KĀRUṆYĀMṚTA VĪCĪBHIS TĀRUṆYĀMṚTA DHĀRAYĀ
LĀVAṆYĀMṚTA VANYĀBHIḤ SNAPITĀṀ GLAPITENDIRĀM
HRĪ PAṬṬA-VASTRA GUPTĀṄGĪṀ SAUNDARYA GHUṢṚṆĀÑCITAM
ŚYĀMALOJJVALA KASTURĪ VICITRITĀ KALEVARĀM
(2-3)

(In the morning) Her body is bathed with waves of nectar of compassion, (at noontime with) a stream of the nectar of youth, and (in the evening with) floods of the nectar of elegance.  In this way She makes Indirā (Lakṣmī)-devī wilt. She conceals Her limbs with the silken garment of bashfulness, anoints them with the vermilion of beauty and pictures of brilliantly (or amorously) blackish musk.

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

Now Śrī Raghunātha dāsa begins to describe the bathing, dressing and ornamentation of mahā bhāva vigrahā Śrī Rādhārāṇī. We are not able, as worldly people, to conceive of anything beyond this world, so while we do our bhajana we think of Rādhārāṇī as a beautiful, sweet young girl. By introducing Her as the embodiment of ecstatic love, Śrīpāda Raghunātha warns us not to think of Rādhārāṇī’s bathing, dressing, and ornamentation as we think of the bathing and dressing of an ordinary girl of flesh and blood. We should understand mahābhāvamayī Rādhā by being absorbed in bhāva. Without having bhāva, one cannot worship the embodiment of mahābhāva. The practicing devotees should always remember that, just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the human form of brahma, which means that although He has a human form, this form consists of sat cit and ānanda, pure spirit, and not of the five material elements that make up our human forms, similarly Śrī Rādhā’s form consists of nothing but mahābhāva, inside out, although She appears in the form of a girl. Therefore, we must always remember while we meditate on Rādhārāṇī’s bathing, dressing, eating and ornamentation as an ordinary girl, that these are all activities of bhāva.

    In the second verse Śrī Raghunātha dāsa introduces us to Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s bath.
Beautiful girls bathe thrice a day: in the morning, at noontime, and in the evening, just to keep their bodies smooth and tender.
The morning-bath must be taken in a river. Śrī Rādhā takes Her morning bath in a nectarwave of compassion. para duḥkhāsaho yas tu karuṇaḥ sa nigadyate (B.R.S) “Compassion means not being able to tolerate another person’s suffering”. These merciful feelings are kāruṇya. Kāruṇya means that the heart melts when one sees the miserable condition of others. A person’s heart can melt of compassion, but Rādhārāṇī is an ocean of boundless compassion, so that it causes even Her body to melt! The morningtime also symbolises the puberty, which is the morning time of life. Just as a girl’s body becomes smooth by taking a morning bath in a river, similarly Śrīmatī’s body becomes smooth when Her child-like naughtiness stops and Her compassion arises during puberty.

    Śrīmatī takes Her noontime bath in a nectar stream of youth. At noontime, tender young girls are too busy with their household duties to take a bath in the river, so they bathe at home in water brought in by their maidservants. At noontime, Śrīmatī bathes in a nectar stream of youthfulness. When She looks in a mirror after dressing and ornamenting Herself, eager to meet Kṛṣṇa and to be with Him, She sees Her own sweetness and wonders if Her beauty, which manifests tāruṇyāmṛta, the nectar of youth, is worthy to be enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa or not. The sakhīs then show Her Kṛṣṇa and describe His qualities to Her, making moods of fresh youthfulness appear in Śrīmatī’s mind.
In this way, Śrīmatī’s noontime bath is accomplished with a stream of nectarean youthfulness. In other words, just as the noon-bath makes the body smooth and attractive, similarly when the feelings of nectarean youthfulness manifest themselves the smoothness and attractiveness of Śrī Rādhā’s body is accomplished.

    In the evening Śrīmatī is bathed with a nectarflood of elegance. Anyone who wants to find relief from the summerheat should bathe in a waterfall in the evening. Hence the flood-bath is mentioned here. Śrīmatī’s evening bath is accomplished with a nectar stream of lāvaṇya. What is lāvaṇya?

muktāphalesu chāyāyās taralatvam ivāntarā
pratibhāti yad angesu lāvanyam tad ihocyate
(Ujjvala Nīlamani)

    “Just as luster emanates from pearls in waves of loveliness, similarly when waves of luster emanate from someone’s every limb it is called lāvaṇya.”

In this stream of lāvaṇya Śrīmatī takes Her evening bath. Just as all the limbs are inundated when one bathes in a waterfall, similarly, when youth appears, all of Śrīmatī’s limbs are inundated by waves of lāvaṇya.
From this description of Her tri-sandhyā snāna (bath thrice a day), we can understand that Śrīmatī’s body, which is composed of mahābhāva, is the incessant root shelter of compassion, youthfulness and elegance (kāruṇya, tāruṇya, and lāvaṇya). Therefore, with Her kāruṇya, tāruṇya, and lāvaṇya, Śrīmatī makes even the goddess of Vaikuṇṭha, Indirā (Lakṣmī) wilt.
Śrī Rādhārāṇī is the aggregate of all goddesses of fortune.

sarva saundarya kānti boisoye yāhāte;
sarva lakṣmī-gaṇera śobhā hoy yāhā hoite
(C.C.)

“All beauty and luster rests in Her, and the beauty of all the goddesses of fortune comes from Her.”

kāruṇyāmṛta dhārāya snāna prathama;
tāruṇyāmṛta dhārāya snāna madhyama;
lāvaṇyāmṛta dhārāya tad upari snāna
(C.C.)

“She takes Her first bath in the stream of nectarean compassion, Her middle bath in the stream of nectarean youthfulness and Her final bath in the nectar stream of elegance.”

    In the third verse Śrī Raghunātha dāsa says: hrī paṭṭa vastra guptāṅgīm – “Her body is covered by a silken garment of shyness.”
Bhāvamayī’s beautiful limbs are dressed in bhāva-clothes. Shyness is a sañcārī bhāva.
That which transits the course of a mood is called a sañcārī-bhāva.

navīna sangamākārya stavāvajñādinā kṛtā
adhṛṣṭatā bhaved vrīḍā tatra maunaṁ vicintanam
avaguṇṭhana bhū-lekhau tathādo mukhatādayaḥ
(Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu)

    “The mood which is contrary to boldness, and which is caused by a new meeting, a misdeed, praise or an offense is called shyness. A shy person is silent, thoughtful, covers the face, writes in the earth (with the toes) and lowers the head.”

Śrī Rādhā is the shyest girl. Although She has all the countless qualities that Kṛṣṇa has, She becomes very hesitant out of shyness when She hears Herself being praised for them:

saṅkuca na tathya vacasā jaganti tava kīrti kaumudī mārṣṭi
urasi harer asi rādhe yad akṣayā kaumudī carcā (U.N.)

    “Once Paurṇamāsī praised Śrī Rādhā’s glories to Gārgī, when Śrī Rādhārāṇī suddenly came by and became shy upon hearing Her own glorification. Seeing this, Vṛndā said: “O Rādhe! Why are You hesitant when You hear the truth? The moonlight of Your fame pervades the whole universe! The ointment of the moonrays of Your glories is smeared all over Hari’s chest!”

Shyness is caused by an abandonment of boldness and when this meets with humility it makes all the activities of the body, mind and words very sweet, beautiful and nectarean. Śrīmatī is covered from tip to toe with the silken garment of this shyness and humility. nija lajjā śyāma paṭṭa-śāṭī paridhāna (C.C.)

    After that it is said: saundarya ghusṛṇāñcitām – “Śrī Rādhā’s body is anointed with the vermilion of beauty.”

Beautiful and tender girls anoint their bodies with fine vermilion after their bath, but on Premamayī (loving Rādhā)’s loving body, the vermilion-decoration represents Her beauty;

aṅga praty aṅgakāṇāṁ yaḥ sanniveśo yathocitam
suśliṣṭa sannibaddhaḥ syāt tat saundaryam itīryate (U.N.)

    “The proper arrayment of all the different limbs and conjunctions is called saundarya, or beauty.”

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gives the following example in ‘Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi’:

akhaṇḍendos tulyaṁ mukham uru kuca dyotitam uro
bhujau srajāv aṁse kara parimitaṁ madhyam abhitaù
pariskārā śreṇī krama laghima bhāg ūru yugalaṁ
tavāpūrvaṁ rādhe kim api kamanīyaṁ vapur abhūt

    Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: “O Rādhe! What more can I say about Your beauty? Your face is like the globe of the moon, Your raised breasts are very good-looking, Your arms and Your shoulders are lowered, Your waist is so slender that it can be caught with a fist, Your buttocks are very big, and Your tapering thighs are wonderful! O Priyatame! Your body displays a wonderful attractiveness!”

yāra saundaryādi guṇa vāñche lakṣmī pārvatī
(C.C.)

“Even Lakṣmī and Pārvatī covet Her attributes like sweetness and beauty!”

In the Patāla Khaṇḍa of Padma Purāṇa (40th chapter), Nārada Muni praises Śrī Rādhā as follows:

bhrāntaṁ sarveṣu lokeṣu mayā svacchanda-cāriṇā
asyā rūpeṇa sadṛśī dṛṣṭā naiva ca kutracit
brahmaloke rudraloka indraloke ca me gatiḥ
na ko’pi śobha-koṭyaṁśaḥ kutrāpyasyāvilokitaḥ
mahā-māyā bhagavati dṛṣṭā śailendra-nandinī
yasyā rūpeṇa sakalaṁ muhyate sa-carācaram
sāpyasyāḥ sukumārāṅgī lakṣmīṁ nāpnoti karhicit
lakṣmīḥ sarasvatī kāntir vidyādyāś ca vara-striyaḥ
chāyām api spṛśantyaś ca kadācin naiva dṛśyate

    “I have freely wandered through all the worlds, but a form like Hers I have never seen anywhere! I have free access to either Brahmaloka, Śiva loka or Indraloka, but nowhere have I seen a girl who is even one ten millionth part as beautiful as this girl. I have seen Mahāmāyā, the daughter of the mountain (Pārvatī), whose form enchants all moving and non-moving creatures, but even she cannot attain the beauty of this tender-limbed girl! The greatest women like Lakṣmī, Sarasvatī, Kānti and Vidyā can never even touch the shadow of Her sweet form!”

Śrī Rādhā’s beauty emanates directly from Her mahābhāva, Devarṣi Nārada had personally realized that truth, because simply by seeing Śrīmatī he experienced an upsurge of Govinda prema.

asyāḥ sandarśanād eva govinda caraṇāmbuje;
ya premābdhir abhūt sā me bhūta-pūrva na karhicit:

“I have never seen that form, that has given me an ocean of love for Govinda’s lotus feet on mere sight, before.”

Such kuṅkuma of beauty adorns Śrī Rādhā’s divine body.

    Then it is said: śyāmalojjvala kastūrī vicitrita kalevarām – “Her body is pictured by the musk of blackish erotic rasa.”

The color of the erotic mellow is śyāma (black). Just as golden-complexioned girls apply blackish musk-tilaka to their limbs after they have bathed, Śrī Rādhikā’s limbs are marked with the black musk of erotic mellows.

In Caitanya Caritāmṛta it is described –

saundarya-kuṅkuma, sakhī praṇaya candana;
smita kānti karpūra – tine aṅga vilepana;
kṛṣṇera ujjvala rasa mṛgamada bhara,
sei mṛgamade vicitrita kalevara.

    “Her body is anointed with three unguents – the kuṅkuma of beauty, the sandalwood pulp of Her girlfriends’ love and the camphor of Her lustrous smile.
Her body is beautified with the musk of Kṛṣṇa’s erotic flavors.”

apāra kāruṇyāmṛta taraṅga hillole; pūrvāhne prathama snāna kore kutūhole
tāruṇya amṛta dhāre kiśorī varāṅga; madhyāhne dvitīya snāna yauvana taraṅga
sāyāhne lāvanyāmṛta vanyāya snāna kori; dyotamānā śrī rādhikā paramā sundara
nava gorocanā gaurī Kṛṣṇa manoharā; glāni yukta hon yāra saundarye indirā (2)
lajjā-rūpa paṭṭa vastra aṅga ācchādita; saundarya kuṅkume dhani ati suśobhita
śyāmala ujjvala rasa sugandhi kasturī; tāte vicitrita dehā rādhikā sundarī (3)

    “The most beautiful and effulgent Śrī Rādhikā eagerly takes Her first bath in the morning in the billowing waves of the boundless nectar of compassion, at noontime She gives Her adolescent super-excellent body a second bath in the nectar-waves of youthfulness, and She takes Her evening bath in a deluge of the nectar of elegance. This Gaurī, who enchants Kṛṣṇa, shines like fresh Gorocanā, thus dimming the beauty of even Indirā (Lakṣmī). This fortunate girl covers Her limbs with a silken garment of bashfulness and becomes very beautiful through the vermilion of beauty. Rādhikā Sundarī’s body is then further beautified by the fragrant musk of bluish erotic flavours, drawn in pictures.”

from “Sri Sri Stavavali 3″”
(English commentary by Rādhākuṇḍa Mahānta Paṇḍita Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

Translated by Sri Advaita das