VERSE 19: 

praṇipatya bhavantam arthaye
paśupālendra kumāra kākubhiḥ
vraja yauvata mauli mālikā
karuṇā pātram imam janaṁ kuru

O Prince of the cowherders (Kṛṣṇa)! I offer my obeisances unto You and I pitifully pray to You: Please make me the object of mercy of the crowngarland of young girls of Vraja (Śrī Rādhikā)!

ŚRĪ RĀDHĀ KṚPĀ-PĀTRA  (The Object Of Śrī Rādhā’s Grace):

Makaranda Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

The strong desire for attaining his coveted devotional service increases more and more in virahī Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s heart, and this desire grows as high as the Sumeru-mountain.

On the one hand his heart is squeezed strongly by strong desires to attain the service of the Lord, and on the other hand he laments because he understands how unqualified he is for attaining that service. This is a very desirable stage in the kingdom of Divine Love. The aspirant is also separated and deprived of the vision of the Lord, so he should also feel some want and some void because of this.

Bhajana means searching, and that search will make external consciousness disappear from the aspirant. Slowly the thirst for loving devotion will increase and finally the aspirant will become anxious of thirst. When that thirst takes over the heart, the material world will stay out of the mind and all activities will be connected with that thirst.

         In this verse Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī prays to Śrī Śyāmasundara’s lotus-feet: “Please make me the object of Śrī Rādhā’s mercy – I don’t want anything else! I will relish the mellows of Your service through the lotus-feet of Śrī Rādhā – not independently!” 

This is the rādhā snehādhikā love of the mañjarīs: āmāra īśvarī hon vṛndāvaneśvarī; tāra prāṇanātha boli bhaji giridhārī – “My Queen is the Queen of Vṛndāvana (Śrī Rādhā) and I worship Giridhārī because He is the Lord of Her life!” 

We will not worship Giridhārī without Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. I want to relish Your sweetness by experiencing Rādhārāṇī and I want to relish Your sweetness through Śrī Rādhārāṇī. But this will not be done in a sama snehā bhāva, a mood of equal affection. I will keep rādhā snehādhikā prīti in my heart.

In Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu Śrī Rūpa has written (2.5.18):

sañcārī syāt samonā vā Kṛṣṇa-ratyāḥ suhṛd ratiḥ
adhikā puṣyamānā ced  bhāvollāsa itīryate   

         “When  the  sakhīs love Rādhā (suhṛd ratiḥ) as much as or less than Kṛṣṇa, then this is counted as a sañcārī bhāva in their sthāyi bhāva called Kṛṣṇa rati. But if they always love Rādhikā more, then it is called bhāvollāsā rati.”

This bhāvollāsā rati is the sthāyi bhāva of the mañjarīs, who are endowed with rādhā snehādhikā. This is the great gift of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and this is the very heart of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism.

Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī taught his mind:

mad īśā nāthatve vraja vipina candraṁ vrajavaneś-
varīṁ tan nāthatve tad atula sakhītve tu lalitām
viśākhāṁ śikṣāli vitaraṇa gurutve priya saro
girīndrau tat prekṣa lalita ratidatve smara manaḥ

         “O mind! Remember Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the moon of the Vraja-forests as the Lord of the Queen of Vṛndāvana Rādhā,  remember Śrī Rādhā as  Śrī  Kṛṣṇa’s  most beloved girl, Lalitā as Their matchless girlfriend,  Viśākhā  as  the  teacher of all the other girlfriends, and  Śrī  Rādhākunda and Girirāja Govardhana as two places the mere sight of which bestows  charming love of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa!”

sama snehā viṣama snehā,          nā koriho dui lehā,
kohi mātra adhika snehā gaṇa
nirantara thāke saṅge,      Kṛṣṇa kathā līlā raṅge,
narma sakhī ei sab jana

         “Don’t count equal affection (for both Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa) and unequal affection (more for Kṛṣṇa than for Rādhā). Just speak of adhika snehā (more love for Rādhā than for Kṛṣṇa). Always stay with the priya narma sakhīs and always talk with them about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.”

śrī rūpa mañjarī āra,         śrī rati mañjarī sāra,
lavaṅga mañjarī mañjulālī.
śrī rasa mañjarī saṅge,              kasturikā ādi raṅge,
prema sevā kore kutūhole

         “Blissfully render loving devotional service with Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, Śrī Rati Mañjarī, Lavaṅga Mañjarī, Mañjulālī Mañjarī, Śrī Rasa Mañjarī, Kasturikā and others.” 

e sabhāra anugā hoiyā,             prema sevā nibo cāiyā,
iṅgite bujhibo sab kāja.
rūpe guṇe ḍagamagi,               sadā hobo anurāgī,
vasati koribo sakhīra mājha
(Prema Bhakti Candrikā) 

         “I will follow in their footsteps and render loving devotional service. Simply on their hints I will understand what is my duty. I will always be passionately absorbed in Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s forms and qualities while I reside amongst the sakhīs.”

         “O Śyāma! I will worship Your Priyā, and Your worship will follow automatically, because You are dearer to Each other than millions of lives!” 

prāṇebhyo’py adhikā priyā mura-ripor yā hanta yasyā api
svīya prāṇa parārddhato’pi dayitās tat pāda-reṇoḥ kaṇāḥ
dhanyāṁ tāṁ jagatī-traye parilasaj jaṅghāla kīrtiṁ hareḥ
preṣṭhā-varga śiro’gra bhūṣaṇa-maṇiṁ rādhāṁ kadāhaṁ bhaje
(Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī’s Utkaṇṭhā daśakam)

         “When will I serve Śrī Rādhā, who is dearer to Kṛṣṇa than His own life, who considers a speck of Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust millions of times more dear than Her own life, who is supremely fortunate, whose fames shine in the three worlds, and who is the crown jewel of all of Hari’s beloveds?”

The treasure that is attained by single-mindedly worshiping Śrī Rādhā is very precious, as Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī explains in ‘Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi (74)’:

dūre snigdha paramparā vijayatāṁ dūre suhṛṅ maṇḍalī
bhṛtyāḥ santu vidūrato vraja-pater anyāḥ prasaṅgaḥ kutaḥ
yatra śrī vṛṣabhānujā kṛta ratiḥ kuñjodare kāminā
dvārasthā priya kiṅkarī param ahaṁ śroṣyāmi kāñci-dhvanim

         “Let  Kṛṣṇa’s parents and all elders of Vraja stay at a distance, all glories to them! Let the circle of Kṛṣṇa’s friends keep some distance! Let the servants of the Lord of Vraja, Kṛṣṇa,  stay especially far away,  what to speak of others!  Let them all stay away from the kuṣja-gate where I stand as a loving  maidservant, hearing  the  sash  of bells of Vṛṣabhānu’s  beautiful daughter jingling as She makes love with Her lusty lover!”

When I hear these waist bells jingling I know that Your pastimes are finished and my time for serving has come. I will blissfully enter the kuñja and: 

mukhera muchābo ghāma khāoyābo guyā;
ghāmete bātāsa dibo candanādi cūyā
vṛndāvanera phulete gāṅthiyā dibo hāra;
vināiyā bāndhibo cūḍā kuntalera bhāra
kapāle tilaka dibo candanera cānd
narottama dāsa kohe pirītera phānd
(Prārthanā)

         “I will wipe Their faces and feed Them betel leaves. I will fan the perspiration from Their bodies and anoint Them with sandalwood pulp and other ointments. I will string garlands for Them with Vṛndāvana’s flowers and place them in His crown and in Her braid. I will draw tilaka on Their foreheads and I will serve Them sandal pulp and camphor. Narottama dāsa says: “That is the noose of love!”

         “O Śyāma! Your Priyājī is vraja nava yauvata mauli mālikā, the crowning garland, or the greatest, of all the young Vraja-sundarīs! When You leave all these gopa-sundarīs and become eager to meet with Rādhikā alone, then You will need my service!” 

yasyāḥ kānti tanūllasat parimalenākṛṣṭa uccaiḥ sphurad
gopīvṛnda mukhāravinda madhu tat prītyā dhayann apy adaḥ
muñcan vartmani vambhramīti madato govinda bhṛṅgaḥ satāṁ
vṛndāraṇya vareṇya kalpa-latikāṁ rādhāṁ kadāhaṁ bhaje
(Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī’s Utkaṇṭhā daśakam)

         “Although the Govinda-bee very much loves the honey (of love) that oozes from the beautiful lotus faces of the gopīs, He suddenly leaves them and wanders here and there over the pathways searching for the best of wish yielding vine of Vṛndāvana, being attracted to the superexcellent fragrance of Her blissful body. When will I worship that Rādhā?” 

paśupālendra kumāra vrajera śrī hari;
praṇata hoiyā pade nivedana kori
varaja ramaṇī mauli mālikā rādhikā;
tava priyatamā tava keli ārādhikā
kuñjeśvarī rādhikāra karuṇā viśeṣa;
kemote pāibo āmi koro upadeśa
bhāgavata cūḍāmaṇi śrī rūpa gosvāmī;
prakāśilā bhajana rahasya cintāmaṇi

         “I bow down  to the feet of Śrī Hari, the son of Vraja’s cowherd king. Rādhikā, the crown of all of Vraja’s young girls, is Your beloved, who worships You in Your plays. Please instruct me into how to attain the special mercy of Kuñjeśvarī Rādhikā?” Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, the crown jewel of all devotees, thus reveals the Cintāmaṇi jewel of confidential worship.