VERSE 18:

sarva ballaba vareṇya kumārau
prārthaye bata yuvāṁ praṇipatya
līlayā vitarataṁ nija dāsyaṁ
līlayā vitarataṁ nija dāsyam

O Śrī Kṛṣṇa! You are the son of the king of Vraja! O Śrī Rādhike! You are the daughter of Vraja’s greatest king Śrī Vṛṣabhānu! I pray to You while offering my obeisances: Playfully bestow Your service on me! Easily bestow Your service on me!

DĀSYA PRĀRTHANĀ (Prayer For Service)

Makaranda Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

In the previous verse Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī prayed for absorption in the sweetness of the Divine Couple. It is as if the Divine Pair now asks him: “Do you want to be absorbed in Our sweetness all of the time?”, to which Śrī Rūpa answers: “No, no! I want to serve while keeping Your sweetness in my heart!”

The maidservants are devotional mellows personified; their bodies are made of the mellows of devotional service and they desire nothing else but devotional service.
As much happiness as they find while serving, that much misery they will feel when they cannot serve.
“You are the oceans of sweetness, I will be absorbed in Your sweetness inside out while serving You! I don’t just want to enjoy Your sweetness without serving You!”

In Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu it is described that Śrī Dāruka, the servant of Dvārakānātha (Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Dvārakā) was impeded from fanning Kṛṣṇa by ecstatic inertia and that he did not welcome that ecstasy, because he considered his service to be more important than the resultant ecstasy.

aṅga stambhārambham uttuṅgayantaṁ premānandaṁ dāruko nābhyanandat
kaṁsārāter vījane yena sākṣād akṣodīyānantarayo vyadhāyi (B.R.S.)

nija premānande Kṛṣṇa sevānanda bādhe;
se ānandera prati bhaktera hoy mahā krodhe

“The devotee becomes very angry at his own loving ecstasy when it obstructs his devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.” (C.C.)

Śrīla Narottama very expertly exemplifies how the mañjarīs relish Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness during their service:

hari hari! āra ki emon daśā hobo
chāḍiyā puruṣa deha, kobe vā prakṛti hobo
duhu aṅge candana porābo

“Hari! Hari! When will I attain such a condition? When will I give up this male body and become a female, applying sandalpaste to Their bodies?”

ṭāniyā bāndhibo cūḍā, nava guñjā-hāre beḍā,
nānā phule gānthi dibo hāra
pīta-vasana aṅge, porāibo sakhī-saṅge,
vadane tāmbūla dibo āra

“I will tie a crown on Kṛṣṇa’s head and place a string of guñjā-beads on it, I will string a garland of different flowers, together with the sakhīs I will dress Kṛṣṇa in His yellow dhotī, and I will place betel leaves in His mouth.”

duhu rūpa manohārī, dekhibo nayana bhari,
nīlāmbare rāi sājāiyā
nava ratna jari āni, bāndhibo vicitra veṇī,
dibo tāhe mālatī gāṅthiyā

“I will fill My eyes with Their enchanting forms. I will dress Rāi in a blue sārī and I will bind a wonderful braid for Her with a string of new jewels and a garland of Mālatī-flowers.”

se nā rūpa mādhurī, dekhibo nayana bhari,
ei kori mane abhilāṣa
jaya rūpa sanātana, deho more ei dhana,
nivedaye narottama dāsa

“In my mind I desire to fill my eyes with Their sweet forms. Glory to you, O Rūpa and Sanātana! Please give me this treasure! This is the prayer of Narottama dāsa!”

Anxiously Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī prays to Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava for the service of Their lotus-feet: “O Svāmini! You are the only delighter of Kṛṣṇa! Your lotus-feet are so cool! They alone can extinguish the fire of Kṛṣṇa’s feelings of separation! O Śyāmasundara! You are the Lord of Śrī Rādhikā’s life! My Svāminī is always madly in love with You!
I want to make You happy by serving You and arranging for Your meetings with Each other!”

Devotional service is the very life of bhakti, and the service of Rādhikā’s kiṅkarīs is most luscious, because their mood is completely free from awe and reverence. This service is the heart of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.
Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī has said: “I desire Your (Rādhā’s) excellent service!”

Although she is a maidservant she is also a girlfriend, she is an adolescent girl in form and qualities, and she is qualified for the most confidential service . Although she is qualified for the madhura (amorous) rasa, she is still a maidservant; her service is included in the madhura rasa.

The compilations Stavamālā (Rūpa Gosvāmī) and Stavāvalī (Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī) are full of examples of this foremost devotional service. With gusto a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava-devotee should meditate on these services that are concomitant with the sweet pastimes of the Divine Couple.

sādhane bhāvibe yāhā, siddha-dehe pābe tāhā, pakkāpakka mātra se vicāra (Narottama).

Whatever one thinks of during one’s practise, one will attain in one’s spiritual body. It’s simply a matter of being ripe or unripe.”

One must think to himself: “I am Śrī Rādhā’s fallen maidservant” while remembering these transcendental forms, qualities and pastimes with great relish. By tastefully meditating the object of one’s meditation quickly becomes attracted and will remain in the heart. As a result of constant meditation the object of meditation is never forgotten.
In this way bhajana culminates in the genuine experience and relish of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s forms, attributes and pastimes.
By performing bhajana in this way the expertise in service of the eternally perfect Vraja-devotees can be fully understood. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī is Vraja’s Rūpa Mañjarī herself. Although he is an eternally liberated associate of the Lord he comes down to earth to pray for devotional service just like an ordinary sādhaka (practitioner).
And when the Divine Couple asks him: “Why are you so eager to serve Us?”, Śrī Rūpa will reply: “You are the children of Vraja-vareṇya Śrī Nanda Mahārāja and Śrī Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja. You are a prince and a princess, and we are also Vrajavāsīs. Therefore Your service is our natural occupational duty!”

Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas serve in the wake of Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, therefore they should always pray like this:

rādhā Kṛṣṇa sevo mui jīvaṇe maraṇe;
tāra sthāne tāra līlā dekho rātri dine
ye sthāne ye līlā kore yugala kiśora;
sakhīra saṅginī hoiyā tāe hao bhora
śrī rūpa mañjarī pada sevo niravadhi;
tāra pādapadma mora mantra mahauṣadhi
śrī rati mañjarī devī koro more doyā;
anukṣaṇa deho tuyā pāda-padma chāyā
śrī rasa mañjarī devī koro avadhāna;
anukṣaṇa deho tuyā pāda-padma dhyāna
vṛndāvane nitya nitya yugala vilāsa;
prārthanā koroye sadā narotama dāsa

“I serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in life or in death and I look at Their playgrounds and Their pastimes day and night. Wherever the adolescent Couple performs Their pastimes I will be, as a companion of the sakhīs, fully absorbed. I always serve the lotus-feet of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī; her lotus-feet are my medicinal herbs and chants. O Śrī Rati Mañjarī devī, be merciful to me! Please always grant me the shade of your lotus-feet! O Śrī Rasa Mañjari, please listen to me! Please always allow me to meditate on your lotus-feet! Narottama dāsa always prays that he may witness the eternal pastimes of the Divine Couple in Vṛndāvana.”

The aspirant should also always be eager and anxious to attain the direct darśana and the devotio¬nal service of the Divine Pair during his meditations. The more he progresses towards perfection, the more eager and enthusiastic he will become. The mellows of Vraja are transcendental and they cannot be perceived by someone who is in material consciousness. The more the aspirant gets purified by offenselessly hearing and chanting with great attachment (to the Lord), the more he will experience the Vraja-rasa in his crystal-clear heart. Śrī Rūpa is an eternal associate of the Lord, and therefore his transcendental eagerness for attaining the Lord’s direct service is heartbrea¬king.

he nātha! he hari! rasikendra cūḍāmani!
vrajendra kumāra Kṛṣṇa vraja nīlamaṇi!
hā rādhike! gāndharvikā! āmāra īśvarī
vrajavāsī vareṇya śrī bhānu sukumārī
praṇāma koriyā kori ei to prārthanā;
dāsya pada dāna koro koriyā karuṇā

“O Lord Hari! Crownjewel of relishers! O Prince of Vraja, Kṛṣṇa! O Sapphire of Vraja! O Rādhike! Gāndharvike! O My mistress! O tender daughter of the best of Vrajavāsīs, Mahārāja Vṛṣabhānu! I offer my obeisances unto You and I pray to You: Please give me Your devotional service!”