VERSE 1:

gaurīṁ goṣṭha vaneśvarīṁ giridhara prāṇādhika preyasīṁ
svīya prāṇa parārdha puṣpa paṭalī nirmañchya tad paddhatim
premṇā prāṇa vayasyayā lalitayā saṁlālitāṁ narmabhiḥ
siktāṁ suṣṭhu viśākhayā bhaja mano rādhām agādhāṁ rasaiḥ

O Mind! Worship this golden Rādhā, who is endowed with deep flavors, who is the goddess of the forests and pasturing-fields of Vraja, who is dearer to Giridhārī (Kṛṣṇa) this His own life, who worships His path with billions of Her own life’s flowers, who is lovingly cuddled by Her heart’s friend Lalitā and who is sprinkled by the humorous mellows of Her friend Viśākhā!

Commentary by Sri Srimat Ananta das Babaji:

In this Navāṣṭakam, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa has some sweet visions of Rādhā and Mādhava’s pastimes, and when he returns to external consciousness he instructs his own mind to worship Śrī Rādhā, who is endowed with deep flavours. In this first verse he names some of the many attributes of his beloved Śrī Rādhā and expresses the desire to engage in Her devotional service. For those who desire to attain the service of Śrī Rādhā and Mādhava in the solitary groves of Vraja in one’s spiritual body these great verses are like a reviving elixir. In this first verse Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī glorifies seven names and attributes of Śrī Rādhikā.

First of all he says: Śrī Rādhā is Gaurī (a fair-complexioned girl).
Not just any Gaurī, but an unprecedented Gaurī. Śrī Kṛṣṇa sings in pūrva rāga (beginnings of love):

yahā yahā pada-yuga dharai, tahi tahi saroruha bharai
yahā yahā jhalakita aṅga; tahi tahi vijurī taraṅga
ki heriluṁ aparūpa gaurī, paiṭhala hiya māhā mori
yahā yahā nayana vikāśa; tāhi kamala parakāśa
yahā lahu hāsa sañcāra, tahi tahi amiyā vithāra
yahā yahā kuṭila kaṭākha; tahi madana śara lākha

“Wherever She places Her feet the lotus flowers start blossoming, and wherever Her body shimmers waves of lightning appear. What a wonderful Gaurī I have seen! She has penetrated My heart! Wherever She casts Her glances, there the lotus flowers blossom! Wherever She extends Her smile there She distributes nectar and wherever She casts Her crooked glances there are thousands of Cupid’s arrows.”

Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī opens his Saṅgīta Mādhava (1.2) with the verse:

nava campaka gaura kāntibhiḥ kṛta vṛndāvana hema rūpatām
bhaja kām api viśva mohinīṁ madhura prema rasādhidevatām

“Worship that indescribable world-enchanting goddess of sweet love-mellows, who turns Vṛndāvana completely golden with Her golden form that shines with the luster of fresh Campaka-flowers.”

Gaurīdevī (Pārvatī) had descended from her abode in the Himālayas to please Paśupati (Lord Śiva) with her harsh penances and attain Him as a husband, but this Gaurī (Rādhikā) is Herself worshiped by Paśupati (the cowherdboy Kṛṣṇa) in order to be attained by Him! Once Kṛṣṇa found Her picking flowers and He told Her:

kānane kusuma toḍasi kāhe gori; kusumahi niramita sab tanu bhori
ānana hema saroruha bhāsa; saurabhe śyāma bhramara milu pāśa
nayana yugala nīla utapala jora; sahaje śohāyala śravaṇaka ora
aparūpa tila phula sulalita nāśa; parimale jitala amara taru vāsa
bāṅdhuli milita adhara madhu hāsā; mukulita kunda kumuda parakāśā
sab tanu phuṭalo campaka gora; pāṇika tala thala kamala ujora
govinda dāsa ataye anumāna; pūjaha paśupati nija tanu dāna

“O Gori (golden girl)! Why are You picking flowers in the forest? Your whole body is made of flowers! Your face shines like a golden lotus flower and its fragrance attracts the blackbee (Kṛṣṇa)! Your eyes, that easily reach Your ears, defeat the blue lotus flowers, and Your lovely nose is like a wonderful sesame-flower, whose fragrance defeats that of the desire-trees. When Your lips smile it is as if honey oozes from the Bāndhulī-flowers and causes the budding Kunda- and Kumuda-buds to blossom. Indeed, Your whole body is like a blooming Campaka- flower and Your handpalms shine like landlotuses! Govinda dāsa suggests that You offer pūjā to Paśupati (Śiva or Kṛṣṇa) and offer Your whole body to Him (as a bouquet of flowers)!”

Then Śrī Rādhikā is named Goṣṭha Vaneśvarī, or the queen of the meadows and forests of Vraja. Kṛṣṇa is named Vṛndāvana Vihārī and Rādhikā Vrndāvaneśvarī.

Śyāma personally made Rādhikā the Queen of Vṛndāvana, being enchanted by Her qualities: vṛndāvanādhipatyaṁ ca dattaṁ tasyai pratuṣyatā. (
Padma Purāṇa)

The people of Vṛndāvana all worship Īśvarī, everyone is dedicated to Śrī Rādhā. Kṛṣṇa is Himself Goṣṭha Vihārī, therefore even He worships the Goṣṭha Vaneśvarī.

kālindī taṭa kuñja mandira gato yogīndravat yat pada jyotir dhyāna parā sadā japati yaṁ premāśru pūrṇo hariḥ
(Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi – 96)

“Hari sits in a kuñja on the bank of the Yamunā, just like the king of yogīs, meditating on the divine light emanating from Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and doing japa of Her holy name with tearfilled eyes.”

Thus Śrī Rādhā is in all respects the goṣṭha vaneśvarī.

Śrī Rādhā is dearer to Giridhārī than His very life.

Giridhārī has many sweethearts in Vraja, but Śrī Rādhā is dearer to Him than life! The other gopīs are simply contributing to Kṛṣṇa’s savour of Rādhārānī’s sweet love: rādhā saha krīḍā rasa āsvāda kāraṇa; āra sab gopīgaṇa rasopakaraṇa (C.C.) – “Rādhā is the chief cause of Kṛṣṇa’s savour in His pastimes; the other gopīs are all secondary causes.”

Although He has many sweethearts Kṛṣṇa still wanted to taste the sweetness of the love of Rādhā, who is dearer to Him than His very life, and therefore He descended to earth in the form of Gaura to become blessed with that unprecedented savour.
When Kṛṣṇa tastes the sweetness of Rādhā’s love He automatically tastes the sweetness of all His devotees’ love, for Śrī Rādhā is the aggregate of divine love.

The eternally perfect gopīs are Her phalanx and everyone who has attained perfection in gopī bhāva or will attain perfection in it has done so or will do so only by Śrī Rādhā’s grace and not otherwise. Śrī Rādhā is dearer to Giridhārī than His own life, because She is the fountainhead of all the gopīs and because of that all the other gopīs, whether nitya siddha or sādhana siddha, have become His sweethearts.

Then Śrī Rādhikā is called svīya prāṇa parārdha puṣpa paṭalī nirmañchya tat paddhatim – “She who worships Kṛṣṇa’s pathway with the flowers of billions of Her lives.”

The Lord is constitutionally dearer to the living entities than their own lives. The Upaniṣads preach: ātmā vai preyān – “Only the Self is beloved.”
We love our bodies, our abodes, our wives, our children and our relatives because the Lord is in them and is connected with them.

Śrīmad Bhagavata (10.23.27) says:

prāṇa buddhi manaḥ svātmā dārāpatya dhanādayaḥ
yat samparkāt priyā āsams tataḥ ko’nyaḥ paraḥ priyaḥ

“Who else could be dearer than one’s own self, through contact with whom life, intellect, mind, body, relatives, wife, children and wealth are dear?”

Because the living entities are bound by illusion (māyā) they cannot understand that God is their only true object of love.
In order to experience this priyatā of the transcendental Lord, one must do bhajan. When one thus attains prema, one will feel that Kṛṣṇa is dearer than one’s own life.

Śrī Rādhikā is the presiding goddess of prema, and therefore She loves Kṛṣṇa more than billions of Her own lives.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has written: nija prāṇārbuda preṣṭha Kṛṣṇa pāda nakhāñcalā -“Even the edges of Kṛṣṇa’s toenails are dearer to Rādhikā than billions of Her lives.”, and Srīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī wrote in his ‘108 names’: govinda caraṇa nyasta kāya mānasa jīvana. sva prāṇārbuda nirmañchya hari pāda rajaḥ kaṇā – “She has placed Her body, Her mind and Her life at Govinda’s lotus feet, and She worships a single speck of Hari’s footdust with billions of Her own lives.”

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa mentions this because he remembers a particular pastime.
Once Śrī Rādhikā passionately went out to meet Kṛṣṇa in a certain trystingplace, personally decorated the kuñja and sat down to wait there, eagerly looking down the road for Śyāma to come.

pavanaka paraśahi, vicalita pallava,
śabadahi sajala nayāna
sacakita saghana nayane, dhanī nirakhaye,
jānalo āola kāna

“When Rādhikā heard the wind touching the leaves She got tears in Her eyes and She looked around in a startled way, knowing that Kānu had come.”

Śrīmatī thought: “How difficult it must be for Śyāma to come here over the thorny pathways at night! There can be no other cause than this for His delay!” In this way it is as if She worshipped Kṛṣṇa’s path with billions of flowers of Her life, so that all obstacles would be removed from His way. The kiṅkarī, who is nondifferent from Śrīmatī, understands Her feelings and therefore expresses herself with these words in this verse.

Further names of Śrī Rādhikā in this verse are premṇā prāṇa vayasyayā lalitayā saṁlālitā – “She is lovingly cuddled by Her heart’s friend Lalitā” and narmabhiḥ siktāṁ suṣṭhu viśākhayā – “She is showered in the greatest way by the humorous mellows of Her girlfriend Viśākhā.”

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa tells his mind: “O mind! Worship this Rādhā, who is endowed with deep mellows!” The agādha rasa, or deep mellow mentioned in the text is the pinnacle of divine love named mādana mahā bhāva, the ecstasy which causes all other loving ecstasies.

jaya jaya vrndāvaneśvarī!
rasāmṛta pārāvāra, mahojjvala aṅga yāra
śrī rādhikā nāma manohārī

“All glories to the Queen of Vṛndāvana! Her brilliant body is an ocean of nectarean mellows and She bears the mind-blowing name Śrī Rādhikā!”

prāṇa koṭi phula dale, yini aśru gaṅgājale,
vraja vīthi kore nirmañchana
aṅga rūpe vraja bhūmi, bichāye rekheche dhani,
viharite madana mohana

“She worships the pathways of Vraja with millions of flowerpetals of Her heart and with the Gaṅgā-water of Her tears and She spreads out Vrajabhūmi, in the form of Her own body, for Madana Mohana’s enjoyment.”

giridhara prāṇāpekṣā, priyatamā gāndharvikā,
lalitā lālitā preme gaurī
viśākhāra narma vākye, parisiktā śrī rādhikā
bhaja mana divasa śarvarī

“Gāndharvikā is dearer to Giridhārī then His own life, Gaurī (Rādhikā) is lovingly cuddled by Lalitā and sprinkled by the funny words of Viśākhā. O mind! Worship this Śrī Rādhikā day and night!”