VṚNDĀNI SARVA MAHATĀM APAHĀYA DŪRĀD
VṚNDĀṬAVĪM ANUSARA PRAṆAYENA CETAḤ
SAT TĀRANĪ KṚTA SUBHĀVA SUDHĀ RASAUGHAM
RĀDHĀBHIDHĀNAM IHA DIVYA NIDHĀNAM ASTI

O Mind! Leave all great things (or persons) far from you and go to Vṛndāvana with love, for there is a divine jewel, a nectar-stream of good moods named Rādhā there, Who redeems the sincere souls!

THE DIVINE JEWEL OF ŚRĪ VṚNDĀVANA:

Commentary: Transcendental greed is the very life-force of rāga-bhakti. When a devotee becomes greedy after the pure loving mood of the eternally perfect associates of Kṛṣṇa in Vraja, he enters into the field of rāgānugā bhakti. When a materialistic person becomes greedy he becomes like mad and he forgets his body and everything related to it while searching for his wanted object. This is mundane greed. But that greed which appears in the heart at one moment and disappears again the next moment cannot be called real greed. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda writes in his ‘Rāga Vartma Candrikā’: atiśayena pravṛttiḥ syāt yathā kāmārthinaṁ kāmopāyeṣu – “The rāgānugā devotee is as absorbed in his desires for devotion as a lusty man is in thinking of the fulfillment of his desires.” Unless there is strong eagerness, the sweetness of rāga bhajana cannot be understood. The devotee always thinks: “When will I get the service of my Beloved?” This eagerness is the life-force of raga-practise.

Śrīpāda thinks to himself: “How can I become so fortunate to be the broom to sweep the yard of the kuñja? O mind! Throw all other great efforts, such as worship of the gods, performance of fruitive activities, gathering of empirical knowledge, and the making of extensive pilgrimages, far away! They are just stumbling blocks on the path of pure devotion! Why should I go anywhere else than to Rādhārāṇī’s abode Vraja? Why should I visit innumerable places of pilgrimage?”

In the second volume of Haridāsa Dāsa’s book ‘Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava Jīvana (the lives of Bengali Vaiṣṇavas)’ we can read that a pure devotee named Śrī Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Bābājī, who lived in the village named Raṇabārī (not far from the town of Chātā in Vraja) once desired to visit some other holy places in India, so He went to Dvārakā, the place where Kṛṣṇa was married to 16,108 queens. When he returned to Vraja, though, Rādhārāṇī appeared to him in a dream and told him: “Now you belong to the group of Kṛṣṇa’s queen Satyabhāmā! Go back to Dvārakā!” Bābā was so upset with this, that he burned himself up in the fire of separation from Vraja and Śrī Rādhā like a piece of fire-wood. In this way Bābā gave up this mortal world, showing all the devotees in the world how unfavorable it is for a devotee of Śrī Rādhā to leave Vraja.

One may ask Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī: “O Śrīpāda! What spiritual practise will you perform to have your desires fulfilled then?” Śrīpāda says in this verse: vṛndāṭavīm anusara praṇayena cetaḥ “O Mind! Go to Vṛndāvana with love! In the center of Vṛndāvana Śyāma plays His enchanting flute: sarva dharmān parityājya mām ekam śaraṇaṁ vraja “Ohe! Give up all forms of religion and take shelter of My lotus-feet!” Those whose hearts have been purified by spiritual practise can hear the call of this flute. The hearts of such devotees are absorbed in the mood of Vraja and they will go there with love, eager to meet their Beloved. Knowledge of the impersonal brahman or the localised paramātma and reverential regulated devotion to the Supreme Lord will cast one far away from the path of tasting the sweetness of Vraja. It is only pure, spontaneous love that brings us on the path to Vraja and it is that love that brought the previous ācāryas like Bilvamaṅgala, Jayadeva, Caṇḍī Dāsa, the six Gosvāmīs and so many other great devotees to Vraja. Day and night these devotees are crying out:

hā hā kāhāṅ vṛndāvana, kāhā gopendra nandana,
kāhā sei vaṁśī vadana
kāhā se tribhaṅga ṭhāma, kāhā sei veṇugāna
kāhā prabhu madana mohana

“O! Where is Vṛndāvana?! Where is Kṛṣṇa, the cowherd-prince, Who keeps a flute to His mouth? Where is that threefold bending form? Where is that flutesong? Where is the Lord Who enchants even Cupid?” Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura sings:

śītala yamunā jale, snāna kori kutūhole,
premāveśe ānandita hoiyā
bāhu’por bāhu tuli, vṛndāvane kuli kuli,
kṛṣṇa boli’ beḍābo kāṅdiyā

“I will bathe in the cool water of the Yamunā, overwhelmed by feelings of ecstatic love. Raising my arms, I will wander around in Vṛndāvana, crying out Kṛṣṇa’s name.”

dekhibo saṅketa sthāna, juḍābe tāpita prāṇa
premāveśe gaḍāgaḍi dibo
kāhā rādhā prāṇeśvari, kāhā girivaradhārī,
kāhā nātha boliyā ḍākibo

“I will soothe my burning heart by seeing Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s trysting place and I will roll on the ground there in loving ecstasy, calling out: “Where is Rādhā, the Queen of my heart? Where are You, O Lord, lifter of Govardhana Hill?”

mādhavī kuñjeropari, sukhe bosi śuka śāri,
gāibek rādhā kṛṣṇa rasa
taru tale bosi tāhā, śuni juḍāibe hiyā,
kobe sukhe goyābo divasa

“Above the bower of Mādhavī vines the male and female parrots blissfully sit and sing songs about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. I will sit at the foot of a tree there and soothe my heart by hearing them. When will I pass my days in such happiness?”

The word sat tāraṇī in the text can also mean that Rādhikā redeems Kṛṣṇa, Who is sat (real in all three phases of time). One may ask here: “Does Rādhā have to redeem Kṛṣṇa at all? He is, after all, not a conditioned soul, is He?” The answer is: “Kṛṣṇa is suffering from the pain caused by Cupid’s darts and Rādhā redeems Him by showering Him with the nectarstream of Her bodily association.” The rootverb div of divya nidhāna means: ‘play’, which means that the sweet amorous play of Rādhā, which makes Kṛṣṇa happy, takes place in Vṛndāvana, and that is why Śrīpāda eagerly sends his mind to Vṛndāvana. Another explanation is that the sat Kṛṣṇa was eager to relish the love of Rādhā in Vraja and therefore descended to earth to become relieved from the burning agony of that desire. That divine jewel named Rādhā is a stream of nectar and simply by taking shelter of Her one will attain the rare love of Vraja.

Srila Ananta das Babaji