kṛṣṇake āhlāde – tāte nāma hlādinī;
sei śakti dvāre sukha āsvāde āpani
“The potency which makes Kṛṣṇa happy is named hlādinī.
Through this energy He (Kṛṣṇa) Himself relishes happiness”
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 8, 157)
Śrīmatī Rādhā serves all the innumerable forms of God with śṛṅgāra rasa through Her own particles and expansions (aṁśa-kalā) who appear as so many divine consorts.
tāra madhye vraje nānā bhāva rasabheda; kṛṣṇake korāya rāsādika līlāsvāde
govinda-nandinī rādhā govinda-mohinī; govinda-sarvasva – sarva kāntā śīromaṇi
“Amongst all these kinds of consorts there are different moods and flavors in Vraja that make Kṛṣṇa relish the flavor of pastimes such as the Rāsa-dance. Rādhā delights Govinda, Rādhā enchants Govinda and Rādhā is everything to Govinda – hence She is the crown jewel of all the consorts of the Lord.”
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments on this:
anyatra svāṁśa lakṣmyādi-rūpeṇa śrī kṛṣṇāṁśa viṣṇvādīnāṁ krīḍā-sahāyaṁ karoti vraje tu kāya-vyūha prakāśaiḥ saha svayaṁ rūpā śrī rādhā svayaṁ rūpaṁ śrī kṛṣṇaṁ bahutara prakāreṇa rasam āsvādayatīty arthaḥ. –
“Outside of Vraja, for instance in the innumerable Vaikuṇṭha-planets and in abodes like Mathurā and Dvārakā, Kṛṣṇa’s Viṣṇu-expansions and His appearances like Vāsudeva are being assisted in Their pastimes by countless goddesses of fortune and different Queens, but in Vraja Śrī Rādhā and Her different gopī-expansions make the Original Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa relish the sweetness of erotic mellows in so many ways.”
Kṛṣṇa, in His topmost feature as Vrajendra-nandana, the prince of Vraja, is also known as rasika śekhara, the crown jewel of all relishers, who is always very greedy for relishing sweet mellows, and He relishes the pinnacle of bliss in His pastimes with the Śrīla Vrajadevīs (the most beautiful girls of Vraja), who make Him relish their most blissful and luscious forms, scents and flavors, that are scented with the love-mellows known as mahā bhāva.
Sripad Ananta das Babaji
