Text 11

The conception of being a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā is described in the following words of the Gosvāmīs:

अभिमानं परित्यज्य प्राकृत-वपुर्-आदिषु श्री-कृष्ण-कृपया गोपी-देहे व्रजे वसाम्य् अहम्
राधिकानुचरी भूत्वा परकीय-रसे सदा राधा-कृष्ण-विलासेषु परिचर्यां करोम्य् अहम्

abhimānaṃ parityajya prākṛta-vapur-ādiṣu śrī-kṛṣṇa-kṛpayā gopī-dehe vraje vasāmy aham
rādhikānucarī bhūtvā parakīya-rase sadā rādhā-kṛṣṇa-vilāseṣu paricaryāṃ karomy aham

After giving up false identification with this material body, may I obtain the body of a gopī and reside in Vraja by the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. May I become Śrī Rādhā’s maidservant, and always serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, who revel in the rasa of paramour love.

स्थूल-देहादिते आत्म-बुद्धि परिहरि’
कृष्ण-कृपाश्रये नित्य-गोपी-देह धरि’

sthūla-dehādite ātma-buddhi parihari’
kṛṣṇa-kṛpāśraye nitya-gopī-deha dhari’

कबे आमि परकीय रसे निरन्तर
राधा-कृस्न-सेवा-सुख लभिब विस्तर

kabe āmi parakīya rase nirantara
rādhā-kṛsna-sevā-sukha labhiba vistara

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

As long as the sādhaka identifies himself with the material body, he cannot enter the realm of bhajana. Only after one has rejected all kinds of false identities pertaining to the body, such as, ‘I am a brāhmaṇa’, ‘I am a kṣatriya’, and pertaining to character, such as, ‘I am so qualified’, ‘I am rich’, ‘I am a scholar’, and only after he becomes more humble than a blade of grass (tṛṇād api sunīca) and prays with extreme distress, is it possible to obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. All types of anarthas, aparādhas and false identifications (abhimānas) can only be eradicated by good association (sat-saṅga).

We should weep and pray in a distressed and humble voice, “O Śrī Kṛṣṇa! O Śrī Rādhā! Gopī-dehe vraje vasāmy aham–when will I obtain such mercy as to reside in Vraja and become the dāsī of the dāsī of the dāsīs of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, and when will I eternally serve Your parakīya-rasa-vilāsa day and night?”

By such distress-filled prayers, gopī-bhāva will arise in the heart by the mercy of Śrī Rādhā’s sakhīs, the eternally perfect gopīs of Vraja. Without gopī-bhāva it is impossible to attain the land of Vṛndāvana-dhāma where Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa perform Their amorous pastimes in the solitary bowers. This mood is attained only by following Śrī Rādhā’s intimate sakhīs, who attend to Her in Her private chambers. Only they can enter these pastimes, no one else, and only they expand these pastimes and taste them. The ekādaśabhāvas and the five daśās ^[1] are evoked by their mercy.

Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings in Prema-bhakti-candrikā (5.7):

युगल-चरण सेवि, निरन्तर एइ भावि,
अनुरागे थाकिब सदाय
साधने भाविब याहा, सिद्ध-देहे पाब ताहा,
राग-पथेर एइ से उपाय

yugala-caraṇa sevi, nirantara ei bhāvi,
anurāge thākiba sadāya
sādhane bhāviba yāhā, siddha-dehe pāba tāhā,
rāga-pathera ei se upāya

I will constantly serve the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa with loving attachment. Whatever I contemplate during sādhana will certainly be achieved upon attaining the perfection of a spiritual body (siddha-deha ). This is the method of the path of rāga.

Parakīya-rase sadā–The scriptures establish the pre-eminence of the paramour love (parakīya-rasa) of Vraja. By serving Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa in the mood of wedded love (svakīya), one will attain Goloka Vṛndāvana, and by serving in paramour love (parakīya), one will attain Vraja-Vṛndāvana, the absolute innermost chamber of Golokadhāma, where Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s nikuñja-līlās take place. There, the mañjarī-sakhīs are topmost, as they are endowed with ullāsa-rati, or much stronger affection for Rādhā than for Kṛṣṇa. They render service to the rasa-laden loving exchanges (rasa-keli-līlā-vilāsa) in the secluded groves without any hesitation.

Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī says in Vraja-vilāsa-stava (38):

ताम्बूलार्पण-पाद-मर्दन-पयोदानाभिसारादिभिर् वृन्दारण्य-महेश्वरीं प्रियतया यास् तोषयन्ति प्रियाः
प्राण-प्रेष्ठ-सखी-कुलाद् अपि किलासङ्कोचिता भूमिकाः केली-भूमिषु रूप-मञ्जरी-मुखास् ता दासिकाः संश्रये

tāmbūlārpaṇa-pāda-mardana-payodānābhisārādibhir vṛndāraṇya-maheśvarīṃ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ
prāṇa-preṣṭha-sakhī-kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ kelī-bhūmiṣu rūpa-mañjarī-mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṃśraye

I take shelter of the maidservants of Śrīmatī Rādhikā of whom Rūpa Mañjarī is prominent. Unlike the prāṇa-preṣṭhasakhīs, they can perform any service without hesitation. They perpetually and affectionately satisfy Śrīmatī Rādhikā by their various services, such as offering tāmbūla, massaging Her feet, bringing Her water and arranging for Her trysts with Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

These terms are explained on p. 247.