Devanagari
हा नाथ रमण प्रेष्ठ क्वासि क्वासि महाभुज ।
दास्यास्ते कृपणाया मे सखे दर्शय सन्निधिम् ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
hā nātha ramaṇa preṣṭha
kvāsi kvāsi mahā-bhuja
dāsyās te kṛpaṇāyā me
sakhe darśaya sannidhim
Synonyms
hā
—
O
;
nātha
—
master
;
ramaṇa
—
lover
;
preṣṭha
—
dearmost
;
kva asi kva asi
—
where are You, where are You
;
mahā
—
bhuja — O mighty-armed one
;
dāsyāḥ
—
to the maidservant
;
te
—
Your
;
kṛpaṇāyāḥ
—
wretched
;
me
—
Me
;
sakhe
—
O friend
;
darśaya
—
please show
;
sannidhim
—
Your presence .
Translation
She cried out: O master! My lover! O dearmost, where are You? Where are You? Please, O mighty-armed one, O friend, show Yourself to Me, Your poor servant!
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
She cried out: O master! My lover! O dearmost, where are You? Where are You? Please, O mighty-armed one, O friend, show Yourself to Me, Your poor servant!
KB 10.30.39
“ ‘My dear lover, My dearest, You are so fine and so powerful. Where have You gone? I am nothing but Your most obedient maidservant. I am very much aggrieved. Please come and be with Me again.’ ” Kṛṣṇa, however, is not coming to Her. He must be watching Her from a distant place and enjoying Her sorrow.”
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura describes the following moving exchange:
“Rādhā says, ‘My Lord, I am being burned in the great fire of separation from You, and My life air is about to leave My body. Even with the greatest endeavor I cannot maintain My life. But You are the Lord of My life, and so You can quickly save Me simply by glancing upon Me. Please do so immediately. I beg You to save My life, not for My sake but rather for Yours. After giving up all the other
gopīs,
You’ve brought Me so far to a secluded place in the forest just to enjoy special pleasure with Me. If I die You will not be able to find conjugal happiness anywhere else. You will remember Me and thus lament in Your sorrow.’
“Kṛṣṇa replies, ‘So let Me become unhappy. What does that matter to You?’
“‘But You are most dear to Me. I will feel Your unhappiness millions of times more than You. Even if I’ve already died, I still will not be able to tolerate the pain that even one spot on the nails of Your lotus feet may experience. Indeed, to prevent such pain I am ready to throw My life away millions and millions of times. So kindly show Yourself and drive away that unhappiness.’
“‘But if Your life air is on the verge of leaving Your body, what can I do to stop that?’
“‘Simply by the touch of Your arms, which are a medicinal herb with the power to revive the dead, My body will return to its healthy, normal condition, and My life air will automatically come back and remain in My body.’
“‘But You know the forest path Yourself without My help, so why did You order Me, the king’s son and a very young and gentle boy who is to be respected? Why did You command, “Take Me wherever You wish”? Why do You anger Me like this?’
“Rādhā cries out, ‘Please show Yourself to Your wretched maidservant. Be merciful to Me! Be merciful! When I ordered You, I was overcome by sleepiness. I was so tired from playing with You. Therefore please excuse what Your poor servant said. Please don’t be angry. It was only because You treated Me like such a close friend, though I am unworthy, that I spoke like that to You.’
“‘All right, My love, I am very pleased with You, so please come to Me.’
“‘But I’ve been blinded by lamentation. I can’t see where You are. Please tell Me where You are.’”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Radha spoke like this, Krsna began to consider as follows. "I see that she has given up her original nature which shows bashfulness and uncooperative manner. The real woman does not readily consent to invitations to take her to the lover’s flower bed. If she has given up her uncooperative nature (vamya), then why should I not give up my nature as a cooperative male lover. This becomes necessary now. If both lovers show the same nature of cooperative or uncooperative, there can be no enjoyment of rasa. I will not be at fault with the knowers of rasa if I give up my nature now. Rasa becomes tasteful if it follows properly the emotions of the woman.
"Also, now is the opportunity to see Radha in a state generated by separation from me, something which I have been desiring to see for a long time. The gopis have realized the greatest fortune of my embracing Radha. Let the other gopis now experience the ocean of great amazement in seeing the extraordinary state of mental anguish generated from her extreme prema in separation. In comparison to her great conflagration in separation from me, their pain in separation from me is but a small lamp light.
"And let the perfection of srngara rasa and union be perfected today by separation. When by my expertise I arrange for separation from Radha, when all the gopis including Radha are in a state of separation, I can appear and simultaneously appease all of their pains of separation equally. This is the proper preparation for the rasa dance today. If I were to appear in front of the other gopis after having enjoyed privately with only Radha, their minds would not be settled."
Considering many factors like this, Krsna then spoke with a desire to suddenly disappear. "Climb on my shoulder." He then considered what Radha had said, "Take me where you want."
"I have a desire to sleep a little because of tiredness from playing and walking in the forest. But to sleep alone all night without my dearest love might give inauspicious sorrow to her. If she says "Let us go to the flower bead and we can sleep there together," that is also dishonorable."
Thus the lila sakti of the Lord, full of prema, knowing the internal emotions of Radha, brought about Krsna’s disappeareance in order to perfect the pastime. Radha began to lament continuously (anu tapyata).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
She began to lament. Ha indicates distress or pain. The word should be added to all the names. O protector, since you are my husband (nātha)! Giver of happiness befitting a lover (ramaṇa)! Distributer of suitable prema to persons like me (preṣṭha)! Where are you? Where are you now staying alone, though you have affection for me? Not knowing your whereabouts, my heart is agitated. Repetition of kvāsi (where are you) indicates her agitated condition. Bewildered by remembering the exceptional beauty of his limbs which excited her rasa, which made her remember her fortune of obtaining his embraces, she calls out “O might-armed Kṛṣṇa!” Then in great misery she said, “I am your low servant.” “Are you searching for my residence so that you can again embrace me?” No, no, O friend! You have already given you close association. Just show you are nearby. By your association I have developed attachment. I cannot accept separation after you gave me association. If you just let me know that you are here, then I will be relieved. The reason is that I am only a servant. I am not qualified to be a friend. I only want to do service favorable to you, which has arisen suddenly by your mercy alone. I am miserable. I cannot tolerate this misery and do not know how to get relief. You should not deceive me nor should you sow a seed of remorse for me in your heart. This anubhāva is called audārya. audāryaṁ vinayaṁ prāhuḥ sarvāvasthāgataṁ budhāḥ: audāryam means having a kind nature in all circumstances. (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 11.23)
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
She began to lament. Ha indicates distress or pain. The word should be added to all the names. O protector, since you are my husband (nātha)! Giver of happiness befitting a lover (ramaṇa)! Dearest (preṣṭha)! Giver of strong embraces (mahābhuja)! This is a sequence with later elements being the cause of the former.
Or O master (nātha)! Not only that, you give the happiness of love (rāmaṇa) or cause various pastimes. By nature you are dearer than the self (preṣṭḥa) because you are supremely attractive with a form of eternity, knowledge and bliss (mahābhuja). Or you produce the greatest enjoyment (mahābhuja), giving a wealth of enjoyment through love.
Or O lord of Vraja (nātha)! Being the lord, you are the enjoyer (ramaṇa) as the master. You are dearest (preṣṭha) as the illicit lover. This is perfected by your great beauty (mahabhuja). Or lamenting in grief, “Where are you? Where are you?” bewildered she falls on the ground. She desires to embrace him and remembers. “O strong armed Kṛṣṇa!”
I am here, not far away. Come close to me. Why? I am your servant and most miserable. If I die, you will be in pain. O dearest (sakhe)! Or you should not cheat me as you did previously in revealing yourself. O friend whom I can trust (sakhe)!
Or “O dearest! Giving you up, I have not gone anywhere. I am beside you.” Being a fool I do not see you. Reveal yourself to me since you are a friend. I am your servant.
Though in lamentation, consistenty of meaning is not necessary, and inconsisitency is its quality, because intellect disappears in the pain of separation, the statements of such persons have all meanings. According to bhakti, the meanings have been explained. This applies for later explanations also.
She fainted and fell on the ground. This is inferred from verse 40. Or from verse 38 where it is stated he disappeared, she experienced vaicittya, and though he was actually present her ecstasy did not allow her to see him. Actually he was standing there silently for fun. She lamented in vaicittya, and when he saw the other gopīs approaching he disappeared.