Premāmbhoja Marandākhya Stava-rāja (Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī)

“Honey-sweet praises, oozing from the lotus-flower of love”

with commentaries by Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa’s Mahānta Paṇḍita Śrī Ananta Dās Bābājī

Click to access honey-sweet-praises.pdf

Śrīpāda Raghunātha has named this stava premambhoja marandākhya stavarāja, or the king of praises, that oozes like honey from the lotus flower of divine love.
This is the king of all stavas in the Stavāvalī-compilation, for it defines the constitution of Śrī Rādhikā, who is the very form of mahā bhāva, which is the essence of prema. Only someone who has prema can understand the truth about Rādhārāṇī.
premera svarūpa deha prema vibhāvita (C.C.)
“She is the embodiment of prema, and Her body consists of nothing but prema.”

Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the fountainhead of all of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s divine potencies. She is the aggregate of all the goddesses of fortune, and the presiding goddess of all great opulences, but this majestic truth is hidden within a deep ocean of transcendental sweetness, so that the prowess of Rādhā-tattva is not externally manifest. She is the full manife¬station of total and pure love. Although all the gopīs have an abundance of prema, Śrī Rādhā is the personification of the essential portion or sārāṁśa, of this prema. In other words, only in Her presides the pinnacle of ecstatic love of God, named mādana mahā bhāva.
Śrīpāda Raghunātha’s devotion for Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet is extraordinary; he has given his life-airs to Her. In this stava he has recorded the spontaneous experiences of Śrī Rādhā-tattva of his love-filled heart. The secrets of this stava are very difficult to know, because in it is an analysis of the constitution of love of God.
Prema is svānubhava vedya, or only knowable through personal experience, and incomparable; it cannot be expressed through words. It cannot be understood by hearing about it from others if there is no real love in the heart. These things depend on personal perception. We take shelter of the lotus feet of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, in whose mine-like heart this Cintāmaṇi-jewellike stava has appeared, so that we may somehow try to understand its meaning.

In this Premāmbhoja Marandākhya Stavarāja, Śrīpāda Raghunātha describes the ecstatic bhāva-bathing, dressing and ornamentation of mahābhāvavatī Śrī Rādhārāṇī. In great humility he considers himself just an ajāta rati sādhaka (a practising devotee who has not yet awoken his rati) and says:
“Is it possible that a wanderer through the desert of material existence, who is burning in the fire of the threefold material miseries, a miserable wretch like me, can attain the service of the very form of mahā bhāva, Śrī Rādhikā?”
Along with these thoughts the remembrance of Śrī Rādhikā’s causeless and boundless mercy enters his mind.
After all, he himself wrote in the beginning of this stava that Śrī Rādhā is always showered by the nectarstream of compassion! Remembering Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s compassion he feels somewhat consoled.
āpanā ayogya dekhi mone pāo kṣobha;
tathāpi tomāra guṇe upajāya lobha (C.C.)
“I feel very upset when I see how unqualified I am, but still I am very eager to attain You because of Your qualities!”
At one and the same time he is desperate, remembering His own lack of qualification, while the remembrance of the compassion of His beloved infuses hope in his heart. With this kind of hope amidst hopelessness Śrī Raghunātha dāsa takes a straw between the teeth and offers His humble obeisances at Śrīmatī’s lotus feet, eagerly praying for Her devotional service.