Śrī Rādhikāṣṭottara Śata nāma stotram – Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī

108 NAMES OF ŚRĪ RĀDHIKĀ

VERSES 1-2:

AVĪKṢYĀTMEŚVARĪṀ KĀCID VṚNDĀVANA MAHEŚVARĪM
TAT PADĀMBHOJA MĀTRAIKA GATIR DĀSYATI KĀTARĀ
PATITĀ TAT SARAS TĪRE RUDATY ĀRTA RAVĀKULAM
TAC CHRĪ VAKTREKṢAṆĀVĀPTYAI NĀMĀNY ETĀNI SAṀJAGAU

Not seeing her goddess, the Queen of Vṛndāvana, a certain maidservant, who considers Her lotus feet the only goal of Her life became very anxious, fell down at the shore of Her lake (Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa), cried loudly out of pain, and, just to see Her beautiful face, sang the following names:

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā by Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī:

In this stava Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa glorifies Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī with 108 names. The holy names of the Lord and His constitutional potency (svarūpa śakti, or His eternal associates) are sva prakāśa, or self-manifest on the tongues of those who have a service-attitude. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī teaches:

atah śrī kṛṣṇa nāmādi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ

The very life of devotion is the eagerness in the devotee’s heart. The more eager he is to make the Lord happy, the more elevated is his service-attitude, and the more the holy name becomes manifest on his tongue and in his heart. In the heart of an eager devotee the holy name will reveals its inner-most secrets.

Different devotees have composed a 108-name-stotram of their beloved deity, but that’s not quite the way in which Śrī Raghunātha sings his 108 names of Śrī Rādhā. Śrī Raghunātha’s heart almost breaks when he sings these 108 names of Śrī Rādhikā. He is separation from Rādhārāṇī personified, and Her lotus feet are his only shelter. He is Her poor maidservant, who can only find solace in Her lotus feet. Without Śrī Rādhā, the whole world is empty for a rādhā-gata-prāṇa kiṅkarī.

Śrī Raghu anxiously falls down on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa, crying day and night for Rādhārāṇī’s blessed audience. While he laments he forgets all about his body and everything related to it. The slender vine-like body of this maidservant is burning in the fire of separation, and she cannot tolerate this burning separation anymore. Nobody can describe in a mere commentary how deep and vast the ocean of his feelings of separation is. Śrīmatī doesn’t come just like that to grant Her audience to Her maidservants. Perhaps merciful Svāminī hides Herself to witness Raghunātha’s suffering and weeps along with him, thinking: “Raghunātha! Cry! By crying in this way you will attain Me in full. This is the only way to relish My sweetness!” If it was not like that, then how could merciful Svāminī remain calm when She hears Her beloved maidservant weep in the anguish of separation? It is said in Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi that She is so compassionate that She once smeared the mouth of a newly born calf, that had become wounded by touching a tender blade of grass, with the vermilion that anoints Her own body, while tears ran down Her cheeks! How can She then remain calm when She hears Her surrendered maidservant crying out of separation from Her?

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa muddens the ground on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa with his tears of love, and he loudly laments, desiring to see Śrīmatī’s moonlike face. There is no other means of survival for him than to see Śrīmatī’s lotus feet, so he desperately thinks: “How can I possibly see Śrīmatī’s lotus feet?” Then he suddenly remembers: “The best way is to attract the nāmī (the holy named) by chanting the nāma (name)!” Therefore he spontaneously begins to weep the following 108 holy names of Śrīmatī, according to his own spontaneous inspiration. Śrī Raghunātha dāsa’s heart is so pure that all these names automatically emanate from his lotus-like mouth. Thus he himself becomes intoxicated by their sweetness and he makes all the devotees of the world drink this nectar along with him by recording them in this stotra.