Pleasing Kṛṣṇa, Mangal ārati and Rasa-śāstra

Bhakta: "You said one can only please Kṛṣṇa through Rādhā, but this seems to be only in the śṛṅgāra rasa. But the other rasas serve Kṛṣṇa independently."

Advaitadas: "No that is not true. Mother Yaśodā is feeding Kṛṣṇa so He has strength to love Rādhikā, the servants dress Him so He looks nice for  Rādhikā, the cows want Him to herd them in the pastures so He has an excuse to go out to meet  Rādhikā at Radhakund. Same for the cowherd boys. Even the bees, the sun and the moon serve Radha and Kṛṣṇa by creating a romantic atmosphere. The cows of Abhimanyu serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa by keeping Abhimanyu so engaged with them that he does not have any time for his so-called wife. They do not serve independently at all, though they may not be aware of it, except for the sakhīs and mañjarīs. Padakarta Jñānadās sings: "tomāri lāgiyā beḍāi bhramiyā giri-nadī vane vane: (Kṛṣṇa sings:) "For Your (Rādhā's) sake I wander through the forest, past the rivers and over the mountains!"

Bhakta: "I heard that in some temples in Vṛndāvana they do not do mangal arati because they say that Kṛṣṇa is still sleeping then."

Advaitadas: 'That would depend on the sampradāya. The temples who hold such philosophies are not Gauḍīya. In Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta there is a description of mangal ārati offered by the mañjarīs in the kunja at daybreak [niśānta], and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are wide awake then. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas believe Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are so absorbed in Their loving pastimes that They hardly sleep at any time, perhaps from 1-3 a.m. only."

Bhakta: "Scholars say that the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas have gleaned rasa tattva from earlier, mundane rasika authors. If this is true then how can rasa be called eternal?"

Advaitadas: "It is true that Rūpa Goswāmī was inspired to write his Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu and Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi by, among others, a book named Rasārṇava Sudhākara, which was written by one of his ancestors, named Siṁha Bhūpāla. But that does not mean there was an historical sequence or a discovery or so. Just see, before Mahāprabhu's advent, the rasika secrets all existed in the 5000-year old Bhāgavatam, but they were not understood and revealed until the Goswāmīs wrote down their books. But that does not mean that the rasika truths did not exist, right?"

Bhakta: "Rūpa Goswāmī taking over the whole rasa-science from previous, mundane writers, does make him seem like an ordinary mundane scholar."

Advaitadas: "Who else is Rūpa Mañjarī? How else is Gaura-līlā meditation transcendental and eternal if Rūpa Gosvāmī was not? Look, the fact that Rāma and Kṛṣṇa took diksa and went to Gurukula (school) does not mean they are not the omniscient Bhagavān, Paramātmā, right? Similarly, Rūpa Gosvāmī taking lessons from previous teachers does not make him a conditioned soul. Lord Viṣṇu got the Kaustubha gem when the milk-ocean was churned, or did He? It is eternally His, and in a pastime He got it again. Similarly the Gosvāmīs knowledge is eternally with them but sometimes they play as if they are learning this."