3.5 · Madhura-rasa

The devotees (satām) here refers to particular devotees whose hearts are touched with attraction for Kṛṣṇa as their lover.

Nivṛttānupayogitvād means “because of lack of qualification of those who are without taste (nivṛtta) for this rasa related to the Lord, caused by their equating it with material love.”

Antar means their hearts or mental functions. Karambita means mixed. All the elements of their mental functions (antarāṅgāḥ) are mixed with waves of prema.

Mad-cakita-cakorī means a female cakora bird [Note: The cakora or Greek partridge is said to subsist on moonbeams.] who is trembling with excitement. Cakita usually indicates trembling with fear, but in this case, simply indicates the restless nature of her eyes, due to excitement (mada).

Visibly (sphuṭam) the words do not enter her ears, but without Kṛṣṇa’s seeing, those words immediately enter her ears. She raises her eyes upwards (udyan-mukhī), out of lover’s pride. Narmoktau is connected the later phrase lāghavam apy ātanvatī. The meaning is “she does not pay attention to my joking words.” Bhaṅgibhiḥ (by wit or clever, deceptive words) indicates by suggestion that she actually takes the words to heart.

Saṁṣāra-vāsanābaddha-śṛṅkhalām literally means “Rādhā who was bound by chains in the form of impressions of previous lives (saṁsāra).” However, the meaning of saṁsāra in this context is “the real essence.” (Sam indicates samyak, which means true, and sāra means essence).

Apāṅga means “near the corner of the eye.” It can mean the corner of the eye, or near the corner of the eye, or the outer portion of the eye. In the phrase śitāpāṅga, apāṅga has been explained as a place near the outer portion of the eye (netrānta). In this verse, the word kṛṣṇāpāṅga is used, indicating blackness near the edge of the eye at the corner. In the same way, a phrase like nīlendīvara-locana found in the Govinda-stava does not mean “eyes black like a blue lotus,” but rather “eyes whose surrounding area is blackish like the blue lotus.” This blackness is compared to the color of wave-filled Yamunā (taraṅgita-dyumaṇijā [Note: Dyumaṇi, jewel of the sky, means the sun. Dyumaṇi-jā means the daughter of the sun, who is Yamunā.] which is also blackish. In this aspect of blackness, the edges of the corners of the eyes and the Yamunā are similar. Taraṅgita is the past participle formed from the verb taraṅgayate (to become full of waves) with the addition of the suffix “i” and then “ta”.

In this verse, someone is speaking after seeing another person listening to the flute.

Ālasya does not manifest except after enjoying with Kṛṣṇa. Augrya (ugratā) does not manifest, except when the association with Kṛṣṇa is broken.

Kuvalaya in first line means the earth, but in the second line it means a blue lotus. Kṛṣṇa’s bodily complexion is here not compared to honey, which the bees (eyes of the gopīs) are made to taste, because the word lehayan cannot mean “causes to taste” in this verse. The line cannot mean that His blue effulgence causes them to taste and drink. The reason is as follows. For verbs, which have the meaning of eating, such as drinking or taking a meal, the subject becomes the object in the causative form. [Note: Pāṇini 1.4.52.] If lehayan refers to drinking (someone makes them drink), then the eyes of the gopīs which are like bees, should be in the accusative case. Since that is not the case (the bees are in the instrumental case), [Note: However some versions of the text have akṣi-bhṛṅgān in the accusative instead of the instrumental, in which case the meaning would be “make the bees taste.”] the word lehayan cannot refer to drinking or tasting. Instead the word lehayan can only refer to causing attraction. “The effulgence causes attraction for the eyes of the gopīs.” Kṣmādhara (holder of the earth) in this context means Govardhana Hill. Thus, the subject of the verse is clearly Kṛṣṇa. The word dhūrta (cheat, crafty person) is used in a joking sense, to produce special taste. A similar joking sense is also found in this verse from Bhāgavatam: pati-sutānvaya-bhrātṛ-bāndhavān ativilaṅghya te ’nty acyutāgatāḥ gati-vidas tavodgīta-mohitāḥ kitava yoṣitaḥ kas tyajen niśi Dear Acyuta, You know very well why we have come here. Who but a cheater like You would abandon young women who come to see Him in the middle of the night, enchanted by the loud song of His flute? Just to see You, we have completely rejected our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and other relatives. SB 10.31.16 The word kitava in the above verse means cheater, but is uttered out of anger generated through affection.

Valli in bhrū-valli is short for vallī, which means creeper. Thus, bhrū-valli means the graceful creepers of His eyebrows. The usage is found in Māgha-kāvya: nava-nāga-valli-dala-pūga-rasa (plentiful sap from the leaves of the new snake-like creepers) and in Gīta-govinda: mallī-valli-cañcat-parāga (the quivering pollen on the jasmine creepers.) Instead of bhrū-valli sometimes bhrū-yugma (two eyebrows) is seen. Nikaṣopala-tulya-veṣa means cloth similar to a testing stone [Note: Nikaśa is a testing stone for gold. By rubbing gold on the stone for testing, the stone shows a golden line as a test of real gold.] by its yellow color. Kṛṣṇa’s cloth is compared to the fresh yellow color of this golden stone, though the word “yellow or gold like the lines on the testing stone” is missing in the phrase. It means “cloth with gold lines on it.” Avaśīkaroti means “He has made me so that I have no control over myself.” Or it can also mean “He has made me uncontrollable or independent of others, giving no respect to the opinion of others.” The suffix “ī” is added to avaśa and combined with kṛ to become avaśikaroti, to convey the sense of changing into a condition previously not existing. [Note: Pāṇini 5.4.50] Kaṇkelli means the aśoka plant (which has bright red flowers).

The love or rati in this verse refers exclusively to love of Rādhā and Mādhava, and not Kṛṣṇa’s relationship with other dear gopīs in the conjugal mood. The rati of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, composed of seeing each other and other pastimes using trickery, is never covered over (vicchidyate) by similar relationships (sajātīya)—Kṛṣṇa’s relationship with other gopīs, or by contrary relationships (vijātīyaiḥ) such as vatsala-sthāyi-bhāva, which desire to compete with this type of rati.

Rājñī means the queen of Vraja, Yaśodā. Danuja means Ariṣṭāsura. Śailasya here refers to a collection of stones, not a mountain. Ariṣṭāsura was standing on top of a pile of stones at the entrance to Vraja.

Khaṇḍita-śaṅkhacūḍa refers to the Yakṣa whose body was like a pastimes arena (ajiram). Jackals (śivā) filled with the mode of ignorance (tāmasī) surrounded (rundhe) him. However, in terms of the lotus face of Rādhā, śivā can be taken as aśivā (by sandhi rule), meaning inauspicious, and tāmasī can mean night. For the lotus, the night is inauspicious and frightening, since it closes up the lotus flower. The inauspicious, terrifying night (for the lotus) covered the broken demon lying in the arena of pastimes. In both cases, the wind, which was like a group of persons fixed in the peace of brahman realization, chanting peaceful praises, as if showering snow. What is shown here are contrary moods of fear (of the demon), peace (from the wind) and parental affection (Balarāma’s relation to Rādhā). The night, snow and the moon are all unfavorable for the lotus. Now, other lotuses would wither in the presence of night, snow or the moon, but the lotus representing Rādhā’s love for Kṛṣṇa did not wither at all. This is an example of the literary ornament called viśeṣokti. [Note: In viśeṣokti, the effect is not produced in spite of the full cause. In the verse, the causes for the lotus withering are stated, but the lotus does not wither. The causes for Rādhā’s love towards Kṛṣṇa to diminish are stated, but her love does not change.]

Sa, the first word in the sentence, refers to madhura-bhakti-rasa.

The bhāva of the two lovers (dvayoḥ) who have not previously met is called pūrva-rāga (prior affection). Pūrva-rāga is called bhakti-rasa, but acts as an uddīpana (stimulus) for the lover. The other states should be understood to act in the same way.

The pūrva-rāga of the women of Vraja for Kṛṣṇa has been described elaborately by Śukadeva, who is their mouth-piece, in the chapter starting with the verse ayati te ’dhikaṁ janmanā vrajaḥ (SB 10.31), with such verses as the following: śarad-udāśaye sādhu-jāta-sat-sarasijodara-śrī-muṣā dṛśā surata-nātha te ’śulka-dāsikā vara-da nighnato neha kiṁ vadhaḥ O Lord of love, the beauty of Your glance excels the whorl of the finest, most perfectly formed lotus within the autumn pond. O bestower of benedictions, You are killing the maidservants who have given themselves to You freely, without any price. Isn’t this murder? SB 10.31.2 With the intention of indicating that already so many verses of the gopīs’ pūrva-rāga are available, the author mentions just the pūrva-rāga of Rukmiṇī, which has been described once.

The example of māna should be seen in the first half of the verse.

After this verse describing union, the eternal union (nitya-sthiti) of the gopīs of Vraja and the women of Dvārakā with Kṛṣṇa should be shown simultaneously in verses such as the following (already quoted in commentary on BRS 3.3.128): [Note: In the sections on dāsya, sakhya and vatsala-rasas, after descriptions of ayoga and yoga, sthiti was described. Since the author does not supply sthiti for madhura-rasa, the commentator does. Also anurāga and mahā-bhāva, two more intense levels of love beyond rāga visible in madhura-rasa are not described in this work. They are described in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi.] jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo yadu-vara-pariṣat svair dorbhir asyann adharmam sthira-cara-vṛjina-ghnaḥ su-smita-śrī-mukhena vraja-pura-vanitānāṁ vardhayan kāma-devam Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa lives among the cowherd men and the Yādavas and is conclusively both the son of Devakī and Yaśodā. He is the guide of the Yadu dynasty and the cowherd men, and with His mighty arms He kills everything inauspicious, in Vraja, Mathurā and Dvārakā. By His presence He destroys all things inauspicious for all living entities, moving and inert, and the suffering of separation of the inhabitants of Vraja and Dvārakā. His blissful smiling face always increases the desires of the gopīs of Vṛndāvana and women of Mathurā and Dvārakā. He remains eternally in this situation. SB 10.90.48