20260219 Śrī Caitanya-śīksāmṛta 7.7. Conjugal Bhakti-rasa

Seventh Shower — Rasa vicāra (Analysis of the mellows)

Seventh Stream — Conjugal Bhakti-rasa

Jayapatākā Swami: Sorry that I am not chanting before you because of the time. I just finished a Latin American RGB meeting. Anyway I would say my praṇāmas and start the class.

Messengers (dūtī)

Dealings such as well-wishers and others (suhṛd-ādi vyavahāra) among the group leaders (yūtheśvarī-s) are categorized into sva-pakṣa (friendly or allied), vipakṣa (opposing or rival), and taṭastha (neutral). Messengers (dūtī) who assist nāyikās yearning for Kṛṣṇa’s darśana are of two types: svayaṁ-dūtī (the heroine herself as messenger) and āpta-dūtī (a trusted companion acting as messenger); when the heroine, overwhelmed by love, directly expresses her feelings to the hero, she becomes svayaṁ-dūtī. Complaints (abhiyoga) are of three kinds: kāyika (physical), vācika (verbal), and cākṣuṣa (visual); verbal complaint is mockery (vyaṅga), which is of two types: śabda-vyaṅga (word-based mockery) and artha-vyaṅga (meaning-based mockery). Mockery toward Kṛṣṇa operates in two modes: through direct encounter (sākṣāt) and through indirect reference (vyapadeśa).

Messengers (dūtī) are of three kinds.

Request (yācñā) is of two kinds: svārtha (expressing one’s own request), and parārtha (one’s request is conveyed by another person); within this, there is apadeśa (direct expression) and vyapadeśa (indirect expression). The trusted, affectionate, and eloquent messengers (viśvastā, snehavatī, vāgmīnī) are the āpta-dūtī-s of the Vraja damsels. Based on purpose, messengers (dūtīs) are of three types: amitārthā (bearing excessive intent), nisṛṣṭy-arthā (bearing delegated intent), and patra-hārī (letter-bearer). Those such as śilpakāriṇī (artist), daivajñā (fortunetellers), liṅgiṇī (ascetics), paricārikā (attendants), dhātreyī (nurses), vanadevī (forest goddess), and sakhī (female companion) are also counted among messengers. The citrakāriṇī (painter) acts as a daivajñā-dūtī, arranging union by revealing horoscopes through paintings. The liṅgiṇī-dūtī, like Paurṇamāsī, is one who wears the garments of an ascetic. Certain sakhīs such as Lavaṅgamañjarī and Bhānumatī serving as paricārikā-dūtī-s (attendants) become dhātreyī-dūtī-s (nurses) of Rādhikā. Vanadevī is the presiding goddess of Vṛndāvana. The sakhīs perform messenger duties through śabda-vyaṅga and artha-vyaṅga—verbal and semantic mockery—within which śabda-mūlaka and artha-mūlaka vyapadeśa include all types of complaints such as praise and reproach. When engaged in messenger duties, if a sakhī meets Kṛṣṇa in solitude, He requests union with her, but the sakhī does not consent.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we see that in Vraja-dhāma Kṛṣṇa, His activities with the gopīs are very variegated. He has all these messengers, going between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa. I don’t know if you can remember, for me it is difficult, all the different types of messengers! So we see that in these loving dealings of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the process is very detailed! And sometimes they are praising Kṛṣṇa, sometimes they are mocking Him. You see previously we had dāsya-rasa which is completely submissive to Kṛṣṇa. In Vṛndāvana they are called anugas. Then we have the sakhya-rasa, some are older, some are younger, some are of the same age. They will fight with Kṛṣṇa, although they did this, it was like a sport! Then there is a maybe a little bit they have this kind of joking. With the parental rasa, the vātsalya-rasa, they see Kṛṣṇa as their child, younger than them and have to protect Him. In mādhurya-rasa we see a variety of different emotions. Sometime in love for Kṛṣṇa they are very submissive, sometimes in their love for Kṛṣṇa, they are very dynamic. Sometimes they are also criticizing Kṛṣṇa for various reasons. So, they manifest all the different rasas in Mādhurya-rasa. So it is very interesting how some of the gopīs, they work as messengers and then as the messenger they are serving their yutheśvarīs, their group leaders. So they don’t accept any kind of proposal from Kṛṣṇa. I mean, it is to remind everyone that these activities, they are not material. They are spiritual in nature. And the gopīs, those in the mādhurya-rasa, they are in love, they completely want to see the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, and they are always fixed on Kṛṣṇa! In material life it is not like that. There is divorce, etc. The gopīs are not officially married to Kṛṣṇa, but they still love Him. So this is a very interesting topic.

Sixteen types of activities of sakhīs:

The sakhīs perform sixteen types of activities: (1) describing the qualities of the hero and heroine to each other, (2) increasing mutual attachment, (3) arranging their mutual meeting (abhisāra), (4) offering the sakhī to Kṛṣṇa, (5) joking or playful teasing (parihāsa), (6) giving reassurance, (7) backstage arrangement, i.e., costume design (veśa-racana), (8) revealing the inner feelings of both, (9) concealing faults and flaws, (10) deceiving the husband and others, (11) giving instruction, uniting the hero and heroine at the proper time, (12) serving with items like yak-tail fan (cāmara) and peachock-whisk (vyajana), (13) rebuking the hero at specific occasions, (14) likewise rebuking the heroine, (15) delivering messages (saṁvāda), and (16) protecting the life of the heroine. In all matters, they exert full effort (sarva-viṣaye prayatna).

Jayapatākā Swami: So these are the 16 activities of the gopīs, of the sakhīs. We can see that they are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are always thinking about Kṛṣṇa and His heroine. All these different activities they are doing, so in this way they are really absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa. We can appreciate this, but from our standard we should also want to serve Kṛṣṇa. We don’t know what rasa we are in maybe, but that will be revealed in due course! So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has so kindly, mentioned dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya and also śānta-rasa. Now we are discussing mādhurya-rasa. We are seeing it is very complicated, very instructive. How the sakhīs they are friends of Rādhārāṇī, competitors of Rādhārāṇī, how they are engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

The sakhīs are of four kinds.

Those sakhīs who bear equal love for both Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, yet identify themselves exclusively as Rādhā’s own, are the most exalted; they are called priya-sakhī and parama-preṣṭha-sakhī. The sakhīs are divided into sva-pakṣa (own side), suhṛt-pakṣa (friendly side), taṭastha (neutral), and pratipakṣa (opposing side). The purpose of this classification is to nourish rasa. The pride, intoxication, and jealousy found in the opposing side are merely supportive of rasa. In truth, all is undivided love. The detailed elaboration of these topics may be understood by qualified readers from the texts Śrī-Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi or Jaiva-Dharma. Out of concern for the inauspiciousness of the unqualified, I will not speak about all these matters here.

In the mellow of sweetness (conjugal mellow, mādhura-rasa), all aspects related to Kṛṣṇa and His beloveds—such as qualities (guṇa), names (nāma), pastimes (carita), adornments (maṇḍana), associates (sambandhī), and neutral elements (taṭastha) are all stimulants (uddīpana). The qualities (guṇa) are of three kinds: mental (mānasa), verbal (vācika), and physical (kāyika).

In this rasa, anubhāva is of three kinds: ornamentation (alaṅkāra), bodily manifestation of inner emotion (udbhāsvara) and verbal expression (vācika). Alaṅkāra is of twenty types, such as expressions of emotion (bhāva), gestures (hāva), and so on. When the emotion of the heart becomes manifest in the body, it is called udbhāsvara. Verbal anubhāva—such as ālāpa (conversation), vilāpa (lamentation), etc.—is of twelve types.

The eight sāttvika-bhāvas, such as stambha (stupefaction), sveda (sweating), etc., manifest as sāttvika-bhāva in this rasa.

Except for augrya (fierceness) and ālasyā (laziness), all sañcārī-bhāvas are considered vyabhicārī-bhāvas in this rasa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, I mean one rasa is a bit amplified, but  one translation it says rasa means love. These are different varieties of love. So in the spiritual world, the different sakhīs, they are expressing their love for Kṛṣṇa in different ways. Now Rādhārāṇī is the ahlādinī-śakti, She is the pleasure potency and She is naturally the greatest of all the sakhīs. Those sakhīs who are dedicated to Her, the priya-sakhīs are considered the most advanced. In Māyāpur, we have Rādhā Mādhava and the aṣṭa-sakhīs. They are all priya-sakhīs. Lalitā, Campakalatā, Citrā, Tuṅgavidyā, Viśākhā, Indulekhā, Raṅgadevī and Sudevī, they are all priya-sakhīs. But then there are four types – neutral, someone is favorable, playful and then opposing. Even the opposing the whole idea is to increase love for Kṛṣṇa. Just like in our book distribution, we have competition, who will be the greatest, in the continent or in the world! But actually we all want to see Lord Caitanya’s movement expand! And we don’t feel negative if someone beats us. We are very happy that Lord Caitanya’s mission is expanding! Like that, there is a kind of natural situation in the spiritual world, where in the mādhurya-rasa, some of the gopīs are very favorable to Rādhārāṇī, completely dedicated. And some are favorable, some are neutral, some are opposing. But all this is focused on devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Haribol!

Please accept my best wishes. Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

Addressing the devotees from the UK: I am very grateful that you obtained the Seven Bury Place, Bloomsbury, London. Śrīla Prabhupāda said he wanted his devotees to be spiritual masters. He said that the gṛhasthas should be paramahaṁsas. So many things they did in Seven Bury Place. Very nice.