NOI – Nectar of Instruction—Part 13

Giriraj Swami: The Nectar of Instruction:

TEXT 9

vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād

vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ

rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt

kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ

TRANSLATION

The holy place known as Mathurā is spiritually superior to Vaikuṇṭha, the transcendental world, because the Lord appeared there. Superior to Mathurā-purī is the transcendental forest of Vṛndāvana because of Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā pastimes. And superior to the forest of Vṛndāvana is Govardhana Hill, for it was raised by the divine hand of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and was the site of His various loving pastimes. And, above all, the superexcellent Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa stands supreme, for it is overflooded with the ambrosial nectarean prema of the Lord of Gokula, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Where, then, is that intelligent Person who is unwilling to serve this divine Rādhā-kuṇḍa, which is situated at the foot of Govardhana Hill?

COMMENT

In Lord Chaitanya’s instructions to Sri Rupa Gosvami, Lord Chaitanya states that Goloka Vrindavan is the topmost planet in the spiritual sky. What is the meaning of topmost planet or highest planet? Everything in the spiritual world is absolute. Everything is composed of the Lord’s spiritual energy. So what is the meaning of higher or lower?

In the purport. . . You want to answer? You can answer.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, very good. Very good. And from what does Krishna derive pleasure?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Krishna’s pleasure comes from reciprocating in loving exchanges with devotees, and the actual experience or the actual mellow is called rasa. So in Vaikuntha, rasa can be either śānta-rasa or dāsya-rasa or lower part of sākhya-rasa, which is called gaurava-sākhya-rasa—sākhya-rasa with reverence. But in the planet of Krishna, there is also viśrambha-sākhya-rasa—sākhya-rasa with equality, and vātsalya-rasa, and ultimately mādhurya-rasa.

So a place is considered higher or lower in terms of rasa. So here vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-puri—Mathura is superior to Vaikuntha because in Mathura, Lord Krishna takes birth. In other words, in Mathura there is vātsalya-rasa. In Vaikuntha, there is no pastime of birth and there is no mellow of paternal affection, but Vrindavan is considered higher than Mathura because in Vrindavan there is the rāsa dance and the rāsa dance is in mādhurya-rasa, which is higher than even vātsalya-rasa. Govardhana is considered still higher because the past times of mādhurya-rasa at Govardhana are higher than in Vrindavan. And highest of all is Radha-kunda because the rasa experienced at Radha-kunda is the highest.

In the material world the devotee can develop up to the stage of prema. After the stage of prema, he will take birth on the planet where Krishna’s pastimes are being manifest in one of the universes, and there he will increase his development of love. Just as there are so many stages—sraddha, niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti, bhāva, and prema. So prema also has further stages of development but such development is not possible in the material world, in the physical body. One has to take birth on the planet within the material universes where the pastimes of Krishna are being manifest, and there taking birth with a spiritual body, one can develop the higher stages of prema.

After prema comes sneha, which means affection. And then māna, then praṇaya, then rāga. We have already discussed rāga.

Now in order to enter even dāsya-rasa in Vraja, one has to have rāga. To enter śānta-rasa one can have simple prema, and to serve Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, one may have prema and sneha, but to enter even dāsya-rasa in Vraja, one has to have rāga. When rāga becomes still more highly developed, it becomes anurāga and when one has anurāga, he can enter sākhya-rasa in Vraja or vātsalya-rasa in Vraja. And some very intimate friends of Krishna, priya-narmā sakhā like Subala, can touch something even higher than anurāga which is called bhāva because they have some access to mādhurya-rasa. And then after bhāva comes mahā-bhāva and when one develops mahā-bhāva, he can enter mādhurya-rasa with Krishna in Vrindavan.

So the rāsa-līlā in Vrindavan is enacted on the platform of mahā-bhāva, but in the rāsotsava, in the festival of the rāsa dance when Krishna played on His flute at Vamsi vat, on Sarat-purnima, all the gopīs of Vraja came. There are so many different categories of gopīs also, and all categories of gopīs came for the rāsotsava in Vrindavan. Therefore Srimati Radharani became a little angry that Krishna should have been enjoying the rāsa dance with Her, but He was enjoying with so many gopīs, of so many categories. So in order to pacify Srimati Radharani, Lord Krishna left the rāsa dance with Srimati Radharani and thus the rāsa dance ended. And you know the story from the Kṛṣṇa book or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but when Krishna has the rāsa dance at Govardhana, He doesn’t invite so many gopīs of so many categories, and therefore the rāsa dance at Govardhana is considered higher than the rāsa dance in Vrindavan, and at the rāsa dance in Govardhana Srimati Radharani leaves the rāsa dance. At Vrindavan, Krishna and Radha leave together, but at Govardhana Srimati Radharani leaves the rāsa dance and Krishna follows Her. So the exalted position of Srimati Radharani is made more clear at Govardhana.

In fact, when Lord Krishna cannot find Srimati Radharani after She leaves, He becomes completely upset. So when Ramananda Raya was discussing with Lord Chaitanya—What is the highest perfection of life? They discussed so many different levels of perfection, beginning with following varnashrama-dharma, and so on, then finally they came to bhakti. Then after sādhana-bhakti they came to bhakti rasa, then śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, then finally mādhurya-rasa. And after discussing mādhurya-rasa, Lord Chaitanya asked Ramananda Raya to go further, and finally Ramananda Raya came to the love of Srimati Radharani for Krishna, and he cited the instance of the rāsa dance at Govardhana that in spite of the presence of so many other gopīs, Krishna could not enjoy the rāsa dance when Srimati Radharani left it, and therefore He went searching for Her. So you can read the whole progression some time, but we will start with principal rasas.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda        [3 times]

Madhya-līlā, Chapter [Eight],

TEXT 73

bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ

praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ

kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ

praharṣayiṣyāmi sa-nātha-jīvitam

TRANSLATION

“ ‘By serving You constantly, one is freed from all material desires and is completely pacified. When shall I engage as Your permanent eternal servant and always feel joyful to have such a perfect master?’ ”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a statement made by the great saintly devotee Yāmunācārya in his Stotra-ratna (43).

TEXT 74

prabhu kahe, “eho haya, kichu āge āra”
frāya kahe, “sakhya-prema — sarva-sādhya-sāra”

TRANSLATION

Hearing this from Rāmānanda Rāya, the Lord again requested him to go a step further. In reply, Rāmānanda Rāya said, “Loving service to Kṛṣṇa rendered in fraternity is the highest perfection.”

TEXT 75

itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā

dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena

māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa

sārdhaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Neither those engaged in the self-realization of appreciating the Brahman effulgence of the Lord, nor those engaged in devotional service while accepting the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master, nor those under the clutches of Māyā, thinking the Lord an ordinary person, can understand that certain exalted personalities, after accumulating volumes of pious activities, are now playing with the Lord in friendship as cowherd boys.’ ”

COMMENT

So sometimes Krishna will play games and have sports with His cowherd boyfriends and sometimes if Krishna loses the contest, He has to carry the cowherd boy who won on His shoulders. So in śānta-rasa, there are two characteristics in śānta-rasa—complete attachment to Krishna and complete detachment from maya; and in dāsya-rasa, service is added; and in sākhya-rasa, confidence is added. The cowherd boys are confident that they are on the same level as Krishna. They are confident that if they joke with Krishna, fight with Krishna, climb on the shoulders of Krishna, there is no offense. They have complete confidence and therefore they can act with complete intimacy with Krishna.

TEXT 76

prabhu kahe, — “eho uttama, āge kaha āra”
rāya kahe, “vātsalya-prema — sarva-sādhya-sāra”

TRANSLATION

The Lord said, “This statement is very good, but please proceed even further.”

Rāmānanda Rāya then replied, “Loving service to the Lord in the parental relationship is the highest perfectional stage.”

TEXT 77

nandaḥ kim akarod brahman

śreya evaṁ mahodayam

yaśodā vā mahā-bhāgā

papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ

TRANSLATION

“‘O brāhmaṇa, what pious activities did Nanda Mahārāja perform by which he received the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa as his son? And what pious activities did mother Yaśodā perform that made the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa call her “Mother” and suck her breasts?’”

TEXT 78

nemaṁ viriñco na bhavo

na śrīr apy aṅga-saṁśrayā

prasādaṁ lebhire gopī

yat tat prāpa vimukti-dāt

TRANSLATION

“ ‘The favor mother Yaśodā obtained from Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the bestower of liberation, was never obtained even by Lord Brahmā or Lord Śiva, nor even by the goddess of fortune, who always remains on the chest of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu.’ ”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a statement from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.9.20). Kṛṣṇa agreed to be bound by mother Yaśodā after she had given up trying to bind Kṛṣṇa with ropes.

COMMENT

Even the goddess of fortune cannot bind The Supreme Personality of Godhead like Yasoda.

TEXT 79

prabhu kahe, “eho uttama, āge kaha āra”

rāya kahe, “kāntā-prema sarva-sādhya-sāra”

TRANSLATION

The Lord said, “Your statements are certainly getting better and better one after the other, but surpassing all of them is another transcendental mellow, and you can speak of that as the most sublime.”

PURPORT

Rāmānanda Rāya then replied, “Conjugal attachment for Kṛṣṇa is the topmost position in love of Godhead.

COMMENT

So although there is confidence in sākhya-rasa, something more is added in the vātsalya-rasa and that is the conception of being the protector and maintainer of Krishna. The idea that Krishna is dependent on me. I must protect and maintain Krishna and to vātsalya-rasa, something more is added in mādhurya-rasa, and that is giving one’s whole body for the service of Krishna.

TEXT 80

nāyaṁ śriyo ‘ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ

svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto ‘nyāḥ

rāsotsave ‘sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha-

labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-sundarīṇām

TRANSLATION

“‘When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the gopīs in the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs were embraced around the neck by the Lord’s arms. This transcendental favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or the other consorts in the spiritual world. Nor was such a thing ever imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, girls whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the beauty and fragrance of lotus flowers. And what to speak of worldly women, who may be very, very beautiful according to material estimation?’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse (Bhāg. 10.47.60) was spoken by Uddhava when he visited Śrī Vṛndāvana to deliver a message from Kṛṣṇa to the gopīs. Uddhava remained in Vṛndāvana to observe the activities of the gopīs there. When he saw the ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa in separation manifested by the gopīs, he appreciated their supreme love and therefore expressed his feelings in this verse. He admitted that the fortune of the gopīs could not be compared even to the fortune of the goddess of fortune, to say nothing of the beautiful girls in the heavenly planets.

TEXT 81

tāsām āvirabhūc chauriḥ

smayamāna-mukhāmbujaḥ

pītāmbara-dharaḥ sragvī

sākṣān manmatha-manmathaḥ

TRANSLATION

“‘Suddenly, due to their feelings of separation, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared among the gopīs dressed in yellow garments and wearing a flower garland. His lotus face was smiling, and He was directly attracting the mind of Cupid.’

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.32.2). When the rāsa dance was going on, Kṛṣṇa suddenly disappeared, and the gopīs became so overwhelmed, due to His separation and their intense love for Him, that Kṛṣṇa was obliged to appear again.

COMMENT

So after Krishna left the rāsa dance with Srimati Radharani for some special reasons, He left Srimati Radharani also and then Srimati Radharani and all the gopīs cried in the mood of separation for Krishna, and they sang the songs of the gopīs or gopī-gīta. And the songs of the gopīs melted the heart of Krishna, and Krishna was forced to come out of His hiding place and appear before the gopīs again.

And Ramananda Raya has cited the verse about Krishna’s appearing before the gopīs to show the super excellent position of the gopīs’ love for Krishna. Then Ramananda Raya explains that whatever relationship a particular devotee has with Krishna, He is completely satisfied. I will read it.

TEXT 82

kṛṣṇa-prāptira upāya bahu-vidha haya

kṛṣṇa-prāpti-tāratamya bahuta āchaya

TRANSLATION

“There are various means and processes by which one may attain the favor of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All those transcendental processes will be studied from the viewpoint of comparative importance.”

TEXT 83

kintu yāṅra yei rasa, sei sarvottama

taṭa-stha hañā vicārile, āche tara-tama

TRANSLATION

“It is true that whatever relationship a particular devotee has with the Lord is the best for him; still, when we study all the different methods from a neutral position, we can understand that there are higher and lower degrees of love.”

COMMENT

Then Ramananda Raya quotes some more verses about the gopīs’ love for Krishna.

TEXT 90

kṛṣṇera pratijñā dṛḍha sarva-kāle āche

ye yaiche bhaje, kṛṣṇa tāre bhaje taiche

TRANSLATION

“Lord Kṛṣṇa has made a firm promise for all time. If one renders service unto Him, Kṛṣṇa correspondingly gives him an equal amount of success in devotional service to the Lord.”

TEXT 91

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante

tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

mama vartmānuvartante

manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

Giriraj Swami: What is the meaning?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, “All of them as they surrender unto Me, I reward accordingly.” Bhagavad-gītā 4.11.

TEXT 92

ei ‘preme’ra anurūpa nā pāre bhajite
ataeva ‘ṛṇī’ haya — kahe bhāgavate

TRANSLATION

 ‘In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [10.32.22] it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot proportionately reciprocate devotional service in the mādhurya-rasa; therefore, He always remains a debtor to such devotees.’

COMMENT

So in Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says that as one surrenders unto Him, He will reward them accordingly. But the love of the gopīs have forced Krishna to break His promise and Krishna admits to the gopīs, He cannot repay them for their pure devotional service to Him, and He always remains a debtor to them. For example, I promise you that whatever you give me I will reward you accordingly, but if you give me something which is greater in value then I have to pay you then I’m in debt to you because I haven’t paid the full value of what you gave me. So Krishna says that He cannot repay the gopīs, and therefore He remains in debt to them.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Desire does not necessarily indicate one’s constitutional position. Of course, in the material realm we desire many things that are not in accordance with our constitutional position but even in the spiritual realm, one may desire something which one cannot achieve. And we will read later, tomorrow that Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, desired to enjoy the rāsa dance with Krishna but she could not. But if we desire to serve Krishna in a particular way, it could indicate our constitutional position and as we discussed the other day and as we’ve discussed again today, all the elements of the other rasas are in mādhurya-rasa, and if we follow the process given to us by Lord Chaitanya, by Srila Prabhupada, which directs us ultimately towards mādhurya-rasa, then if our constitutional position is to serve Krishna in another rasa, we will realize it. We won’t lose anything or miss anything.

So this is what Krishna tells the gopīs.

TEXT 93

na pāraye ‘haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ

sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ

yā mābhajan durjara-geha-śṛṅkhalāḥ

saṁvṛścya tad vaḥ pratiyātu sādhunā

TRANSLATION

“‘When the gopīs were overwhelmed with separation due to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s absence from the rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa returned to them and told them, ‘My dear gopīs, our meeting is certainly free of all material contamination. I must admit that in many lives it would be impossible for Me to repay My debt to you because you have cut off the bondage of family life just to search for Me. Consequently, I am unable to repay you. Therefore, please be satisfied with your honest activities in this regard.’”

COMMENT

But Lord Chaitanya’s mind is so greedy that He is still not satisfied. He still wants more from Ramananda Raya.

TEXT 96

prabhu kahe, — ei ‘sādhyāvadhi’ suniścaya
kṛpā kari’ kaha, yadi āge kichu haya

TRANSLATION

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “This is certainly the limit of perfection, but please be merciful to Me and speak more if there is more.”

TEXT 97

rāya kahe, — ihāra āge puche hena jane

eta-dina nāhi jāni, āchaye bhuvane

TRANSLATION

Rāya Rāmānanda replied, “Until this day I did not know anyone within this material world who could inquire beyond this perfectional stage of devotional service.

TRANSLATION 98

“Among the loving affairs of the gopīs,” Rāmānanda Rāya continued, “Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is topmost. Indeed, the glories of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī are highly esteemed in all revealed scriptures.

TEXT 99

yathā rādhā priyā viṣṇos

tasyāḥ kuṇḍaṁ priyaṁ tathā

sarva-gopīṣu saivaikā

viṣṇor atyanta-vallabhā

TRANSLATION

“‘Just as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is most dear to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Her bathing place [Rādhā-kuṇḍa] is also dear to Him. Among all the gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is supermost and very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.’

PURPORT

This verse is from the Padma Purāṇa and is included in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (2.1.45), by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

TEXT 100

anayārādhito nūnaṁ

bhagavān harir īśvaraḥ

yan no vihāya govindaḥ

prīto yām anayad rahaḥ

TRANSLATION

“[When the gopīs began to talk among themselves, they said:] ‘Dear friends, the gopī who has been taken away by Kṛṣṇa to a secluded place must have worshiped the Lord more than anyone else.’ ”

PURPORT

The name Rādhā is derived from this verse (Bhāg. 10.30.28), from the words anayārādhitaḥ, meaning, “by Her, the Lord is worshiped.”

COMMENT

Here the gopīs are not saying that Srimati Radharani worshiped Krishna better than them, and therefore Krishna took Her away, but they’re saying that Srimati Radharani worshiped the Lord better because they don’t see Krishna as the Lord and because of Her worship of the Lord, the Lord blessed Her with Krishna.

TEXT 101

prabhu kahe — āge kaha, śunite pāi sukhe
apūrvāmṛta-nadī vahe tomāra mukhe

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Please speak on. I am very happy to hear you because a river of unprecedented nectar is flowing from your mouth.”

COMMENT

So the previous verse was quoted from the rāsa dance in Vrindavan where Krishna left the rāsa dance with Radharani. So certainly, Krishna established the preeminent position of Srimati Radharani in the Vrindavan rasa but how Krishna comes under the control of Srimati Radharani’s love was not shown until the springtime rasa at Govardhana and therefore Govardhana is considered superior to Vrindavan.

TEXT 104

rāya kahe, — tabe śuna premera mahimā
tri-jagate rādhā-premera nāhika upamā

TRANSLATION

Rāmānanda Rāya continued, “Please therefore hear from me about the glories of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s loving affairs. They are beyond compare within these three worlds.”

TEXT 105

gopī-gaṇera rāsa-nṛtya-maṇḍalī chāḍiyā

rādhā cāhi’ vane phire vilāpa kariyā

TRANSLATION

“Finding Herself treated equally with all the other gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī displayed Her tricky behavior and left the circle of the rāsa dance. Missing Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s presence, Kṛṣṇa became very unhappy and began to lament and wander throughout the forest to search Her.”

COMMENT

In Vrindavan, He left the rāsa dance with Her, but in Govardhana He is lamenting and wandering around the forest, mad looking for Radharani.

TEXT 106

kaṁsārir api saṁsāra-

vāsanā-baddha-śṛṅkhalām

rādhām ādhāya hṛdaye

tatyāja vraja-sundarīḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Lord Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Kaṁsa, took Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī within His heart, for He desired to dance with Her. Thus He left the arena of the rāsa dance and the company of all the other beautiful damsels of Vraja.”

TEXT 107

itas tatas tām anusṛtya rādhikām

anaṅga-bāṇa-vraṇa-khinna-mānasaḥ

kṛtānutāpaḥ sa kalinda-nandinī

taṭānta-kuñje viṣasāda mādhavaḥ

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Being afflicted by the arrow of Cupid and unhappily regretting His mistreating Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Mādhava, Lord Kṛṣṇa, began to search for Her along the banks of the Yamunā River. When He failed to find Her, He entered the bushes of Vṛndāvana and began to lament.’”

PURPORT

These two verses are from the Gīta-govinda (3.1–2), written by Jayadeva Gosvāmī.

COMMENT

Now the glories of Radha-kunda are so exalted, the position of Radha-kunda is so exalted that only Srimati Radharani and Her group of gopī friends are allowed there. In Vrindavan, all categories of gopīs were allowed to join the rāsa dance, but in Govardhana only the most exalted gopīs were allowed to join. But at Govardhana Krishna also meets Candravali and other gopīs outside Srimati Radharani’s camp, but at Radha-kunda only Srimati Radharani and Her specific girlfriends are allowed. No other gopīs even, not even Candravali, not Nanda Maharaja, not Yasoda, no one is allowed at Radha-kunda except Krishna and Srimati Radharani and Her gopī friends. And some of Krishna’s special friends like Subala are allowed but at some distance beyond Shyama-kunda, and therefore the rasa at Radha-kunda is the highest and therefore Radha-kunda is considered the topmost of all holy places.

We came up to mahā-bhāva in our discussion of the development of prema but even in mahā-bhāva there are higher and higher developments. There is rūḍha-mahā-bhāva and adhirūḍha-mahā-bhāva. And in adhirūḍha-mahā-bhāva there is mādana and mohana and modana. And the highest modana-mahā-bhāva is only experienced by Srimati Radharani. Nobody else can experience the highest level of mahā-bhāva. And if Srimati Radharani wishes, She can allow Her girlfriends also to experience the same thing, but outside of the group of Srimati Radharani nobody else can experience it, and therefore Radha-kunda which is reserved exclusively for Srimati Radharani and Her girlfriends and Krishna is the highest place of all.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: There are so many universes in the material cosmic manifestation and in one universe after another, Krishna manifests His pastimes. So there is always one universe in which Krishna is manifesting His pastimes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Oh, yes. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well, when you get to the end of the book, you’ll see that our goal is to develop an eternal form of a gopī, maid servant of Srimati Radharani and serve Her at Radha-kunda.

Devotee: Even Narada muni cannot enter Radha-kunda.

Giriraj Swami: True. In our stage, we also may not be able to enter the eternal Radha-kunda as it is manifest to and experienced by pure devotees in mādhurya-rasa. We will discuss that. It’s a good question.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No, the body will have to be sac-cid-ānanda because the physical body even when it becomes fully engaged in the service of the Lord and surcharged with spiritual energy cannot bear the weight of the ecstasy and symptoms of ecstasy in the stages beyond prema. Like you read in Caitanya-caritāmṛta about the ecstatic symptoms of Lord Chaitanya, how His limbs would come out of His joints; He would become so long or His limbs would go inside of His body, and He would look like a tortoise and so many things—blood coming out of His pores. So in a physical body, even if it’s fully engaged in the service of the Lord and spiritualized, we cannot bear such ecstasy. It’s too much for the body to contain. So that’s why we can only go up to prema in the physical body.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well, anything beyond prema requires a spiritual body and to enter the service of Krishna, one has to go beyond prema, to enter the service of Krishna in Vraja. Even to do preliminary services, one has to at least come to sneha, which is the stage after prema. But there may be so many people in Vraja or around who do not serve Krishna. So many demons came to Vraja. They didn’t have higher developments of love of God, and they didn’t have to have spiritual bodies. There are so many people who don’t serve Krishna. But to serve Krishna, to enter the pastimes of Krishna, one has to have more than prema and therefore, we need a spiritual body.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, they had spiritual bodies. What they did cannot be done by anyone in a material body. They’re eternal associates of Krishna and eternal associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but they appeared to get sick and everything as their pastimes. Even Krishna appeared to get sick. Sometimes He appeared to lament, and sometimes He appeared to give up His body. It’s to give the impression of being human.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, because the forms of Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Ragunath dasa Gosvami are also eternal.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: That’s a different bhāva.

Devotee: What is the rasa between Lakshmi and Narayana?

Giriraj Swami: It is basically dāsya-rasa. Lakshmi conceives of herself as the servant of Lord Narayana.

Devotee: They have married, like in Tirupathi they have marriage ceremonies.

Giriraj Swami: Well it is, it is but it’s predominated by dāsya-rasa or dāsya bhāva. It’s not pure mādhurya. No but there is some mādhurya. But nobody is in that position in Vaikuntha except Lakshmi. In other words, nobody can go to Vaikuntha and attain a similar position as Lakshmi. Anyone who goes to Vaikuntha will be a servant only.

Devotee: So Lakshmi has a relationship partially dāsya, partially mādhurya, partially sākhya?

 Giriraj Swami: Yes, there is only one Lakshmi in Vaikuntha, but there are millions and billions of gopīs in Vrindavan.

Devotee: But each planet is predominated by over by a different deity of forms, and there is another Lakshmi—is that the same?

Giriraj Swami: The same Narayana and the same Lakshmi. Yeah, like śālagrāma-śilā. They’re all different manifestations of the same person of the same entity. Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: It is. In fact, tomorrow or probably tomorrow when we discuss how to live at Radha-kunda and render service at Radha-kunda. We’ll discuss how once one has to come to the stage of bhāva-bhakti really and in the stage of bhāva-bhakti, one’s body becomes completely spiritualized. When one’s body is spiritualized, one can if Krishna wants, like in the case of Dhruva Maharaja, one can go to the spiritual world directly but again for the sake of appearances Krishna may wish that the devotee leaves his body, and well for vraja-bhakti one has to take birth on the planet of Krishna’s pastimes in the material universe.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: What about Gopa Kumar?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it is not mentioned, it is told as if he went in the same body and everything took place within the same lifetime, but if we analyze the text, we can see that the events took place over thousands and millions of years. Well, we cannot conclude that there is no change of body, but Sanatana Gosvami did not consider the change of body to be relevant, to the history he was telling, to the point he was making. You understand?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No, Sanatana Gosvami gives the impression that the whole thing is happening in one lifetime very quickly, but actually it’s taking place over a period of thousands and millions of years. So the impression that everything was happening in the same body may not be justified. But the change of body is not so relevant. It’s not so relevant. It’s like, is it mentioned that he changed his dress? Is it mentioned in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta that he changed his clothes?

So from the spiritual point of view changing the body and changing the dress are the same. It’s not considered a very important event, but we cannot say that over so many thousands and millions of years living on so many different planets and so many different atmospheres that he never changed his body. It’s not mentioned but we can’t conclude that he never changed his body. But even if he didn’t change his body, no problem, no problem even if he didn’t change his body there is no problem, and if he changed it there is no problem.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes for a perfect soul it is possible. We are talking about perfect souls, who are joining the pastimes of Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible] He left her?

Giriraj Swami: In nara-līlā, Radha and Krishna are playing like an ordinary boy and girl and in a relationship between equals, sometimes one will feel separation from the other and at other times the other will feel separation from the first. But ultimately, both in Vrindavan and at Govardhana, Srimati Radharani’s love conquered Krishna because although Krishna left Srimati Radharani and the other gopīs and hid Himself, in the end when He heard the songs of the gopīs in separation, He was forced to come out of hiding and appear before them again. And when they questioned Him as to how He dealt with them, in the end He had to admit that He could not repay His debt to them that they had defeated Him. So in both places Krishna was ultimately defeated, but at Govardhana He was defeated earlier, and He was trounced more soundly.

Devotee: Reason?

Giriraj Swami: Oh yes, well Krishna wanted to enjoy mahā-rasa in Vrindavan, and in mahā-rasa all categories of gopīs join. So at first when Krishna was dancing with the gopīs, each gopī thought that Krishna was dancing alone with her. So each gopī thought that she was the most fortunate woman in the whole universe. The gopīs could not see that Krishna was present with the others except Srimati Radharani. She saw that Krishna was with every other gopī except Her. So She became angry—that is called māna. And the other gopīs considered themselves the most fortunate women in the whole universe—that is called saubhāgya-mat. So Śukadeva Gosvami explains that to remove the māna of Srimati Radharani and to remove the saubhāgya-mat of the other gopīs, Krishna left the rāsa dance with Srimati Radharani. But when Krishna disappeared into the forest with Srimati Radharani, all the other gopīs were looking, the ones who were special friends of Srimati Radharani were looking for Her, and Krishna, and the other gopīs were looking especially for Krishna, and ultimately Krishna wanted to have the rāsa dance with all the gopīs, and He also wanted to manifest the super excellent position of Srimati Radharani. So Krishna thought that if the other gopīs find Me with Srimati Radharani, they will be angry at me and they will be envious of Srimati Radharani, and there will be no rāsa dance, everything will be spoiled. So He thought that if He leaves Srimati Radharani when the other gopīs find Her lamenting in separation, instead of being envious of Her, they will become sympathetic to Her and then all together they will look for Krishna, and then in the end when Krishna came to them they were able to have the rāsa dance all together. But at the same time because of Srimati Radharani’s extreme feelings of separation from Krishna, She was lamenting more than any other gopī, they could also realize Her super excellent position. But if they saw Her super excellent position as the only beloved with Krishna, they would have been envious but when they saw Her that Her misery is more extreme than theirs, they felt sympathy. So Krishna made all these calculations, there are other even more subtle considerations, but Krishna made all these calculations so He left Her. Is it alright?

The other thing is that so many different gopīs have so many different moods, but there are two main divisions. One is called left-wing and the other is called right-wing. So the left wing mood is to be contrary to Krishna, and the right wing mood is to be agreeable to Krishna. The left-wing mood is to be contrary to Krishna, and the right-wing mood is to be agreeable to Krishna, understand?

So according to the science of rasa when one party is agreeable and the other party is contrary, then the rasa goes higher, understand?

If both parties are contrary, then there is no rasa. And if both parties are agreeable there is rasa but it’s not so high—it will be like Krishna and the queens at Dwarka. So Radharani is usually contrary, and Krishna likes it more when the gopīs are contrary, and He likes actually to chase after the gopīs and serve them. So when Srimati Radharani told Krishna that, “Now, You can take Me wherever You like,” you read in the Kṛṣṇa book or in the

Bhāgavatam?

After Krishna left the rāsa dance with Radharani, they went deeper and deeper in the forest and finally Srimati Radharani said, “Now I’m tired, You can carry Me on Your shoulders and take Me wherever You like.” So Radharani’s statement, “You can take Me wherever you like,” is not contrary. She should not be so agreeable to Krishna. So Krishna thought that Radharani has given up Her normal mood of contrariness, and if She is agreeable and if I’m agreeable, then rasa will go down. So since She is agreeable, I should become contrary, and I should leave Her and then rasa will go up.

Sri Sri Radha-Shyamasundara ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!