Śrī-Śrī-Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā, verse 8

jaya sanātana-rūpa, prema-bhakti rasa-kūpa,

yugala ujjvalamaya tanu
yāṅhāra prasāde loka, pāsarila saba śoka,
prakaṭa kalapataru janu || 8 ||
Jaya Śrī Sanātana! Jaya Śrī Rūpa! You are like deep wells filled with prema-bhakti-rasa and are the
embodiment of the sweetest pure love for Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. You have appeared like the fabled wish-
fulfilling trees before the people of the world, and by your mercy, they have forgotten all their
sorrows.
Yugala-Ujjvalamaya Tanu
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse, after proclaiming victory for the chief Gauḍīya
Sampradāya ācāryas, Śrī Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya speaks of their transcendental
achievements. He first says, jaya sanātana-rūpa. By using the word jaya, he indicates the
prominency of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana over all others. Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s unique contribution was
that highest of all forms of bhakti, mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā, also called rādhā-dāsya, which has the
lofty ujjvala-rasa_ as its nature and which was never given before. In the practice and teaching of
that bhāva, Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana stand above all. Knowing their uncommon capacity for
disseminating bhakti, Śrīman Mahāprabhu personally gave Śrī Sanātana, in Kāśī, and Śrī Rūpa, in
Prayāga, detailed instructions concerning bhakti-tattva and rasa-tattva. Then he mercifully infused
them with the power and inspiration to practice and spread these teachings. In Śrī Caitanya-
Candrodaya-Nāṭaka 9.48, Śrī Kavi Karṇapūra has written,
kālena vṛndāvana-keli-vārttā lupteti tāṁ khyāpayituṁ viśiṣya |
kṛpāmṛtenābhiṣiṣeca devas tatraiva rūpaṁ ca sanātanaṁ ca ||
“When, by the influence of time, the stories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Vṛndāvana pastimes had faded away,
Śrīman Mahāprabhu bathed Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana in the nectar of his mercy to once again bring
that līlā clearly to light.” Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are particularly known for this development in the
Gauḍīya Sampradāya.
Besides this, Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana were without equals in Śrī Vṛndāvana. Like the steadfast Pole Star,
their sādhana-bhajana, renunciation, asceticism and their tasting of prema-rasa all served as a
model for everyone. In his discussion of their ideal examples of bhajana (CC. Mad. 19.123-132),
Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmipāda has written,
mahāprabhura yata baḍa baḍa bhakta mātra |
rūpa sanātana sabāra kṛpā-gauraba-pātra ||
keha yadi deśe yāya dekhi bṛndābana |
tāre praśna karena prabhura pāriṣada-gaṇa ||
‘kaha—tāṅhā kaiche rahe rūpa sanātana? |
kaiche rahe bairāgya, kaiche bā bhojana? ||
kaiche aṣṭa-prahara karena śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana?’ |
tabe praśaṁsiyā kahe sei bhakta-gaṇa ||
‘aniketana doṅhe rahe, yata bṛkṣa-gaṇa |
ekeka-bṛkṣera tale ekeka rātri śayana ||
bipra-gṛhe sthūla-bhikṣā kāṅhā mādhukarī |
śuṣka ruṭi cānā cibāya bhoga parihari ||
karoṅyā mātra hāte kāṅthā chiṅḍā bahir-bāsa |
kṛṣṇa-kathā kṛṣṇa-nāma nartana ullāsa ||
aṣṭa-prahara kṛṣṇa-bhajana—cāri-daṇḍa śayane |
nāma-saṅkīrtane seho nahe kona dine ||
kabhu bhakti-rasa-śāstra karaye likhana |
caitanya kathā śune, kare caitanya cintana’ ||
ei kathā śuniyā mahāntera mahāsukha haya |
caitanyera kṛpā yāṅhe, tāṅhe ki bismaya ||
“Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana were the deserving recipients of kindness and honor from all of Śrīman
Mahāprabhu’s eminent bhaktas. If someone returned to his native land after visiting Śrī Vṛndāvana,
he would be questioned by Mahāprabhu’s followers. They would say, ‘Please tell us; how are Śrī
Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana living there? Tell us about their asceticism. How are they eating? How do
they perform śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana all day long?’ Then he would tell them of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana’s
glories. ‘Neither of them have homes; they rest underneath a different tree every night. To get food,
they practice mādhukarī by begging from the houses of brāhmaṇas, like a bee gathering honey
from flower to flower. Shunning all types of sense enjoyment, they eat foods like dry bread and
fried chickpeas. They carry only a waterpot in hand and wear torn cotton quilts as their outer
garments. Always talking about Śrī Kṛṣṇa and chanting his name, they sometimes dance in great
joy. They engage in śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajana for almost twenty-four hours a day, sleeping only about an
hour and a half. Some days, absorbed in chanting, they don’t even sleep that much. Sometimes they
write books about bhakti-rasa, and sometimes they listen to stories about Caitanya Mahāprabhu or
meditate upon him.’ Hearing this narration, the devotees would become very happy. Nothing is
astonishing for one who has received the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” From this, some
details of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana’s eminence can be known. Alternatively, the word jaya implies an
obeisance. Lying at the feet of Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya sings of their greatness.
First he says that Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are prema-bhakti-rasa-kūpa, or deep wells of prema-bhakti-
rasa. In the above statements, their excellent examples of renunciation, asceticism
and bhajana were pointed out. But because someone may think they are only ordinary sādhakas, it
is stated here that they are deep wells of prema-bhakti-rasa. As nitya-siddha residents of Vraja, Śrī
Rūpa-Sanātana exist as Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and Śrī Lavaṅga Mañjarī. They incarnated on earth as
associates of Śrīman Mahāprabhu to propagate the vraja-rasa-sādhanā. Even though Śrīman
Mahāprabhu is the direct form of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined and remains continuously immersed in
tasting the prema-mādhurī of Śrī Rādhā, he thought of himself as a disciplined sādhaka and joyfully
drank the nectar of this vraja-rasa-sādhanā. In the same way, even though Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are
eternal residents of Vraja, like sādhaka-bhaktas they tasted the rasa of bhajana. Truly they are deep
wells of prema-bhakti-rasa.
It may be asked that since one hears about the boundless, unfathomable prema in the lotus feet of
Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, Śrīman Mahāprabhu and Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and since Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana have
produced such a vast treasury of books filled with syllables dripping in prema, why were they not
called ‘oceans’ of prema-bhakti-rasa? Why has Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya used the word ‘wells’
instead? In an ocean, there is a mixture of the water from different rivers and streams; in a well, on
the other hand, the water is not mixed but is rather in its pure, natural state. In the same way,
the prema-bhakti-rasa propagated by Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana is of the highest purity, and within it there
is no mixture of jñāna, yoga or aiśvarya-bhāva._ It is supremely pure and sweet. Secondly, ocean
water is salty and therefore not fit for drinking; and during the summer, the water in rivers, streams
and ponds becomes too warm and muddy to be drinkable. But well water is cool and very
enjoyable. In the same way, jñāna and yoga are incapable of mitigating the grief and suffering of
the jīvas in kali-yuga, who are continuously burnt by the fire of the three types of misery.
Only prema-bhakti-rasa has the capacity to make their lives cool and pleasant. This prema-
bhakti alleviates the sorrow and misery of the jīvas’ painful worldly lives and blesses them with a
taste of the sweet nectar of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Because Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are the embodiments of that
wonderfully cool and sweet prema-bhakti-rasa, they have been described as deep wells of nectar.
Actually, the measure of their prema-bhakti is not like a well at all, but rather vast and deep like an
ocean. The prema-bhakti-rasa in their hearts has also been manifested in the books they composed.
Even today, countless people have immersed themselves in those wells of nectar in the form of
books and have not only avoided the blazing fire of worldly miseries, but have also been blessed
with a personal taste of rasa, an experience they will cherish for eternity. Of this there is no doubt.
Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya then describes Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana as yugala-ujjvalamaya tanu, which
means that Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s ujjvala-rasa has manifested itself in their bodies, or that their
bodies have been formed by this yugala-ujjvala-rasa. Among all types of rasa, yugala-ujjvala-
rasa reigns supreme. Bhakti-rasa is primarily of five types: śānta, dāsya, sakhya,
vātsalya and madhura, or ujjvala-rasa. Among these, madhura or ujjvala-rasa is preeminent
because all the qualities and moods contained within the previous four rasas are also included
within it. Concerning this, in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, during his instructions to Śrī Rūpa
Gosvāmipāda, Śrīman Mahāprabhu says,
kṛṣṇa-niṣṭhā, tṛṣṇā tyāga—śāntera dui guṇe |
ei dui guṇa byāpe saba bhakta-jane ||
śāntera svabhāba kṛṣṇe mamatā-gandha-hīna |
parambrahma-paramātmā-jñāna-prabīṇa ||
kebala svarūpa-jñāna haya śānta-rase |
pūrṇaiśvarya-prabhu-jñāna adhika haya dāsye ||
īśvara-jñāna sambhrama gauraba pracura |
sebā kari kṛṣṇe sukha dena nirantara ||
śāntera guṇa dāsye āche adhika ‘sebana’ |
ataeba dāsya rasera haya dui guṇa ||
śāntera guṇa, dāsyera sebana—sakhye dui raya |
dāsyera sambhrama gauraba sebā, sakhye biśvāsa maya ||
kāndhe caḍe kāndhe caḍāya, kare krīḍā raṇa |
kṛṣṇe sebe kṛṣṇe karāya āpana sebana ||
biśrambha-pradhāna sakhya—gauraba sambhrama-hīna |
ataeba sakhya-rasera tina guṇa cina ||
mamatā-adhika kṛṣṇe ātma-sama jñāna |
ataeba sakhya-rase baśa bhagabān ||
bātsalye śāntera guṇa, dāsyera sebana |
sei sei sebanera ihā nāma ‘pālana’ ||
sakhyera guṇa, asaṅkoca agauraba āra |
mamatā-ādhikye tāḍana-bhartsana byabahāra ||
āpanāke ‘pālaka’ jñāna kṛṣṇe ‘pālya’ jñāna |
cāri rasera guṇe bātsalya amṛta-samāna ||
––––––––––
madhura-rase—kṛṣṇa-niṣṭhā, sebā atiśaya |
sakhyera asaṅkoca lālana mamatādhikya haya ||
kānta-bhābe nijāṅga diyā karena sebana |
ataeba madhura-rase haya pañca-guṇa ||
ākāśādira guṇa yena para-para bhūte |
eka dui tina krame pañca pṛthibīte ||
ei mata madhure saba bhāba-samāhāra |
ataeba svādādhikye kare camatkāra ||
“The two qualities of śānta-rasa, or the peaceful mood, are deep attachment for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the
renunciation of desire and greed. These two qualities pervade all bhaktas. The nature of śānta-
rasa is that there is no trace of the feeling that ‘Kṛṣṇa is mine.’ Bhaktas in this mood are very
knowledgeable about Paraṁbrahma and Paramātmā. Only svarūpa-jñāna, or realization of one’s
own nature, is present in śānta-rasa.
“In dāsya-rasa, or servitude, there is more knowledge of God with all his opulences. The bhakta is
filled with reverence mixed with awe and submission in the presence of God’s majesty. Always
engaged in serving, he gives great happiness to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. [1]
In dāsya-rasa, besides the qualities in śānta-rasa, sevana or service is included. Therefore dāsya-
rasa contains two qualities.
“In sakhya-rasa, or friendship, we find the qualities of both śānta and dāsya, except that whereas
in dāsya, the service is done in awe and reverence, in sakhya, one serves as Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s confidante.
Sometimes, while play-fighting, the bhakta climbs on Kṛṣṇa’s shoulders and sometimes he makes
Kṛṣṇa climb on his. Sometimes he serves Kṛṣṇa and sometimes he makes Kṛṣṇa serve him. Rather
than reverence, playful familiarity is the primary mood. Thus, in sakhya-rasa there are three
qualities. There is more of a sense that ‘Kṛṣṇa is mine,’ and that ‘I am Kṛṣṇa’s equal.’
Therefore, sakhya-rasa has the power to influence or even subjugate Śrī Bhagavān.
“Vātsalya-rasa, or parental love, contains the qualities of śānta, dāsya and sakhya, as well as a
mood of service known as pālana, or protecting and nourishing. This mood has no sense of
hesitation or reverence, and with the increased feeling that ‘Kṛṣṇa belongs to me,’
the bhakta sometimes scolds and chastises him. The vātsalya-bhakta feels himself or herself to be
the protector and Kṛṣṇa to be the one who needs protected. This mood is just like nectar because it
contains all the qualities of the first four rasas.
“In madhura-rasa, or the sweet and amorous mood, there is a deep attachment for Kṛṣṇa as well as
an increase in the quantity and quality of service. It contains the friendliness of sakhya and the
nourishing mood of vātsalya. The feeling of mamatā, that ‘Kṛṣṇa is mine,’ is at its highest. In the
mood of a lover, the bhakta serves Kṛṣṇa with her own body. Therefore, madhura-rasa includes five
moods. Just as the qualities of the elements, beginning with subtle space, successively increase in
number up to the five qualities present in earth, in the same way, all the emotions are included
within madhura-rasa. This superabundance of flavor is truly amazing!” (C.C. Mad. 19. 215…234)
In the madhura-rasa or ujjvala-rasa of Vraja, there is complete absorption in the
wondrous parakīya-bhāva, wherein an endless variety of enjoyment is revealed. In that
highest yugala-ujjvala-rasa, meaning in the incomparable sweetness of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s
union, lies the pinnacle of enjoyment. The sakhīs in Śrī Rādhā’s group have been blessed with the
good fortune of tasting that unequalled sweetness. And among them, those kiṅkarīs or mañjarīs who
serve with more affection toward their beloved Śrī Rādhā than Śrī Kṛṣṇa experience a taste that is
sweeter and more diverse than any others. The reason is that even the sakhīs don’t get the privilege
of seeing Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s most confidential pastimes. Only the minnow-like eyes of
the mañjarīs happily swim as they please in that sea of līlā-rasa. By getting the good fortune of this
sublimely delightful sevā, they truly receive the highest blessing of all. Their natures and moods are
so amazingly attuned to Śrīmatī’s that she considers them to be identical with her own body.
Therefore, during times of intimacy, Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava feel no hesitation or shyness before
the mañjarīs as they perform their personal sevās. Moreover, as a result of their extraordinary
oneness of mood with Śrīmatī, the marks left on Śrī Rādhā’s body after lovemaking also appear
unchanged upon their bodies! For this reason, as Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and Śrī Lavaṅga Mañjarī, the
leaders of the nitya-siddhā–mañjarīs in vraja-līlā, and as Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana in gaura-līlā,
they have been called yugala-ujjvalamaya-tanu: those within whom an abundance or brightness
of yugala-ujjvala-rasa is seen.
It may be asked why those who are nitya-siddhā-mañjarīs in Vraja were engaged in such sādhana-
bhajana like ordinary sādhakas troubled by poverty and illness. To explain this, a specific reference
is given: yāṅhāra prasāde loka, pāsarila saba śoka, prakaṭa kalapa-taru janu. “You have appeared
like the fabled wish-fulfilling trees before the people of the world, and by your mercy, they have
forgotten all their sorrows.” In fact, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and Śrī Lavaṅga Mañjarī, eternal
maidservants in Vraja, incarnated as associates of Śrī Gaurāṅga, the combined form of Śrī Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa. The purpose of their appearance, by means of their personal examples and the vast treasury
of books they published, was to introduce to the world the sādhanā of Vraja’s madhura-rasa-prema.
By their mercy, they have shown themselves as living examples of vraja-rasa-sādhanā, and in their
books, they have given information about sambandha-abhidheya-prayojana-tattva, thus providing
the people with eternal relief from the blazing fire of worldly miseries. But the removal of this
misery and sorrow is only a secondary result. In reality, the people of this world have been blessed
with prema-sevā at the feet of their most cherished Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. To express this, Śrīla
Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says prakaṭa kalapa-taru janu, which means that Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana have
incarnated as desire trees bearing the fruit of Vraja’s madhura-rasa-mañjarī-bhāva. To perceive
a kalpa-taru in this world is truly rare, but Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are called prakaṭa kalpa-taru,
meaning that they blessed mankind at that time by appearing personally before them, and that for all
eternity they shall bless mankind with the gift of prema by placing them on the path of prema-
sādhanā through their books, lovingly written by their own lotus hands.
Or, another meaning of the word prakaṭa could be śreṣṭha (greatest). Compared to a kalpa-taru of
the world, Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are even greater. The reason is that a desire-fulfilling tree of this
world can only give some material substance to its supplicant; it isn’t capable of bestowing prema.
But Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are prema-kalpa-tarus because they can bless anyone who takes shelter of
them with vraja-prema, the highest gift of all. Therefore, they are the śreṣṭha (greatest) or prakaṭa_
(clearly revealed) kalpa-tarus. Moreover, if due to lack of knowledge a person prays for something
that could be harmful to him or her, a kalpa-taru will still grant that wish. When fulfilling a
supplicant’s wish, a kalpa-taru doesn’t normally consider whether the wish is harmful or helpful.
But even though someone may desire something other than Kṛṣṇa from that śreṣṭha-kalpa-taru Śrī
Rūpa-Sanātana, they bless him instead with the gift of prema. For example, after receiving
instructions from Śrī Viśvanātha in a dream, the poor brāhmaṇa Kāśīśvara of the village named
Mānakara obtained a philosopher’s stone from Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmipāda. But after associating
with Śrīla Gosvāmipāda and seeing his example, he abandoned that stone and was then blessed with
the treasure of prema, for which he is known as kṛtārtha, or one who has reached his goal.
Compared to a kalpa-taru of this world, the prakaṭa or śreṣṭha-kalpa-tarus Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana are
vastly different.
[1] In Vraja, Kṛṣṇa’s servants such as Raktaka and Patraka don’t consider him as God. In Caitanya-
Caritāmṛta it is said, kṛṣṇere īśvara nāhi jāne braja-jana. “The residents of Vraja don’t know Kṛṣṇa
is God.” But they do think of him with appropriate awe and reverence as the son of the king of
Vraja.