About 50 to 100 years back; things in the world of Krishna Bhajana (The means) and Sadhana(The means to the goal) were very different. Although Sriman Mahaprabhu during His time revealed the most esoteric aspect of the Highest Goal; this was under clout even about a 100 years ago. Sriman Mahaprabhu’s vibrant and ecstatic moods were concealed by the preachers of His movement since the past century for obvious social reasons. However today we have a more mature devotee clan.
Yet the impact of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s original gift is hidden from the view of hungry aspirants. It becomes necessary that those who have tasted a drop of that original unadulterated nectar make it a point to distribute it freely. The concept of Radha Dasyam as it has always been said is the pinnacle of Rasa Bhakti. One should try to attain the qualification to savor and enjoy Rasa shastras by associating with the saints of Vraja who are soaked in that mood. Rasa is the dissolution of our fixated ideas and is a free flow of energy from within that shapes the divine couple itself within our hearts. Rasa means “Essence”. Consciousness has to be raised to such an extent that it soars beyond our limited field of experience to a “perfect” platform ; as inspired by the object of our Worship; Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Hence the inspiration and the colouration of the mind as we taste “rasa” is way beyond our range of direct experience and tasted by surge of emotions which is uncontrolled because our minds are pegged onto the Rasa vigraha ; Sri Sri Radha Krishna; at the stage of asakti or divine attachment.
The Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu says lāvaṇya-sāra-rasa-sāra-sukhaika-sāre kāruṇya-sāra-madhura-cchavi-rūpa-sāre |vaidagdhya-sāra-rati-keli-vilāsa-sāre rādhābhidhe mama mano’khila-sāra-sāre
May my thoughts always rest on one who is named Sri Radha, who is the essence of loveliness, essence of all rasa, essence of all happiness,essence of deep compassion,essence of all unparalleled beauty,essence of all cleverness in the arts of love, essence of all amorous love, indeed the essence of the best of all things.
When one who is under the tutelage of a Rasika Guru ; contemplates thus ; gets connected to that personified source of perfection ; Srimati Radharani. The Vrindavana Mahimamrita by Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati says
sakala-vibhava-sāraṁ sarva-dharmaika-sāraṁ
sakala-bhajana-sāraṁ sarva-siddhy-eka-sāram |
sakala-mahima-sāraṁ vastu vṛndāvanāntaḥ
sakala-madhurimāmbho-rāśi-sāraṁ vihāram ||17.85||
Residing in Vrindavana is the substance ; that is opulence in essence.All religious duty is covered when one resides in Vrindavana. It is the single essence of all success imaginable. It is the summum bonum of all glory and it is the essence of all the oceans of divine sweetness.
Srila Narottam Das explains the essence of practice of Raganuga in this way
monera smaraṇa prāṇa, madhura madhura dhāma yugala vilāsa smṛti sāra -sādhya sādhana ei, ihāra por āra nāhi-ei tattva sarva vidhi sāra
Meditation or remembrance is the life of the mind, an abode of ever-increasing sweetness; and the Divine couples’ loving dalliances are the very essence of that sweet remembrance. This is the practice, this is the goal of the practice: this tattva is the cream of all instruction.
When one delves deep into acquiring the mood of the direct representatives of the Lord in the Line of Sriman Mahaprabhu through generation of spiritual “lobha” or greed ; the mind becomes saturated beyond all material conception. The Bhava sadhana as propounded by the Raganuga way of Bhakti is the essential tool that allows one to transcend the limitations of our fixated consciousness even about esoteric subjects. This practice of meditation if done with the single-pointed ideal of attaining the position(Sadhana) of the most dearest handmaid of Srimati Radharani ,simultaneously becomes the means and the object of the highest order . Such a mind which is fully soaked with the mood of serving Radharani in the most intimate way during Her conjugal pastimes will become the vehicle of a boundless eternal life drowned once and for all in the mega-ocean of “Ananda” ; that of inconceivable bliss!!
Charan Pahari 