Fortunate souls – 

Tulasī draws red lines on Svāminī’s teeth and is astonished by their beauty, saying: “Aha! How beautiful are Your teeth! They look just like pearls with lines of ruby on them! All these endeavours are made to increase the greed of the Kṛṣṇa-parrot. When He can relish this all my endeavours have become worthwhile!”

The beauty of this peerless service must be learned from the Gosvāmīs. It is the service of mahā-bhāva and must be understood through mahā bhāva. Where are the insignificant living entities, and where is that mahā-bhāva, the essence of love of God? But now, in this particular age of Kali, the afflicted souls have become so fortunate to enter into this kingdom of mahā-bhāva, which is otherwise difficult to access, by the special mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Being empowered by Mahāprabhu the Gosvāmīs have revealed this kingdom, and the only way to get the great fortune of relishing Svāminī’s devotional service is to follow in their footsteps.
Rasa can only be understood through personal experience and it can only be attained by the mercy of the rasika devotees.

The desired līlā-kathā (talks about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes) cannot be done with others than with rasika devotees. Even the Lord Himself is very greedy to taste these topics with the rasika devotees. Mahāprabhu told Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya:

tumi āmi nīlācale rahibo eka saṅge;
sukhe kāṭāibo kāla Kṛṣṇa-kathā raṅge (C.C.)

“You and I will stay together at Purī and blissfully spend the time speaking about Kṛṣṇa!” The ācāryas are extraordinary knowers of rasa and by associating with their vāṇī (words) one associates with them directly. Relishing their sweet words in the company of like-minded saintly rasika devotees is both the means and the goal.

For the yogīs the Lord said this in Bhagavad Gītā (6.10):

yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṁ rahasi sthitaḥ
ekākī yata cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ

“The yogī always remains within himself in a lonely place, controlling his senses and his mind, free from desires and not taking anything for himself.”

In the Sāṅkhya-darśana there is a verse saying bahubhir yoge virodho rāgādibhiḥ kumārī śaṅkhavat “When you live with many people together, anger and conflicts will arise and the resultant quarrel will ruin your yoga-practice, just as the maiden’s bangles will always jingle as long as she moves her hands, and as long as she wears even more than one bangle on each wrist.”

But when the Lord discusses the devotional practice of the devotees He says:

mac cittā mad gata prāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

“My devotees have given their minds and their hearts to Me. They converse about Me with Each other and always enlighten Each other. This keeps them very happy and satisfied.” (Bhagavad Gītā 10.9)

Tulasī is the embodiment of deep love and affection and she is immersed in the flavours of the devotional service of Mahā-bhāvamayī Rādhikā.

Worshipping Śrī Rādhā –

Without worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and taking shelter of Her divine abode, Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness cannot be relished. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa writes in his Sva Saṅkalpa Prakāśa stotram (1):

anārādhya rādhā padāmbhoja reṇum anāśritya vṛndāṭavīṁ tat padāṅkām
asambhāṣya tad bhāva gambhīra cittān kutaḥ śyāma-sindho rasasyāvagāhaḥ

“Without worshiping the dust of Rādhā’s lotus feet, without taking shelter of Vṛndāvana, where Her footprints are lying, and without conversing with those whose hearts are filled with deep love for Her, how can anyone enter into the Śyāma-ocean?”
Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says: “Those who give up Rādhā’s service and try only to taste Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness only attain a drop of the ocean of nectar” (Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, 80).

In this connection it is said that once the worldfamous Vedāntik sannyāsī Madhusūdana Sarasvatī came to Vraja and gave a note with the words Kṛṣṇa sindhu (the Kṛṣṇa-ocean) on it to some bypassing sādhu, asking him to bring this note to the leading scholar of Vraja and to bring the reply of that scholar back to him. At that time the leading scholar of Vraja was Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī. When the sādhu handed him the note, Śrī Jīva wrote a verse on the back, saying: “What will you do in the Kṛṣṇa-ocean without worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and the dust of Vraja, that was trampled by these feet?” In this way the ācāryas show that Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness can only be really be tasted by serving Śrī Rādhikā.

Nectar-lips for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa –

Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī is in the kingdom of spiritual līlās and says:
“O golden-limbed girl! I have coloured Your lips now! Do You know what Your lips are like? Like the most excellent hardened nectar!”
Svāminī says: “Lips are not liquid, are they? Why are you calling them ‘nectarlips’ then?”
Tulasī says: “I myself don’t understand! He who understands it has made me understand! The Cakora-bird (that lives on nectar alone) cannot live without drinking the solid nectar from Your moonlike face! He doesn’t drink it – He chews it, and You keep Him alive with this nectar!”

While Svāminī hears this all a golden effulgence comes from Her body. That’s why Tulasi calls Her Gāṅgeya Gātri in this verse. How blessed is this dāsī that She can make Svāminī mad by making Her relish these words!

Svāmini says: “But then why did you apply colour to My lips? Aren’t they naturally reddish?”
Tulasī: “Will some black Kṛṣṇa-parrot come and forcibly bite these lips unless I apply this colour? He’ll only come when He gets a hint from You! If He gets no hint, He won’t come! You may shake Your head and say ‘ No No!’, making Your nose-pearl swing and Your eyebrows dance. How wonderfully beautiful You are at that time! There will be a ‘yes’ visible in all the ‘no’s’ that You exclaim! It is as if all the ‘no’s’ will be swallowed by a big ‘yes’!”

Svāminī is overwhelmed by ecstasy when She hears Tulasī’s words, and it is as if this līlā appears before Her eyes.

This līlā will actually be visible to the spiritual eyes of those devotees who have developed love for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Svāminī is, after all, the embodiment of mahā bhāva! Tulasī concludes by saying: “O Gāṅgeya Gātri! Do You know why I colored Your naturally reddish lips with this Khādira-lipstick? The natural color of the lips will stay on the lips! This is not a solid colour, it is liquid and it will look very beautiful when it is transferred to a black spot ! When I see a red spot on Kṛṣṇa’s black cheek I will feel fulfilled!” In this way Tulasī makes Svāminī relish sweet rasa through her joking words.

Glorious nāma saṅkīrtana –

The devotees that are fixed in smaraṇa will also attain these relishable services within their minds. When smaraṇa becomes deep it is called dhyāna, or meditation. This dhyāna or nidhidhyāsana is the best means of meeting the Lord face-to-face. In the Pātañjala-darśana it is written – tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam: “To fix one’s mind on a single object without interruption is called dhyāna or meditation”. According to Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī this refers to deep meditation, or dhruvānusmṛti. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya describes this kind of deep meditation, which he calls upāsanā, as follows in the introduction to his commentary on the Chandogya Upaniṣad: upāsanaṁ tu yathāśāstra samāpitaṁ kiñcid ālambanam upādāya tasmin samāna cittavṛtti santānakaraṇam tad avilakṣaṇa pratyayāntaritam: “Upāsanā means to hold on to a certain object of meditation according to scriptural injunctions and fix the mind on it in such a way that other thoughts cannot interrupt.” The best way for a devotee to enhance his meditation is to chant the holy name of the Lord in the company of other devotees. The more the devotee’s heart gets purified by this practice of nāma saṅkīrtana and the goddess of devotion Bhakti-devi becomes manifest in the heart, the closer the devotee will get to the kingdom of dhruvānusmṛti-meditation and will be blessed by attaining spotless bliss.

These words emanated from the lotus mouths of Śrī Ānanda Gopāla Gosvāmī and Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī (tikas to Vilapa Kusumanjali)