Without worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and taking shelter of Her divine abode, Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness cannot be relished. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa writes in his Sva Saṅkalpa Prakāśa stotram (1):

anārādhya rādhā padāmbhoja reṇum anāśritya vṛndāṭavīṁ tat padāṅkām
asambhāṣya tad bhāva gambhīra cittān kutaḥ śyāma-sindho rasasyāvagāhaḥ

“Without worshiping the dust of Rādhā’s lotus feet, without taking shelter of Vṛndāvana, where Her footprints are lying, and without conversing with those whose hearts are filled with deep love for Her, how can anyone enter into the Śyāma-ocean?”

Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says: “Those who give up Rādhā’s service and try only to taste Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness only attain a drop of the ocean of nectar” (Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, 80). In this connection it is said that once the worldfamous Vedāntik sannyāsī Madhusūdana Sarasvatī came to Vraja and gave a note with the words Kṛṣṇa sindhu (the Kṛṣṇa-ocean) on it to some bypassing sādhu, asking him to bring this note to the leading scholar of Vraja and to bring the reply of that scholar back to him. At that time the leading scholar of Vraja was Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī. When the sādhu handed him the note, Śrī Jīva wrote a verse on the back, saying: “What will you do in the Kṛṣṇa-ocean without worshiping Śrī Rādhā’s lotus feet and the dust of Vraja, that was trampled by these feet?” In this way the ācāryas show that Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness can only be really be tasted by serving Śrī Rādhikā.

The Gosvāmīs prayed to Śrī Rādhā: “Please personally teach me how to serve You more expertly!”

hari padanakha koṭī pṛṣṭha paryanta sīmā taṭam api kalayantīṁ prāṇa koṭer abhiṣṭām
pramudita madirākṣīvṛnda vaidagdhya dīkṣā gurumati guru kīrtiṁ rādhikām arcayāmi

(Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Rādhāṣṭakam, 7)

“I worship Śrī Rādhikā, who considers the tip of Śrī Hari’s toenail millions of times more dear than Her own life, who teaches all the blissful fickle-eyed gopīs expertise in arts and who is very famous.”

The practising devotee should always think: “Is She accepting the service that I offer to Her or not? I’m only doing bhajana because it gives me personal happiness. I’m doing my quota, nothing more. If I don’t give myself a certain quota I won’t do anything!” But this is not the natural beauty of bhajan. Bhajan is beautiful when you feel some want, some void. “I’ve got my meals, I’m healthy, everything’s OK!” If you think like this, your bhajana will be lifeless and mechanical. “How many worldly things, like profit, adoration, distinction, money and fame, a person like me misses, but I never miss Rādhārāṇī at all!” But the great devotees’ thirst for bhajan can never be quenched, just as the thirst for water of someone who suffers from cholera can never be quenched. parama nāgara Kṛṣṇa, tā’he hao ati tṛṣṇa, bhajo tā’re vraja-bhāva loiyā (Narottama dāsa) “Kṛṣṇa’s the greatest amorous hero, be very thirsty for Him and worship Him in the mood of Vraja.” Expertise in bhajan does not depend on anything else. There won’t be even a whiff of empirical knowledge, result-oriented works, profit, adoration or distinction anymore. All these ulterior motives make the mind very coarse – how can one then taste the clear, spotless flavours of Vraja? Ulterior motives deceive us in different ways. Although we know these things in theory, we still don’t realize them.

Śrīpāda Premānanda Ṭhākura has written in his Manaḥ Śikṣā:

ore mana! e tora bujhibāra bhula!
kohicho vedera pāra, koricho niṣiddhācāra,
bhāva dekhi āpanāra mūla.

“O Mind! You just don’t understand! You say that you are beyond the Vedic regulations, but you perform forbidden activities! When I see this I see your very essence.”

muktike aiśvarya boli, dūrete diyācho pheli,
iṅgite bujhāo ei tattva.
anitya asāra artha, se bhālo sadāi prārthya,
yā lāgi rajanī divā matta.

“You call liberation a luxurious distraction and have thrown it far away. Give me a hint so that I can understand this truth. Fleeting, useless riches are always desirable and you are going mad thinking about it day and night.”

nirhetu yājana koro, hetu se chāḍite nāro,
kathāya virakta e saṁsāra
sarvasva bolicho yāra, dite eka baṭa tāra,
se cāhile koho āpanāra.

“You outwardly perform rituals without desire for gain, but you are not able to free yourself from the same. In your speech you are detached from the material world. Who you call ‘my everything’ is the same everything you give only a lousy Banyan-leaf to. And you think that it is yours to give!”

koho bhaji vṛndāvana, ghare sukhavāsa mana,
bhālobāso vasaṇa bhūṣaṇe
santuṣṭa mānicho māne, mahākrodhe apamāne,
ātma-sukha ghucilo kemone?

“You say ‘I worship Vṛndāvana’, but you’re happily staying at home – you love all exterior trappings. You’re satisfied with praise, but are enraged when insulted. How did you manage to destroy the happiness of your soul?”

kohicho gopīra dharma, ki bujhicho tāra marma,
svabhāva chāḍite nāro tile.
dekhiyā pāicho sukha, prakṛti bāghinī mukha,
sarvātmā sahite yei gile.

“You say that you follow the gopīs but what do you understand about the meaning of that? You can’t let go of your nature one iota. You get pleasure seeing the face of material nature (or women), who swallows you whole.”

kohe śuno premānanda, vicārile sab dhandha,
kohile śunile kibā hoy.
hari hari avirata, koho ei prema patha,
nirmala hoibe suniścaya.

“Listen”, says Premānanda, “if you think about it, it’s all a ball of confusion. What’s to be gained by listening or flapping your mouth? Always chant ‘Hari, Hari’ while you traverse the path of love, and you will surely be cleansed of all impurities!”

By taking full shelter of Śrī Hari-nāma māyā will go far away. “I’m taking shelter of the holy name – what can māyā do to me?” A dauntless devotee should think like that.

Srila Ananta das Babaji

Srila Ananda Gopal Goswami