Just as a conditioned soul is in māyā while sleeping, dreaming and being awake, the devotee is always absorbed in bhajan, while sleeping, dreaming and being awake.

Bhajana means keeping the mind fixed and attracted. The mind should be poured into the Yugala Kiśora.

Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa duhu pāya,
tanu mana rahu tāya,
āra dūre yāuk vāsanā

“Let my mind and body dwell in Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, and let all my material desires go far away.”

Śrīpāda Līlāśuka, being attracted to Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness, said:

mādhurya vāridhi madāmbu taraṅga bhaṅgī śṛṅgāra saṅkulita śīta kiśora veśam
āmanda hāsa lalitānana candra bimbam ānanda samplavam anuplavataṁ mano me
(Śrī Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta)

“May my mind be immersed in the flood of bliss (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) that always increases the ocean of intoxicating sweetness and causes great waves in that ocean, whose cool adolescent dress is a collection of erotic ornaments and whose lovely moon-like face is beautified by a soft smile.”

How will the mind ever deviate after it was immersed in an ocean of rasa? Absorption in Svāminī’s maidservice is even deeper!

“I am a maidservant of She whose form, qualities and sweetness defeat even Govinda’s! What can māyā do to me then?”

When, by continuously performing bhajan, the mind becomes rasika then the devotee becomes as attached and accustomed to his beloved deity as a conditioned soul is to his wife and children.

That’s why the Gosvāmīs say: “We want sāsaṅga bhajan (worship with attachment to the deity).

anāsaṅga bhajana (worship without attachment to Kṛṣṇa) won’t do.”

“It is my duty to chant the holy name (a fixed number of times), that’s why I do it, but I don’t relish the sweetness of the name!”

Mahāprabhu could not even pronounce the word Jagannātha when He was in ecstasy (while dancing in the Ratha Yātrā).

jaja gaga jaja gaga gadgada vacana
(C.C.)

“He was saying ‘jaja gaga jaja gaga’ with faltering voice.”

Then the Lord relished pratipadam pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanam, the full nectar at every step.

Śrīla Dāsa Gosvāmī has said:

rādheti nāma nava sundara sīdhu mugdhaṁ kṛṣṇeti nāma madhurādbhuta gāḍha dugdham
sarva kṣaṇaṁ surabhi rāga himena ramyaṁ kṛtvā tad eva piba me rasane kṣudhārte

“O my tongue suffering from thirst! Please mix the delicious fresh enchanting nectar of the name Rādhā with the wonderfully sweet condensed milk of the name Kṛṣṇa, add the fragrant delightful ice of pure passionate love and drink this charming drink at every moment!”

The ācāryas teach us that we must relish each item of devotion in this way. All other desires, from sense-gratification to liberation, are all cheating. As long as such cheating propensities are there there can be no pure devotion, let alone rāga bhakti!

Śrī Līlāśuka has said:
bhaktis tvayi sthiratarā bhagavan yadi syād
daivena naḥ phalati divya kiśora mūrtiḥ
muktiḥ svayaṁ mukulitāñjali sevate’smān
dharmārtha kāma gatayaḥ samaya pratīkṣāḥ

“O Lord! When our devotion to You becomes firm and fixed we may be so fortunate to behold Your divine adolescent form. Liberation will personally serve us with folded hands and religiosity, economic development and sense-gratification will be waiting for the time to attend to us.”
(Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta 107)

A person in whose heart the splendor of Rādhārāṇī’s toe-nails awakens is fearless and undisturbed. Renunciation is there in the minds of those who are absorbed in these lotus feet.
Everything is wasted for someone whose heart does not carry these lotus feet, but a devotee who accepts the mood of the kiṅkarīs will always experience the vicinity of these lotus feet.
How blissful it is to even think  – “I am close to Her!”

—

Svāminī has received the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips. The jokes of Her sakhīs crystallize the sweetness of their savour.

Tulasī seats Svāminī on a stool and washes Her mouth. Svāminī then holds court with Her sakhīs while a jewelled wick is burning. Tulasī then comes and stands before Svāminī, carrying a jewelled plate with a selfmade betel leaf containing cardamom, ground catechu, nutmeg, areca-nuts, camphor and cloves.

Svāminī is absorbed in talking about Śyāma with Her girlfriends. Tulasī attracts Her attention by calling Her Madhura Gātrī, sweet-limbed Girl. When is She Madhura Gātrī for the kiṅkarīs?
When She is with Śyāma! Nothing is as sweet as that! Why is the betel leaf called param, or best? There’s a secret in that!

Tulasī has secretly mixed some of Śyāma’s leftover pān in it, which she had discretely received from Dhaniṣṭhā when she was at Nandīśvara earlier in the evening.

Dhaniṣṭhā knows what is on Svāminī’s mind, therefore she has given these betel leaves to Tulasī.

When Svāminī catches the fragrance of this pān, She becomes enchanted and possessed with greed.

The pān chewed by Madana Mohana is even sweeter than nectar and its scent increases the desire of Svāminī’s tongue:

sudhājid ahi-vallikā sudala vīṭikā carvitah
sa me madana mohanaḥ sakhi! tanoti jihvā spṛhām
(Govinda Līlāmṛta 8.8)

“O sakhi! Madana Mohana increases the yearnings of My tongue with His nicely chewed betel leaves, which defeat the sweetness of nectar!”

Kṛṣṇa ye khāy tāmbūla, kohe tāra nāhi mūla,
tāhe āra dambha paripāṭī
tāra yebā udgāra, tāre koy amṛta sāra,
gopīra mukha kore ālabāṭi
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Antya 16, 132)

“I cannot describe the value of the betelleaves that were chewed by Kṛṣṇa. They are also most proud of being called ‘the essence of nectar’ and being able to use the gopīs’ mouths as spittoons!”

This pān is the greatest elixir.
When Svāminī smells it She becomes overwhelmed. It is as if Śyāmasundara has appeared in person.

Looking at Svāminī, it seems as if She sits there with someone else, hugged against somebody (Kṛṣṇa). How sweet, how beautiful, how splendid!
It is the bhāva-service of Bhāvamayī, by the bhāva-kiṅkarī in the kingdom of bhāva. Without bhāva this cannot be grasped.

The great composer of the Rasa-śāstras, Maharṣi Bharata Muni, has written:
bhāvā evābhisampannāḥ prayānti rasa rūpatām – “When bhāva becomes mature it attains rasa-rūpatā (a form of rasa).”

Bhāva is understood to mean manovṛtti, or a mentality. There are two kinds of faculties of the mind: the manifest and the unmanifest.
When the manifest thoughts dwell in the mind it is called manovṛtti and when the unmanifest thoughts are there it is called saṁskāra, vāsanā, bhāva, or bhāvanā.
When this (devotional) saṁskāra takes a place in the heart by the grace of the saints, all will be understood, experienced and relished.

Tulasī attracts Svāminī’s attention because now She is in the kingdom of līlā. Where has Her mind gone?
The sakhīs know it and Svāminī speaks with them in that mood, that’s why the word vaktrāmbuja is used here in the text. A speaker is called vaktra.
Tulasī calls out “Ayi madhura gātri!”, calling Svāminī back to reality and Svāminī, who is greedy after their fragrance, eagerly stretches out Her hand to grab the betel leaves from her jewelled plate.
What a wonderful expertise in devotional service!

“Svāminī has stopped speaking with Her sakhīs just to put my betel leaves in Her mouth!”

– From the tika of Srila Ananta das Babaji and Srila Ananda Gopal Goswami to verse 52 of Sri Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali