“O Subhage! When can I arrange for Your abhisāra (love-journey) after hearing from the mouth of the parrot named Vicakṣaṇa that Śyāmasundara has already left for His abhisāra?” Tulasī calls Svāminījīu ‘Subhage’ here because she experiences Her fortune. He who is coveted by innumerable Vrajasundarīs, is Himself yearning for Śrī Rādhikā! The dāsī is proud of Rādhārāṇī’s pride. There’s no limit to Śyāma’s craving for Rādhārāṇī!

vṛṣabhānu nandini,      japaye rāti dini
bharama na bolaye ān.
lākho lākho dhani,      bolaye madhura vāṇī,
svapane na pātaye kān.

    “Day and night He murmurs: Vṛṣabhānu Nandini!, without saying anything else. Although hundreds of thousands of girls speak sweet words to Him, He does not listen to them even in dreams!”

‘rā’ kohi ‘dhā’ pahuṁ,      kohoi na pāroi,
dhara dhari bohe lora
soi purukh maṇi,     loṭāya dharaṇī puna,
ko koho ārati ora
(Govinda dāsa)

    “He can only pronounce the first syllable of Your name, Rā, but out of ecstasy He cannot pronounce the other one, ‘Dhā’. His eyes carry streams of tears. That jewel of men rolls on the ground. Who can describe His distress?”

    Śyāma is eager to the maximum to meet Rādhārāṇī, so He sends the parrot Vicakṣaṇa out with a message for Her. Although Vrajendra-nandana is the very form of full bliss, and He is the supreme shelter of all sounds, touch, forms, flavours and scents and the ocean of all rasa, even He is maddened by Rādhā’s sweetness. raso vai saḥ. rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati. ko hy evānyāt kaḥ prāṇyāt yad eṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt; eṣa hy evānandayati saiṣānandasya mīmāṁsā bhavati; etasyaiva ānandasya anyāni bhūtāni mātram upajīvanti: The Upaniṣads state that He is rasa, and the living being cannot be happy without Him; were He not ecstasy personified they would not desire to live. He is the limit of ecstasy and He makes all living beings in the world happy with even a drop of His transcendental bliss, yet even He is mad after meeting Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī! In the pūrva-rāga-(falling in love) stage it is seen that one sakhī describes to Śrīmatī how Śyāma is suffering the pangs of separation from Her:

dhani dhani ramaṇi maṇi janama dhani tora
sab jana kāhnu, kāhnu kori jhuraye, se tuya bhāve vibhora
cātaka cāhi, tiyāsala ambuda, cakora cāhi rahu candā
taru-latikā, avalambanakārī, majhu mane lāgalo dhandā
keśa paśāri, kabahuṁ tuhu āchali, ura para ambara ādhā,
so sab sumari, kāhnu bhelo ākula, koho dhani ithe ki samādhā
hasaite kaba tuhuṁ, daśana dekhāiyāli, kore kora jorahi mora,
alakhite diṭhi kaba, hṛdaye pasārali, puna heri sakhī koili kora
etohu nideśa, koholo tohe sundari, jāni tohe koroho vidhāna
hṛdaya putali tuhuṁ, so śuna kalevara, kavi vidyāpati bhāna

    “O fortunate girl! O Ramaṇi Maṇi, jewel of women! Your birth is blessed! Let everyone declare – it will satiate Kānu – He’s mad after You! Normally the Cāṭaka bird craves the rainwater from the cloud, but the Kṛṣṇa-cloud thirsts for the Rādhā-Cāṭaka, normally the Cakora-bird survives on the moonlight, but now the Kṛṣṇa-moon thrives on the Rādhā-Cakora. Normally the vine needs a tree for support, but this Kṛṣṇa-Tamāla-tree needs the support of the Rādhā-vine – His mind is absorbed in You! He’s panged remembering You combing Your hair with a garment covering half of Your breasts, and tells me: “O fortunate girl! What can I do? Kānu remembers everything, and it makes Him very upset – how You once smiled at Him and showed Him Your teeth – and declares: “When will She take Me in Her arms!?” Then He looked again and saw You holding the hand of Your sakhī. Your unseen glance entered His heart! So please go and tell this to Your Sundari – ask Her to do the needful!” Vidyāpati says: “You’re the doll of His heart, but His body is empty!”

    Śyāma does not love anyone as much as Her. The different gopīs only serve to create a variety of His loving pastimes with Śrīmatī, but He is totally subdued by Śrī Rādhā alone. This is a very relishable situation for Her maidservants. Śrī Rādhikā is fortunate, because He for whom all the gopīs are eager, is eager to meet Her. Therefore She is named Subhage, or fortunate girl, here and Tulasī is also proud of Svāminī’s pride. There’s no limit to Śyāma’s desire for Svāminī, that’s why He personally sent His pet parrot Vicakṣaṇa out with a message. Vicakṣaṇa delivers the message to Tulasī, who becomes most ecstatic!

śuka mukhe śunaite aichana rīta; sab aṅga pulakita camakita cita
kahaite gadgada kathahi bol; rāi mukha nirakhite antara dol

    “When I hear this from the parrot’s beak all my limbs are studded with goose pimples of excitement. I speak the message with a faltering voice and my heart swings when I behold Rāi’s face!”

    Tulasī thinks: “I won’t tell Svāminī about Hari’s message beforehand, otherwise She would run out of the door without having Her clothes and ornaments in the right place!” Śrī Śukadeva described a similar scene of divine madness in his Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.29.7), when Kṛṣṇa played His flute to inaugurate the Mahā-Rāsa dance:

limpantyaḥ pramṛjantyo’nyā aṣjantyaḥ kāś ca locane
vyatyasta vastrābharaṇāḥ kāścit kṛṣṇāntikaṁ yayuḥ

    “Some gopīs were putting on make-up, others cleansed their bodies, others applied eyeliner to their eyes, others began to put on their garments, while yet again others went to Kṛṣṇa with these decorations all on the wrong places!” According to the Gosvāmīs this is possible with Śrī Rādhārāṇī, who is endowed with the ecstatic love called mādana and modana and also with Her personal girlfriends. The Mahājanas sing:

rāi sāje bāṅśī bāje nā poḍilo ula; ki korite kinā kore sab hoilo bhūla
mukure āṅcare rāi bāṅdhe keśa-bhāra; pāye bāṅdhe phulera mālā nā kore vicāra
karete nūpura pore jaṅghe pore tāḍa; galāte kiṅkiṇī pore kaṭitaṭe hāra
caraṇe kājala pore nayane āltā; hiyāra upore kore baṅkarāja pātā
śravaṇe koroye rāi beśara sājanā; nāsāra upore kore veṇīra racanā
vaṁśī-vadane kohe yaū bolihārī; śyāma anurāgera bālāi loiyā mori

    “When Kṛṣṇa plays His flute Rāi forgets everything – what to do and what not to do! Rāi combs Her hair with Her mirror and ties Her flower garland to Her feet, without thinking. On Her hands She wears Her ankle bells, on Her shanks Her bangles, on Her neck She wears Her waist bells and on Her waist She wears Her necklace. On Her feet She wears Her eyeliner, around Her eyes She wears Her foot lac and on Her breasts She wears the Baṅkarāja Pātā-ornament. On Her ear Rāi places Her nose pearl and on Her nose She hangs the tassel of Her braid. Vaṁśī Vadana dāsa sings: “All glories to She who dies out of passionate love for Śyāma.”

    This ecstatic hilarity of love for Kṛṣṇa is called a vibhrama alaṅkāra in the rasa-śāstras:

vallabha prāpti velāyāṁ madanāveśa sambhramāt
vibhramo hāra mālyādi bhūṣā sthāna viparyayaḥ

    “When the heroine, out of erotic ecstasy, puts on Her necklaces, garlands and other ornaments on the wrong place when it is time to meet the lover, it is called vibhrama.” (Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi)

    Śrī Kṛṣṇa only relishes the prema, though, and not the beauty of the dress and ornaments – rūpa mātrena na hāryo hariḥ : “Hari cannot be captured only by the beauty of the form” (Lalita Mādhava). Kṛṣṇa takes great pleasure in correcting the gopīs’ mistakes in dressing and ornamenting with His own hands, thus showing Himself to be completely subdued by love. But the kiṅkarīs want to send Rādhikā out nicely dressed and ornamented. That’s why Tulasī thinks: “The parrot said that Śyāma is going out now to meet my Svāminī! First I will dress and ornament Her, and then I’ll tell Her this!” It is auspicious even to think and talk about the expertise in devotional service of the maṣjarīs. There will be no desire to look anywhere else. Why would the heart not be purified by thinking of the forms, qualities and pastimes of the Divine Pair? Can the māyā-śakti obstruct the Lord’s svarūpa śakti? bhajana makes a new life for the devotee. When nothing changes in the heart and mind, then how will I understand if my bhajan is advancing? Dāsī Tulasī dresses and ornaments Śrīmatī for Her abhisāra with thin dresses, floral earrings, necklaces and other ornaments. How expertly she’s doing this! Seeing this expertise of Tulasī Svāminī thinks: “Surely there must be some purpose to this ornamentation!” This causes Svāminī’s natural beauty even to increase, and therefore Tulasī calls Her Subhage or Sundari in this verse. When the vision vanishes she prays for devotional service:

Kṛṣṇa abhisāra kāla,      śunibo yokhon bhālo,
vicakṣaṇa śukera vadane.
tabe ati hṛṣṭā hoye,      sūkṣma paṭṭa sāṭī loye,
porāibo tomāre yatane.

    “When I clearly hear from the mouth of the parrot named Vicakṣaṇa that it is time for You to meet Kṛṣṇa, then I very blissfully take a thin silken sārī and carefully dress You with it.”

karṇapūra raci phule,      porāibo karṇamūle,
gole dibo kusumera hāra
he devi tomāre kobe,      sājāibo ei rūpe,
diyā heno puṣpa alaṅkāra.
(Śrī Rasika-Candra Dāsa)

    “I will make floral earrings and hang them on Your earlobes, and I will hang a flower garland around Your neck. O Devi! When can I thus adorn You with floral ornaments?”

 

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