Sri Radha and the Path of Divine Love
Hare Krsna. I’m so happy to be here with you.
The topic of today’s discussion is Sri Radha who is our guru in the divine dance of developing pure love of God. We require guidance in dancing around our misconceptions, resistance, obstacles, desires, and other qualities that block our path. We want our hearts to melt and flow unobstructed toward the Divine Couple. This is most rare and is the ultimate attainment for a human being. Therefore we require a competent teacher who knows the methods and intricacies and who being tenderhearted and compassionate is willing to help us.
Sri Radha is the ultimate guru. There is no one more capable or competent in love of Krsna. If she will accept us and bless our dance, nothing stands in the way of achieving our lofty ideal of serving the Divine Couple eternally.
Before going on, let’s offer an invocation and our sincere pranams to Srimati Radharani calling on Her grace, auspicious energy, and transcendental loving potency. If you like, you can close your eyes and meditate on Her through these prayers. After the Sanskrit I’ll give the English translation.
srim radhayai svaha
srim radhayai svaha
srim radhayai svaha
I offer my very self unto Srimati Radharani, the Goddess of Bhakti, who is the embodiment of love, all beauty, fortune, auspiciousness, and grace, please Sri Radha, accept me.
tapta kancana gaurangi
radhe vrndanesvari
vrshabhanu sute devi
pranamami hari priye
O Radha, Queen of Vrndavana, daughter of Vrsabhanu Maharaja with a complexion like beautiful molten gold! I bow to You who are very, very dear to Krsna.
As we go forward, I’ll be pausing at different points to read a verse about Srimati Radharani. Kindly join me at these junctures to become very present to quietly reflect and meditate. I’ll clue you in by saying, “Let’s pause to meditate,” before I recite the verse.
Okay?
Also, I have gathered handouts for you with photos, songs, prayers, books, and miscellaneous items all related to Srimati Radharani that you can get my following this link:
https://stats.sender.net/forms/aQW8E0/view
Understanding Bhakti and the Role of Sri Radha
In bhakti, we come under the shelter of Srimati Radharani immediately. Our energy for bhakti is her energy. She is the full embodiment of hladini shakti, or bhakti. Sometimes she’s called Bhakti Devi, or Bhakti Shakti.
We learn from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu of Srimati Radharani’s matchless beauty, unexcelled pristine love for Sri Krsna, and her supreme position at the apex of Reality in the absolute plane of existence
Gaura is our bridge to that most elevated, coveted position of service to Radha and Krsna. His life demonstrates our way to approach and serve Srimati Radharani. So as we speak about Sri Radha today, let’s keep in mind that our way to Her lotus feet is through surrendering and following Sri Caitanya and Nitai, who are very, very merciful by giving the highest to the most fallen.
Before Sri Caitanya revealed Sri Radha to the world, she remained carefully hidden within the Vedas, Upanisads, and Puranas. But she is there. Let’s share my screen to show you a poster showing her presence in ancient texts – this poster is in the handouts so you can keep it.
Some say that Sri Radha is a new invention, but this betrays their lack of knowledge of sastra. It’s important to know that she is in the ancient texts, since it confirms her eternal existence.
The Hidden Nature of Radha in Vedic Wisdom
Not only is she carefully hidden in the Vedic texts, she’s so confidential that we don’t even find her name in the entire Srimad Bhagavatam! This is stunning since the whole treatise is about her. Some acaryas have giving an esoteric meaning of title “Srimad Bhagavatam.”
Of course, Bhagavatam refers to Bhagavan and especially Svayam Bhagavan Sri Krishna. Srimad is interesting. Sri, as we know means the Goddess of Fortune, and here Sri means Krishna’s beloved Goddess. And mad means “mad.” So Srimad Bhagavatam points us to the madness of Sri Radha in her love for Sri Krsna, which we find on clear display in the Tenth Canto.
Srila Prabhupada’s godbrother B. R. Sridhar Gosvami says that out of feelings of great reverence and with pure intention to protect Her high, high honor from certain neophyte devotees present in the open assembly where the Bhagavatam was spoken, Her name was not directly mentioned by Sukadeva Goswami. She therefore remained mysteriously hidden as the most confidential, ultimate objective of life.
These facts are meant to call our attention to Her confidential nature so that we approach her with humility and appreciation. We’re meant to place her lotus feet, very respectfully, upon our heads and remain bowed to her always.
The Most Confidential Truth in Bhakti Yoga
In the Gita, Krsna says knowledge of the self is guhya, or confidential. More confidential – guhyatara — is knowledge of bhakti, devotional service to Krsna. And most confidential – guhyatamam — is the secret mystery of full loving surrender to Krsna.
Now, the word guhya refers to a type of secret that should be carefully protected within your heart. And its superlative form, guhyatamam is the highest type of that kind of secret.
But astoundingly, there is a secret beyond all secrets.
Although in Sanskrit there is no word beyond the superlative, guhyatamam, in the realm of spiritual feeling, speech bends to love. There is something beyond the superlative — and our acaryas call this ati-guhya, or exceedingly confidential, or maha-rahasya, the greatest mystery.
That greatest mystery is Srimati Radharani who is the maha-rahasya of Krsna’s heart – the secret beyond all secrets. Knowing her we’re introduced to the full manifestation of the most selfless, competent sacred love of God. The more we understand Her unique position, the more we carefully bow with great reverence and adoration. We absolutely adore Her.
Approaching Radha Through Tattva and Sacred Understanding
Let’s pause to meditate on this from Bhavanasara Sangraha:
“Rādhārāṇī is a beautiful crescent moon of nectar born from the ocean of Vṛṣabhānu’s family. The line of red vermilion decorating the lovely part of Rādhā’s hair looks like a sweet river of nectar. I pray that my mind remains eternally fixed on Rādhikā, who becomes stunned with love for Kṛṣṇa whenever She hears about His transcendental form and qualities. Kiśorī binds Her beautiful braids with delicate, fragrant jasmine flowers. Rādhā’s large lotus eyes, restless with amorous desires, condemn the agile movements of khañjana birds.”
Now to ground our relationship with Srimati Radharani correctly, we must understand the tattva, or truth, about Radha.
I want to share a story about one well-known, respected sadhu. Everyone had excitedly come to hear him speak about Srimati Radharani. The first day of his lectures he explained at length about Sri Krsna’s unique position among all the manifestations of the supreme. He glorified all of Krsna’s excellences that no other expansion has. His venu-madhurya—the intoxicating sound of his flute; lila madhurya–his transcendental play; rupa madhurya—the unsurpassed beauty of His form; and prema madhurya—the sweet love He exchanges with his devotees.
The second day the sage spoke about how Krsna is beyond God. As God, Krsna is Isvara, Vishnu, and Narayana, the supreme masters and controllers of all universes and the spiritual plane of existence.
But Krsna is beyond God — without any responsibilities and he simply plays. His lila-shakti acts to facilitate Krsna’s play. In order to play fully Krsna needs to forget his godhood. He has his own abhimana, or self-identity. He knows that he is Yasoda’s son, the friends of Sridama and Subala, and the lover of Radha and the gopis. In great detail, this sadhu described Krsna’s beauty, which fascinates and enthralls the jiva so much that the atma willingly and fully gives their very self.
Why Understanding Krishna Reveals the Greatness of Radha
Now, the audience grew anxious, When was he going to speak about Srimati Radharani?!
Yet the sadhu continued for a few more days glorifying Krsna’s beauty, extraordinary qualities, unsurpassed position, lilas, the scope of his all-encompassing power and much more — enchanting the audience until they were weighty with an understanding of Krsna as the perfect person.
Then on the very last day of his talks, toward the end of his final lecture, he spoke about Sri Radha. If we can fully grasp Sri Krsna the root- source of everything, then we might gain a glimmer of understanding about Sri Radha. She is the extraordinary, divine personality who has completely captivated and captured Sri Krsna.
By first establishing the truth of Krsna, the sadhu prepared the audience to grasp and fully appreciate the significance of Srimati Radharani.
And it is Radha, who will usher us into Krsna’s service.
Let’s pause to meditate from Saṅgīta-mādhava 23-27:
“O mind! Please meditate on youthful Kiśorī who has stolen the passionate mind of Vṛndāvana-candra. Rādhā’s attractive face, flowing with oceans of sweet kṛṣṇa-prema, is illuminated by the moonlight of Her gentle smile, which resembles a kunda flower full of nectar. Rādhā is fully attentive to the grand festival of passionate love for Kṛṣṇa that is continually celebrated in each of Her gorgeous limbs.”
What exactly is the significance and nature of Radha?
Sri Radha in Gaudiya Vedanta and the Nature of Divine Love
To answer this, I want to briefly turn to Srila Jiva Gosvami and his six massive tomes, the Sat Sandarbhas to deepen our understanding about Srimati Radhika.
In our lineage, Sri Jiva is our tattva acarya. Tattva refers to metaphysical and ontological truths of our philosophy and theology. Acarya means teacher — in this context, it refers to a master-teacher. No point of Gaudiya Vaisnavism should diverge from Srila Jiva Gosvami’s systematized doctrine.
Like the sadhu we heard about, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī across his Sat Sandarbhas, gradually and deliberately unfolds Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s position, allowing her supremacy to emerge as our theological vision deepens. It takes time — and grounding in complex truths — to fully understand the most secret of the most secret.
Mid way through his masterpiece, after fully establishing Krsna as Svayam Bhagavan, Sri Jiva glorifies Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī as Krsna’s essential counterwhole without whom His fullest sweetness and supremacy are incomplete. In other words, Krsna is completed by Sri Radha.
Rādhā isn’t ancillary to Kṛṣṇa’s divinity but essential to its fullest expression. Krsna is not Krsna without Radha!
By her unlimited attributes, She is known as Krsna’s second self. The two are not different but to relish the nectar of mutual love they have become two.
The Power of Bhakti and the Supremacy of Radha’s Love
Sri Radha is the full power, and Lord Krsna is the possessor of full power. He is beautiful, She is beauty. He is worshipable, She is the supreme worshiper. He is supremely loveable, She is supreme love and the best lover.
Although Kṛṣṇa enchants the entire cosmos, He only becomes truly irresistible when united with Rādhā. For some devotees, Krsna is unattractive without Srimati Radharani.
She is the Svayam Laksmi, the original goddess of fortune, and fountainhead of all goddesses in the spiritual and mundane planes of existence. Parvati, Durga, Saci, and Sarasvati and rulers like Siva and Brahma desire her blessings.
As Svayam Laksmi she is not only the wealth of Sri Krsna, but our precious wealth as well. She is the treasured gem of Bhakti available to anyone who desires to please and serve her.
Our own bhakti, is a little of her bhakti in our hearts. And therefore we’re called to very carefully tender to this treasure that Srimati Radharani has gifted us.
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī presents Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī not merely as the greatest devotee, but as the very personification of bhakti in its most complete and perfected form. In all forms of spontaneous, self-forgetful love, Rādhā stands unrivaled.
Her devotion is characterized by absolute exclusivity, complete self-surrender, and the absence of any desire other than Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. In this way, we see that bhakti reaches perfection through Her.
Bhakti has the power to bind Krsna. In fact, Krsna says he places himself under the control of his devotees through love.
And Bhakti’s power to bind Krsna is fully manifest only in Sri Radha.
The Maha Mantra and Entering Divine Relationship
Srimati Yasoda Devi binds Krsna with a rope, but Srimati Radhika can bind Krsna by an ever-slight movement of her eyebrow.
Finally, in his final book, Prīti-sandarbha, Jīva Gosvāmī brings his progression of revealing Sri Radha to its climax by establishing Rādhā as the sole abode of the highest conceivable state of divine love, the supreme prema that even Kṛṣṇa seeks to taste.
Her love represents the highest intensity of divine love, and Kṛṣṇa becomes dependent upon Her affection, emotions, and satisfaction. It is Rādhā who reveals the ultimate proof of bhakti’s supremacy over all other spiritual processes.
She is the exclusive locus of the highest possible prema, or divine love. How do we define the highest possible prema?
Its pure love that has limitless expansion, it mutually bewilders the lover and the Beloved, and it’s ever-fresh in emotional novelty.
The Divine Couple, Sri Jiva says, are supremely enraptured by the fragrance of their shared ambrosial love.
Radha’s capacity to fully stimulate and sustain this supreme condition of love within Kṛṣṇa, makes Her not only the greatest lover of Kṛṣṇa but also the indispensable catalyst for His own highest bliss.
In this way Jiva Goswami reveals that the ultimate truth to be understood by his massive work culminates not merely in Bhagavān Krsna, but in understanding that the full face of the Absolute Truth is the Divine Dyad, Radha-Krsna.
Let’s pause to meditate on this from Govinda-līlāmṛta 11.111-112:
“Rādhikā’s voice is pure nectar for Kṛṣṇa’s ears. Every syllable Priyaji utters surpasses waves in an ocean of nectar. Her voice filled with jokes and riddles, flavored with various emotional rasas and displaying a host of literary ornaments, teaches the bees and cuckoos how to sing.
“From constantly meditating on Śyāma, unlimited black creepers have sprouted in Rādha’s mind. The creepers, sprinkled with the nectar of Rādhā’s love, grew longer and longer and finally appeared externally as Rādhā’s lovely dark tresses.”
Chanting, Seva, and the Living Practice of Bhakti
How can we possibly approach such a person as Sri Radha?!
Gauracandra and Nitya Chand are so merciful they have invited us to serve and participate in the unsurpassable, eternal love that Radha-Govinda share.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is Krsna himself, has made it very easy for us.
Let’s understand something about Krsna and Sri Caitanya in order to grasp what we’re being shown and why.
Union, Longing, and the Ultimate Purpose of Life
In Krsna lila, Krsna was astonished by the depth of Radha’s love. She experienced facets of love that were unknown to him. In fact, the essence of her being is a mystery to Krsna, and as the connoisseur of love, he wanted to experience the sacred secrets of her love.
He also felt completely indebted to her for her selfless complete love. But he was unable to clear that debt no matter how he reciprocated her love, for every time he increased his love for her, she increased her love for him. So He decided that he would descend to this world to bring attention to Her, glorify Her, and – what? — create devotees to serve Her.
That’s who we are. We are creations of Mahaprabhu meant to give our very selves to serve Sri Radha.
As one who is all-powerful and whose every desire is fulfilled, Krsna must be successful in his attempt. In other words, as Sri Caitanya he will understand Radha’s love and begin to repay his debt to her.
And because Krsna is a master at accomplishing many things at once, he chooses to come in the mood of his own best devotee and show what that practically looks like in this world.
Since Gaura is the emblem of a devotee, then his way is the way for all devotees of Krsna – and, of course, that means us!
Sri Caitanya and the Living Example of Bhakti
We should be careful to consider the significance of God himself demonstrating the best way to attain him. There is no better, more perfect way – no way with more guarantees of success.
It’s described that Mahaprabhu is the living personification of Radha’s love. Radha’s love only desires Krsna’s service and to make Him happy. Therefore, Sri Caitanya’s example will be the way that we can serve Krsna and make him happy. And if we please Krsna then Radha is pleased with us and will bless us more and more.
And what’s the practice that the person who is Radha’s love engages in to please the Divine Couple? What is his method to achieve all his lofty, transcendental goals?
He chants the all-powerful Hare Krsna maha-mantra. It’s a simple, free process that takes us to the highest attainment. Sri Radhika herself chants this mantra.
And the maha-mantra is the sonic form of Radha and Krishna.
Let’s allow this to settle in more. Radha and Krsna are the mantra.
Now, Radha and Krsna aren’t ordinary people. They are Reality itself.
The Maha Mantra and the Totality of Reality
Krsna is the root of all existence and possessor of all energies. Radha is His energy and the energetic source of all other energies. Everything comes from the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. Everything rests in Their palms.
The vast creation of multi universes, the entire spiritual world, all variegatedness of things, thoughts, and emotions are Their playground. And the mantra contains their love dalliances, their eternal associates, the spiritual world. Again — everything.
By this we can understand that the maha-mantra contains Krsna, the Source of all existence, Radha, the energies of all existence, and the bond of love between Them.
That covers everything. Nothing is left out. When we chant the maha-mantra, which are the names of Sri Krsna and Sri Radha, we are connecting with the totality of Reality.
This means that the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is an unobstructed power, and unstoppable force of their mutual love that takes us to Radha’s love, prema, shows us how to follow her, and She takes us to Him. Together they accept us.
Seva, Surrender, and Being Used by Divine Love
We hear that Radha has no desire other than to service and please her Beloved Krsna. This is her greatest need, the reason for Her existence, and because she is the most expert in love, she uses everything to serve Krsna.
She wants to use everything at her disposal to serve Krsna. If we make ourselves available to Her, she will use us. To be perfectly clear – and please contemplate this — she wants to use us to serve her Krsna. This nourishes her love for Krsna and simultaneously for us as well.
For this reason, Radha is known as the person that gives pleasure to Krsna and the devotees.
Let’s pause to meditate, this is from Rādhā-rasa-sudhānidhi, Please prepare yourself to try to more fully enter into this picture:
“Kṛṣṇa drops His flute and faints when He is struck by Rādhā’s sidelong glances. The peacock feather falls from His turban and His yellow garments slip off. When will I sweetly serve such a Rādhikā?”
When will I sweetly serve such a Radhika?
Chanting as Direct Service to Radha and Krishna
You can serve her right now. Chanting of the maha-mantra is service. It is direct seva to Sri Radha and Krsna. Don’t mistake the maha-mantra for simply meditation and clearing the citta, thinking that “real” service begins when you end your morning meditation. No. Chanting the maha-mantra is the best service to the Divine Couple.
It took me many years to appreciate this because I was focused on accomplishing and doing. This is a misperception that can make us indifferent to the holy names.
Let’s consider a few other things.
In the eternal lila, Radha and Krsna are oftentimes separated by force of circumstances since their love is confidential and secret.
Isn’t this interesting? Krsna’s love affair with Radha is not broadly known even in the spiritual world. It’s not information to be shared with just anyone. It’s his private, intimate life. Is this a reason why Srimati Radharani is so hidden and kept confidential?
Anyway, when the Divine Couple are separated from each other, They experience the most intense anguish. Jiva Goswami has written, Krsna is Radha’s very life, and Radha is Krsna’s very life. Radha is the treasure of Krsna, and Krsna is the treasure of Radha.
There are times that Their need to be with each other is so pressing that they appear to be on the verge of dying.
This is a most urgent situation that regularly occurs! So their associates become entirely, perfectly focused on overcoming all obstacles to unite Them. The high, high seva in the spiritual world is uniting Radha and Krsna. Krsna’s boyfriends help him in His need and Radha’s girlfriends help her in her need.
If we want to serve and please Radha or Krsna our focus will be to unite Them.
How in the world could we participate in this seva right now? Astoundingly, we can do that before we go to the spiritual plane of existence. By chanting the maha-mantra we’re acting to unite them and serve their ambrosial, mutual love.
Srimati Radhika revels in hearing the name of Her Beloved. And Krsna becomes stunned on hearing the sacred name of his darling Radha.
When we look at the mantra written we find that Radha and Krsna are engaged in the divine dance of love. Therefore, as we chant their holy names, our chanting is a seva in uniting Them and by this They invite us to the dance of divine love.
When we consider these truths we will come to chant with enthusiasm and a pressing need to be of service in this highest manner.
We might humbly submit to Radha asking her to grant us the privilege of chanting Krsna’s name purely to please her, and beg Krsna to grant us the ability to chant Radha’s name purely to please him.
The maha-mantra is all-power and quickly takes us to pure love of God when we fully surrender to and reciprocate with Radha and Krsna’s love for us and completely embrace their protection and shelter.
Of course, we must navigate past resistance and obstacles but all the internal shifts required to qualify us to enter their direct personal association are gradually affected in our person by our sincere, daily call to Them — our sincere association with Them by chanting their most sacred names.
So we commit ourselves to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra daily, and gradually as our heart melts, a genuine, spontaneous, sustained longing captures us. When our longing reaches a fever’s pitch Their longing to be with us brings Them before us.
By his life example, Caitanya Mahaprabhu laid bare all these transcendental facts and showed that if we chant the maha-mantra purely we’re awarded prema and brought into the presence Sri Radha and Krsna where we can directly serve Them.
As Mahaprabhu revealed the treasure of Sri Radha to us with the hope that we become servants of beloved Radha, we continue to turn to Him in surrender and supplication because he is Audarya, most merciful. He will help us to get know Srimati Radhika in truth and take us into her seva. All of this will be conferred on us simply by chanting the maha-mantra with a completely purified heart.
Let’s meditate. This from Sanatana Goswami in his Brhad-Bhagavatamrta 2.1.21,
“The devotees of Sri Radha, who is the dearmost beloved of Lord Madana-gopala, are not impersonalists void of desires. They are fully confident that if Sri Radhika accepts them as Her servants, everything they desire will be achieved, and more. The privilege of serving Sri Radha is the rarest goal of life, and it is fitting that this privilege be attainable only by executing the most excellent of sadhanas. That is to say, one can please Her Divine Grace only by the sacrifice of purely chanting the names of Sri Rasa-rasika, the hero of the rasa dance. In sweet voices the servants of Sri Radha always melodiously and loudly chant Krsna’s names. Such devotees are worthy to engage in such elevated service because their hearts are filled with the supreme variety of spontaneous ecstatic love for Krsna.”
We sincerely bow in the deepest gratitude to Mahaprabhu who revealed the incomparable glory and unique position of Sri Radhika, the abode of Krsna prema, and gave us entry into divine service through the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
To echo this feeling more poignantly, let me read a verse by one of Lord Caitanya’s associates, Vasu Ghosa. This beautiful bhajan was put to music by Bada Haridasa and can be found on his website under his album, Gaura Saranam.
Vasu Gosha says,
What great insurmountable, unsurpassable loss would we have faced in our life, if Sri Gauranga had not appeared before us on this earth?
How could we bear our unfulfilled, empty life without Him?
Who in this world would have described the super excellent transcendental glory of Sri Radhika, Who is the last limit of divine love and devotion for the supreme Lord Krsna?
Without His grace who would be able to know the excellent devotional path that gives entrance into the transcendental realm of the ambrosial ecstasy of Vrndavana? Who would be able to attain the mood and taste of the topmost devotional ecstasy of the young damsels of Vraja?
(https://www.badaharidas.com/product/gaura-sharanam//)
In closing, let’s enter a final very beautiful meditation about and sincere petition to Srimati Radharani. If you like, you can close your eyes hold this prayer in your heart and allow it to make a lasting impression there. This is written by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Stava-mala:
“O Sri Radha, I offer obeisance to you. You have a complexion of pure golden hue, possess a pair of doe-like restless eyes, have a face that conquers the beauty of millions of full moons, and dress in dark cloud-like garments. Your hair is decorated by the gopis using mallika (jasmine) flowers, and your body is decorated with divine gems and ornaments. You are the guru of all the expert gopis, the receiver of the admiration of your followers, extremely dear to your confidantes, and surrounded by your eight primary sakhis (female friends). By a mere movement of the corners of your eyes, you make Lord Kesava restless, and the nectar of your delightful lips is the only source of life for the son of Nanda Maharaja.
