I worship Krishna’s most fortunate associates, who consider the nectar of their own happiness to be as insignificant as a blade of grass and who always humbly and lovingly strive to expand his happiness.
svakīyaṁ premnāṁ ye bhara-nikara-namrā muraripoḥ
sukhābhāsaṁ śaśvat prathayitum alaṁ prauḍha-kutukād
yatas te tān dhanyān param iha bhaje mādhava-gaṇān
These Vrajavasis have engaged their bodies, homes, wealth, children and hearts all for you, Krishna. (Bhāgavata 10.14.35)
tāra sukhe āmāra tātparya
And the ultimate devotee of Krishna, Srimati Radharani says, “I do not consider my own suffering, I just desire his happiness. His happiness is my only goal!” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta)
Only the Vrajavasis can say that, no one else. It is the nature of devotion that a devotee’s thoughts are centered around the Lord’s happiness. This is the definition that Jiva Goswami gives of love, i.e., priyatā, prīti or prema.
tad-anubhava-hetukollāsamaya-jñāna-viśeṣaḥ priyatā
To accomplish something favorable (i.e. happiness) for the object of love is the very life of love. The desire then awakens in the lover to arrange for anything which is favorable to the beloved’s happiness. Then when the devotee feels that Krishna is happy, he/she is also happy. The devotee has no independent desire for happiness. This is called love. (Prīti Sandarbha 61)
Above that, in Vraja-bhakti there is no awareness of the Lord’s opulence and majesty. All his prowess and majesty is forgotten, so according to each one’s own relationship with the Lord, they devotee think, “He is my son, he is my friend, he is my lover.” (mora putra mora sakhā mora prāṇa-pati) This leads to all kinds of anxiety about Krishna’s welfare that awaken within the heart of the Vraja-vasi. “How will I make Krishna happy?” Their consciousness is absorbed in this thought alone. Then they consider their own happiness as insignificant as a blade of grass and their every is only to expand Sri Krishna’s happiness. Gradually their whole consciousness becomes centered around this thought and they forget all about their own happiness.
Hence the mahājanas have said:
ātma sukha yāhā nāhi gandha
The love of Vraja is as pure as Jāmbunada-gold – there is not even a whiff of desire for personal happiness there. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta)
Just as there is no stain in Jāmbunada gold, there is also no stain in the love of Vraja, which is completely unmotivated and free from desires for personal happiness. Raghunath Das Goswami says: “I worship these fortunate associates of Sri Krishna!”
Prabodhananda Saraswati has shown a certain distinction between the different devotees who perform bhajan in allegiance to the Lord’s associates in Vraja:
dhanyo yaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāmbuja-rati-paramo rukmiṇīśa-priyo’taḥ
yāśodeya-priyo’taḥ subala-suhṛd ato gopī-kānta-priyo’taḥ
śrī-vṛndāvaneśvary-atirasa-vivaśārādhakaḥ sarva-mūrdhni
Those who desire liberation from this world are certainly fortunate, those who worship Lord Hari are more fortunate, and those who are most attached to Krishna’s lotus feet are again more fortunate. More fortunate than them are the beloveds of the husband of Rukmiṇī, more praiseworthy than them are the beloveds of the son of Yashoda, more fortunate than them are the beloveds of the friend of Subala, and again more fortunate than them are those who surrender to the worship of Gopījana Vallabha (Krishna, the lover of the gopīs). But above all of them are the worshippers of the most overwhelming supreme rasa of the Queen of Vrindavan, in other words: the devotees that are in the mood of Sri Radha’s maidservants!” (Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta 2.34)
Absorbed in the feelings of the Lord’s associates in Vraja, Das Goswami desires their worship.
prema bhare hoye yārā sadā avanata
prāṇanātha govindera sukha puṣṭi tare;
satata ānanda mane koto yatna kore
śrī kṛṣṇera parivāra dhanya bhaktagaṇe;
bhajana koribo sadā ei mora mane
“I always yearn to worship the blessed devotees in Sri Krishna’s entourage, who consider any kind of personal happiness to be as insignificant as blades of grass, who are always bowed down in loving humility and who always ecstatically endeavour to nourish the happiness of the Lord of their lives, Govinda.”
Commentary of Sri Radha Kund Mahant, Pandit Sri Ananta Das Babaji Maharaj is named Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā (a drop of the nectar of Stavāvalī), and was published in Gaurābda 503 (1989 A.D.) from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Shastra Mandir, Vrajananda Ghera, PO Radhakunda (district Mathura), U.P., India.
Devotional songs in Bengali that follow each commentary were composed by Dr. Haripada Sheel.
© Translated by Advaita dāsa in 1994
Source: Tarun Govinda Das, Flowing Nectar Stream blog.
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