” There are different types of devotees—those in śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa and mādhurya-rasa. Although all the rasas are on the transcendental platform, mādhurya-rasa is the supreme transcendental mellow. Consequently it is concluded that the worship of devotees engaged in the Lord’s service in mādhurya-rasa is the supreme spiritual activity. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His followers mainly worship Lord Kṛṣṇa in mādhurya-rasa. Other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas recommended worship up to vātsalya-rasa. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Vidagdha-mādhava (1.2) describes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s cult as supreme:

anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ
kalausamarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in this Age of Kali to exhibit the superexcellence of mādhurya-rasa, a gift never previously bestowed by any ācārya or incarnation.
Consequently Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is accepted as the most magnanimous incarnation. It is He only who distributed love of Kṛṣṇa while exhibiting the superexcellence of loving Kṛṣṇa in the conjugal rasa.”
( CC Madhya 11.31)

AC Bhaktivedanta Swami

 

I will now give an explanation of the words “sva-bhakti siddhanta caranmrtani” in the above-mentioned first verse of this chapter. You should know the definition of sva-bhakti, according to the understanding given by Srila Rupa Gosvami:

anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam
harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah
sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandanah

“May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Saci-devi be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love.” (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 1.4)

Sva means “Her own.” “Her own” means Srimati Radhika and Her own special moods of sneha, maan, pranaya, raga, anuraga, bhava, mahabhava, adiruddha, mohan, and then up to madan.

Even Lord Krsna has no madan; He has only up to mahabhava – and not even adiruddha mahabhava. Only Lalita, Visakha and other gopis like them have these moods, although they do not have madan. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a combination of Sri Krsna and Sri Radha.

Sva-bhakti is Radhika’s bhakti to Krsna, the love of Radhika for Sri Krsna. Kamatmika-bhakti (madhurya-rasa) has two divisions. One division is called ullasa-mayi-rati, and that is the mood of the manjari, a maidservant of Sri Radha. A jiva can never have the mood of Radhika. If Lalita and Visakha cannot have Her mood, and Sri Krsna cannot have Her mood, how can a jiva have it? By constitution, only a jiva who has a relationship with Krsna in madhurya rasa has the eligibility for this manjari-bhava.

You should think that those who are attracted to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are very fortunate. Those who have come to His line have done so because of Srila Rupa Gosvami, and Rupa Gosvami is internally Rupa Manjari.

How many are you? In number, you are practically nothing. In this entire creation, all of you together are not even one drop. One drop has so many particles, and those particles can be divided into still more particles. So your number is almost nothing. Don’t doubt this. You are very fortunate that you are attracted to this line. Otherwise, you could have gone to Ramanuja, Madhavacarya, Visnusvami or Nimbarka.

Only Caitanya Mahaprabhu could have brought this understanding to the world. Before Him there was no such same bhakti-rasa (raganuga-bhakti and rupanuga-bhakti).

Mahaprabhu especially ordered Sri Svarupa Damodara and Sri Raya Ramananda to sprinkle their mercy upon Srila Rupa Gosvami, so that he could be qualified to realize the Lord’s mood and establish it in the world – and Rupa Gosvami did establish it. The stayi-bhava (permanent transcendental emotion or relationship) discussed herein is of the manjaris, and it is called bhava-ullasa-rati . It is not directly in relation to Sri Krsna. The manjaris have more inclination towards Srimati Radhika.

Before the advent of Sriman Mahaprabhu no one had manifested this for the sadhakas. In regard to the execution of this manjari seva, Srimati Radhika becomes the object of Her maidservant’s permanent ecstatic emotion (sthayi-bhava) and Sri Krishna becomes the object of the maidservant’s transitory emotion that nourishes the sthayi-bhava. This is then called the sancari-bhava. In this service, the manjaris lovingly tend to Sri Krishna because he is the love of Radha’s life and gives Her happiness. Thus this sva-bhakti-siddhanta, sweet as nectar, is the philosophical understanding embodied in the followers of Sri Rupa Gosvami, who established raganuga-rupanuga-siddhanta. This is the essence and the foundation of the ultimate expression of love.

Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

 

The vine of devotion, which Śrīman Mahāprabhu gave to the people of the world, yields the fruit of brilliant rasa, the amorous love of Vraja, particularly the rasa of the most confidential personal service of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī, named mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā.
This great gift was not given before by any other descension of God; even the wise men who were experts in devotion to God did not know this secret fruit of the vine of devotion. They used to practice vaidhi-bhakti, regulated devotion to God, out of fear and respect for the Supreme Lord, and even if there were any rāga-bhaktas in the Vraja-bhāva before Mahāprabhu’s descension, they all would be serving Kṛṣṇa in the mood of a servant or a friend. Nobody knew the secret of the sweet devotional love of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of the topmost mādana-mahā-bhāva of Śrī Rādhā, the crown jewel of all the gopīs!

In the pre-Caitanya era there was a cult of sakhī-bhāva (love for Kṛṣṇa as a participating amorous consort) preached by great devotees like the poet Jayadeva, Caṇḍīdāsa, Vidyāpati, Bilvamaṅgala and others, but the mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā, the personal and exclusive service of Śrī Rādhā, was a new gift, introduced by Śrī Gaurasundara and the ācāryas who took shelter of His lotus feet.
The seed of this vine of devotion is given by a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava saint or guru and it is sprinkled by the water of hearing, chanting and remembering, so that the vine will ultimately bear the ripened, delicious fruits of rādhā-dāsya-bhāva. This is the premojjvala-rasa- phalām mentioned in the verse.

One may ask now: “Why did Śrīman Mahāprabhu reveal this confidential bhakti-kalpalatā, which is not perceived even by the great sages or the Vedas, to the degraded and sinful people of the present age of Kali (quarrel)?

The plain reason is that Śrīman Mahāprabhu is the fully independent and most merciful descension of God, therefore it is said here: kṛpālus tāṁ gauḍe prabhur ati kṛpābhiḥ prakaṭayan.

“The completely independent and capable Śrīman Mahāprabhu has most mercifully revealed this in Bengal.”

The mercy of the Lord completely erases the candidate’s unworthiness. The kṛpā-sakti (power of compassion) is the crown jewel of all the Lord’s innate potencies and makes Him truly worthy of the title Bhagavān, the Qualified One. This mercy-potency finds its culmination in the Lord´s giving something that precious to an undeserving soul.
In Śrīman Mahāprabhu this kṛpā-śakti is again manifest to its fullest extent, not tolerating any distinction.

Radhakunda Mahanta  Śrī Ananta dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja