SRI RADHAKUNDASTAKAM OF RAGHUNATHA DAS GOSVAMI

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SRI RADHAKUNDASTAKAM OF RAGHUNATHA DAS GOSVAMI, VERSE 1

 

 

vRSabha danuja nAzAn narma dharmokti raGgaiH

Nikhila nija sakhIbhir yat svahastena pUrNam

PrakaTitam api vRndAraNya rAjJA pramodais

Tad ati surabhi rAdhAkuNDam evAzrayo me

 

That very dear, beautiful and fragrant Radhakunda, that appeared after a

joking quarrel between Radha and Krishna about piety after the killing of

the Arista bull demon, and which was joyfully revealed and filled up by Sri

Radha’s own hand, with the assistance of Her girlfriends, is my only

shelter!

Stavamrita Kana Vyakhya of Ananta Das Pandit: In the preceding ‘Sri

Govardhanasraya dasakam’ Sripada Raghunatha discussed the importance of

taking shelter of Govardhana and in his ‘Sri Govardhana vasa Prarthana

dasakam’ he prayed for living at the base of Govardhana. Although there are

many holy lakes and ponds around Govardhana Hill, Sri Dasa Gosvami is mostly

attached to Sri Radhakunda, because Radhakunda’s glories equal Sri Radha’s

glories. kundera mahimna yeno radhara mahima (C.C.). Particularly the desire

to serve Sri Radhd awoke within the heart of Sri Raghunatha when he first

saw the kunda. In Vilapa Kusumanjali (15) he has written:

 

 

yada tava sarovaram sarasa bhrngasanghollasat

saroruhakulojjvalam madhura vari sampuritam

sphutat sarasijaksi he nayana yugma saksad vabhau

tadaiva mama lalasajani tavaiva dasye rase

 

“O Blooming lotus-eyed girl (Radhe)! When my eyes directly saw Your pond

(Radhakunda), which is filled with sweet water and lotus flowers surrounded

by blissfully humming bees, then I really got the desire to taste the nectar

of Your service!”

 

Hence Sri Raghunatha glorifies Sri Radhakunda in this Radhakundastaka

because he desires to live on its banks. In this verse he describes the

appearance of Sri Radhakunda, which is also praised as vraja mukuta mani,

the crownjewel of all holy places of Vraja. Although Sri Radhakunda and

Syamakunda are manifest from beginningless time, during Krishna’s manifest

pastimes on earth Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava and Their sakhis used a humorous

pastime to reveal the kundas. In the Adi Varaha Purana, Govardhana Parikrama

Prasanga, it is thus described:

 

 

gangayas cottaram gatva deva devasya cakrinah; aristena samam yatra mahad

yuddham pravartitam ghatayitva tatas tasminn aristam vrsarupinam; kopena

parsni ghatena mahyas tirtham prakalpitam vrsabhasya vadho jneya atmanah

suddhim icchata; snatas tatra tada krsno vrsam hatva sagopakah vipapma

radham provaca katham bhadre bhavisyasi; vrsa hato maya cayam aristah papa

sucakah tatra radha samaslisya krishnam aklista karinam; sva namna viditam

kundam krtam tirtham aduratah radhakundam iti khyatam sarva papaharam subham

 

“On the northern side of Manasa Ganga, the God of Gods who carries a disc

(Visnu or Krishna) began a fierce fight with Aristasura. Then, to atone for

the sin of killing a bull, the Lord angrily struck the ground with His left

heel and revealed a great holy tank (Syamakunda) in which He bathed for

purification along with His cowherd boyfriends. (According to the Hari

Vamsa, Krishna then entered the gostha (meadows) with His friends for an

hour or so, after which He called the Sri Radha and the gopis for a

Rasa-dance with His all-attractive fluteplaying) Then He said:

 

“Bhadre! (beautiful, auspicious Radhe) Now I am purified from the sin of

killing a bull, how will You get purified now (the whole area is, after all,

polluted by the sin I committed and everyone must share my karma for it!)?

Then Radha embraced Krishna, the remover of all distress who can easily

perform difficult tasks like destroying demons, and made a lake which was

named after Her, on the west of Syama’s kunda. This auspicious lake, that

destroys all sins, is known as Sri Radhakunda.”

 

How Sri Radhakunda appeared is also elaborately described by parama surasika

kavi Srila Visvanatha Cakravartipada in his Sarartha Darsini-commentary on

Srimad Bhagavata, verse 10.36.15 evam kakudminam. Here he quotes twenty

verses from the Puranas that describe the humorous pastimes surrounding the

advent of Sri Radhakunda and Sri Syamakunda. The essence of this story is

written down here.

 

After Krishna had killed the demon named Aristasura, who had assumed the

form of a bull, Sri Radharani and Her girlfriends blamed Him for killing a

bull and told Him that He could only get purified from this sin by bathing

in all the holy waters, if He ever wanted to gain qualification to touch the

gopis again! Hearing their words Krishna forcefully struck the ground with

His left heel and thus made the water of the Bhagavati Ganga appear from the

Patala-region. In this Krishna invoked all the holy waters and thus revealed

Sri Syamakunda. He bathed in the water of this kunda and then told all the

holy waters of the world to appear in it. The gopis did not believe Him,

though, and therefore, by Krishna’s wish, the holy waters all assumed

visible forms and introduced themselves.

 

Krishna then jokingly told the gopis that He had revealed such an enormous

holy place, but that they were bereft of all religiosity and pious merit.

Hearing these joking challenges of Krishna Srimati Radharani wanted to

reveal another beautiful kunda, and, seeing a huge cavity created by the

hooves of the bull on the western side of Syamakunda, She began to dig the

earth out there with Her own hands, assisted by Her girlfriends.

 

Within 48 minutes She had dug out a beautiful lake of Her own; in this way

Sri Radhakunda advented itself. Then Krishna wanted to fill up Radhakunda

with all the holy waters that had filled up Syamakunda, but Radharani

refused, saying that the water of Syamakunda, in which Syamasundara had

bathed, was now stained by His sin of killing a bull and that Her creation

of Radhakunda would thus become useless. So She went with Her sakhis to the

pure Manasa-Gatiga-lake and filled up Her own kunda with its water.

 

Then, on Sri Krishna’s indication, all the holy waters of Syamakunda arose

and offered choice praises and obeisances unto Sri Radhika. Being satisfied

with these praises Radharani gave them permission to enter into Her kunda,

so they broke the dam that existed between the kundas and forcefully entered

into Sri Radhakunda, filling it up.

 

In this kunda Sri Radha and Krishna eternally play Their watersports. Sri

Radhakunda is even more glorious than Syamakunda (after all, when we go

there, we always say ‘I’m going to Radhakunda!’, instead of ‘I’m going to

Syamakunda!’, Ed.), and in this lake Radha and Krishna always play Their

midday-pastimes.

 

Hearing about the appearance of Radhakunda, Bhagavati (the holy mother)

Paurnamasi ecstatically called Vrindadevi (the presiding goddess of the

Vraja-forests) and told her to plant various trees and vines on all four

banks of the kundas. According to her own wish, Vrindadevi also had

different jewelled and pearly ghatas (bathingplaces) built that were

suitable for Radha and Krishna’s pastimes, with stairs that lead down to the

kunda. She arranged for beautiful kunja to be laid out with different kinds

of trees, vines and flowers. On both sides of the Ghata she had charming

wish-yielding kalpavriksa-trees planted. Singing male and female parrots,

pigeons, cuckoos and peacocks are always sitting on the branches of these

trees, and the kundas are filled with golden, yellow, green, red, blue and

white lotus flowers. On all four sides of the kunda are the enchanting

arbours of Lalita, Visakha and the other sakhis. This Sri Radhakunda is the

place where Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava have Their most confidential eternal

midday-pastimes. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says: “May this very fragrant

and beautiful Radhakunda be my only shelter.”

 

 

 

 

SRI RADHAKUNDASTAKAM OF RAGHUNATHA DAS GOSVAMI, VERSE 2

 

 

vrajabhuvi murazatroH preyasInAm nikAmair

Asulabham api tUrNaM prema kalpadrumaM tvam

Janayati hRdi bhumau snAtur uccaiH priyaM yat

Tad ati surabhi rAdhAkuNDam evAzrayo me

 

That very fragrant, dear and beautiful Radhakunda, that instantly makes a

desire-tree of love of God sprout in the land of the heart of anyone who

bathes there, although this is very difficult to attain even for Krishna’s

beloveds in Vrajabhumi, is my only shelter!

Stavamrita Kana Vyakhya: In this verse Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami

explains more confidential truths about Sri Radhakunda, saying: “The

desiretree of love of prema grows here of anyone who bathes there”. One may

ask here: “How can that supreme goal, which is only attained after a long

time of devotional practice, be suddenly attained just by bathing in

Radhakunda?”

 

The answer is: Radhakunda’s glories are said to be equal to Radhdrani’s

glories. That love which is normally only attained after a long time of

practise (sadhya vastu sadhana vina keho nahi pay, no one can attain the

goal without practicing, C.C.) is attained simply by seeing Srimati

Radharani, even without performing any sadhana. This is the special feature

of Radharani that even svayam bhagavan Sri Vrajendranandana (Krishna) does

not have!

 

Srimat Sanatana Gosvami has written in his Brihad Bhagavatamrita (2.5.233)

sa radhika bhagavati kvacid iksyate cet prema tad anubhavam rcchati murtiman

sah “Anyone who somehow sees the supreme Goddess Radhika will experience

prema in its real form”. Therefore it is no wonder that a single bath in

Radhakunda causes the tree of prema to sprout in the field of one’s heart.

 

One may now ask: “But I see thousands of men and women taking bath in

Radhakunda every year! Why don’t I see at least one of them getting prema at

once then? How can I establish my faith in these statements of the great

self-realized souls?”

 

To this the answer of the Mahajanas will be: “Wherever the scriptures and

the saints proclaim such miraculous and inconceivable results, it must be

understood to refer to offenseless practitioners. Only an offenseless bather

in Radhakunda will attain love of God, otherwise this would actually be

visible on anyone who bathes there. Such offenseless persons are very rare,

and the fruits of such a benediction are not visible to our eyes so soon.

There is no reason to doubt these glorifications. But even an offensive

person who bathes in Radhakunda can get rid of his offensive attitude and

attain this supreme goal by patiently bathing in Radhakunda again and again.

This is the realized conclusion of the scriptures and the great saints.”

 

Someone may also think: “The whole of Vraja-mandala has the power to give

love of God to its pilgrims, for the Padma Purana states dinam ekam nivasena

harau bhaktir prajayate “Simply by staying in the Mathura-district for one

day one will attain devotion to Lord Hari.’ What is then so special about

bathing in Radhakunda?”

 

The answer to this is: “Love of Krishna is greater than love for any other

form of God, for Krishna is the original personality of Godhead. The pure

and intimate love of the ragatmika vrajavasis is far greater than the

reverential devotion to Lord Hari of the inhabitants of Dvaraka and Mathura.

 

On top of that, as the text says, the prema kalpadruma (desiretree of love)

attained by bathing in Radhakunda is not only unattainable by aisvarya

devotees or by those who worship Krishna in the mood of a servant, friend,

or parent, but it is even hard to attain by Krishna’s own madhura-bhavamayi

girlfriends. It is well known that the conjugal mellow is superior to the

fraternal and servitude-mellow.

 

 

dasya sakhya, vatsalya, ara sringara;

cari bhavera caturvidha bhaktai adhara

nija nija bhava sabe srestha kori mane;

nija bhave kore krishna sukha asvadane

tatastha hoiya mone vicara yadi kori;

saba rasa hoite srngara adhika madhuri

(Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi 4)

 

“There are four kinds of feelings devotees can have for the Lord: servitude,

fraternal love, parental love or amorous love. Everyone considers his own

feeling to be the best and most fulfilling, and through these feelings he

makes Krishna relish happiness, according to the quantity and quality of his

love. But if a rasika considers things from a neutral stance, considering

the superiority and inferiority of the different ingredients of relish, such

as vibhavas, anubhavas, sattvika bhavas and vyabhicari-bhavas, then we will

see that the amorous love has the sweetest taste and is the most

astonishing.”

 

The crownjewel of all these madhura rasa nayikas, (gopis) is Vrisabhanu’s

princess Sri Radharani. Her astonishing madana rasa gives the greatest and

indeed complete relish to Krishna and She has mercifully infused this sweet

rasa in Her surrendered girlfriends and maidservants also. Therefore in the

kingdom of ecstatic love the relish of the sakhis and manjaris is supreme.

Still, the maidservants taste even more rasa than the sakhis. It is their

prema, that is hard to attain even for Krishna’s beloveds (the sakhis), that

is sown in the heart of someone who faithfully and offenselessly bathes in

Sri Radhakunda! Sripada Raghunatha says: “May my dearmost and most desired

Sri Radhakunda be my shelter!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

SRI RADHAKUNDASTAKAM OF RAGHUNATHA DAS GOSVAMI, VERSE 8

 

 

anudinam ati raGgaiH prema mattAli saGghaiH

vara sarasija gandhair hAri vAri prapUrNe

viharata iha yasmin dampati tau pramattau

tad ati surabhi rAdhAkuNDam evAzrayo me

 

That very beautiful and fragrant Radhakunda, in whose water, that is filled

with nicely smelling lotusflowers, Radha and Krishna daily sport in loving

intoxication, along with Their girlfriends, who are in a similar loving

frenzy, is my only shelter!

Stavamrita Kana Vyakhya: By the grace of Sri Kundesvari, Kundasrayi Sripada

Raghunatha perceives the watersports of the Twin Divinities in Radhakunda,

and he describes it here in this final verse of the Radhakundastakam. yei

kunde nitya krishna radhikara sange; jale jalakeli kore - tire rasa range

(C.C.) “In the water of this (Radhakunda Krishna eternally performs

watersports with Radhika or dances the Rasa on its banks.”

 

 

sri radheva hares tadiya sarasi presthadbhutaih svair gunair

yasyam sri yukta madhavendur anisam pritya taya kridati (Govinda Lilamrta

7.102)

 

“Because of its own qualities this lake is as dear to Hari as Sri Radha

Herself is; here the beautiful moon-like Madhava always lovingly plays with

Her.”

 

In this transcendental vision Sri Raghunatha sees that Radha and Madhava

have become tired of Their midday-sports such as touring the forest,

drinking honeywine and making love, so they enter into the water of Sri

Radhakunda to play there with their girlfriends, like king of elephants with

its she-elephants. When Krishna and the gopis enter into the water, holding

hands, they look like a golden net (the gopis) radiating moonbeams (their

radiant smiles) surrounding a monsooncloud (Krishna). The most amazing thing

is, though, that the raincloud itself is sprinkled by the golden net (with

Radhakunda-water) although a cloud usually sprinkles water itself.

 

The gopis gently sprinkle Krishna with small handsful of water and Krishna

blissfully protects His eyes with His hands. Then, when Sri Krishna

forcefully splashes the beautiful gopis in return they all become physically

agitated. Only their moonlike faces do not wilt because of their great

ecstasy.

 

Now Radha and Krishna begin to play in the water. The loser of this

watersplashing-game must give a prize to the winner. Kundalata is the

referee. Sri Radha first splashes Krishna. How sweetly Her jewelled bangles

jingle around Her lotuswhorl-like hands! It is as if Cupid wants to defeat

Krishna with His watermissile! It’s become intolerable for Krishna! How

beautiful Srimati looks when She throws the water! Syama and the sakhis swim

in this ocean of beauty. The water that Srimati throws at Her Prananatha

brightly shimmers on His chest. His garland of divine forestflowers loosens

and His big vine-like necklace falls off. Only the powerful Kaustubha-gem is

able to tolerate this stream of water without agitation and remain on

Priyatama’s body.

 

After this gill Krishna says: “Priyatame! Now You tolerate this!”, and

blissfully starts splashing Preyasi’s lotuslike face with enchanting streams

of water. Tulasi watches on the bank of the kunda how Radha and Syama are

having a huge fight in the water. Tenderhearted Svamini thinks that Her

Prananatha, who is dearer to Her than millions of Her life-airs, will suffer

too much if She splashes in His eyes, so She doesn’t do that, but Syama,

desiring victory, does splash Srimati’s eyes again and again. The premavati

sakhis forbid Syama again and again to throw water at Her eyes, but Syama

does not listen. Svamini becomes mad from His expert splashing, although She

is normally so grave, and She backs away. Syama loudly laughs, claps in His

hands and says: “You’re defeated! You’re vanquished! Give Me My prize! I’m

the victor!”

 

How beautiful are Svamini’s eyes and face when Syama holds Her around the

neck! How many hundreds of waves of ecstatic love are there in this ocean of

beauty! The fish-like eyes of Syamasundara, the sakhis and the manjaris are

swimming in this ocean of beauty! Then, when Syama has collected His prize,

Svamini dives under water and swims to a patch of golden lotusflowers,

feeling ashamed before Her girlfriends. Her lotuslike face on Her

deha-mrnala, lotusstem-like body, mixes with the golden lotusflowers (in the

kunda). The sakhis tell Syama: “What have You done to our sakhi? Quickly Go

and look for Her!”, but Syamasundara cannot find Srimati anywhere. Finally

He notices many bees becoming attracted to the extraordinary fragrance of

Isvari’s face, abandoning a cluster of lotusflowers and madly coming to fly

towards the cluster of golden lotusflowers where She’s hiding, so He goes

there and catches Srimati. The sakhis also go there.

 

Then Madhusudana forcibly begins to drink the honey from the lotuslike

mouths of Sri Radha-padmini and Her sakhis, that are maddened by prema in

the lotus-scented water. Of some sakhis He removes the jewelled ornaments,

some sakhis loudly exclaim ‘my necklace is gone!’, some say: ‘my locket is

gone!’ and some cry out: ‘where have my waistbells gone?!’ Krishna then

removes some sakhis’ veils and blouses in order to behold their

indescribable sweetness.

 

Seeing the different erotic watersports of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava, that are

maddened by Their own pastimes, Tulasi Manjari and the other kinkaris are

beside themselves of transcendental bliss. After the watersports the Navina

Yugala comes back on the shore with Their sakhis, and the kinkaris anoint

and massage Them there with oil, bathe Them once more and dress them in the

nikunja mandira with a variety of wonderful garments and ornaments.