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Chapter Two: The Nature and Scope of Madhura-rasa

—the conscious world. The radiant realm of Brahman surrounds this conscious world like an encircling wall. When that radiance is pierced, Vaikuntha appears as the transcendent sky. Vaikuntha is powerful and majestic. Its sovereign is Narayana, served by infinite conscious manifestations. Vaikuntha is the realm of the Lord's wedded rasa. Sri, Bhu, and the other Powers serve him there as his wedded consorts.

Goloka lies above Vaikuntha. In Vaikuntha the wedded ladies of the city remain intent upon their appointed services; in Goloka, the women of Vraja serve Krishna within their own intimate rasa.

Classifications of the beautiful women of Vraja

The women of Vraja have many divisions. Poetics first distinguishes the wedded and the unwedded heroine. Each may be ingenuous, intermediate, or bold. According to māna, the intermediate and bold heroines are further classed as restrained, unrestrained, or partly restrained. According to their condition in relation to the hero, there are eight types:

1. the heroine who goes out to meet her lover;
2. the heroine who has prepared herself and the chamber for him;
3. the heroine distressed by his delay;
4. the heroine deceived after waiting in vain;
5. the heroine enraged by signs that he has been with another;
6. the heroine separated through a quarrel;
7. the heroine whose husband or lover is away; and
8. the heroine who has her beloved under her control.

According to the hero's love, they are again superior, intermediate, or junior.

That is the classification of general poetics. The classification based upon religious scripture is altogether different and is the one adopted in devotional madhura-rasa:

• The beloved ladies of Hari
  • Perfected through practice
    • Those who attained their state in groups, including sages who became gopīs according to the Padma Purāṇa
    • Those who attained it individually, including figures said in the Upanishads and Puranas to have become gopīs
  • Eternally perfect
  • Divine, divided into the ancient and the new

Among them, Radha is the sovereign of Vrindavan, Krishna's eternal companion, his supremely beloved, and the great hlādinī Power. Radha's companions are of five kinds: sakhī, eternal sakhī, life-companion, beloved companion, and supremely cherished companion.