Tulasī has brought Śyāma’s adharāmṛta (lip-nectar, or food-remnants). Even a fibre of Madana Mohana’s adharāmṛta is sukṛti labhya phelā lava, only attainable by a lot of pious merit.

kṛṣṇera ye bhukta śeṣa tāra phelā nāma; tāra eka lava pāya sei bhāgyavān
sāmānya bhāgya hoite tāra prāpti nāhi hoy; kṛṣṇera yā’te pūrṇa kṛpā sei tāhā pāy
sukṛti śabde kohe – Kṛṣṇa kṛpā hetu puṇya; sei yāra hoy phelā pāya sei dhanya

“Kṛṣṇa’s food-remnants are called phelā, and anyone who gets even a fibre of it is very lucky. These remnants are not available through ordinary luck – only a person who has gotten Kṛṣṇa’s full mercy gets it. The word sukṛti here means merit which is attained by Kṛṣṇa’s personal mercy. A person who gets this phelā is greatly fortunate.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta Antya 16)

This prasāda is relishable according to one’s amount of love for Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī loves Kṛṣṇa the most, and therefore She also relishes His prasāda to the utmost!

sa me madana mohanaḥ sakhi tanoti jihvā-spṛhām –
“O sakhi! This Madana Mohana increases the yearning of My tongue!”
(Govinda Līlāmṛta).

How Śrīmatī relishes this nectar is best understood from Caitanya Caritāmṛta (Antya līlā chapter 16), which describes how Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s mood, relishes Lord Jagannātha’s Gopāla Vallabha-prasāda at Jagannātha Purī:

koṭi amṛta svādu pāiyā prabhura camatkāra; sarvāṅge pulaka netre bohe aśru-dhāra
ei dravye eto svādu kāhā hoite āilo; kṛṣṇera adharāmṛta ihā sañcārilo

“Tasting these dishes, that were millions of times more relishable than nectar, the Lord became astonished. He had goosepimples of ecstasy all over His body and tears of love flowed from His eyes. He thought to Himself: “Where has such a delicious food come from? Kṛṣṇa’s lip-nectar is infused in it!”

Mahāprabhu relished a little of this food and then told Govinda to tie the rest in the end of his dhotī and take it along. The whole day Mahāprabhu was deeply absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s adharāmṛta. When the evening came one star-like devotee after the other came to surround the golden Gaura-moon and a stream of Kṛṣṇa-kathā took its rise. On the Lord’s indication Govinda began to distribute the prasāda that he kept in his robe to everyone present.

The Lord then began to explain the glories of the prasāda:

prabhu kohe – ei sab prakṛta dravya; aikṣava karpūra marica elāci labaṅga gavya
rasavāsa guḍatvak ādi yoto saba; prākṛta vastura svādu, sabhāra anubhava
sei dravyera ei svādu gandha lokātīta; āsvāda koriyā dekho sabhāra pratīta
āsvāda dūre rahu yār gandhe māte mana; āpanā vinu anya mādhurya korāy vismārana
tā’te ei dravye kṛṣṇādhara sparśa hoilo; adharera guṇa sab ihāte sañcārilo
alaukika gandha svādu – anya vismārana; mahā mādaka ei kṛṣṇādharera guṇa

“The Lord said: These ingredients, like cane-sugar, camphor, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, ghī, spices and licorice, are all material. Everyone has tasted them before. But now these dishes have an extraordinary taste and fragrance. Everyone should taste it and experience the difference. What to speak of the taste, even the fragrance is maddening and makes one forget all other sweetnesses but its own! The nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips have touched it and has infused the qualities of these lips in the food. The attributes of Kṛṣṇa’s lips are greatly intoxicating and their extraordinary fragrance and taste make one forget all other experiences.”

…

Fortunate Tulasī makes Bhāvamayī and Her sakhīs relish Kṛṣṇa’s lip-nectar. The devotees will be consoled by the remembrance of these pastimes. The all-enchanting nature of Rādhikā’s names, forms, qualities and pastimes cause the experience of sweetness, and this takes the consciousness forwards. The forms, qualities and pastimes of the beloved deity then become the quintessence of a devotee’s life.

Absorbed in experiencing Śyāmasundara’s sweetness, Śrī Līlāśuka told Him:

premadaṁ ca me kāmadaṁ ca me vedanaṁ ca me vaibhavaṁ ca me
jīvanaṁ ca me jīvitaṁ ca me daivataṁ ca me deva nāparam
(Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta 104)

“O Lord! You are My giver of love, the fulfiller of my desires, the bestower of devotional knowledge and the treasure of my heart. You and no-one else are my life and my fate!”
To this Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: “Very well, Līlāśuka! Very well! I have become very pleased with your loyalty to Me!
My darśana will never be in vain for you! Please pray for a boon to Me!”
Then Līlāśuka prayed for the following boon:

mādhuryena vivardhantāṁ vāco nas tava vaibhave
cāpalyena vivardhantāṁ cintā nas tava śaiśave

“May our words be increased by Your sweetness! May You increase the stream of our thoughts, so that we will be able to remember the sweetness of Your naughty adolescence!”
(Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta 105)

The words of the ācāryas are the support for the weak devotees; they will remove their bodily consciousness and bring them a deep spiritual consciousness, in which they can relish the sweetness of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

Tulasī says: “O Kuṅkumāṅgi! I will serve You different kinds of nectarean food and drinks while You assemble with Your girlfriends to taste the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips! Svāminī’s bodily lustre now resembles fresh kuṅkuma from Kashmir, touched with some sandalpaste. It’s a reddish glow that comes out from within Her, showing Her heart’s passion for Kṛṣṇa (passion is symbolised by red colour). That is why Tulasī calls Her Kunkumāṅgi here. In each dish Svāminī tastes the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips. When Svāminī tastes Kṛṣṇa’s nectarean foodremnants it is as if She touches His lips directly, because the food has taken all their qualities.

The maidservants feed Kṛṣṇa Premonmādinī (She who is mad with love for Kṛṣṇa) Rādhikā, Who remembers so many pastimes She had with Kṛṣṇa at that time! She closes Her eyes half when She is immersed in such sweet remembrance. It is as if She is drifting off somewhere else. The kiṅkarīs make Her relish according to Her feelings. Lalitā and the sakhīs also help Her to enter the Śyāma-ocean by joking with Her about Her divine pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. Nāgara Kṛṣṇa makes Himself useful by becoming the subject of these emotional talks. What more can He attain than this? No words can express how sweet, effulgent and beautiful Śrīmatī Rādhikā is! She makes even Kṛṣṇa’s life useful! That’s why Kṛṣṇa became greedy for Her mood, and that’s why He came in the golden form of Gaura: to float in this rasa Himself and to make the whole world float in it concomitantly.

Śrī Rādhikā does not relish the eatables, She relishes the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips, while Her mind is absorbed in remembering Her extraordinary pastimes with Him. In the kuñja-pastimes She directly relishes this lip-nectar.

How many hundreds of loving moods doesn’t She express through Her eyes and Her face then? Tulasī carefully feeds Svāminī (yatnāt), because she knows that She experiences Śyāmasundara’s presence in the dishes. She feeds Svāminī according to the pastime-flavours she makes Her relish. Svāminī is mad with love for Kṛṣṇa; is it so easy to serve Her?

When Lord Caitanya, who was greedy after the ecstatic love of Śrī Rādhā, relished this pastime in the Gambhīrā he stared at Svarūpa Dāmodara’s and Rāmānanda Rāya’s faces and said: “Where have you brought Me?” How many wonderful feelings He expressed through His face and His eyes!

Svarūpa and Rāma Rāya understood the Lord’s mind and helped Him to relish these pastimes – svarūpa gāya vidyāpati, gīta govinda gīti, śuni prabhura juḍāilo kāna (Caitanya Caritāmṛta)

“Svarūpa Dāmodara sang songs of Vidyāpati and from Gīta Govinda that soothed the Lord’s ears.’

Tulasī understands Svāminī’s mind completely, and she carefully feeds Her accordingly.

Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī has mercifully left the remnants of his transcendental revelations on paper for the practising devotee of today.

“(Alas!) Whatever is understandable, having received the mercy of such a great ācārya, I do not understand, and whatever can now be locked within the heart I do not lock within my heart!”

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa has offered himself to Svāminī’s feet. Śrī Rādhikā, who is mad with love for Kṛṣṇa, has now relished the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips.

 

-From the tika of Srila Ananta das Babaji and Srila Ananda Gopal Goswami to verse 49 of Sri Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali