A Garland of Verses Drenched in Vipralambha-bhava

In Sri Navadvipa-sataka, after propounding the glories of Sri Navadvipa Dhama, Srila Prabhodananda Sarasvati Thakura gives a taste of what Sri Navadvipa is like in the absence of the Moon which controls the spiritual emotions, or tides, of its inhabitants. That Moon is none other than Navadvipa-candra, or Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In text 88, Srila Sarasvatipada writes:

The fortunate town of Navadvipa remains on the earth. The Ganges remains. The same people still live here. The saintly devotees who have taken shelter of Lord Gauranga's feet remain. Alas! Alas! I do not see anywhere the same kind of festival of pure love for Lord Hari. O Lord Caitanya, O ocean of mercy, will I ever see Your transcendental glory again?

Srila Kavi Karnapura pens similar verses in his Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka (The Rising of the Moon of Sri Caitanya), which is a drama. At the very beginning, King Prataparudra says to the playwright:

Here is the same all-powerful Lord Jagannatha. Here is the same Ratha-yatra festival. Here is the same Gundica temple. Here are the same pilgrims come from all directions to see the Lord. Here is the same garden that eclipses the beauties of Nandana forest. Still, without Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I think everything here is a desert. (Introduction, Text 2).

And just a few verses later, another character in the play, Pariparsvika, states that he overheard the devotees lamenting even during such a blissful event as Lord Jagannatha's Ratha-Yatra festival. He says he heard the devotees saying:

This is the same Ratha-yatra of Lord Jagannatha, the tilaka mark of Nilacala. These are the same newly-blossoming gardens. This is the same glorious path. Still, my eyes burn as if consumed by a fever's flames. My mind breaks as if attacked by demons' words. My body suffers as if my heart were wounded. (Introduction, Text 10).

These verses describing the keen feelings the devotees were experiencing in separation from Mahaprabhu are reminiscent of several verses Srila Rupa Goswami includes in his anthology of poetry, Padyavali, in relation to Krishna's absence from Vrindavan. The following two verses are taken from the section titled, Sri Radhaya vilapah, or "Srimati Radharani's Lament."

It is the same springtime. It is the same forest. It is the same tree. Everything is the same as it was then, but alas! Alas! That person whose delicate body is as splendid as a fresh rain cloud, that person, who is the first incarnation of Kamadeva, is nowhere to be seen. (Sri Sanjaya Kavisekhara, Verse 327).

This is the same river. This is the same moonlight. This is the same shore of the Yamuna. This is the same forest. These are the same jasmine-scented breezes. O love, more dear to Me than life, You have now become unattainable for Me. (Sri Hari Bhatta, Verse 332).

Later in Padyavali are the incredibly poignant verses recounting the sentiments Srimati Radharani expresses at Kuruksetra. Srila Rupa Goswami includes one of his own verses (the latter), as well as one by an unknown author:

That very personality who stole away My heart during My youth is now again My master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of malati flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet still My mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Reva under the vetasi tree. That is My desire. (Author unknown, Verse 386).

My dear friend, now I have met My very old and dear friend Krsna on this field of Kuruksetra. I am the same Radharani, and now We are meeting together. It is very pleasant, but still I would like to go to the bank of the Yamuna beneath the trees of the forest there. I wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the the fifth note within that forest of Vrndavana. (Sri Rupa Goswami, Verse 387).

In the above verses from Padyavali, the vibhavas are present to excite the devotional sentiments and love, or sthayi-bhava, that Srimati Radharani experiences. The river, the breezes, the fragrance of the flowers, the springtime, the moonlight...These external stimuli are all present. Everything is the same—well, almost everything. However, the missing factor makes everything different for Her. In the absence of Krishna or the ability to enact the same pastimes as before, the very vibhavas which would produce so much happiness and excitement for Her before, now just bring acute longing for things to return to the way they once were. Yet, there is the distinct, heart-tugging impression that things will not return to the way they were. This poignant situation that has been created nourishes Srimati Radharani's vipralambha-bhava.

In all of the above verses, including the verses from the vantage-point of the devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the externals appear to be the same, and yet Lord Caitanya has left this world and in the case of the latter verses, Krishna has left Vrindavan for Mathura. Thus, the devotees are burning in the fire of separation.

Of course, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu modeled vipralambha-bhava. Especially during His Antya-lila and especially to His confidential associates, Swarupa Damodara Goswami and Ramananda Raya, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fully tasted the meaning of separation from Krishna. At the end of the Caitanya-caritamrta, Mahaprabhu says:

In My agitation, a day never ends, for every moment seems like a millennium. Pouring incessant tears, My eyes are like clouds in the rainy season. The three worlds have become void because of separation from Govinda. I feel as if I were burning alive in a slow fire. (Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.40-41).

Ujjvala-nilamani (Vipralambha-prakaraṇa 3-4) describes that vipralambha-bhava nourishes emotions at the time of meeting (sambhoga). However, the poignancy of the above verses is the overriding sentiment that while the externals may be there and may appear the same, having darsana of the brilliant, golden sannyasi, Sri Caitanya, or of the playful cowherd boy manifesting His tribhanga form by the bank of the Yamuna simply will not be possible in the present situation anymore. How can we reconcile this seemingly extremely painful situation that results from ecstatic love for the Supreme?

In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, it is said that when Mahaprabhu, the very form of love in separation, was manifesting such intense vipralambha-bhava, "Externally there appeared severe tribulation, as if He were suffering from poisonous effects, but internally He was experiencing bliss. This is characteristic of transcendental love of Kṛṣṇa." (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 2.50).

Srila Sanatana Goswami states a similar point in his Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta in relation to prema:

For those who have prema, the blazing conflagration of their agony is like the nectarean water of the Yamuna and yet like the burning flames of a fire. To them poison is like nectar, and nectar like poison, death is happiness, and life but an expansion of misery. (Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta, Volume 3, Chapter 5, Verse 227).

The ways of Vraja are crooked. Krsna's form is crooked; His words are crooked; His dealings with Srimati Radharani and the Vraja-gopis are crooked. Similarly, the Acaryas have described that the ways of prema are crooked.

Narada Muni explains in Brhad Bhagavatamrta:

If ever you meet the divine goddess Radhika, then you will see prema in person. And if ever She speaks about prema, only then can you hear the truth about it, if you are able to understand it. Or should there ever be a full incarnation of Sri Krsna-candra to distribute pure krsna-prema, or to experience the krsna-prema of Srimati Radhika, you might be able to understand it. (Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta, Volume 3, Chapter 5, Verse 233-234).

The point, however, is not so much to understand prema as to simply try to love Krishna. As Gopiparanadhana das explains in the purport to Verse 234, in hinting at Mahaprabhu's future appearance, Narada Muni gives us the key: via Mahaprabhu and His pure devotees, we may harbor the hope of one day attaining love at the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani and Her Prananatha, Sri Krishna.