Contents

Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Sri Jaiva-dharma

Volume Six

 
Table of Contents

Chapter Thirty-three - Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa

Chapter Thirty-four - Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa

Chapter Thirty-five - Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa

Chapter Thirty-six - Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa

Chapter Thirty-seven - Srngara-rasa-vicara
Srngara-rasa

Chapter Thirty-eight - Srngara-rasa-vicara
Srngara-rasa

Chapter Thirty-nine - Lila-pravesa-vicara
Entering the Lord’s Pastimes

Chapter Forty - Sampatti-vicara
The Greatest Good Fortune

Chapter Thirty-three
Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa
       Today   Vijaya-kumara  and  Vrajanatha   bathed   in
Indrayumna-sarovara, honored prasadam, and  returned  home.
After  eating,  Vrajanatha  went  to  see  the  samadhi  of
Haridasa Thakura.  Vijaya-kumara went to the temple of  Sri
Radha-kanta and offered obeisances to his spiritual master.
At  an  appropriate  time  Vijaya-kumara  asked  about  Sri
Radhika.  Vijaya-kumara said, “O master, Sri Radha  is  the
be-all-and-end--all of my life.  How  can  I  describe  it?
When  I  hear  the  name ‘Radhika’, my heart  melts.   Even
though Sri Krsna is the only goal of my life, still I  like
to  taste  only the descriptions of His pastimes  with  Sri
Radha.  I do not like to hear descriptions of Sri Krsna  if
Sri Radha is not included ion them.  O master, I would like
to  say  that I no longer wish to call myself Vijaya-kumara
Bhattacarya. I wish to be known as a maidservant  protected
by  Sri  Radha.   I  do  not wish to  speak  to  speak  the
wonderful  descriptions  of Vraja  to  materialists.   When
persons unqualified to understand the transcendental  rasas
(arasika) discuss the glories of Sri Radha, I yearn to flee
from that place.
      Gosvami: You are fortunate.  As long as you  did  not
have  full  faith  in the gopis you were not  qualified  to
understand  the pastimes of Radha and Krsna.   Descriptions
of those pastimes are far beyond what ordinary human beings
can understand.  Even the demigoddesses in Devaloka are not
qualified  to  understand them.  O  Vijaya-kumara,  I  have
already  described the gopis who are dear  to  Lord  Krsna.
Among  them  Radha and Candravali are the  most  important.
Each  of them presides over millions and millions of groups
of  beautiful gopis.  At the time of the great  rasa-dance,
the  rasa-dance circle is beautiful with many  hundreds  of
millions of beautiful gopis.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, Candravali may preside  over
millions  and millions of groups of gopis.  Still,  I  wish
that the glories of Sri Radha will be the only sweet nectar
to  flood  and  purify my contaminated  ears.   I  am  your
surrendered disciple.
       Gosvami:  Between  the  two  of  them  -  Radha  and
Candravali - it is Radha who is the personification of  the
highest ecstatic love (maha-bhava-svarupa).  It is She  who
has  the greatest qualities.  She is superior to Candravali
in  every way.  Look.  The Gopala-tapani Upanisad calls Her
by  the  name  Gandharva and glorifies  Her.   In  the  Rk-
parisista it is said that Lord Madhava is glorious  because
Radha  stands  by  His side.  In the Padma  Purana,  Narada
declares,  “As Radha is dear to Krsna, so Her pond,  Radha-
kunda is also dear to Him.  Of all the gopis, Radha is  the
most  dear  to Lord Krsna.”  And why not?  What is  Radha’s
nature?  She is the great hladini-sakti, the best of   Lord
Krsna’s  potencies.  Radha is the essence of  the  hladini-
sakti (hladini-sara-bhava).
      Vijaya-kumara: These descriptions are very wonderful!
What is Sri Radha’s nature?
      Gosvami:  My  Radhika is the most beautiful  (susthu-
kanta-svarupa).   She is the daughter  of  King  Vrsabhanu.
She  is  glorious with the sixteen ornaments.  She is  also
decorated with twelve other kinds of ornaments.
      Vijaya-kumara: What do you mean by the word  “susthu-
kanta-svarupa”?
      Gosvami: It means that Her form is so beautiful  that
even   the  most  exquisite  garments  and  ornaments   are
insignificant in comparison to Her and therefore  powerless
to  make  Her  any more beautiful.  Her hair is  gracefully
curly,  Her  face is a blossoming lotus flower,  Her  large
eyes  are  beautiful and Her large breasts are  wonderfully
beautiful.   Her  waist  is  slender,  Her  shoulders   are
graceful  and Her fingernails shine like a row  of  jewels.
In  the  three worlds there is no festival of  beauty  that
compares with Her.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the “sixteen ornaments”?
      Gosvami:  The sixteen ornaments are: 1. Her  pleasant
bath,  2.  The glistening jewel decorating the tip  of  Her
nose, 3. Her blue garments, 4. Her belt, 5. Her braids,  6.
Her  earrings, 7. The sandal paste anointing Her limbs,  8.
The  flowers placed in Her hair, 9. Her necklace,  10.  The
lotus  flower in Her hand, 11. The betelnuts in Her  mouth,
12.  the  musk dot on Her chin, 13. The mascara around  Her
eyes,  14. the colourful designs and pictures drawn on  Her
cheeks,  15.  The red lac on Her feet, and 16.  The  tilaka
markings on Her forehead.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the “twelve ornaments”.
      Gosvami: 1. The wonderful jewel that crowns Her head,
2. Her golden earrings, 3. The belt around Her hips, 4. The
golden  locket  around  Her  neck,  5.  Her  golden  salaka
earrings,  6. The bracelets on Her wrists, 7. The  ornament
on  Her  neck,  8.  The  rings on Her  fingers,  Her  pearl
necklace,  10. Her armlets,  11. Her ankle bells,  and  12.
The  rings  on Her toes are the twelve ornaments decorating
Sri Radha’s limbs.
      Vijaya-kumara:  Please describe  the  most  prominent
transcendental qualities of Sri Radha?
       Gosvami:  Like  the  qualities  of  Sri  Krsna,  the
qualities  of  Vrndavana’s queen Radha  are  limitless  and
cannot  truly  be  counted or listed in full.   Among  them
these twenty five may be considered prominent.
     1.   She is very sweet.
     2.   She is always freshly youthful.
     3.   Her eyes are restless.
     4.   She smiles brightly.
     5.   She has beautiful, auspicious lines.
     6.   She makes Krsna happy with Her bodily aroma.
     7.   She is very expert in singing.
     8.   He speech is charming.
      9.    She  is  very  expert in  joking  and  speaking
pleasantly.
     10.  She is very humble and meek.
     11.  She is always full of mercy.
     12.  She is cunning.
     13.  She is expert in executing Her duties.
     14.  She is shy.
     15.  She is always respectful.
     16.  She is always calm.
     17.  She is always grave.
     18.  She is expert in enjoying life.
      19.  She is situated at the topmost level of ecstatic
love.
     20.  She is the reservoir of loving affairs in Gokula.
     21.  She is the most famous of submissive devotees.
     22.  She is very affectionate to elderly people.
      23.   She  is  very submissive to  the  love  of  Her
friends.
     24.  She is the chief gopi.
     25.  She always keeps Krsna under Her control.
      Vijaya-kumara: I would like to hear an explanation of
“5. She has beautiful and auspicious lines.”
      Gosvami:  The  Varaha  Purana,  Jyotih-sastra,  Kasi-
khanda,  Matsya  Purana,  and Garuda  Purana  describe  the
auspicious lines. These lines are: I. On the left foot:
     1.   A barleycorn mark at the root of Her left tope.
     2.   below that toe a cakra.
     3.   below the middle toe a lotus flower
     4.   below the lotus flower a banner.
     5.   below the banner a flag.
     6.   a urdhva-rekha line extending from the middle-toe
to the middle of the sole.
     7.   below the small toe an elephant goad.
     II. On the right foot:
     1.   at the root of the right big toe a conchshell.
     2.   on the heel a fish.
     3.   below the small toe an altar.
     4.   above the fish a chariot.
     5.   a mountain.
     6.   an earring
     7.   a club
     8.   the mark of a sakti weapon.
     III. On the left hand:
      1.   a long life-line beginning at the meeting of the
forefinger  and middle finger, and extending to  below  the
little finger.
      2.    below  that another line going from  below  the
lifeline  to the middle of the space between the forefinger
and thumb.
      3.    from below the thumb a curving line rises  from
the  wrist  and  goes to the space between  the  thumb  and
forefinger.
      4-8.  on  the tips of each of the five fingers  is  a
cakra.
     9.   below the ring finger is an elephant.
     10.  below the life-line is a horse.
     11.  below the middle line is a bull.
     12.  below the small finger is an elephant goad.
     13   a fan.
     14.  a Sri tree.
     15.  A yupa.
     16.  An arrow.
     17   a tomara weapon.
     18   a flower garland.
     IV. On the right hand:
     1-8  In the right hand, like the left, there are three
prominent lines including the lifeline, and on the tips  of
each finger a cakra.
     9.   below the forefinger a camara
     10.  below the small finger an elephant goad.
     11.  a palace.
     12.  a dundubhi drum.
     13.  a lightning bolt.
     14.  two carts.
     15.  an archer’s bow.
     16.  a sword.
     17.  a waterpot.
     Thus on the left foot are 7 signs, on the right foot 8
signs,  on the left hand 18 signs and on the right hand  17
signs.  Altogether there are 50 auspicious lines.
      Vijaya-kumara:  An individual soul may have a drop of
some  of  these qualities, but Sri Radha has  them  all  in
perfect fullness.
      The  demigoddesses may have them slightly  more  than
others.   Still, Sri Radha, has them all, and in  Her  they
are  all perfectly spiritual, untouched by matter.  Any why
not?   In  the  material world these  qualities  are  never
manifested in purity, perfection, and completeness.   Gauri
and  other demigoddesses may have these qualities,  but  in
these demigoddesses the qualities are not pure, perfect, or
complete.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Ah!  Srimati  Radhika’s  beauty  and
qualities are inconceivable.  Only by Her mercy can one see
or understand them.
      Gosvami:  Gazing at Sri Radha’s beauty and qualities,
even  Lord Krsna Himself is bewildered and enchanted.   How
can I properly describe them with my words?
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master,  please  be  merciful  and
describe Sri Radha’s friends (sakhis).
      Gosvami: Sri Radha’s group is the best of  all.   The
girls   in   Her   group   are  all  decorated   with   all
transcendental   qualities.   Their  charming   playfulness
always attracts Lord Krsna.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How many different kinds  of  friends
(sakhis) does Sri Radha have?
      Gosvami:  They are of five kinds: 1. sakhi (friends),
2.  nitya-sakhi  (eternal friends),  3.  prana-sakhi  (life
friends),  4.  priya-sakhi (dear friends)  and  5.  parama-
prestha-sakhi (most dear friends).
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the sakhis?
      Gosvami:  The  sakhis  include  Kusumika,  Vrnda  and
Dhanistha.  These gopis are famous among the sakhis.
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the nitya-sakhis?
      Gosvami:  The  nitya-sakhis  include  Kasturi,  Mani-
manjari and many others.
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the prana-sakhis?
      Gosvami: The prana-sakhis include Sasimukhi, Vasanti,
Lasika,  and many others.  In many ways they are  like  the
queen of Vrndavana Herself.
     \Vijaya-kumara: Who are the priya-sakhis?
       Gosvami:   The   priya-sakhis  include   Kurangaksi,
Sumadhya, Madanalasa, Kamala, Madhuri, Manjukesi, Kandarpa-
sundari,  Madhavi,  Malati, Kamalata,  Sasikala,  and  many
others.
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the parama-prestha-sakhis?
      Gosvami:  The  parama-prestha-sakhis include  Lalita,
Visakha,   Citra,   Campakalata,   Tungavidya,   Indulekha,
Rangadevi, and Sudevi.  These eight are the most  important
of all the gopis.  Therefore they are called parama-prestha-
sakhis.  They are situated in the topmost love for Sri  Sri
Radha  and  Krsna.  Sometimes they show more  love  to  Sri
Krsna and other times they show more love for Sri Radha.
      Vijaya-kumara:  I understand what  the  word  ‘yutha’
(group) means.  What does the word ‘gana’ (sub group( mean?
     Gosvami: Every yutha is divided into sub-groups, which
are  called ganas.  For example, Lalita is a member of  Sri
Radha’s group.  However, Lalita herself has followers,  and
they are called the members of Lalita’s gana (sub-group).
      Vijaya-kumara:  That the gopis are married  to  gopas
other   than   Krsna   is  one  of   the   most   important
characteristics.  Still, it does not look good.
      Gosvami: In this material world ‘woman’ and ‘man’ are
only  external  designations.   Because  of  past  material
activities  one  soul becomes a ‘woman’  and  another  soul
becomes  a  ‘man’.   In the material world  of  Maya,  many
people  are filled with petty or sinful desires.  For  this
reason  the  great sages have forbidden, except within  the
institution of marriage, contact with women.  Writing about
the rasas, poets have generally avoided describing the love
of  a  woman  for  a  paramour.   However,  in  the  Lord’s
spiritual  pastimes this kind of love is one of the  rasas.
The  sexual affairs of men and women in the material  world
is  a  perverted reflection of that original rasas  in  the
spiritual world.  Therefore material sexual activities  are
very  dull, pathetic, and a breeding ground for a  host  of
anxieties (kuntha).  Also, the rules of religion place many
restrictions on these activities.  For these reasons men in
the  material  world are enjoined to avoid approaching  the
wives  of  others.  However, if Lord Krsna, whose  form  is
eternal  and full of knowledge and bliss, is the only  male
and the only hero, and he accepts this activity to increase
the   sweetness  of  His  spiritual  rasas,  He  is   never
contaminated  and  He  is  not to  be  criticised.   He  is
independent of the material institution of  marriage.  When
Sri  Krsna,  who  enjoys pastimes in Goloka,  came  to  the
material  world  from  Goloka, He took  the  transcendental
parakiya-rasa with Him.  Therefore no one should  criticise
Him  for enjoying the parakiya rasa with the gopis who have
come from Goloka.
      Vijaya-kumara: What exalted symptoms of love did  the
gopis from Goloka display?
      Gosvami: Before the gopis Lord Krsna appears only  in
His form as the son of Nanda.  The non devotee philosophers
are  far  from  understanding the gopis’ exalted  love  for
Krsna.   Even the devotees find it difficult to  understand
that  love.  When Krsna manifests His form as Nandanandana,
His opulence never eclipses His sweetness.  One time, as  a
joke,  Krsna  manifested  His four-armed  form  before  the
gopis,  who were not at all impressed.  However, when   Sri
Radha  approached, the four-armed form at once disappeared.
Because  of the greatness of Radha’s confidential  parakiya
love, Krsna again became two-handed.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now my desires are all  fulfilled.   O
master,  please  describe the different kinds  of  heroines
(nayikas).
      Gosvami: There are three kinds of heroines (nayikas):
1.  svakiya,  2.  parakiya, 3.  samanya.   I  have  already
described the spiritual svakiya and parakiya heroines.  Now
I will describe the samanya heroines.  Students of material
rhetoric  (alankara) explain that the samanya heroines  are
prostitutes, interested only in money.  If their lover  has
no  good  qualities,  then they hate  him,  and  if  he  is
virtuous,  still they do  not really love  him.   Therefore
their  so-called  love  is only a perverted  reflection  of
love.   It  is  not true love.  Sometimes it is  said  that
Kubja  in  Mathura was such a samanya heroine who does  not
really  love her hero.  I do not agree.  I place her  among
the parakiya heroines.
      Vijaya-kumara: How did she become qualified to become
a parakiya-heroine?
     Gosvami: When Kubja was an ugly, disfigured woman, she
never  loved  any  man.  However, when she  saw  Krsna  and
desired  to  place  sandal paste on  His  limbs,  then  she
thought  of Him as her beloved.  For this reason I say  her
love  is  in  the parakiya-rasa.  However,  the  desire  to
please only Krsna, a desire possessed even by the queens at
Dvaraka,  was  absent  in Kubja.  Therefore  her  love  was
inferior  to  the love of the queens.  When she  tugged  at
Krsna’s  upper  garment and begged that  He  enjoy  amorous
pastimes with her, her love for Him was mixed with her  own
selfish  desires.   There her love is considered  sadharani
(ordinary).
      Vijaya-kumara:  Because Kubja is  considered  in  the
parakiya  rasa,  I  can see that the svakiya  and  parakiya
heroines  are both divided into two sub-groups.   How  many
different sub-groups are there?  Please describe them.
      Gosvami:  In  the  spiritual rasas  the  svakiya  and
parakiya heroines are of three kinds: 1. mugdha, 2. madhya,
and 3. pragalbha.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, when by your mercy I think of
the  spiritual rasas, I naturally think of myself as a gopi
in  Vraja.  At that time I do not think of myself as a male
in  the material world.  When I hear of the different kinds
of  heroines, my heart become agitated.  And why not?  I do
not  know what I should do so that some day I may love  the
Lord  as the gopis do.  So that some day I may attain  this
kind  of  service to Lord Krsna, I now place this  question
before  your  holy feet: What is the nature of  the  mugdha
heroines?  Please describe them.
      Gosvami:  These  are  the  qualities  of  the  mugdha
heroine:  She  is  in  the bloom of  youth  (nava-yauvana),
amorous  (kamini), contrary in love (rati-dane  vama),  and
submissive   to   her   girl  friends   (sakhi-vasi-bhuta).
Although  externally she is shy to enjoy amorous pastimes,.
within  her  heart she secretly and diligently  labours  to
make  various arrangements to enjoy with her  lover.   When
her  lover offends her, tears flow from her eyes.  At  that
time she neither speaks sweetly, speaks harshly nor becomes
angry.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the qualities of  the  madhya
heroine?
      Gosvami:  These  are  the  qualities  of  the  madhya
heroine: She is equally amorous and shy, she is in the full
bloom  of youth, and all her words are touched with a small
amount of arrogance.  She enjoys amorous pastimes until she
faints   unconscious.   Sometimes  her  heart  is   gentle.
Sometimes  it is hard.  Sometimes she is jealous, sometimes
peaceful,  and sometimes agitated.  Sometimes she  is  both
peaceful  and agitated (dhiradhira).  A heroine  who,  when
her  lover  offends her, mocks him with crooked  words,  is
called  ‘dhira  madhya’.  A heroine who in  that  situation
attacks  her lover with merciless angry words is called  an
‘adhira  madhya’ heroine.  A heroine who in that  situation
sheds  tears, speaks sweetly, and then also speaks  crooked
words  to  mock  her lover is called a ‘dhiradhira  madhya’
gopi.   In  a madhya heroine the natures of the mugdha  and
pragalbha heroines are mixed together.   The madhya heroine
is the best of the three kinds of heroines.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the qualities of the pragalbha
heroine?
      Gosvami:  These  are the qualities of  the  pragalbha
heroine:  She  is in the full bloom of youth, blinded  with
pride,  and very eager to enjoy amorous pastimes.   She  is
very  passionate.   Pushed by the rasas,  she  attacks  her
lover.  Her words and deeds are very passionate.  When  her
jealousy is aroused, she becomes very harsh.  The pragalbha
heroines  are  of  three  kinds:   1.  dhira,  adhira,  and
dhiradhira.   The dhira pragalbha heroine  pretends  to  be
disinterested  in enjoying with her lover.  Externally  she
is  polite  and  respectful.  She  carefully  conceals  the
passion  in her heart.  The adhira pragalbha heroine  beats
her  lover  with  cruel  words.  The  dhiradhira  pragalbha
heroine is like the dhiradhira madhya heroine.  The  madhya
and  pragalbha  heroines  are  also  divided  into  jyestha
(older)  and   kanistha (younger).  In this way  there  are
jyestha-madhya  and  kanistha-madhya  heroines   and   also
jyestha-pragalbha  and  kanistha pragalbha  heroines.   The
difference of jyestha kanistha are considered according  to
the nature of the heroine’s love for the hero.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, how many kinds  of  heroines
are there all together?
      Gosvami:  There are fifteen kinds of heroines.   Very
young heroines are always mugdha.  The three basic kinds of
heroines are mugdha, madhya and pragalbha.  The madhya  and
pragalbha heroines are further divided into dhira,  adhira,
dhiradhira.   Thus  there  are  seven  kinds   of   svakiya
heroines,  seven  kinds of parakiya heroines,  and  fifteen
kinds of heroines in all.
      Vijaya-kumara: What different conditions of  life  do
the heroines experience?
      Gosvami: The eight different conditions of life  are:
1.  abhisarika  (going to meet her lover), 2.  vasaka-sajja
(dressed  and  decorated to meet her lover), 3.  utkanthita
(yearning  to  meet her lover), 4. khandita (whose  meeting
with  her lover is broken), 5. vipralabdha (separated  from
her  lover), 6. kalahantarita (quarreling with her  lover),
7.  prosita-bhartrika (her lover has gone far away), and 8.
svadhina-bhartrika   (she  dominates   her   lover).    The
previously   described  fifteen  kinds  of   heroines   all
experience these eight conditions of life.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of  the  abhisarika
heroine?
      Gosvami:  A heroine who arranges that her lover  meet
her,  or who goes to meet her lover is called ‘abhisarika’.
If,  going to meet her lover, she wears white clothing when
the moon is bright, she is called ‘jynotsnabhisarika’.  If,
going  to meet her lover, she wears dark clothing when  the
moon  is dark, she is called ‘tamo-bhisarika’.  She  is  so
shy  she seems to hide behind her own body.  Silent, nicely
decorated,  and  her  head  carefully  covered,  she  goes,
accompanied by a dear friend, to meet her lover.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of the vasaka-sajja
heroine?
      Gosvami:  A heroine who, anxious to meet  her  lover,
carefully decorates both her body  and the meeting place is
called   ‘vasaka-sajja’.   She  yearns  to  enjoy   amorous
pastimes,  keeps her eyes fixed on the path her lover  will
walk, discusses with her friends the pastimes of love,  and
again  and  again waits for her messenger’s return.   These
are her activities.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of  the  utkanthita
heroine?
      Gosvami:  A  heroine who is filled with  longing  and
anxiety when her lover is, though no fault of his own, late
in  coming  to  the rendezvous, is called  ‘utkanthita’  by
persons  learned  in the different bhavas.   Her  heart  is
feverish, she trembles, she speculates about why her  lover
has  not  yet  come, she becomes irritated, and  she  sheds
tears.   These  are her activities.  She is  not  like  the
vasaka-sajja  heroine.  She worries  that  her  lover,  now
under the control of some other girl, will not come to meet
her.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is the nature  of  the  khandita
heroine?
      Gosvami: When, the time of rendezvous long passed and
the  night almost over, the lover finally comes,  his  body
bearing the clear marks of his having enjoyed pastimes with
some  other  girl, the heroine is called ‘khandita’.   This
heroine’s activities are anger, long sighs, and silence.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of the  vipralabdha
heroine?
      Gosvami: A heroine who becomes anxious when,  somehow
or  other, her lover does not come to their rendezvous,  is
called  ‘vipralabdha’.   Unhappy  at  heart,  she  laments,
weeps, faints, sighs, and performs other like activities.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of the kalahantarita
heroine?
      Gosvami:  A heroine who will not forgive  her  lover,
even  when, surrounded by all her friends, he humbly  falls
before  her  feet,  and who manifests  lamentation,  grief,
withering, and sighing, is called ‘kalahantarita’.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is the nature  of  the  prosita-
bhartrka heroine?
      Gosvami: A heroine whose lover has gone to a  faraway
place  is  called  ‘prosita-bhartrka”.   She  praises   the
virtues  of  her  lover,  is  humbler,  becomes  thin   and
emaciated,   suffers  insomnia,  and  becomes   melancholy,
restless,  stunned  and anxious.  Her activities  are  like
that.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is the nature of  the  svadhina-
bhartrika heroine?
      Gosvami: A heroine whose lover always stays with  her
and  is  submissive  to her is called ‘svadhina-bhartrika’.
Her  activities  are  to enjoy pastimes  with  him  in  the
forest,  in the water, while picking flowers, and in  other
like situations.
      Vijaya-kumara: The svadhina-bhartrika heroine must be
very happy.
      Gosvami: If her lover is completely controlled by his
love  for her and if he cannot leave her even for a moment,
the  svadhina-bhartrika heroine is called ‘madhavi’.  Among
the  eight  kinds  of  heroines, three  kinds  -  svadhina-
bhartrika,  vasaka-sajja, and abhisarika  -  are  happy  at
heart.   They  are  nicely  decorated  with  garments   and
ornaments.   However, the other five kinds  of  heroines  -
khandita,  vipralabdha, utkanthita,  prosita-bhartrka,  and
kalahantarita - do not wear ornaments.  A hand  resting  on
their left cheek, the lament.
      Vijaya-kumara:  Their  love  for  Krsna  brings  them
unhappiness!  What does that mean?>
      Gosvami:  Love  for  Krsna is  spiritual  and  always
blissful.   These seeming sufferings are actually  included
among the wonderful variety of blissful spiritual emotions.
In  the material world these emotions are suffering, but in
the  spiritual world they are different kinds of bliss.   A
person  who  has  the  power to taste spiritual  bliss  can
understand.  Other cannot.
      Vijaya-kumara: Among the different kinds of heroines,
what are the different degrees of love?
      Gosvami: According to the intensity of their love for
Krsna,  the heroines are of three kinds: 1. uttama  (high),
2.  madhyama (intermediate) and 3. kanistha (low).  As  the
heroines love Him, so Krsna loves them in the same  degree.
This is well known.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is the  nature  of  the  uttama
heroine?
     Gosvami: The uttama heroine is willing to renounce any
activity  in  order to please her lover, even  for  only  a
moment.   Even  if  he  makes her  unhappy,  she  is  never
displeased  with him.  If someone lies that  her  lover  is
unhappy, her heart becomes ripped to shreds.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is the  nature  of  a  madhyama
heroine?
     Gosvami: When she hears that her lover is unhappy, she
becomes sad at heart.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is the  nature  of  a  kanistha
heroine?
       Gosvami:  The  kanistha  heroine  is  anxious   that
obstacles will prevent her from meeting her lover.
     Vijaya-kumara: How many kinds of heroines are there?
      Gosvami: There are 360 kinds of heroines.  The  first
mentioned  fifteen  kinds  of  heroines  are  each  divided
according  to  the next mentioned eight kinds of  heroines.
In  this  way (15 x 8) there are 120 heroines.   These  120
kinds  of heroines are each divided  according to the  last
mentioned  three kinds of heroines.  In this way there  are
360 kinds of heroines.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now I have heard about  the  heroines.
Now I wish to hear about the different kinds of yuthesvaris
(group leaders).
       Gosvami:  According  to  friends  and  enemies,  the
yuthesvaris  are of three kinds: 1. svapaksa  (allies),  2.
vipaksa  (enemies), and 3. tatastha (neutrals).   According
to  their  good fortune they are of these kinds: 1.  adhika
(great),  2.  sama (moderate, and 3. laghvi (light).   They
are  also  of  these three kinds: 1. prakhara  (harsh),  2.
madhya (moderate) and 3. mrdvi (sweet).  Here ‘prakhara’ is
a  synonym  for ‘pragalbha’.  When the quality of harshness
is   manifested  only  very  slightly,  the  yuthesvari  is
considered mrdvi.  When sweetness and harshness are equally
present,  she  is  considered madhya.  The yuthesvaris  are
also  divided  into 1. atyantiki (great), and  2.  apeksiki
(less).  When a yuthesvari has  no equal in any sphere, she
is  considered  atyantikadhika (the  best  of  atyantikis).
This  refers  to Sri Radha alone.  She is a madhya  and  in
Vraja She has no equal.
      Vijaya-kumara: Who are the apeksikadhikas (the second
level of the great)?
      Gosvami:  A yuthesvari who accepts another yuthesvari
as her superior is called “apeksikadhika’.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Who  are  the  atyantika  laghu  (or
atyantiki apeksiki)?
      Gosvami:  A  yuthesvari who is  not inferior  to  the
other heroines is called ‘atyantika laghu’.  In relation to
the  atyantika adhika yuthesvari (the greatest  yuthesvari,
Sri  Radha), all the heroines are laghu (inferior).   Aside
from the atyantiki laghus, all the yuthesvaris are adhikas.
Still,   the  atyantiki  adhika  yuthesvari  (the  greatest
yuthesvari,  Sri  Radha) should never be  considered  their
equal  or  inferior.  Also, the atyantiki laghu yuthesvaris
should  not  be considered equal to the adhika yuthesvaris.
There  is  but one kind of sama laghu yuthesvari.   Divided
according to the qualities of madhya, adhika, prakhara, and
the like, there are twelve kinds of yuthesvaris.  They are:
1.  atyantika  adhika, 2. sama-laghu, 3. adhika-madhya,  4.
sama-madhya, 5. laghu-madhya, 6. adhika-prakhara, 7.  sama-
prakhara,  8.  laghu prakhara, 9. adhika-mrdvi,  10.  sama-
mrdvi, 11. laghu-mrdvi, and 12. atyantika-laghu.
      Vijaya-kumara:  I  wish to hear about  the  different
kinds of duties (messengers)?
      Gosvami: The heroines thirsting for association  with
Krsna  need the help of the dutis.  The duties are  of  two
kinds:  1.  svayam-duti (messengers who act  on  their  own
initiative), and 2. apta-duti (messengers given a  specific
order).
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is the nature of  the  apta-duti
messengers?
      Gosvami:  When  great  enthusiasm  breaks  apart  any
shyness she may have possessed. and, bewildered with  love,
she openly declares her love for the hero, that is a svayam-
duti  messenger.   These messengers  are  three  kinds:  1.
kayika (bodily gestures), 2. vacika (words), and 3. caksusa
(glances).
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is the  nature  of  the  vacika
(words) messenger?
      Gosvami: Hints (vyanga) expressed in words are of two
kinds: 1. sabda-vyanga (the hint is present in the sound of
the words), and 2. artha-vyanga (the hint is present in the
meaning  of  the words).  Sometimes the hints are  directly
related  to Krsna and other times the hints pretend  to  be
about some other topic.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the hints directly related to
Krsna?
      Gosvami:  They  are of two kinds: 1. hints  to  Krsna
Himself and 2. hints spoken on some pretext.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are hints to Krsna Himself?
      Gosvami: Speaking proudly, lamenting, and begging are
some  of the many ways hints may be expressed before  Krsna
Himself.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is the hint in  the  form  of  a
lament?
      Gosvami: A lament expressed by the sound of the words
(sabda-vyanga)  is one kind of lament hint,  and  a  lament
expressed  by  the  meaning of the words (artha-vyanga)  is
another   kind  of  lament  hint.   You  studied   rhetoric
(alankara).  I need not give many examples.
     Vijaya-kumara: Yes.  That is good.  What is the nature
of a hint in the form of begging.
      Gosvami:  Begging  is of two kinds:  1.  begging  for
oneself, and 2. begging on behalf of another person.   Then
begging  may again be divided into these two kinds: Begging
expressed by the sound of the words (sabda-vyanga), and  2.
begging  expressed  by  the meaning of  the  words  (artha-
vyanga).   The begging described here is all  hints.   When
the  begging  is  for oneself, the heroine  tells  her  own
story.   When  the begging is on behalf of another  person,
the speaker tells another’s story.
      Vijaya-kumara: I understand these direct  hints.   In
them  the  heroine may directly accuse Krsna of  something.
These  hints are also sabda-vyanga (according to the sound)
and  artha-vyanga (according to the meaning).   Many  poets
have  expertly  placed such clever hints in the  mouths  of
actors  and  actresses.  Now please  explain  vyapadesa  (a
pretext).
     Gosvami: In the alankara-sastra it is said the apadesa
and  vyapadesa are synonyms.  Apadesa means to indicate one
thing  while speaking of another.  In this way  one  speaks
words that clearly m mean one thing while hinting a request
to   serve  Krsna  in  a  certain  way.   This  is   called
‘vyapadesa’.  ‘Vyapadesa’ should be spoken by  a  messenger
(duti).
     Vijaya-kumara: Vyapadesa is then a kind of trick where
a  request  has  a  hidden meaning.   Now  please  describe
purastha-visaya-gata-vyanga  (the  hint  of  talking  about
something before one’s eyes).
     Gosvami: When one thinks, “Krsna has heard, but He did
not  hear”,  and  when Krsna changes the  subject,  talking
instead about some nearby animal of something else, that is
the  hint called ‘purastha-visaya-gata-vyanga’.  This  hint
is of two kinds: 1. Sabda (sounds) and 2. Artha (meaning).
     Vijaya-kumara: By your mercy, I understand everything.
Now please describe the hints given by bodily gestures.
     Gosvami: Gesturing with the fingers, moving quickly on
some  pretext, covering the body out of fear  and  shyness,
scratching the ground with one’s foot, scratching the  ear,
making  a gesture of applying tilaka, dressing in a certain
way,  moving the eyebrows, embracing a gopi friend, hitting
a  gopi  friend,  biting  one’s lips,  playing  with  one’s
necklace,  making  one’s  ornaments  tinkle,  moving  one’s
shoulders,  writing the name ‘Krsna’, and  twining  a  vine
around  a  tree are all included among the hints  given  by
bodily gestures.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now please describe the hints given by
the eyes.
      Gosvami:   Laughing and smiling with the eyes,  half-
closing the eyes, moving the eyes, looking in the distance,
crooked  glances, glancing with the left eye, and  sidelong
glances are some of the hints given by the eyes.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Now I understand  the  svayam-dutis.
You  have only given some hints.  But that is good enough..
There  are limitless kinds of such messengers.  Now  please
describe the apta-dutis.
      Gosvami: The messenger who is a beautiful Vraja-gopi,
who is affectionate and eloquent, and whom one can trust to
faithfully keep a secret, even to end of life, is this kind
of messenger (apta-duti).
     Vijaya-kumara: How many kinds of apta-dutis are there?
      Gosvami:  The  apta-dutis are  of  three  kinds:   1.
Amitartha, 2. Nisrstartha and 3. Patra-hari.  A  messenger,
understanding  the  meaning of  various  hints  and  signs,
brings  the lovers together, is called an ‘amitarth  duti’.
A  messenger who uses the persuasive power of her  eloquent
words  to  bring  to  the  lovers  together  is  called   a
‘nisrstartha  duti’.  A messenger who  carries  letters  is
called a ‘patra-hari’.
     Vijaya-kumara: Are there any other apta-dutis?
       Gosvami:   The   silpa-karini  (artists),   daivajna
(astrologers),   lingini   (brahmana   girls),   paricarika
(maidservants), dhatreyi (nursemaids), vanadevi  (goddesses
of  the forest), sakhis (gopi friends), and many others are
also  counted  among  the  apta-dutis.   The  silpa-karinis
included  girls who use their skill at drawing pictures  to
arrange  for the meeting of the lovers.  The daivajnas  use
their   knowledge  of  astrology  to  arrange  the  lovers’
meeting.   The linginis dress in the garments  of  brahmana
ascetics,  like  Paurnamasi.   There  are  many  paricarika
messengers,  such  as Lavanga-manjari  and  Bhaumati.   The
dhatreyis  are the women who had been nursemaids  to  Radha
and  the  other  gopis.  The vanadevi is the  goddesses  of
Vrndavana   (forest).   The  sakhis   have   already   been
described.  They also become messengers.  These girls carry
messages,  either  direct and clear messages,  or  messages
filled with hints and suggestions, hints that may be either
sabda-vyanga or artha-vyanga, both of which I have  already
described.   In  this  situation  there  may  be  vyapadesa
(statements  with a hidden meaning), arthta-mula,  prasamsa
(words of praise), aksepa (words of lamentation), and  many
other kinds of words also.
      After  hearing all these explanations,  Vijaya-kumara
offered  respectful  obeisances to his  spiritual  master’s
feet and then took his leave.  Thinking and thinking of all
these       descriptions,       he       walked       home.
Chapter Thirty-four
Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa
      Quickly  honouring  prasadam,  and  then  walking  by
seacoast, Vijaya-kumara went to Kasi-misra’s home.   As  he
looked  at the waves in the ocean, he thought of the  ocean
of  rasas  entered his heart.  He thought, “Ah! This  ocean
reminds me of ecstatic love (bhava) for Lord Krsna.  Even a
material  thing  can  remind one of spiritual  love.   This
ocean  is  like  the  ocean of rasas  my  spiritual  master
described.   Some day I will throw this gross  and  subtle,
material  body  far  away, I will  attain  the  form  of  a
manjari, I will go the shore of the ocean of rasas,  and  I
will taste the sweetness of the rasas.  Lord Krsna, who  is
dark  like a monsoon cloud, is the only master of my  life.
Sri Vrsabhanunandini (Sri Radha), who stays by His side, is
the queen of my life.  This ocean is like the ecstatic love
Sri  Radha and Krsna feel for each other.  Their rasas  and
bhavas  are  an  ocean garlanded with  waves.   When  bhava
arises, then there are wonderful waves in this ocean.  Then
I am a sakhi (gopi) standing on the shore.  Then I float in
the  ocean  of  prema-rasa (the rasas of  spiritual  love).
Lord  Krsna is the ocean of rasas.  Krsna is dark like  the
ocean.   Sri  Radha is the waves of love  (prema)  in  that
ocean  of  Krsna.  She is beautiful with a fair complexion.
The  many  great  waves  in  that  ocean  are  Her  friends
(sakhis).    The   smaller  waves  are   Her   maidservants
(paricarikas).   I  am very far from  them  all.   I  am  a
maidservant   of  Radha’s  maidservant’s.”   Thinking   and
thinking in this way, Vijaya-kumara fell unconscious.  Soon
he   regained  consciousness.   Slowly  he  approached  his
spiritual  master  and offered dandavat obeisances  to  his
feet.   Humbly  he sat down.  Gopala-guru Gosvami  embraced
him  and  said, “O Vijaya-kumara, is everything  well  with
you?”  Vijaya-kumara replied, “O master, your mercy is  the
root  of all auspiciousness.  I am a follower of the sakhis
(gopi  friends of Sri Radha).  Therefore I want to  clearly
understand about the different kinds of sakhis.
      Gosvami:  O  Vijaya-kumara, to properly  glorify  the
sakhis  is beyond the power of the individual souls.    You
are a follower of Srila Rupa Gosvami, so you can understand
all  this.  The beautiful girls of Vraja who are sakhis are
expert  in  manifesting many (vistarini) pastimes  of  love
(prema-lila).  They are great reservoirs filled with  faith
in  Vraja’s divine youthful couple.  A person who wishes to
clearly understand them is certainly very fortunate.   When
describing  the different groups of gopis, I  have  already
described the different kinds of sakhis, namely the  sakhis
who  are  adhika, sama, and laghvi, and the sakhis who  are
prakhara,  madhya, mrdvi.  I explained all these  divisions
yesterday.  Here is the evidence for them, from Srila  Rupa
Gosvami (Ujjvala-nilamani, Sakhi-prakarana, 3-5):
      “In  the matters of spiritual love, good fortune  and
spiritual  virtues, and in other matters also,  the  sakhis
are  divided into three groups: 1. Adhika, 2. Sama, and  3.
Laghu.
       “A  prakhara  sakhi  speaks  heavy  words  that  are
difficult to counter.  A mrdvi sakhi does not speak harshly
at  all.   A sama sakhi stands midway between the  prakhara
and mrdvi sakhi.
      “The  sakhis  may  be divided into  different  types,
beginning  with the atyantadhika.  In each group of  sakhis
the leader is atyantadhika.
      “Some  of the atyantadhika sakhis are prakhara,  some
are madhya, and some are mrdvi.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  The yuthesvari is  the  leader  of  a
particular  group.   You  have already  described  how  the
yuthesvaris  are  atyantika and how they are  divided  into
three kinds: prakhara, madhya, and mrdvi.  In this way they
are  either atyantadhika prakhara, atyantadhika madhya,  or
atyantadhika mrdvi.  This you have already explained.   Now
please describe the different kinds of sakhis.
      Gosvami:  In each group the yuthesvari  is  the  only
atyantadhika   sakhi.    The   other   sakhis    are    all
apeksikadhika,  apeksika sama, or  apeksika  laghvi.   Then
again,  these are also divided into prakhara,  madhya,  and
mrdvi.   In  this  way the three groups are  multiplied  by
three to bring nine groups altogether.  They are:
     1. Apeksikadhika prakhara, 2. Apeksikadhika madhya, 3.
Apeksikadhika mrdvi, 4. Apeksika-sama prakhara, 5. Apeksika-
sama  madhya, 6. Apeksika-sama mrdvi  and 9. Apeksika-lagvi
mrdvi.
      The  antyantika laghvi is of two kinds: 1.  Atyantika
laghvi,  and  2.  Sama-lagvi.  This two  is  added  to  the
preceding nine, and to them added the yuthesvari.  In  this
way there are twelve types of heroines in each group.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master,  which  famous  gopis  are
examples of each of these different kinds of sakhis?
      Gosvami: Lalita and many other sakhis in Sri  Radha’s
group are apeksikadhika prakhara sakhis.  Visakha and  many
other  sakhis  in  the same group are apeksikadhika  madhya
sakhis.   Citra,  Madhurika and many other sakhis  in  that
group are apeksikadhika mrdvi sakhis.  However, Lalita  and
the  other asta-sakhis (eight closest friends of Sri Radha)
are all apeksika laghvi when compared to Sri Radha Herself.
     Vijaya-kumara: Are the apeksika-laghvi prakhara sakhis
and  the  other groups of sakhis like them further  divided
into other kinds of sakhis?
      Gosvami: The Laghvi prakhara sakhis are of two kinds:
1. Vama (left wing), and 2. Daksina (right wing).
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the qualities of vama sakhis?
     Gosvami: They are always very proud.  If there is some
slackening in the respect shown to them, they become angry.
They  are  not submissive to their lover.  Such a sakhi  is
called  ‘vama’.  In Radha’s group, Lalita and  many  others
are considered vama prakhara sakhis.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the qualities of the  daksina
sakhis?
      Gosvami: These heroines cannot tolerate pride.  These
heroines  speak  sweetly  to  their  lover  and  they   are
conquered  by  His sweet words to them.  Such  a  sakhi  is
called  ‘daksina’.  In Sri Radha’s group.   Tungavidya  and
many others are daksina prakhara sakhis.
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the atyantika sakhis?
     Gosvami: These sakhis are always sweet.  They are less
important than the other sakhis.  Kusumika and many  others
are said to be atyantika laghvi sakhis.
     Vijaya-kumara:  How do the sakhis carry messages?
      Gosvami:  The sakhis bring the hero, who has  come  a
great  distance, to meet the heroine.  That is the  message
they carry.
     Vijaya-kumara: Are the sakhis ever heroines?
      Gosvami: The yuthesvaris are heroines eternally.  The
apeksikadhika   prakharas,   apeksikadhika   madhyas,   and
apeksikadhika  mrdvis  may be either  heroines  or  sakhis.
They  have both natures.  When gopis of an inferior  status
are  present, they may assume the role of heroine.  When  a
gopi of superior status is present, they assume the role of
sakhi.    The  gopis  of  inferior  status  consider   them
heroines,  and  the gopis of superior status consider  them
sakhis.   Therefore they are called ‘nayika-praya’  (almost
heroines).   The  apeksika prakhara, apeksika  madhya,  and
apeksika mrdvis also play double roles.  They become sakhis
when  superior gopis are present and heroines when inferior
gopis are present.  The apeksika prakhara, apeksika madhya,
and  apeksika  mrdvis are most often sakhis.   Because  the
yuthesvari  and  the previous described  three  classes  of
gopis are superior to them, the atyantika laghvi gopis  are
considered  here  as  a fifth category.   They  are  always
sakhis.   In  the presence of the yuthesvari, the  apeksika
gopis are all sakhis and dutis (messengers).  Then they are
not  heroines.   The  atyantika  laghvi  gopis  are  always
sakhis.  They are never heroines, and they are never dutis.
     Vijaya-kumara: Who are the sakhis that act as dutis?
     Gosvami: The yuthesvari are always heroines.  Everyone
always honours them.  They do not carry messages.  However,
the yuthesvari entrusts to her favourite sakhi the task  of
carrying messages.  However, when one of her sakhis becomes
the  objects of the hero’s love, the yuthesvari will become
a  gauna (secondary) kind of messenger on her behalf.  Here
‘gauna’ means that the yuthesvari does not come and go  for
long distances carrying.  This kind of carrying messages is
of  two kinds: 1. When Krsna is present, and 2. When  Krsna
is not present.
      Vijaya-kumara:  In what different ways  are  messages
carried when Krsna is present?
      Gosvami:  These messages are of two kinds: 1.  Hints,
and 2. Direct statements.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the hints?
      Gosvami:  When,  by  a sidelong  glance,  an  eyebrow
movement, a movement of the forefinger or another  part  of
the  body, or another kind of hint, a sakhi sends Krsna  to
the  heroine, that is called the message in the form  of  a
hint.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the direct statements?
      Gosvami:  When,  either directly  to  Lord  Krsna  or
secretly  behind his back, the messenger speaks appropriate
words,  that  is called a message in the form of  a  direct
statement.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the messages  when  Krsna  is
absent?
     Gosvami: Here one sakhi brings another sakhi to Krsna.
There  are  man ways a message can be carried in this  way.
These  are all considered carrying a message when Krsna  is
not present.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  are messages  carried  for  the
nayika-praya (almost heroine)?
     Gosvami: When an apeksikadhika prakhara, apeksikadhika
madhya or apeksikadhika mrdvi carry a message for a gopi of
inferior status, this is called ‘carrying a message  for  a
nayika-praya’.   The  sama sakhis  and  madhya  sakhis  are
naturally  friends.  Their friendship is mostly  sweet  and
for  the  most  part they have no difference between  them.
Panditas  learned in the science of spiritual love  (prema)
can understand all this.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘a message carried by a sakhi-
praya’ (one who is almost a sakhi)?
      Gosvami:   These  are messages carried  by  a  laghu-
prakara, laghu-madhya, or laghu-mrdvi gopi.  When they  are
engaged  in carrying messages they are called ‘sakhi-praya’
(almost sakhi)>
     Vijaya-kumara: What is a nitya-sakhi (always a sakhi)?
      Gosvami: Gopis who only wish to be a sakhi and  never
desire  to become a heroine are called ‘nitya-sakhi’.   The
nitya-sakhis are of two kinds: 1. Atyantika laghvi  and  2.
Apeksika laghvi.
     Vijaya-kumara: Do the sakhis eternally possess certain
specific  qualities,  like the quality  of  being  prakhara
(harsh),  qualities  that they always  manifest  and  never
abandon?
      Gosvami: Although certain qualities are part  of  the
eternal nature of each gopi, sometimes, according to  time,
place   and   circumstances,  the  gopis   manifest   other
qualities,  even qualities that are the opposite  of  their
ordinary nature.  An example of this is Lalita’s attempt to
calm Radha’s jealous anger.
      Vijaya-kumara: It seems to me that Radha takes  great
care to arrange the meeting of Lord Krsna with her friends.
      Gosvami:  O Vijaya-kumara, I can say something  about
that.   When a sakhi sent with a message meets Krsna  in  a
secluded  place, and He requests that she enjoy  with  Him,
she  will not agree.  She will not break the trust  of  the
gopi friend who sent her with the message.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the sakhis’ activities?
      Gosvami: The sakhis have sixteen kinds of activities:
1. To praise the virtues of the hero before the heroine and
to  praise the virtues of the heroine before the hero.   2.
To make the hero and heroine attached to each other.  3. To
arrange for the rendezvous of the hero and heroine.  4.  To
give the heroine to Krsna.  5. To speak eloquent jokes.  6.
To  give  consolation.  7. To decorate the heroine  in  her
room.   8.  To reveal to the hero the love in the heroine’s
heart  and to reveal to the heroine the love in the  hero’s
heart.  9. To hide faults. 10. To teach the heroine how  to
deceive her husband and other superiors.  11. To bring  the
hero and heroine together at the appropriate time.  12.  To
fan with a camara and perform other like services.  13.  To
approach  the hero or heroine when it is appropriate.   14.
To  carry  a message.  15. To save the heroine’s life,  and
16.  To  be  careful  and  diligent  in  everything.   Many
examples could be given to illustrate each of these.   What
more shall I say:
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master, I understand  these  brief
explanations.  Later I will see the examples given  in  the
book Ujjvala-nilamani.  Now I have learned a great deal.  O
master,  now  I  would  like to learn  about  the  sakhis’s
affection for each other and love for Lord Krsna.
      Gosvami:  The sakhis are of two kinds: 1. The  sakhis
whose love for Krsna and their own yuthesvari is not equal,
and  2.  The sakhis who love Krsna and their own yuthesvari
equally.
      Vijaya-kumara: What sakhis have love  for  Krsna  and
their own yuthesvari that is not equal.
      Gosvami:  These  gopis, who are  called  ‘asama-sneha
sakhis’ are of two kinds.  Some love their yuthesvari  more
than they love Krsna.  Others think, “I am a maidservant of
Krsna.”   These  gopis will not leave their group  to  join
another.  Still, they love Krsna more than they love  their
yuthesvari.   A gopi who is proud to serve her  yuthesvari,
and  who  loves her yuthesvari more than Krsna,  is  called
‘sakhi-snehadhika’.
     Vijaya-kumara: Why are they?
     Gosvami: Among the five kinds of sakhis I have already
described,  those who are simply called sakhis  love  Krsna
more  (krsna-snehadhika).  The previously described  nitya-
sakhis  and prana sakhis love their yuthesvari more (sakhi-
snehadhika).
      Vijaya-kumara: Who are the gopis that love Krsna  and
their yuthesvari equally?
       Gosvami:  The  gopis  that  love  Krsna  and   their
yuthesvari equally are called ‘sama-sneha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: Of these sakhis who are the best?
      Gosvami: The sakhis who love Radha and Krsna equally,
and  who think, ‘I am a follower of Radha’ are the best  of
all.   They  are called ‘priya-sakhis’ and ‘parama-prestha-
sakhis’.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, please describe the rivalries
of the different groups of sakhis.
      Gosvami: All the groups of Vraja-gopis are divided in
four  ways:  1, sva-paksa (one’s own group), 2, suhrt-paksa
(friends),  3,  tatastha-paksa (neutral  parties),  and  4,
paritpaksa (enemies).  The gopi groups associate  with  the
suhrt-paksas  and  tatastha-paksas,  and  they  avoid   the
pratipaksas.  In this way there is exchange of rasas.
       Vijaya-kumara:   Please  describe   the   sva-paksa,
pratipaksa and the others.
      Gosvami: The sva-paksa I have already explained.  Now
I  will  explain how the suhrt-paksas and the other  groups
differ.   The  suhrt-paksas are of  two  kinds:   1,  ista-
sadhaka   (friends   pushed  together   to   do   something
favourable) and anista-sadhaka (friends pushed together  to
do something unfavourable).  The tatastha-paksa is friendly
to both the sva-paksa and the pratipaksa.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe the pratipaksas.
      Gosvami: The vipaksas are enemies.  They destroy what
is  good  and  bring  what is evil.  The vipaksas  manifest
trickery, malice, restlessness, envy, spite, mercilessness,
pride and a host of other like qualities.
     Vijaya-kumara: How is pride manifested?
       Gosvami:   False-ego,  self-importance,   arrogance,
mocking,   conceit,   and   haughtiness,   are   the    six
manifestations of pride.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is the nature of false-ego?
      Gosvami:  When one praises the sva-paksa and  reviles
the pratipaksa, that is false ego.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is self-importance?
     Gosvami: When one explains how one’s own group has the
most exalted spiritual love, that is self importance.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is arrogance?
      Gosvami:  When one is convinced that one’s own  group
enjoys  the  most  exalted  spiritual  pastimes,  that   is
arrogance.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is mocking?
      Gosvami: When one laughs at the other group, that  is
mocking.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is conceit?
     Gosvami: When pride improves one’s devotional service,
that is conceit in this context.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is haughtiness?
      Gosvami:  To openly declare one’s own superiority  is
called  haughtiness.  To criticise other sakhis  and  speak
sarcastically about them is also haughtiness.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Do  the  yuthesvaris   show   malice
directly?
      Gosvami:  No.   The  yuthesvaris  always  keep  their
gravity  and  decorum.  They do not openly express  malice.
Even  if  a  prakhara  sakhi  speaks  maliciously  in   her
presence, the yuthesvari continues to speak pleasantly.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, the yuthesvaris in the Lord’s
Vraja pastimes are all eternally perfect.  They are one  of
the  Lord’s  potencies.  What does it mean that malice  and
other   inauspicious  qualities  are  present  among  them?
Seeing  these  qualities,  non  devotee  philosophers  will
criticise  the Lord’s Vraja pastimes.  They will  say,  “If
malice and other inauspicious qualities are present in  the
spiritual  world,  then  why do the devotees  criticise  or
renounce the material world?”
      O master I am a resident of holy Navadvipa, where, by
the  will of Lord Krsna Caitanya, many materialists may  be
seen.   Some are followers of karma-kanda.  Some are barren
logicians.  Some are impersonalists.  In this way there are
many  offenders.  They condemn the Lord’s  pastimes.   They
claim  that the Lord’s pastimes are material and are filled
with imperfections.
      Gosvami: Persons (arasika) who cannot understand  the
Lord’s  spiritual rasas claim that it is not right for  the
Lord’s   personal  associates  manifest  malice  or   other
seemingly inauspicious qualities.  When one is at last able
to understand the spiritual truth, then one can see Vraja’s
madhura-rasa, which is the dear friend of Lord  Krsna,  the
Lord  who  destroys all sins and whose transcendental  form
enchants  a  multitude  of  Kamadevas.   Malice  and  other
seemingly  inauspicious  emotions  felt  by  Lord   Krsna’s
personal  associates  are  meant to  enhance  Lord  Krsna’s
transcendental  pleasure when the  associates  are  in  His
company.   Apart  from  these pastimes  with  Krsna,  these
seemingly  inauspicious qualities are not  manifested.   At
that time there is only love.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, I am a tiny creature.  These
confidential  truths do not easily enter my heart.   Please
be  merciful and explain it very simply and clearly.   That
will be auspicious for me.
      Gosvami: The rasas of spiritual love (prema-rasa) are
like  a  great ocean of milk.  However, material  logic  is
bitter  like  cow’s  urine.  One  who  can  understand  the
spiritual rasas obtains an auspicious life.  And  why  not?
It is after a person performs many pious deeds that Bhakti-
devi  (the goddess of devotional service) places the  fruit
of the hladini-sakti in his heart.  Thus a person who shuns
the  study  of material logic obtains the final truth.   On
the   other  hand,  persons  who  use  material  logic   to
understand the truth cannot understand the spiritual truth,
which  is  inconceivable, beyond the understanding  of  the
material  mind.  The so-called truth they accept is  filled
with  misconceptions.  However, you are a  fortunate  soul.
Therefore  by  the  grace  of  Bhakti-devi  you  understand
everything.  However, to make the truth very clear, I  must
answer your question.  You are not a material logician, nor
a  follower  of karma-kanda, nor a follower of jnana-kanda,
nor a doubter.  You are a sincere devotee engaged in vaidhi-
bhakti  devotional service.  I will explain  the  truth  to
you.   I  have  no  objection.   You  asked  two  kinds  of
questions.   One  kind  of question takes  shelter  of  dry
material  logic.   The  other  kind  of  question  may   be
satisfied  by faith in logic.  The other kind  of  question
may  be  satisfied  by  faith in devotional  service.   You
should  not answer the question posed by the impersonalist.
Why  not?   Because they have no faith in the actual  truth
and  thus  they will not believe what is the  true  answer.
Without  taking shelter of the Lord’s cit-sakti  (spiritual
potency)  a  soul imprisoned by Maya cannot understand  the
inconceivable   spiritual  truth  merely   by   using   the
instrument of material logic in a great series of  debates.
That  is  the  fate of persons who have  no  faith  in  the
Supreme  Personality of Godhead.  Many different  kinds  of
persons  engage  in devotional service.   Persons  who  are
qualified to understand the madhura rasa can understand all
these truths from their spiritual master.  O Vijaya-kumara,
the  Lord’s  pastimes  and  rasas  in  Vrndavana  are  very
wonderful.  The Lord’s madhura-rasa is very different  from
the  amorous  pastimes of the material world.  By  studying
Srimad-Bhagavatam’s five chapter description of the  Lord’s
rasa dance, a devotee will uproot the desire that grows  in
his  heart.  What disease grows in the heart of  the  souls
imprisoned by Maya?  The disease is material lust.  A  soul
who   has  taken  shelter  of  the  subtle  material   body
consisting  of  mind, intelligence and false  ego,  who  is
filled with material desires, who identifies with the gross
material body made of seven elements beginning with  flesh,
and  who  thinks it is a man or a woman, does not have  the
power to throw material lust far away very easily.  Only by
hearing  about the Lord’s Vraja pastimes will that soul  be
able  to throw material lust far away.  In the end, such  a
person  is able to see the great wonder that is the  Lord’s
madhura-rasa  pastimes in Vrndavana.  When  He  throws  the
impersonalists  philosophy far  away,  then  the  spiritual
madhura-rasa  is eternally manifest before  him.   When  he
understands  the  lesser importance of the Lord’s  majestic
feature  in Vaikuntha, the soul can understand the  supreme
glory  of the Lord’s eternal and splendid rasas.  Then  the
soul is filled with intense transcendental bliss.  Then the
dry  happiness of impersonalism and the dull  pleasures  of
the  material world become very unimportant for him.   Then
he  is  filled  with a bliss that is perfect and  complete.
This  perfect and complete bliss is manifest in many places
and  in  many  ways.  In some bhavas it  is  manifested  as
affection  and other like emotions, and in other places  it
is  manifested  as malice and other so-called  inauspicious
emotions.    Material  malice  and  material   inauspicious
emotions are all abominable.  These spiritual emotions  are
not  like  them.  They are all various  transformations  of
spiritual bliss.  They are like waves in the great ocean of
the  spiritual rasas.  They make that ocean glorious.   The
conclusion  of  Srila Rupa Gosvami is that these  different
rasas  show the wonderful variety of ecstatic love (bhava).
In  the  sva-paksa, these bhavas are all the same.  In  the
suhrt-paksa  the  bhavas are slightly  different.   In  the
tatastha-paksa,  the bhavas are slightly similar.   In  the
vipaksa, the bhavas are completely different.  Look.   When
the   bhavas  are  not  compatible  the  situation  is  not
pleasant.   In that situation the supremely blissful  rasas
produce malice and other seemingly inauspicious emotions.
     Vijaya-kumara: Why do sva-paksas and vipaksas exist?
      Gosvami: When two heroines have the same nature, sva-
paksa and vipaksa are manifested.  In this way friends  and
enemies  are  manifested  from the  spiritual  rasas.   The
purpose  of these emotions is to increase the sweetness  of
the Lord’s spiritual madhura-rasa.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Are  Radha  and  Candravali  equally
powerful?
      Gosvami:  No.  No. Sri Radha is full of  the  highest
ecstatic  love.   She is the essence of the  hladini-sakti.
Candravali  is  manifested from  a  tiny  particle  of  Sri
Radha’s  transcendental form.  Still, in order to  increase
the  prema-rasa (loving pastimes) of Sri Radha,  Candravali
is  manifested  as  if  she were Radha’s  equal  and  rival
(vipaksa).   Look,  it  is  not  possible  for  these   two
yuthesvaris  to  be completely alike.  If  these  two  seem
sometimes  to be equals, it is only an accident,  like  the
path  of  a  bookworm accidentally forming the shape  of  a
certain  letter of the alphabet.  In truth, the  sva-paksas
and vipaksas are needed to make the rasas glorious.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, no I have  no  doubts.   The
nectar  of  your  words flows into my ears  and  enters  my
heart, where it destroys all the bitterness that was there.
In  my  heart  I can now understand the transformations  of
madhura-rasa.  Lord Krsna is eternal and full of  knowledge
and  bliss.   He is the only hero (nayaka).  I meditate  on
His  form,  qualities, and activities.  He is  dhirodhatta,
dhira-lalita,   dhira-prasanta,   and   dhirodhatta.    His
qualities are anukula, daksina, satha, and dhrstha.  He  is
always  served  by  His  are ceta, vita,  vidusaka,  pitha-
mardaka,  and priya-narma-sakha companions.   He  likes  to
play  the  flute.  Lord Krsna, who enjoys the madhura-rasa,
is  manifest  in  my  heart.  I have  also  understood  the
descriptions of the beautiful girls of Vraja who have taken
shelter  of the madhura-rasa.  They are heroines  (nayika).
The heroines are of two kinds: 1. Svakiya, and 2. Parakiya.
The  best  rasa is that of the parakiya heroines in  Vraja.
These  heroines  are of three kinds:  1,  sadhana-para,  2,
devi,   and  3,  nitya-priya.   Divided  into  many,   many
different  groups,  the girls of Vraja  serve  Lord  Krsna.
There  are  many  millions and millions of  such  girls  of
Vraja,  each of them subordinate to one of the  many,  many
yuthesvaris.   Radha and Candravali are the most  important
of  the  yuthesvaris.  There are five kinds  of  sakhis:  1
sakhi, 2 nitya-sakhi, 3 prana-sakhi, 4 priya-sakhi,  and  5
parama-prestha-sakhi.  In Radha’s group  the  eight  sakhis
headed  by  Lalita  are para-prestha-sakhis.   These  eight
sakhis headed by Lalita are qualified to become yuthesvaris
themselves, but they do not form separate groups, for  they
prefer to remain followers of Sri Radha.  Still, many other
girls of Vraja consider themselves followers of these eight
sakhis.   The  heroines are divided in different  ways:  as
mugdha,  madhya,  and  pragalbha,  as  dhira,  adhira,  and
dhiradhira,  and as kanya, svakiya and parakiya.   In  this
way  there  are  fifteen different kinds of heroines.   The
heroines  have  eight different conditions of  life,  which
begin with abhisarika.  The heroines are also divided  into
uttama,  madhyama and kanistha.  In this way there are  360
(15 x 8 x 3) different kinds of heroines.  Knowledge of the
friendship  and  other emotions felt by the yuthesvaris  is
now  also present in my heart.  Knowledge of the messengers
and  sakhis is now also manifested in my heart.  Now  I  am
able to understand the shelter in whom the rasas rest.  Now
I  understand  the visaya and asraya, and, included  within
them,  the  vibhava  and alambana.  Tomorrow  I  will  take
shelter  of  your  feet  and  learn  from  you  about   the
uddipanas.  Lord Krsna has been very kind to me, to give me
such a kind spiritual master.  Tomorrow I will be very well
nourished by drinking the nectar words that flow from  your
mouth.
      Sri  Gopala-guru  Gosvami embraced Vijaya-kumara  and
said,  Baba. I am very fortunate to have you as a disciple.
You  like to ask many questions, and Lord Caitanya  Himself
has  placed all the answers in my mouth.  The two  of  them
wept tears of love.  After that they were both stunned  and
motionless.
       Seeing   how  fortunate  Vijaya-kumara  had  become,
Dhyanacandra and the other great souls there became plunged
into  great transcendental bliss.  At that moment some pure
Vaisnavas  came to visit the Sri Radha-kanta temple.   They
began to sing this song of Candi-dasa:
     “O friend, whom did I hear pronounce the name ‘Syama’?
That  name entered my ears.  Then it traveled to my  heart.
Now my life breath trembles.
      “I do not know why the name ‘Syama’ is so sweet.   My
mouth cannot renounce saying it.  I say it again and again.
My senses are all overwhelmed.  What will become of me?
      “If  this name makes my senses burn with fever,  what
would  happen if the bearer of this name were to  touch  my
limbs? If I were to see this person with my eyes, how could
I continue on the religious path?
      “In my heart I decide to forget Him, but He will  not
be  forgotten.  What will I do?  Considering the fate of  a
saintly young girl in danger of destroying her family,  the
brahmana Candi-dasa speaks these words.”
      Accompanied  by karatalas and mrdanga, everyone  sang
this  song.  An hour and half passed in this way.  Everyone
was  plunged in spiritual love (prema).  When the spiritual
bliss  was a little broken, Vijaya-kumara offered  dandavat
obeisances  to  Sri  Gopala-guru  Gosvami  and  the   other
Vaisnavas,  respectfully  bade  them  farewell,  and  began
walking to Haracandi-sahi’s house.

Chapter Thirty-five
Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa
      Again  and  again  Krsna appeared  in  his  thoughts.
Vijaya-kumara’s heart was attracted to Krsna.  His ordinary
dealings  were now chaotic.  He ate a little of  what  food
was  around  and  then ran like a madman to  his  spiritual
master,  and  then fell down before his feet.   Gopala-guru
Gosvami  carefully picked him up and embraced him.  Vijaya-
kumara said, “O master, I wish to learn about the uddipanas
in  madhura  rasa.”   Then  the saintly  Gosvami  carefully
spoke.
        Gosvami:    The   qualities,   names,   activities,
decorations,  and  other  things  directly  and  indirectly
related to Krsna and His beloved gopis are the uddipanas in
madhura rasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe these qualities.
     Gosvami: The qualities are of three kinds: 1 mental, 2
verbal and 3 physical.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the mental qualities?
      Gosvami: Gratefulness, forgiveness, and kindness  are
included among the many mental qualities.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the verbal qualities?
      Gosvami: The verbal qualities are words that  delight
the ear.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the physical qualities?
       Gosvami:  Youthfulness,  splendour,  charm,  beauty,
delight,  sweetness, and gentleness are included among  the
physical  qualities.   Four  kinds  of  youthfulness   take
shelter of madhura rasa.  They are: 1 vaya-sandhi, 2 navya-
vayasa, 3 vyakta-vayasa and 4 purna-vayasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vaya-sandhi?
      Gosvami:  The  pint where balya and yauvana  meet  is
called  vya-sandhi.   It is also called ‘prathama-kaisora’.
When kaisora arises, that is vayah-sandhi.  Here balya  and
paugandha are synonyms.  The sweetness of the gopis’  vaya-
sandhi age is an uddipana that inspires Lord Krsna.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is navya-vayasa?
      Gosvami: It is the beginning of yauvana.  In this age
the  gopis  smile  gently, their eyes are  restless,  their
hearts  are beginning to become agitated, and their breasts
are beginning to manifest.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vyakta-vayasa?
      As this question was spoken, Sri Vaisnava and pandita
sannyasi from the Sankara-matha came to see the Deity.  The
Sri Vaisnava considered himself a male servant of the Lord,
and  the Sankara sannyasi was plunged in dry meditation  on
impersonal Brahma.  Neither of them were qualified to  hear
about the Vraja-gopis.  It is forbidden to discuss madhura-
rasa   with  person  firmly  convinced  of  their  material
malehood.   Gopala-guru Gosvami and Vijaya-kumara  at  once
stopped their conversation and made small talk about  other
things.  After a short while the two guests left to see the
siddha bakula tree.  Gently smiling, Vijaya-kumara repeated
his question.
      Gosvami:  When  the  breasts are clearly  manifested,
three  folds of skin are manifested on the waist,  and  all
the  limbs are splendid, then the age is said to be vyakta-
vayasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is purna-vayasa?
      Gosvami: When the hips are large, the waist  slender,
all  the  limbs  splendid  with extraordinary  beauty,  the
breasts large, and the thighs like banana trees, the age is
called purna-vayasa.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now I understand these different ages.
Now please describe form.
      Gosvami:  When the form is so splendid  and  glorious
that  it  seems  to be decorated even when it  is  not,  is
called splendor.  When all the limbs are beautiful, that is
called splendour.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is charm?
      Gosvami:  When all the limbs shine with  a  splendour
like the splendour of pearls, that is called charm.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is beauty?
      Gosvami:  When  each  limb  is  shaped  in  the  most
appropriate  way,  and  when all  the  limbs  are  combined
together in the most beautiful way, that is called beauty.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is delight?
      Gosvami:  When one’s wonderful qualities  make  those
nearby  also  wonderful in the same  way,  that  is  called
delight.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sweetness?
      Gosvami: When the body’s beauty is so great  that  it
cannot be described, that is sweetness.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is gentleness?
      Gosvami:  When  the body is so soft and  delicate  it
cannot  tolerate even the slightest touch, that  is  called
gentleness.   Gentleness  is of three  kinds:  1  great,  2
intermediate and 3 less.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, now I understand  all  these
qualities.  Now please describe the names.
     Gosvami: Transcendental names, such as the name Radha-
Krsna are the birthplace of the rasas and bhavas.
      Vijaya-kumara: I understand.  Now please describe the
activities.
      Gosvami: The activities are of two kinds: 1  anubhava
and 2 lila.  Anubhava was already described after vibhava.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe lila.
      Gosvami:  Beautiful  pastimes, dancing,  playing  the
flute,  milking the cows, herding the cows from  the  hill,
and other like activities are all called lila.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are beautiful pastimes?
     Gosvami: The rasa dance, and playing games with a ball
are  included among the numberless beautiful pastimes  that
charm the heart.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the decorations?
      Gosvami:  Garments, ornaments, garlands and ointments
are the four kinds of decorations.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the things directly related to
Krsna and the gopis?
      Gosvami: Two kinds of things are directly related  to
Krsna  and  the gopis.  They are: 1 things touching  and  2
things nearby.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the things touching?
      Gosvami:  The sound of the flute, the  sound  of  the
buffalo-horn,  bugle, the singing, fragrance,  tinkling  of
the  ornaments, footprints, sound of the vina, and artistic
skill are included among the things touching.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is the sound of the flute?
     Gosvami: From Krsna’s mouth, nectar flute-music flows.
That music is the best of the uddipanas.
      Vijaya-kumara: Please be kind and describe the things
nearby.
      Gosvami:  Flower remnants, peacock feathers,  mineral
dyes  from  the hills, the cows, the stick, the flute,  the
buffalo-horn  bugle, the sight of Krsna’s dear  associates,
the  dust  raised  by  the  cows,  Vrndavana.   The  living
entities  and things that have their shelter in  Vrndavana,
Govardhana Hill, the Yamuna, and the rasa-dance  arena  are
included among the things nearby.
      Vijaya-kumara: Who are the living entities that  have
taken shelter in Vrndavana?
     Gosvami: Many birds, bees, deer, forest groves, vines,
tulasi  plants,  karnika flowers, and  kadamba  trees  have
taken shelter of Vrndavana.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the things indirectly related
to Krsna and the gopis?
        Gosvami:    The   moonlight,   clouds,   lightning,
springtime,  autumn,  full  moon,  breeze  and  birds   are
included among what is indirectly related.
     After hearing about all these uddipanas, Vijaya-kumara
was silent for a moment.  Pushed by the uddipanas, ecstatic
love  arose  in  his  heart.   Then  the  anubhavas  became
manifested on his body.  With a choked voice, Vijaya-kumara
said,  “O  master,  please describe  the  anubhavas.   When
describing  His  lilas, you said they  were  part  of  Lord
Krsna’s activities.  When I understand the anubhavas I will
be able to know the full outline of Krsna’s activities.”
     Gosvami: The anubhavas are of three kinds: 1 alankara,
2 ubhasvara and 3 vacika.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the alankaras?
      Gosvami: In their yauvana age the beautiful girls  of
Vraja manifest twenty kinds of alankara (ornaments).   With
these   ornaments  they  conquer  their   beloved.    These
ornaments are:
      Ornaments manifested from the body: 1 bhava, 2 hava 3
hela.
      Ornaments manifested spontaneously: 4 sobha, 5 kanti,
6 dipti, 7 madhurya, 8 pragalbha, 9 audarya, 10 dhairya.
      Natural  ornaments: 11 lila, 12 vilasa, 13 vicchitti,
14  vibhrama, 15 kila-kincita, 16 mottayita, 17  kuttamita,
18 vibboka, 19 lalita and 20 vikrta.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is bhava in this context?
      Gosvami:  When  the heart is steady in  madhura-rasa,
that  state  is called ‘rati’.  The first manifestation  of
rati  is called ‘bhava’.  When the heart is steady in rati,
that  state  is  called ‘sattva’.  When the  heart  becomes
agitated with ecstatic love, that is called ‘bhava’.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, what is hava?
      Gosvami: To tilt the neck, move the eyes or eyebrows,
or give other hints of love called ‘hava’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is hela?
      Gosvami:  When  the amorous hints of  hava  are  more
openly expressed, that is called ‘hela’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sobha?
      Gosvami:  The  beauty that amorous  pastimes  use  to
decorate the limbs is called ‘sobha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is kanti?
      Gosvami:  When  amorous desires  are  satisfied,  the
splendour then manifested is called ‘kanti’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is dipti?
      Gosvami:  When youthfulness, enjoyment, place,  time,
virtues,  and other like things bring a great and  glorious
splendour that splendour is called ‘dipti’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is madhurya?
     Gosvami: Still in all activities is called ‘madhurya’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is pragalbha?
      Gosvami:  To be self assured and free from  doubt  is
called ‘pragalbhata’.  This brings great splendour to every
limb.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is audarya?
      Gosvami:  To be humble in every situation  is  called
‘audarya’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is dhairya?
      Gosvami:  When  the mind is exalted, that  is  called
‘dhairya’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is lila?
      Gosvami:  To imitate the beloved’s graceful  garments
and actions is called ‘lila’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vilasa?
      Gosvami:  When walking, staying still,  sitting,  the
mouth, the eyes, and many other things are all employed  to
give amorous hints to the beloved, that is called ‘vilasa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vicchitti?
      Gosvami:  If there is great beauty, even  though  the
ornaments  are  few,  that is called ‘vicchitti’.   In  the
opinion of some scholars of rasa, when the lover commits an
offense,  the sakhis carefully decorated Him, and in  spite
of  all  efforts, the girl remains angry, her condition  is
called vicchitti.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vibhrama?
      Gosvami:  When,  at the time of  going  to  meet  her
beloved,  a girl is so bewildered with amorous desire  that
she  decorates  herself with necklace,  garland  and  other
ornaments in the wrong way, that is called ‘vibhrama’.
     Vijaya-kumara: what is kila-kincita?
     Gosvami: Pride, desire, weeping, laughing, envy, fear,
and  anger,  when  they  are  manifested  as  symptoms   of
happiness  when  one meets the beloved, are  called  ‘kila-
kincita.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is mottayita?
     Gosvami: When, by remembering the beloved or receiving
news of him, the lover feels love and then desire, that  is
called ‘mottayita’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is kuttamita?
      Gosvami: When the lover touches the beloved’s breast,
and  the  beloved, although actually pleased,  puts  on  an
outward show of anger, that is called ‘kuttamita’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vibboka?
      Gosvami:  When  pride and jealousy make  the  beloved
insult the lover, that is called ‘vibboka’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is lalita?
      Gosvami:  When  the movements of  the  body  and  the
eyebrows show softness, that is called ‘lalita’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vikrta?
      Gosvami: When shyness, pride, and anger are expressed
not  by words but by actions, that is called ‘vikrta’.   In
this way twenty ornaments are manifested from the body  and
mind.   Some  scholars  of rasa add two  more  ornaments  -
maughdya and cakita - to this list.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is maughdya?
      Gosvami:  When,  even though she  already  knows  the
answer,  the beloved, as if she didn’t already  know,  asks
the lover anyway, that is called ‘maugdhya’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is cakita?
     Gosvami: When, even though there is no reason to fear,
the  beloved tells her lover that she is very afraid,  that
is called ‘cakita’.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, thus I have heard about these
alankaras  (ornaments).   Now please  teach  me  about  the
udbhasvaras.
      Gosvami: When the ecstatic love present in the  heart
is  splendidly  manifested  in the  body,  that  is  called
‘udbhasvara’.   When in madhura rasa the belt,  bodice  and
braids  become loosened, the limbs are agitated, the  mouth
is  opened wide, and, with dilated nostrils there is  heavy
breathing, that is called “udbhasvara”.
     Vijaya-kumara: All these udbhasvaras could easily have
been included within mottayita and vilasa.
       Gosvami:  They  have  a  different  kind  of  glory.
Therefore they are considered separately.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master, now  please  describe  the
verbal anubhavas.
      Gosvami:  Alapa,  vilapa, samlapa, pralapa,  anulapa,
apalapa,  sandesa, atidesa, apadesa, upadesa,  nirdesa  and
vyapadesa are the twelve verbal anubhavas.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is alapa?
      Gosvami: When one speaks pleasing, flattering  words,
that is called ‘alapa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vilapa?
     Gosvami: When one laments, that is called ‘vilapa’.
      Vijaya-kumara:  When  one  laments,  that  is  called
‘vilapa’.
     Gosvami: Pleasing conversations are called ‘samlapa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is pralapa?
     Gosvami: Meaningless words are called ‘pralapa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is anulapa?
      Gosvami:  Repeating the same thing over and  over  is
called ‘anulapa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is apalapa?
      Gosvami: To explain something a second time is called
‘apalapa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sandesa?
      Gosvami:  To send a letter to a beloved in a  faraway
place is called ‘sandesa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is atidesa?
      Gosvami:  To say, ‘His words are my words’ is  called
‘atidesa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is apadesa?
      Gosvami:  While  speaking about one thing  to  reveal
another is called ‘apadesa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is upadesa?
     Gosvami: To give instruction is called ‘upadesa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is nirdesa?
      Gosvami:  To  affirm, “I am that  person”  is  called
‘nirdesa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vyapadesa?
      Gosvami: To misrepresent one’s true desire is  called
‘vyapadesa’.  All these anubhavas are present  in  all  the
rasas.   However, they are famous for making  the  madhura-
rasa sweet.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, why are these rasa anubhavas
considered separately?
      Gosvami:  When the alambanas and uddipanas enter  the
heart,  bhava  is  manifested.  Then  the  symptoms  called
‘anubhavas’  are  manifested  on  the  body.   If  all  the
anubhavas were not discussed separately, then it would  not
be possible to see their natures clearly.
     Vijaya-kumara: Now please describe the sattvika-bhavas
in madhura rasa.
      Gosvami:  The  eight sattvika-bhavas, beginning  with
being  stunned  and  perspiring,  which  I  had  previously
described,  are also present in madhura-rasa.  However,  in
this rasa they are manifested in a different way.
     Vijaya-kumara: How is it different?
      Gosvami:  Look  at the Lord’s Vraja pastimes.   Being
stunned comes from joy, fear, wonder, melancholy and anger.
Perspiration comes from joy, fear and anger.   Standing  up
of  the  body’s  hairs  comes from wonder,  joy  and  fear.
Choking  up  of  the  voice comes from melancholy,  wonder,
anger and fear.  Trembling of the body comes from fear, joy
and  anger.  Becoming pale comes from fear, joy and  anger.
Becoming pale comes from melancholy, anger, fear.  Shedding
tears  comes  from joy, anger, and melancholy.  Devastation
comes from either happiness or distress.
      Vijaya-kumara:  Are these sattvika ecstatic  symptoms
manifested differently in madhura rasa?
      Gosvami: Yes.  They are.  When before I described the
sattvika-bhavas  I explained that they were  manifested  as
either   dhumayita   (smoky),  jvalita   (blazing),   dipta
(shining),  or  uddipta (bright shining).  In  madhura-rasa
these  bhavas  are manifested only in two ways,  as  either
uddipta   (brightly   shining)  or   sudipta   (brilliantly
shining).
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, please be kind to me.  Please
describe the vyabhicari-bhavas in madhura rasa and make  me
happy.
     Gosvami: The thirty-three vyabhicari-bhavas or sancari-
bhavas,  which  begin  with nirveda  (disappointment),  and
which  I  have previously described to you, are almost  all
present in madhura-rasa.  Only augrya (violence) and alasya
(laziness)  are not present in this rasa.  In  madhura-rasa
these sancari-bhavas are very wonderful.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the most wonderful thing about
them in this situation?
     Gosvami: The love for Krsna (krsna-prema) that Krsna’s
friends  and superiors feel for Him in sakhya-rasa and  the
other  rasas,  becomes sancari-bhava in madhura  rasa.   In
other  words  what  was sthayi-bhava  in  the  other  rasas
becomes sancari-bhava or vyabhicari bhava in madhura rasa.
       Vijaya-kumara:  What  else  is  wonderful  in   this
situation?
      Gosvami:  The  vyabhicari-bhavas are  not  considered
direct  ingredients of madhura-rasa.  Even the  vyabhicaris
that  begin with marana (death) are not direct ingredients.
Instead  of  being  ingredients, the vyabhicari-bhavas  are
considered  the qualities of madhura-rasa.  The  vyabhicari
bhavas are the qualities, and madhura rasa is the possessor
of the qualities.  That is the proper conclusion.
       Vijaya-kumara:   How   are   the   vyabhicari-bhavas
manifested in this rasa?
       Gosvami:  Nirveda  (disappointment)  is  born   from
suffering,  unpleasantness, envy, melancholy, calamity  and
offense.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is dainya (humility) born?
      Gosvami:  Dainya is born from unhappiness,  fear  and
offense.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is glani (guilt) born?
      Gosvami:  Glani  is  born from fatigue,  anxiety  and
attraction.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is srama (fatigue) born?
     Gosvami: Srama is born from losing one’s way, dancing,
and attraction.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is mada (intoxication) born?
      Gosvami: Mada is born from drinking liquor.  In  this
way one becomes jubilant and one also loses one’s power  of
discrimination.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is garva (pride) born?
      Gosvami:  Garva  is born from good  fortune,  beauty,
virtue and obtaining what is the best of all.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is sanka (doubt) born?
     Gosvami: Sanka is born from theft, offense, cruelty to
others, lightning, fearsome creatures, and fearsome sounds.
      Vijaya-kumara:  From what is avega (intense  emotion)
born?
     Gosvami: Avega is born from seeing the object of love,
hearing about the object of love, seeing what is not loved,
and  hearing  about what is not loved.  The  heart  becomes
bewildered by these intense emotions.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is unmada (madness) born?
       Gosvami:  Unmada  is  born  from  intense  bliss  or
separation from the beloved.
      Vijaya-kumara:  From what is apasmara (forgetfulness)
born?
      Gosvami:  Apasmara  is born from  unhappiness,  which
upsets the body and the mind.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is vyadhi (disease) born?
      Gosvami:  Vyadhi is born from fever  and  other  like
causes.  It is also born from anxiety, intense emotion, and
other feelings.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is moha (confusion) born?
      Gosvami: Moha is bewilderment of the mind.   Moha  is
born from joy, separation and sorrow.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is mrti (death) born?
      Gosvami: Mrti is not directly manifested in  madhura-
rasa.  Sometimes there is the desire for death.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is alasya (laziness) born?
     Gosvami: Alasya is not directly manifested in madhura-
rasa.  When a strong person pretends that he is not strong,
that is called alasya.  Alasya does not exist in devotional
service to Lord Krsna.  However, it is seen indirectly,  as
the opposite of true devotional service.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is jadya (inertness) born?
     Gosvami: Jadya is born from hearing about the beloved,
seeing   the  beloved,  seeing  what  is  unpleasant,   and
separation from the beloved.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is  vrida (bashfulness) born?
      Gosvami: Vrida is born from first meeting, doing what
should not be done, words of praise, and words of insult.
      Vijaya-kumara:  From what is avahittha  (concealment)
born?
      Gosvami:  Avahittha,  or concealment,  is  born  from
treachery, shyness, cleverness, fear and respect.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is smrti (remembrance) born?
     Gosvami: Smrti is firm belief based on previous direct
perception.
         Vijaya-kumara:     From    what     is     vitarka
(argumentativeness) born?
     Gosvami: Vitarka is born from melancholy or doubt.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is cinta (anxiety) born?
     Gosvami: Cinta is born from failing to attain what one
desires, or attaining what one does not desire.
      Vijaya-kumara:  From  what is  mati  (thoughtfulness)
born?
       Gosvami:   Mati  is  giving  thought  to  understand
something.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is dhrti (endurance) born?
      Gosvami: Dhrti is steadiness of the mind.  It is born
from  the  absence of suffering and the attainment  of  the
best thing.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is harsa (happiness) born?
      Gosvami:  When,  because of seeing or  attaining  the
object  of  one’s desires, one is pleased, that  is  called
‘harsa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is autsukya (eagerness) born?
      Gosvami: Autsukya is born from the desire to  see  or
attain the beloved.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is augrya (violence) born?
      Gosvami:  Violence  is called ‘augrya’.   As  I  have
already said, it is not manifested in madhura-rasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is amarsa (haughtiness) born?
      Gosvami: Inability to tolerate disrespect and  insult
is called “amarsa”.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is asuya (envy) born?
      Gosvami:  Asuya  is hatred of another  person’s  good
fortune.  It comes from good fortune and virtue.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is capala (impudence) born?
     Gosvami: Lightness of the mind is called ‘capala’.  It
is born from attraction and revulsion.
     Vijaya-kumara: From what is nidra (dizziness) born?
     Gosvami: Nidra is born from exhaustion.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is supti (sleepiness)?
     Gosvami: Supti is sleepiness.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is bodha (alertness)?
     Gosvami: Bodha is the opposite of sleepiness.
      O  Baba  Vijaya-kumara,  all  these  vyabhicaris  are
manifested in four ways: 1 utpatti, 2 sandhi, 3 savalya and
4  santi.   When two bhavas join together, that  is  called
‘bhava-sandhi’.  When two different manifestations  of  one
kind  of  bhava  join  together, that is  called  ‘svarupa-
sandhi’.   When  different kinds of bhavas  join  together,
that is called ‘bhinna-sandhi’.  When many different bhavas
are mixed together, that is called ‘bhava-savalya’.  When a
bhava disappears, that is called ‘bhava-santi’.
      Thus hearing about the vibhavas, anubhavas, sattvika-
bhavas,  and  vyabhicari-bhavas  of  madhura-rasa,  Vijaya-
kumara could understand the samagris (ingredients) of  this
rasa.   His  heart  became plunged in  prema  (pure  love).
Still,  he  thought  he  had  no  prema.   Falling  at  His
spiritual master’s feet, and weeping and weeping, he  said,
‘O master, why is my heart not plunged in prema?  Please be
merciful  and tell me.’  Gopala-guru Gosvami replied  “Come
tomorrow,  and  I  will teach you about  prema.   You  have
understood the samagris (ingredients) of prema.  But  prema
is  still  not openly manifested in your heart.  The  prema
that is the same as sthayi-bhava you have heard from me  in
a  general  way.  When you hear how prema is manifested  in
madhura-rya,  you  will  attain  all  perfection.”    After
speaking these words, Gopala-guru Gosvami embraced  Vijaya-
kumara.   Vijaya-kumara  offered dandavat  obeisances,  and
then he returned to his own residence.

Chapter Thirty-six
Madhura-rasa-vicara
Madhura-rasa
      Today  Vijaya-kumara came at the appointed  time  and
offered  dandavat  obeisances to Sri  Gopala-guru  Gosvami.
Seeing  that  today Vijaya-kumara was very eager  to  learn
about sthayi-bhava, the spiritual master began to speak.
      Gosvami: The sthayi-bhava of madhura-rasa is madhura-
rati.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  causes madhura-rati  to  become
manifested?
      Gosvami:  Madhura-rati is manifested  from  abhiyoga,
visaya,  sambandha,  abhimana,  tadiya-visesa,  upama,  and
svabhava.   Each  item  in this list  is  better  than  the
preceding  item.  In this way the rati that  is  manifested
from svabhava is the best of the ratis.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is bhiyoga?
     Gosvami: To openly reveal one’s love (bhava) is called
‘abhiyoga”.   One  may make the revelation  personally,  or
another person may do it.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is visaya?
      Gosvami:  The  five visayas are sound,  touch,  form,
taste and fragrance.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sambandha?
      Gosvami:  The  five glorious sambandhas  are  family,
beauty, virtue and pastimes.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is abhimana?
      Gosvami: When, given the choice of many beautiful and
pleasing  objects, a person conclusively chooses  one,  and
one  alone,  demanding, “I want that one”, that  is  called
‘abhimana’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is tadiya-visesa?
      Gosvami: The tadiya-visesas are footprints, the  land
of the cows, and dear friends.  In this context the land of
the cows is the land of Vrndavana, and the dear friends are
the devotees who love Krsna deeply.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is upama?
     Gosvami: When one thing is somewhat like another, that
is called ‘upama’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is svabhava?
      Gosvami:  The  nature  that manifests  spontaneously,
without  any external cause is called ‘svabhava’.  Svabhava
is of two kinds: nisarga and svarupa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is nisarga?
      Gosvami:  A  habit  born from  repetition  is  called
nisarga’.  Qualities, form, and hearing are included  among
the  causes of nisarga.  The meaning here is that when  the
soul  again  and  again acts in a certain way,  after  many
births  he  develops  a habit, which is  called  ‘nisarga’.
Therefore,  it   when hearing about Lord Krsna’s  qualities
and  form a person suddenly and passionately (hatha)  falls
in  love (bhava) with Krsna, that love is caused not by the
immediate  circumstances, but by repeated  past  devotional
activities (nisarga).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is svarupa?
      Gosvami:  What  is unborn, beginningless,  and  self-
perfect is called ‘svarupa’.  Svarupa is of three kinds:  1
krsna-nistha (faith in Krsna), lalana-nistha (faith in  the
gopis),  and  ubhaya-nistha (faith in both  Krsna  and  the
gopis).   Persons  of demonic nature do not  attain  krsna-
nistha.  On the other hand, persons of godly nature  easily
attain  it.   Persons  who  are spiritual  enlightened  can
attain  lalana-nistha.  Sometimes even  without  seeing  or
hearing  of  Krsna’s  form  and  other  features  a  person
suddenly develops intense love for Him.  When one has  both
krsna-nistha  and  lalana-nistha that is  called  -’ubhaya-
nistha’.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Is  every  aspect  of  madhura  rasa
manifested   from   the  seven  causes  abhiyoga,   visaya,
sambandha, abhimana, tadiya-visesa, upama, and svabhava?
     Gosvami: The beautiful girls of Gokula love Krsna with
a  love that is part of their own nature (svabhava), a love
that is naturally perfect (svarupa-siddha), a love that  is
not  caused  by the seven causes that begin with  abhiyoga.
Rather, their love is caused by various different pastimes.
However, for the sadhana-siddha (who attained perfection by
engaging in sadhana-bhakti) and nisarga-siddha-sadhaka (who
are  still  striving  to attain perfection)  devotees,  the
seven  causes  that begin with abhiyoga do  indeed  inspire
love for Krsna.
      Vijaya-kumara: One or two examples here would be very
pleasing to the heart.
      Gosvami:  This kind of love is attained by practicing
raganuga-bhakti.   It cannot be attained by  vaidhi-bhakti.
This  kind  of  love  stays far  away  from  a  person  who
practices vaidhi-bhakti.  When a devotee engaged in sadhana-
bhakti sees the loving service the beautiful girls of Vraja
offer  to Lord Krsna, and when that devotee yearns to serve
Krsna  in  the  same  way,  then the  previously  mentioned
causes,   with  priyajana  (the  dear  friends  of   Krsna)
especially  prominent and now numbering  only  six  because
svabhava  is  not present here, become the  causes  of  his
ecstatic love for Krsna,  In this way the devotee gradually
attains  rati  (spiritual love).  When the devotee  attains
the  stage  of  sadhana-siddha then he may  attain  lalana-
nistha.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the different kinds of rati?
      Gosvami:  There are three kinds of rati: 1  sadharani
(ordinary), 2 samanjasa (proper) and 3 samartha  (perfect).
Kubja is an example of sadharani-rati.  She yearned for her
own  person  enjoyment in Krsna’s company.   Therefore  her
love is of an inferior nature.  The Dvaraka queens’ love is
samanjasa  (proper).   And why not?  They  enjoyed  Krsna’s
company within the religious institution of marriage.   The
love  of the Gokula goddesses, the gopis is, samartha.   It
exists  in  a  plane above the ordinary activities  of  the
world  and  the ordinary rules of religion.  This  Samartha
love is not improper (asamanjasa).  Rather, because is  has
the power to bring the highest goal of life, it is the most
proper  (ati-samanjasa).  Sadharani love is like  a  jewel,
samanjasa  love  is  like a cintamani jewel,  and  samartha
love, which has no equal, is like a Kaustubha jewel.
      Vijaya-kumara: (weeping and weeping) What a wonderful
description this is!  I wish to learn more about  sadharani
rati.
     Gosvami: When by directly seeing Krsna a person yearns
to  enjoy in His company, and in this way feels a love that
is  not  yet very intense, that love is called ‘sadharani’.
Because  that love is not yet very intense, the desire  for
one’s  own enjoyment is still present within it.  When  the
desire  for personal enjoyment becomes dwarfed,  then  what
remains to dwarf the growth of real love?
     Vijaya-kumara: What is samanjasa rati?
     Gosvami: When by hearing the qualities of Krsna a girl
yearns  to  become  His wife, her intense  love  is  called
‘samanjasa’.   Still, in this lover there is sometimes  the
desire  for  personal  enjoyment.   However,  without  this
desire the wife will not be under Krsna’s dominion.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is samartha love?
      Gosvami:  In rati the desire for enjoyment is  always
present.  In sadharani rati and samanjasa rati the  devotee
desires  her  personal  enjoyment.   When  the  desire  for
enjoyment  is completely free for the desire for one’s  own
personal  enjoyment, and one desires only the enjoyment  of
the beloved, that kind of love is called ‘samartha’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is that like?  Please explain and
make it more clearly understood.
      Gosvami:   The desire for enjoyment is of two  kinds.
One  kind is the desire that the beloved will please my own
senses.   The  other kind is the desire that I will  please
the  senses  of my beloved.  The first kind  of  desire  is
called ‘kama’ (lust).  And why not?  In that situation  one
is eager only for his own happiness.  In the second kind of
desire one is eager for the happiness and well-being of the
beloved.   That desire is the desire of love  (prema).   In
sadharani love the desire for personal enjoyment is strong.
In  samanjasa love that desire is not strong.  In  samartha
love the desire for enjoyment is of a different nature.  It
is,  as  I  have already said, the desire that the  beloved
should enjoy.
      Vijaya-kumara:  In loving affairs the  touch  of  the
beloved  inevitably brings pleasure.  How  is  it  possible
that in samartha love this pleasure is not desired?
      Gosvami: That desire is inevitably difficult to stop.
Still,  in samartha love that desire of the heart  is  very
weak.   In  this  kind  of love the desire  to  please  the
beloved  is  very  strong.  That desire then  embraces  the
desire  for  personal enjoyment, and in that  embrace  both
desires   become  one.   Because  this  is  the   strongest
(samartha) of all kinds of love, it is called ‘samartha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the glories of samartha love?
      Gosvami: Among the seven previously described  causes
beginning  with  abhiyoga, sambandha may e  manifested,  or
tadiya-visesa   may  be  manifested  or  svarupa   may   be
manifested  and  in this way samartha love  may  come  into
being.   Or, forgetting all these, this very powerful  love
may come into being by itself.
       Vijaya-kumara:  How  do  the  desire  for   personal
enjoyment and the desire that the beloved should enjoy join
and become a single desire?
      Gosvami: The beautiful girls of Vraja love Krsna with
samartha  love.  They desire only for His happiness.   When
they  associate with Krsna, the certainly experience  their
own  happiness.  However, they accept only those activities
that  bring  happiness  to  Krsna.   Thus  the  desire  for
personal enjoyment and the desire only to please Krsna meet
in  the  waves of sublime and wonderful pastimes.  In  that
condition the desire for personal enjoyment does not  exist
apart  from  the desire to please Krsna.  In this  way  the
desire for personal enjoyment ceases to exist.
      Vijaya-kumara: Aha! How wonderful is  this  love!   I
yearn to hear of it’s highest glories.
      Gosvami: When this love (rati) matures it reaches the
stage  called ‘maha-bhava’.  All the liberated  souls  seek
this  stage of love.  The five kinds of devotees attain  it
to the degree they are able.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, I request that  you  explain
the different stages of this love.
      Gosvami:  It is said (Ujjvala-nilamani, Sthayi-bhava-
prakarana):
     “When rati becomes very intense, it is called ‘prema’.
As  prema  gradually manifests its sweetness, it is  called
sneha, mana, pranaya, raga, anuraga, and bhava.”
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, please give an example.
      Gosvami: As there is a progression in sweetness  from
sugar-cane plant to sugar-cane juice to molasses to gur, to
sugar granules, to rock candy, so there is a progression in
love from rati to prema, to sneha, to mana, to pranaya,  to
raga,  to anuraga, and finally to bhava.  The word  ‘bhava’
in this progression refers to maha-bhava.
      Vijaya-kumara: Why are so many different stages  with
so  many  different names grouped under the general heading
of ‘prema’?
      Gosvami:  The  six kinds of love,  which  begin  with
sneha,  are  all different pastime stages  of  prema.   The
panditas  who are learned in this matter call them  all  by
the name “prema”.  In this way prema is manifested.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the different kinds of prema?
      Gosvami:  There are three kinds of prema: 1,  praudha
(mature) , 2 madhya (intermediate) and 3, manda (slow).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is praudha prema?
      Gosvami:  When the lover is anguished  to  think  her
delay may worry her beloved, that is praudha-prema.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is madhya prema?
      Gosvami:  When the lover is not concerned  about  the
beloved’s anguish, that is madhya prema.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is manda prema?
      Gosvami:  When the lover neither cares nor  does  not
care,  that is manda prema.  This kind of love can  inspire
one  to  create  obstacles to stop the exalted  love  of  a
rival.  O Vijaya-kumara, Praudha, madhya and manda are thus
the  three  divisions of prema.  They can also be described
in   these  words:  When  the  lover  cannot  tolerate  the
beloved’s suffering, that is praudha prema.  When the lover
can tolerate the beloved’s suffering, that is madhya prema.
When  the lover forgets whether the beloved suffers or not,
that is manda prema.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now I understand prema.  What are  the
characteristics of sneha?
      Gosvami: When it reaches its highest state, prema  is
like  a  brilliant  lamp.   This  is  known  as  ‘citprema’
(spiritual  love).   When it makes  the  heart  melt,  this
spiritual prema is called ‘sneha’.  The by product of sneha
is  that the lover never becomes satiated or disinterested,
even if the lover sees the beloved at every moment.
      Vijaya-kumara:  Are there different kinds  of  sneha,
some better and some lesser?
      Gosvami:  In  the lowest kind of sneha,  the  lover’s
heart  melts   at  the  touch  of  the  beloved.   In   the
intermediate kind of sneha, the lover’s heart melts at  the
sight  of  the  beloved.  In the best kind  of  sneha,  the
lover’s heart melts simply by hearing of the beloved.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the other different kinds  of
sneha?
      Gosvami:  Sneha is also of two kinds: 1. Ghrta  sneha
(ghee love) and madhu-sneha (honey love).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ghrta-sneha?
      Gosvami: When love is very respectful (adaramaya)  it
is  called  ‘ghrta-sneha’.  When ghrta-sneha is mixed  with
madhu sneha, the result is very palatable.  Ghrta-sneha  is
by  nature  cool.   When the respect (adara)  is  increased
(ghani-bhuta),  this  love becomes  more  intense.   It  is
called ‘ghrta-sneha’ because it has the qualities of  ghrta
(ghee).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is respect (adara).
      Gosvami: Respect (adara) comes from honouring  others
(gaurava).    In   this   way  respect   and   honour   are
interdependent.  When love (rati) is  manifested with  them
it is called, in this context, ‘sneha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is gaurava (honour).
      Gosvami: When one thinks of a person as a guru,  that
is  called ‘gaurava’.  From gaurava is manifested sambhrama
(esteem).   This  is all said to be included  within  adara
(respect).  Adara and gaurava are interdependent.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is madhu-sneha?
      Gosvami:  When the lover thinks, “The beloved  is  my
property’,   then  that  is  called  ‘madhu-sneha’.    Many
different  rasas  meet in this sweet love.   This  love  is
passionate  and therefore it brings warmth.   Because  this
love is sweet (madhura), there it is called ‘madhu-sneha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What does it mean to think “The beloved
is my property’?
      Gosvami: Love is manifested in two ways.  In one  way
the  lover  thinks, “I am the property of my beloved”.   In
the other way the lover thinks, “My beloved is the property
of  me.”  In ghrta-sneha the idea “I am the property of  my
beloved” is prominent.  In madhu-sneha the idea “My beloved
is  the property of me” is prominent.  Candravali possesses
ghrta-sneha.  Radha possesses madhu-sneha.
      Vijaya-kumara: (after offering dandavat obeisances to
his spiritual master).  What is mana?
      Gosvami:  When sneha becomes exalted and manifests  a
new  kind of sweetness, the lover manifests various crooked
dealings with the beloved.  That is called ‘mana’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the different kinds of mana?
      Gosvami: There are two kinds of mana: 1 udatta and  2
lalita.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is udatta mana?
     Gosvami: It is of two kinds.  In one kind the lover is
straightforward, open, and free of diplomacy.  In the other
kind   the   lover  engages  in  concealment  and   crooked
diplomacy.  Udatta-mana is manifested in ghrta-sneha.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is lalita-mana?  I cannot say why,
but somehow I feel attracted to it.
      Gosvami:  Lalita-mana is of two kinds.  In  kautilya-
lalita-mana  there  is independence  and  crookedness.   In
narma-lalita-mana there are joking words.   Both  kinds  of
lalita-mana manifested in madhu sneha.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is pranaya?
      Gosvami: When the lover trusts the beloved and  feels
one at heart with the beloved, that is called ‘pranaya’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What does ‘trust’ (visrambha) mean  in
this situation?
     Gosvami: The real nature of pranaya is trust, which is
called  ‘visrambha’.  Visrambha is of two kinds:  1  maitra
and 2 sakhya.  Visrambha means ‘firm trust’.  This trust is
not  merely  the  secondary cause of pranaya.   It  is  the
original  cause of it, the very ingredient of which  it  is
made.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is maitra-visrambha?
      Gosvami: When visrambha is joined with humility, that
is called ‘maitra’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sakhya-visrambha?
      Gosvami:  When the lover is free from  all  fear  and
convinced that the beloved is completely under the  lover’s
control, that is called ‘sakhya-visrambha.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  Please clearly explain  how  pranaya,
sneha and mana are related to each other.
      Gosvami:  In  some situations sneha  gives  birth  to
pranaya,  and  from pranaya mana is manifested.   In  other
situations sneha gives birth to mana and from mana  pranaya
is  manifested.  Therefore mana and pranaya may assume both
roles  of  either  cause or effect.  Visrambha  requires  a
separate  explanation.  Udatta and  lalita  exist  in  both
maitra and sakhya.  However, in sakhya they are also called
“su-maitra” and “su-sakhya”.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is raga?
      Gosvami:  When  pranaya becomes  exalted  even  great
suffering  is considered happiness.  That stage of  pranaya
is called ‘raga’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the different kinds of raga?
      Gosvami:  There  are two kinds: 1  nilima-rga  and  2
raktima-raga.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How  many kinds  of  nilima-raga  are
there?
      Gosvami: There are two kinds of nilima-raga: 1  nili-
raga and syama-raga.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is nili-raga?
      Gosvami: In this raga there is no possibility of loss
of  destruction.  Externally there is great glory and  love
is   concealed  within  the  heart.   That  is   nili-raga.
Candravali manifests this raga before Lord Krsna.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is syama-raga?
      Gosvami:  When the beloved’s delay makes the  worried
lover water the forest plants with a stream of tears,  that
is called syama-raga.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How many kinds of  raktima  raga  are
there?”
      Gosvami: Raktima raga is of two kinds: 1 kusumbha and
2 manjistha-sambhava,
     Vijaya-kumara: What is kusumbha-raga?
      Gosvami:  When the other ragas manifest their  beauty
and  glory,  that is called ‘kusumbha raga’.  Kusumbha-raga
rests in a particular object.  When it mixes with manjistha-
raga,  it  produces withering and melancholy in a gopi  who
loves Krsna (krsna-pranayi).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is manjistha-raga?
     Gosvami: The eternal, unchanging, unalloyed, eternally
very glorious love that Sri Sri Radha and Madhava feel  for
each  other is called manjistha-raga.  The final conclusion
is  that  ghrta, sneha, udatta, maitra, su-maitra,  nilima,
and  other  like bhavas that have been described  here  are
manifested  in  Candravali and  by  the  queens  headed  by
Rukmini.  On the other hand, madhu, sneha, lalita,  sakhya,
su-sakhya, raktima, and other like bhavas are manifested in
Sri Radha.  Sometimes they are also seen in Satyabhama.   I
have  already explained that the beautiful girls  of  Vraja
are divided into many rival (sva-paksa and vipaksa) groups.
In this way there is much dissension among them.  When they
relate  to  the  other bhavas, these create many  different
features.   Only panditas learned in this particular  topic
can understand all this.  In other words, I will not give a
more elaborate explanation of it.
      Vijaya-kumara: To which bhavas does the  phrase  ‘the
other bhavas’ refer?
      Gosvami:  It refers to sthayi-madhura-bhava,  the  33
vyabhicari-bhavas,  and the seven bhavas  that  begin  with
hasya.   Thus it refers to 41 bhavas.  These are the ‘other
bhavas’ referred to here.
      Vijaya-kumara: Now I understand raga.  Please explain
anuraga.
      Gosvami: The raga that is always newer and newer  and
makes the beloved newer and newer at every moment is called
‘anuraga’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the glorious wonder that  this
raga manifests?
      Gosvami:  It  brings  the lover under  the  beloved’s
control  and  the  beloved under the lover’s  control.   It
creates prema-vaicittya.  It makes one yearn to take  birth
even  as  a  very lowly being (if that birth is within  the
holy  abode  is Sri Vrndavana).  It is limitless  and  most
exalted.   It makes Krsna present even when the devotee  is
separated from Him.
      Vijaya-kumara:  I can easily understand  how  anuraga
brings the lover and beloved under each other’s control and
how  it  makes one yearn to take birth as a tree  or  other
lowly being (within the holy abode of Sri Vrndavana).  But,
O master what is prema-vaicittya?
     Gosvami: Prema-vaicittya is the love the devotee feels
in separation from Krsna.  You will learn about that later.
     Vijaya-kumara: Now please describe maha-bhava.
      Gosvami:  O  Vijaya-kumara, I am a very insignificant
person.   I am not really qualified to describe the wonders
of  the  rasas of Vraja.  Whatever Srila Rupa  Gosvami  and
Srila  Pandita Gosvami have mercifully taught  me,  I  will
now  reveal  to you.  Please consider it their  mercy  upon
you.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, I, the asker of questions and
very  fallen and unintelligent.  Please explain  maha-bhava
so even my heart can understand it.
      Gosvami: Sri Radha is the asraya of anuraga and  Lord
Krsna is the visaya.  Sri Krsna, who is the son of Nanda is
the  visaya  in  madhura-rasa.  Sri Radha  is  the  asraya.
Anuraga is the sthayi bhava.  When that anuraga reaches its
highest, most glorious stage, it is called maha-bhava.
      Vijaya-kumara: Aha!  Maha bhava! Maha bhava! Today  I
can  understand something of maha-bhava.  The highest point
of  all the bhavas is maha-bhava.  Please place on my  ears
an example of maha-bhava.
     Gosvami: O Vijaya-kumara, you are very fortunate.  The
following verse is an example of maha-bhava:
      “Vrnda-devi said to Lord Krsna: O regal elephant  who
wanders in the jungles and mountains, Your amorous pastimes
have  shaken  away  Radha sadness in separation  from  You.
With  the red colour of ever-new love, the artist  of  Your
amorous pastimes paints a glorious picture in the palace of
the world.”
     Vijaya-kumara: Where does maha-bhava reside?
      Gosvami:  Maha-bhava does not reside in  the  Dvaraka
queens.   It  resides only in the gopis, the  goddesses  of
Vraja.
     Vijaya-kumara: What does all this mean?
      Gosvami: When the lover and beloved are bound by ties
of marriage, the relationship is svakiya-rasa, and the love
is  samanjasa.   In  this situation  samartha  love,  which
brings  the  possibility of maha-bhava is not present.   In
Vraja, although svakiya-rasa is also present, parakiya rasa
predominates.    In  the  highest  stage  of  parakiya-rasa
samartha love, maha-bhava is manifested.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How many are the different  kinds  of
maha bhava?
      Gosvami: When it appears, maha-bhava floods the heart
with  nectar.  Maha-bhava is of two kinds: 1  rudha  and  2
adhirudha.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is rudha maha bhava?
      Gosvami:  When  all the sattvika  bhavas  shine  very
brightly, that is rudha maha-bhava.
      Vijaya-kumara: Please describe the anubhavas in maha-
bhava.
      Gosvami:  Inability  to tolerate  the  eye’s  natural
activity of blinking, agitating the hearts of those nearby,
thinking  a kalpa to be as long as a moment, worrying  that
Krsna may be suffering, even when it is obvious that He  is
happy,  forgetting everything, thinking a moment to  be  as
long as a kalpa, and although they are not bewildered, they
forget  everything about themselves.  These  anubhavas  are
present   in  both  meeting  the  beloved  (sambhoga)   and
separation from the beloved (vipralambha).
      Vijaya-kumara:  What is ‘inability  to  tolerate  the
eye’s natural activity of blinking’?
      Gosvami:  In  this  bhava the feeling  of  separation
(vipralambha) is present in meeting (sambhoga).   Here  the
lover   is   unable  to  tolerate  even  a  brief  moment’s
separation from the beloved.  At Kuruksetra the vraja-gopis
cursed  the  creator  Brahma for  creating  eyelashes  that
impeded  their  always seeing Krsna.   And  why  not?   The
blinking of their eyelashes became an obstacle that stopped
them from seeing Krsna for a moment.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘agitating the hearts of those
nearby’?
      Gosvami: When they saw the gopis’ ecstatic love,  the
kings and queens present at Kuruksetra felt deeply moved at
heart.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘thinking a kalpa to be as long
as a moment’?
      Gosvami: The rasa dance lasted for an entire night of
Brahma.   Still,  the gopis thought it lasted  for  only  a
moment.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘worrying that  Krsna  may  be
suffering, even when it is obvious that He is happy’?
      Gosvami:  In Srimad Bhagavatam (10.31.19)  the  gopis
worry that Krsna will suffer if He places His lotus feet on
their hard breasts.
       Vijaya-kumara:  What  is  ‘although  they  are   not
bewildered they forget everything about themselves’?
      Gosvami: Because Krsna is always present before them,
they  are  not bewildered.  However, when Krsna is present,
they  forget  everything about their own bodies  and  about
everything else in the material world.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘thinking a moment  to  be  as
long as a kalpa’?
      Gosvami: Krsna said to Uddhava, “When I was with  the
gopis in Vrndavana, all the nights seemed to pass like half
a  moment.   But now that I am separated from  them,  every
night seems like a kalpa.”  This is an example of ‘thinking
a moment to be as long as a kalpa’?
      Vijaya-kumara:  Now  I understand  the  rudha-bhavas.
Please describe the adhirudha-bhavas.
      Gosvami: When these rudha-bhava anubhavas I have just
described become very wonderful, they become the adhirudha-
bhavas.
      Vijaya-kumara: How many kinds of adhirudha-bhava  are
there?
     Gosvami: There are two kinds: 1 modana and 2 madana.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is modana?
      Gosvami:  When  Radha and Krsna both feel  adhirudha-
bhava,  and when They both manifest all the sattvika-bhavas
with the most brilliant glory, that is called ‘modana’.  In
modana-bhava  Radha  and Krsna both become  very  agitated.
This  condition  is the highest good fortune  of  spiritual
love manifested among the gopi lovers of Lord Krsna.
     Vijaya-kumara: Where does modana-bhava reside?
      Gosvami: Modana-bhava does not reside outside of  Sri
Radha’s group.  Modana-bhava is manifested in the very dear
pastimes  of  the  hladini-sakti.   When  the  lovers   are
separated,  modana gives birth to mohana.   When  there  is
great  distress  because of separation, the sattvika-bhavas
are very brilliantly manifest.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Please  describe  the  anubhavas  of
mohana?
       Gosvami:  Embraced  by  His  beloved,  Krsna   falls
unconscious.  Although she suffers unbearably, a gopi still
thinks only of how Krsna will be happy.  Thirsting for  the
touch  of  Krsna, a gopi becomes mad and decides to  commit
suicide,  thus  filling the spiritual and  material  worlds
with  anxiety and making the nearby animals weep.   Mohana-
bhava  is  possible in Sri Radha, the queen  of  Vrndavana.
These  mohana vyabhicari-bhavas are not present  in  anyone
but Radha.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, if you think  it  is  right,
then please describe divyonmada (transcendental madness).
     Gosvami: When it enters a certain indescribable state,
mohana-bhava  becomes  like a bewildered  condition.   This
very surprising and wonderful state is called ‘divyonmada’.
This  state has many different divisions, such as  udghurna
(agitation) and citra-jalpa (surprising talk).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is udghurna?
      Gosvami:  Many different kinds of activities  can  be
called  ‘udghurna’.  When Krsna went to Mathura, Sri  Radha
manifested udghurna.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is citra-jalpa?
      Gosvami:  Seeing one of the beloved’s  friends,  with
wonderful anger the lover harshly expresses her anxiety and
longing.  This is called ‘citra-jalpa’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the different kinds of citra-
jalpa?
     Gosvami: The ten kinds of citra-jalpa are: 1 prajalpa,
2 parijapita, 3 vijalpa, 4 ujjalpa, 5 sanjalpa, 6 avajalpa,
7  abhijalpa, 8 ajalpa, 9 pratijalpa, and 10 sujalpa.   All
these different kinds of citra-jalpa are manifested in  the
Bhramara-gita chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam’s Tenth Canto.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is prajalpa?
      Gosvami: Citra-jalpa has numberless wonderful  forms.
Therefore it is very difficult to describe it with any kind
of  completeness.  When the lover spitefully,  maliciously,
and  passionately  insults  the  beloved,  that  is  called
‘prajalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is parijalpita?
      Gosvami: When the lover claims that the beloved,  who
is  the  master  of her heart, is merciless,  crooked,  and
fickle is called ‘parijalpita.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vijalpa?
      Gosvami:  When  in  the heart one honours  and  loves
Krsna,  although externally one casts spiteful glances  and
speaks spiteful words, is called ‘vijalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ujjalpa?
      Gosvami:  When  the  lover  angrily,  arrogantly  and
spitefully  insults Krsna, calling Him a rake and  a  rogue
that is called ‘ujjalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sanjalpa?
       Gosvami:  When  the  lover  mocks  Krsna  with  many
sarcastic words and asserts that Krsna is ungrateful,  that
is called ‘sanjalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is avajalpa?
      Gosvami:  When the lover says that because  Krsna  is
harsh,  lusty  and crooked, she is afraid  of  what  loving
Krsna may bring, that is called ‘avajalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is abhijalpa?
      Gosvami:  When  the lover says, “It  is  foolish  and
useless  to  fall in love with Krsna.  He is  so  cruel  he
tortures even the innocent birds.”  These crooked words are
called ‘abhijalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ajalpa?
       Gosvami:  When  the  lover,  filled  with   disgust,
declares,  “Krsna is crooked and deceptive.  He only  gives
us  pain.  We should stop talking of Him, and instead  talk
about  something else, something more pleasant.”   That  is
called ajalpa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is pratijalpa?
       Gosvami:  When  the  lover  declares,  “Krsna  is  a
highwayman  in loving affairs.  He is a rake who  likes  to
enjoy  pastimes with many girls.  Therefore he  should  not
come anywhere near me.”  That is called ‘pratijalpa’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sujalpa?
     Gosvami: When the lover sincerely, deeply, humbly, and
restlessly asks many questions about Krsna, that is  called
‘sujalpa’.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, am I qualified to understand
madana?
      Gosvami:  When the most exalted love of the  hladini-
sakti,  a  love  that  is the best of all  the  bhavas,  is
splendidly  manifested, that is called  ‘madana’.   Madana-
bhava is eternally manifested in Sri Radha.
     Vijaya-kumara: Does envy exist in madana-bhava?
      Gosvami: Envy is very prominent in madana-bhava.   It
is  seen  that  even inanimate objects are envied.   Again,
sometimes  it is seen that words of praise are  offered  to
all  who  have a relationship with Krsna.  Words describing
envy  of Krsna’s flute and words praising the pulinda girls
may be cited as examples here.
     Vijaya-kumara: At what stage is madana seen?
     Gosvami: The wonderful madana-bhava is manifested when
the lover’s meet and enjoy pastimes together.  Madana-bhava
is manifest in thousands of ways in the eternal pastimes.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, do the great  sages  give  a
description of madana-bhava?
      Gosvami:  Madana-rasa is limitless.  Even Lord  Krsna
Himself could not understand everything about the spiritual
madana-rasa.  The great sage Sukadeva Gosvami found himself
unable  to describe it completely.  The rasa-acarya Bharata
Muni  and many others were also unable to properly describe
madana-rasa.
      Vijaya-kumara: What wonderful things  have  I  heard!
Even Lord Krsna Himself, the enjoyer of madana-rasa, cannot
understand it completely.  Why is that?
      Gosvami:  Lord  Krsna  is rasa  personified.   He  is
limitless,  all  knowing,  and all  powerful.   Nothing  is
unknown by Him, unattainable for Him, or impossible for Him
to  do.   He  is inconceivably and simultaneously  one  and
different  from the rasas.  He is each rasa and He  is  all
rasas.  He accepts each rasa.  In this way He is ‘atmarama’
(the enjoyer of the spiritual rasas).  Nothing in the rasas
is  apart  from  Him.   He  is present  in  all  the  rasas
simultaneously.  Aside from Krsna’s own (atma) rasa,  there
is  also  the rasa of others (para).  Both these  kinds  of
rasas  bring  the experience of the happiness of  spiritual
pastimes.   When the rasa of others (para) is  manifest  in
its  highest  stage,  it  is called ‘parakiya-rasa’.   This
highest stage is manifested in all its glory in the land of
Vrndavana.  When the atma-rasa (svakiya-rasa) is completely
unknown,  and  only  parakiya-rasa is known,  that  is  the
highest  stage of madana-rasa.  In this way madana-rasa  is
purely  manifested  in  the Lord’s aprakata  (invisible  to
material  eyes) pastimes in Goloka.  It is also  manifested
in the land of Vraja situated in the material world.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, you mercy to me has no limit.
I  request  that  you please give a summary  of  the  whole
madhura-rasa.
      Gosvami:  The various bhavas manifested by the  vraja
gopis  are all spiritual, beyond the touch of the  material
world.   They  are  beyond  the understanding  of  material
logic.   Therefore the human intelligence  cannot  describe
the  completely.  I have heard in the scriptures  that  Sri
Radha had raga (love) for Krsna was manifested even in  Her
purva-raga (the beginnings of love).  From this  raga  came
the anuraga sneha.  From that came mana and pranaya.  These
topics  cannot be understood completely.  In sadharani-rati
is  manifested dhumayita.  Sneha, mana, pranaya,  raga  and
anuraga are manifested in samanjasa-rati.  From that  comes
splendid  dipta-rati.  Then are manifested rudha,  uddipta,
modana, and sudipta-rati.  Please know that this is  merely
a  general  summary.  And why not?  There may be exceptions
according   to  time,  place  and  object.   Sadharani-rati
culminates in prema.  Samanjasa-rati culminates in anuraga.
Samartha-rati culminates in maha-bhava.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is the extent of rati in  sakhya-
rasa?
      Gosvami:  The  highest stage of the  narma-sakhas  is
anuraga.  However, Subala and some others among them attain
maha-bhava.
      Vijaya-kumara: I have already described sthayi-bhava.
Sthayi  bhava culminates in maha-bhava.  Why are  different
rasas  seen  in sthayi bhava, even though it has  only  one
nature?
      Gosvami:  Sthayi-bhava is manifested in the different
rasas.   The  secret  activities of sthayi  bhava  are  not
openly   manifested.   When  there  is  contact  with   the
samagris,  then  the  different rasas  may  be  seen.   The
appropriate samagris are manifested in sthayi-bhava.
     Vijaya-kumara: Are svakiya-rasa and parakiya rasa both
eternally manifested in madhura-rasa?
      Gosvami: Yes.  Svakiya and parakiya are both eternal.
The  difference  between  them is  not  merely  a  material
designation.  If the difference between them were material,
the  madhura rasa and the other rasas would all be material
in  nature.  The rasas are eternal, and they are manifested
eternally.   In  the  rasas there are ruci  (attraction  to
Krsna),  bhajana (service to Krsna), and prapti (attainment
of   Krsna),   bhajana  (service  to  Krsna),  and   prapti
(attainment  of  Krsna).  Svakiya-rasa is also  present  in
Vraja.   In  that rasa the devotee thinks of Krsna  as  her
husband.    In   that   rasa,  ruci,  sadhana,   (spiritual
practice),  bhajana,  and prapti are all  manifested.   The
svakiya-rasa  manifest in Dvaraka is the same  as  that  of
Vaikuntha.   However, please know that the svakiya-rasa  of
Vraja  is  different from the rasas of  Goloka.   In  other
words,  Lord  Krsna, the master of Vraja,  resides  in  the
highest portion of the Vaikuntha world.
       With   great  love  Vijaya-kumara  offered  dandavat
obeisances and returned to his residence.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Srngara-rasa-vicara
Srngara-rasa (Madhura-rasa)
     Again and again relishing the sweetness of the bhavas,
Vijaya-kumara offered dandavat obeisances to his  spiritual
master’s  lotus  feet.   He  asked,  “O  master,   I   have
understood    vibhava,   anubhava,   sattvika-bhava,    and
vyabhicari-bhava.   I  have  also understood  sthayi-bhava.
However the rasa that comes from the meeting of the  sthayi
bhava  with  the previously described four ingredients  has
not yet manifested within me.  Why is that?”
      Gosvami: O Vijaya-kumara, you should understand about
the  rasa called srngara-rasa.  Only then will you be  able
to understand the sweetness of sthayi bhava.
     Vijaya-kumura: What is srngara-rasa?
      Gosvami: When madhura-rasa becomes very beautiful, it
is  called  ‘srngara-rasa’.  This rasa is of two  kinds:  1
vipralambha (separation) and 2 sambhoga (enjoyment).
     Vijaya-kumara: I wish to learn about vipralambha.
      Gosvami:  Whether they meet or not, the two  youthful
lovers,  yearn  to embrace and enjoy many  pastimes.   When
these   desires  remain  unfulfilled,  their  love  (bhava)
becomes  very  great.  This most intense  emotional  state,
which  make  the happiness of meeting all the  greater,  is
called ‘vipralambha’.  The word ‘vipralambha’ means parting
(viraha) or separation (viyoga).
     Vijaya-kumara: How does vipralambha make the happiness
of sambhoga (meeting) greater?
      Gosvami: When a red cloth is polaced  again into  red
dye,  the  cloth is made even more red.  In the  same  way,
vipralambha increases the enjoyment of the lovers when they
finally  meet.   Without  vipralambha,  the  enjoyment   of
sambhoga does not become increased.
       Vijaya-kumara:  What  are  the  different  kinds  of
vipralambha?
     Gosvami: There are four kinds of vipralambha: 1 purva-
raga, 2 mana, 3 prema-vaicittya and 4 pravasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is purva-raga?
     Gosvami: Before the young lovers meet they may somehow
see  each  other, hear of each other, or in some other  way
come to know of each other.  When, by these activities they
become  attracted to each other and begin to fall in  love,
that is called ‘purva-raga’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the different ways  they  may
see each other?
      Gosvami:  The  lover may see Krsna  directly,  see  a
picture  of  Him,  or see Him in a dream.   These  ways  of
seeing Him are called ‘darsana’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the different ways  they  may
hear of each other?
      Gosvami:  They  may hear from the  mouth  of  a  poet
reciting prayers, from the mouth of a gopi-friend, from the
mouth of a gopi-messenger, or from a song, or in some other
way.  That is called ‘sravana’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What causes them to be  attracted  and
fall in love (rati).
      Gosvami: I have already described the many causes  of
rati,  causes that begin with abhiyoga.  These are said  to
be the causes in purva-raga also.
      Vijaya-kumara: Who attains purva-raga first: Krsna or
the gopis?
     Gosvami: This may be considered in different ways.  In
the  material world woman are shy and posses other feminine
qualities.   For this reason it is the man who pursues  the
woman.   However, it is also said that women are  naturally
more  attracted to the affairs of love, and therefore  doe-
eyed women feel purva-raga first.  In the Bhakti-sastras it
is that the devotee feels purva-raga first, and the Supreme
Personality   of   Godhead  feels   purva-raga   afterward.
Therefore  it is said that the vraja-gopis feel  purva-raga
most intensely, and they feel it first.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the vyabhicari-bhavas in purva-
raga?
     Gosvami: Included among the vyabhicari-bhavas in purva-
raga  are:  disease, doubt, envy, fatigue,  disappointment,
eagerness,   humility,   anxiety,   dizziness,   alertness,
lamentation, inertness, madness, confusion, and death.
      Vijaya-kumara: How many different kinds of purva-raga
are there?
      Gosvami:  There  are  three kinds  of  purva-raga:  1
praudha, 2 samanjasa and 3 sadharana.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is praudha purva-raga?
     Gosvami: When it is manifested in samartha-rati, purva-
raga is manifested as praudha-purva-raga.  In this kind  of
purva-raga, yearning, death, and other conditions  of  life
are  manifested.   The vyabhicari-bhavas  are  filled  with
yearnings.
       Vijaya-kumara:   Please  describe  these   different
conditions of life.
     Gosvami: It is said in the Ujjvala-nilamani:
      “Yearning,  anxiety, wakefulness,  emaciation,  being
stunned, bewilderment, disease, madness, illusion and death
are the ten conditions present in purva-raga.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is yearning?
      Gosvami: Yearning is an intense desire to attain  the
beloved.  In it eagerness, restlessness, moving to and fro,
sighing and other like symptoms are manifested.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is anxiety?
      Gosvami:  Anxiety is when the mind is  restless.   In
this  condition  there are deep sighs, restlessness,  being
stunned, worry, tears, becoming pale, perspiring and  other
like symptoms.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is wakefulness?
      Gosvami: Wakefulness is when sleep is destroyed.   In
this  condition  there are being stunned,  being  withered,
being angry, and other like symptoms.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is emaciation?
      Gosvami:  Emaciation is when the  body  becomes  very
thin.  In this condition there are weakness, giddiness, and
other  like  symptoms.   In some texts  the  word  ‘vilapa’
(lamentation) is read here.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is being stunned?
      Gosvami: Inability to see any difference between what
is  desirable and what is not desirable, failure to  answer
questions, and the ability to see or hear are present  when
one  is stunned.  Inarticulate sounds made suddenly and for
no  reason, inertness, long sighs and bewilderment are also
included among the symptoms here.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is bewilderment?
      Gosvami:  The  state of being deeply upset  and  thus
unable  to  cope is called bewilderment.  In this condition
there  are  disappointment, melancholy, envy, and  loss  of
discrimination.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is disease?
      Gosvami: Disease is when, because of being unable  to
attain the beloved, one become pale and feverish.  In  that
condition  one yearns for coolness, one is bewildered,  one
sighs and one falls to the ground.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is madness?
      Gosvami:  When, in every place, every  condition  and
every time one is bewildered and says things are other than
they  actually are, that is called madness.  Hatred of  the
beloved, sighing, blinking of the eyes, and separation from
the beloved are included in madness.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is illusion?
      Gosvami:  When the mind acts in a contrary,  improper
way,  that  is  called  illusion.   Being  motionless   and
fainting occur in illusion.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is death?
      Gosvami:  When, in spite of all efforts to  make  Him
return,  the beloved does not return, the lover,  tormented
by  love, yearns for her own death.  She bequeaths  to  her
friends  all  her  favourite things:  the  bumblebees,  the
gentle  breeze,  the  moonlight, and the  kadamba  flowers.
This is the anubhava.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is samanjasa purva-raga?
       Gosvami:  Samanjasa  purva-raga  is  manifested   in
samanjasa-rati.     In    it   are    manifested    desire,
thoughtfulness,  remembrance,  glorifying   the   beloved’s
virtues,  passion,  lamentation,  madness,  disease,  being
stunned, and death.
     Vijaya-kumara: In this context what is desire?
      Gosvami:  To  yearn for the touch of the  beloved  is
called ‘desire’.  To attain this desire the lover decorates
herself with ornaments and reveals her passion.
     Vijaya-kumara: In this context what is thoughtfulness?
      Gosvami:  To  think of different ways to  attain  the
beloved  is  called thoughtfulness.  In this situation  the
lover  carefully  arranges the bed,  sighs,  and  anxiously
looks to see the beloved’s arrival.
     Vijaya-kumara: In this context what is remembrance?
      Gosvami:  To  think  of  the beloved  and  things  in
relation  to Him is called remembrance.  In this  situation
the  lover trembles, has a seizure where she loses  control
of  her  limbs,  weeps,  sighs,  and  performs  other  like
activities.
       Vijaya-kumara:  What  is  glorifying  the  beloved’s
virtues?
      Gosvami:  To  praise the beloved’s  handsomeness  and
other  virtues is called glorifying the beloved’s  virtues.
In this situation the anubhavas include trembling, standing
up  of  the  body’s  and choking of  the  voice.   In  this
situation anxiety, mad lamentation, disease, being stunned,
and  death are manifested in samanjasa purva-raga  as  they
are also in samanjasa-rati.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master, please describe  sadharana
purva-raga.
      Gosvami:  Sadharana  samanjasa  purva  raga  is  like
sadharana-rati.   In it are manifested the  six  conditions
beginning  with  lamentation, only their  manifestation  is
softer.   The situation is natural, so there is no need  to
give any examples.  In this purva-raga the lovers send love
letters,  garlands and other things to be  placed  in  each
other’s hands.
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the love-letters?
      Gosvami: Love-letters are of two kinds: 1 those  that
are  not  written with words, and 2 those that are  written
with words.  Because in them the author reveals His or  Her
love, they are called ‘love-letters’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What are the love letters that are not
written with words?
     Gosvami: Without drawing any words, the author may use
her fingernail to draw a half-moon on a red flower petal or
leaf.  That is called ‘a letter written without any words’.
      Vijaya-kumara: What is a love-letter that is  written
with words?
      Gosvami: When the lover personally writes with His or
Her  own hand verses in the Prakrt language, that is called
a  ‘love  letter that is written with words’.  The ink  for
the  letter  may  be red hingula, musk or black  ashes  and
water.   The pages of the letter are extraordinarily  large
flower  petals.  The stamp to seal the letter  is  made  of
kunkuma.   Lotus  fibers are the string to  tie  the  pages
together.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is the sequence of events in purva-
raga?
      Gosvami:  First  there  is  the  sight  of  something
pleasing  to the eye.  Then there is thinking of  what  one
has  seen.   Then there is attachment, then yearning,  then
loss of sleep, then becoming emaciated, then renouncing all
else,  then  destruction  of shyness,  then  madness,  then
falling  unconscious and then death.  These are the  stages
of  love.  These stages are manifested in both the hero and
the  heroine.   However, they are manifested first  in  the
heroines and only later in Krsna.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is jealous anger?
      Gosvami:  When the lovers meet, but the heroine  will
not  allow  her lover to touch her, that is called  jealous
anger.   Disgust,  anxiety, restlessness, arrogance,  envy,
concealment, loss and worry are included among the sancari-
bhavas in jealous anger.
     Vijaya-kumara: Where does jealous anger rest?
      Gosvami:  Jealous  anger  rests  in  pranaya  (love).
Before   pranaya exists jealous anger cannot be said  truly
to  exist.   If  it  exists at all,  it  is  very  stunted.
Jealous  anger  is  of two kinds: 1 with  a  cause,  and  2
without a cause.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is jealous anger with a cause?
      Gosvami:  When the beloved gives His affection  to  a
rival,  and the lover feels jealous anger mixed  with  love
(pranaya), that is called jealous anger with a cause.   The
ancient  sages  affirm  that without  sneha,  fear  is  not
possible,  and  without  pranaya,  jealous  anger  is   not
possible.   Therefore,  when jealous anger  is  manifested,
this reveals the love felt by the hero and heroine.  A girl
who  sincerely loves her beloved cannot bear the idea of  a
rival  for  her  beloved’s affections.   When  the  Dvaraka
queens  heard  that  Krsna had given a parijata  flower  to
Rukmini,   jealous  anger  arose  only  in  the  heart   of
Satyabhama and not in the heart of any other queen.
      Vijaya-kumara: In what different ways  is  the  rival
(vipaksa) discovered?
     Gosvami: There are three ways: 1 the lover hears about
her  rival, 2 she suspects the rival’s existence, and 3 she
sees the rival in a dream.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is hearing about the rival?
      Gosvami: The lover may hear from the mouth of one  of
her  friends, from the mouth of a parrot, or from the mouth
of someone else.  In these ways she hears about her rival.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How  does  she  suspect  her  rival’s
existence?
      Gosvami:  She may see the marks of amorous enjoyment,
hear the name of her rival accidentally spoken, or see  her
rival  in  a  dream.   In these ways she  may  suspect  the
existence of a rival.  On the limbs of her beloved she  may
see  various signs of His having enjoyed with another girl.
That  is  called  ‘seeing  the marks  of  enjoyment’.   Her
beloved  may accidentally speak the name of a rival.   That
is  called,  ‘hearing  the name of her  rival  accidentally
spoke’.   These  things make the heroine so  sad  that  she
wishes  she were dead.  In a dream the lover may see  Krsna
and a rival beloved.  This is called ‘seeing the rival in a
dream”.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is directly seeing the rival?
      Gosvami:  The  girl  may  directly  see  her  beloved
enjoying  pastimes with a rival.  That is called  ‘directly
seeing the rival’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is jealous anger without a cause?
      Gosvami:  When there is no real cause, but  there  is
only  a flimsy reflection of a cause, and the heroin  takes
shelter  of  pranaya (love), the result  is  jealous  anger
without  a cause.  Jealous anger with a cause is  itself  a
transformation  of pranaya.  When the pastimes  of  pranaya
are  manifested, one by product is the creation of  jealous
anger  without  a  cause.  This kind of  jealous  anger  is
called  ‘pranaya-mana’.  The ancient panditas declare  that
spiritual  love moves in a crooked way, like the  movements
of  a  snake.  That is why the heroine manifests these  two
kinds  of  jealous anger, anger with and without  a  cause.
This   rasa   has  many  vyabhicari-bhavas.    Among   them
concealment is the most important.
      Vijaya-kumara:  How does the beloved  pacify  jealous
anger without a cause?
      Gosvami:  Jealous  anger  without  a  cause  will  be
pacified spontaneously.  No effort is needed to pacify  it.
In the course of joking and other like pastimes, it will go
away.   Jealous  anger with a cause will be  pacified  when
there  are conciliation, quarrel, giving a gift, and bowing
down to offer respects.  Jealous anger may also be pacified
by  shedding  tears, by joking pastimes, or in  other  ways
also.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is conciliation?
       Gosvami:  Speaking  affectionate  words  is   called
‘conciliation’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is quarrel?
     Gosvami: Quarrel is of two kinds: 1 crookedly praising
one’s  own  glories, and 2 using a friend to criticise  the
beloved.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is giving a gift?
      Gosvami:  When on some pretext an ornament  or  other
gift  is  given  to  the jealous beloved,  that  is  called
‘giving a gift’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is bowing down to offer respects?
      Gosvami: When the lover humbly falls at the  feet  of
the  jealous beloved, that is called ‘bowing down to  offer
respects.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘upeksa’?
      Gosvami:  When, seeing that neither conciliation  nor
any  other means will pacify His jealous beloved, the lover
simply  remains  silent,  that is  called  ‘upeksa’.   Some
scholars  say  that ‘upeksa’ here means  that  by  speaking
joking words the lover pacifies His jealous beloved.
      Vijaya-kumara:  You used the word ‘rasantara’.   What
does that word mean?
      Gosvami: To speak words that bring sudden fear to the
jealous beloved is called ‘rasantara’.  Rasantara is of two
kinds:  1 yadrcchika and 2 buddhi-purvaka.  When it  occurs
accidentally it is called  ‘yadrcchika’.  When  it  happens
because  of  the lover’s great intelligence  it  is  called
‘buddhi-purvaka’.
      Vijaya-kumara: In what other ways can the lover break
His beloved’s jealous anger?
       Gosvami:  One  way  is  to  play  the  flute  at  an
appropriate time and place.  There are also other  ways  to
remove the jealous anger of the vraja-gopis.  A small among
of jealous anger may be easily pacified.  A moderate amount
of  jealous anger may require some effort.  Intense jealous
anger is difficult to pacify, even with great effort.  When
a  gopi expresses her jealous anger at Krsna, she may  say,
‘O  crooked one, O crest-jewel of the malicious, O king  of
cheaters, O king of the deceivers, O best of the wicked,  O
great  demon, O hard-hearted one, O shameless one,  O  rake
whose playing is a host of sins, O lecher who hunts out the
gopis, O thief of beautiful girls’ hearts.  O destroyer  of
the  gopis’  piety, O rake who mocks the saintly  gopis,  O
king  of the debauchees, O great darkness of sins, O  thief
of  the  gopis’  garments, O highwayman who  lurks  in  the
valley of Govardhana Hill!”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘prema-vaicittya’?
      Gosvami:  When,  even though her beloved  is  present
before  her, a girl suffers, mistakenly thinking He is  far
away,  that  is called ‘prema-vaicitya’.  When  she  is  so
overwhelmed  with  intense love that  her  mind  mistakenly
thinks her beloved is far away, that is called ‘vaicittya’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is ‘pravasa’?
     Gosvami: When, although previously they were together,
the  hero  and  heroine  now stay in  different  countries,
different  towns, different rasas, or different localities,
that  is  called ‘pravasa’.  The vyabhicaris of the pravasa
separation  are all the vyabhicaris of srngara-rasa  except
for  joy, pride, passion, and shyness.  Pravasa is  of  two
kinds: 1 buddhi-purvaka and 2 abuddhi-purvaka.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is buddhi-purvaka pravasa?
      Gosvami: When the beloved goes far away to perform  a
specific  duty,  that  is called ‘buddhi-purvaka  pravasa’.
Krsna’s duty in this situation is to give pleasure  to  His
devotees.  This kind of pravasa is of two kinds: 1 going  a
short distance, and 2 going far away.  When the journey  is
far away, it is of three kinds: 1 future, 2 present, and  3
past.   When  the journey is far away, the lovers  exchange
letters.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is abuddhi-purvaka-pravasa?
     Gosvami: When fate forces the beloved to live far away
that  is called ‘abuddhi-purvaka pravasa’.  In the grip  of
the  demigods or other forces, the lovers are  forced  into
many   different   situations.    Anxiety,   sleeplessness,
agitation,   being   emaciated,   bodily   limbs   becoming
discoloured,  wild talking, disease, madness, bewilderment,
and  death are the ten conditions of life in this  kind  of
pravasa.    When  Krsna  goes  far  away,  all  these   ten
conditions of life are manifested.  O Vijaya-kumara,  these
different  kinds of spiritual love (prema)  and  these  ten
conditions  of  life  can  be  understood  only  by  mercy.
Without mercy they cannot be understood.
       Vijaya-kumara:  When  my  heart  thinks  about  this
description of separation, it says that separation  is  not
an  end  in  itself.  Rather, it is meant to  increase  the
ocean of pleasure the lovers feel when they meet.  Although
a  soul  imprisoned  by  Maya  will  prefer  the  ocean  of
happiness obtained in meeting and think it better than  the
rasa  of  separation,  still, the rasas  of  separation  is
eternally manifested.  The Lord’s pastimes would not be  so
wonderful if it were absent.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Srngara-rasa-vicara
Srngara-rasa
      Folding  his palms, Vijaya-kumara asked his spiritual
master about sambhoga (enjoyment in meeting).
      Gosvami:  Sri Krsna’s pastimes are of  two  kinds:  1
prakata  (manifested  and 2 aprakata  (unmanifested).   The
separation  from Krsna I described occurs  in  the  prakata
pastimes.   In  Vrndavana Krsna eternally enjoys  the  rasa
dance  and  other  pastimes  with  the  gopis.   Therefore,
because these pastimes are eternal, Krsna and the gopis are
never  separated.  In the Mathura mahatmya it is said  that
Krishna eternally enjoys pastimes with the gopas and gopis.
There the verb ‘kridati’ (enjoys pastimes), which is in the
present  tense,  affirms that Lord Krsna  eternally  enjoys
pastimes   in  Vrndavana.   Therefore  in  Goloka   or   in
Vrndavana,   in   Lord   Krsna’s  aprakata   (unmanifested)
pastimes, Krsna and the gopis always enjoy together.  Krsna
never  goes  to  a faraway place.  There is no  separation.
Gazing at each other, embracing and enjoying many pastimes,
Krsna  eternally  enjoys (sambhoga) with the  gopis.   This
enjoyment  (sambhoga) is of two kinds: 1  mukhya  (primary)
and 2 gauna (secondary).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is mukhya sambhoga?
     Gosvami: When Krsna and the gopis enjoy while they are
awake,  that  is called ‘mukhya-sambhoga’.  Mukhya-sambhoga
is  of four kinds.  The sambhoga that occurs soon after the
purva raga is called sanksipta (brief).  The sambhoga  that
occurs  after jealous anger is called ‘sankirna’  (narrow).
The  sambhoga that occurs after a nearby pravasa  (journey)
is called ‘sampanna’ (fortunate).  The sambhoga that occurs
after a faraway journey is called ‘samrddhiman’ (opulent).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sanksipta-sambhoga?
      Gosvami: When fear, shyness, and other like  emotions
keep   the   meeting  brief,  that  is  called  ‘sanksipta-
sambhoga’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sankirna-sambhoga?
      Gosvami:  When  the lovers worry that  an  unpleasant
obstacle  may  thwart their pastimes, and  therefore  Their
enjoyment becomes like drinking hot sugar cane juice,  that
is called ‘sakirna-sambhoga’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sampanna-sambhoga?
      Gosvami:  When, after a long journey the lover  meets
His beloved, Their enjoyment is called ‘sampanna-sambhoga’.
This  sambhoga is of two kinds: 1 agati and 2 pradhurbhava.
An  ordinary  meeting  is called  ‘agati’.   When  the  two
passionate  lovers accidentally and suddenly come  face-to-
face,  that is called pradhurbhava.  Pradhurbhava brings  a
great festival of the best transcendental happiness.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is samrddhiman sambhoga?
      Gosvami:  This is when the young lovers have  a  rare
opportunity to see each other.  And why not?  Because  they
are  under  the  control of others, this  does  not  always
happen.  Now that they are free from the control of others,
they  can  enjoy  without any obstacles.   This  is  called
‘samrddhiman sambhoga’.  This sambhoga is of two  kinds:  1
concealed  and  2 openly manifested.  I need  not  describe
them now.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is gauna-sambhoga?
      Gosvami:  When one enjoys pastimes with  Krsna  in  a
dream,  that is called ‘gauna-sambhoga’.  These dreams  are
of  two kinds: 1 samanya (general) and 2 visesa (specific).
This  gauna sambhoga is of two kinds.  When the vyabhicari-
bhava  sleep  is  prominent, it is samanya gauna  sambhoga.
Visesa  gauna-sambhoga is when one awakens from  the  dream
and sees that the waking reality is exactly the same as the
dream.  Thus the meeting with Krsna in the waking state  is
exactly like the meeting with Him in the dream.  This  rasa
is  filled  with the yearnings of love.  The four divisions
of  sanksipta,  sankirna, sampanna,  and  samrddhiman  also
exist in gauna sambhoga.
       Vijaya-kumara:   Dreams  aren’t   real.    How   can
samrddhiman sambhoga occur in a dream?
      Gosvami:  In the spiritual world waking and  dreaming
are  the same.  Usa and Aniruddha met in a dream.   In  the
same  way  Krsna and His beloved gopis can  meet  in  Their
dreams.  Perfected devotees (siddha-bhakta) sometimes  have
very wonderful dreams, and when they awaken they attain  an
ornament  or  something else that they  first  saw  in  the
dream.   These dreams are of two kinds: 1 being awake  when
one  is  dreaming, and 2 dreaming when one is  awake.   The
gopis’ dreams, which are filled with spiritual love are  in
the  fifth condition of life, far beyond the yogis samadhi,
which  is in the fourth condition of life.  Thus the gopis’
dreams are not at all like material dreams, which are  born
from  the  mode  of passion.  This means  that  the  gopis’
dreams  are  not  material  and are  not  impelled  by  the
material  modes  of  nature.   Rather,  they  are   eternal
spiritual  reality.   Therefore Lord  Krsna  can  certainly
enjoy wonderful pastimes with the gopis in their dreams.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe visesa-gauna-sambhoga.
      Gosvami:  The  following are  all  the  visesa  gauna
sambhoga  (special situations of meeting): seeing, talking,
touching,  blocking the path, putting an  obstacle  on  the
path,  pastimes  in a house, pastimes in Vrndavana  forest,
pastimes  in  the  Yamuna’s waters,  pastimes  in  a  boat,
pastimes of stealing flowers, pastimes at a ghata (the dana-
keli   pastime),  playing  hide-and-seek  in  the   forest,
drinking madhu nectar, Krsna disguising Himself as a woman,
pretending  to  be asleep, gambling with dice,  tugging  at
garments,  kissing, embracing, scratching with fingernails,
drinking  the nectar of each other’s bimba fruit lips,  and
enjoying amorous pastimes.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O  master,  playful  pastimes  (lila-
vilasa)  is  one  thing,  meeting (samprayoga)  is  another
thing.  Of the two, which brings the most happiness?
      Gosvami:  Playful pastimes (lila-vilasa)  bring  more
happiness than meeting (samprayoga).
      Vijaya-kumara: With what affectionate  names  do  the
gopis address Krsna?
      Gosvami:  The gopis address Krsna with the  following
affectionate  names:  Gokulananda  (O  bliss  of   Gokula),
Govinda   (O  pleasure  of  the  cows,  land  and  senses),
Gosthendra-kula-candra  (O  moon  born  from  the  king  of
Vraja),  Pranesvara (O master of our lives),  Sundarottamsa
(O  crown  of all handsome men), Nagara-siromani (O  crest-
jewel  of  amorous  heroes), Vrndavana-candra  (O  moon  of
Vrndavana), Gokula-raja (O king of Gokula), and Manohara (O
enchanter  of  our  hearts).  There are  many  other  names
also.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, Lord Krsna’s pastimes are of
two   kinds:   1  prakara  (manifested)  and   2   aprakata
(unmanifested).   Still,  all His  pastimes  are  the  same
spiritual  reality.  What are the different  kinds  of  His
prakata pastimes in Vraja?
      Gosvami: The Lord’s prakara pastimes in Vraja are  of
two  kinds:  1 nitya (regular) and 2 naimittika  (for  some
special  occasion).  The Lord’s asta-kaliya-lila  (pastimes
in  the  eight periods of the day) in Vraja are  His  nitya
pastimes.   Other  pastimes, like His  killing  Putana  and
other  demons, and His going far away on a journey are  His
naimittika pastimes.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O master, I wish to learn  about  the
Lord’s nitya-pastimes.
      Gosvami: O Vijaya-kumara, would you like to hear  the
description given by the ancient sages, would you  like  to
hear the description given by the Six Gosvamis?
      Vijaya-kumara: I would like to hear the  descriptions
given by the ancient sages.
     Gosvami: It is said:
     “The eight periods of the day are: 1 the end of night,
2  the  early morning, 3 the late morning, 4 midday, 5  the
afternoon,  6 sunset, 7 evening, and 8 night.   Midday  and
night  last for six muhurtas each.  Evening and  the  other
periods last for three muhurtas each.”
Two dandas (24 minutes) equal one muhurta (48 minutes).  In
the  Sanat-kumara-samhita,  Lord  Sadasiva  described  Lord
Krsna’s pastimes in these eight periods of the day.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, am I qualified to hear these
words  of  Lord  Sadasiva,  the  spiritual  master  of  the
universe?
      Gosvami:  Please listen.  Lord Sadasiva said  (Sanat-
kumara-samhita 183-188):
      “Thinking of Him as their paramour, with hidden  love
the gopis please their beloved Krsna.
     “One should think of oneself as a beautiful young gopi
girl  expert  in  various  arts, pleasing  to  Lord  Krsna,
reluctant to directly enjoy with Lord Krsna even if He were
personally to invite you...
      ...a  follower  of Sri Radha, always devoted  to  Her
service, more affectionate to Sri Radha than to Lord  Krsna
Himself...
      ...every  day carefully and affectionately  arranging
the  meeting of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, and becoming happy  to
see Them pleased by your service.
     “Thinking of oneself in this way, one should serve Sri
Sri Radha-Krsna from the early morning of Brahma-muhurta to
the end of night.’
      Vijaya-kumara: what are the pastimes at  the  end  of
night?
     Gosvami: Sri Vrnda-devi said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita
196-201):
      “In the middle of beautiful Vrndavana fore, which  is
decorated  with  fifty  groves, in a grove  of  kalpa-vrksa
trees, in a glittering jewel palace...
      ...on  a graceful be, the sleeping, tightly embracing
divine couple were awakened by birds following my command.
      “Their firm embrace broken, the divine couple  became
unhappy at the thought of Their impending separation.  They
had no wish to rise even slightly from Their bed.
      “Awakened  by the cheerful words of many parrots  and
other birds, Sri Sri Radha-Krsna rose from Their bed.
      “Seeing that the divine couple had happily risen from
bed,  the gopis entered and served Them in ways appropriate
to that time.
     “When the female parrots spoke, the divine couple rose
from  Their  bed.   Very anxious, They  returned  to  Their
homes.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  What are the pastimes  in  the  early
morning?
      Gosvami:  There  it is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita
202-218):
      “Wakened  by  His mother in the early  morning,  Lord
Krsna  rose  from bed.  Then He and Balarama brushed  Their
teeth.
     “With His mother’s permission, Lord Krsna eagerly went
to  the barn to milk the cows.  Then Sri Radha, wakened  by
the elder gopis, also rose from Her bed.
      “Sri  Radha rose, brushed Her teeth, anointed Herself
with  fragrant  oils, and then went to  the  bathing  room,
where Lalita and the other gopis bathed Her.
      “Then  She  went  to the decorating room,  where  Her
friends decorated Her with garlands, scents, oils, and many
glittering ornaments.
      “Then, after first speaking to Radha’s mother-in-law,
Yasoda  called Radha and Her friends to cook breakfast  for
Lord Krsna.
      “Sri Narada said: O goddess, why did Yasoda call  Sri
Radha  to  cook when Rohini and so many other expert  cooks
were present in her home?
      “Sri Vrnda said: The great sage Durvasa gave Radha  a
boon  that  She would be the best of cooks.  This  I  heard
from the mouth of Katyayani.
      “Durvasa  said  to  Radha: O  goddess,  by  my  mercy
whatever  You cook will be more delicious than nectar.   It
will increase the life of whoever eats it.
      “That  is why every day Yasoda calls Radha  to  cook.
Yasoda  thinks, “Eager to eat this delicious  food  my  son
will live a very long life.”
      “Receiving  permission from Her mother-in-law,  Radha
becomes very happy.  Accompanied by a host of friends,  She
goes to Krsna’s home to cook.
      “Meanwhile, Lord Krsna milked some cows and  had  the
other boys milk the others.  Then, called by His father, He
and His friends returned home.
     “Then the servants happily massaged Lord Krsna, bathed
Him,  dressed  Him  in clean garments,  garlanded  Him  and
anointed His body with sandal paste.
     “Then the servants gathered Lord Krsna’s hair from His
forehead  to His neck and tied it in a topknot.  They  made
the  moon of His forehead splendid with tilaka and  curling
locks of hair.
     “They decorated Lord Krsna with armlets and bracelets.
They made His hands splendid with jewel rings.  They placed
a  necklace  of  pearls across His chest and decorated  His
ears with shark shaped earrings.
      “Again  and  again called by His mother,  Lord  Krsna
holding  His mother’s hand, finally followed Balarama  into
the breakfast room.
     “Accompanied by His mother and His friends, Lord Krsna
ate a breakfast feast of many different kinds of foods.  He
told many jokes, laughing and making His friends laugh.
      “Then the servants brought betel nuts.  After sharing
them  with His friends and chewing some Himself, Lord Krsna
rested for a moment on a splendid bed.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  Please describe the pastimes  of  the
late morning.
      Gosvami:  It  is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita  220-
223:)
      “When  dressed as a cowherd boy, Lord Krsna  followed
the   cows  to  the  pasture,  all  the  people  of   Vraja
affectionately followed Him on the path.
      “Bowing  down  before His father and mother,  casting
sidelong   glances  at  His  gopi-beloveds,   and   dealing
appropriately with all the others, Lord Krsna sent them all
back.  Then He again proceeded to the forest.
      “Lord  Krsna entered the forest, played for  a  while
with  His friends, and then slipped away with two or  three
especially close friends.
      “Eager to see His beloved, Lord Krsna happily went to
meet Her.”
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe the pastimes of midday:
      Gosvami:  It  is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita  223-
262):
      “When She saw that Lord Krsna had gone to the forest,
Sri Radha returned to Her home.
      “Then  on the pretext of gathering flowers and  other
things  for the worship of the sun-god and other  purposes,
Sri  Radha tricks Her superiors and, yearning to  meet  Her
beloved, goes to the forest.
      “Finally  meeting  after a great effort,  the  divine
couple  enjoy many happy pastimes in the forest with  Their
associates.
      “Sometimes Radha and Krsna enjoy pastimes on a  swing
hanging  from  a  tree  branch and  pushed  by  the  gopis.
Sometimes Radha steals the flute from Lord Krsna’s hand.
      “Sometimes  the gopis hide and make Him search  after
them.   Sometimes they teased and scolded  Him.   Sometimes
they joked with Him and made Him laugh.  In these ways they
charmed Lord Krsna and stole His heart.
     “Sometimes Lord Krsna happily enters the forest in the
beautiful  springtime  and with a sprinkler  sprinkles  the
gopis  with  water  mixed with sandal,  kunkuma  and  other
colourful  scents.   The gopis respond by  sprinkling  Him.
Then Radha and Krsna sprinkle each other again and again.
      “O  brahmana, in the forest groves the divine  couple
enjoy   many  different  pastimes  with  Their  associates,
pastimes appropriate to the different times and seasons.
      “O best of sages, sometimes They become tired.  Then,
sitting  on  a  splendid throne under a  tree,  They  drink
nectar.
      “Intoxicated  by drinking nectar, their  eyes  become
closed  with sleepiness.  Holding hands, They are  attacked
by Kamadeva’s arrows.
      “Desiring to enjoy, They place Their lotus feet in  a
forest  grove.   There They enjoy pastimes like  two  regal
elephants.
     “Intoxicated by drinking nectar, and their eyes closed
with  sleepiness,  the  gopis  entered  the  nearby  forest
groves.
      “Expanding  into  many different forms,  all-powerful
Lord Krsna approached each gopi individually.
      “As  an elephant king enjoys with His many wives,  so
Lord  Krsna  enjoyed with the gopis.  Then Lord Krsna,  His
beloved Radha and all the gopis entered a lake.
      “Sri  Narada said: O Vrnda-devi, if His  pastimes  of
sweetness are like this, then when does Lord Krsna manifest
His pastimes of opulence?  Please cut apart my doubt?
      “Sri Vrnda said: O sage, the powerful potency of  the
pastimes  of  sweetness  is one of Lord  Hari’s  potencies.
With that potency Lord Hari enjoys pastimes with the gopis.
      “When in His original form Lord Krsna enjoys pastimes
with Sri Radha, He manifests the potency of His pastimes of
sweetness.   At that time He does not manifest the  potency
of His pastimes of opulence.
      “Accompanied by Their gopi friends, the divine couple
enjoy pastimes of splashing each other in the water.   Then
They  are  decoarated  with splendid  garments,  ornaments,
garlands and sandal paste.
      “Then in a jewel cottage by the lakeshore, the divine
couple  eat a snack of delicious fruits and roots carefully
prepared by me.
      “After Their snack, Lord Hari and His beloved recline
on  a  couch  of flowers.  There two or three  gopis  serve
Them.
      “Served by the gopis who offer Him betelnuts, fan Him
and  massage His feet, Lord Krsna, His thought fixed on His
beloved, becomes filled with happiness.
      “As  Lord  Krsna slept, Sri Radha and Her  associates
happily ate the remnants of His meal.
      “After  eating, Sri Radha went to the bed to gaze  on
Her  beloved’s  lotus face as a cakori bird  gazes  at  the
moon.
      “The  gopis there gave Her the remnants of  betelnuts
chewed by Lord Krsna.  Some She chewed and some She gave to
Her friends.
      “Eager  to hear what the gopis said, Lord Krsna  only
pretended to be asleep as He lay under the covers.
     “As they playfully joked about their beloved Hari they
could  gradually understand that He was only pretending  to
sleep.
     “Seeing the signs of wakefulness on Lord Krsna’s face,
they looked at each other and suddenly became silent out of
embarrassment.
      “Suddenly  pulling  the blanket from  His  limbs  and
exclaiming, ‘My, You must have had a pleasant sleep!’  they
laughed and  make Lord Krsna laugh also.
      “O  best  of  sages, in this way  the  divine  couple
enjoyed a pleasant nap and a host of happy joking words.
      “Sitting on a splendid throne and surrounded by Their
associates,  the  divine  couple  gamble  at   dice,   with
garlands, kisses, and embraces as the winner’s prize.
      “Joking  with words of love, Radha and  Krsna  gamble
with  dice.   Defeated by His beloved,  Lord  Krsna  slowly
pronounces, ‘I have lost’.
      “Taking  the  necklace and other prizes,  Sri   Radha
struck Lord Krsna with a lotus flower.
      ‘O  Narada, His unhappiness showing on His face, Lord
Krsna felt as if He had lost a great treasure.  “O goddess,
You  have defeated Me”, He said.  “Please take the winner’s
prize.”
      “To see Radha’s crooked raised eyebrows and hear  Her
words of rebuke, Lord Krsna declared, ‘Now I will give  You
the  kiss and the other prizes.’  Then He gave Her all  the
prizes.
      “Then,  hearing the parrots calling, Radha and  Krsna
bathed and decided to return to Their homes.
      “Taking  leave of His beloved, Lord Krsna returns  to
the  cows.  Accompanied by Her friends, Sri Radha  goes  to
the temple of the sun-god.
      “Lord  Krsna goes a short distance, disguises Himself
as a brahmana and then goes to the temple of the sun-god.
      “Requested by the gopis, the disguised Krsna worships
the  sun  god.  Lord Krsna then recites a host of imaginary
Vedic prayers, prayers made up on the spot and filled  with
a host of errors.
      “Finally  understanding that this  person  was  their
beloved Krsna, the intelligent gopis became plunged  in  an
ocean  of bliss.  Intoxicated with bliss they did not  know
who they were or who anyone else was.
      “O  sage,  in  this way the divine couple  and  Their
associates   passed  six  hours  enjoying  many   pastimes.
Finally  the gopis returned to their homes and  Lord  Krsna
returned to the cows.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the afternoon pastimes?
      Gosvami:  It  is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita  263-
270):
      “Meeting with His gopa friends, taking the cows  with
Him,  and attracting everyone with the music of His  flute,
Lord Krsna returned to Vraja village.
     “Hearing the sound of Krsna’s flute and seeing the sky
filled with the dust raised by the cows, King Nanda and all
the  men  and women and children of Vraja stopped all  they
were doing and ran to see Krsna.
      “Sri Radha, bathed and decorated, came, bringing many
delicious foods for Her beloved.  She and Her friends  were
all eager to see Krsna.
      “On  the  royal road at the entrace to Vraja  village
Lord Krsna met all the people of Vraja one after another.
      “He  met  them  with embraced, glances,  and  smiling
glances.   He bowed before the elder gopas and His honoured
them with His words.
      “O  Sri Narada, Lord Krsna prostrated His entire body
to  show  respect to His parents and to Rohini-devi.   From
the  corner  of  His  eye He shyly  glanced  at  His  gopis
beloveds.
      “Then in the ways proper for each, all the people  of
Vraja worshipped Lord Krsna.  Then Lord Krsna took the cows
into the barn.
      “Requested by His parents, Lord Krsna went home  with
mother Yasoda.  Requested by her, He bathed and then He ate
and drank, and then He went to milk the cows.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the sunset pastimes?
      Gosvami:  It  is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita  271-
272):
      “After milking some the cows, having the other  gopas
milk  the other cows, and allowing the calves to also drink
some of the milk, Lord Krsna, accompanied by His father and
by servants carrying the milk, returned home.
     “Then accompanied by Lord Balarama, the gopa boys, and
the boys; mothers, Lord Krsna ate a feast of many different
kinds  of foods, foods to be chewed, licked or consumed  in
other ways.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What are the evening pastimes?
      Gosvami:  It  is said (Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita  273-
277):
     “On Mother Yasoda’s request, Sri Radha and Her friends
had cooked this feast.
     “After enjoying the feast in the company of His father
and  the others, Lord Krsna praises with many words.  Then,
accompanied by the poets and reciters, Lord Krsna  goes  to
the assembly house.
      “Then  Mother Yasoda gave abundant remnants from  the
feast to the gopis who had brought it in the first place.
      “Mother  Yasoda  gives them the  remnants  from  Lord
Krsna’s  plate.  The gopis take it and in a secluded  place
present it before Sri Radha.
      “Then  Sri Radha and Her friends honour Lord  Krsna’s
remnants.   Then,  to  prepare for Her  meeting  with  Lord
Krsna, the gopis decorate joyful Radha.”
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, I yearn to hear the pastimes
of night.
      Gosvami: Sri Vrnda-devi described them in these words
(Sri Sanat-kumara-samhita 278-285):
      “One  of the gopis has already made arrangements  for
Sri  Radha’s secret meeting with Lord Krsna by the Yamuna’s
shore.
      “Accompanied by Her friends and dressed  in  garments
suitable  for a bright or dark night, Sri Radha goes  to  a
jewel palace in a kalpa-vrksa grove.
      “Meanwhile Lord Krsna saw many festive ceremonies and
heard many beautiful poems and songs.
      “Then  Lord Krsna pleases the artists and  performers
with many valuable gifts and then, called by His mother, He
goes to bed.
      ‘When,  after  giving Him a nighttime  snack,  mother
Yasoda left the bedroom, unseen by anyone, Lord Krsna  left
His home and went to meet His beloved.
     “Meeting in the forest groves, Sri Sri Radha and Krsna
enjoy singing, dancing and many other pastimes.
     “After enjoying pastimes for seven and a half hours of
the  night, Lord Krsna becomes sleepy.  Accompanied by five
or  six  gopis and unseen by the others, He enters  another
forest.
      “Served by Their dear gopi friends, the divine couple
sleeps  there on a beautiful pastime bed made of  unstemmed
flowers.
      O  Vijaya-kumara, These are the asta-kaliya pastimes.
They have all the samagris (ingredients) of the rasas.  All
these  pastimes  have been described in the  books  of  the
ancient  sages.   In every time, place, and situation,  you
should  mediate on these pastimes and engage in  devotional
service.
      Hearing  these pastimes, the learned pandita  Vijaya-
kumara  became  plunged into the nectar of  ecstatic  love.
Streams  of tears flowed from his eyes.  The hairs  of  his
body  stood  up.   He spoke one or two broken  words  in  a
choked  voice.   He  fell before Sri Gopala-guru  Gosvami’s
feet, offering obeisances for a long time.  Then he rose up
and  slowly  walked home.  Day and night these words  about
the rasas stayed in his heart.

Chapter Thirty-nine
Lila-pravesa-vicara
Entering the Lord’s Pastimes
     Now Vijaya-kumara was always eager to hear about these
pastimes.   He  did not like to hear about  anything  else.
When  he  went to see Lord Jagannatha, Vijaya-kumara  could
not remain peaceful and composed.  For many days now he had
studied  the  rasas.   He had learned  about  madhura-rasa,
sthayi-bhava,  vibhava,  anubhava,  sattvika   bhava,   and
vyabhicari  bhava.   One  by one, the  different  kinds  of
ecstatic  love  entered his heart.  They  would  bring  him
great  delight,  and then they would go  away.   Some  days
passed in this way.  He did not understand how the presence
of  ecstatic love had changed him.  One day, with tears  in
his  eyes, he fell down before His spiritual master’s  feet
and   said,  “O  master,  by  your  mercy  I  have  learned
everything.   However,  I  am not able  to  make  spiritual
advancement.  I have not attained sthayi bhava and  I  have
not entered Lord Krsna’s pastimes.  Please teach me what  I
should  do.”  Seeing how his disciple was rapt in  ecstatic
love,  Gopala-guru Gosvami was very pleased.  In his  heart
he  thought, “Love for Krsna (Krsna-prema) is such that its
happiness   brings  distress,  and  its   distress   brings
happiness.”  Then he openly said, “I will tell you  how  to
enter Lord Krsna’s pastimes”.
     Vijaya-kumara: How can I enter them?
      Gosvami:  Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami has  revealed
the way in these words (Manah-siksah 2):
      “Mind  don't do the pious and impious deeds described
in the Vedas.  Intently serve Sri Sri Radha-Krsna in Vraja.
Always  remember that Lord Caitanya is Lord Krsna, the  son
of  Maharaja Nanda and my spiritual master is most dear  to
Lord Mukunda.”
     Don’t perform the pious and impious deeds described in
the  Vedas.   Reject  this past of the  Vedas  and  instead
earnestly engage in raganuga-bhakti.  Again and again serve
Sri Sri Radha-Krsna in Vraja.  Serve the Lord according  to
the rasas of Vraja.  If you ask, “Who will teach me how  to
serve  the Lord according to the rasas of Vraja?”,  then  I
will  tell you.  Please listen.  Sridhama Navadvipa,  where
Lord   Caitanya   appeared  in  Saci-devi’s   womb   is   a
manifestation  of  Vrndavana.   Lord  Caitanya   is   Krsna
Himself, Krsna the son of Nandisvara’s king.  Lord Caitanya
is  not different from Krsna.  Thinking that Lord Krsna has
descended  to Navadvipa to enjoy pastimes as Lord Caitanya,
one  should  not reject the worship of Lord  Krsna  as  the
amorous hero of Vraja and instead worship Lord Caitanya  as
the  amorous  hero of the young girls in  Navadvipa.   Lord
Caitanya  is  Lord Krsna Himself.  Still,  one  should  not
criticise  the  devotees  who worship  Him  with  different
mantras and meditate on Him separately.  In the path of the
rasas  one should worship only Krsna, the beloved of Radha,
and  Lord  Caitanya  one should worship  as  the  spiritual
master of the rasas of Vraja.  One should meditate on  Lord
Caitanya’s   pastimes  and  on  Lord  Krsna’s   asta-kaliya
pastimes.  One should not think that one’s spiritual master
is not a sakhi or a yuthesvari in Vraja.  By worshipping in
this way one will be able to enter Lord Krsna’s pastimes in
Vraja.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, I understand that one should
reject  other  scriptures  and other  paths,  worship  Lord
Caitanya  and serve one’s spiritual master, aware that  the
spiritual master is a sakhi in Lord Krsna’s pastimes.   How
can one make his heart steady and determined to follow this
path?
      Gosvami: Two things should be understood: 1  upasaka-
pariskrti  (the  worshipper) and  2  upasya-pariskrti  (the
object  of  worship).  You have learned  about  the  rasas.
Therefore  you  have  learned about upasya-pariskrti.   The
upasaka-pariskrti has eleven bhavas.  Almost  all  of  them
you  have  already learned.  Only one remains  for  you  to
learn.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe these eleven bhavas.
       Gosvami:   These  eleven  bhavas  are:  1  sambandha
(relationship),  2  vayasa (age), 3  nama  (name),  4  rupa
(form),  5  yutha  (group),  6  vesa  (garments),  7   ajna
(command),  8  vasa  (residence),  9  seva  (service),   10
parakasthasvasa  (highest aspiration)  and  11  palya-dasi-
bhava (the nature of a maidservant).
     Vijaya-kumara: What is sambandha?
      Gosvami:  Sambandha  is the foundation  of  spiritual
attainments.  When one has a relationship with Krsna,  then
the  bhavas are manifested.  The final goal one attains  is
based  on  the  relationship.  Souls who address  Krsna  as
‘master’ become servants of Krsna.  Souls who address Krsna
as  ‘friend’  become friends of Krsna.  Souls  who  address
Krsna as ‘son’ become the mother or father of Krsna.  Souls
who  address  Krsna as ‘husband’ become queens at  Dvaraka.
In   Vraja  there  is  no  santa-rasa  and  dasya  rasa  is
curtailed.   Each devotee attains a relationship  according
to   his   own  natural  inclination.   You  are  naturally
attracted  to parakiya-rasa.  Therefore you are a  follower
of  Vraja’s queen.  In your relationship you say, “I  am  a
maidservant  of  Sri  Radha’s  maidservant.   She  is   the
controller of my life.  Krsna is the controller of  Radha’s
life,  and  therefore Krsna, the beloved of Radha,  is  the
controller of my life also.
      Vijaya-kumara:  I have heard that  the  great  acarya
Srila Jiva Gosvami preferred svakiya rasa.  Is that true?
      Gosvami:  Not  one  of  the true  followers  of  Lord
Caitanya  Mahaprabhu rejected the pure parakiya-rasa.   Who
can  be  a  better teacher of this rasa than Srila  Svarupa
Damodara Gosvami?  He taught the truth of the pure parakiya
rasa.   Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila
Sanatana Gosvami all accepted his teachings in this matter.
In  his  own personal devotional service Srila Jiva Gosvami
did  not accept svakiya rasa.  However, he did explain that
even  in  Vraja some devotees manifest a scent  of  svakiya
rasa.   When  samartha rati carries a  scent  of  samanjasa
rati,  then  svakiya-rasa is present in  Vraja.   Therefore
when a slight sense of svakiya-rasa is present, the devotee
may  be  called a worshipper in svakiya rasa.   Srila  Jiva
Gosvami  has  two  kinds of disciples.  One  group  of  his
disciples  was  situated  in pure  parakiya-rasa.   Another
group of his disciples were situated in parakiya rasa mixed
with svakiya rasa.  According to the different inclinations
of  his  different disciples, he gave different appropriate
instructions.  This he clearly explained when he wrote  the
words:
      “What I have written is appropriate for devotees  who
are inclined in a certain way.”
      Vijaya-kumara: Now I clearly understand that the pure
Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy teaches the pure parakiya rasa.
Now that I understand sambandha, please describe vayasa.
     Gosvami: When you attain your relationship with Krsna,
you  will have a wonderful form.  In your case it  will  be
the  form of a beautiful girl in Vraja.  That form will  be
manifested  in a specific age appropriate to your  service.
The  age  from  ten  to sixteen years is called  ‘kaisora’.
That  is  generally the appropriate age in this  situation.
Therefore  in  your spiritual form your age begins  at  ten
and,  as you make advancement in service, increases  up  to
the  age of sixteen  That is called ‘vayah-sandhi’.   Balya
(childhood),  pauganda (pre-adolescence)  and  vrddha  (old
age)  do  not  exist among the beautiful  girls  of  Vraja.
Therefore  you  should  know that your  spiritual  form  is
situated in the kaisora age.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, what is name?  I have already
received a name.  Please clearly explain ‘name’ to me.
Gosvami: You naturally become the follower of a maidservant-
friend  of  Sri  Radha.  That friend’s name is  your  name.
Examining  your nature, your spiritual master gives  you  a
name.   Please  know  that  is your  name  eternally.   The
beautiful girls of Vraja will delight in addressing you  by
that name.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, please explain rupa.
      Gosvami:  Your spiritual master reveals  to  you  the
nature of the beautiful and youthful kaisora age form that,
according  to your own inclination, is your own form.   You
have  an  inconceivable beautiful spiritual form.  If  that
were  not  so, then how could you be a maidservant  of  Sri
Radha?
     Vijaya-kumara: Please clearly describe ‘yutha’.
      Gosvami: Sri Radha is your yuthesvari.  You belong to
a  gana  (sub-group) presided over by one  of  Sri  Radha’s
eight  closest friends (asta-sakhi).  Your spiritual master
has  placed  you  in  Lalita’s gana.  Therefore,  following
Lalita’s orders you will serve your yuthesvari (Sri  Radha)
and playful Lord Krsna, who enjoys pastimes with Her.
      Vijaya-kumara:  O master, who are the  devotees  that
follow Candravali as their yuthesvari?
      Gosvami:  After  many births a  soul  will  become  a
fortunate  and desire to be a follower of a yuthesvari.   A
soul  who has all good fortune enters the group led by  Sri
Radha.  The gopis led by Candravali strive to increase  the
bliss  that  Sri  Radha  and  Lord  Krsna  enjoy  in  Their
pastimes.   Therefore the rival groups, called  paksa,  and
vipaksa,  make  the taste of rasa sweeter.   In  truth  Sri
Radha  is  the  only real yuthesvari.  Because  She  enjoys
wonderful pastimes with Krsna, She is glorious, and a  soul
who serves Her becomes glorious also.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please explain visesa.
      Gosvami: Your spiritual master describes to you  your
garments,  personal qualities, and the skills you  have  to
perform various kinds of service.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe ‘ajna’.
     Gosvami: Ajnas are of two kinds: 1 nitya (regular) and
2  naimittika (occasional).  A merciful sakhi orders you to
engage  in a certain regular (nitya) service.  This service
you  should diligently execute during the eight periods  of
the  day.  Any other service she may give you is naimittika
service.  That also you should execute diligently.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is vasa?
      Gosvami:  Your eternal residence in Vraja  is  called
‘vasa’.
      Vijaya-kumara: You will take birth as a certain  gopi
in a certain village within the land of Vraja.  Within that
village  you  will be married to a certain gopa.   However,
you  will be attracted by the sound of Krsna’s flute.   You
will be the follower of  a  certain sakhi.  Her cottage  at
Radha-kunda will be your residence also.  In this way  your
eternal nature is situated in parakiya rasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe ‘seva’.
      Gosvami:  You  are  a follower of  Sri  Radha.   Your
service  is  to serve Her.  If, when she sends you  with  a
message,  and  you  meet Krsna in a secluded  place,  Krsna
expresses  His  love for you and proposes that   you  enjoy
with  Him,  you  should not accept His proposal.   You  are
Radha’s maidservant, and without Her permission you  cannot
serve  Krsna.  You are not independent.  Although you  love
Radha  and  Krsna both, your love and service to  Radha  is
more  important to you than your love and service to Krsna.
That  is  the explanation of the word ‘seva’.  Your service
is  to serve Sri Radha throughout the eight periods of  the
day.    Following   the  descriptions  in   Srila   Svarupa
Damodara’s Kadaca (notebook), Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami
describes these services in his poem Vilapa-kusumanjali.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is “parakasthavasa”?
       Gosvami:  In  the  following  two  verses   (Vilapa-
kusumanjali  102  and  100) Srila Raghunatha  dasa  Gosvami
describes parakasthasvasa:
     “O Radha, for me somehow the present moment is flooded
by  a  nectar ocean of many hopes.  If You do not give Your
mercy,  then of what use to me are this life, the  land  of
Vraja, and Sri Krsna, the enemy of Baka?”
      “O  Lord Krsna, O nectar moon of Gokula, O Lord whose
cheerful face is a lotus flower, O sweetly smiling  one,  O
Lord  melting with compassion, so I may serve You both with
love  and  please lead me to the place  where Your  beloved
enjoys pastimes with You.”
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe ‘palya-dasi-bhava’
      Gosvami: In the following words of Vraja-vilasa-stava
(text  29)  Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami describes  palya-
dasi-bhava:
      “Flooded with the nectar of intense love for her  two
friends  (Sri Sri Radha-Krsna), who are more  dear  to  her
than   her  own  life,  affectionately  arrogant  in  Their
presence, and daily arranging for Their rendezvous, Lalita-
devi  expertly teaches her friend Radha the art of  jealous
anger.  I pray Lalita-devi will one day accept me as one of
her associates.”
       Vijaya-kumara:   How  should   such   a   palya-dasi
(maidservant)  act in relation to the other gopis  who  are
companions of Sri Lalita?
     Gosvami: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami studied all the
rasa-sastras  under Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami.   Srila
Raghunatha  dasa  Gosvami has written  (Vraja-vilasa-stava,
text 38)
     “By offering Her betel nuts, by massaging Her feet, by
bringing  Her  water, by arranging for Her  secret  meeting
with  Lord  Krsna, and by performing many  other  services,
many gopi maidservants affectionately please Sri Radha, the
great  queen  of Vrndavana forest.  When the divine  couple
enjoy the presence of the great gopis for whom Sri Radha is
more  dear  than  life.   I  take  shelter  of  these  gopi
maidservants,  who  have  Srimati  Rupa-manjari  as   their
leader.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is  the  nature  of  the  other
prominent sakhis?
     Gosvami: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami gives this hint
about their nature (Vraja-vilasa-stava text 30):
      “Visakha-devi is the place where the youthful  divine
couple  enjoys  affectionate and playful  joking  pastimes.
Her sweet transcendental singing eclipses the voices of the
cuckoos.  I pray that Visakha-devi may become pleased  with
me and accept me as her student.”
      Vijaya-kumara:  What  is the nature  of  the  vipaksa
(rival) gopis?
     Gosvami: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami describes them.
Please hear this description (Vraja-vilasa-stava, text 41):
      “In  order  to  increase the splendid  and  nectarean
jealous  love  of Srimati Radharani, who sometimes  becomes
proud  of  Her own good fortune, Lord Krsna briefly  enjoys
pastimes  with other gopis, who blossoms with many  amorous
desires.   Let us offer our respectful obeisances to  these
gopis,  who must have performed many great pious activities
in their previous births in order to  play this role in the
Lord’s pastimes.”
     That is how you should thing about the rival groups of
gopis  (paksa and vipaksa).  However, when they are serving
the  Lord directly in the spiritual world, there may  be  a
situation  where mocking gopi rivals is appropriate.   This
direct service in the spiritual world is described in Srila
Raghunatha  dasa  Gosvami’s  Sri  Vilapa-kusumanjali.   The
proper  way to relate to the other liberated associates  of
the  Lord  is described in Srila Raghunatha dasa  Gosvami’s
Sri  Vraja-vilasa-stava.  The divine couple’s pastimes  are
seen    in    Srila    Raghunatha   dasa   Gosvami’s    Sri
Visakhanandabhidha-stotra and other  prayers.   You  should
see  the  asta-kaliya pastimes in those poems.  The  proper
method  of  worship (paddhati) is seen in Srila  Raghunatha
dasa  Gosvami’s Sri Manah-siksah.  By following that method
of worship you will become rapt in meditation on the divine
couple’s pastimes.  Ecstatic love (bhava) is seen in  Srila
Raghunatha  dasa Gosvami’s Sva-niyama-dasaka.   You  should
carefully  observe the vows describe in that  poem.   Srila
Rupa  Gosvami  described  the rasas  in  his  books.   Lord
Caitanya  gave  that  task  to him.   However,  Srila  Rupa
Gosvami did not describe how an aspiring devotee can  enter
into  these  rasas.   That Srila Raghunatha  dasa  Gosvami,
following the teachings in Srila Svarupa Damodara’s Kadaca,
described.   Lord  Caitanya gave these  specific  tasks  to
these devotees, and they all followed His order.
       Vijaya-kumara:  Please  describe  the   tasks   Lord
Mahaprabhu ordered these devotees to perform.
      Gosvami:  The  Lord  ordered Srila  Svarupa  Damodara
Gosvami to describe the method of worship according to  the
rasas.    Following  that  order,  Srila  Svarupa  Damodara
Gosvami wrote his Kadaca, which is divided into two  parts,
one  part  describing the internal path  (antah-pantha)  or
worship  according  to  the  rasas,  and  the  other   part
describing  the  external path (bahihi pantha)  of  worship
according  to the rasa.  The internal path he placed around
the  neck  of Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, who  described
that path in his writings.  The external path Srila Svarupa
Damodara  Gosvami gave to Srila Vakresvara  Pandita.   That
teaching  is  the  great treasure  of  this  temple.   That
treasure I have given to Srila Dhyanacandra Gosvami, and he
has written that treasure into a books.  You already have a
copy of that book.  Lord Mahaprabhu ordered Lord Nityananda
and  Lord  Advaita to preach the glories of the holy  name,
and  He also gave Them the power to do it.  Lord Mahaprabhu
gave Srila Rupa Gosvami the order to write books about  the
rasas,  and  He  also gave him the power to  do  it.   Lord
Mahaprabhu gave Srila Sanatana Gosvami the order  to  write
about  vaidhi  bhakti and the relationship  between  vaidhi
bhakti  and raga bhakti.  The Lord also gave Srila Sanatana
Gosvami  the  order to write about the Lord’s  prakata  and
aprakata  pastimes in Gokula.  Lord Nityananda  Prabhu  and
Srila Sanatana Gosvami gave Srila Jiva Gosvami the order to
write  books about sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana,  and
they  also gave him the power to do it.  All of these great
devotees fulfilled the orders they were given.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, what task was given to Srila
Ramananda Raya?
     Gosvami: Lord Mahaprabhu gave Srila Ramananda Raya the
task  of  expanding the rasas.  Srila Ramananda  Raya  used
Srila  Rupa  Gosvami as  his instrument in fulfilling  this
task.
      Vijaya-kumara: O master, what task was given to Srila
Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya?
      Gosvami: To Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya He gave the
task   of   explaining   philosophy.    Srila   Sarvabhauma
Bhattacarya  executed  that  task  by  having  one  of  his
disciples teach Srila Jiva Gosvami.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What task did the Lord  give  to  the
great devotees in Bengal;?
     Gosvami: To the great devotees in Bengal the Lord gave
the  task  to  teaching the truth about Lord  Caitanya  and
showing  the  people how to have faith in  Lord  Caitanya’s
descriptions of Krsna-rasa.  These devotees fulfilled  that
order by writing many books glorifying  the rasas.
     Vijaya-kumara: What task was given to Srila Raghunatha
dasa Gosvami?
      Gosvami:  To him was given the task of preaching  the
glories of Srimad Bhagavatam.
      Vijaya-kumara:  What task was given to  Srila  Gopala
Bhatta Gosvami?
      Gosvami: To Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was given the
task  of  stopping  perverted  misinterpretations  of  pure
srngara-rasa  and also stopping the tendency  not  to  have
faith in vaidhi-bhakti.
      Vijaya-kumara: Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati was  the
uncle  and spiritual master of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami.
What task was given to him?
      Gosvami:  To Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati was  given
the  task  of showing the world that the path of the  rasas
and anubhavas in Vraja is the highest of all paths.
      Hearing all this, Vijaya-kumara thought himself  very
fortunate.
Chapter Forty
Sampatti-vicara
The Greatest Good Fortune
     Vijaya-kumara decided that by hearing about the Lord’s
pastimes in Vraja, one gradually attains the greatest  good
fortune.  Thinking in this way, he posed a question.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, I would like to know how many
stages  there are between first hearing about the Lord  and
finally attaining the greatest good fortune.
       Gosvami:  There  are  five  stages:  1  sravana-dasa
(hearing),   2   varana-dasa  (desiring),  3   smarana-dasa
(remembering), 4 bhavapana-dasa (attaining ecstasy)  and  5
prema-sampatti-dasa (the greatest good fortune of spiritual
love).
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe sravana-dasa.
      Gosvami: When he attains faith in hearing about Krsna
(Krsna-katha),  a soul throws materialism (bahirmukha-dasa)
far  away.   In  that stage the soul yearns to  hear  about
Krsna.   Such  a  soul intently hears about Krsna  from  an
exalted  devotee.   This is described in  Srimad-Bhagavatam
(4.29.40):
      “My dear king, in the place where pure devotees live,
following  the  rules  and  regulations  and  thus   purely
conscious  and engaged with great eagerness in hearing  and
chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
in  that  place if one gets a chance to hear their constant
flow or nectar, which is exactly like the waves of a river,
one  will  forget the necessities of life - namely  hunger,
and  thirst  -  and  become immune to all  kinds  of  fear,
lamentation and illusion.”*
      Vijaya-kumara: Sometimes the people hear about  Krsna
from materialists.  What is the result of that hearing.
      Gosvami: One may hear about Krsna from a materialist,
or  one  may  hear about Krsna from a devotee.   These  two
kinds  of  hearing are different in many ways.  By  hearing
about  Krsna  from  a  materialist,  the  hearer  does  not
gradually  attain  faith.  On the other  hand,  by  hearing
about  Krsna  from a devotee eager to engage in  devotional
service,  the  hearer  attains spiritual  piety.   In  some
future birth spiritual faith will rise within him.  When he
attains this faith, a soul is eager to hear the glories  of
Krsna  only from the mouths of great devotees.  This  stage
is called ‘sravana-dasa’.  Sravana dasa is of two kinds:  1
krama-suddha-sravana dasa and 2 krama-hina-sravana dasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is krama-hinasravana dasa?
       Gosvami:   When   the  hearing   is   done   without
determination  and  when it does  not  touch  Lord  Krsna’s
pastimes, it is called ‘krama-hine’.  If there is no  touch
of  Lord  Krsna’s  pastimes,  the  rasas  will  not  become
manifested.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is krama-suddha sravana-dasa?
       Gosvami:   When   hearing   is   done   with   great
determination,  and  when  it  touches  on   Lord   Krsna’s
pastimes,  then the rasas will become manifested.   Hearing
about Lord Krsna’s asta-kaliya nitya lila (regular pastimes
in  the eight periods of the day) and His birth pastime and
other   naimittika-lila  (occasional  pastimes)  is  called
“krama-suddha-sravana-dasa’.    To   properly   engage   in
devotional  service  one must perform krama-suddha-sravana.
By  again  and again engaging in krama-suddha-sravana  dasa
and  hearing the Lord’s pastimes, one perceives  how  sweet
the  Lord’s  pastimes are.  At that time the activities  of
raganuga bhakti rise in the heart of the hearer.  Then  the
hearer thinks in his heart, “Aha! Subala has such wonderful
ecstatic  love!   I should serve Krsna in  sakhya-rasa,  as
Subala  does.’   This kind of activity  is  called  ‘lobha’
(greedy   desire).   To  thus  worship  Krsna  by  greedily
following  the  liberated  residents  of  Vraja  is  called
‘raganuga-bhakti’.  I have given an example in sakhya rasa.
Raganuga  bhakti exists in the four rasas that  begin  with
dasya-rasa.   By  the mercy of Lord Caitanya,  who  is  the
master of our lives, you have become qualified for srngara-
rasa.   Seeing  the  beautiful gopis  of  Vraja,  you  have
yearned  to become like them.  That yearning will lead  you
to the path of fulfilling that yearning.  In truth, this is
revealed  in the conversation of the spiritual  master  and
the disciple.  That is sravana-dasa.
      Vijaya-kumara: How does one attain the perfection  of
sravana-dasa?
      Gosvami:  When  one  understands  that  Lord  Krsna’s
pastimes  are eternal, and when one declares that they  are
pure  and  spiritual, one’s heart will become enchanted  by
them.  Then one will become agitated with an intense desire
to enter those pastimes.  When he sees that the disciple is
qualified,  the spiritual master will show him  the  eleven
bhavas  described in the scriptures.  When  the  disciple’s
heart is passionately devoted to the Lord’s pastimes,  that
is  the  perfection of sravana-dasa.  When  he  is  greatly
agitated in this way, the disciple attains varana-dasa.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, what is varana-dasa?
     Gosvami: Bound with the shackles of the eleven bhavas,
the  heart  becomes  passionately attached  to  the  Lord’s
pastimes.    Weeping,  the  disciple   falls   before   his
spiritual  master’s  feet.   Then  the  spiritual  master’s
original  form  as a sakhi is manifested and  the  disciple
manifests  his  original form as a gopi maidservant.   This
disciple is agitated to engage in devotional service  as  a
gopi.   By  serving  the  spiritual  master  ,the  disciple
attains  the  supreme  goal  of  his  life  and  becomes  a
beautiful  girl in Vraja.  The disciple speaks these  words
(Srila   Raghunatha   dasa   Gosvami’s   Sri   Premambhoja-
marandakhya-stava-raga 11-12):
      “Taking  a  straw  in his mouth, this  person  offers
respectful  obeisances  unto  you.   This  person  is  very
unhappy.   Please bring him to life by sprinkling him  with
the nectar of service to you.
      “O  gopi friend of Sri Radha, as merciful Lord  Krsna
never  rejects  a surrendered soul, even  a  soul  who  has
performed many misdeeds, in the same way I request that you
please do not reject a person like me.”
     This state is called ‘varana-dasa’.  Then, in his form
as  a  sakhi,  the spiritual master gives to  his  disciple
residence in Vraja and orders him to take shelter  of  Lord
Krsna’s  holy  name and meditate on Lord Krsna’s  pastimes.
Then  the  spiritual  master gives  encouragement,  saying,
“Soon you will attain what your heart desires.”
     Vijaya-kumara: What is smarana dasa?
      Gosvami:  Srila  Rupa Gosvami gives this  description
(Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.150-152):
      “Always  meditating on Krsna as the object  of  one’s
love,  and  always  engaged  in hearing  and  chanting  His
glories,  a  devotees should always live  in  the  land  of
Vraja.
      “Desiring to become like them, the sadhaka and siddha
devotees  should follow in the footsteps of  the  liberated
residents of Vraja.
      “In  this  way the wise understand the activities  of
vaidhi-bhakti, which begin with hearing and chanting.”
      After  hearing these two verses, Vijaya-kumara asked,
“What  do  the  words ‘kuryad vasam vraje sada  (a  devotee
should always live in the land of Vraja) mean?
      Gosvami: Srila Jiva Gosvami explains “To place  one’s
body in the circle of Vraja means to place it in the circle
of  the  Lord’s pastimes.  If one is not able to place  his
physical  body  in  Vraja, one can meditate  on  living  in
Vraja.   By  this  meditation one attains the  final  goal.
Then  one  becomes the follower of a particular sakhi,  one
serves  that sakhi in the forest, and one always  meditates
on  that  sakhi  and her particular kind of love  for  Lord
Krsna.  Thus you should engage your gross material body  in
the  activities of vaidhi-bhakti, which begin with  hearing
and  chanting and also, with the eleven bhavas, you  should
meditate on the pastimes of a liberated sakhi in Vraja.  In
this way you should engage in devotional service.  Thus you
should  engage  your  material body in  the  activities  of
vaidhi-bhakti.  When your spiritual body becomes  manifest,
you will become averse to all that is not related to Vraja.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please clearly describe this path.
      Gosvami:  The word “vraja-vasa” means  to  avoid  the
company  of  materialists”.  One  should  chant  a  certain
prescribed  number  of holy names of  Lord  Hari  and  also
meditate on the Lord’s asta-kaliya pastimes.  Do not  think
of  your material body as an enemy.  Rather, use it and all
in relationship with it in favourable service to the Lord.
      Vijaya-kumara: (after deep thought) O  master,  these
descriptions are very pleasing to my heart.  How can I make
my heart determined to follow this path?
      Gosvami:  When it attains raganuga-bhakti, the  heart
will  be  determined.  And why not?  If  there  is  even  a
slight  scent of raganuga bhakti, then one will be inclined
to Vraja.  Then one will no longer be attracted to material
things.   If you are worried that you will stray  from  the
path,  then  at first proceed gradually.  When  you  become
steady you will not be able to stray from the path.
     Vijaya-kumara: Please describe this gradual path.
      Gosvami: Every day for a certain amount of time,  one
should, avoiding all material interruptions, chant the holy
name  with sincere love.  The time spent in this way should
be  gradually increased.  When one finally spends  all  his
time  in  this way, he will attain very wonderful love  for
the  Lord.  At that time one will dread any external  thing
that may come to interrupt these activities.
      Vijaya-kumara: For how many days should one  practice
in this way?
       Gosvami:  Until,  one  is  free  from  all  material
obstacles, or until material obstacles no longer  arise  in
one’s meditation.
     Vijaya-kumara: What does it mean ‘to remember the holy
name with love’?  Please clearly explain.
      Gosvami: In the beginning on joyfully chants the holy
name.   That  joy  leads one to think, ‘the  holy  name  is
mine’.   From  that feeling of possessiveness  one  attains
love  for  the  holy  name.  Gradually pure  ecstatic  love
(bhava)  becomes  manifested.  This is  called  ‘bhavapana-
dasa”.   At  the stage of smarana-dasa, love is  merely  an
external  imposition.  However, in the stage of  bhavapana-
dasa  genuine, pure love is manifested.  In  this  way  the
devotee  finally attains prema, the highest love.  This  is
called ‘upasaka-nistha’.  There is also another path, which
is called ‘upasya-nistha’.
     Vijaya-kumara: What is upasya-nistha?
     Gosvami: If one wholeheartedly yearns to attain prema,
he should honour this advice given by Srila Raghunatha dasa
Gosvami (Manah-siksa text 3):
     “Mind, listen to me!  If you desire to reside in Vraja
birth after birth, and if you desire to directly serve  the
youthful  divine  couple,  then  with  great  love   always
remember   and  bow  down  before  Srila  Svarupa  Damodara
Gosvami,  Srila  Rupa  Gosvami, his  elder  brother,  Srila
Sanatana Gosvami and all their associates and followers.”
      Vijaya-kumara: How does one gradually become purified
by meditating on the Lord’s asta-kaliya pastimes?
      Gosvami: Please consider what Srila Rupa Gosvami  has
said (Ujjvala-nilamani, Gauna-sambhoga-prakarana) about the
great  wonder  of the rasas manifested in the Lord’s  asta-
kaliya pastimes:
     “Because it is shoreless, peerless and unfathomable, I
merely  stand on the shore of the ocean of rasa  and  touch
only one drop of its sweetness.”
      Why  should  this not be so?  The ocean  of  rasa  is
spiritual, wonderful, all-pervading and shoreless.  If  one
tries  to describe that spiritual ocean of rasa with words,
his  words  will inevitably be both impure and  incomplete.
Even  if the Supreme Lord Himself describes it, the hearers
and  readers,  still bearing the faults that  the  material
world impresses on them, will not be able to understand  it
perfectly.   Therefore because the ocean of rasa  cannot  e
fathomed,  one can merely stand at its shore and understand
only a single drop of it.
     Vijaya-kumara: O master, if this is so, then how can I
have any conception at all of the spiritual rasas?
      Gosvami: The madhura rasa is shoreless, peerless, and
unfathomable.   Lord  Krsna’s  pastimes  are   like   that.
However,  Lord Krsna has two transcendental qualities  that
give us hope: He is all powerful and He can do whatever  He
likes.   Therefore,  even  though  the  ocean  of  rasa  is
peerless, shoreless and unfathomable, Lord Krsna can shrink
it so that it fits within the material world.  The material
world is indeed a very small place.  Still, if Krsna wishes
He  can bring His supremely glorious rasas to the small and
insignificant  material world.  In this way  He  mercifully
descends  to the material world and He takes His  spiritual
and  eternal rasas and pastimes with Him.  When He descends
to the material world, he brings with Him His own spiritual
world  of  Mathura-mandala, which is beyond  the  touch  of
matter.   One cannot ask how the Lord does all  this.   Why
not?   All this is down by His inconceivable potency.  Even
the  demigods and other exalted beings are not  intelligent
enough to understand how it is done.  In this way the  Lord
manifested  His Vraja pastimes, which are the best  of  all
pastimes, and which are beyond the touch of matter.   I  do
not   lament  merely  because  I  cannot  understand   them
perfectly or completely.
      Vijaya-kumara: If the Lord’s prakata (manifested) and
aprakata  (unmanifested) pastimes are  the  same  pastimes,
then why are the aprakata pastimes considered superior?
      Gosvami:  These two kinds of pastimes are  identical.
Of  this  there  is  no  doubt.   They  are  both  perfect,
complete,   glorious  and  beyond  the  touch  of   matter.
However, the prakata pastimes can be seen and remembered by
conditioned souls imprisoned in the material world, but the
aprakata  pastimes can be seen only by purified  souls  who
are  in mature devotional service and who have attained the
stage of bhavapana-dasa.
      O  Vijaya-kumara, to you I can disclose this  secret.
And  why not?  You are qualified to hear it.  By practicing
smarana-dasa  for  a  long  time,  one  eventually  becomes
qualified  for  bhavapana-dasa.   During  smarana-dasa  one
begins  to  become cleansed of material contamination,  but
that cleansing is not complete until one attains bhavapana-
dasa.   By following smarana-dasa one attains pure sadhana-
bhakti.   In  this way by the Lord’s mercy, pure devotional
service  is manifested in the devotee’s heart.   That  pure
devotion  attracts  Krsna.  In this way,  by  Lord  Krsna’s
mercy,  the devotee advances beyond smarana-dasa.  This  is
described  by  the  Supreme Lord  Himself  in  these  words
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.26):
      “When  a  diseased  eye  is  treated  with  medicinal
ointment   it   gradually  recovers  its  power   to   see.
Similarly, as a conscious living entity cleanses himself of
material  contamination by hearing and chanting  the  pious
narrations of My glories, he regains his ability to see Me,
the Absolute Truth, in My subtle spiritual form.”***
      This  is  also  described in the following  words  of
Brahman-samhita (5.38):
      “I  worship the primeval Lord, Govinda who is  always
seen  by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the  pulp
of  love.   He is seen in His eternal form of Syamasundara,
situated within the heart of the devotee.”*
      A person who has attained the stage of bhavapana-dasa
attains  spiritual  vision and thus can see  his  spiritual
master  as  a sakhi and yuthesvari.  He can also  see  Lord
Krsna, the master of Goloka.  Still, until his linga-sarira
(subtle  material body) is at last dissolved, he  does  not
attain  sampatti-dasa (the greatest good  fortune)  and  he
does  not  see  Krsna  at every moment.   When  he  attains
bhavapana-dasa, the pure soul has complete control over his
gross  and subtle material bodies.  However, only  when  he
attains Lord Krsna’s complete and full mercy will the  soul
attain  the final spiritual goal, where the soul completely
breaks of all relationship with the material world of  five
elements.   Bhavapana-dasa is also called ‘svarupa-siddhi’,
and sampatti-dasa is also called ‘vastu-siddhi’.
      Vijaya-kumara: When one attains vastu-siddhi, in what
way  will  he  see  Lord  Krsna’s  name,  form,  qualities,
pastimes and abode?
     Gosvami: I cannot answer.  When I myself attain vastu-
siddhi,  I  will be able to see and tell.  When you  attain
sampatti-siddhi you will certainly be able  to  understand.
You  will  understand without any struggle.  And  why  not?
You will see it all before your eyes.  You will not need to
ask  questions.  Even what the soul sees at  the  stage  of
svarupa-siddhi or bhavapana-dasa an ordinary person  cannot
understand.   And why not?  Even if he hears  a  person  in
bhavapana-dasa  describe what he sees, an  ordinary  person
will  not understand the description.  The nature of a soul
situated  in  svarupa-siddhi is  described  by  Srila  Rupa
Gosvami  in these words (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.3.29  and
1.4.12):
      “If  a  person  is completely detached from  material
enjoyment and has developed pure ecstatic devotion, even if
he  is  sometimes accidentally found not living up  to  the
standard  of devotional service, one should not be  envious
of him.”*
      “Only  the  most fortunate persons can  achieve  such
success in life.  Those who are simply academic students of
the   Vedic  scriptures  cannot  appreciate  how   such   a
development takes place.”*
      Vijaya-kumara: If this is so, then why do the Brahma-
samhita  and other scriptures try to describe the world  of
Goloka?
      Gosvami:  When  by the Lord’s mercy they  attain  the
stage of svarupa-siddhi, Brahma and the demigods speak many
prayers to describe what they have seen.  However, ordinary
persons who are less spiritually advanced cannot understand
these  prayers very well.  Still, there is no need for  the
devotees  to understand all these points.  By Lord  Krsna’s
mercy  His  prakata pastimes are manifested,  and  you  can
worship Him.  By doing that you will attain all perfection.
Within  a short time you will attain great spiritual faith,
and  then  the spiritual world of Goloka will be manifested
before  you.  Gokula is the same as Goloka.  And  why  not?
Gokula and Goloka are not different places.  That spiritual
realm   is   not   seen  by  the  eyes   of   materialists.
Materialists  do  not attain the stage  of  svarupa-siddhi.
Only  persons  who  are qualified can see  these  spiritual
truths.    Please  Krsna  by  engaging  in  His  devotional
service.   Follow  Krsna’s commands.  By following  Krsna’s
commands,  you will gradually attain His mercy.  Then  your
vision will be pure and perfect.
      Vijaya-kumara had no longer any doubts.  He  followed
the  eleven bhavas.  He meditated on Lord Krsna’s  handsome
form  and  pastimes.  Staying in a cottage by the seashore,
he  always  tasted  the sweetness of  pure  spiritual  love
(prema).   Meanwhile, Vrajanatha’s mother  fell  sick  with
cholera  and died.  Vrajanatha and his grandmother returned
home.  In Vrajanatha’s pure heart was manifested pure  love
(prema)  in sakhya-rasa.  He passed his days staying  among
the  Vaisnavas  by the Ganges shore at Sridhama  Navadvipa.
Vijaya-kumara  renounced household life  and  accepted  the
kaupina  of a sannyasi.  He lived by taking a little  maha-
prasadam  he  obtained by madhukari  begging.   During  the
eight  periods  of the day he meditated on Sri  Sri  Radha-
Krsna.   At night he briefly slept.  He honoured  a  little
prasadam.   While he was awake he served the divine  couple
in ways appropriate to the particular time of day.  On japa
beads  he  always  chanted the holy  names  of  Lord  Hari.
Sometimes  he  danced, sometimes he wept, and sometimes  he
smiled  to  see the waves in the ocean.  Who can understand
the  symptoms of his devotional life?  He accepted the name
Nimai dasa Babaji.  He would neither hear nor speak gossip.
He  was very humble.  His actions were pure.  He was  fixed
in  devotional  service.  When someone  offered  him  maha-
prasadam or cloth for his kaupina, he accepted only what he
actually  needed.  He never accepted more than that.   When
he  chanted the holy names of Lord Hari tears would  stream
from his eyes, his voice would become choked, and the hairs
of  his  body would stand erect.  After only a few days  he
became  perfect  in devotional service.  He  obtained  Lord
Krsna’s  mercy, and thus he became qualified to  enter  the
Lord’s  aprakata pastimes.  Like Haridasa Thakura, when  he
died  his  material  body  was placed  in  a  tomb  by  the
seashore.  Haribol.
      “Bearing with him the mercy of his spiritual  master,
Lord   Krsna,  and  the  Vaisnavas,  a  poor  person  named
Bhaktivinoda laboured greatly to write this book.
      “This  book, the Jaiva-dharma, written in the Bengali
language,  was completed by the Ganges’ shore  at  Surabhi-
kunja in Godruma, at Navadvipa, on the full moon day of the
month  of  Magha  in the 410th year after  Lord  Caitanya’s
appearance in this world.
      “Persons who yearn to attain the feet of Lord  Gaura,
the  delivered  of the Kali-yuga, will have faith  in  this
book.
      “I place a curse on any person who does not have even
the smallest particle of faith, but still reads this book.
      “Persons  who  speak  the theory  of  dry  impersonal
liberation cannot understand Krsna.  Only faithful  persons
can purely understand Lord Krsna’s pastimes in Vraja.
     The End.