Bhajana-Rahasya
(Text 18)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur

The inclination to be solely attached to serving Śrī Rādhā is described in Vilāpa-kusumāñjali (16):

pādābjayos tava vinā vara-dāsyam eva
nānyat kadāpi samaye kila devi yāce
sakhyāya te mama namo ’stu namo ’stu nityaṁ
dāsyāya te mama raso ’stu raso ’stu satyam

O Devī, I have no desire other than for the topmost attainment of servitude to Your lotus feet. I forever offer obeisances to the position of being Your sakhī, but may I remain firmly attached to being Your maidservant. I speak this as a solemn vow.

tava pada-dāsya vinā kichu nāhi māgi
tava sakhye namaskāra, āchi dāsya lāgi’

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Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

In this Text, Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, absorbed in his internal mañjarī form, is praying in great distress to the lotus feet of his Svāminī. “O Svāminī, please make me Your maidservant by bestowing upon me the great fortune of service to Your lotus feet.” This servitorship (dāsya) is topmost (vara) because Śrī Rādhā’s maidservants are free from reverence and fear. Their service is devoid of hesitation and is supremely tasty and relishable. The desire for this dāsya is the compassionate gift of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and its attainment is the heartfelt aim of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.

As maidservants, the mañjarīs are also receptacles of mādhurya-rasa. They can, without fear or shyness, enter the solitary nikuñja where amorous pastimes are taking place, and very gracefully and cleverly perform their service. They also thoroughly know the requirements of the youthful Divine Couple, as well as when and how to fulfil them. The speciality of these mañjarīs is performing their service while knowing the innermost feelings of the Divine Couple’s hearts. Seeing the enchanting skill of the mañjarīs’ service, a desire for such service is aroused in the mind of Śyāmasundara Himself, the crest jewel of all those who relish rasa.

As svādhīna-bhartṛkā, a heroine who controls her lover, Śrī Rādhā orders Him, “Fix My dishevelled clothes and ornaments, or the other sakhīs will see them and tease Me.” Understanding Svāminī’s mood, the kiṅkarīs bring clothes and cosmetics. Śrīmatī orders Śyāmasundara to apply footlac (altā), and upon seeing the beauty of Her lotus feet, He becomes overwhelmed with prema. Ecstatic transformations (sāttvika-vikāras) make all His limbs horripilate and tremble (pulakita and kampita), and as a result He is unable to hold the brush. Observing His condition, Śrīmatī softly and sweetly smiles and orders Rati Mañjarī to apply the altā. The mañjarīs taste various types of sweet pastimes like this in a completely unobstructed way. Śyāmasundara has to take shelter of the mañjarīs in order to get the opportunity to meet with Śrīmatī or to pacify Her māna. While eating at the house of Nanda in the evening, Śyāmasundara becomes restless to know if He will be able to meet with Rādhikā that night or not. Through subtle gestures He inquires from Śrīmatī’s maidservants about the possibility of this meeting. A maidservant indicates, “Yes, it will take place.” Whatever these mañjarīs have is for the pleasure of the Divine Couple – they have nothing of their own. In rank, the priyanarma-sakhīs are superior, but from the perspective of having the most fortunate service, the mañjarīs are superior. The kāmātmikā-bhakti of Vraja, which is exclusive to mādhurya-rasa, is of two kinds: sambhoga-icchāmayī and tattad-bhāva-icchāmayī. The mādhurya-rasa that Vraja’s yūtheśvarīs (group leaders) such as Rādhā, Candrāvalī and Śyāmalā have towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called sambhoga-icchāmayī. Serving the Divine Couple in the mood of mañjarīs like Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Rati, whose inclination is towards Śrīmatī Rādhikā (rādhā-snehādhikā), is called tat-tad-bhāva-icchāmayī or sakhī-bhāva (that is, nitya and prāṇa-sakhī-bhāva).

The sakhīs are of three kinds: (1) rādhā-snehādhikā – those more inclined towards Śrī Rādhā, (2) kṛṣṇa-snehādhikā – those more inclined towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and (3) ubhaya-snehādhikā – those equally disposed to both. The sakhīs are also of five kinds:

(1) sakhī, (2) nitya-sakhī, (3) prāṇa-sakhī, (4) priya-sakhī and (5) priya-narma-sakhī. Both the nitya-sakhīs and prāṇa-sakhīs are rādhā-snehādhikā and are called mañjarīs. The mañjarīs are absorbed in the mood of service, even though they feel friendship (sakhya) for Śrī Rādhā. They remain exclusively intent on Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and do not desire bodily contact with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, even in their dreams.

This is confirmed in Vṛndāvanamahimāmṛta (16.94):

ananya-śrī-rādhā-pada-kamala-dāsyaika-rasadhīr hareḥ saṅge raṅga-svapana-samaye nāpi dadhatī

Single-pointed service to the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā is an ocean of transcendental rasa. One who wishes to enter that ocean will never desire enjoyment with Śrī Hari, even in dreams. The object (viṣayālambana) of the mañjarīs’ love and affection is Śrī Yugala-kiśora.

The manjaris experience all kinds of rati by beholding the Divine Couple embracing, by hearing Them conversing, by tasting Their chewed tāmbūla remnants, bysmelling the matchlessly beautiful fragrance arising from Their amorous pastimes, by touching Their lotus feet as they massage them, and so forth. They also taste the ecstasy of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s most intimate union (samprayoga). In this regard, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja says in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 8.209–10):

rādhāra svarūpa – kṛṣṇa-prema-kalpa-latā
sakhī-gaṇa haya tāra pallava-puṣpa pātā
kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta yadi latāke siñcaya
nija-sukha haite pallavādyera koṭi-sukha haya

By nature Śrī Rādhā is like a creeper of kṛṣṇa-prema and the
sakhīs are the leaves, flowers and twigs of that creeper. When the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes is sprinkled on that creeper, the leaves, flowers and twigs experience a happiness millions of times greater than if they were to be directly sprinkled with this nectar.

In Govinda-līlāmṛta one also finds this type of description: when Kṛṣṇa touches Śrī Rādhā, sāttvika-bhāvas also arise on the bodies of Her mañjarīs. And when Kṛṣṇa drinks the nectar of Rādhā’s lips, the resultant bhāva is also reflected in the nityasakhīs and prāṇa-sakhīs, who become as if intoxicated. This is described in the first verse of Vilāpa-kusumāñjali:

tvaṁ rūpa-mañjari sakhi! prathitā pure ’smin
puṁsaḥ parasya vadanaṁ na hi paśyasīti
bimbādhare kṣatam anāgata-bhartṛkāyā
yat te vyadhāyi kim u tac chuka-puṅgavena

My dear sakhī Rūpa Mañjarī, you are well known in Vraja for not even looking at the face of any man other than your husband. Therefore it is surprising that your lips, red like bimba fruits, have been bitten, even though your husband is not at home. Has this been done by the best of parrots?

Like Śrī Rādhā, Her mañjarīs also have samartha-rati . This rati is causelessly present in them in a transcendental, incomprehensible and inconceivable way. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 18.225) says:

“sunileo bhāgya-hīnera nā haya pratīti – even though hearing of this, those devoid of good fortune cannot perceive it.”

In this Text 18, Dāsa Gosvāmī prays to attain pālyadāsī-bhāva. Using the words raso ’stu, he expresses an ever-fresh heightening of prema and prays to Śrī Svāminī not to cheat him, either with clever words or by giving him other blessings.