HANTA SĀNDRA KARUṆĀ SUDHĀ-JHARĪ
PŪRṆA MĀNASA HRADAU PRASĪDATAM
DURJANE’TRA DIŚATAṀ RATER NIJA
PREKṢAṆA PRATIBHUVAŚ CHAṬĀM API

O Rādhe! O Kṛṣṇa! The lakes of Your minds are filled with the nectar-stream of deep compassion!
Be pleased with this wicked soul! Please show him the lustre of love that is the guarantee for seeing You!

RATI PRĀRTHANĀ (Prayer For Loving Attraction):

Makaranda Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

With folded hands, Śrī Rūpa begs something from the lotus-feet of the Divine Couple. We can understand how much his mind is attached to the lotus-feet of his beloved, when we see how tender and luscious it is.
As soon as we experience the sweetness of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s forms and qualities we cannot forget them anymore, even if we tried it. It can be compared with a materialist, who cannot forget his material existence even if he tries it.

The heart has then been fully purified by love. dhautātma puruṣaḥ Kṛṣṇa pāda mūlaṁ na muñcati (Bhāgavata) – “A person with purified heart cannot give up Kṛṣṇa’s lotus-feet”.

How tender is the service of Śrī Rādhā! How honey-sweet are the hearts of the kiṅkarīs! If they are separated from Her lotus-feet for even a moment they will die.

Śrī Rūpa constantly weeps: “Your lake-like hearts are filled with the nectar of compassion, and that’s why my heart remains filled with hope! You are the embodiments of endless affection and compassion.”

Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī says: karuṇā vidravad deha – “Even Her form melts of compassion!” and Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings:

rādhā Kṛṣṇa! nivedana ei jana kore
duhu ati rasamoy, sakaruṇa hṛdoya, avadhāna koro nātha more

“Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa! This person is praying to You: You are both very luscious and Your hearts are full of compassion. O Lord and lady, listen carefully!”

he Kṛṣṇa gokula candra, gopījana vallabha, he Kṛṣṇa preyasī śiromaṇi,
hema gaurī śyāma gāya, śravaṇe paraśa pāya, guṇa śuni juḍāya parāṇī

“O Kṛṣṇa, moon of Gokula! O lover of the gopīs! O Rādhe, crown jewel of Kṛṣṇa’s sweethearts! When I hear about the qualities of Your golden and bluish forms my heart is soothed!”

adhama durgata jane, kevala karuṇā mone, tribhuvane e yaśa kheyāti
śuniyā sādhura mukhe, śaraṇa loinu sukhe, upekhile nāhi mora gati

“You are famous throughout the three worlds for having such compassionate hearts. Hearing this from the mouths of the sādhus I have taken shelter of You. Don’t let me down, You are My shelter!”

jaya rādhe jaya Kṛṣṇa, jaya jaya rādhe Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa jaya jaya rādhe
añjali mastake dhari, narottama bhūme poḍi, kohe doṅhe pūrāo mana sādhe

“All glories to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Glory to You Rādhe! Narottama folds his hands on His head and falls on the ground, saying: Please fulfill my desires!”

When the Divine Couple asks Śrī Rūpa: “What do you want then?”, he answers: “Please give me one drop of loving attraction (rati), so that I will be able to see You! Rati is the guarantee for seeing You!”

Rati or prema is the highest goal of life. Without prema the Lord cannot be seen and His sweetness cannot be relished. During Kṛṣṇa’s manifest pastimes many demons, like Pūtanā and Aghāsura, were able to see blissful and playful Kṛṣṇa, but they did not relish His sweetness, rather their hearts were filled with hostility and anger, and they tried to fight with Him and kill Him in a fit of anger. In the arena of Mathurā the wrestlers Cāṇura and Muṣṭika were in a tight embrace with each of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma’s limbs during their wrestling-match, but instead of transcendental bliss they attained a miserable hug like a thunderbolt and the resultant death. Therefore, there’s no other way to relish the sweetness of Kṛṣṇa but through love or rati.

pañcama puruṣārtha sei prema mahādhana;
kṛṣṇera mādhurya rasa korāya āsvādana.
premā hoite Kṛṣṇa hoy nija bhakta vaśa;
premā hoite pāi Kṛṣṇa sevā sukha rasa
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta)

“This great treasure of prema is the fifth goal of life (beyond religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation) and enables one to relish Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness. Through prema Kṛṣṇa is controlled by His devotees and through prema the devotees attain Kṛṣṇa’s blissful devotional service.”

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (2.5.131): sarvathaiva durūho’yam abhaktair bhagavad rasaḥ. tat pādāmbuja sarvasvair bhaktair evānurasyate – “The divine rasa is in all respects impossible to taste for nondevotees. This rasa can only be relished by those for whom the lotus-feet of the Lord are everything.”

Then Śrī Rūpa explains who is eligible to taste rasa, how rasa comes to be, what are helpful factors and in what variety rasa appears:

prāktany ādhunikī cāsti yasya sad bhakti vāsanā
eṣa bhakti rasāsvādas tasyaiva hṛdi jāyate
bhakti nirdhūta doṣāṇāṁ prasannojjvala cetasām
śrī bhāgavata raktānāṁ rasikāsaṅga raṅgiṇām
jīvanībhūta govinda pāda bhakti sukhāśriyām
premāntaraṅga bhūtāni kṛtyānyevānutiṣṭhatām
bhaktānāṁ hṛdi rājantī saṁskāra yugalojjvalā
ratir ānanda rūpaiva nīyamānā tu rasyatām
(Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 2.1.7-10)

Suitable candidates for relishing the mellows of the Lord:

“In the hearts of those who had a desire to taste the flavors of God in previous births and in this birth the relish of devotion arises”. The means to unearth rasa: “Those who are completely cleansed of all material contamination by their pure devotion, whose hearts are brightened by spiritual satisfaction, who are very attached to hearing the holy topics of Śrīmad Bhāgavata, who enjoy the blissful company of rasika saints, whose very life is the blissful wealth of devotion to Govinda’s feet, who always discharge the confidential duties of love like hari nāma saṅkīrtana, associating with rasika saints, hearing transcendental topics from them and remembering these topics throughout the day – (aids in unearthing rasa) for such advanced devotees, whose hearts are always radiant with bliss, having gone through reformatory processes (saṁskāras) in this life and in previous births, the seed of rati, whose form is transcendental bliss, is sown in the heart. Varieties of appearance of rasa: “Thus the blend of vibhāva and so, which have Kṛṣṇa as the object, becomes delicious and enters the path of perception, reaching the platform of great bliss and astonishment.”

Hence Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says: yugala caraṇe prīti, parama ānanda tathi, rati, premamaya parabandha – “Love for the lotus-feet of the Divine Couple is most blissful and is also called rati.”

rādhā-Kṛṣṇa koro dhyāna, svapne-o nā bolo āna, prema vinā anya nāhi cāo – “Meditate on Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and don’t speak about anything else but Them. Don’t desire anything else but prema.”

āra sab parihari, parama īśvara hari, sevo mana prema kori āśa – “O Mind! Give up everything else and serve the Supreme Lord Hari, striving for prema!” (Prema Bhakti Candrikā)

“O most merciful, soft-hearted Śyāma-Svāmini! I am Your dedicated maidservant, so please give me that particular elevated, splendid amorous rati!
I don’t wish for any other kind of rati!”

Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has said: “Everyone can do as he pleases, the maidservants of Śrī Rādhā are only satisfied with one ray from the toenails of Śrī Rādhā’s lotus-feet!”

brahmānandaika vādāḥ katicana bhagavad vandanānanda mattāḥ
kecid govinda sakhyādy anupama paramānandam anye svadante
śrī rādhā kiṅkarīṇāṁ tv akhila sukha camatkāra sāraika sīmā
tat pādāmbhoja rājan nakha maṇi vilasaj jyotir eka cchaṭāpi
(Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi – 148)

“Some people preach the bliss of oneness with brahman, others are mad of ecstasy while praising the Supreme Lord, and again others feel the greatest bliss in an unrivalled relationship of friendship or parenthood with Govinda, but the limit and the essence of blissful astonishment certainly lies in the maidservants of Śrī Rādhā, when they attain even a single ray of the effulgent jewellike nails on Her lotus-feet!”

Śrī Rādhā’s maidservants pray for darśana so that they can perform confidential service. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings:

hari hari! heno dina ki hoibe āmāra?
doha aṅga paraśibo, duhuṅ aṅga nirakhibo, sevana koribo doṅhākāra
lalitā viśākhā saṅge, sevana koribo raṅge, mālā gāṅthi dibo nānā phule
kanaka sampuṭa kori, karpūra tāmbūla bhori, yogāibo adhara yugale
rādhā-Kṛṣṇa vṛndāvana, sei mora prāṇa dhana, sei mora jīvana upāya
jaya patita pāvana, deho more ei dhana, tuyā vine anya nāhi bhāya

“Hari Hari! When will that day be mine, when I can touch Their bodies, see Them, and serve Them? I will blissfully serve with Lalitā and Viśākhā, stringing garlands of different flowers. I fill up a golden basket with camphor and betel leaves and place them on Their lips. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and Vṛndāvana are the treasure of my heart and the means of my subsistence. All glories to the saviour of the fallen! Please give me this treasure! I don’t want anything else but that!”

This is the pure experience of the ācāryas: “I don’t want anything else but You!” We should stay in the Vraja-vana in this mood; not having a liking for anything else. But unfortunately, a soul like me likes many other things, despite living in the Vraja-vana: profit, adoration, distinction, money and whatnot. Where will I find this treasure of my heart, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, for whom I have given up everything to come to Vraja? Heavy offenses can stop a progressing devotee from advancing and can cast him far away from the coveted rati for the lotus-feet of the Divine Couple.

Śrī Rūpa cries: “Please give me one drop of rati, which is the guarantee for seeing You!”

he Kṛṣṇa, he rādhike, yugala ratana, yei bhikṣā māgo pade koroho śravaṇa
yugala mānasa hrada nitya nirantara; paripūrṇa kṛpāmṛta suradhanī dhāre
śuniyā karuṇā kathā e mora minati; suprasanna hao doṅhe durjanera prati
yugalera daraśana upāya viśeṣa; ārati pirīti rati koro upadeśa
navīna yugala kuñje dekhibo ki āmi; sei śubha lagna cinte śrī rūpa gosvāmī

“O Kṛṣṇa! O Rādhike! O two jewels! Please hear what alms I am begging from You: The lakes of Your minds are always filled with the Gaṅgā-stream of Your nectarean mercy. Please hear my pitiful plea! Please be kind upon this wretch. Please instruct me into how to attain Your dual audience through the means of eagerness, love and attraction! Thus, I will be able to see You, the adolescent pair, in the bowers of Vraja! Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī simply meditates on that auspicious moment!”