TVAṀ RŪPA MAÑJARI SAKHI PRATHITĀ PURE'SMIN
PUṀSAḤ PARASYA VADANAṀ NA HI PAŚYASĪTI
BIMBĀDHARE KṢATAM ANĀGATA BHARTṚKĀYĀ
YAT TE VYADHĀYI KIM U TAC CHUKA PUṄGAVENA
My dear friend Rūpa Mañjari! In the township of Vraja you are well known for your chastity. You don't even look at the faces of other men! It is therefore surprising that your lips, that are as beautiful as red Bimba-fruits, have been bitten, although your husband is not at home. Has this maybe been done by the best of parrots?
Tika by Srila Ananta das Babaji:
…
In this verse Śrīla Dāsa Gosvāmī offers a sarasa stava (tasty praise) to his own guru Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī in his own siddha svarūpa. It is called sarasa stava because here Śrī Gurudevī is a priya sakhī. The first three verses take place within one līlā. When the svarūpāveśa becomes very intense in the sādhaka deha (material body of the devotee) the devotee can not be happy and satisfied anymore with his experiences during smaraṇa, dreams and visions (sphuraṇa) as he was before. He is constantly burning in the fire of want for the direct attainment of his beloved. When on top of that these visions and other awarenesses also vanish from him, this fire assumes a terrible form and he finds no way to keep himself alive. In that condition his beloved deity personally comes to console him, or His associates come to console him. In this verse Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī is in svarūpāveśa and sees himself as Śrī Rādhā's maidservant, but whenever he loses hold of his spiritual absorption he suffers intolerable pain. Rolling on the bank of Rādhākuṇḍa he then cries out loudly for his Svāminī.
Śrīmatī Rūpa Mañjarī has accomplished the meeting of Rādhikā and Śyāmasundara in a solitary cave of Govardhana Hill, and she secretly looks through a hole in that cave to witness Their sweet love-pastimes. Rādhā and Śyāma are both intoxicated by Each other's presence. How expertly are They playing Their pastimes! At the end of these pastimes Śyāmasundara bites Śrīmatī's lips, leaving a mark there. The relationship between Rādhikā and Rūpa Mañjarī is so pure that all the signs of Kṛṣṇa's lovemaking on Śrī Rādhikā's body, such as His bitemarks on Her lips, become manifest on Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī's body also. Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī is beside herself of ecstasy, so she's not aware of this reflection. Then she thinks to herself: "Aha! My sakhī Tulasī Mañjarī (Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī) has not seen these sweet pastimes! Where is she? Alas, I should bring her here and show this to her!", so she leaves the window and starts searching for Tulasī. When Tulasī meets Rūpa Mañjarī, she notices Kṛṣṇa's bite marks on her lips and jokingly asks her: "My dear friend Rūpa Mañjari! You never look at the faces of other men! You're famous in Vraja for your chastity! But, despite the fact that your husband is not at home, I see that your lips have been bitten! Has some great parrot maybe done this?"
If anyone considers the words śuka puṅgavena to indicate that Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī was enjoyed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, then that would contradict the definition the ācāryas have given of the mañjarīs within their books.
ananya śrī rādhā padakamala dāsyaika rasadhī
hareḥ saṅge raṅgam svapana samaye nā'pi dadhati
balāt kṛṣṇa kūrpāsakabhidi kim apy ācarati kā-
py udāśrur meveti pralapati mamātma ca hasati
(Vṛndāvana Mahimāmṛta 16, 94)
"The maidservants, that are exclusively devoted to the service of Śrī Rādhā's lotus feet, that are like an ocean of nectar, do not enjoy with Śrī Hari even in their dreams. When Kṛṣṇa forcibly pulls at their bodices they cry out: 'No, no!', while Rādhikā watches and laughs."
Śrīmatī laughs here because of the kiṅkarīs' loyalty to Her service. The bee enjoys the flowers, not the buds (mañjarīs). The buds (mañjarīs) enhance the bee's thirst for the flowers. They are mañjarīs in name, mañjarīs in form and mañjarīs in nature! Śrī Rūpa is the bud of Śrī Rādhā's form (rūpa mañjarī), Śrī Rati Mañjarī is the bud of Śrīmatī love (rati), Śrī Vilāsa Mañjarī is the bud of Śrī Rādhā's love-play (vilāsa). Śrī Kṛṣṇa accepts defeat at their bhāva-niṣṭhā.
rādhā raṅga lasat tad ujjvala kalā sañcāraṇā prākriyā
cāturyottaram eva sevanam ahaṁ govinda samprārthaye
yenāśeṣa vadhū janodbhata manorājya prapañcāvadhau
nautsukyaṁ bhavad aṅga saṅgama rase'py ālambate man manaḥ
(Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi Sakhi 88)
"One sakhī was picking flowers for making a vana-mālā and Kṛṣṇa, seeing her, told her: "O beautiful girl! Make your birth a success by joining Me for a while in this kuñja!" Hearing this, that sakhī (mañjarī) said: "O Govinda! I only want to serve while You make love with Śrī Rādhā, showing Your brilliant amorous skills on the stage of erotic dancing named Śrī Rādhā! All the girls of Vraja find the limit of perfection on the strength of this service, therefore, O Gokula-candra! My mind is never eager to relish the rasa of Your Anaṅga-saṅga (erotic union). Please just engage me in this long-desired service!"
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes in his 'Ānanda Candrikā' commentary on this verse:
tvayā saha sāṅga saṅga sukhād api jāla randhrādau śrī rādhāṅga-saṅga darśanotthaṁ sukham adhikam anubhūtaṁ man manasā. na hi labdhādhika sukha jana alpe sukhe pravartante iti bhāvaḥ.
"I relish more pleasure in witnessing Your sports with Śrī Rādhā in the kuñja looking through the holes in the vines than in personally enjoying with You. People don't endeavour for a smaller happiness when they can attain greater happiness!"
Even Śrī Rādhā Herself fails in having them meet with Śrī Kṛṣṇa:
tvayā yad upabhujyate murajid aṅga saṅge sukham
tad eva bahu jānati svayam avāptitaḥ śuddha-dhīḥ
mayā kṛta vilobhanāpy adhika cāturi cāryayā
kadāpi maṇi mañjarī na kurute'bhisāra spṛhaṁ
Śrī Rādhikā engaged one sakhī to make Maṇi Mañjarī meet with Kṛṣṇa, but that sakhī returned to Rādhā unsuccessfully, saying:
"O Rādhe! Maṇi Mañjarī finds more happiness in Your meeting with Kṛṣṇa than in her own! Just see how pure her consciousness is! Although I expertly tried to tempt her to go out and meet Kṛṣṇa, she never desires this!" (Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi, sakhī prakaraṇa 89)
...
Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī has written in his Vraja Vilāsa Stava (38):
tāmbūlārpaṅa pāda-mardana payo dānābhisārādibhir
vṛndāraṇya maheśvarīṁ priyatayā yās toṣayanti priyāḥ
prāṇa preṣṭha sakhī kulād api kilāsaṅkocitā bhūmikāḥ
kelī bhūmiṣu rūpa mañjarī mukhās tā dāsikāḥ saṁśraye
"I take shelter of Śrī Rādhikā's maidservants, headed by Rūpa Mañjarī, that always engage in serving betel leaves, massaging the feet, serving water, and arranging for the Divine Couple's secret trysts. These maidservants are even more dear to the great Queen of Vṛndāraṇya (Śrī Rādhikā) than the prāṇa preṣṭha sakhīs (the girlfriends that are dearer to Her than life), and She is therefore not at all shy before them!"
rati-raṇe śramayuta, nāgarī nāgara
mukha bhari tāmbūla yogāya
malaya-ja kuṅkuma, mṛga-mada karpūra,
militahi gāta lāgāya
aparūpa priya sakhī prema!
nija prāṇa koṭi, dei niramañchai,
naha tula lākho bāṇa hema
"How wonderful is the love of the priya sakhīs! They serve Nāgarī (heroine Rādhikā) and Nāgara (hero Kṛṣṇa) with millions of lives when They are tired of lovemaking, by filling Their mouths with betelleaves and by anointing Their bodies with sandalwoodpaste, vermilion, musk and camphor. Their love is so pure that it cannot even be compared to gold molten a hundred-thousand times over!"
manorama mālya, duhu gole arpai,
vījai śīta mṛdu bāta
sugandhī śītala, koru jala arpaṇa,
yaiche hota duhu śāṅta
"They offer enchanting garlands to Their necks, give Them a cool breeze by fanning Them, and relieve Them from Their heated affliction by offering Them cool and fragrant water."
duhuka caraṇa puna, mṛdu saṁvāhana,
kori śrama korolohi dūra
iṅgite śayana, korolo duhu sakhī-gaṇa
sabahu manoratha pūra
"These sakhīs again softly massage Their feet and thus remove Their fatigue. On Their indication they put the Divine Pair to rest and fulfill any of Their other desires."
kusuma śeje duhu, nidrita herai,
sevana parāyaṇa sukha.
rādhā mohana dāsa, kiye herabo,
meṭabo sab mano-dukha
"These girls, that are totally dedicated to their devotional service, then put the Divine Pair to sleep on a bed of flowers. All the mental distress of Rādhā Mohana dāsa is mitigated when he sees this."
The sweet relish of this confidential pastime of the Śrī-Śrī Yugala Kiśora is the long-desired treasure of the mañjarīs. Hence the mañjarīs never desire personal meetings with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. But that does not mean that they are deprived of this rasa.
Their one-ness in feeling (bhāva-tādātmya) with Śrī Rādhā is so remarkable that they experience all of Her bodily relish in a special way.
spṛśati yadi mukundo rādhikāṁ tat sakhīnāṁ
bhavati vapuṣi kampa sveda romañca vāṣpam
adhara madhu mudāsyās cet pibaty esa yatnād
bhavati bata tad āsāṁ mattatā citram etat
"How amazing! When Mukunda touches Rādhikā, Her girlfriends cry of ecstasy and their bodies tremble, perspire, and are studded with goosepimples, and when Kṛṣṇa blissfully drinks the honey of Rādhikā's lips (by kissing Her), then they all become mad!" (Govinda Līlāmrta 11.137)
The stages above prema, from sneha up to mahābhāva, that are required to attain personal service in the mood of the gopīs, can only appear in a transcendental gopī-body, for a sādhaka body is unable to tolerate the coolness of meeting with Śrī Kṛṣṇa or the heat of separation from Him. The words ‘vraje’bhavan’, meaning “taking birth in Vraja”, must be understood to mean that the sādhana siddhas appear in the womb of a gopikā in the same way as the eternally beloved Vraja-vadhūs of Śrī Kṛṣṇa appear during the manifest pastimes. After that, on the strenght of the association of nitya-priyās like Śrī Rādhā and Lalitā they gradually attain sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga and mahābhāva through seeing, hearing and glorifying Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His associates. Without this mahābhāva the personal devotional service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in a gopī body cannot be attained. The example of this is given by Śrī Śukadeva in the Śrīmad Bhāgavata, when he described how the gopīs went on their way to dance the Rāsa with Kṛṣṇa after they heard Śrī Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, but some gopīs were locked into their inner chambers because they were sages from the Daṇḍaka-forest in their previous birth who were unable to get the association of the nitya siddha gopīs, although they had taken birth in Vraja as gopīs. Since they were thus unable to attain mahābhāva and could also not get the aid of Yogamāyā, the gopīs who were locked into their houses by their relatives felt such great pangs of separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa that on the strength of their meditations on Him they were quickly able to attain this stage of mahābhāva, that is usually only attained through a gradual process, and thus became blessed by attaining the Rāsa-dance. Thus the blessed author says that in the sādhaka body of the previous birth it is not possible to awaken the stages from sneha up to mahābhāva.
