Radha, deity
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Radha, Krishna’s beloved, is known by many names. Out of their informal and intimate affection, Krishna bhaktas often address Radhika as ‘Barsanevaali’, ‘one who hails from Barsana’. She is also ‘Vrandavaneshwari’, the controller of Vrindavan’.
In Anant Samhita, there is an interesting account of a place which was personally created by Radhika. Shiva narrates this Divine lila to his eternal consort Parvati, and tells her all about the appearance of this place. Once, when Krishna was enjoying his time with Viraja-gopi in beautiful Vrindavana, the moon-faced, doe-eyed Radhika rushed to the place where Krishna was.
Seeing Radhika coming, Krishna at once disappeared and Viraja transformed herself into a river. Although she heard that Krishna was with Viraja, when Radha went there she did not see Krishna with Viraja. Radhika then entered the area between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers with her friends. There, Krishna’s beautiful lover created a transcendental abode filled with vines, trees, and bumblebees, deers and does, flowers and tulsi groves – a heavenly abode where the Ganga and Yamuna became like a moat, where, at her command, the waters and shores shone with great splendour, where springtime and Kamadeva eternally shine and where birds eternally sing the auspicious sounds “O Krishna!”
There, the beautifully adorned Radhika began to play sweet music on a flute and charmed the heart of Govinda. An enchanted Krishna appeared there and said to her, “O beloved, could anyone be as dear to me as you are? I will never leave you, not even for a single moment. I will manifest a new form here and enjoy new pastimes with you. My devotees will eternally proclaim that this place is a new Vrindavana, the Navadvipa. By my order all holy places reside here. O girl with the beautiful face, I will eternally stay with you here in this transcendental place that you have created to please me.”
Radha’s beloved Krishna became one with Radha. In that form he stays in that place eternally. It was a merger of the dark-complexioned Krishna and light-skinned Radha. Their friend Lalita left her form of a beautiful girl and, to serve them, accepted a male form full of love for Lord Gaura. When Visakha and other gopis saw Lalita transformed in this way, they at once accepted male forms. Then there was a great sound of “Jaya Gaura-Hari!” Devotees were calling Radha’s lover Gaura-Hari. Radhika is fair (gaura) and Krishna is dark (hari). The merger rendered them Gaura-Hari. In Navadvipa, Krishna takes into his heart Radha, who is as graceful as a regal elephant, and he is happy to please her there.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in 1486, appeared in Navadvipa and inaugurated the Sankirtana Movement to inundate the world with the auspicious sound vibrations of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. At Mayapur, Navadvipa is also the world headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. When the founder-acharya of ISKCON, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was in Mayapur, Navadvipa, he is said to have exclaimed, “O, Mayapur! Living and dying is same in Mayapur!”
Today, September 17, is celebrated as Radha Ashtami, the day of the auspicious appearance of Srimati Radhika. This is an apt occasion to meditate on Navadvipa, where she eternally resides, with Krishna always in her heart and mind. Every year, millions of pilgrims throng Navadvipa to experience the bliss that transformed their beloved Barsanevaali.
What Radha represents
Hladini Shakti, the female manifestation of the Supreme
In the realm of the Absolute Truth there is the energetic and there is energy, just like the sun and sunshine. Taking the analogy further, there is the concept of male and female, sometimes termed as predominater and predominated. Truth is One, but for the purpose of transcendental pleasure, the One expands to unlimited parts and parcels as jivatma while continuing to maintain its original identity without any change or diminution.
Absolute Truth, recognised as a person in the Vaishnava tradition, also manifests its pleasure potency as Devi, the female form. Shaktas worship this female form and bhaktas invoke either the male form alone, or both male and female forms, simultaneously.
This Hladini Shakti, pleasure potency, the female manifestation of the Supreme, is a transcendental being whose only desire is to serve Ishvara with pure and unalloyed devotion. Hence the name Radha, which comprises the two syllables ‘ra’ signifying ‘rasa’, pleasure and ‘dha’ which means running to one’s beloved to offer service.
Once, when Maharaja Vrishabhanu was standing in the river Yamuna and meditating, a thousand-petalled lotus touched his body. Opening his eyes, he was completely enchanted by a beautiful female child who was lying in that lotus.
Vrishabhanu returned to his palace in great ecstasy with this extraordinary child to his wife Kirtida Sundari. But their joy turned to grief when they noticed that the baby girl would not open her eyes – she seemed to be blind, deaf and mute.
Once, Nanda and Yashoda came to visit Vrishabhanu and Kirtida. They had brought their toddler Krishna with them, too. When the couples were engaged in conversation, Krishna entered the room where Radha was lying asleep in her cradle. He leaned over and gently touched her eyes and she immediately opened them and began to cry with joy upon seeing her eternal Lord and companion right in front of her.
Over the ages, a lot of aspersions have been cast upon the character of Radha, but this touching incident will put to rest all of those misconceptions.
Once, Krishna became delirious with a burning fever. Mother Yashoda tried every single home remedy while Nanda desperately searched high and low for a good doctor. Mysteriously, a vaidyaraja appeared. He carefully examined Nandalal and immediately began to make a special medicine that required anupana, a specific liquid that would dissolve the ayurvedic powder.
The anupana required was Yamuna jal water; but it had to be collected by a perfectly chaste woman in an earthen pot that had a thousand holes and brought back to Nanda’s palace without spilling a single drop.
Vrindavan’s chaste women were summoned to help out but none of them could prevent the water from leaking out of the pot. Finally, Radha was brought to the palace of Nanda as per the instructions of vaidyaraja. In great humility she took the blessings of her elders and hastened to the Yamuna. Then, climbing a very narrow bridge made of human hair, she bent down to fill the one thousand-holed pot with the water of the Yamuna. To everyone’s amazement, she was able to perform this extraordinary feat.
The medicine was made with Radha’s three palmfuls of anupana and Krishna was miraculously cured. Since that day, Radha has been revered as the most chaste woman in the universe. The author is a member of Iskcon. Today is Radhashtami.
Spiritual love, a personification of
Radhanath Swami, Sep 14, 2021: The Times of India
Radhashtami marks the birth anniversary of Krishn’s consort Radharani. It is the day to meditate on one of the deepest mysteries of Vedic scriptures – how can one enter into a spontaneous, loving relationship with God, considering oneself an intimate servant or a friend on an equal footing, or loving the Absolute Truth as one’s own child or lover.
The Absolute Truth is one, but that one truth – Krishn – is eternally manifested in both male and female aspects, personalities, for the purpose of exchanging love. And just as Krishn is the source of all incarnations, his Hladini Shakti, his eternal pleasure potency, Radharani, is the source of all consorts and all goddesses of fortune.
Srila Prabhupada explains that Radharani is the transformation of Krishn’s supreme love. She is the personification of all spiritual love. And that love is so powerful that it overpowers the all-powerful Krishn. Releasing of the dormant love within our heart is possible only by the grace of Krishn’s hladini shakti. Most people upon seeing the paintings of Raas Lila and Radharani dancing with Krishn, feel it is part of our tradition. It is more than that, it is a deep subject. In order to understand Radha’s love, we must understand the nature of love.
Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami defines spiritual love and the love of gopis. A relationship based on the misconception that ‘i am this body and mind’, or one that is based on the concern for one’s enjoyment alone is called kama. A relationship that is based on the knowledge of our liberated condition, that we are eternal souls, beyond the ego, intelligence, mind, senses and the body; a relationship based on selfless, unconditional service, completely for the purpose of giving pleasure to the object of love, that is prem, love. That is the nature of the soul in its relationship with Krishn.
The purity and intimacy of gopis’ love is unparalleled even in the spiritual world. This is because they do not have even a tinge of personal desire. Their hearts, bodies, minds – everything is absolutely and constantly dedicated to giving happiness to Krishn. Gopis have no false egos. And when you have absolutely no concern for your own happiness, Krishn forces you to be happy. He reciprocates and gives gopis unlimited happiness.
And of all the gopis, the supreme most, as revealed in the Srimad Bhagavatam, is Radharani. All the gopis are an expansion of Radha. All the love of God in every living entity’s heart is part and parcel of her love. She is the complete, unlimited reservoir of all love, and Krishn is the complete object of all love.
The pastimes of Radha and Krishn are the purest, highest and most intimate revelation of the Absolute Truth. Radha is the supreme energy of Krishn and accompanies him in all his incarnations.
