Text 4.27

विप्रलम्भोऽयम् आनन्दात्मैव ह्लादिनी-संवित्-वृत्ति-भूत-रतिमयत्वात्, तथापि दुःखादि-शब्देनोल्लेखस् तस्य लवणार्द्रकभक्षणाद् इव दुःसहत्वात्, न तु प्रतिकूल-वेद्यत्वाद् इति.

vipralambho'yam ānandātmaiva hlādinī-saṃvit-vṛtti-bhūta-ratimayatvāt, tathāpi duḥkhādi-śabdenollekhas tasya lavaṇārdrakabhakṣaṇād iva duḥsahatvāt, na tu pratikūla-vedyatvād iti.

Although this kind of vipralambha (transcendental) only has bliss as its nature since it consists in the rati that is a function of hlādinī and saṃvit, nonetheless it is termed with the word duḥkha (unhappiness) because it is tolerated with difficulty, as if it had occurred on account of eating salt and raw ginger, but not because it is regarded as adverse.

Commentary:

Rūpa Gosvāmī says that when Kṛṣṇa is the object of emotions, unhappiness is a form of happiness.^[1] Moreover, lamentation is an aspect of pravāsa and of prema-vaicittya, but that lamentation is not karuṇa-rasa proper. According to Bharata Muni, the difference between the feeling of separation in vipralambha śṛṅgāra-rasa and the feeling of separation in karuṇa-rasa is that in vipralambha, optimism, arising from yearning and anxiety, is maintained.^[2]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

prāyaḥ sukha-mayāḥ śītā uṣṇā duḥkha-mayā iha|
citreyaṃ paramānanda-sāndrāpy uṣṇā ratir matā || (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.5.77); ataḥ prādurbhavan śoko labdhāpy udbhaṭatāṃ muhuḥ|
durūhām eva tanute gatiṃ saukhyasya kām api || (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 4.4.16). Jīva Gosvāmī explains: kṛṣṇānvayād ity asyāyam arthaḥ. kṛṣṇa-sphuraṇa-mayatvād dharṣādayas tāvad aprākṛta-sukha-mayā eva, kintu tad-anvayāt viṣādādayaś ca tādṛśa-sukha-mayā eva vaktavyāḥ (Durgama-saṅgamanī 2.5.75).

[2]:

yady ayaṃ rati-prabhavaḥ śṛṅgāraḥ katham asya karuṇāśrayiṇo bhāvā bhavanti. atrocyate. […] karuṇas tu śāpa-kleśa-vinipatiteṣṭa-jana-vibhava-nāśa-vadha-bandha-samuttho nirapekṣabhāvaḥ. autsukya-cintā-samutthaḥ sāpekṣa-bhāvo vipralambha-kṛtaḥ. evam anyaḥ karuṇo’nyaś ca vipralambha iti (Nāṭya-śāstra 6.46).