Kṛṣṇa became Gaura to taste the Love that Rādhikā feels for Him, and after He had experienced that He also wanted to taste the nectar of the kiṅkarīs’ service. While He relished the mood of the mañjarīs the Lord’s body became formed like a turtle, or sometimes His limbs would loosen and stretch out. Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta describes Mahāprabhu’s mad words after He came out of His kūrmākṛti (turtle-form, Antya-līlā chapter 14):

ihā hoite āji mui geluṁ govardhana; dekho yadi Kṛṣṇa kore godhana cāraṇa govardhane coḍi Kṛṣṇa bājāilā veṇu; govardhanera caudike core sob dhenu veṇu-nāda śuni āilā rādhā ṭhākurāṇī; tāra rūpa bhāva sakhi varṇite nā jāni rādhā loiyā Kṛṣṇa praveśilā kandarāte; sakhīgaṇa kohe moke phula uṭhāite

„Today I went to Govardhana Hill”, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “to see if Kṛṣṇa was tending His cows there. Climbing on Govardhana Hill, Kṛṣṇa played His flute, surrounded by the cows. Hearing the flutesong, Śrīmatī Rādhā came there. O sakhi, I can not describe Her form and mood! Kṛṣṇa took Rādhā by the hand and entered a cave with Her, while the sakhīs told Me to pick some flowers.”

For the service of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava the sakhīs are asking the kiṅkarīs to pick flowers. Here it is clear that Mahāprabhu finally came to relish the mood of the spiritual maidservants, mañjarīs, in the pinnacle of His ecstatic absorption. And when Mahāprabhu almost drowned of ecstasy in the ocean (see Caitanya Caritāmṛta Antya-līlā 18) and all the joints of His bones became disconnected out of ecstasy, He told His devotees in half-external consciousness:

kālindī dekhiyā āmi gelām vṛndāvana; dekhi – jalakrīḍā kore vrajendra nandana rādhikādi gopīgaṇa saṅge ekatra meli; yamunāra jale mahāraṅge kori keli tīre rahi dekhi āmi sakhīgaṇa saṅge; eka sakhī sakhīgaṇe dekhāya se raṅge

“Seeing the Yamunā-river I went to Vṛndāvana, where I saw the prince of Vraja, Kṛṣṇa, playing in the water with Śrī Rādhikā and the gopīs, having great fun. I stayed on the shore with the other sakhīs, while one sakhī showed this pastime to the others.”

Here again Mahāprabhu explains that He did not play an active role in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, but that He (she) was relishing a service-position, like that of the mañjarīs, witnessing these sweet pastimes without taking active part in them!

Caitanya Caritāmṛta then says: “āpani kori āsvādane, śikhāilo bhaktagaṇe”, ‘whatever He Himself came to relish, He taught to His devotees’. Since, as is shown above, He did relish mañjarī-bhāva, He was the One who taught it to the devotees also, notably through Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī. One can never understand the flavours of Vraja while remaining in a mundane consciousness, and the devotees who take shelter of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet are the suitable candidates for relishing these flavours. To relish the sweetness of the love in Vraja one must give up the attitude of awe and reverence towards God. Vṛndāvana is the kingdom of sweetness and the upāsana (subject of worship and meditation) of Vraja rasa is a sweet upāsana, in which we want to see Kṛṣṇa as the laukika sad bandhu, a good worldly friend.

Srila Ananta das Babaji