(Based on the tika of my beloved Gurudeva to verse 15 of Sri Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali)

On the banks of a shimmering kuṇḍa, Śrī Tulasī-devī looks on as Rādhā and Śyāma engage in their playful water fight. What a sight! The sakhīs rush to protect their Svāminī:

„Śyāma! Don’t splash our sakhī like that! Has She ever treated You so roughly? Just see how She suffers!”

But does He listen? Of course not. Mad with mischief, His powerful arms hurl waves of water towards Rādhikā, while She, so grave and dignified by nature, now becomes flustered, retreating like a tender lotus at dawn. What can a delicate sukumārī do against Vṛndāvana’s strong wrestler?

On Śyāma’s lips blooms a smile, soaked in śṛṅgāra-rasa. Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura calls Him ānanda itself — and on that ānanda rests this rasa, the very nectar of love-play. Rādhā is Rasamayī, Kṛṣṇa is Rasamaya, and when They meet, They can only shower each other with rasa. Their laughter and splashing are not ordinary diversions but the eternal rasa-krīḍā of Vraja.

And the sādhaka who takes shelter of smaraṇa, of entering and attending such līlās in svarūpāveśa, becomes bathed in those same showers of nectar. Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura urges us:

sādhana smaraṇa līlā, ihāte nā koro helā, kāya mane koriyā susāra

„Do not neglect the practice of līlā-smaraṇa. Make it the essence of everything — for both your body and your mind.”

This is the great secret: it is not that the heart must be pure first, and then līlā-smaraṇa becomes possible. It is rather that these very pastimes, when heard, chanted, and remembered, purify the heart.

Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī defines the birth of sacred greed (lobha):

tat-tad-bhāvādi-mādhurye śrute dhīr yad apekṣate / nātra śāstraṁ na yuktiṁ ca tal lobhotpatti lakṣaṇam (BRS 1.2.292)

“When one hears about the sweetness of the moods and pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and His Vraja-devotees, and a deep attraction awakens that no longer consults scripture or logic, this is the sign of the birth of transcendental greed.”

It is through hearing that greed awakens. It is through hearing that purity comes. Just as fire purifies gold, so the fiery sweetness of these topics burns away lust and awakens the siddha-svarūpa hidden within the sādhaka’s heart. Śrī Śuka himself proclaims that the loving sports of Rādhā and Mādhava cure the disease of lust and bestow the highest possible bhakti — none other than in mañjarī-bhāva.

Therefore, let us not wait until we feel “qualified” or “pure.” That is a trick of the restless mind. The līlās themselves are the medicine, and the heart is purified in their fire. By approaching them with longing, with eagerness, and with surrender, we are gradually carried into svarūpāveśa, where the external dissolves and only service to Rādhā-Śyāma remains.

In truth, we are like children standing at the edge of the kuṇḍa. When we hear, chant, and meditate, Śyāma and Rādhikā playfully splash us, soaking us in Their mercy. And in that splashing, in that nectar-rain of rasa, our hearts are cleansed, softened, and awakened to our eternal identity.