Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the combined form of the king of all transcendental tastes and the embodiment of mahā-bhāva.

After fulfilling His three special desires, He also relishes the mood of the maidservants of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī . This unique mood is the gift that was never before bestowed on the world and the special mercy of his incarnation.

Kṛṣṇa, known as the foremost amongst the relishers of sacred rapture, accepted the mood and luster of His chief consort Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī with a view to fulfilling three desires (viz., to know what is the nature of Rādhā’s love, what is the extent of His own sweetness, and what is the nature of the happiness that She experiences in Her love for Him).

After He, in his form as Gaurasundara, had experienced the fulfillment of those desires through various pastimes, a new desire manifested within Him: due to being filled with sweet and beneficent love, He wished to experience the sentiment of the friends of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in their intimate service of the Divine Loving Couple and after relishing it Himself, to distribute it to the people of the world.

This is the devotion that is glorified in the beginning of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta as anarpita-carīṁ cirāt… unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam – “the most elevated and effulgent, flavorful, intimate devotional beauty that had not been offered to the world for an inestimable length of time.”

From Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja’s account in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we can get a little idea of how this unique pastime of the Lord was experienced by him in this special manifestation as the combination of rasa-rāja and mahā-bhāva.

kāhāṅ nāhi śuni je je bhāver vikār |
sei bhāva hay prabhura śarīre pracār |
hasta-pader sandhi sab vitasti pramāṇe |
sandhi chāṛi bhinna haye carma rahe sthāne ||
hasta pada śira sab śarīre bhitare |
praviṣṭa hay kūrma-rūpa dekhiye prabhure || CC 2.2.11-13

“Those ecstatic transformations that had never before been seen anywhere were all manifest in the Lord’s body. Sometimes the joints of his arms and legs would separate to a distance of 8 or 10 inches with only the tightened skin holding the limbs together. Then again, sometimes his head and limbs would contract and withdraw into his body in the manner of a tortoise.”

kṛṣṇa guṇa-rūpa-rasa, gandha-śabda-paraśa, se sudhā āsvāde gopī-gaṇ|
tā-sabāra grāsa-śeṣe, āni pañcendriya śiṣye, se bhikṣāy rākhaye jīvan ||  CC 3.14.49

“The gopīs constantly relish the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s qualities, his form, taste, fragrance, sound and touch; my mind is a mendicant who comes to them with his five ragged disciples, the senses, to beg from them the remnants of their feast by which he will maintain his life.”

In his half-conscious state, Mahāprabhu uttered the following:

sakhī he! dekha kṛṣṇera jala-keli-raṅge |
kṛṣṇa-matta kari-var, cañcala kara puṣkar, gopī-gaṇ kariṇīra saṅge ||
jāhā kari āsvādan, ānandita mora man, netra karṇa jugma juṛāila || CC 3.18.80-82; 84

“I saw the Yamunā and was immediately transported to Vṛndāvana where I saw the son of the king of Vraja playing water sports with Rādhikā and the other gopīs. They were frolicking with great amusement in the waters of the Yamunā. I stood on the shore with the other gopīs watching; one sakhī particularly showed me everything, pointing out the special features of the sports. O sakhī! See the water games being enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa! He is like a maddened elephant agitating the waters of a pond in the association of all his gopī she-elephants. Seeing all these amusements of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, my mind is overjoyed and my eyes and ears have attained supreme satisfaction.”

āpane kari āsvādane, śikhaīila bhakta-gaṇe, prema-cintāmaṇira prabhu dhanī |
nāhi jāne sthānāsthān, jāre tāre kare dān, mahāprabhu dātā śiromaṇi |
ei gupta-bhāva-sindhu, brahmā nā pāy eka bindu, hena dhan bilāila saṁsāre |
aiche dayālu avatār, aiche dātā nāhi ār, guṇa keho nāre varṇibāre ||
kahibāra kathā nahe, kahile keha nā bujhaye, aiche citra caitanyera raṅga |
sei se bujhite pāre caitanyera kṛpā jāre, hay tāra dāsānudāsa saṅga || CC 2.2.81-83

“Tasting this rasa Himself, He taught it to all the devotees; the Lord was rich with the jewels of prema. He discriminated not as to the place or recipient; He was the greatest of all philanthropists. Not even a drop of this ocean of secret spiritual emotions is attained by Brahmā and the other demigods, yet this wealth was distributed by the Lord throughout the world. No one can describe successfully the glories of such an incarnation, so merciful and so charitable, the equal of whom has never been seen. All these things should not be revealed openly, yet if they are not explained no one will ever understand, yet only those who become subservient to the servant of the servant of the Lord and who thus receive His mercy will be able to comprehend these wonderful līlās of His.”

alaukika līlā prabhura alaukika rīti |
śunileha bhāgya-hīnera nā hay pratīti || CC 1.17

“These pastimes of the Lord are transcendental as are their intricacies and details; the unfortunate develop no faith in them, even after hearing.”

ataeva āpane prabhu gopī bhāva dhari |
vrajendra-nandane kahe prāṇanātha kari ||
sei kṛṣṇa sei gopī parama virodh |
acintya-caritra prabhur ati sudurbodh ||
ithe tarka kari keho nā kara saṁśay |
kṛṣṇer acintya-śakti ei mata hay ||
acintya adbhut kṛṣṇa-caitanya vihār |
citra-bhāva citra-guṇa citra-vyavahār || CC 1.17.303-6

“Therefore the Lord Himself accepted the sentiments of a gopī and called out to Kṛṣṇa as “the Lord of my heart.” He is Kṛṣṇa and yet He is a gopī what a contradiction! How incomprehensible the character of the Supreme Lord! Don’t doubt it by raising many objections. All things are possible by his inconceivable potencies. The Lord’s amusements are inconceivable to the mundane mind, how amusing they are! How wonderful His emotional transformations, how wonderful his qualities, how wonderful His behavior with His devotees.”

In the Caitanya-candrāmṛta also, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī also states:

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ |
tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmād rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāmbu-rāśiḥ || Caitanya-candrāmṛta 78

“As much as an aspirant devotee develops devotion for the Lord Gaurāṅga by the grace of those intimate with Him, that is the extent to which the ocean of nectar of love for the service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī manifests suddenly in his heart.”

The purport is that as much as a devotee experiences Mahāprabhu directly through devotion, that is the extent to which he will realize the nature and extent of Rādhārāṇī’s mahā-bhāva and its different external manifestations. The glory of Rādhā’s love for Kṛṣṇa will be comprehended by the aspirant devotees through Mahāprabhu to the fullest extent and as a result he will know love for Her as Her hand-maid.

Therefore Vāsu Ghoṣa sings in a famous song:

jadi gaurāṅga nā hata, ki mene hañta, kemane dharitām de |
rādhāra mahimā, rasa-sindhu-sīmā, jagate jānāto ke?
madhura vṛndā-vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sār |
varaja-juvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati haīta kār ||
gāo gān puna gaurāṅgera guṇa sarala hañyā man |
e tin bhuvane dayāra ṭhākura nā dekhiye eka-jan ||
gaurāṅga baliyā nā gela galiyā kemane dharila de |
vāsur hiyā pāṣāṇa diyā kemane gaṛila ke

“Had Gaura not appeared, then what would have happened? How would I have maintained my life? Who would have revealed the glories of Rādhārāṇī’s love for Kṛṣṇa to the world?
Who would have known the secret of entering into the sweetest chambers of the Lord’s abode in the mellow realm of Vṛndāvana? Who would have had the strength to worship the Lord in the mood of the damsels of Vraja?
Free your mind from the complication of doubt and simply glorify the great qualities of Lord Gaurāṅga! I cannot see any person in this entire universe who is as merciful as He.
How is it that even after crying out the name of Gaurāṅga my heart does not melt? How is it that I am still alive? Vāsu Ghoṣa says that it seems that the creator has made him with a heart made out of stone.”

from “Manjari svarupa nirupana” written by Sri Kuñja Bihārī Dās Bābājī