NAVAṀ DIVYAṀ KĀVYAṀ SVAKṚTAM ATULAṀ NĀṬAKA-KULAṀ
PRAHELĪ GŪḌHĀRTHĀḤ SAKHI RUCIRA VĪṆĀ DHVANI GATĪḤ
KADĀ SNEHOLLĀSAIR LALITA LALITĀ PRERAṆA BALĀT
SALAJJAṀ GĀNDHARVĀ SARASAM ASAKṚC CHIKṢAYATI MĀM

O dear friend Rūpa Mañjari! When will Gāndharvā (Rādhikā), on the instigation of lovely Lalitā, shyly, joyfully, tastefully and affectionately teach me new divine poems, different kinds of self-made plays, riddles with very deep meanings and enchanting playing of the Vīṇā, again and again?

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

There is no comparison to the loving friendship between Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. Seeing Raghunātha dāsa’s great pangs of separation, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī prayed to Śrī Mādhava for the fulfillment of his desires at the end of his play ‘Dāna Keli Kaumudī’. Śrīmad Dāsa Gosvāmīpāda prays at different places that he can remain the dust at Śrī Rūpa’s lotus feet, birth after birth. It is the same at the mañjarī-level: there is a matchless love and friendship between Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and Śrī Tulasī Mañjarī. Tulasī’s devotion to Rūpa is complete. Suffering the pangs of separation, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa falls on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa and weeps with an anxious heart. Now he is no longer Raghunātha dāsa, now he is Tulasī Mañjarī! In this stotra she reveals her aspiration for learning all the artful expertises in the devotional service of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava to Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī.

First of all, she reveals her desires to learn poetry, plays, riddles and playing of the Vīṇā from her own Īśvarī Gāndharvā Śrī Rādhā Herself. But although she learns it from Rādhā Herself, she also experiences the mercy of the leading sakhī Lalitā with it. Actually personal, whimsical prayers can never be so sweet and beautiful as these. During this vision the object is as relishable as if it were directly perceived and when this vision ends he (Raghunātha) reveals his prayers.

 

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa falls on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa and weeps out of separation from Srī Rādhārāṇī. Suddenly a vision comes to him. Lalitā-sakhī comes, affectionately takes Tulasī Mañjarī by the hand and brings her to Śrī Rādhā. How lovely and how merciful Lalitā is! How eager she is to make the kiṅkarīs qualified for Yugala-sevā, even if they themselves don’t desire it! How deprived the sādhakas are of the mercy of these sakhīs when they forget about their svarūpa and become absorbed in bodily consciousness and desires for profit, adoration and distinction day and night! “Even in dreams I am absorbed in sense-gratification! If I could only be blessed by the grace of the sakhīs in svarūpāveśa!” Śrī Raghunātha is Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s eternal maidservant, and the eternal object of Lalitā and the sakhīs’ mercy. Lalitā is the embodiment of compassion. Taking Tulasī by the hand she brings her to Śrī Rādhā. How lovely (lalita) is Lalitā-sakhī. There’s nothing more lovely in this world than compassion! Lalitā takes Tulasī by the hand and brings her to Rādhā’s lotus feet, saying: “O Rādhe! This Tulasī is so eager to render Yugala-service to You! Please make her qualified for serving You in all respects by teaching her Your enchanting poetry, play, songs, riddles and the Vīṇā!” Śrī Rādhā is bashfulness personified, so when She hears Lalitā’s words She becomes a little shy and says: “Tulasi! You like to read with Me? Come then and read with Me every day from now on, as a rule!” How mercifully She looks upon Tulasī then, pouring Her compassion from Her eyes!

Svāminī teaches Tulasī poetry: navaṁ divyaṁ kāvyaṁ.

New, transcendental poetry. Ever-fresh transcendental poetry cannot be found anywhere outside of Vraja. Śrī Vṛndāvana is the nikuñja-forest of all kinds of arts and poetry. God is called raso vai saḥ (“He is rasa”) in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, and sarva rasaḥ (“all taste”) in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. He is the reservoir of all transcendental flavors, and even a single drop of the rasa that drips from Him makes everything else tasty. All sensual pleasures in this world are just a reflection of a mere drop of His endless transcendental bliss. This blissful Śrī Govinda and the embodiments of mahā bhāva, Śrī Rādhā and the Vraja-sundarīs, are the divine hero and heroine of this transcendental ever-fresh poetry. Here the extraction of rasa is not just accomplished through the expertise of the poets, the rasa becomes spontaneously manifest because the subject matter is transcendentally qualified. On the other hand, the hero and heroine of mundane poetry are made of flesh, blood, bones, stool, worms and other disgusting things, and these distasteful ingredients cannot possibly produce transcendental rasa.

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī has written in Prīti Sandarbha: laukikasya ratyādeḥ sukha rūpatvaṁ yathā kathañcid eva vastu vicāre duḥkha paryavasāyitvāt.
“There is only little happiness in worldly poetry, because material affairs always culminate in misery.”

This is why Svāminī teaches Tulasī only the transcendental poetry about Herself, mahābhāva mūrti Śrī Rādhārāṇī and aprākṛta rasa-kadamba-mūrti Śrī Govinda, and She makes her very expert by teaching her over and over again. Then, on Lalitā’s instigation, Śrīmatī also teaches Tulasī Self-made (sva kṛtam atulaṁ) plays with Herself and Kṛṣṇa as the hero and heroine. In this way She describes Her own enchanting pastimes with Kṛṣṇa, using other names for the hero and heroine. Śrīmatī composes these plays, so that Her sakhīs and mañjarīs can make Kṛṣṇa happy by enacting them. In these way She makes Her beloved maidservant qualified for Śyāmasundara’s loving service.

In the same way Śrīmatī makes Tulasī qualified for Yugala-sevā by teaching her all kinds of riddles with deep, hidden meanings. These riddles carry all kinds of secrets about Rādhā and Mādhava’s erotic pastimes, nothing else, and while the forest-pastimes or the picknick is going on at the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa, or when Kṛṣṇa dances the Rāsa with the gopīs in Vṛndāvana, Tulasī will ask all these riddles from Śyāmasundara through hints. In this way she will please Śyāma, and herself as well, by making Him personally reveal all the glories of Svāminī’s forms and qualities while solving her riddles. Śrīmatī is expert in all arts and sciences and for Śyāma’s service She teaches Tulasī these confidential riddles, to make her most expert also.

Being in this way requested by Lalitā, Śrīmatī gradually teaches Tulasī how to play the Vīṇā in a most charming way. Sitting down in a solitary grove She takes the Vīṇā in Her hand, seating Tulasī very close to Her. Svāminī wears no veil on Her head. How attentively She teaches Her maidservant how to play the Vīṇā! How wonderfully Her fingers, that resemble fresh golden Campaka-buds and that have beautiful jewelled rings, are plucking the strings of the Vīṇā! Śyāma Nāgara secretly and quietly comes to the kuñja and peeps through the latticed windows to relish the sweetness of His Priyājī playing the Vīṇā. Each resonance is plucking a string on His heart! Nāgara cannot stay outside anymore when He hears Svāminī’s sweet Vīṇā-playing.

As soon as He enters the kuñja Svāminī stops playing the Vīṇā. Covering Her head with Her veil She says in astonishment: “Are You here?” Śyāma says: “Can’t I see even a little of how You are teaching Tulasī to play the Vīnā?”

This examination of Tulasī’s lessons is also most wonderful! Svāminī says: “Tulasi! Let Śyāma hear how you learned to play the Vīṇā!”

How wonderful is the ability of Tulasī! She plays the Vīṇā in such an astonishing way – both (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa) are enchanted! Hearing Tulasī’s Vīṇā-playing, the Yugala Kiśora become inspired to make Love with Each other – what a wonderful service Tulasī renders in this way! Seeing the Yugala desiring to make love Tulasī discretely leaves the kuñja and eagerly looks through the latticed window to relish the sweetness of the Yugala Vilāsa.

Suddenly the vision vanishes and Śrī Tulasī prays to Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī that Śrī Rādhārāṇī may teach her all these things.

he sakhi rūpa mañjari! śrī lalitā devī; pāṭhābe gāndharvā pāśe mora śikṣā lāgi
lajjitā śrī rādhikā ati snehollāse; anurāge śikhāibe nava nava rase
svakṛta nirupama ye nāṭakāvali; abhinava kāvya yoto gūḍhārtha praheli
śikhāben ramya vīṇā vādana kauśala; emon saubhāgya mora kobe hobe bolo (2)

“O sakhi Rūpa Mañjari! Śrī Lalitā-devī will send me to Gāndharvā (Rādhikā) for lessons. Śrī Rādhikā will become very shy, but still She will teach me all new rasas with great love and joy. When will I be so fortunate that She will teach me Her incomparable self-made plays, new poems, intricate riddles and lovely Vīṇā-playing?”