Sri Sri Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi

VERSE 18:

VAIDAGDHYA SINDHUR ANURĀGA RASAIKA SINDHUR
VĀTSALYA SINDHUR ATI SĀNDRA KṚPAIKA SINDHUḤ
LĀVAṆYA SINDHUR AMṚTA CCHABI RŪPA SINDHUḤ
ŚRĪ RĀDHIKĀ SPHURATU ME HṚDI KELI SINDHUḤ

When will Śrī Rādhā, Who is an ocean of cleverness, an ocean of anurāga rasa, an ocean of motherly affection, an ocean of very deep compassion, an ocean of elegance, a nectar-ocean of glistening transcendental forms and an ocean of play, be manifest in my heart?

       ŚRĪ RĀDHĀ EMBODIES THE SEVEN OCEANS:

Commentary by Srila Ananta das Babaji:

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī writes in his Prīti Sandarbha that, along with a desire to please the deity, there is also a natural desire to have an intimate relationship with Him and to attain Him. The devotee who is fixed in smaraṇa attains direct association with his chosen deity within his mind. Just as the devotees have discussions with Each other in this world, so do the girlfriends and maidservants of Śrī Rādhā have them in the spiritual world! upa means ‘close by’ and upāsana means: sitting close by. The practising devotee can stay close by them (the sakhīs and mañjarīs) in his spiritual body (siddha deha) by constantly practising smaraṇa. This is beautiful sāsaṅga bhajana, devotion with spiritual attachment.

Now that Śrīpada has returned to his sādhaka-consciousness he feels great separation from Svāminī and prays that She will be revealed within his heart once again.  It is as if Īśvarī plays hide-and-seek with her maidservants. Sometimes She shows the sweetness of Her form, attributes and pastimes and sometimes She withdraws this vision. When the devotees are separated from Her they also see Her extraordinary sweet qualities. Śrī Rādhā is as beautiful as Sapta-sindhuvati Dhāritrī, the planet earth with her seven oceans. There are seven oceans in the material world: one of salt, one of sugarcane juice, one of wine, one of clarified butter, one of yoghurt, one of milk and one of sweet water. Śrī Rādhā’s cleverness, anurāga, affection, compassion, elegance, forms and pastimes are compared with these seven oceans  in opposite order.

Śrīmatī Rādhā is:  (1) vaidagdhya sindhuḥ:  An ocean of cleverness. This means rasa pāṇḍitya: She is learned in the science of taste. She even teaches rasika śekhara, the king of relishers Śrī Kṛṣṇa, expertise in the amorous mellow. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself admits in ‘Caitanya Caritāmṛta’: rādhikāra prema – guru; āmi – śiṣya naṭa; sadā āmā nānā nṛtye nācāye udbhaṭa “Rādhikā’s love is the teacher and I am the dancing pupil. She always causes Me to dance different wonderful dances!” She is the teacher of arts.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’ (Rādhā Prakaraṇa 21):

ācārya dhātu citre pacana viracanā cāturī cāru cittā
vāg yuddhe mugdhayanti gurum api ca girāṁ paṇḍitā mālya gumphe
pāṭhe śārī-śukānāṁ paṭur ajitam api dyuti keliṣu jiṣṇur
vidyā vidyoti buddhiḥ sphurati rati kalāśālini rādhikeyam

Kundalatā told Gārgi: “O devi! What more can I say about the artful expertise of Śrī Rādhikā? She is the teacher by example of making pictures of mineral pigments (Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda writes in his ‘Ānanda Candrikā’-commentary on this verse: ācārya na tu kadācid api kasyacic chiṣya….

evaṁ sarvatra jñeyam  “The word ācārya means that She did not learn this science from anyone, it was spontaneously manifest to Her”), She is expert in cooking, She can stifle even Śrī Kṛṣṇa in a verbal battle, She is very learned in stringing flower-garlands, She is expert in teaching the śāri and śuka-parrots how to recite beautiful verses, She can defeat even the unconquerable Ajita in the dicegame, and She has a keen intelligence.” Because of Her cleverness, Śrīmatī is compared here with the ocean of sweet water (the seventh cosmic ocean).

Śrīmatī is (2) the only ocean of anurāga. ānurāga means mahā-bhāva. ānurāga is ever-fresh and ever-astonishing. Śrīmatī thinks Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness is ever fresh and She always has more taste for His sweetness, so She always relishes it.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in His ‘Ujjvala Nilamaṇi’ (Sthāyibhāva 104):

ko’yam kṛṣṇa iti vyudasyati dhṛtim yas taṇvi karṇaṁ viśan
rāgāndhe kim idaṁ sadaiva bhavati tasyorasi krīḍati
hāsyaṁ mā kuru mohite tvam adhunā nyastāsya haste mayā
satyaṁ satyam asau dṛg aṅganam agād adyaiva vidyun nibhaḥ

One day Śrīmatī Rādhikā and Her friends headed by Lalitā met Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa became overwhelmed by Rādhikā’s mādana rasa and just to joke with Him, Śrīmatī went to see Her girlfriends in another bower.  When the sakhīs there pronounced Kṛṣṇa’s name, Śrī Rādhā told Lalitā: “O Kṛśodari (slender girl)! Who is that, whose name you are pronouncing?”
Lalitā said: “Whoever it is, what’s that to You?”
Śrī Rādhā said: “Sakhi! I have to know, because I am worried about how to keep My vow as a chaste housewife after hearing that name!” Lalitā replied: “O Rāgāndhe (Girl blinded by love)! But You are always playing at His chest!”
Śrī Rādhā said: “Sakhi! Are You joking with Me? I have never even met this boy!”
Lalitā said: “O Mohite (bewildered girl)! Has Your knowledge been covered over by intense desire? I have just handed You over to Him!”
Śrī Rādhikā then remembers and says: “Sakhi! You speak the truth! In this lifetime He has appeared before My eyes today for one second, just like a lightning-flash!”

This example shows how anurāga makes the anurāgavati (passionate girl) ever more thirsty after Kṛṣṇa’s great and astonishing sweetness and thus makes Her relish this sweetness more and more. With the statement that Rādhārāṇī is the only ocean of anurāga rasa is meant that when anurāga increases, it becomes mahā-bhāva and that when mahā-bhāva increases it is called mādana mahā-bhāva. Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the only One who has this mādana mahābhāva and She is the fountainhead of all mahā-bhāva, just as the ocean is the fountainhead of all the rivers and ponds. The other gopīs are Her phalanx that help Her to complete Kṛṣṇa’s relishing of transcendental mellows. Just as milk becomes thick kṣīra (cream) when it is boiled down, anurāga turns into mahā-bhāva when it becomes ‘thick’ (intensified). Therefore the anurāga-ocean is compared to the sixth cosmic ocean, the ocean of milk.

Śrī Rādhā is (3) the ocean of vātsalya. Vātsalya means love for the poor and the fallen. Just as Śrī Rādhā is an inexhaustible storehouse of amorous rasa She is also a great ocean of vātsalya-affection. The writers of the rasa śāstras (aesthetic scriptures) say that the vātsalya rasa is not compatible with the madhura rasa, but Rādhārāṇī makes them compatible in some situations. For instance, She gives the greatest bliss to Rasika Śiromaṇi (Kṛṣṇa) and Her girlfriends and maidservants when She gives  this ‘motherly’ affection to Kṛṣṇa while He takes His meal. Śrī Rādhā’s vātsalya towards Her girlfriends is also most wonderful. She is always controlled by their affection.

Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī gives the following example in his ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’ (Rādhā Prakaraṇa 34):

upadiśa sakhi vṛnde vallabendrasya sūnuṁ
kim ayam iha sakhīnāṁ mām adhīnāṁ dunoti
apasaratu saśaṅkaṁ mandirān māninīnāṁ
kalayati lalitāyāḥ kiṁ na śauṭīrya dhāṭīm

Śrī Rādhā had a quarrel with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but now She regrets it (this is called kalahāntarita bhāva). She is once more very eager to meet Him, but in order to show that She is under the full control of Her girlfriends, She tells Vṛndā: “O sakhi Vṛnde! Tell this prince of Vraja that I am controlled by My girlfriends! Why does He waste His words on Me? We are proud girls, it is not proper for Him to stay in our abodes! Tell Him that He’d better fearfully flee! Doesn’t He know the prowess of My friend Lalitā?” With these words sakhī vatsalā Śrī Rādhā pleases Her girlfriends and gives a hidden instruction to Śyāmasundara to come and meet Her at the same time. Śrī Rādhā’s vātsalya towards Her maidservants is incomparible! The maidservants are always showered by waves from the ocean of Her ‘motherly’ affection ! She always keeps them by Her side, calling them “My Rūpa Manjarī, My Rati Ṁañjarī”, with strong feelings of mineness. In the eighth canto of his ‘Vṛndāvana Mahimāmṛta’, Śrīpāda has drawn a very sweet picture of how Śrī Rādhā showers Her maidservants with the nectar of Her compassion:

kṣaṇaṁ caraṇa vicchedyāc chrīśvaryāḥ prāṇa hāriṇīm
padāravinda samlagna tayaivāharniśaṁ sthitām
preṣṭha dvandva prasāda srag vastra bhūṣādi mohinīm
mahā vinaya sauśilyādy anekāścarya sad guṇām

“Day and night the maidservants are staying at Śrīśvarī’s (Rādhikā’s) lotus-feet, for they will die if they are separated from them for even a second. They are very enchanting as they wear the leftover garlands, dresses and ornaments of the loving divine Couple and they are also adorned with many amazing attributes such as great humility and good behaviour.” Because there is a lot of the essential part of affection in the vātsalya-ocean, just as yoghurt is the essence of milk, this ocean can be compared to the fifth cosmic ocean, the ocean of yoghurt.

Śrī Rādhā is (4) the ocean of deep compassion, always showering Her devotees with the nectarstream of Her mercy. Those who have been touched by the nectar of that compassion, can testify. Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī says: karuṇā vidravad dehā  “Her body melts with compassion”. Normally, a person’s heart melts with compassion, but only in Rādhārāṇī’s case the whole body melts with compassion. She always bathes in streams of ambrosial compassion, and because Kṛṣṇa accepted Her mood when He became Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Mahāprabhu is so merciful! Mahāprabhu does not consider who is qualified or unqualified, who is from which caste or from which āśrama. He gives prema (love of God) without making such distinctions! That is ‘a body melting with compassion’! It is Rādhā’s storehouse of compassion, not Kṛṣṇa’s! In Vraja-līlā the storehouse of Rādhā’s mercy remained hidden and closed, but when Mahāprabhu accepted the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā, it became manifest to the world! Mahāprabhu showed the people of the world how the body can melt with compassion, because He assumed Śrī Rādhā’s merciful mood. Because Rādhikā’s body melts with compassion, it can be compared to the fourth cosmic ocean, the ocean of clarified butter.
Śrīmatī is (5): the ocean of lāvaṇya. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī defines lāvaṇya as follows in his ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’:

muktāphaleṣu chāyāyās taralatvam ivāntarā
pratibhāti yad aṅgeṣu lāvaṇyam tad ihocyate

“The luster that gushes out of each bodily limb like the luster shining out from inside pearls, is called lāvaṇya.” Śrīmati is the ocean of lāvaṇya, or elegance. The fishlike eyes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Who is called lāvanya sāra (the essence of lāvaṇya, or elegance) in Śrīmat Bhāgavata (10.44.14), never get tired of swimming in the ocean of Śrī Rādhā’s lāvaṇya. Indeed, His desire to swim in that ocean simply increases! Śrīpāda Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura said in Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛtam (3): lāvānyāmṛta vīci lolita dṛśaṁ “Kṛṣṇa’s eyes billow on the waves of nectarean lāvanya.” Śrīla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kavirāja writes in his ‘Sāraṅga Raṅgadā’-commentary on this verse: śrī rādhāyā eva lāvanyāmṛta vīcibhir lolite satṛṣṇīkṛte dṛśau yasya tam “Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eyes have become very thirsty after the nectar-waves of Śrī Rādhā’s lāvaṇya.” Because Kṛṣṇa is intoxicated by seeing Rādhā’s lāvaṇya and Her maidservants and girlfriends are intoxicated by seeing Kṛṣṇa looking at Rādhikā like this, the ocean of lāvaṇya is compared to the third cosmic ocean, the ocean of wine. The practising devotees should also forget everything related to this world or the next world and become intoxicated by worshiping the lotus-feet of that Śrī Rādhā!

Śrī Rādhā is (6) the ocean of amṛta cchabi rūpa. She is the very form of glowing nectar and Her form is like a vast ocean. She is mahābhāva personified and mahābhāva is compared to nectar. It is the deepest possible love for Kṛṣṇa, and Rādhā’s form reveals this beauty and tastefulness to the utmost, therefore She is the amṛtacchabi rūpa sindhu. Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa inundates the world with a mere drop of His beauty, even He drowns in the nectar-ocean of Rādhā’s form!  Kṛṣṇa says in ‘Caitanya Caritāmṛta’ (Ādi 4, 242 243):

koṭi kāma jini rūpa yadyapi āmāra;  asamordhva mādhurya sāmya nahi yāra
mora rūpe apyāyita hoy tribhuvana; rādhāra darśane āmāra juḍāya nayana
– – –
eimata jagatera sukhe āmi hetu; rādhikāra rūpa guṇa āmāra jivātu

“Although My form defeats millions of Cupids, is unrivalled in its sweetness and pleases all the three worlds, My eyes are still pleased by seeing Rādhā….In this way I am the cause of joy to the world. But Rādhikā’s form and attributes are My very life!” Because the ocean of Rādhā’s form is so sweet it is compared to the second cosmic ocean, the ocean of sugarcane juice.

Śrīmati is (7) the ocean of playfulness, which means Her frolicks with Her beloved Śyāmasundara. She keeps Śyāmasundara immersed in the waves of the ocean of Her pastimes when She meets Him. When the waves of mādana rasa swell in the ocean of Śrī Rādhā’s pastimes even Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental youthful Cupid of Vṛndāvana, does not dare to place His boat-like heart on its surface, just as a boatman fearfully keeps his boat on the bank of the Gaṅgā when her huge waves meet the ocean. This ocean of play is compared to the first cosmic ocean, the ocean of salt water, because although the very sight of this ocean destroys all sins, a person who drinks its water will die. Similarly, when one faithfully chants and hears about the pastimes of Rādhā and Mādhava one will become free from all sins and from the heart’s disease of lust, but when one tries to imitate these pastimes one will perish. This is confirmed in the last verses of the Rāsa-līlā narration in Śrīmad Bhāgavata:

naitat samācarej jātu manasāpi hy anīśvaraḥ
vināśatyācaran mauḍhyād yathā rudro’bdhijaṁ viṣam

“Even in one’s mind a non-God should not imitate these pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. A fool who does so will destroy himself. He can, after all, also not drink poison from the ocean of Milk, as Lord Śiva did!” Śrīpāda Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote in his ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’ (Haripriya prakarana):

vatitavyaṁ samicchadbhir bhaktavan na tu kṛṣṇavat
ityevam bhakti śāstrāṇāṁ tatparyasya vinirnayaḥ

“A person who desires auspiciousness should act like a devotee, he should never imitate Kṛṣṇa (in His amorous dalliances). This is the purport of all the scriptures!”

The darkness of despair in Śrīpāda’s heart over his own unworthiness is destroyed by the light of Śrīmatī’s sweet attributes. Śrīpāda thinks:

“Hā Svāmini! I am completely unable to serve You with expertise, how can I become qualified to join Your expert maidservants? You are the ocean of cleverness, please make Me a qualified maidservant by teaching Me this expertise in service! anurāga is also required with that expert service, otherwise that service cannot make You happy. You are the ocean of anurāga, so please make me qualified by giving me one drop of this anurāga! Although I am the most wretched of the wretched, You are the shoreless ocean of motherly affection! Please sprinkle me with just one drop of that vātsalya-affection and keep me with Your lotus-feet! What an audacity! Although I am so unqualified, still I have the courage to pray for Śrīmatī’s service and Her motherly affection? She’s not only the ocean of vātsalya, She’s also the ocean of great mercy! She will surely bestow Her mercy on fallen souls like me!”

When Śrīpāda becomes aware of Śrīmatī’s compassion,  he forgets about his own unworthiness and he prays for entrance into the oceans of Śrīmatī’s lāvaṇya, forms and pastimes.  Such eager prayers will unlock the chains of Śrīmati’s compassion, that is the essential teaching for the devotees here.