VERSE 2:

aye vṛndāraṇya tvaritam iha te sevana parāḥ
param āpuḥ ke vā na kila paramānanda padavīm
ato nīcair yāce svayam adhipayor īkṣaṇa-vidher
vareṇyāṁ me cetasy upadiśa diśaṁ hā kuru kṛpām

O Vṛndāvana dhāma! Who in this world did not attain the topmost bliss from  serving you?  Therefore I offer my obeisances unto you with lowered head, and I humbly beg you: please reveal in my heart the best way to attain my King and Queen. Please give me your mercy!

SAD UPADEŚA PRĀRTHANĀ  (Prayer for good instructions)

 Makaranda Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

The ocean of Śrī Rūpa’s eagerness swells and he cannot remain alive anymore without directly seeing and serving his beloved deities. The force of devotional yearning makes waves on the ocean of his humility and he thinks: “Is a wretch like me qualified to attain such a precious thing? Still I cannot subdue the force of my aspiration!”
Thinking of a solution he suddenly remembers the mercy of Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma.
This light of hope dissipates the darkness of his despair, and he prays to Śrī Vṛndāvana:
“Who in this world has not attained the pinnacle of bliss by serving you (by coming to Vṛndāvana, living there and seeing it)?

In Śrī Vṛndāvana Mahimāmṛta (1.47, 51) Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has written: 

śrī Kṛṣṇaikānta bhāvaṁ kva nu sakala jano’vaśyam āpnoty ayatnāt
Kṛṣṇasyāścarya sīmā parama bhagavataḥ kutra līlārtha mūrtiḥ
kutratyā Kṛṣṇa pādāmbuja bhajana mahānanda sāmrājya kāṣṭhā
bhrātar vakṣye rahasyaṁ śṛṇu sakalam idaṁ śrīla vṛndāvane’tra

            “Where can pure devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa be easily found? Where is the playful deity of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, that is the limit of astonishment, to be found? Where is the pinnacle of bliss, which lies in the worship of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus-feet, attainable? O brother! Let me reveal this secret to you: All this is only attainable in Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma!”

vṛndāraṇyam ananya bhakti rasadaṁ govinda pādāmbuja
dvandve manda dhiyo vidanti na hi tad vāsaṁ ca nāśāsate
sāndrānanda rasāmbudhir niravadhir yatrāvirasti dhruvaṁ
no majjanti kubuddhayo bata samudvignāḥ suduḥkhair api

            “Vṛndāvana bestows the flavours of pure devotion to Govinda’s lotus-feet, but fools do not know this and therefore they don’t wish to live there. Alas! How can they be so foolish not to enter into this ocean of rasa, that is constantly manifest there, although they always suffer so many kinds of misery?”

            Humbly and eagerly Śrī Rūpa prays: “O Śrī Vṛndāvana! By your grace everyone’s desires are fulfilled!”
Once Śrī Vṛndāvaneśvarī (Rādhikā) personally came to Śrī Rūpa as a cowherdgirl, on the pretext of giving him some milk, and told him (because he was lamenting about not being able to see his beloved deities).
“It is Her (Rādhikā’s) grace that you are living here in Vraja!” Therefore he now prays with burning heart: “Please give me good instructions into how to attain your presiding Godhead, Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava!
Who else but you can tell me this?” Śrī Rūpa’s eagerness has reached its limits. Vṛndāvana is the abode of devotional eagerness. A sensitive devotee won’t be able to stay calm there.
In this divine playground the enchanting remembrance of the Divine Couple will be drawn on the canvas of the devotee’s heart and will awaken an intense craving there fore the direct vision and service of the beloved deity.
For this reason a devotee should come to Vṛndāvana.

sukhamoy vṛndāvana,                  kobe hobe daraśana,
se dhūli mākhibo kobe gāya?
preme gadagada hoiyā,                   rādhā Kṛṣṇa nāma loiyā,
kāndiyā beḍābo ubharāya
nibhṛta nikuñje jāiyā,              aṣṭāṅga praṇāma hoiyā
ḍākibo hā rādhānātha boli
(Prārthanā)

            “When will I see blissful Vṛndāvana and smear my body with its dust? When will I roll around there and chant the names of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa? When will I wander around there crying? When will I go to the solitary groves, offer eight-limbed prostrated obeisances there and cry out: “O Lord of Rādhā!”

            A person like me may live in Vṛndāvana, the abode of eagerness, but he does not experience anything. “I have my meals, I have my clothes, and I am having fun! My bhajana is also going on, but in a mechanical way. I always feel the need for profit, adoration and distinction and I never miss my beloved deities. That is why feelings of eagerness never awaken within my heart!” Although the Gosvāmīs were on the level of eternally liberated souls they relished the flavours of eagerness.

Śrīla Śrīnivāsācārya Prabhu has written in his Ṣaḍ-gosvāmyaṣṭaka:

rādhākuṇḍa taṭe kalinda-tanayā tīre ca vaṁśī-vaṭe
premonmāda vaśād aśeṣa daśayā grastau pramattau sadā
gāyantau ca kadā harer guṇavaraṁ bhāvābhibhūtau mudā
vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī jīva gopālakau
he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda sūno kutaḥ
śrī govardhana kalpa pādapa-tale kālindī vanye kutaḥ
ghoṣantāviti sarvato vraja pure khedair mahā vihvalau
vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī jīva gopālakau 

            “I praise the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who were constantly wandering over the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa, on the bank of the Yamunā and near the Vaṁśī-vaṭa-tree, weeping in the frenzy of love and rolling on the ground, sometimes directly meeting their beloved deities in transcendental revelations and sometimes glorifying Śrī Hari’s divine qualities in topmost ecstasy.”

            “I praise the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who were searching for their beloved deities all over Vraja with anxious hearts, constantly and loudly crying: ‘O Rādhe! Goddess of Vraja! O Lalite! O son of Mahārāja Nanda! Where are you? Are you near a wishyielding tree at the base of Govardhana Hill or are you in a nikuñja-vana near the river Yamunā? Tell me where I can meet you!”

            Whatever is natural for the siddha (perfect soul) is to be practised by the sādhaka (aspirant or neophyte), therefore also the sādhaka should awaken a little eagerness within himself. What kind of bhajana am I doing when I live in Vraja without feeling even a drop of eagerness? The sweetness of Vraja agitates both the Lord and the devotees.
Śrī Śuka Muni describes how Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa first came to Vṛndāvana from Gokula with the inhabitants of Gokula:

vṛndāvanaṁ govardhanaṁ yamunā pulināni ca
vīkṣyāsīd uttamā prīti rāma mādhavayor nṛpa
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.11.36)

            “O King Parīksit! When Balarāma and Mādhava saw Vṛndāvana, Govardhana Hill and the bank of the river Yamunā They felt the greatest love!”

When Śrīman Mahāprabhu saw Śrī Jagannātha in Nīlācala He felt like Śrī Rādhā and the Vraja-gopīs, who saw Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra, but actually wanted to see Him in Vraja. In this mood He said:

anyera ‘hṛdaya’ mana               mora mana ‘vṛndāvana’
mane vane eka kori jāni
tāhā tomāra pada-dvay            korāo yadi udoy,
tabe tomāra pūrṇa kṛpā māni 

            “For others the heart is the mind, but My mind is Vṛndāvana. I consider this forest to be one with My mind. If You will make Your feet appear there again then I will consider that Your full mercy.”

prāṇanātha! śuno mora satya nivedana
vraja āmāra sadana,                 tāhā tomara saṅgama,
nā pāile nā rahe jīvana 

            “O Lord of My life! Listen to My earnest request: Vraja is My abode, and if I can not meet You there I cannot remain alive!”

……………………….

 vṛndāvana govardhana,                      yamunā pulina vana,
sei kuñje rāsādika līlā
sei vraje vraja jana,                  mātā pitā bandhu gaṇa
boḍo citra kemone pāsarilā? 

            “Vṛndāvana, Govardhana, the bushes on the bank of the Yamunā, the groves where We enjoyed pastimes like the Rāsa-dance, this Vraja, the people of Vraja, Your mother and father and friends – how amazing! How could You forget them?”

………………..

tomāra ye anya veśa,               anya saṅga anya deśa,
vraja jane kabhu nāhi bhāya
vraja bhūmi chāḍite nāre,                   tomā nā dekhile more,
vraja janera ki hobe upāya? 

            “The people of Vraja can never like this dress You wear now, or Your new associates or land. We can not leave Vraja-bhūmi, but if we don’t see You we will die. What shall the people of Vraja do now?”

            Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī anxiously asks Śrī Vṛndāvana: “How can I see the adolescent Pair and thus have my desires fulfilled? O Vṛndāvana! Please tell me that!”

ohe vṛndāraṇya tumi,         yugala vilāsa dhanī,
kuñje kuñje rasera pāthāra.
tomāke bhajile pore,            dāna koro tumi tāre,
parama ānanda sukha-sāra. 

            “O Vṛndāvana! You are enriched by the pastimes of the Divine Pair, and your groves are like oceans of rasa! You give the essence of the pinnacle of bliss to those who worship you!”

ye tomāra śaraṇa loy,             mano-vāñchā pūrṇa hoy,
e prārthanā kori tuyā pāy.
tomāra ye adhīśvara,                  yugala kiśora vara,
pāibāre bolo go upāy! 

            “Whoever takes shelter of you has all desires fulfilled. Hence I pray to your feet: Tell me the way to attain your presiding deities, the Yugala Kiśora!”

yugalera adarśane,         prāṇa kāṅde rātri dine,
vṛndāṭavi! kṛpā koro tumi!
bolo kon kuñje āche,          rasamayī rasarāje,
nivedaye śrī rūpa gosvāmī 

            “I am crying at out separation from this Pair day and night”. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī prays: “O Vṛndāṭavi! Be merciful to me! Tell me in which grove the tasty girl and the king of relishers are!”