yugala-kiśora prema,        lakṣabāṇa yena hema,
hena dhana prakāśila yāṅrā |
jaya rūpa! sanātana,        deha more prema-dhana,
se ratana mora gale hārā || 10 ||

Victory to Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana, who have revealed the treasure of yugala-kiśora-prema, purer than gold heated a hundred thousand times. Please give me this treasure and I shall wear it as a string of jewels around my neck.

Lakṣabāṇa Hema

Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In the previous verse, Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura Mahāśaya referred to the books of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana as vessels for yugala-madhura-rasa. Here in this verse, he shows that by establishing in their own books the supreme purity of prema, they have revealed in numerous and various ways that most mysterious truth within this world. First he says, yugala-kiśora prema, lakṣabāṇa yena hema. As many times as gold is heated in fire, to that degree it becomes purified. Just as it is assumed that in gold heated a hundred thousand times, no base metal can remain, in the same way, in Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s mutual prema or in gopī-prema, there isn’t even the faintest trace of the desire for self-satisfaction.

nā gaṇi āpana duḥkha, sabe bāñchi tāṅra sukha, tāṅra sukhe āmāra tātparya |
more yadi dile duḥkha, tāṅra haila mahāsukha, sei duḥkha mora sukhabarya ||

“Without considering my own suffering, I only wish for his happiness; his happiness is the goal of my life. If by giving me misery, he becomes very happy, then that misery is my greatest happiness.” (CC. Antya 20.52)

Only the vraja-sundarīs can say this because their love is fully developed and powerful. Because Śrī Rādhā has the ability to make her desire for union dependent upon her love for Kṛṣṇa, she is called samarthā, or capable. When iron comes in contact with fire, it becomes of the same nature as fire by losing its qualities of coolness and darkness and acquiring the fire’s burning power and brightness. In the same way, if one combines the sambhogecchā mood with rati, an affectionate desire to make Śrī Kṛṣṇa happy, the deep darkness of her own desire for enjoyment is driven far away and her heart is tinged with the saffron hue of love. When the two are united, rati (love) becomes of primary importance and sambhogecchā (desire for union) is secondary. The gopīs attain success by serving Kṛṣṇa. There is no desire for personal happiness in the hearts of those who serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

ātma-sukha-duḥkha gopīra nāhika bicāra | kṛṣṇa-sukha hetu ceṣṭā mano byabahāra ||
kṛṣṇa binā āra saba kari parityāga | kṛṣṇa-sukha hetu kare śuddha anurāga ||

“The gopīs don’t consider their own happiness or distress. All their thoughts and actions are directed toward making Kṛṣṇa happy. They have given up everything but Kṛṣṇa, and they give their pure love only for his happiness.” (CC. Ādi 4.174-175)

Therefore, the maxim of the vraja-gopīs’ hearts is kānta-sebā sukha-pūra, saṅgama haite sumadhura: “Service to our lover is the abode of happiness and is even sweeter than direct union.”

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata and other scriptures the story is narrated of the vraja-sundarīs’ terrible feelings of separation when Śrī Kṛṣṇa, during his manifest pastimes, went away to Mathurā. Some bhaktas would not be able to sustain their lives in such a situation, but these young girls of Vraja were able to survive. The only reason for that is their desire for their beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. If they lost their lives, in their absence Śrī Kṛṣṇa would become unhappy. This is the only reason they remain alive. In such separation, if even the slightest bit of desire for their own happiness remained, it would be impossible for them to maintain their lives.

priyā priya-saṅga hīnā, priya priyā-saṅga binā, nāhi jīye e satya pramāṇa |
mora daśā śune yabe, tāra ei daśā habe, ei bhaye doṅhe rākhe prāṇa ||

“It is true that without each other’s companionship, two lovers cannot sustain their lives. They think, ‘If my beloved hears of my condition, he/she will also enter that state.’ In fear of this happening, both of them preserve their lives.” (CC)

Because even the most subtle of limiting qualities have vanished from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s preeminent mādanākhya-mahābhāva, it is purer than gold heated one hundred thousand times. In their books, Śrīla Rūpa-Sanātana have elaborately described with many examples the purity of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s love. The esoteric prema of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava, which was previously difficult for even Brahmā, Uddhava and others to comprehend, has been expressed in the books of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana in such a way that it can be easily understood and practiced by even the ordinary sādhakas of kali-yuga. hena dhana prakāśila yāṅrā.

Moreover, yugala-kiśora prema, lakṣabāṇa yena hema can mean that the love of Rādhā’s sakhīs for Yugala-Kiśora Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava is purer than gold heated one hundred thousand times. When Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava are happy, the sakhīs are always happy. The tasting of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s supremely pure prema-mādhurī is their exclusive treasure. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmipāda has written,

rādhā-kṛṣṇera līlā ei ati gūḍhatara | dāsya bātsalyādi-bhābera nā haya gocara ||
sabe eka sakhī-gaṇera ihā adhikāra | sakhī haite haya ei līlāra bistāra ||
sakhī binu ei līlāra puṣṭi nāhi haya | sakhī līlā bistāriyā sakhī āsvādaya ||
sakhī binu ei līlāya anyera nāhi gati | ityādi

“The līlā of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is very deep. It is not within the range of dāsya or vātsalya-bhāva. Among all, only the sakhīs have ownership of this. From the sakhīs the līlā is expanded, and without them, the līlā is not nourished. Having expanded the līlā, the sakhīs then relish it. Without them, this līlā has no other shelter.” (CC. M. 8.201-204)

Furthermore, among the sakhīs, those mañjarīs who have more love for Rādhā than for Kṛṣṇa, her kiṅkarīs, have the purest love of all for the Divine Couple. The reason is that although her sakhīs have no desire for direct contact with Kṛṣṇa, by Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s desire or endeavor, they do sometimes unite with him.

sakhīra svabhāba eka akathya kathana | kṛṣṇa-saha nija-līlāya nāhi sakhīra mana ||
kṛṣṇa-saha rādhikāra līlā ye karāya | nija-keli haite tāhe koṭi-sukha pāya ||

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yadyapi sakhīra kṛṣṇa-saṅgame nāhi mana | tathāpi rādhikā yatne karāya saṅgama ||
nānā-chale kṛṣṇe preri saṅgama karāya | ātma-kṛṣṇa-saṅga haite koṭi sukha pāya ||
anyonye biśuddha preme kare rasa puṣṭa | tā-sabāra prema dekhi kṛṣṇa haya tuṣṭa ||

“Regarding the nature of the sakhīs, there is one inexplicable fact: they never think of engaging in their own pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. They prefer to arrange for Śrī Rādhikā’s pastimes with Kṛṣṇa, from which they derive ten million times more happiness than sporting with him directly. Although the sakhīs never think of union with Kṛṣṇa, Rādhikā still sometimes tries to get them together. By various tricks, she sends them off to meet with Kṛṣṇa and feels ten million times happier than enjoying with him herself. The rasa is nourished by their pure love for each other, and when Kṛṣṇa sees the love they all possess, he too becomes very satisfied.” (CC. M. 8.207-208, 212-214)

However, the desire for union with Śrī Kṛṣṇa never arises within Śrī Rādhā’s mañjarīs. They are solely devoted to sevā, their lives surrendered to it and their bodies formed by it. This bhāva-sādhanā of the mañjarīs is Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s unprecedented gift of mercy and the most desired accomplishment for the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava community. Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are the ācāryas of mañjarī-bhāva and have elaborately described in their books the tattvas and siddhāntas of its practice. After defining mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā, they introduced various fundamental doctrines, philosophical conclusions and narratives with the intention of establishing it above all others. Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmipāda’s book Śrī Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta is an excellent example of this. In this way, Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana have revealed in their books the mañjarīs’ supremely pure love for Yugala-Kiśora in extensive detail.

Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is praying, jaya rūpa sanātana, deha more prema-dhana, se ratana mora gale hārā. “O merciful Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana! Please give me the prema that depends upon mañjarī-bhāva. Like a string of jewels around my throat, that necklace of prema forever increases the beauty of my soul.” Here, prema has been defined as a treasure. Just as by acquiring wealth, one’s poverty is destroyed and enjoyment is attained, in the same way, by acquiring prema, the miseries of material life are destroyed and one simultaneously enjoys the taste of prema-rasa. Moreover, prema gives one a taste of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s inexhaustible sweetness. pañcama puruṣārtha sei prema-mahādhana, kṛṣṇera mādhurya-rasa karāya āsvādana. “The fifth goal of human life is the great treasure of prema, which causes one to taste Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya-rasa.” In the prema pervaded by mañjarī-bhāva, along with that most excellent prema-rasa, one obtains a taste of the boundless sweetness of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. It should be understood that by begging for the mercy of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana to allow him to wear that necklace made of the jewels of prema, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is asking for a taste of both prema-rasa and śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-mādhurya.

Translated by Haricaraṇa Dāsa

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