VERSE 11:

YAT PĀDAPADMA NAKHACANDRA MAṆI CCHAṬĀYĀ
VISPHŪRJITAṀ KIM API GOPA VADHŪṢV ADARŚ
PŪRṆĀNURĀGA RASA SĀGARA SĀRA MŪRTIḤ
SĀ RĀDHIKĀ MAYI KADĀPI KṚPĀṀ KAROTU

When will that Rādhikā, Who is recognisable amongst the gopīs by the effulgence coming from the moonstone like toenails on Her lotus-feet, and Who is the very form of the essence of rasa and full passion, ever bestow Her mercy upon Me?

 THE GLOWING OF ŚRĪ RĀDHĀ’S TOENAILS

 Commentary: Once more Śrīpāda becomes aware of Kṛṣṇa’s Vāsantī Rāsa, His vernal Rāsa līlā. Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs stand in a circle, gopī kṛṣṇa gopī kṛṣṇa. Their effulgence is illuminating Śrī Vṛndāvana. Śrī Śuka Muni, the speaker of Śrīmad Bhāgavata, was enchanted by this beauty and said:

tatrāti śuśubhe tābhir  bhagavān devakī sutaḥ
madhye maṇīnāṁ haimānāṁ  mahā marakato yathā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.33.6)

            “Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devaki, looked very beautiful between the gopīs, exactly like an emerald locket in a necklace of jewels and gold.” How sweetly the gopīs are dancing!

pāda nyāsair bhuja vidhutibhiḥ sasmitair bhrū vilāsair
bhajyan madhyaiś cala kucapaṭaiḥ kuṇḍalair gaṇḍa lolaiḥ
svidyan mukhyaḥ kavara rasanā granthayaḥ kṛṣṇa-vadhvo
gāyantas taṁ taḍita iva tā megha-cakre virejuḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.33.8)

“With their playful steps, the motions of their hands, the playful movement of their eyebrows, accompanied with graceful smiles, bending waists, shaking breasts and the fluttering skirts of their garments, earrings swinging against their cheeks, perspiring faces, and their braids and girdle loosened (because of their swift movement) and singing Kṛṣṇa’s glories, the gopīs, who are Kṛṣṇa’s actual brides, shone brightly like flashes of lightning in a mass of clouds.”

maṇḍalībandhe gopīgaṇa korena nartana;
madhye rādhā saha nāce vrajendranandana
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta)

            “The gopīs danced in a circle and the prince of Vraja danced with Rādhā in the middle of that circle”  Śrīpāda, in his form of a kiṅkarī, sees how wonderfully sweet is Rādhā’s artful dancing and he (she) keeps his glance completely fixed on Her lotus-feet, that shine like freshly blooming red lotus-flowers, of which each toe is a petal and each toenail shines like a moonstone. Śrīpāda is enchanted by this vision. How sweet is the jingling of Rādhā’s jewelled anklebells and how wonderful Her jewel like toenails shine with them! We have seen the thundering lightning dazzling in our eyes and causing our hearts to tremble with terror, but the lightning like dazzling of Rādhikā’s toenails, that tremble along like thundering lightning-vines while Her anklebells jingle along, pleases our eyes and makes our hearts play in the wonderful waves of blissful rasa. In this way the maidservants experience that Śrī Rādhā is the very form of an ocean of the essence of the rasa of anurāga. When the ocean of anurāga swells because ever new waves of bhāva come up in it it is called mahābhāva and Śrī Rādhā is the personification of that mahābhāva. What to speak of Rādhikā’s other limbs, the maidservants are already enchanted by the trembling of Her sweet jewel like toenails, that outshine the effulgence of all the other gopīs, that dance around Her in the great circle of the Rāsa dance! Therefore Śrīpāda says: “I see the wonderful trembling of Rādhā’s toenails shining amongst the gopīs.” There is also another explanation of this verse possible: In the previous verse Kṛṣṇa anxiously fell at Rādhā’s feet in the presence of Her maidservants and prayed to Her for the festival of just one of Her embraces. At that time Kṛṣṇa’s form, which is the essence of the ocean of anurāga rasa, became beautifully reflected tenfold on Rādhikā’s ten jewel-like toenails, much to the pleasure of the sakhīs and manjarīs’ eyes. Kṛṣṇa is called the essence of the ocean of anurāga rasa because it is this passion (anurāga) with which He anxiously prays to Rādhikā for a festival of embraces. That is visible on His face, in His eyes and on each of His limbs. The sakhīs and manjarīs see Him as love of Rādhikā personified. His desires are not fulfilled by falling at Rādhikā’s feet alone, so He divides Himself in ten to take shelter of Her feet in this way! Another definition of anurāga is given in ‘Ujjvala Nilamaṇi’:

sadānubhūtam api yaḥ  kuryan nava nava priyam
rāgo bhavan navanavaḥ so’nurāga itīryate

            “That love which makes one experience the beloved as being ever-fresh and which is itself also fresh at every moment, is called anurāga.” In the stage of anurāga the increase of desire is so strong that the forms and qualities of the beloved appear as ever fresh at every moment. One can measure one’s taste by one’s thirst. A person who has no thirst will not even enjoy drinking an ocean of nectar. How much desire Kṛṣṇa shows for attaining one single embrace of Śrīmati’s! Anurāga causes the lover and beloved to control Each other* and therefore Kṛṣṇa can justly be called ‘the ocean of the essence of anurāga rasa’, because He is controlled by Śrīmatī’s love to the utmost! Suddenly the transcendental vision disappears and Śrīpāda, returning to his sādhaka level, humbly prays: sā rādhikā mayi kadāpi kṛpāṁ karotu  – “Will that Rādhikā ever give me Her mercy?”