yat kiṅkarīṣu bahuśaḥ khalu kākuvāṇī
nityaṁ parasya puruṣasya śikhaṇḍa-mauleḥ
tasyāḥ kadā rasanidher vṛṣabhānujāyās
tat kelikuñja bhavanāṅgana mārjanī syām
(Śrī-Śrī Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi – “The nectar-ocean of Śrī Rādhā’s flavours”, verse 8)

By Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī

“When can I become the broom for sweeping the courtyard of the cottage in the play grove of Mahārāja Vṛṣabhānu’s daughter, Who is an ocean of rasa and to Whose maidservants the Supreme Male Person, Who wears a crown of peacock-feathers, always pitifully prays for Her audience?”

Commentary by Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa Mahānta Paṇḍita Śrī Ananta Dās Bābājī Mahārāja:

In the previous two verses the sweetness of the Vāsantī Rāsa (Kṛṣṇa’s vernal Rāsa līlā) was revealed to Śrīpada. Śrī Kṛṣṇa had abandoned all the gopīs that were His heroines in the Rāsa dance and went to relish the sweetness of Rāseśvarī’s (Rādhikā’s) moon-like face in a lonely bower. In the previous verse Śrīpāda lost that vision, so He prayed for the vision of Rādhā’s sweet face. Now Śrīpāda’s heart floats once more on the waves of prayer into the kingdom of transcendental pastimes. He gets the visions of these pastimes by Śrīmatī’s grace, not through his own endeavours! His visions are spontaneous and in them it is as if He directly faces Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

        Śrīmatī revives the fainted transcendental youthful Cupid of Vṛndāvana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by sprinkling Him with the nectar of Her own bodily company, playing amorous games in a decorated bowerhouse with Him. Nāgara (Kṛṣṇa) becomes naughty when She becomes naughty and Svāminī goes mad of love. She cannot get enough of playing with Kṛṣṇa, who is the amorous mellow personified. Śyāma also loses Himself when He is served by the unprecedented ingredients of mādana rasa (the topmost loving ecstasy of Śrī Rādhikā)! He is like a beggar sitting in a palace, hoping to get a meal. Svāminī is His art teacher, who teaches Her submissive hero the arts of śṛṅgāra rasa, the amorous mellow. Śrīpāda, in his form as a maidservant, looks through the latticed windows of the kuñja and is blessed by seeing these sweet pastimes. How wonderful is the course of love! Suddenly Svāminī changes Her mind. She mercifully remembers Her hundreds of girlfriends that were searching for Her and Kṛṣṇa in this Rāsa night and thinks: “Alas! How sweetly We are playing here! How sad that My girlfriends cannot relish this!” The līlā śakti (pastime potency) made Śrīmatī change Her mind, so that the pastimes of the Yugala Kiśora could be enriched. How?

prema līlā vihārānāṁ samyag vistārikā sakhī  (Ujjvala Nilamaṇi)

        “Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s girlfriends fully extend and increase Their loving pastimes”.

The sakhīs sweetly tell Rādhā about Kṛṣṇa’s love for Her and tell Kṛṣṇa about Rādhā’s great love for Him when They are separated from Each other, and thus they increase Their loving attachment for Each other. They help Them to meet Each other, they cause the heroine to become angry with the hero to increase the hero’s eagerness for Her love, they make jokes, encourage the Yugala Kiśora, deceive Their superiors and help in increasing Their loving pastimes in innumerable ways. Without the help of the sakhīs these pastimes cannot cause wonder.

        When Kṛṣṇa, the jewel of rasikas, sees Rādhikā in this pensive mood, He understands what is on Her mind and thinks to Himself: “Oh well! When She is so worried about Her girlfriends, then there can be no more joy in Our love-plays together! I’d better go and look for them!” 

She He goes out of the kuñja in search of the sakhīs, but just after He left, the sakhīs come up from the other side and meet with Rādhikā. Seeing that Śyāma does not return, Śrīmatī thinks: “Tonight there is Rāsa dancing and the forests are filled with thousands of beautiful Vraja gopīs! Surely that king of womanizers must have met some other heroine! Thinking like this, Śrīmatī becomes jealous and angry (māninī). Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says in ‘Ujjvala Nilamani’ that this māna is a result of pure love only.

snehaṁ vina bhayaṁ na syān nerṣyā ca praṇayaṁ vinā
tasman māna prakāro’yaṁ  dvayoḥ prema prakāśakaḥ

        “Fear cannot arise without affection and proud jealous anger (māna) cannot arise without love. Therefore māna reveals the love of both hero and heroine.”

Śrīmatī engages Her maidservants as gatekeepers and forbids them to allow Śyāma to enter the kuñja. When Kṛṣṇa returns to the gate of the kuñja, unable to find the sakhīs, the kiṅkarīs at the gate forbid Him entrance, saying: “O King of womanizers! Where have You gone, leaving our mistress? Svāminī is angry, You have no right to enter this grove! Go back to that girl where You have been! Go away from this gate! If  You stay here too long our Svāminī will rebuke us!”

How many pitiful and anxious prayers to come into the kuñja peacock-feather crowned Śyāmasun¬dara then offers to Śrī Rādhā’s gatekeepers with folded hands! The kiṅkarīs don’t leave their post for even a moment! Kṛṣṇa’s voice is anointed with humility as He prays with folded hands: “Other than you maidservants I have no shelter! Make it clear to Your Īśvarī that She is angry for no reason! I did not do anything wrong! Only to please Her I went out to look for Her girlfriends! Where should I go if you girls let Me down now?” Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Male, God Himself. kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo (Brahma Saṁhitā). Although all the people of the world pray for His mercy, now He prays to Rādhā’s maidservants with folded hands! Blessed is the service of Rādhā! Śrīmat Rupa Gosvami prays:

karuṇāṁ muhur arthaye paraṁ  tava vṛndāvana cakravartini
api keśi-ripor yayā bhavet sa cāṭu prārthana bhājanaṁ janaḥ
(Cāṭu Puspāñjalī   23)

        “O Queen of Vṛndāvana! I pray for Your mercy again and again: Let me be the object of even Keśi-ripu’s (Kṛṣṇa’s) pitiful prayers!”

This service of Śrī Rādhā is the special mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. The kiṅkarīs only like Kṛṣṇa because He is Śrī Rādhā’s lover, they don’t have independent love for Him. If Kṛṣṇa makes any trouble they will kick Him out of the kuñja! Without the permission of Śrīmatī Rūpa Mañjarī and her maidservants, Kṛṣṇa cannot enter Rādhā’s groves, what to speak of touching Her body. This is the indescribable greatness of Rādhā’s maidservants!

        When the maidservants see how anxious Kṛṣṇa is they allow Him to enter the kuñja. They don’t need Rādhārāṇī’s permission, because they know that, although She is angry with Kṛṣṇa, She is also anxiously waiting for Him. Śyāmasundara knows that Śrīmatī will soon give up Her pique when He has pleased Her girlfriends and Her maidservants. Thus rasika śiromaṇi (Kṛṣṇa, the crown-jewel of romantics) enters the kuñja and dispels the unfavorable mood of rasikā maṇi (Śrī Rādhikā, the jewel of romantic girls), causing a slight smile to appear on Her beautiful face like a thin sweet line.  The king of romantics becomes absorbed in His love-plays with His heart’s beloved, holding Her in His jewel-like heart. Seeing this sweet pastime, Śrīpāda, who now appears as an adolescent girl, says rasanidher vṛṣabhānujāyāḥ “Śrī Rādhā is the jewel in Kṛṣṇa’s heart” (taken that the word rasa means Kṛṣṇa, Who is spiritual flavour personified). Śrī Rādhā’s sweetness and beauty is manifest to the utmost when She plays with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī writes in ‘Viśākhānandada stotram’:

kṛṣṇa manjula tāpincha vilasat svarṇa yūthikā
govinda navya pāthode  sthira vidyul latadbhutā

        “Śrī Rādhā shines like a golden Yūthikā vine entwining a beautiful black Tamāla tree (Kṛṣṇa) and as a wonderful steady lightningvine in the fresh Govinda raincloud.”

        The word rasanidhi in the text can also mean ‘She Who is an ocean of rasa.’ In this case Rādhikā makes Her lover happy by immersing Him in the waves of Her wonderful sweet amorous rasa.

Suddenly the transcendental revelation disappears and Śrīpāda humbly prays: “Am I at all qualified for this precious position of service to Śrī Rādhā? Let Me at least become the broom for sweeping the yard of Her play-cottage in the forest-bowers of Vṛndāvana, as a service to those fortunate souls who are qualified to be Her maidservants! Of course, by Her grace everything is possible! Let me sweep the dust that falls from merciful Śrī Rādhā’s foot soles!”