Verse Seven
gopya ücuù
akñaëvatäà phalam idaà na paraà vidämaù
sakhyaù paçün anuviveçayator vayasyaiù
vaktraà vrajeça-sutayor anuveëu-juñöaà
yair vä nipétam anurakta-kaöäkña-mokñam
gopya ücuù – the gopés said; akñanvatäm – of those who have
eyes; phalam – success; idam – this (beautiful sight of Çré Kåñëa
as He enters Våndävana with the cows and cowherd boys);
na – not; param – other (success of the eyes); vidämaù – we
know; sakhyaù – O friends; paçün – the cows; anuviveçayatoù –
entering one forest after another; vayasyaiù – with Their
friends of the same age; vaktraà – the sweetness of Their faces;
vrajeça – of Nanda Mahäräja; sutayoù – of the two sons Kåñëa
and Balaräma, or Kåñëa, the son of King Nanda, and Rädhikä,
the daughter of King Våñabhänu (in other words, Rädhä and
Kåñëa); anu-veëu-juñöaà – following behind and touching the
flute to His lips; yaiù – by which; vä – and; nipétam – drinking
(the nectar of Kåñëa’s sidelong glances); anurakta – filled with
love; kaöäkña – sidelong glances; mokñam – pouring on (smiles,
laughter and sidelong glances).
Translation
The gopés said to their most intimate friends, “O sakhés!
Just see! How can we find words to express the indescribable
fortune of one whose eyes behold the imperishable beauty of
the two sons of Mahäräja Nanda, Çré Kåñëa and Baladeva,
as They enter Våndävana with the cowherd boys and cows?
They hold Their flutes to Their lips and smile mildly while
lovingly showering sidelong glances upon us. At that time we
drink the sweetness of Their faces.”
commentary continued:-
. When Balarämajé came from
Dvärakä to console the Vrajaväsés, He offered praëäma to
Nanda Mahäräja and Çré Yaçodäjé, addressing them as ‘mother
and father.’ They both blessed Him and made Him sit on
their laps like their own son – rämo ‘bhivädya pitaräv äçérbhir
abhinanditaù.
In this way we find various statements that prove that
Balarämajé is indeed also known in Vraja as Vrajeça-nandana.
That is why the love-maddened gopés, in order to hide their
undivided love for Kåñëa, described Balarämajé’s beauty and
other qualities along with Kåñëa’s. “Sakhé! Those eyes which
have not drunk the beauty of Vrajaräja-nandana Kåñëa and
Baladeva are useless.” As soon as the cowherd girls began
expressing the beauty of Kåñëa and Balaräma and the way
the veëu touches Their lips, many kinds of moods flashed in
their hearts.
Vaktraà vrajeça-sutayor anuveëu-juñöaà – There is another
deep meaning here. When the two sons of the king of Vraja,
surrounded by all the cowherd boys of the same age, enter the
forest for cow-grazing, one of them, holding a charming flute to
His lips, follows some distance behind. The life and eyes of one
who has drunk the sweetness of His lotus face are successful,
and the eyes of one who has not tasted that sweetness have
no purpose. This is the gopés’ inner bhäva. Outwardly, however,
they convey their feelings in such a way that anyone overhearing
them will not understand their inner mood.
Their use of the descriptive phrase veëu-juñöaà (touching
the flute to His lips) has intensified and filled the lovesick
gopés’ moods with so much rasa that it is impossible to grasp
these bhävas without their mercy. The veëu repeatedly
touches Vrajaräja-nandana Çré Kåñëa’s lips when He plays on
him. At that time Vrajendra-nandana sprinkles the veëu with
the nectar of His lips. He fills the flute with the breath of the
indescribable love in His heart, expressed through enigmatic
sounds such as klià.
Pointing at the veëu’s unparalleled good luck, the vrajaramaëés
experienced a bhäva arising in their hearts never
encountered before, along with an intense yearning to attain
the flute’s great fortune. The phrase yairnipétam expresses this
bhäva – only the eyes of those who have beheld the beautiful
lotus face of Çré Kåñëa as He touches the flute to His lips are
successful. If their purpose had been only to see Çré Kåñëa, the
gopés would have said dåñtam (to see) instead of nipétam (to
drink). But with their hearts shackled by self-control, shyness,
family obligations, honor and fear, it was impossible for them to
taste Çré Kåñëa’s sweetness and to drink the nectar of His lips.
Therefore they said instead, “O sakhé! While playing the
veëu, Vrajendra-nandana Çré Kåñëa lovingly casts sidelong
glances at those devotees to whom He is deeply attached.”
They explained that with His fully loving gaze Çré Kåñëa breaks
the obstructions of shyness, duty, self-control and hesitancy.
As soon as He arches His eyebrow in a coyly provocative
way, all of these obstacles are banished forever. This is the
deep purport of the word mokña in this verse. Not only does
Çré Kåñëa look from the corners of His eyes at His dearest
ones, but they also cannot refrain from looking at Him in the
same way – anurakta-kaöäkña-mokñam.
“Being shy, sakhé, you still hesitate to go near Vrajendranandana.
But if you approach Him a little, the play of His
eyebrows will break your regard for public opinion, selfcontrol
and all the rest, and drawing you closer to Him,
He will force you to drink the nectar of His lips. At that
time, drinking the honey of the lotus face of our präëapriyatama,
the love of our life, all of us will bring our lives,
along with our eyes, to perfection.”
All the vraja-ramaëés are immersed in bhäva, each and
every one having her own particular, special mood. The heart
cannot grasp all these individual bhävas, but it is possible to
understand a few of them. Among all of the vraja-ramaëés,
Çrématé Rädhikä, Candrävalé and the other principal gopés
are always the most eager to meet Çré Kåñëa and enjoy with
Him. Çré Rädhikä’s maidservants, however, like Çré Rüpa
Maïjaré, are not eager to meet with Çré Kåñëa themselves,
but rather they only desire to arrange for Her to meet with Him.
The pleasure Her followers taste is millions and millions of
times greater than it would be if they were meeting personally
with Kåñëa. This particular kind of gopé-bhäva, called ulläsarati,
is especially sweet and has been brilliantly analyzed in
Préti-sandarbha and in the commentaries on Ujjvala-nélamaëi:
saïcäré syät samonä vä kåñëa-ratyäù suhåd-ratiù
adhikä puñyamäëä ced bhävolläsa itéryate
Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu (2.5.128)
Generally, devotees of the same mood, who are enriched
with similar desires, naturally share suhåd-bhäva, intimate
friendship, with each other. That is why the love and affection
(préti and rati) that Lalitä and the other sakhés have for Çrématé
Rädhikä is called suhåd-rati. When their suhåd-rati increases
from its normal condition to become the same as or just slightly
less than their kåñëa-rati (affection for Çré Kåñëa), it is called
saïcäré-bhäva17. It is like a wave in their kåñëa-rati, which is
their permanent mood. In other words this suhåd-rati becomes
a saïcäré-bhäva when the sakhés’ affection for Çrématé Rädhikä
rises up and becomes equal to the waves in the ocean of their
prominent affection for Kåñëa. But there are some gopés whose
tender affection (sneha) for Rädhäjé is so prodigious that it
vastly exceeds their kåñëa-rati and continuously increases
by the moment due to their full absorption in it. In this case
suhåd-rati, no longer a saïcäré-bhäva, is called bhäva-ulläsa-
rati, a special feature of madhura-rasa. Of the five types of
sakhés, only the nitya-sakhés and präëa-sakhés, who are known
as maïjarés, have this bhäva-ulläsa-rati, and for them it is the
permanent emotion (sthäyé-rati).
It is seen that creepers are always endeavoring to embrace
trees, but the leaves, flowers and buds (maïjarés) of the creepers
do not even slightly try to embrace the trees directly. When
a creeper embraces a tree, the joy of its flowers, leaves and
maïjarés automatically increases. In Çré Våndävana, Çrématé
Rädhikä stands supreme among all gopés. She is famous as
the wish-fulfilling creeper of love for Çré Kåñëa. Some of
Her sakhés have the nature of leaves, some are like flowers
and some like maïjarés. That is why they are always eager for
Çrématé Rädhikä to meet with Kåñëa and are carried away by
the bliss of Their union:
sakhéra svabhäva eka akathya kathana
kåñëa saha nija léläya nähi sakhéra mana
kåñëa saha rädhikära lélä ye karäya
nija sukha haite täte koöi sukha päya
rädhära svarüpa – kåñëa prema-kalpa-latä
sakhé gaëa haya tära pallava-puñpa-pätä
kåñëa-lélämåta yadi latäke siïcaya
nija-sukha haite pallavädyera koöi-sukha haya
Caitanya-caritämåta (Madhya-lélä 8.207-210)
After hearing the mellifluous sound of the flute, Çrématé
Rädhikä and the other vraja-ramaëés are tormented by desire
to meet with Çré Kåñëa. Attempting to assuage the burning in
their hearts, they discuss the sweetness of Çré Kåñëa’s name,
form, qualities, pastimes and veëu only with the sakhés within
their own groups. Çrématé Rädhikä’s sakhé-maïjarés also
become restless upon hearing the veëu-näda, not out of desire
to see Kåñëa personally, but rather out of desire for Çrématé
Rädhikä to meet with Him. They are always eager for the
pleasure of Çré Rädhä-Govinda’s sweet and loving meeting.
In Her heart Çrématé Rädhikä is feeling that the triumph of
the eyes lies only in relishing the beauty of that Kåñëa who
is playing the flute and arching His eyebrows. But the sakhémaïjarés
have a different understanding. The fruit for their
eyes is to drink the combined beauty of Çré Rädhä-Kåñëa’s
sweet lotus faces.
Just as we can get a glimpse of the moods of Çrématé Rädhikä
and the other principal gopés by deliberating on this verse
akñaëvatäà phalam idaà and others from Veëu-géta, hints of
the moods of the sakhé-maïjarés can also be found therein.
Upon hearing Kåñëa’s veëu-näda, Rädhikä’s sakhé-maïjarés
also began uttering this verse to the other vraja-ramaëés of
the same mood. The sakhé-maïjarés are eager to arrange the
meetings of Çré Rädhä-Kåñëa and to taste the rasa of serving
the Divine Couple. In order to relish the meaning of these
verses in this mood, it is necessary to understand a general
analysis of the word meanings as well as their special inner
purports, which can be explained in this way:
“O sakhé, when vrajeça-suta Çré Kåñëa and vrajeça-sutä
Çrématé Rädhikä meet together, They decorate and dress each
other in a manner befitting Their youthful age. While the
enchanting veëu is kissing Kåñëa’s lips and Çrématé Rädhikä’s
face is being served by Her arched eyebrows, the Prince
and Princess of Vraja look tenderly at Their very dearest
ones. Only those eyes which have seen these sweet faces are
victorious; the eyes of one who has not seen this have been
utterly wasted.” Here vrajeça-sutayoù has an inner meaning –
vrajeça-sutäç ca and vrajeça-sutaç ca refer respectively to
vrajeça-sutä Çrématé Rädhikä, the daughter of the king of
Vraja (Våñabhänu Mahäräja), and vrajeça-suta Çré Kåñëa, the
son of the king of Vraja (Nanda Mahäräja). Thus, both of
Them are indicated.
The phrase anuveëu-juñöaà indicates that first the veëu is
kissed by Kåñëa, and then by Çrématé Rädhikä. Descriptions
of this are given in the Gosvämés’ literatures. During the
midday pastimes sometimes Çrématé Rädhikä takes the veëu
from Kåñëa’s hand, puts him on Her lips and plays him.
At that time, Çré Rädhä-Kåñëa become absorbed in each other
and cast charming, sidelong glances at Their dearest devoted
sakhés. Seeing this sweet picture of the Divine Couple,
these sakhés offer their everything to Them. Whoever beholds
this sight has fulfilled the purpose of his eyes. This is the secret
objective of the sakhés in Çré Rädhä’s own party.
The gopés, overflowing in bhäva, were only able to say,
“This is success for one who has eyes.” They were not able
to say any more. The reason for this is that their throats
immediately choked up upon remembering Kåñëa’s beautiful
form, and they were not able to speak further. The supremely
rasika Vraja maidens are extremely grave by nature, and
their utterances of love are also equally profound. One or
two words are enough to reveal their deep, mysterious moods.
What is the need of correct grammar – subject, object, verb
and adjectives – to properly express their bhävas? This proves
that the gopés are supremely skillful and are the crown jewels
amongst all rasikas, those experienced in tasting the nectar of
loving exchanges.
Hearing Kåñëa’s flute song, the vraja-ramaëés, whose
feelings of love are always fresh and new, became as if deranged
with the appearance of añöa-sättvika and many other kinds
of bhävas. This incited their eagerness to meet with Kåñëa,
and by just a few words they revealed their hearts to those
gopés of the same mood. All the vraja-gopés are Kåñëa’s life,
and they are all deeply committed to giving Him pleasure, but
their bhävas are not the same. Consequently there are subtle
differences in their eagerness to see Kåñëa and their desire to
meet with Him. It is impossible to describe and fully taste all
of the individual moods of the multitudes of gopés.
Çrémad-Bhägavatam shows how to relish the sweetness of
Kåñëa’s veëu-näda by following two different moods: those of
Çrématé Rädhikä, the supreme gopé who possesses mahäbhäva
to the highest degree and who is the crown jewel of Kåñëa’s
beloved consorts; and those of Her devoted sakhé-maïjarés,
who have taken shelter of Her lotus feet. The commentators
as well have given particular importance to describing both
these moods. Therefore, all of the verses of the Veëu-géta are to
be relished in this way. Each and every one of Kåñëa’s beloved
vraja-ramaëés is an unfathomable ocean of mahäbhäva. No
one can count how many towering waves of these moods toss
about and swirl through their hearts. And, with whatever
visions of Kåñëa appear in the practicing devotee’s heart by
the gopés’ mercy, he is fully gratified.
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