Utkalika-vallari

[The Vine of Longings]

by Srila Rupa Goswami

1. Overcome with yearnings, and crying in the middle of Vrindavan forest, I shall now reveal the
deep mark burning tears have made in my heart.

2. O Vrindavan forest, who among your devoted servants has not already attained the path of
supreme transcendental bliss? I humbly beg you: please reveal in my heart the best way to attain my
king and queen. Please be kind to me.

3. O Queen Vrinda, both sruti and smrti proclaim that Lord Murari eternally enjoys pastimes with His
beloved in Your forest. Knowing this, I bow down before your feet. Please be merciful to me. Please
make the tree of my desires bear fruit.

4. O virtuous Queen Vrinda, this person begs your permission to present his appeal before your king
and queen, whose feet he has long yearned in his heart to attain. Please cast your merciful glance on
me. Please be kind.

5. O king whose transcendental form is more splendid than the blossoming blue lotus flower, O
queen whose splendid beauty has stolen the glory of gold ....

6. O king dressed in silk garments as splendid as lightning, O queen dressed in beautiful garments as
splendid as musk ....

7. O king whose splendid sweetness surpasses Lord Narayana, O queen who fills both the goddess of
fortune and the sweet, beautiful girls of Vraja with wonder ....
8. O king who is an expanding mountain of the jewels of eternal virtues unattainable by outsiders, O
queen who possesses a treasure of transcendental virtues that stun with wonder the hearts of all
virtuous girls ....

9. O king who is the regal sapphire crown of the peerless youths of Vraja, O queen who is the
jasmine crown of the splendid girls of Gokula in this world ....

10. O king whose heart is an ocean where the makara fish of Sri Radha swims, O queen whose heart
is a moon that contains the deer of Lord Krsna, O king whose mind is maddened by the fragrance of
Your beloved, O queen whose senses are captured by the fragrance of your beloved ....

11. O king whose flute is very eager to sing the glories of Sri Radha, the deity of pure love, O queen
whose tongue tastes the sweetness of chanting the glories of Lord Mukunda, the joy of the world ....

12. O king the sweetness of whose lotus eyes traps the swan of the heart of She who is the crown of
Vraja’s girls, O queen the net of whose sidelong glance expertly catches the regal fish of the prince of
Vraja’s heart ....

13. O king whose flute music is a cup for drinking the ocean of the eternal patience of the daughter
of the gopa king’s friend, O queen whose very graceful songs enchant the deer of the heart of He
who enchants the entire world ....

14. O king who, when You hear the name “Radhika,” forgets all playful arts, O queen who, when You
hear the two syllables “Krs-na” becomes stunned and motionless ....

15. O son of the king of the gopas, O daughter of the best man in Gokula, bowing down and placing
folded hands above his head, this unfortunate person begs You for a certain gift.

16. O king and queen, the lakes of whose hearts are filled by the swiftly flowing nectar mountain
streams of Your great mercy, please be kind to this wicked person. Please show him the lustre of the
transcendental happiness that is the guarantee of being able to see You in the future.

17. O king dark with a splendid complexion, O queen dark with youthful beauty, O king golden with
transcendental fame, O queen golden with a splendidly beautiful complexion, O king and queen who
are the handsome crowns of everyone, please eternally display Your sweetness in my heart.
18. O son and daughter of the best of the gopas, I bow down before You and beg: Please give me
service to You! Please give me service to You!

19. O prince of the gopas, I fall down before You and beg in a choked voice: Please make me an
object of mercy for She who is the jasmine crown of the girls of Vraja!

20. O Queen of Kartikka, I fall down before You and beg with sweet words: May Lord Krsna, the killer
of Baka, be as merciful to me as You.

21. O affectionate people who enjoy transcendental pastimes in this place and that with the son and
daughter of the best of the gopas, please hear my choked words and be merciful to me.

22. O queen Lalita, the hero and heroine who enjoy transcendental pastimes in the cottage, forest
and hill, are always obedient to you. Therefore nothing is difficult for you. Therefore please be kind
and accept me.

23. O Visakha, you are the best of the lovers of the fair and dark Divine Couple. Please enable me to
attain the merciful sidelong glance of your two dear friends.

24. O Subala, you are the intimate friend of the son and daughter of the best of the gopas of
Vrindavana. Please be merciful and introduce this unhappy person to your two friends.

25. Please listen with compassion. O great lovers of the Lords of Life. A poor living entity appeals to
you. How can this lowly-hearted person become even a sesame seed in comparison to you? This
person asks: will he be able to attain the loving service of the Divine Couple?

26. Where is this fool? Where is that state even the great devotees cannot attain? Still, a new and
intense thirst for it now makes me tremble.

27. O all-powerful Lord, when will Your sweet and glorious flute music, which possesses the greatest
opulence of the kingdom of all beautiful sounds, and which is accompanied by Srimati Radharani's
anklet tinkling, which eclipses the warbling of Brahma’s swan, be joyfully worshipped by my two
slow ears?

28. O queen of Vrindavana, when will the sound of Your lute, which silences the flute of the peacock-
feather crowned Lord, become the guest of my ears?
29. O great king and queen, when will Your graceful music, flooded with waves of sweetness, purify
my ears. When will that day come?

30. O charming king and queen whose fair and dark forms are splendidly decorated with musk and
kunkuma, when will Your sweet fragrance, bearing only a fraction of Your transcendental glories,
bring a festival of happiness to the black bee of my nose?

31. Placing his forefinger to his mouth, this person repeatedly cries out in the forest: “O king and
queen, please be merciful for a moment! Please be merciful! May Your forms, as splendid as a
monsoon cloud and lightning, appear before my eyes.”

32. O crowning garlands of the charming people of Vraja, this person begs something of You: may
the moonlight of Your toenails, even for only a moment, fill my eyes with wonder.

33. May the splendour of You both, whose fair and golden forms, charmingly decorated with golden
jasmine petals, joyfully embrace in the courtyard of the forest cottage, suddenly fill my eyes with
wonder.

34. The most exalted devotee cannot attain in his heart even a small portion of Your glory. Yearning
that You appear on the pathway of his eyes, this person has now swallowed his fear and shame.

35. O king and queen of Vrindavana, how sinful I am! Still, who will not become maddened by the
sweetness of Your transcendental qualities?

36. O king and queen, when will Your playful and crooked lovers’ quarrels, when Your friends
plaintively grasp Your heels, fill my ears with wonder?

37. When, O killer of Agha, Your flute stolen by Her, and Yourself, as You eagerly search and ask
everywhere for it, cheated by the smiling gopis, will You delight my eyes?

38. When, O queen, as You bite Your flower petal lips, raise Your eyebrows, and crookedly smile
from the corner of Your eyes while Krsna chats with Your friend Lalita, will the beauty of Your face
delight me?
39. Will this lowly person ever be able to desire the treasure desired by great souls? O king and
queen who remove all sufferings, great and small, all glories to the splendour of Your kindness!

40. O Lord Damodara, when, Your glittering, love-filled eyes restless with apprehension in the
destined separation from the daughter of the gopa king’s friend, and Yourself seen by the sari birds
expert at understanding hints, will You delight my eyes?

41. When, in the beginning of the rasa dance seeing You leave the lotus-eyed girls of Vraja, be led by
Your independent lover Kesava to a secluded place in Vrindavan forest, and be worshipped by Him,
will I at once abandon all my pride?

42. When, handsome with curling locks of hair, its eyes closing with fatigue, decorated with the
reddish colour of Queen Radha's yavaka cosmetic, and stared at with crooked eyes by Candravali’s
pale friends, will the splendour of Your face at dawn, O king of Vraja, make me happy and proud?

43. O queen, when will I see Your face at once crying and smiling, the vine of its eyebrows crookedly
raised in scorn, and its eyes reddish, as Lord Hari, having won Your lips’ nectar in the water-splashing
contest, grasps Your neck, eager to drink?

44. O prince of Vraja, when, Your flower garland stealthily stolen by Srimati Radharani, and the
gopis, will I see You retaliate by coming before them, and with a secret smile, suddenly rip open the
bodice covering the breasts of Bhanumati?

45. O prince of Vraja, when, surrounded by Srimati Radharani's friends in the spring festival, will I see
You, on the signal of my queen’s smiling, glistening, and restless sidelong glance, suddenly kiss the
mouth of Guna Manjari?

46. When, the two of You fatigued by enjoying many pastimes in the forest by the Yamuna’s shore
and now resting in the charming cottage of madhavi vines, will this person untie Your hair and
massage Your lotus feet?

47. O king and queen of the forest, when, Your amorous battle finished, will I make You a bed of soft
and splendid flowers and a pillow of many flower buds in the forest filled with bees?

48. When, in the company of Your dear friends, with the bee-black water of the Yamuna brought in a
golden vessel, will I wash Your lotus feet as You rest on the pastime bed?
49. When, the two of You repeatedly laughing and smiling as, eager for victory in the gambling
match, You recline on the pastime bed in the forest, O king and queen, will I very gently massage
Your lotus feet?

50. When, O king and queen of Vrindavana, the two of You with joyful hearts eager to begin the wild
battle of amorous pastimes, and yearning to enjoy pastimes of drinking, will I bring You a goblet
filled with sweet madhvika nectar?

51. When, O youthful couple of Vraja, Your eyes slightly open, and Your flower-petal bodies
sprinkled with perspiration as You recline, conversing, on the pastime bed of flowers, will I serve
You, making a breeze with the fan of vines?

52. When, O crusher of demons, on the order of my queen will I undo Your hair, remove its falling
peacock feather and flowers, and tie it again with a lotus?

53. When, O lotus faced girl, will I decorate Your hair, like a peacock’s tail fallen in Your pastimes to
Your shoulders, with a garland of jasmine blossoms?

54. O king of Vraja, when will I, sent by the sidelong glance of She who defeated You in the fiercely
contested dice game and who is the jewel in the decorated, braided hair of the girls of Vraja, bind
and take the deer wagered in the dice game, as your friends look helplessly on?

55. Will the auspicious day arrive, when, O queen, with Your sidelong glance You will make me laugh
at the proud Madhava defeated in the dice game?

56. O Lord, will the day come when, repeatedly worshipping me, You will beg from me a way to
break the jealous anger of the daughter of the King of Vraja’s friend?

57. O Damodara, when will You order this person: “Carry to Sridama’s sister this flower letter, which
says, ‘on Your order, as I heard it spoken by the sari bird, I am waiting here at Your pond. O friend,
why are You late?’”

58. “I have the wealth of My own good honour! I shall never see that rake again! Subala’s friend has
come here disguised as a woman! Surround Him at once!” Hearing Your words, and in my heart
understanding Your intentions, will we cleverly trap the best of the gopas?
59. “O killer of Aghasura, Your favourite young bull is now violently attacked by a demon in the form
of a bull in Vraja!” O Mukunda, when, speaking this lie, will I lead You from Candravali’s place to My
queen in the forest?

60. When, O queen, removing you jewel belts and anklets and covering You splendid transcendental
body with a cloak the colour of a swarm of black bees, will I lead You to a new meeting with Krsna in
the dense darkness now swallowing the world?

61. When, O queen, will this dwarf, understanding your intentions, take the betelnuts the Lord
happily placed in Your mouth and You affectionately spat on a leaf, and, bodily hairs erect with joy,
taste them in a secret place?

62. When, O lovers who, because You rarely see each other, always long to meet, will I make You
smile by pretending to complain, “Mukunda! Why do You agitate Me with this dancing from the
corner of Your eyes? Stop it!” ?

63. O king and queen, when will I have the opportunity in the great forest to lovingly decorate You
by drawing on Your foreheads elaborate pictures in fragrant colours?

64. The splendour of pure love, which makes the good fortune of Your direct service easy to obtain,
is not mine, even in dream. Still, O king and queen, simply living in Your Vraja gives Me great hope.

65. In public places I glorify Your mercy, which is granted to even the lowest creatures, and which
enables me, even though I am lowborn, to live in this forest of Vraja, the place where Your great
devotees, filled with pure love, aspire to take birth, even as blades of grass.

66. O handsome, fragrant tamala desire tree blooming in Vrindavan forest and embraced by the
madhavi vine of the goddess ruling this forest, O tree, the shade of whose glory protects the world
from a host of burning sufferings, what wonderful fruits do people find at Your feet?

67. O Vrindavan desire vine, it is not at all surprising that the entire world is delighted by the flowing
stream of the honey of Your pastimes, shining with the nectar showered by the black cloud of Krsna,
by your all-pervading fragrance, and by Your great sweetness, and it is also not surprising that the
vines on the ground, who have attained the dust of your feet, are now standing erect in ecstasy.

68. O prince and princess of the gopas, again and again I pray for this benediction: Birth after birth
may I love Your lotus feet.
69. O king and queen who eternally enjoy transcendental pastimes, this vine of longing (utkalika-
vallari) has sprouted up before you in Vrindavan forest. I tremble as I recite it. O king and queen,
please hear this prayer and please fulfil my desires.

70. This vine of longings (utkalika-vallari) was written by me, a resident of Gokula, in the month of
Pausa (December-January) in the Saka year Candrasva-bhuvana (1471 Saka or 1549 AD).


Rupa Gosvami

According to the Vaisnava researchers, this [Utkalika Vallari] is the last work of Sripada Rupa
Gosvami, in which he sings his swansong. Just as the swan sings his most beautiful and pitiful song
just before his death, so this Utkalika Vallari is Srila Rupa Gosvami’s final song of pity. His heart
carries a turbulent eagerness that can only be cooled off when he receives the darsana of his most
beloved deities Sri-Sri Yugala Kisora. On the one hand there is eager longing and on the other hand
there is great humility that makes him very unsteady when it arises, because it makes him perceive
his own lack of qualification. This causes him to weep incessantly. Weeping is the goal of life –
relishing the sweetness of the beloved deity is the greatest means of attaining it.

If a person has no thirst he will not even relish the taste of an ocean of nectar, even if it is situated
right in front of him! In the same way, the sweetness of Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava, who are an ocean of
transcendental sweetness, can not be relished by someone whose love is bereft of eagerness and
anxiety. In the same way it is understood that the Sri Yugala Kisora, whose hearts are as soft as
butter, are Themselves tolerating the anguish of separation from the devotee and make the devotee
suffer the anguish of his separation from Them.