Sri-Sri Utkantha Dasakam – Ten Anxious Prayers for worshipping Srimati Radharani (10)

prāṇebhyo’py adhika priyā muraripor yā hanta yasyā apis
vīya prāṇa parārddhato’pi dayitās tat pāda-reṇoḥ kaṇāḥ
dhanyāṁ tāṁ jagatī-traye parilasaj jaṅghāla kīrtiṁ hareḥ
preṣṭha-varga śiro’gra bhūṣaṇa-maṇiṁ rādhāṁ kadāhaṁ bhaje

O! When will I serve Śrī Rādhā, who is dearer to Kṛṣṇa than His own life, who considers a speck of Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust billions of times dearer than Her own life, who is supremely
fortunate, whose fame shines in the three worlds, and who is the crown jewel of all of
Hari’s beloveds?

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

In this tenth verse Śrī Raghunātha dāsa first describes the mutual love of Rādhā and Mādhava, saying: prāṇebhyo’py adhika priyā muraripor yā “Śrī Rādhā is dearer to Kṛṣṇa than His own life-airs.” In the Gīta (9.29) Kṛṣṇa personally said:

samo’haṁ sarva bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo’sti na priyah
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cāpy aham

“O Arjuna! I am equal to all living beings. I hate no one, nor is anyone dear to Me, but those who worship Me with devotion abide in Me and I abide in them.”

One drop of the Lord’s pleasure-potency of devotion that is infused in such a devotee, causes the Lord to give up His status of being ātmarāma (self-delighted) āpta kāma (self-satisfied) and equal-minded towards everyone.
Śrī Rādhā is the presiding goddess of that entire pleasure-potency and She has the greatest love for Him, called mādanākhya mahā bhāva. It’s therefore needless to say that She is dearer to Kṛṣṇa than even millions of His life-airs! Śyāmasundara is the full non-dual truth and knowledge, but He’s totally overwhelmed by love for Her!

The Mahā Janas sing in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s name:

sundari! āmāre kohicho ki?
tomāra pīriti,     bhāvite bhāvite,      vibhora hoiyāchi
thira nahe mon,      sadā ucāṭana,       soyātha nāhiko pāy
gagane bhuvane,      daśa diga gaṇe,       tomāre dekhi sadāi
tomāra lāgiyā,      beḍāi bhramiyā,      giri nodī bone bone
khāite śuite,       āna nāhi cite,       sadāi jāgaye mone
śuno vinodini,     premera kāhini,      parāṇa roiyāche bāndhā
ekai parāṇa,   deha bhina bhina,          jñāna kohe – gelo dhāndā

“O Beautiful girl! What are You telling Me? I have become absorbed in remembering Your Love again and again! My mind never finds peace, it is always agitated, and I can find no consolation! I always see You everywhere, in all ten directions, in the sky as well as on earth! I wander over the hills and the rivers and through the forest, just looking for You! I don’t think of anyone else but You! You appear in My mind even when I eat or sleep! Listen, O Vinodini (giver of joy), to this love story! We are two bodies with one soul!” Jñāna dāsa sings: “Gone are the troubles.”

And, describing how dear Śrī Kṛṣṇa is to Śrī Rādhā, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa says:

hanta yasyā api svīya prāṇa parārdhato’pi dayitās tat pādareṇo kaṇāh –

“How amazing! Even a single speck of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s footdust is dearer to Her than billions of life-airs!”

Śrī Rādhā is the root cause and the presiding goddess of that love that is experienced by the Lord Himself as dearer to Him than millions of His own life-airs! Therefore, there is no limit to Her feelings of love towards Him. There are simply no words in the worlds storehouses that can describe the amount of Rādhā’s love for Kṛṣṇa! Therefore, to give an indication of this boundlessness of love, it is simply said: “One single speck of Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust is dearer to Śrīmatī than even billions of Her own life-airs”.

The Mahā Janas translate Śrīmatī’s feelings in this simple and short way. She says:

ohe nātha! kichui nā jāni,  tomāte magana mana divasa rajanī
jāgite ghumite cite tomākei dekhi,  parāṇa putalī tumi jīvanera sakhi
aṅga ābharaṇa tumi, śravaṇa rañjana,  vadane vacana tumi nayane añjana
nimikhe śateka yuga, hārāi heno vāsi,   rāya vasanta kohe pahu prema rāśi
(Pada Kalpataru)

“O Lord! I don’t know anything! My mind is absorbed in You day and night. Sleeping or awake, My mind sees only You. You are the puppet of My life and You are My heart’s friend! You are the ornament of My body, the delight of My ears, the words in My mouth and the collyrium on My eyes! When I’m without You I feel as if one moment is a hundred ages! Rāya Vasanta thus describes Śrī Rādhikā’s abundance of love for Kṛṣṇa.”

Then it is said: “Śrī Rādhā’s brilliant fame spreads all over the three worlds”. In Śrī Ujjvala Nīlamani one of Śrīmatī’s 25 attributes is described as jagacchreṇī lasad yaśā  – “Her fame spreads over the whole world”.

That is natural, because when Mahāprabhu asked Rāmānanda Rāya:
kīrtigaṇa madhye jīvera kon boḍo kīrti – “What is the greatest fame for a living being?”

Rāma Rāya replied: Kṛṣṇa prema bhakta boli yāra hoy khyāti – “A person is most famous when he is said to be a devotee who loves Kṛṣṇa!”

Can there be any doubt therefore that the fame of Śrī Rādhā, who is the entire ocean of loving devotion in person, spreads over all the worlds?

Finally Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī says: “She is the crown jewel of all of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beloveds!”

Śrī Rādhā is sarva lakṣmīmayī, the aggregate of all goddesses of fortune and the fountainhead of all Kṛṣṇa’s energies. Knowing Her to be His dearmost beloved, Kṛṣṇa made Śrīmatī the presiding goddess of Vṛndāvana:

vṛndāvanādhipatyaṁ ca dattaṁ tasyai pratuṣyatā (Padma Purāṇa).

All the goddesses of fortune, who are the energies of all the Lord’s Viṣṇu-forms, are Her mere expansions, Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā and all the other consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa are Her Vilāsa Mūrtis, and the gopīs are Her phalanx (kāya vyūha). In this way this Parā Prakṛti (Supreme Nature, or Female) assumes different forms to immerse the Supreme Brahman in the rasa of topmost transcendental bliss.

govindānandinī rādhā govinda mohinī;
govinda sarvasva sarva kānta śiromaṇi
(C.C.)

“Rādhā delights Govinda and She enchants Govinda. She is everything to Govinda and She is the crownjewel of all of His consorts.”

śrī kṛṣṇera prāṇa koṭi priyatamā rādhā;
Kṛṣṇa snehe paripūrṇā prema kalpalatā
sei śrī rādhikāra prāṇa koṭi nirmañchana;
Kṛṣṇa pādapadma reṇu aṅgera bhūṣaṇa
yāra kīrti vegavatī trijagata bhari;
rasera pratimā rādhā paramā sundarī
Kṛṣṇa kāntā śiromaṇi bhānu sukumārī;
varaja maṇḍala mājhe sīmanta mañjarī
vṛndāvana vilāsinī rādhā pādapadma;
kobe vā sevibo āmi bhajana sampad

“Rādhā is dearer to Kṛṣṇa than millions of His life-airs. She is the wish-yielding vine of love that is filled with the honey of affection for Kṛṣṇa. That same Śrī Rādhikā worships even a single speck of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus-foot dust with millions of Her life-airs! Rādhā’s tremendous fame fills the three worlds; Rādhā, Bhānu’s tender daughter, is the most beautiful one, the emblem of rasa and the crown jewel of all of Kṛṣṇa’s consorts. Within the circle of Vraja She is the Sīmanta Mañjarī (lit.: bud in the hair-part, meaning the decoration). When will I serve the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā, who enjoys Her lilas in Vṛndāvana? That is the treasure of my worship!”