“In the ascending order, mahâbhâv is of two types –

1. rudha (heightened)
2. adhirudha (very much heightened)” – (U.N.)

Rudha mahâbhâv – It is the first stage of mahâbhâv.

“When a lover in mahâbhâv, expresses tears, goose flesh and other symptoms of ecstasy, we call this stage as ‘rudha mahâbhâv’. The lover should express five, six or all the symptoms simultaneously and to the maximum extent”. – (U.N.)

The gopikâs are mahâbhâv-vati¹. When they feel rudha-bhâv, they express the following characteristics –

1. They cannot tolerate the eye-lids (can also mean – a time span as short as the blinking of an eye) and
2. Even the nearby people experience agitation in the heart;
3. They consider a kalpa as a moment

    4. Are sad because they apprehend sorrow even when Sri Krishna is in great joy;

    5.Although the gopis are not in illusion or ignorance, they forget everything including themselves,

    6.They consider a moment as long as a kalpa.

Now Let us understand each point in detail.

When the mahâbhâv-vati gopis feel rudha-bhâv, they cannot stand the eye-lids during Sri Krishna-darshan! The gop-sundaris curse the creator for making eye-lids. They feel -“Ohh! It would have been so much better if he had not created eye-lids, for them we could have seen our Beloved uninterruptedly, to our heart’s content.” Of course, the gopis are not created by Brahmâji, yet they consider themselves as cowherd women made by Lord Brahmâ. This enables them to relish Sri Krishna’s sweetness more nicely. When they curse Brahmâji in the mood of an ordinary milk-maid, we can comprehend how much they yearn for Sri Krishna’s darshan.

When the lover expresses rudha-bhâv, even the people present nearby experience an agitation in the heart due to the immense impact of rudha-bhâv. When the gopis took darshan of Sri Krishna during the solar- eclipse in Kurukshetra, everybody present there had experienced an agitation in their hearts. This was the effect of the rudha-bhâv of the gopis. This is just like the surging waves of the sea that make all nearby objects oscillate.

When the gopis unite with Sri Krishna they experience supreme bliss and even a kalpa passes so quickly that they feel they had seen Him only for a moment. Although the gopis had danced with Sri Krishna for one Brahma-râtri (during the râs-leelâ), they had felt as if it was shorter than the blink of an eye. This is due to their rudha-bhâv that arouses in them an extremely intense longing to sport with Shyâmsundar. They are so much absorbed in His divine loving pastimes that they find now kalpa equal to one nimesh².

When Sri Krishna is greatly happy, they are sad because they expect something bad to happen.

“When we see our dear one in trouble, we fear for him.” – (Ancient Indian Proverb)

No one fears when one sees our dear one rejoicing. However the Vraja-beauties who are in rudha-bhâv grieve when they see Sri Krishna in a very happy mood, since they apprehend sorrow. When Sri Krishna places His foot on the bosom of the gopis, He is immensely happy, yet the gopis are sad, because they think that their breasts are hard while His feet are so soft, and they fear that He may be hurt. Fearfully they place His foot very slowly on their boom. The last verse of Gopi-Geet proves this point.

Material people may forget their belongings when they are in illusion, however although the gopis are free of such negative factors, they forget everything including themselves. This is a remarkable characteristic of rudha-bhâv. It happens because the gopis are entirely lost in Sri Krishna’s beauty and excellences.

The gopis suffer the pangs of viraha so much that even one moment of separation from Sri Krishna seems like one kalpa to them. It is the characteristic of rudha-bhâv that the lover feels one kalpa equal to one moment when she unites with Sri Krishna and one moment as one kalpa when she is separated from Him.

¹ One who is full of mahâbhâv.

² The time taken to blink an eye