Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
This pond is situated on the road to Nandagaon, one mile from Varsānā. It is shaped like a boat and is so beautifully decorated on all sides with lush kadamba trees that it seems prema itself has manifested as a pond. This charming place, which attracts the hearts of the devotees, is where Śrīmatī Rādhikā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa enjoy loving pastimes together. It is also where prema-vaicittya90manifested in Śrīmatī Rādhikā.
Once, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, surrounded by Lalitā and the other sakhīs, were immersed in various kinds of loving pastimes when a bumblebee hovered around the beautiful lotus face of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. Thinking Her face to be a lotus flower, the bee wanted to sit there and drink its nectar; and so it continued to hover around Her face. Śrīmatījī became afraid and covered Her face with Her palms. She also tried to chase the bee away, but to no avail. Madhumaṅgala saw Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s distress and chased the bumblebee far away with his stick. Upon his return, he announced, “I have chased madhusūdana far away from here. He has gone and will not return.” When Śrīmatī Rādhikā heard Madhumaṅgala’s words, She at once thought that Madhusūdana Kṛṣṇa had gone away and had left Her, although She was sitting directly in Kṛṣṇa’s lap. She began to lament, deeply afflicted by separation from Him. She could not, at that instant, understand that madhusūdana also means “bumblebee”. She wept and repeatedly cried out, “Oh, Prāṇanātha, where have You gone? Oh, Lord of My life, where have You gone?”
Upon seeing these amazing transcendental sentiments known as prema-vaicittya, in His beloved Rādhikā, Kṛṣṇa also forgot that She was sitting on His lap. He too wept and cried, “O My beloved!” and They both fainted. The tears that flowed from Their eyes and the perspiration that poured from Their bodies created this pond. When the sakhīs saw Their condition, they too became senseless. Śrīmatī’s female parrot began to loudly chant Śrī Rādhā’s name, and the male parrot began to loudly chant Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s name. As They heard each other’s name, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa regained external consciousness and gazed upon each other with great yearning. Gradually, the sakhīs also regained consciousness and in boundless bliss began to call out, “Jaya, jaya!” The poet Śrī Mādhurījī describes this pastime in a very charming way.
After this incident, Śrī Kṛṣṇa thought to Himself, “Although I remain close by My beloved Śrīmatī Rādhikā, I am unable to pacify the suffering She experiences in separation from Me. The heat of impending separation constantly scorches Her, and I see no means to console Her. When I am far away from Her, She constantly thinks of Me out of separation from Me. She becomes so absorbed in transcendental emotions that laughing, She talks to tamala trees, thinking them to be Me, and plays with Her sakhīs. And sometimes She displays māna. In contrast, when I am close by Her, She is overwhelmed by a feeling of separation from Me, and She becomes distressed and cries. In this condition, I am unable to console Her, even if I am right beside Her.
“Thus, Śrī Rādhā can only be consoled when I am far away from Her. In this state of separation, Her fire of separation can be somewhat pacified upon having an internal transcendental vision (sphūrti) of Me or beholding objects like the tamala tree that possess a lustre similar to My own. This is because She actually considers them to be Me, Her dear most beloved.” Thinking in this way, Kṛṣṇa secretly decided to leave for a distant place. This is the main reason why He left Vṛndāvana to go to Mathurā and Dvārakā.
The transcendental sentiment that Śrīmatī Rādhikā displays here is the topmost mādana-bhāva, which is found only in Her. It does not manifest even in Lalitā and the other sakhīs. In this mādana-bhāva, feelings of separation (vipralambha) and meeting (saṁbhoga), as well as all other mutually opposed bhāvas, are present simultaneously in an astonishing way.
Prema-sarovara is a manifestation of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental sentiments, as the following Brajabhāṣa poem explains:
jaṅh jaṅh pyārī pag dharat śyām dharat taṅh nain
There is no doubt that by bathing in this pond, one attains prema for the Divine Couple Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Here one can take darśana of Lalitā-Mohanajī, a rāsa-maṇḍala, a place where They would swing (jhūla-sthala), the temple of Prema-bihārījī and the sitting-places (baiṭhakas) of Śrī Vallabhācārya and Śrī Viṭṭhalanātha. The village of Gājīpura lies east of this pond. On the day of Bhādra-śuklā-dvādaśī (the fourth day from Rādhāṣṭamī) bhūḍhī-līlā is performed here.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is one of the most beautiful and also famous lakes in Vraja and it was created from the tear drops of the ‘divine lovers’ Radha and Krishna. The word ‘prema’ means ‘divine love’ and ‘sarovara’ means a ‘lake’. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says, “At this place ‘prema-vaichittya-bhava’ was manifested by Radha and Krishna. Prema-vaicittya is a word used to indicate an abundance of love that brings about grief from fear of separation, although the lover is actually present.” The words ‘prema-vaichittya’ means, an ‘intense love that causes grief due to fear of separation’ and ‘bhava’ means ‘mood’. One day, Radha and Krishna came to this place with Their friends and while sitting together in a forest grove They both simultaneously manifested the ecstatic mood known as prema-vaichittya-bhava. On that occasion Radharani was sitting on the lap of Krishna when suddenly a madhu-makhi (honey-bee) began hovering around Radha’s ear. As this honey-bee was slightly disturbing Radharani, She kept waving Her hand to keep it at some distance. Seeing that the madhu-makhi was disturbing Radha, Krishna then asked His dear friend Madhumangala to chase the honey-bee away. After chasing the bee and successfully shooing it off, Madhumangala then called out to Krishna saying, “Madhu has gone away”; referring to the madhu-makhi (honey-bee). Hearing the words of Krishna’s friend, Radharani mistakenly took it to mean that ‘Madhu’, which is another name for Krishna, ‘has gone away’. Suddenly Her mood changed to one of intense grief due to fear of separation from Her beloved Madhu (Krishna). Due to the sudden onset of prema-vaichittya-bhava Radharani could no longer see Her beloved Krishna and began shedding a torrent of tears. Noticing the sudden change in Radharani’s bhava, Krishna’s bhava also dramatically changed due to the intensity and influence of Radha’s own bhava. At that moment Krishna, due to the effect of prema-vaichittya-bhava, was no longer able to see Radharani and also began shedding a torrent of tears due to acute separation. As They began piteously calling out each other’s name in utter desperation, the flow of Their combined tears began to create a small lake. When two parrots sitting in a nearby tree saw the ecstatic condition of Radha and Krishna, they began singing the holy names of the ‘divine lovers’. When Radha and Krishna heard Their names being sung by the parrots, They immediately returned to external consciousness. As They could now see each other once again, Radha and Krishna began embracing one-another to Their heart’s content. The lake created from the tears of Radha and Krishna became known as Prema-sarovara, which means the ‘Lake of Love’. It is said that by bathing in this sacred lake one will surely achieve ecstatic love for Radha and Krishna.
