Question:

Dear Tarun Govinda das, could you shed some light on manjari bhava being the highest bhava for Gaudiya Vaishnavas?

Answer:

Radhe Radhe.
I would be careful with using attributes as the “highest”, the “best”, etc…

Every individual soul can have an individual relationship with the Divine Couple.

Srila Rupa Goswami writes in his Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu:

sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi
tad-bhāva-lipsunā kāryā vraja-lokānusārataḥ ||1.2.295||

Following the inhabitants of Vraja, one should perform service in one’s physical body and in one’s siddha body, with a desire for a particular bhāva.

Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada comments on this verse:

One performs service with sādhaka-rūpa [the present body] and with the siddha-rūpa [the body which is suitable for serving Kṛṣṇa in Vraja] in the particular type of rati or bhāva one desires, and which is meditated upon (antaś-cintitābhīṣṭa) through inner contemplation with a desire for a particular rati directed to one’s chosen beloved of Kṛṣṇa, situated in Vṛndāvana (tad–bhāva-lipsunā).
One should follow the dear devotees of Kṛṣṇa such as Rādhā, Lalitā, Viśākhā, Śrī Rūpa-maṣjarī and those following them [persons such as Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmīs] (vraja-lokānuṣārataḥ).
Accordingly, one should perform mental service in one’s siddha-rūpa, following the examples of Śrī Rādhā, Lalitā, Viśākhā, Śrī Rūpa-maṣjarī and others.
In one’s physical body, one should perform services using one’s body, following persons such as Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmīs situated in Vraja.

Every devotee naturally thinks that his desired bhava is the best.

nija nija bhāva sabe śreṣṭha kari’ māne
nija-bhāve kare kṛṣṇa-sukha āsvādane

Each kind of devotee feels that his sentiment is the most excellent, and thus in that mood he tastes great happiness with Lord Kṛṣṇa.
(CC Adi-lila 4.43)

So, it is never a competition over which rasa is the best or the highest.

It is certainly true that the bhava of Radhika´s kinkaris, also known as manjaris, is a truly UNIQUE bhava.

Rādhārāṇī, queen of Vrindavan, has five kinds of sakhī, know respectively as sakhī (friends), priya-sakhī (dear friends), parama-preṣṭha-sakhī (dearmost friends), prāṇa-sakhī (life-companions) and nitya-sakhī (constant companions). In this classification, sakhīs are those inclined primarily toward Kṛṣṇa; they include Dhaniṣṭhā and Vindhyā. Priya-sakhīs and parama-preṣṭha-sakhīs are equal in their affections to both the lover and the beloved; Kuraṅgākṣī and Sumadhyamā belong to the former grouping, while Rādhā’s closest companions—Lalitā, Viśākhā, Campakalatā, Sucitrā, Indulekhā, Tuṅgavidyā, Raṅgadevī and Sudevī (often known as the eight friends, or aṣṭa-sakhī) belong to the latter. Their title of parama-preṣṭha-sakhī would indicate that they are the dearest of all to Rādhā.

The last two categories, which include the mañjarīs, are Rādhā-snehādhikā, i.e., they have stronger feelings of love for Rādhā than for Kṛṣṇa. Kastūrī and Maṇi Mañjarīs’ names are specifically mentioned in the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi as nitya-sakhīs, while Śaśimukhī, Vāsantī and Lāsikā are the names of some prāṇa-sakhīs.

And it is also very correct to say that our Gaudiya Vaishnava purva acaryas put a lot of emphasis on the practice of manjari bhava sadhana, but never to the exclusion of another desired bhava.

Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami writes:

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payo-dānābhisārādibhir
vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ |
prāṇa-preṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā-bhūmikāḥ
kelī-bhūmiṣu rūpa-maṣjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye
(Vraja-Vilasa-Stava 38)

“I take shelter of Śrī Rādhikā’s maidservants, headed by Rūpa Maṣjarī, who always engage in serving betel leaves, massaging the feet, serving water, and arranging for the Divine Couple’s secret trysts. These maidservants are even more dear to the great Queen of Vṛndāraṇya (Śrī Rādhikā) than the prāṇa-preṣṭha-sakhīs (the girlfriends who are dearer to Her than life), and She is therefore not at all shy before them!”

Srila Narottama das Thakur goes even one step further:

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 (Prema Bhakti Chandrika, verse 51)

“Equal affection for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa or more affection for Kṛṣṇa than for Śrī Rādhā – do not become attached to that. I will just speak about preference for Śrī Rādhā! They are always in Her company, blissfully telling Her about Kṛṣṇa. They are all called narma sakhīs.”

So we can see, as all our purva acaryas are manjaris themselves, they clearly focus on this unique bhava.

Now, let us see WHY the love of the manjaris is so utterly UNIQUE.

My Param Gurudeva, Srila Kunja Bihari das Babaji, wries in his book, “Manjari Svarupa Nirupana” about the glories of the love of the manjaris and why it is so special.

In the Ānanda-candrikā commentary on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 2.15, Viśvanātha writes that although all sakhīs find their own happiness by arranging for the pleasure of the nāyikā in union with her Lord, still a general division can be made of two categories from amongst them. They are (1) those whose bodies are extremely attractive to Kṛṣṇa due to their having salient qualities of love, beauty and coquettishness, etc., and (2) others who are somewhat inferior in these respects and so are not so attractive to the Lord’s romantic aspirations.

Thus, girls of the former category may occasionally, at the behest of their friend and mistress (yūtheśvarī), desire for erotic dalliance with Kṛṣṇa, for his pleasure. These sakhīs include Lalitā and the other parama-preṣṭha-sakhīs. The second category of sakhī, however, never entertain such aspirations. They are Kasturī and the other nitya-sakhīs.

atra sakhī-bhāvaṁ samāśrita iti | yadyapi sakhyo hi sva-sva-yūtheśvarīṇāṁ śrī-rādhādīnām eva śrī-kṛṣṇāṅga-saṅga-sukhena sukhinyo na tu sveṣām, tadapi tāḥ sāmānyato dvidhā bhavanti: prema-saundarya-vaidagdhyādīnām ādhikyena śrī-kṛṣṇasyātilobhanīya-gātryas teṣāṁ nyūnatvena tasyātilobhanīya-gātryaś ca | tatra pūrvāḥ śrī-kṛṣna-sukhānurodhāt tata eva sva-yūtheśvarīṇām apy āgrahādhikyāc ca kadācit kṛṣnāṅga-saṅga-spṛhāvatyo’pi bhavanti | tāś ca lalitādyāḥ parama-preṣṭha-sakhyādaya uttarās tu tad-dvayābhāvāt kadāpi kṛṣnāṅga-saṅga-spṛhāvatyo na bhavanti | tāś ca kastūry-ādayo nitya-sakhyaḥ | Ānanda-candrikā to UN 2.15 (Kāvya-mālā edn., 46)

For an example, we can look to the Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta by Prabodhā-nanda Sarasvatī:

ananya-śrī-rādhā-pada-kamala-dāsyaika-rasa-dhī
hareḥ saṅge raṅgaṁ svapana-samaye nāpi dadhatī |
balāt kṛṣṇe kūrpāsaka-bhidi kimapy ācarati kāpy
udaśrur meveti pralapati mamātmā ca hasati || VMA 16.94

One day one of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s handmaidens whose exclusive desire is to relish the flavour of serving her lotus feet and who never thinks for a moment, not even in dreams, that she would have any kind of erotic union with Kṛṣṇa, was accosted by him who shocked her by tearing away at her blouse and uncovering her bosom. She started crying, “No, no, what are you doing?” while Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, my very life and soul, stood by and watched, laughing.

The nitya-sakhīs have a certain reward for their unique spirit of abnegation, something which is withheld even from Rādhārāṇī’s dearest comrades like Lalitā and Viśākhā. That reward is described for us by Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmin in Vraja-vilāsa-stava:

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payo-dānādibhisārādibhir
vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ |
prāṇa-preṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ
kelī-bhūmiṣu rūpa-mañjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye || Verse 38

I take shelter of the handmaidens of the Queen of Vrindavan,
who are led by Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī
and who lovingly satisfy her
by offering hazelnuts and other condiments,
massaging her feet, bringing fragrant water
and arranging trysts with her gallant
and have thus become most dear to her.
They are thus allowed to enter the scene
of the Divine Couple’s most intimate affairs
without the slightest discomfiture
a reward not given even to her dearest friends.

This is the area where the mañjarīs are unique and distinctive.

vraja-navīna-yuva-dvandva-ratnaṁ prati Viśākhādi-dvārā kvacit svayaṁ vā lajjām abhinīya mṛdu bhāṣita-vivicyamāna-narma-kalā-kalāpa-janita-paramānanda-viśeṣa-lābhāya abhilaṣita-paricaraṇa-viśeṣa-lobhāya ca raṅgaṇamālā-prabhṛtaya etāḥ parama-praṇayi-sakhyo’pi paricārikā iva vyavaharanti | Muktā-carita

Raṅgaṇamāla and her friends, though they are themselves loving friends, either on their own initiative or at the behest of Viśākhā and her friends, sometimes behave towards the Ever-youthful Couple of Vraja just as if they were maidservants. Behaving shyly, they do this in order to obtain the highest ecstasy by listening to their extremely funny conversations as well as to gain their most cherished service.

Similarly, in the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta, it is said,

tā vidyud-dyuti-jayi-prapadaika-rekhā
vaidagdhya eva kila mūrti-bhṛtas tathāpi |
yūtheśvarītvam api samyag arocayitvā
dāsyāmṛtābdhim anu sasnur ajasram asyāḥ || KBhA 3.2

Rūpa Mañjarī and the other handmaidens of Rādhāraṇī, one sparkle of whose toenails is brighter than a flash of lightning, are certainly qualified in all respects, whether in talents or in coquettishness, to become yūtheśvarīs or nāyikās themselves, and yet they are completely devoid of any attraction for such glories. They would much rather bathe constantly in the nectarean ocean of Rādhā’s service.
A further special feature of the nitya-sakhīs or mañjarīs is that just as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the other yūtheśvarīs are spontaneously and instinctively filled with an intense thirst to relish the flavour of Kṛṣṇa’s form, taste, fragrance, touch and sound, so similarly the mañjarīs are spontaneously and instinctively attracted to both Rādhā’s and Kṛṣṇa’s qualities. To what extent and how they are so attracted can be explained as follows. The nature of madhura-rasa is clear: the gopīs want to please Kṛṣṇa by offering their own bodies. Even Brahmā prays to be able to drink “again and again from the cup of his senses the honey-like nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet.”

etad hṛṣīka-caṣakair asakṛt pibāmaḥ
śarvādayo’ṅghry-udaja-madhv-amṛtāsavam || Bhagavata Purana 10.14.33

According to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, “the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet” means his direct bodily contact.

aṅghri-padma-sudhā kahe kṛṣna-saṅgānanda

From this we can understand that the nāyikās serve Kṛṣṇa by directly relinquishing their bodies to him—that is their qualification for being in the madhura rasa. The mañjarīs, on the other hand, are unenthusiastic about such type of service. They never contemplate such a possibility, even in their dreams. Yet, the question may be asked, if there is no possibility of madhura rasa or romance without physical intimacy, how can the platonic spirit of the mañjarīs be graced with the name of samarthā rati or kāma-rūpā bhakti?

In answer to this question, it should be said that the object of the mañjarīs’ affection is the Holy Couple of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa together. Therefore, the perfection of the mañjarīs’ power of sight and the thirst of their eyes is to see that couple locked in embrace. The craving of their ears is to hear the Holy Couple’s sweet murmuring conversations and that is the fulfillment of their sense of hearing. The desire of their tongues is to relish the flavour of the condiments touched by the Holy Couple’s lips, and in that way their sense of taste attains perfection. Similarly, the sweet fragrance that arises at the Holy Couple’s union is the object craved for by their nostrils and its experience is the fulfillment of their sense of smell. The tactile sense finds plenitude in massaging the Holy Couple’s feet and bodies, and this is the only object of their sense of touch.

In this way, it may be said that of the four types of sambhoga (loving pastimes) mentioned by Jīva Gosvāmin (i.e., by sight, conversation, touch and copulation) the first three are present in the mañjarīs to some extent. The question is, how do they experience samprayoga, or erotic union?
We get some light on this point from the following passage from the Govinda-līlāmṛta:

sakhyaḥ śrī-rādhikāyā vraja-kumuda-vidhor hlādinī-nāma-śakteḥ
sārāṁśa-prema-vallyāḥ kiśalaya-dala-puṣpādi-tulyāḥ sva-tulyāḥ |
siktāyāṁ kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta-rasa-nicayair ullasantyām amuṣyāṁ
jātollāsāḥ sva-sekāc chata-guṇam adhikaṁ santi yat tan na citram ||
GLA 10.16, quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, 2.8.211

Just as the moon enlivens the lilies, so Kṛṣṇa is the bright moon who enlivens the lily-like hearts of the residents of Vrindavan. His pleasure-giving potency is personified in Rādhā, who is like a creeper whose fruits are prema. Her girlfriends are like the unlimited branches, leaves and flowers which expand out from her self and are thus equal to her. For this reason, when that winding creeper of love is watered with the heavenly potion of Kṛṣṇa’s sporting activities, then the leaves and flowers (the sakhīs) find hundreds of times more pleasure than if they were themselves to be sprinkledthis seems quite normal.

vibhur api sukha-rūpaḥ sva-prakāśo’pi bhāvaḥ
kṣaṇam api nahi rādhā-kṛṣṇayor yā ṛte svāḥ |
pravahati rasa-puṣṭiṁ cid-vibhūtir iveśaḥ
śayati na padam āsāṁ kaḥ sakhīnāṁ rasajñaḥ || GLA 10.17

Just as the all-pervading, omnipotent Supreme God Almighty needs his majestic spiritual potencies to become fulfilled, similarly, the love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, though very elevated, self-manifest and joyful by nature, does not find fulfillment for even a moment without the presence of her girlfriends, the sakhīs and mañjarīs. What person, genuinely learned in the science of sacred rapture, would not therefore take shelter of them?

Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī also states in the Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta,

rādhā-nāgara-keli-sāgara-nimagnālī-dṛśāṁ yat sukhaṁ
no tal-leśa-lavāyate bhagavataḥ sarvo’pi saukhyotsavaḥ || VMA 1.54

The pleasure felt by the eyes of the sakhī alone in seeing Rādhā merged in the ocean of love for Kṛṣṇa makes all the Supreme Lord’s festive arrangements for his own happiness seem insignificant.

Another quote from the Govinda-līlāmṛta (11.137) of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja illustrates the power of the vicarious pleasure of the mañjarīs:

spṛśati yadi mukundo rādhikāṁ tat-sakhīnāṁ
bhavati vapuṣi kampa-sveda-romāñca-bāṣpam |
adhara-madhu mudāsyāś cet pibaty eṣa yatnād
bhavati bata tad āsāṁ attatā citram etat || GLA 11.137

If Kṛṣṇa should touch Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī,
then lo! her sakhīs start to shake;
they sweat, tears well up in their eyes,
and the hair stands upon their neck.

And when Sri Krishna carefully sips
the maddening liquor of her lips,
they are the ones who swoon and fall!
Is this not truly wonderful?

In his commentary on this verse, Vṛndāvana Cakravartin observes that this verse contains the rhetorical embellishment (alaṁkāra) known as asaṅgati or “non sequitur.” Asaṅgati is defined as arising when causes are described as being inflicted on one entity have their effects reproduced in a completely distinct one. Here, the Lord is touching and kissing Rādhā, but the effects of trembling and intoxication are described taking place in the bodies of the sakhīs.

atyanta-bhinnādhāratve yugapad-bhāṣaṇaṁ yadi | dharmayor hetu-phalyos tadā sā syād asaṅgatiḥ || rādhāṅga-sparśa-tad-adhara-madhu-pāna-rūpa-hetuḥ tat-sakhīnām aṅga-rūpa-bhinnādhāre hetu-janyaṁ phalaṁ yayos tayor dharmayo rādhā-sparśādhara-pāna-kampādi-mattatā-rūpayor yugapad-bhāṣaṇam atrāsaṅgatiḥ

Another verse can be quoted here from the Āhnika-kaumudī of Kavi Karṇapūra where Kṛṣṇa says:

pataty asre sāsrā bhavati pulake jāta-pulakāḥ
smite bhāti smerā malimani jāte sumalināḥ |
anāsādya svālīr mukuram abhivīkṣya sva-vadanaṁ
sukhaṁ vā duḥkhaṁ vā kimapi kathanīyaṁ mṛgadṛśaḥ || AK 5.128

O doe-eyed beauties!
When your girlfriends are absent,
you may have to look at a mirror
before you can say whether you are happy or sad.
They reflect every mood of yours
they perform all the services of a looking glass!
When tears fall from your eyes they also cry;
when you are excited, their hairs stand on end;
when you laugh they also do so;
and when you become depressed,
they also look down-hearted.

In the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta, there is another verse which illustrates the point:
yās tv etayoḥ keli-vilokanaṁ vinā
naiva śvasanty āsu gavākṣa-sañcayam |
śritāsu kācin nijagāda paśyatā-
nayor daśā keyam abhūd ihādbhutā || KBhA 20.26

Rādhā’s handmaids are unable to maintain their lives if they cannot see the pastimes of the beautiful Divine Couple; with great eagerness they had gathered about the window of the forest cottage in which Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa were locked in embrace and one of them said, “Friends, what an amazing and wonderful situation is this they have gotten themselves into.”

If the sakhīs can feel intoxicated when Kṛṣṇa kisses Rādhārāṇī, then it is not altogether surprising if they get an even greater pleasure by watching the intimate activities of the Lord and his mistress than they would from their own. The reason for this is that they are not lovers in the mundane sense, but are supreme, the transcendental Lord and his celestial mistress.

Kṛṣṇa is romantic love personified. He has appeared in his form as the king of sacred rapture (rasa-rāja) and thus he attracts all the minds of everyone in the universe, including his very self. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the supremely worshipable personification of mahā-bhāva, the ultimate achievement in the domain of prema. Verily she is the embodiment of prema herself, for her entire body is vibrant with pure devotional love for Kṛṣṇa.

Not only are Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa transcendental, but so also are the sakhīs and mañjarīs. In the Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta they are described in the following way:

tā vidyd-dyūti-jayi-prapadaika-rekhā
vaidagdhya eva kila mūrti-bhūtās tathāpi |
yūtheśvarītvam api samyag arocayitvā
dāsyāmṛtābdhim anusasnur ajasram asyāḥ || KBhA 2.1

These handmaidens of Rādhārāṇī are unexcelled in this universe for their beauty is without bounds. The rays coming from the nails of their toes defeats the glory of the lightning bolt. Each one of them is an incarnation of Rādhārāṇī’s expertise in loving dalliance and thus competent to herself become a competitor for Kṛṣṇa’s affections. Yet such desires do not enter their minds for even a moment because they are completely desireless. In this way, they are eligible to eternally dive into the ambrosial sea of service to her.

Without bhāva or feeling, the ecstasies of sacred rapture cannot be experienced. Without feeling, the ecstasies of love cannot be appreciated. To relish Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness, one must become similar to him in quality, otherwise it will not be possible. Just as Rādhārāṇī’s competent affection is not separable from her identity, eternal and self-manifest, so too the sakhīs and mañjarīs have love for the Divine Couple which is similarly uncaused, self-manifest and directly produced from their own identities. This is beyond normal experience and thus inconceivable. “Those things which are inconceivable are not accessible by mental speculation.”

acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet | MBh cited in BRS 2.5.93

The actions of the Lord are supra-mundane, its ways and means are all transcendental; thus the unfortunate hear about them and even so develop no faith in him.

Sometimes the mañjarīs even faint from the ecstasies they feel when they watch the intimate pastimes of the Divine Duo through the spaces between the forest vines.

Sometimes Rādhārāṇī makes arrangements for the mañjarīs to meet Kṛṣṇa to be enjoyed by him; but even this intercession on her part does not shake their indifference to such direct erotic union with the Lord. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmin gives an example in the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, which Viśvanātha expands upon as follows:

tvayā yad upabhujyate murajid-aṅga-saṅge sukhaṁ
tad eva bahu jānatī svayam avāptitaḥ śuddha-dhīḥ |
mayā kṛta-vilobhanāpy adhika-cāturī-caryayā
kadāpi maṇi-mañjarī na kurute’bhisāra-spṛhām || UN 8.89

One day, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī arranged through another of her friends for Maṇi Mañjarī to have a rendez-vous with the Lord in some forest glen. That friend, after trying persuasively to convince the reluctant mañjarī finally returned to Śrīmatī’s side in failure. She then said to her, “Dear friend, you told me to try and I did. I went to Maṇi Mañjarī and tried to tempt her in many ways. I said,’My friend, I don’t believe there is any thrill in this entire universe that can compare with the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa’s embrace; you really should try it one time. Lalitā and the other sakhīs sometimes have trysts with him, why shouldn’t you, just this once? They can act as both friends and, occasionally, independently as Kṛṣṇa’s mistresses too. There’s nothing wrong with it, why don’t you be like that too? Otherwise, you become too insignificant!’

“Rādhe, after hearing these arguments of mine, Maṇi answered me by saying,’Friend, when Rādhārāṇī enjoys the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa’s company, then I find the happiness I feel is greater than that which I could gain by doing anything for myself at all.’ Therefore, dear Rādhe, I am completely convinced that her heart is entirely pure because despite all temptations and clever tricks on my part, she showed not the slightest urge for going for a meeting with Kṛṣṇa.”

Sometimes Kṛṣṇa also personally tries to seduce the mañjarīs and meets with similar failure. One day one of Rādhārāṇī’s girlfriends was picking flowers for the purpose of making a garland. Śrī Kṛṣṇa chanced upon her at that time and immediately proposed to her, “O beautiful one, why not perfect your life by passing a few moments with me in this forest grove?’ as well as saying many other sweet and enticing words. The bewildered girl put aside all her feminine tactics and arguments and very simply said to the Lord,

Rādhā-raṅga-lasat-tvad-ujjvala-kalā-sañcāraṇa-prakriyā-
cāturyottaram eva sevanam ahaṁ govinda samprārthaye |
yenāśeṣa-vadhū-janodbhaṭa-mano-rājya-prapañcāvadhau
notsukyaṁ bhavad-aṅga-saṅgama-rase’py ālambate man-manaḥ || UN 8.88

Govinda, I have only one desire:
to have the ever-greater intelligence
to be able to serve you and Rādhā
on the field of your ever-expanding, ecstatic romance
so that you experience newer and newer bliss;
for by such service, unlimited gopīs have attained
the very limit of the fulfillment of their desires.
Therefore, oh Lord of Gokula, my mind
never becomes eager for your direct embrace;
it does not crave for such enjoyments,
please just engage me in that service.

Direct erotic union with the Lord is thought by many to be the ultimate object of the fulfillment of the gopīs’ desires but the mañjarīs have no attraction for it. Viśvanātha glosses the above-quoted gopīs’ words: “Secretly watching your activities with Rādhārāṇī in the forest groves seems to me to be hundreds of times more rapturous than direct union with you.” When a higher happiness can be found in other ways, then what intelligent person will take up inferior ways of pleasure-seeking?

Everyone seeks happiness and naturally they most intensely crave those things which give them the most happiness. So therefore, the spontaneous craving of the mañjarīs is to be witness to the varieties of Rādhārāṇī’s loving sports with Kṛṣṇa. This craving is called mañjarī-bhāva.

Note by the author:

The direct act of erotic union functions as a climax to the variegated sportings of the transcendental loving pair and is not prominent as their highest source of happiness.
As Rūpa Gosvāmin describes it at the very end of Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (15.253):

“Those who are knowledgeable about sacred rapture have experienced that the actual act of union is not as great a cause of happiness for experienced lovers as their various flirtations and loving exchanges.” (vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham | na tathā samprayogena syād evaṁ rasikā viduḥ ||)

Furthermore, the er4otic pastimes of the Supreme Lord have no tinge of mundaneness to it whatsoever. One should bear these points in mind at all times while going through this or any other book on the supramundane love life of the Lord

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmin has written a nice verse in his poetical work Mādhava-mahotsava (“The spring festival”):

Baka-ripu-parirambhāsvāda-vāñchā-viraktiṁ
vratam iva sakhi kartrī svāli-saukhyaika-tṛṣṇā |
phalam alabhata kastūry-ādir āliḥ sakhīnāṁ
hari-vana-vara-rājye siñcate tāṁ yad adya || MādhM 7.131

O sakhī! Kastūrī has achieved, along with her associates, the fruit of her vow: she is completely averse to being personally embraced by Kṛṣṇa himself and totally dedicated to the happiness of her friend Rādhā. Now today, here in the best of Hari’s forests, she sprinkles her with water [to celebrate the occasion of her coronation as Queen of Vṛndāvana.]

The mañjarīs are dedicated to the service of the Divine Couple, that service is their life and soul and such service performed after their union in exhausted intimacy is the highest object of their desires.

Rādhā Mohan Dās, the grandson of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, has written a song which is appropriate to this situation:

rati-raṇe śrama-yuta, nāgarī-nāgara, mukha-bhari tāmbūla yogāy |
malayaja kuṅkuma, mṛgamada karpūra, militahi gāta lāgāy ||
aparūpa priya-sakhī prem |
nija-prāṇ koṭi, dei niramañchañ, naha tula lākh-bān hem ||
manorama mālya, duhuṅ gale arpañ, bījañ śīta mṛdu bāt |
sugandhī śītala, karu jala arpaṇa, jaiche hota duhuṅ śāt ||
duhuṅka caraṇa puna, mṛdu sambāhana, kari śrama karalahī dūr |
iṅgite śayana, karala duhuṅ sakhīgaṇa, sabahu manoratha-pūr ||
kusuma śeje duhuṅ, nidrita herañ, sevana parāyaṇa sukh |
rādhā-mohana dās, kiye heraba, meṭaba sab manodukh ||

When the lover and beloved
are exhausted after their erotic war,
they bring them condiments of betelnut;
sandalwood and saffron, musk and camphor,
they mix and smear upon their bodies;

How incomparably beautiful the love of these priya-sakhīs!
Rādhā is worth ten million lives to them;
Not equalled in purity by gold smelted thousands of times,
they offer her the lamps of their lives.

They place enchanting garlands around their necks;
they fan to give a cooling breeze;
they offer water, cold and fragrant,
drinking which the lovers’ thirst is pacified.

They massage their feet gently
and rid them of their fatigue.
The lovers signal them to take rest, and they all do so,
feeling that their every desire has been fulfilled.

Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa close their eyes in slumber on the flower bed,
the mañjarīs, seeing them do so, feel the happiness
resulting from service executed well.
Rādhā Mohan Dās, seeing all these things
is liberated from all mental pain.