VERSE 4:

hṛdi cira-vasad āśā maṇḍalālamba pādau
guṇavati tava nāthau nāthituṁ jantur eṣaḥ
sapadi bhavad anujñāṁ yācate devi vṛnde
mayi kira karuṇārdrāṁ dṛṣṭim atra prasīda

O merciful, qualified Vṛnde! Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are your Lord and Mistress!
I have carried the desire to see Them in my heart for so long
and only by your grace this desire can be fulfilled.
Please cast a merciful glance on me!
Be kind upon me! 

ŚRĪ CARAṆA DARŚANĀŚĀ  (Desire to see the lotus-feet)

Makaranda Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

On the one hand, there is Śrī Rūpa’s great humility, on the other hand his great aspirations to attain the beloved, and these conflicting feelings rock his heart.
Although he knows he is unqualified he cannot give up hoping, for the bird of hope has made a nest in his heart, and the wish yielding tree of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s lotus-feet are his shelter.

A person who has offered his heart to these feet can never find consolation anywhere in this world anymore; he’s just like a deer that is pierced by an arrow.
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s heart is filled with and enchanted by the sweet forms, qualities and pastimes of Rādhikā and Mādhava and he cannot live for a moment anymore without seeing Them.
Whenever the realization of his own unworthiness darkens the sky of his heart, the remembrance of the magnanimity of his beloved deity casts the light of hope on it.
In this way the boat of his heart is being rocked by the waves of hope and despair.
Finally he thinks that the mercy of the beloved deity erases all kinds of unworthiness, and that he will attain the lotus-feet of the deity. He cannot keep his life-airs in his body anymore without seeing Them. Before attaining darśana he prays for the mercy of Śrī Vṛndā.

O Devi Śrī Vṛnde!
The desire to see your king and queen Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava has been seated in the heart of this wretch for long! How sweet is the path of devotion!
The devotee survives only with the hope of seeing and serving the endlessly sweet Lord, and these aspirations are his first footsteps on the ground of pure devotional practise. Those who desire something else but the lotus-feet of the Lord are called sakāma bhaktas, devotees with some personal desires.

In Śrīmad Bhāgavata Śrī Kapiladeva has said:

“As soon as the devotee hears about My endlessly sweet attributes his mind flows towards Me like the unbroken current of the Gaṅgā. This is called pure, transcendental and unmotivated devotion.”

mad guṇa śruti mātreṇa mayi sarva guhāśaye
manogatir avichinnā yathā gaṅgāmbhaso’mbudhau
lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti yogasya nirguṇasya hyudāhṛtam
ahaitukyavyavahitā yā bhaktiḥ puruṣottame
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 3.29.11-12)

(Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī comments:)

mad guṇa śruti mātreṇa na tu tatroddeśāntara siddhyabhiprāyeṇa…………..avichinnā viṣayāntareṇa vicchettum aśakyā yā manogatiḥ sā……………ahaitukī phalābhisandhāna rahitā (Bhakti Sandarbha – 234 anu) – “When devotion becomes free from ulterior motives and the devotee’s mind becomes greedy after My sweetness, thus becoming drawn  towards Me without interruption, it is called pure and transcendental devotion.
The mental faculty of such a devotee is not interrupted, therefore it is causeless devotion, devoid of desires for personal gains.”

About this Bhāgavata-paragraph, starting with bhakti yogo bahu vidho (3.29.7), it is written in Hemādri’s Sanskrit commentary on Śrī Bopadeva’s ‘Muktā-phala’-scripture: asyaiva bhakti-yoga ityākhyā anvarthena bhakti yogasyātraiva mukhyatvāt. itareṣu phala evānurāgo na tu viṣṇau phalālābhena bhakti tyāgādityeṣā –  “The appropriate meaning of this desire-free devotion is bhakti yoga, and this is the chief devotional service.
In devotion performed within the modes of material nature there is a yearning for the fruit of one’s activities, not a yearning for the Lord.”
Hence a devotee who has personal motives will not perform his devotional service when his desired result does not come.

In the Śrī Gopāla Tāpanī Śruti it is seen: bhaktir asya bhajanaṁ tad ihāmutropādhinair asyenāmusmin mana kalpanam etad eva naiṣkarmyam – “The bhajana of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called bhakti. This worship is free from the desire for personal result, either in this life or in the afterlife. The devotee whose mind is totally absorbed in Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the real desire-free devotee.”

         Śrīpāda Rūpa is an eternal associate of the Lord, and his mind is fully absorbed in the vision and the devotional service of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. He comes to the world of sādhanā to teach the sādhakas to center all their desires and hopes around Govinda’s lotus-feet.

When there is another absorption the reality of devotion cannot be experienced, and even if one manages to give up the desire for money and liberation the desire for distinction cannot so easily be given up. This is a very turbulent desire.

By practising humility the careful sādhaka will conquer these anarthas and gradually try to center his whole consciousness around the lotus-feet of the beloved deity. If, by the grace of Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇava, the consciousness can relish something of the sweetness of the names, forms and pastimes of the beloved deity, it will not be greedy after ulterior attainments anymore.

         The lotus-feet of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava are the long-desired treasure of Śrī Rūpa, so he says: “O devi Vṛnde! Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava are your King and Queen, and under your coordination They eternally enjoy in the sweet nikuñjas of Vraja. There is no other way but your mercy to get to see Them! O Guṇavati (qualified goddess)! There is no end to your attribute of compassion! Please cast a single merciful glance on me! If you cast your merciful glance to me the tree of my aspirations will bear fruit and the endlessly sweet forms of the Divine Pair will float before my eyes, that are burning in separation from Them, and thus cool them off. On your order I will be blessed with Their devotional service! Alas! Will I be so fortunate?”

he devi vṛndārāṇī,      kāruṇya guṇa śālini,
pāda-padme kori nivedana.
yārā mora prāṇa pati,            jīvane maraṇe gati,
(sei) rādhā-Kṛṣṇa tava prāṇa-dhana. 

         “O Devi Vṛndārāṇī! O Qualified, merciful goddess! I pray to your lotus-feet! Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, who are the Lords of my life and who are my shelter in life or in death, are the treasure of your heart!”

sei vastu lābha pūrve,          tomāra caraṇa agre,
anumati prārthanā āmāra.
suprasanna hoile tumi,                tabe to dekhibo āmi,
vṛndāvane yugala vihāra. 

         “Before attaining Them I pray to your feet: When you are pleased then I will see this Pair enjoying Themselves in Vṛndāvana!”

utkalikā vallari,              ke varṇibe se mādhurī,
hṛdayera karuṇa ucchvāsa
śrī rūpa gosvāmipāde,              dāna koilā e sampade
yugala caraṇe kori āśa

         “Who can describe the sweetness of Utkalikā Vallari, which is the outburst of the heart’s pity? Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda has given us this treasure, and thus I yearn for the lotus-feet of the Divine Pair.”