commentary on this verse Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda has written: harir eva svayaṁ sākṣād yasya hṛdayaṁ na visṛjati na muñcati “Śrī Hari Himself does not leave his heart.” Through this it is ascertained that the subjugation of the Lord by the bondage of the ropes of His devotees’ love for Him is a most blissful thing.

Then again, just as ignorance covers over the knowledge of the conditioned souls that are bound by māyā to a greater or a lesser extent by giving them the five kinds of misery, viz. avidyā (ignorance), asmitā (self-esteem), rāga (attachment) dveṣa (repulsion) and abhiniveśa (mundane absorption) to a greater or lesser extent, similarly prema also covers over the knowledge of spiritual truth and awareness of prowess of both the object of love Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the subject of love, the devotee, to a greater or lesser extent and gives them corrresponding amounts of a variety of transcendental bliss. The purport of this is that in the sādhaka bhakta prema is present to an atomic extent, in the various associates of the Lord like Nārada and Vyāsa it is present to a greater or lesser extent, in the Vrajavāsī-associates of the Lord it is present to a great extent, and in Śrī Rādhārāṇī it is present to the utmost extent. Therefore this great and greatest amount of love is fully covering over all transcendental knowledge and awareness of prowess in both Śrī Kṛṣṇa and his Vrajavāsī-associates. This makes Śrī Kṛṣṇa relish the pure mellow of the Vrajavāsīs’ love for Him and makes the Vrajavāsīs relish the mellows of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s attributes and pastimes in a way that is completely free from awe, reverence and hesitation. Therefore the blessed author says that the pure Vrajavāsī-prema of Mother Yaśodā and others binds the object Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the subject, the Vrajavāsīs to each other with the ropes of mine-ness (loving possessiveness), causes them to be subdued by each other and covers over their transcendental knowledge and awareness of prowess, giving them an increase of bliss that could never be given to the Pura-vāsīs like Śrī Devakī, whose love is mixed with transcendental knowledge and an awareness of Kṛṣṇa’s prowess. Thus, in accordance with the love of the Puravāsīs, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is aware of His own prowess, which means that He considers Himself to be the Supreme Lord with them, but with the Vrajavāsīs He never considers Himself to be the Supeme Lord, as He is then bewildered by their love for Him. He constantly considers Himself to be their son, friend or lover. Then when He destroys the demons or a forestfire, or when Indra sends powerful torrents of rain and thunderbolts to destroy Vraja, thus creating a great danger for the Vrajavāsīs, He displays energies like omniscience, but this is only meant for the protection of such great loving devotees and this is revealed within Śrī Kṛṣṇa by His inconceivable potency. Even when Śrī Kṛṣṇa is bewildered or ignorant the potency of omniscience may be seen in Him to accept the worship of the sādhaka bhaktas, and should be known to be created by His inconceivable potency.

  tad evaṁ vidhi-mārga  rāga-mārgayor  viveka  aiśvarya  mādhuryayor  viveka aiśvarya-jñāna  mādhurya-jñānayor  vivekaś ca  darśitaḥ. svakīyā parakīyātvayor vivekas tu ujjvala nīlamaṇi vyākhyāyāṁ vistārita eva. atra vidhi-mārgeṇa rādhā-kṛṣṇayor bhajane mahā vaikuṇṭhastha goloke khalvavivikta svakīyā parakīyā-bhāvam aiśvarya-jñānaṁ  prāpnoti. madhura bhāva lobhitve sati vidhi-mārgeṇa bhajane dvārakāyāṁ śrī rādhā satyabhāmayor aikyāt satyabhāmā parikaratvena svakīyā-bhāvam aiśvarya jñāna miśra mādhurya-jñānaṁ prāpnoti. rāga-mārgeṇa bhajane vrajabhūmau śrī rādhā parikaratvena parakīyā-bhāvaṁ śuddha mādhurya-jñānaṁ prāpnoti. yadyapi śrī rādhikā śrī kṛṣṇasya svarūpabhūtā hlādinī śaktiḥ tasyā api śrī kṛṣṇaḥ eva tad api tayor līlā sahitayor evopāsyatvaṁ na tu līlā rahitayoḥ līlāyāṁ tu tayor vraja-bhūmau kvāpy ārṣa-śāstre dāmpatyaṁ na pratipāditam iti śrī rādhā hi prakaṭāprakaṭa prakāśayoḥ parakīyaiva iti sarvārtha niṣkarṣa saṅkṣepaḥ.

                In this way the distinction between vidhi mārga and rāga mārga, aiśvarya and mādhurya, and aiśvarya jñāna and mādhurya jñāna was shown. The philosophy of svakīyā and parakīyā bhāva has been elaborately explained in my commentary on Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi. There it is seen that if one worships Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa on the vidhi-path one attains aiśvarya jñāna without differentiation between svakīyā and parakīyā bhāva in the Goloka-sphere within Mahā Vaikuṇṭha. When one is greedy for the madhura bhāva, but holds on to the vidhi mārga, one attains the position of associate of Satyabhāmā in Dvārakā’s svakīyā rasa, knowing that Śrī Rādhā and Satyabhāmā are One. This is a blend of aiśvarya jñāna and mādhurya jñāna. And when one worships solely on the path of rāga, one attains an awareness of pure mādhurya and the position of associate of Śrī Rādhā in Vrajabhūmi’s parakīyā bhāva.

                Although Śrī Rādhikā is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s very own pleasure potency and Śrī Kṛṣṇa also belongs to Śrī Rādhikā, still one must meditate on Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa within Their pastimes, never only on Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa without Their pastimes. But within these pastimes none of the scriptures revealed by the sages, has corroborated a marital status of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vrajabhūmi. Therefore Śrī Rādhā has a parakīya, or extramarital relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa,  both in the prakaṭa (manifest earthly) as well as in the aprakaṭa (unmanifest Goloka-) pastimes, not svakīyā. In this way the essence of all topics has been briefly described.

Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā:

In this Rāga Vartma Candrikā-grantha the blessed author has described the difference between vidhi mārga and rāga mārga, what should be especially known to rāga-mārgīya sādhakas. In this book he has very expertly shown the different distinctions between Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s prowess and sweetness and the distinctions between the awareness of prowess and sweetness of both Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His worshippers. The blessed author has extensively described the different distinctions and theories in connection with svakīyā and parakīyā-bhāva in his Ānanda Candrikā-commentary on Śrī Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi-grantha. Although he was surrendered to the lotus feet of Śrī-Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, the ācāryas of pure parakīyā bhāva, Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda sometimes described the parakīyā bhāva as being only present in the Lord’s manifest pastimes in various places of his Locana Rocanī-commentary on Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi, just to free the sampradāya from a dilemma at that time. In order that people who were not able to understand the deep purport of Śrī Jīva, would not mock him, considering him to be a svakīyā ācārya, the most learned author of this book wrote the Ānanda Candrikā-commentary, in which he showed his natural affection for Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda and accomplished an unlimitedly beneficial work for the sampradāya. It is not exaggerated to say that such expert explanations about parakīyā-bhāva are extremely rare. All the learned and wise devotees will admit without hesitation that Śrī Jīva Gosvāmīpāda, who established the eternality of all of the Lord’s pastimes in his Śrī Bhagavat Sandarbha, could never have described those most elevated pastimes that are filled with extramarital love as being non-eternal. Therefore it can be easily understood that when he ascertained the parakīyabhāva-maya pastimes as being non-eternal, he did not speak out his own philosophical conclusions. Therefore he wrote at the end of his commentary on the verse laghutvam atra yat proktam of Śrī Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’s Nāyaka Bheda Prakaraṇa: svecchayā likhitaṁ kiñcit kiñcid atra parecchayā. yat pūrvāpara sambandhaṁ tat pūrvamaparaṁ param “In this commentary I write some things according to my own wishes and some things according to the wishes of others. Any conclusion that is filled with consistency from the beginning to the end, is written according to my own wish, and that which is not filled with consistency from beginning to end is written according to the wish of others. Thus it is to be known.” Those who wish to know this topic in the best possible way should certainly study Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Mahāśaya’s Ānanda Candrikā Ṭīkā.

After this the blessed author describes the successive order of worship required to attain one’s beloved devotional service, in order to establish the fact that the attainment of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service in Vraja is very rare without practising pure rāga mārga bhajana. Those who worship Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa while holding on to the vidhi mārga do not discriminate between svakīyā and parakīyā, and thus they attain Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa in the majestic atmosphere of the Śrī Goloka which is situated in the Mahā Vaikuṇṭha-realm. With this, most certainly the devotees who are in dāsya bhāva and so are being described. When someone takes shelter of the madhura bhāva and worships Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in vidhi mārga, then he will see that Śrī Rādhā and Satyabhāmā are one, and will attain devotional service as an associate of Satyabhāmā in svakīya bhāva in the madhura bhāva mixed with an awareness of prowess. And when one worships in in pure rāga mārga one will attain the position of an associate of Śrī Rādhārāṇī in Vraja. In other words, he will attain the service of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Vraja in a pure mādhurya bhāva as a sakhī or mañjarī in parakīya rasa. Therefore there is no doubt that it is indispensible for all the sādhakas who desire to attain the Śrī Yugala-sevā in Vraja and who want to learn bhajana in the pure rāga mārga to study this book.

Śrī Rādhārāṇī is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s innate supreme hlādinī-śakti, and since there is no difference between the energy and the energetic there is also no difference between Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. This is the technical side of it. In worship Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are to be worshipped within Their pastimes, They cannot be worshipped without Their pastimes, just as a theological truth, because as a result of one’s worship the devotional service of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is attained within the kingdom of Their pastimes. As far as pastimes are concerned: there is no scripture revealed by any Ṛṣi (transcendental seer) that describes Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Vrajabhūmī as wedded pastimes. Someone may say: “Why, in books like the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa there is a description of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s wedding, therefore can this conclusion of Cakravartīpāda be proper?” Actually those who speak such words have misunderstood the meaning of Cakravartīpāda’s words. The purport of these words of Śrīla Cakravartīpāda is that in no Ārya-śāstra the wedded pastimes of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana can be seen, therefore he begins his sentence with the words līlāyāṁ tu (..but in the pastime). Thus there can be no more doubt about it that Śrī Rādhārāṇī is engaged in extra-marital love in Vraja, both in the manifest pastimes as well as in the unmanifest manifestation. (6)