VERSES 25 – 26:

PRĀṆĀYUTA ŚATA PREṢṬHA MĀDHAVOTKĪRTI LAMPAṬĀ
KṚṢṆĀPĀṄGA TARAṄGODYAT SMITA PĪYŪṢA BUDBUDĀ
PUÑJĪBHŪTA JAGALLAJJĀ VAIDAGDHĪ DIGDHA VIGRAHĀ
KARUṆĀ VIDRAVAD DEHĀ MŪRTIMAN MĀDHURĪ GHAṬĀ

64) prāṇāyuta śata preñṭha mādhavotkīrti lampaṭā: Who is very attached to glorifying Mādhava, who is dearer to Her than hundreds of thousands of lives.
65) kṛṣṇāpāṅga taraṅgodyat smita pīyūṣa budbudā: Whose smile is like the nectar-bubbles floating on the high waves of Mādhava’s glances.
66) puñjībhūta jagal lajjā vaidagdhī digdha vigrahā: She whose form is anointed with great bashfulness for the world and great cleverness
67) karuṇā vidravad dehā: She whose body melts of compassion
68) mūrtiman mādhurī ghaṭā: She who is an abundance of sweetness personified.

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

In the 25th and 26th verse Śrīpāda Raghunātha reveals 5 names of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

One of Śrīmatī’s holy names is prāṇāyuta śata preṣṭha mādhavotkīrti lampaṭā: “She who is very attached to glorifying Mādhava, who is dearer to Her than hundreds of thousands of lives”.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa is naturally dearer than life to everyone, because He is the Self of the self, the full manifestation of the Supreme Self paramātmā. Because all love comes from Śrī Kṛṣṇa, we love ourselves, our bodies, our families, our countries and our friends. Hence nothing in the world is dearer to us than rasamaya, premamaya, madhumaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The beneficent Upaniṣads declare: tad etat preyaḥ putrāt preyo vittāt preyo’nyasmāt sarvasmād antarataraṁ yad ayam ātmā (Bṛhad Āraṇyaka 1.4.8) – “This innermost paramātmā is dearer to us than all other things, such as sons and wealth”. Who could ever be dearer to us than He for Whose sake our life-airs, intelligence, mind, soul, wife, son and wealth are so dear? Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.23.27) says:

prāṇa buddhi manaḥ svātma dārāpatya dhanādayaḥ
yat samparkāt priyā āsaṁs tataḥ ko’nya paraḥ priya

Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is even greater than the paramātmā, is dearer to the jīvas than the life-airs, this love cannot be experienced without bhakti and without grace. In the go-vatsa-gopabālaka-haraṇa līlā in the Bhāgavata (Canto Ten, Chapters 13-14) it is described that the people of Vraja loved Kṛṣṇa even more than their own children. Śrī Rādhārāṇī is sākṣāt prema svarūpiṇī, love personified, so Kṛṣṇa is dearer to Her than innumerable life-airs! She is most attached to Kṛṣṇa’s qualities and fame. Kṛṣṇa nāma guṇa yaśa avataṁsa kāne; Kṛṣṇa nāma guṇa yaśa pravāha vacane (C.C.): “Kṛṣṇa name, attributes and fame adorn Her ears, Kṛṣṇa’s name, attributes and fame are flowing in Her words”.

Śrī Rādhārāṇī is so attached to describing Mādhava’s glories, that She criticised all creatures that were black when She sang the song to the bumblebee (when the gopīs were separated from Kṛṣṇa, see Bhāgavata Canto 10, Chapter 47). The sañcārī-bhāva named nirveda (remorse) became so intense that She began to find fault in anyone who had a dark complexion. It was as if the bee then asked Her: “If Kṛṣṇa is so wrong, then why are You always speaking about Him?”

To this She replied: “O bumblebee! I know it all, but still I’m unable to give up the treasure of speaking about Him! dustyajas tat kathārthaḥ. O bee! We can give up everything, even Your friend (Kṛṣṇa), but we cannot give up speaking about Him! We can still survive the painful separation from Your friend, but we cannot survive if we give up talking about Him. If we do so, our bodies will burn up in a fire of separation from Him!” This shows how greatly attached Rādhārāṇī is to speaking about Mādhava.

The next name of Śrīmatī is: kṛṣṇāpāṅga taraṅgodyat smita pīyūṣa budbudā – She whose smile forms bubbles of nectar on the high waves of Kṛṣṇa’s glances.

Śrīpāda Raghunātha’s svarūpa is Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s eternal maidservant, and he has descended along with Śrī Gaurāṅga, who is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s combined form, as His beloved associate to make the whole world acquainted with Śrī Rādhārāṇī and to take everyone along to Vraja’s nikuñjas. Many people sing 108 names of their beloved deities, but in his Śata-nāma stotra of Śrī Raghunātha, it is as if Śrī Rādhārāṇī is standing before us in Her very own form. In this Śata-nāma stotram Śrīpāda reveals his Īśvarī as he sees Her in the Vraja-nikuñja.

Just as there are foam and bubbles arising on the waves of a turbulent river, similarly a foam- and bubble-like nectar-smile awakens on Śrīmatī’s face when She sees the wave-like glances of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is like a flood of rasa. rasa is manifest in bhāva and bhāva is manifest in rasa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the full form of rasa and Śrī Rādhā is the full form of bhāva. The great wave of rasa that arises from the lustre of rasa-svarūpa Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s glances creates the nectarean bubbles of Śrī Rādhā’s smile as She relishes this rasa. Therefore this name of Hers is fully justified.

Another name of Śrī Rādhā is puñjībhūta jagal lajjā vaidagdhī digdha vigrahā – She whose form is adorned with all the bashfulness of the world. Śrīmatī is the most shy girl. Bashfulness is a sañcārī bhāva. A sañcārī bhāva is like a wave on the ocean of sthāyi bhāva (one’s permanent and predominant feelings), and these waves sometimes rise from that ocean and sometimes merge back into it again. Similarly waves of ecstatic love rise and fall on the ocean of Śrī Rādhārānī’s beauty.

navīna saṅgamākārya stavāvajñādinā kṛtā
adhṛṣṭatā bhaved vrīḍā tatra maunaṁ vicintanam
avaguṇṭhana bhūlekhau tathādho mukhatādayaḥ
(Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 2.4.113)

“Bashfulness, as opposed to boldness, is caused by a new meeting, a misdeed, praise or contempt. The shy person becomes quiet, thoughtful, covers the face, writes in the sand with the toes and lowers the face.”

All different examples of this are given in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu and Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi. Anyone wanting to know the specific details should consult these scriptures. It is as if all the shyness of the world is anointed as an unguent on Śrīmatī’s body. This statement shows how prominently the vyabhicārī-bhāva of bashfulness is present in Śrīmatī.
The same counts for vaidagdhī, or cleverness. kalā vilāsa digdhātmā vidagdha iti kīrtyate, “A person whose heart is anointed with different kinds of playfulness and artfulness is called Vidagdha”. Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda gives an example in Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi how Vidagdhā Śrīmatī is:

ācāryā dhātu-citre pacana viracanā cāturī cārucittā
vāg yuddhe mugdhayantī gurum api ca girāṁ paṇḍitā mālya-gumphe
pāṭhe śārī śukānāṁ paṭur ajitam api dyūta keliṣu jiṣṇur
vidyāvidyota buddhiḥ sphurati rati-kalā śālinī rādhikeyam

Gārgī told Kundalatā: “What more can I say about Rādhikā’s expertise? She is the teacher by example in drawing pictures of mineral pigments, She’s very expert in cooking, She can defeat even the guru (Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Sarasvatī-devī) in verbal quarreling, She is a professor in the science of stringing garlands, She’s very expert in teaching the male and female parrots how to recite verses, She can conquer even the invincible Kṛṣṇa in the dice-game, She’s a very qualified singer, and She knows all the arts of love.”

Another of Śrīmatī’s names is karuṇā vidravad dehā – ”She Whose body melts with compassion.”

Compassion means that the heart melts, being unable to see others suffering. Compassion is a function of the heart, but here Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī brings the astonishing news to the world that Śrī Rādhā’s body even melts with compassion! God’s mercy reaches its perfection by giving prema, or love of God, to the conditioned souls. Because Śrīmatī’s body melts with compassion one attains prema simply by seeing Her, without any further need of sādhanā, this was practically shown by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the present age of Kali. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has assumed the luster and mood of Rādhā and has descended to earth as Gaura. Śrī Rādhā showed the world the result of Her molten body: She had turned into Gaura and had blessed all the people of the world with prema, without any other endeavour on their parts. This is Śrī Rādhā’s compassion, not Kṛṣṇa’s! Kṛṣṇa’s compassion is a mental action, and therefore still slightly depends on the jīva’s own endeavour, but Śrī Rādhā’s compassion is a physical action, and therefore does not depend on any separate endeavour.

Śrī Rādhā’s next name is mūrtiman mādhurī ghaṭā – She in whose form endless sweetness is manifest. mādhurī and mādhurya are synonymous words.

mādhuryam asamordhvatayā sarva manoharaṁ svābhāvika rūpa guṇa līlādi sauṣṭhavam (Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī): “Sweetness means natural all-enchanting and lovely forms, qualities and pastimes that have no equal and no superior.”

Vrajendranandana Himself is the great ocean of enchanting forms, qualities and pastimes, but even He is enchanted by Śrī Rādhā’s lovely forms, qualities and pastimes, so much so that He even faints, although He is an ocean of bliss personified. He experienced it Himself that Śrī Rādhā’s forms and attributes are superior to His –

āmā hoite guṇī boḍo jagate asambhava; ekali rādhāte tāhā kori anubhava
koṭi kāma jini rūpa yadyapi āmāra; asamordhva mādhurya sāmya nāhi yāra…………………
mora rūpe āpyāyita hoy tribhuvana; rādhāra darśane mora juḍāya nayana
mora vaṁśī-gīte ākarṣaye tribhuvana; rādhāra vacana hare āmāra śravaṇa
yadyapi āmāra gandha jagata sugandha; mora citta prāṇa hare rādhā aṅga gandha
yadyapi āmāra rase jagata sarasa; rādhāra adhara rasa āmā kore vaśa
yadyapi āmāra sparśa koṭīndu śītala; rādhikāra sparśe āmā kore suśītala
ei mata jagatera sukha āmi hetu; rādhikāra rūpa guṇa āmāra jīvātu
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi Chapter 4)

“It is impossible for anyone in this world to be more qualified than Me. I only experience that in Rādhā. Although My form defeats millions of Cupids and there is no peer to My sweetness, and although My form pleases the three worlds, seeing Rādhā soothes My eyes. The song of My flute attracts the three worlds, but Rādhā’s words steal My ears. Although My odour scents the whole world, Rādhā’s bodily fragrance steals My heart and consciousness. Atlhough My taste sweetens the whole world the taste of Rādhā’s lips subdue Me. Although My touch is cooler than millions of moons, Rādhikā’s touch cools Me off. In this way I am the source of happiness for the world, but Rādhikā’s form and qualities are My very life”

When Śrī Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura realized the sweetness of Kṛṣṇa in Vraja, he wondered: mādhuryam eva nu “Is this sweetness itself?” But when Kṛṣṇa saw Śrī Rādhā on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa, He said: sākṣāt vā kim u mādhurī tanumatī, “Is She sweetness becoming embodied?” Hence Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the empress of sweetness, and Her name mūrtiman mādhurī ghaṭā is justified.