Attaining Manjari-Bhava - name withheld

Attaining Manjari-Bhava
Author's name withheld upon request

People who wish to attain Manjari-bhava don't discuss the intimate pastimes of Srimati Radhika and Sri Krishna openly.

Srimati Radharani has two kinds of gopi-friends. Some of Her friends are the same age as Her. They sit down with Radhika and talk about Krishna. Sri Radhika reveals Her heart to them very much the same way as girls reveal their heart to each other in the material world. Of course, the talks of ordinary girls are a mere perverted reflection of the original, but the example is clear. Lord Chaitanya would discuss certain pastimes of Krishna only with Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara. Why? Because they are Lalita and Visakha. That is Sakhi-bhava.

Manjaris, the small gopi-friends of Sri Radhika, belong to another category. They are considerably younger than their beloved Vrindavanesvari. They assist Her and feel Her emotions as if they were the limbs of Her body, but they do not dig into Sri-Sri-Radha-Krishna's most intimate dealings with each other. That is again evident in the example of young girls of the material world. As Mother Yashoda's love is like any mother's love towards her child, only unlimited times more intense, pure and unmotivated, so is the relationship of a Manjari with Radhika and Syama like any little girl's relationship with a bigger girl whom she admires and whom she wants to unite with the bigger girl's chosen boy.

If you are in a body of a woman, you may remember "covering up" for your big sister when she secretly met with her boyfriend. You were excited about their relationship, and you felt ever-so happy for her. You wanted the world to know about this couple, pointing out to other young people, "See! That's my sister's boyfriend!" It is not that you were embarrassed or hesitant to talk about them, but you were young and innocent. You wouldn't dream of poking your nose to their intimate moments. That was totally between the two of them, and for the older sister to reveal to the girls of her own age. You glorified them, but abstained from gossip.

We understand that the Manjaris are not ordinary little girls. they are worshipable to us because of their intense love towards Sri-Sri-Radha-Krishna. The above description simply serves to illustrate the mood of little girls, which may not be at all obvious to souls now residing in male bodies. Many a person in a female body has forgotten that special sweetness, too.

The mood of the little Manjari-girls may be our goal. Many feel it SHOULD be our goal. But please, let us not confuse ourselves. If we wish to attain Manjari-bhava, we must not gossip about the intimate pastimes of Sri Radhika and Her Syama. That is not the position of the little girlfriends of Srimati Radharani.

Please do not print my name along with this article, as people who read it may feel, "What does she know about these things, anyway?" I agree, I do not know much, a fool that I am.

© CHAKRA 4-July-2001

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