Category: Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi

Rādhā’s love is not given externally 

I constantly remember the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhikā, whose unlimited power instantly subdues even the Supreme Person (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), Who Himself cannot be easily seen even by the greatest devotees like Lord Brahmā, or Śiva, Śuadeva Muni, Nārarada Muni and Bhīṣma. 

Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi

In Verse 4 of Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī sings praises of Rādhā in two ways. First, he glorifies the dust of her lotus feet. The power of this dust is so great, he says, that even Kṛṣṇa, God himself is under its power. Then, he notes that she is so glorious that other powerful devotees cannot even see her.   

Dust that is powerful enough to subjugate Kṛṣṇa himself? Gods, demigods and mighty kings who cannot see what they wish to see? What can this mean?

The answer lies in the mystery of Rādhā’s power.

Prabodhānanda describes Rādhā’s power as unlimited, capable of instantly subduing Kṛṣṇa, where other great beings cannot even see him. Her power is greater than any ordinary material power. 

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Diving into the nectar-ocean of love

By diving into this nectar-ocean his body, mind and life-airs had become wholly nectarean. 

Ananta Dās Bābāji

In Verse 84 of his Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī derides what he sees as the misguided principles of traditional religious practices.

First, if traditional Vedic principles warn against material sense gratification, they do not recognise the meaning of the spiritual senses, the spiritual longing that appears in the heart of everyone. Second, seeking the answers to our prayers by studying the many verses of the Vedas is equally fruitless. Third, to search for liberation by the merging with the divine, will only deny us the experience of a loving relationship with God. Finally, worshiping only the power and opulence of Vedic gods will leave us incapable of appreciating or sharing in the tender loving emotions of divine love. 

Instead, Prabodhānanda assures us that all we need in order to find fulfilment is to become absorbed in the loving flavours of Rādhā. Ananta dās Bābāji shares the same sentiment in his commentary to the verse : ‘By diving into this nectar-ocean his body, mind and life-airs had become wholly nectarean’.

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The rasika history of the world

Verse 94

In the West we often understand our world in terms of its history. The typical ingredients are politics, power, money and greed. The typical result is suffering. 

From the point of view of the rasika, one who has the wisdom to relish the loving nectar flowing through the Creation, the history of the world is the history of love. 

In his commentary to Rādhā Rasa Sudhāndhi, Verse 94, Ananda das Bābājī, describes an episode from the Gaura Līlā that he calls ‘The festival of Srī Rādhā’s mercy’. It is the story of love, jealousy, loyalty and betrayal. 

The turns of the story might remind us of Greek tragedy or Shakespearean comedy of errors. But this pastime describe in Verse 94 and its commentary, do not end in sorrow and loss, but in a higher form of feeling. 

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To relish

Verse 1

In his auspicious invocation to Rādhā rāsā sudhānidhi, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī does not waste a moment before glorifying Caitanya Mahāprabhu as an embodiment of nearly unimaginable emotion. His body is described as studded with goose pimples of ecstasy as he dances and sings, tears running down his face.

Mahāprabhu’s emotion is nearly unimaginable, and yet we imagine it. Our minds recognise his emotion as our own, still hidden and unrealised in our hearts. Mahāprabhu’s appearance on earth lets us understand that to realise this emotion, to make it a reality, is the greatest experience we can want. 

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Seeing with spiritual eyes

Verse 66

The desire of my heart is to see the amorous playful enjoyment of Rādhā and Mohan. The fulfilment of my heart lies in the pure fulfilment of the divine loving relation. The realisation of that loving relation is the goal of any jiva. That is the goal of practice: to deepen and enhance the project of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared in order to full understand and feel what loving relation is, understand by feeling, feeling-understanding. 

We, the ‘villagers’, are ‘fortunate souls’ (puṇyātma) in that we are allowed to observe the couple in this way. This good fortune (puṇya) does not come to us because we deserve it. It is mercy. There is no cause or reason for it. Mercy comes to us only through devotion, through loving relation to God. 

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Neither male nor female

Verse 53

We observe our bodies and we see the physiology of men and women, of male and female. This material confinement of gender and sexuality steers mundane social conflict and political debates about which bodies we are authorised to love. The life of material love, of material desire, is intertwined with the dualism of genders. In our modern experience of sexuality this dualism is sometimes inverted, exchanged or reassigned. But we seem unable to imagine ourselves, to grasp our identities without it. 

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