Lalita Devi's appearance day was yesterday.
Rajesh Sharma
Dear Devotees,
Hare Krishna, Please accept my humble obeisances, All glories to Srila Prabhupada, All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.
7th September was the Appearance Day of Srimati Lalita Shaki please find below more information about Lalita Devi.
Srimati Lalita-Devi's Appearance day
Of the eight sakhis, Lalita-devi is the foremost. She is a very dear friend of Radha-Krsna and she is 27 days older than Srimati Radharani.
(Radha-Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika)
Lalitadevi is well-known for her transcendental contradictory and hot tempered nature. Her complexion is the color of gorocana (bright yellow pigment prepared from the urine of a cow) and her garments are the color of peacock feathers.
Her mother is Saradi-devi and her father is Visoka. Her husband is Bhairava who is a close friend of Govardhana-gopa (husband of Candravali).
Rupa manjari (Rupa Goswami) is the assistant and follower of Lalita-sakhi; thus all who consider themselves as Rupanuga bhaktas (followers of Rupa Goswami) are ultimately the servants of lalita-devi and thus through the media of the parampara should always be longing to engage in the service of her lotus feet. When that day comes that we are able to please her, she will engage us in the intimate loving service of Sri Sri radha-Krsna according to our heart's desire.
Lalita-sakhi incarnated as Svarupa Damodara in the pastimes of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu and acted as his personal secretary. In fact, no one could approach or present anything to Gauranga Mahaprabhu without his sanction.
"Sri Svarupa Damodara was the personification of ecstatic love, fully cognizant of the highest transcendental mellows in relationship with Lord Krsna. He directly represented Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu as His second expansion.
If someone wrote a book or composed verses and songs and wanted to recite them before Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Svarupa Damodara would first examine them and then correctly present them. Only then would Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu agree to listen."
Lalita-sakhi and her assistants incarnate from time to time in the material realm to propogate the topmost mood of serving Radha-Krsna, namely to become a maid-servant of Srimati Radharani.
Mother's Name: Saradi
Father's Name: Visoka
Husband's Name: Bhairava
Complexion: Like gorochana, a type of yellow pigment
Cloth: Sikhi-piccha, like peacock feathers
Grove: Her kunja to the North of Radha-kunda, named Lalitanandada, is colored tadid i,e, like lightening, with many ruby-studded features.
Service: Her special seva is serving tambula, betel-nuts.
Age: In the Nikunja-lila, her eternal age is 14 years, 8 months, 27 days; she is the eldest sakhi.
Mood: Her bhava is khandita, or a jealous heroine who chastises her beloved. This pure mood is never manifest in relation to herself, however but only when there is a delay in the meeting of the Divine Couple.
Temperament: Vama-prakhara, contrary and hot-tempered to enhance the pastimes of Radha & Krsna.
Favourite Instrument: Vina
Favourite Tune: Raga bhairava-kalingada
Maidservant: Her chief assistant is Sri Rupa-manjari.
Girlfriends: Her 8 closest sakhis are Ratna-prabha, Rati-kala, Subhadra, Bhadra-rekhika, Sumukhi, Dhanishtha, Kala-hamsi, Kalapini.
Special Talents:
(1) The leader of all the sakhis of Srimati Radharani
(2) Very magnanimous like her father
(3) The instigator of most pastimes
(4) Always displays contrariness to Krsna's suggestions
(5) Frequently becomes angry and speaks outrageously insolent retorts to increase the intensity of the loving affairs between Radha & Krsna.
(6) Brilliant in composing and understanding riddles
(7) Unparalleled in fashioning things with flowers including awnings, dancing arenas, umbrellas, couches, bowers
(8) Expert in performing magic tricks and juggling.
Gadādhara Paṇḍita, the fourth branch, is described as an incarnation of the pleasure potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. No one, therefore, can equal him.
In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (147–53) it is stated, “The pleasure potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa formerly known as Vṛndāvaneśvarī is now personified in the form of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has pointed out that in the shape of Lakṣmī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, she was formerly very dear to the Lord as Śyāmasundara-vallabhā. The same Śyāmasundara-vallabhā was present in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes as Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Formerly, as Lalitā-sakhī, she was always devoted to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Thus Gadādhara Paṇḍita is simultaneously an incarnation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Lalitā-sakhī. In the Twelfth Chapter of this part of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a description of the descendants or disciplic succession of Gadādhara Paṇḍita. - Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 10.15
Vijaya: “I have read that Lalitā has her own gaṇa, sub-group of associates, could you elucidate this matter?”
Gosvāmī: “Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the yūtheśvarī par excellence. Some of the gopīs from within her yūtha are especially attracted to the special unique bhāva of Śrī Lalitā devī, and so they call themselves lalitā-gaṇa, followers of Lalitā. In a similar way, Viśākhā devī has her viśākhā-gaṇa, followers of Viśākhā. In this way, the aṣṭa-sakhī-gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā, are the leaders of particular gaṇas, sub-groups, within the greater yūtha of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. Only by immense good fortune can one become a member of Śrī Lalitā’s gaṇa.”
Jaiva Dharma (Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Thākura) 32: Mādhurya-rasa, Part Two
“O Śrīnivāsa, Rādhārāṇī with Her associates, enters the forest cottage by this path. There is no end to the followers of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Amongst Her associates, headed by Lalitā, Rādhā looks wonderfully beautiful. Lalitā-sakhī is filled with all transcendental qualities. She is surrounded by eight intimate followers headed by Ratnaprabhā. They are described along with the followers of the other sakhīs in the Bṛhat-Kṛṣṇa-ganoddeśa-dīpika as follows: ‘Ratnaprabhā, Ratikalā, Subhadrā, Bhadrarekhikā, Sumukhī, Dhaniṣṭhā, Kalahaṇsī, and Kalāpinī are the eight followers of Lalitā.' - Lord Nityānanda's Pastimes at Śṛñgāra-vaṭa (Bhakti Ratnākara – Śrīla Pundarika Vidyānidhi)
Gosvāmī: “Again Śrīla Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī has aptly described the qualities of a pālya-dāsī, maidservant who is fully sheltered by Śri Rādhā, in his Vraja-vilāsa-stava, śloka 29:
sāndra-prema-rasaiḥ plutā priyatayā prāgalbhyam āptā tayoḥ
prāṇa-preṣṭha-vayasyayor anudinaṁ līlābhisāraṁ kramaiḥ
vaidagdhyena tathā sakhīṁ prati sadā mānasya śikṣāṁ rasair
yeyaṁ kārayatīha hanta lalitā gṛhṇātu sā māṁ gaṇaiḥ
“‘There is one sakhī who being steeped in the mellow of intense love has turned intrepid, shameless, and without scruples. Impelled by this love, she makes daily arrangements for a lover’s union between her most beloved Śrī Rādhā and Śrī Kṛṣṇa, thus enhancing Their pastimes. Being wise and crafty, she teaches her dearest girlfriend, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, the art of rasa as well as the art of māna. May that sakhī, Śrī Lalitā devī, accept me as one of her team and treat me as her pālya-dāsī.’ - Jaiva Dharma (Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Thākura) 39: Entering the Pastimes of the Lord
‘mahābhāva-cintāmaṇi’ rādhāra svarūpa
lalitādi sakhī—tāṅra kāya-vyūha-rūpa
TRANSLATION
“Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the topmost spiritual gem, and the other gopīs—Lalitā, Viśākhā and so on-are expansions of Her spiritual body - Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 8.165
The significance of the praises of Rūpa Goswāmī offered by Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya may be considerably more meaningful to the audience when we take into account the who’s who in the ontological hierarchy of the spiritual world. According to Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī: the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Rāmānanda Rāya was the gopī in Kṛṣṇa līlā named Viśākhā and Svarūpa Dāmodara was the gopī named Lalitā Sakhi. Both Lalitā and Viśākhā are eternally the very intimate associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Lalitā and Viśākhā are considered the personal expansions of the serving mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, thus they are the two chief assistants in the mādhurya love affairs between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. - Rupanuga Bhajana -- Chapter 12
Prayer:
gorocana-ruci-manohara-kanti-deham
mayura-puccha-tulita-cchavi-caru-celam
radhe! tava priya-sakhim ca guru sakhinam
tambula-bhakti-lalitam lalitam namami
Whose enchanting complexion is just like yellow gorocana pigment
Whose lovely dress is the aura of peacock tail-feathers
O Radhe! Who is Your dear girlfriend and the guru of all the gopis
Who is so graceful in her devoted service of betel nuts
I humbly bow at the lotus feet of that Srimati Lalita Devi.
-From Sri Radha Krsna Gannodesa Dipika by Srila Rupa Goswami