No one but Dāsa Gosvāmī is so fixed in that desire for Śrī Rādhā’s service!
That should be our target! Such sincere eagerness cannot be found anywhere else!
Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī is an eternally liberated maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, so he is the greatest authority, the ācārya of the (Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava) sampradāya (tradition) and by following in his footsteps one will surely attain this service. He gave the perfect example to the practising devotees with his sādhana-maya jīvana, his life, that was full of devotional practice.
“I want to think of myself as a follower of the Gosvāmīs like Rūpa and Raghunātha dāsa. What can I do to accomplish that?”
Hearing and chanting of the mahā vāṇī (great words) of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī will awaken that identification as follower of Rūpa and Raghunātha.
His very powerful words are even greater than the words of the Ṛṣis of yore,
for these words are filled with the līlā-rasa of the most confidential Vraja nikunjas to which even the great sages did not have access.
The kiṅkarīs know even better how to attain Rādhārāṇī’s foot-service than Rādhārāṇī Herself! The six Gosvāmīs are all eternally perfect maidservants from the groves of Vraja, therefore it is required to follow in their footsteps. Śrī Raghunātha’s love can be understood through this Vilāpa. For this reason we are discussing Vilāpa Kusumāṣjali.
Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī prays:
“Hā devi! Please give me the excellent service of Your lotus feet!”
This service is so excellent because it is completely free from shame and reverence, and it is very luscious. Such service cannot be found anywhere, but now it is given as a special token of mercy of Śrī Gaurasundara. Raghunātha dāsa is a nitya siddha kiṅkarī and the guru of the (Gauḍīya) sampradāya. The beautiful and sweet service of Śrī Rādhā is also most dear to us. Of all kinds of servanthood the servitude of Śrī Rādhā is the greatest.
[Śrīla Ānanda Gopāla Gosvāmī]
Śrīmat Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmīpāda is Vraja’s eternally perfect ‘Rati Manjarī’or ‘’Tulasī Manjarī’.
In Śrī-Śrī Gaura Govindārcana Paddhati Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s dear associate Śrīla Gopāla Guru Gosvāmī has written-
ratyambujākhya kuṣje’stīndulekhā kunja dakṣiṇe
tatraiva tiṣṭhati sadā surūpā rati manjarī
tārāvalī dukūleyaṁ taḍit tulya tanu-cchabiḥ
dakṣiṇā mṛdvikā khyātā tulasīti vadantī yām
asyā vayo dvimāsāḍhya hāyanāstu trayodaśa
pitāsyā vṛṣabhaṁ kānto divākhyaṁ śāradā prasūḥ
śvaśrūś ca sannikā proktā cāmara sevanānvitā
iyaṁ hi raghunāthākhyaṁ prāptā gaura rase kalau
“In the kunja known as Ratyambuja (the lotus of Rati), south of Indulekhā’s kunja, the beautiful Rati Manjarī always resides. Her dress is decorated with a cluster of stars and her body shines like lightning. She has a mild, submissive nature and is nick-named ‘Tulasī’. She is 13 years and two months old. Her father is Vṛṣabha, her husband Diva, her mother is named Śāradā and her mother-in-law Sannikā. Her service is fanning. In the age of Kali she has descended as Raghunātha dāsa.”
He descended to the mundane world along with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to give the best example to the world of how to practise manjarī bhāva through his own bhajana.
On the one hand he gave the world the example of how to perform loving devotion, how to renounce the world and how to be fixed in one’s worship, on the other hand he showed how he was similarly always immersed within his self esteem as a manjarī within his spiritual body – thus he gave the example of how to be greatly eager and anxious for attaining the personal loving service of Śrī Rādhā.
The extraordinary renunciation, superhuman loving devotional conduct and unbroken absorption in the siddha svarūpa of Śrī Raghunātha, who is a mine of countless jewel-like attributes, is a new subject altogether within the history of worship in the spiritual realm. When he resided in Nīlācala (Jagannātha Puri), Śrīman Mahāprabhu was very pleased by seeing his extraordinary love-scented renunciation and rewarded him with the gifts of His very dear string of guṣjā beads and His sacred rock from Mount Govardhana.
Śrī Raghunātha then understood the Lord’s secret intentions – śilā diyā gosāi more samparpilā govardhane guṣjā-mālā diyā dilā rādhikā caraṇe. (C.C.)
“By giving me the sacred rock the Lord offered me to Mount Govardhana and through the string of guṣjā-beads He offered me to the lotus feet of Rādhikā.”
After the disappearance of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrīpāda went to reside at Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa, at the base of Śrī Girirāja, the place the Lord had bestowed upon him. Here, by Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s grace, his mind became immersed in the recollection of divine pastimes and he became greatly agitated with divine emotions.
There, on the shore of Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa, Śrīpāda composed the scripture named Stavāvalī. In this collection of hymns the surge of Śrīpāda’s divine sentiments flow like a pure creek, as if it continually runs towards a boundless ocean of divine flavours.
Wherever we look in the world of literature, we can find that such lovely poetry,
so gracious, deep with feelings and decorated with sweetness, is very rare indeed.
The river of Śrīpāda’s rasika poetry is agitated with ever-fresh waves of beauty and sweetness and illuminated and enlarged by the tender rays of the moon of ever-fresh feelings, so that it has become relishable for both the loving devotee and the sensitive connoisseur of poetry! But only the one-pointed rasika devotees can perceive and relish the amazing high- and ebb-tide of separation and meeting that surge in a self-incited way in his heart’s outbursts of divine passion in the Ganges-river of his poetry.
Within Vilāpa Kusumāṣjali an abundance of such feelings are seen. Here Śrīpāda’s unbroken absorption in manjarī bhāva is surely extremely astonishing! This is such a great example of the practise of manjarī bhāva, that by hearing, chanting and recollecting it hundreds and hundreds of practitioners of manjarī bhāva will be enlivened by this sky-high ideal and can be blessed with the practise of manjarī bhāva – of this there is no doubt.
[Śrī Ananta dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja]
