Pada 136
Sri Raghunandana and Sita eat together; friend, gaze and gaze again, and let your heart fill with joy.
Seated upon a jewel-studded throne, they shine softly like a rain cloud and lightning.
The graceful sakhis refine the many dishes and place jeweled plates in their lotus-hands.
Cuckoo-voiced women sing as they serve, their seven tender notes exquisitely sweet.
Some hold heavy jeweled water-vessels, filled with the lovely water of the Sarayu.
All gaze upon the faces of Beloved and Darling, serving whatever their hearts desire.
They perfect each morsel and offer it to the other’s moonlike face; the beauty of that moment lies beyond words.
Says Rasika Ali: seeing this wondrous rasa, I offer my very life in sacrifice.
Pada 137
They eat whatever pleases the heart; only the eyes know the joy with which the two eat and feed one another.
The Beloved conceives a playful desire and prepares a morsel to place in Sita’s mouth.
But smiling, he gazes with eyes filled by her sweetness, and the morsel remains forgotten in his hand.
This rare rasa, flowing through the five devotional moods, is truly understood only by the intimate companions.
Hari’s companions attain the longings of their hearts through the grace of Mithilesha’s Darling.
Pada 138
Sri Raghunandana and Sita eat together, shining within a fresh bower of sweetness.
Intoxicated by one another’s beauty, they play upon the jeweled seat, offering delightful morsels with lotus-hands.
Many dishes have been made in countless ways, abundant with the six tastes and four kinds of nectar.
Young maidens stand on every side, longing to receive a command.