VERSE 1:

nindantaṁ pulakotkareṇa vikasan nīpa prasūna cchabiṁ
prorddhīkṛtya bhuja dvayaṁ hari harīty uccair vadantaṁ muhuḥ
nṛtyantaṁ drutam aśru nirjhara cayaiḥ siñcantam ūrvī-talaṁ
gāyantaṁ nija pārṣadaiḥ parivṛtaṁ śrī gauracandraṁ numaḥ

I offer my obeisances unto Lord Gauracandra, who is surrounded by all His associates and whose body is studded with goosepimples of ecstasy that mock the beauty of blossoming Kadamba flowers. He raises His arms, repeatedly and loudly crying ‘Hari! Hari!’ as He dances and sings, showering the surface of the earth with cascades of tears.

AUSPICIOUS INVOCATION:

Comments: Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī is the object of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s great mercy, so his mind and heart are always absorbed in the sweet pastimes, attributes and sentiments of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Vraja. Now he begins his delicious book of eager prayer named ‘Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi’ out of compassion for the devotees who aspire for the confidential service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus-feet. In this verse he praises his worshipable deity, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Vraja Vihārī Śrī Kṛṣṇa accepted the mood and complexion of Śrī Rādhā and became Gaura to fulfill three desires: To understand the greatness of Rādhā’s love, the wonderful qualities that She alone relishes in Him and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love. In Vṛndāvana-līlā, Kṛṣṇa was the witness of the sweetness of Śrī Rādhā’s love of which He Himself was the object, and in Gaura-līlā He accepted the mood and luster of Śrī Rādhā to understand the gravity of Her love.

In the opening verse of his book ‘Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi’, Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī draws a beautiful picture of how the full transcendental truth of Vraja (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) experienced the sweetness of Rādhā’s emotions. Here Śrīpāda follows the custom in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition to praise Lord Gaura before commencing the description of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s sweet pastimes. This is called ‘Gaura candrikā’.

In his book ‘Śrī Caitanya Candrāmrta’ (88), Śrīpāda writes:

yathā yathā gaura padāravinde vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdyakasmat rādhā padambhoja sudhāmbu rāśiḥ

“When a very fortunate soul experiences devotion for Lord Gaura’s lotus-feet, the nectarocean from Rādhā’s lotus-feet suddenly floods his heart.”

Śrī Gaurasundara has brought an unprecedented torch of Vraja-rasa, whose bright effulgence shows the devotees the way to the sweet bhajan of Śrī Vṛndāvana,
which is otherwise hard to see. And along with that sweet transcendental Vraja-rasa,
Mahāprabhu introduced Himself to the devotees of this world. Śrī Vāsu Ghoṣa sings:

yadi gaura na hoto, ki mene hoito,
kemone dharitām de
rādhāra mahimā, prema rasa sīmā,
jagate jānāto ke ?

“If Gaura had not come, how would the world have been? Who would have tought the world the greatness of Rādhā and the limit of prema rasa?”

madhura vṛndā- vipina mādhurī,
praveśa cāturī sāra
varaja yuvati, bhāvera ārati,
śakati hoito kāra?

“Who would have shown the way to enter into the sweetness of Vṛndāvana and the anxious mood of the young girls of Vraja?”

The only way to extinguish the burning sensation of the threefold material misery (caused by the elements, one’s own body or mind, or by other creatures) with a nectar-stream of love for Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Govinda is the mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu.

In this verse Śrīpada Prabodhānanda describes the sāttvika ecstasies of Śrī Gaurasundara as He takes pleasure in performing kīrtana. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī defines these sāttvika ecstasies as follows in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhuḥ (2.3.1):

kṛṣṇa sambandhibhiḥ sākṣāt kiñcid vā vyavadhānataḥ
bhāvaiś cittam ihākrantaṁ sāttvam ityucyate budhaiḥ
sattvād asmāt samutpanna ye ye bhāvas tu sāttvikāḥ

“When the heart is touched by emotions directly (in the form of the five basic relationships of servanthood, friendship, parenthood etc.) or indirectly (in the form of the seven secondary moods such as laughter, chivalry etc.) related to Kṛṣṇa, the wise call it sāttva, and the emotions coming from that are called sāttvika bhāvas.”

The Lord had accepted the mood and lustre of Śrī Rādhā and had become the main shelter for His own rati, therefore the sāttvika and other bhāvas had become fully manifest in Him. This is confirmed in Caitanya Caritāmṛta:

tāhe mukhya – rasāśraya, hoiyāchen mahāśaya,
tāte hoy sarva bhāvodoy

“The Lord had become the main shelter of His own rasa, and so all ecstasies arose in Him.” Śrīpāda sweetly depicts how Śrī Gaurānga’s body displayed the unrivalled ecstasies derived from relishing the sweetness of Rādhā’s rasa within Himself by saying: nindantaṁ pulakotkareṇa vikasan nīpa prasūna cchabim – “His body was beautified by goosepimples that mocked freshly blossoming Kadamba-flowers.”
Mahāprabhu’s body manifested uddīpta sāttvika bhāvas. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (2.3.79):

ekadā vyaktim āpannaḥ pañca ṣāḥ sarva eva vā
ārūḍha paramotkarṣam uddīpta iti kīrtitaḥ

“When five or six sāttvika ecstasies simultaneously arise to the greatest extent, they are called uddīpta.” Again, Śrīpada says prorddhīkṛtya bhuja dvayaṁ hari harīty uccair vadantaṁ muhuh: “He lifts His arms and loudly chants “Hari! Hari!!”

This is an anubhāva called krośana. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu: anubhāvas tu cittastha bhāvānām avabodhakaḥ “Activities that awaken certain moods in the heart are called anubhāva” When rati is relished within the heart it will be externally manifest. The echo of Mahāprabhu’s loud chanting of Harināma immersed all the moving and non-moving creatures in the taste of love of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura revealed this secret of the loud chanting of Hari nāma :

tumi yei koriyācho ucca saṅkīrtana; sthāvara jaṅgamera sei hoyoto śravaṇa
śunitei jaṅgamera saṁsāra hoy kṣaya; sthāvare se śabda lāge – tāte pratidhvani hoy
pratidhvani nahe sei – koroye kīrtana; tomāra kṛpāya ei akathya kathana
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Antya Ch.3)

“All the moving and non-moving creatures have heard Your loud chanting. Hearing it, all the moving creatures were liberated from material existence, and after the non-moving creatures hear it there is an echo. It’s actually not an echo, it is the chanting of these non-moving creatures. All these indescribable things are possible by Your mercy.” Mahāprabhu dances with restless feet and sprinkles the earth with His tears. The padakartā (singer) Rāya Śekhara describes the sweet dancing of Śrī Gaurasundara and His associates as follows:
madhura madhura gaura kiśora madhura madhura nāṭa
madhura madhura saba sahacara madhura madhura hāṭa

“How sweet is Gaura Kiśora (the youthful golden Lord Caitanya)! How sweet is His dancing! How sweet are His associates!”

madhura madhura mṛdaṅga bājata madhura madhura ṭān
madhura rase mātala bhakata gāoye madhura gāna

“How sweetly the drums are playing, how sweet is their rhythm! How sweetly the devotees are maddened by transcendental mellows and how sweetly they sing!”

madhura helana madhura dolana madhura madhura gati
madhura madhura vacana sundara madhura madhura bhāti

“How sweetly He moves, how sweetly He swings and how sweet are His steps! How sweet are His beautiful words and how sweet is His radiance!”

madhura adhara jini śaśadhara madhura madhura hāsa
madhura ārati madhura piriti madhura madhura bhāsa

“How sweet are His lips and how sweet are His smiles, that defeat the sweetness of the moon! How sweet is His eagerness, how sweet is His love and how sweet are His words!”
madhura yugala nayana rātula madhura iṅgite cāy
madhura premera madhura badare vancita sekhara rāya

“How sweetly His reddish eyes are making sweet hints! Unfortunately, Rāya Śekhara is deprived of this sweet love!”

While Mahāprabhu dances His eyes manifest the sāttvika ecstasy of aśru. In Caitanya Caritāmṛta it is described how Mahāprabhu manifested this ecstasy while dancing before the chariot of Lord Jagannātha :

jalayantra dhāra yeno bohe aśrujala;
āśāpāśa loka yoto bhijilo sakala (C.C.)

“Tears were flowing from His eyes like fountains, sprinkling all the people that stood around.” This sāttvika transformation is so wonderful that one may ask: “Does the Gangā-water, that normally flows from His (Lord Viṣṇu’s or the selfsame Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s) lotus-feet now flow from His eyes?” āpani kori āsvādane, śikhāilā bhakta-gaṇe, prema cintāmaṇira prabhu dhani (Caitanya Caritāmṛta) – “The Lord not only taught the world about prema, He also gave a splendid example of how to relish its flavours. The Lord is the wealthy owner of the Cintāmaṇi-gem of prema.”

The people of the world will be blessed with initiation into the mantra of prema by voluntarily selling themselves to the lotus-feet of that sweetly, blissfully dancing and chanting Śrī Gaura. Even the stones melt when they remember how sweetly Lord Gaura dances and how He rolls on the ground like a golden mountain!

jaya śrī jagad ananda, jaya jaya gauracandra,
śrī gauramaṇḍala sudhākara
vikasita nīpa- prasūna cchabi aparūpa,
pulake pūrṇita kalevara

“All glories to Śrī Gauracandra, who gives joy to the world, Who is the moon of Gauramaṇḍala (the holy circle around Navadvīpa) and Whose body is studded with goosepimples of ecstasy that are as wonderful as blooming Kadambaflowers!”

punaḥ punaḥ bāhu tuli, uccaiḥ svare hari boli,
nāce gora naṭana suṭhāma
nirjhara nayana dhāra, siñcana koriyā gorā,
abhiṣikta koilā dharādhāma

“How nicely Gorā (Mahāprabhu) dances, repeatedly lifting His arms and loudly chanting “Hari! Hari!!” A stream of tears flows from Gorā’s eyes and sprinkles the surface of the earth!”

sapārṣade gaurahari, kīrtane darśana kori,
punaḥ punaḥ koriyā praṇāma
śrīpāda prabodhānanda, ārambhila rasa grantha,
rādhā rasa sudhānidhi nāma

“Thus Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī begins his rasika book named ‘Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi’ by offering his repeated obeisances to Lord Gaurahari and His associates and witnessing His kīrtana-pastimes.”

maṅgalācaraṇa śloka, śravaṇe smaraṇe sukha,
bhakta koṛi parama sampad
guru pādapadma reṇu, bhūṣaṇa koriyā tanu,
chanda kori gāya haripada

“This verse serves as the auspicious invocation of this book, it is the highest wealth of all the devotees and it makes them happy by remembering and hearing it. Decorating his body with the dust of his guru’s lotus-feet, Haripada sings these poetical songs.”

Translation: Sripad Advaita das Ji