Radhastami

Giriraj Swami: This is a special song. There was a bhajana mandali in Bombay who had connection with Vrindavan, and one of the members was a great devotee of Srila Prabhupada named Mr. Sethi. So, in 1977, they would meet every month; it was either every week, or every month, but they would meet on Sunday, and they would meet at different people’s houses. So, Mr. Sethi had the idea that they should come to Juhu and they would do akhand Hare Krishna kirtan from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It was a bhajana mandali, that had connections with Vrindavan, and they were householder devotees who lived in Bombay. And every Sunday or once a month on Sunday, they would do akhand Krishna kirtan from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. And then at 6:00 p.m. they would sing Vraja songs. And then the culmination of the whole day, they would sing Jaya Radhe Jaya Radhe, and one lady in particular was a member of the group, would sing.

So, in maybe March or April of 1977, we arranged for them to sing at the Juhu temple in the little temple. And at the time, Srila Prabhupada was ill, so he couldn’t come down; he was on the fifth floor, and the lift wasn’t working. But there was such a reciprocation between Prabhupada and devotees, and they wanted to see him, and he wanted to see them, but they couldn’t come up with so many people walking up five or six flights, and he couldn’t come down. And they were singing in the kirtan, but their mood attracted Prabhupada’s attention. And then finally, he came out on the balcony and looked down on them. They all came out and looked up at him. But at the end, Mr. Sethi went up, and later he told me that when the lady started to sing this song, tears started to come out of Srila Prabhupada’s eyes. And I would always like to attend the program because Mr. Sethi would invite us when they came to his house. So no goodness, maya means to count. . .

Devotee: Just a quick thing, Mother Kirtida, when she kind of stopped moving, and all of a sudden, we did this bhajana, for a change of whole tune, and she all of a sudden raised her hands and did kirtan, and everybody danced and jumped y that day; she loved this.

Giriraj Swami: Then the next day, Srila Prabhupada said that we should do the same thing every day. We should do akhand kirtan every day. We said Srila Prabhupada we can do it on Sunday. We did it, for many years and I remember all the problems used to get solved in the kirtan. I would deal with them for the first few days of the week, but by Thursday, Friday I really don’t bother because I knew it will be solved in the kirtan.

Krsna Prema Mayi Radha, Yugalastakam by Jiva Gosvami

(1)
kṛṣṇa prema mayī rādhā
rādhā prema mayo hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(2)
kṛṣṇasya draviṇaṁ rādhā
rādhāyā draviṇaṇ hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(3)
kṛṣṇa prāṇa mayī rādhā
rādhā prāṇa mayo hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(4)
kṛṣṇa drava mayī rādhā
rādhā drava mayo hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(5)
kṛṣṇa gehe sthitā rādhā
rādhā gehe sthito hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(6)
kṛṣṇa citta sthitā rādhā
rādhā citta sthito hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(7)
nīlāmbara dharā rādhā
pītāmbara dharo hariḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

(8)
vṛndāvaneśvarī rādhā
kṛṣṇo vṛndāvaneśvaraḥ
jīvane nidhane nityaṁ
rādhā kṛṣṇau gatir mama

TRANSLATION

1) Radha is made of pure love for Krsna and Hari is made of pure love of Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

2) Radha is the treasure of Krsna and Hari is the treasure of Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

3) Radha pervades the life-force of Krsna and Hari pervades the life-force of Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

4) Radha is totally melted with Krsna and Hari is totally melted with Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

5) Radha is situated in the body of Krsna and Hari is situated in the body of Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

6) Radha is fixed in the heart of Krsna and Hari is fixed in the heart of Radha. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

7) Radha wears cloth of blue color and Hari wears cloth of yellow color. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

8) Radha is the Mistress of Vrndavana and Krsna is the Master of Vrndavana. Life’s greatest wealth is Radha and Krsna: my eternal shelter.

Srila Jiva Gosvami ki jaya.

Maybe we will sing one verse in Gopī-gīta. There are slightly different tunes, but there is one I heard in Vrindavan; everyone can join

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

TRANSLATION

The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.

COMMENT

Kṛṣṇa-kathā amṛta ki jaya

Devotee: Krishna is the Lord and the energy of the Lord Srimati Radharani. So we approach Krishna always through this energy of Srimati Radharani. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, there is a beautiful verse which says:

Syama is worshiped through chavala, his energy, Srimati Radharani and His energy is worshiped through Syama. It is a very beautiful aphorism which Bhaktivinoda Thakura cited many times in his writings. So that is the principle of the prayer, the maha-mantra that we chant. We don’t approach Krishna alone, but always in connection and through His energy Srimati Radharani. Krishna is called the energetic or the source of all potency and Srimati Radharani embodies the spiritual potency or the bliss potency of the Lord. If we analyze the sun, the sun is a planet, and it has its energies that are heat and light. So when we analyze spiritual subject matter, or any subject matter, in the Vedic tradition, then it is analyzed in two contexts, and this is very, very interesting because it gives us a complete, complete understanding of the thing. It is analyzed in terms of tattva and rasa; tattva refers to its nature and rasa refers to the principle of its operation, or the experience, the taste that is derived in that nature. So, for example, God, His nature is that He is the Supreme; the Supreme Power, the Supreme Being, the most powerful. That is the tattva of the Godhead. There is no one greater to; there is no one equal to, to God, to Krishna. Rasa refers to his personality, that he is the most kind, the most affectionate, the embodiment of all sweetness, that he performs wonderful pastimes. So this is the personal aspect or what he is tasting.

So the Bhāgavatam, or the scripture of ancient India that the Vaishnavas of this tradition, the followers of this Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition that we follow, the Bhāgavatam presents Krishna not only in terms of tattva but also in terms of rasa. The first Cantos of the Bhāgavatam establish the position of Krishna. They demonstrate to us how he creates, how he expands and manifests the creation, the living entities, how all living entities are dependent and subordinate on him, how he is the benefactor of all that we need, of all that it takes to maintain the universe. How he is the beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerity that people perform in order to achieve a certain result. And then the later Cantos of the Bhāgavatam, of course the thread is there all throughout, they describe Krishna personal dealing and intimate relationships with His devotees and the bliss that He experiences in those relationship and in fact how He subordinates Himself to the love of those devotees. So, in terms of tattva, Krishna is described, and in terms of rasa or His personality, He is also described. So, when we discuss Krishna’s rasa, then it is always in terms of His relationships, and that necessarily entails His devotees. So Krishna, He is never seen alone, but He is always surrounded by loving associates, and He is always engaged in pastimes with them.

The creation, the maintenance, the destruction of the world, that is not His primary function or His primary activity, His primary engagement, which He focuses His attention upon. Rather, these things are taking place by chance, not by chance, by the way, now by His will these things are going on, without His necessarily concentrating upon it. But His concentration, His engagement, is in His own blissful pastimes, His own blissful activities, which are activities of love, loving engagement with His affectionate devotees. So the name Radha, Radha means “she who serves or pleases Krishna the most.” That is the essential meaning of this name, Radha. There is another word which is connected with this word, Radha. It is the opposite to Radha, and that is aparādha or uparadha. Just like we have here, indra nudra, which means the younger brother of Indra, there is also upa-indra or the little Indra. It is the same personality, Vamanadeva. So then there is aparādha or that which is not service, that which is offense. When we offend the Lord, when we turn our face from the Lord, bahir mukha, when we turn away from Him, then we see the material nature, the material energy, and we find ourselves separated from the Lord in this material world, where we try to lord it over and control the material energy, where we try to establish ourselves in the position of the Godhead, as the as the controller, the dominator over other beings, and nature itself.

So this material nature also has a personification, a personified because again, material nature is energy. So the material nature is personified as Durga, who is the shadow potency of the original spiritual nature that is personified by Srimati Radharani.

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

That the deity of Durga is of the nature of a shadow, as a shadow of the spiritual potency or the cit potency that is Radha. So when we turn our face from Krishna, we see the shadow. When you turn your face from the sun, you see a shadow. So when we turn our face from the service of Krishna that is personified by Srimati Radharani, then we see the shadow of material nature that is personified by Durga. The material nature has three constituents: those are sattva, rajas, and tamas or goodness, passion, and ignorance. Everything in material nature is composed of those three natures. Ignorance is lethargic, it is depressing, it is destructive. Passion is very creative, energetic, maybe aggressive. And goodness is sustained, peaceful, permanent, and satisfying, nurturing, harmonious. So that is the material nature.

All living entities, they fluctuate between these different modes of nature. Sometimes activities in the mode of ignorance, which cause suffering, sometimes activities which are passionate, which are created but then, are not sustained, and then activities in goodness, which relieve one. And like this, we experience happiness and distress. So these energies are personified by the trident of Durga, which has three prongs, causing these different experiences in different species of life. There are the animal species, where ignorance is predominated. There is the demigod species, where goodness is predominated. And then there is the human species, which is where, passion is predominated, where we are creating karmas. The animals don’t create karma, the demigods don’t create karma. They are experiencing the result of all their previously performed actions. But in the human form of life, we are creating karmas. So, that is material nature, that is material experience.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura, our great spiritual teacher, he has written a very beautiful prayer to Durga, but as a devotee, as a Vaishnavi, as a servant of Krishna, who makes all of these material experiences, puts these experiences upon the living entities as a service to the Lord, to finally wake them up to their original spiritual nature. In India, Durga personified material nature is worshiped for material benefits or rewards, or progressive material experience. So Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he sings very beautifully,

amar saman hina nahi e samsare

asthira ha’yechi padi’ bhava parabare

That “My dear Durga, I am caught up in the cycle of repeated birth and death.”

kuladevi jogamaya more krpa kori’

abarana sambaribe kabe bisvodari

“That the materialists worship you, for material benefits, but the Vaishnavas, they worship you as a servant of the Lord who will help them to become free of material attachment.”

sunechi agame-bede mahima tomar

sri krsna-bimukhe bandhi’ karao samsar

“We have read of your glories from the Vedas, wherein it says that you bind those who turn their face away from Krishna.”

e dase janani! kori’ akaitava doya

brndabane deha’ sthana tumi jogamaya

“This servant is begging you to allow me to see the other spiritual reality that is Sri Vrindavan dhāma, and to become situated there.”

So this is the way that the devotee sees Durga, and in fact, he turns his attention to the original spiritual potency, that is Srimati Radharani, and accepts Her shelter that she will engage Him in the service of Krishna. We discuss the name Radha means “she who serves Krishna or pleases Him the most.” So because she pleases Krishna the most, therefore, she is the leader of all the servitors of the Lord. All those who want to please Krishna; they place themselves under Her direction. And because she is the supreme servitor of the Lord, in fact, and because she loves Krishna the most, She is the embodiment of love of God. She, in fact, controls Krishna with that love. In fact, Krishna subordinates Himself to that love, and this is the most esoteric truth of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. And in fact, it is a very esoteric aspect of theology, which may not be found or, if it is found in other spiritual traditions, it is very, very hidden. And that is how Krishna subordinates Himself, to the most, to the love of His devotee, particularly to Srimati Radharani, because She is the embodiment of that love of God.

So then Krishna, He is the Supreme Godhead, but then He becomes the subordinate Godhead. So I was speaking earlier of analysis in terms of tattva and rasa. From the point of view of tattva, Krishna is the Supreme. From the point of view of rasa, or the relationship, the experience, the engagement, the application, then He subordinates Himself to His devotee, and His devotee, particularly Srimati Radharani, becomes supreme. We will give some more common analogies to help us understand this very esoteric truth. A very mundane analogy, and that is, maybe it is not so applicable in America anymore, in the household, generally, at least in the olden times, the husband, he took a dominant position where he was the maintainer of the house and the authority in the house. So that was the accepted position that was given to the husband, to the father, and the children. “If you don’t behave, I am going to tell your father.” And so, in that way, he was officially in charge of the house. But then, from the point of view of rasa, why was he working so hard to build such a house, to maintain such a house, to provide so many facilities? Who was staying in the home and enjoying those facilities and being cared for and protected? That was the wife, and he was doing all of these things for her pleasure. So, in fact, she is the authority, she is the boss; she is the person controlling the whole household. She has just made him think that he is in charge. But in fact, because of his love for her and because of her love for him, she is the one who is actually controlling. She is the authority there. So that is the practical application that is the relationship that is the rasa analysis.

So on the same terms, we will translate it back to the transcendental realm that Krishna is the Supreme Personality, the Supreme Godhead. But in rasa, then Srimati Radharani is the supreme power. And even if we will take another analogy of the sun and the energy of the sun, that the sun is the foundation that is the energetic source. But what is important in the sun? That is the energy, the heat, and the light. So there is a nice verse where it is explained by Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami that yes, Krishna, He has six opulences. Krishna means all-attractive, which means that He manifests six opulences: unlimited beauty, unlimited strength, unlimited fame, unlimited wealth, unlimited knowledge, and unlimited renunciation. But the perfection of all of those potencies that Krishna has is Srimati Radharani. In fact, it is Srimati Radharani that makes Krishna so attractive or so opulent that He is Bhagavān. That his beauty, the perfection of His beauty, is that it attracts Srimati Radharani to serve Him. The perfection of His strength is Srimati Radharani. The perfection of His wealth is Srimati Radharani. So in all respects, His renunciation is also the example is that He left the rasa dance to go and search for Srimati Radharani. So in all respects, the perfection of Krishna’s opulences is Srimati Radharani Herself.

So this is a very special day for everyone, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. When we say appearance day, it means appearance on this earth because, of course, Krishna is eternal, Srimati Radharani is eternal, we are all eternal, the spiritual world is eternal, these relationships are eternal. But on this earth, they have apparent appearances and disappearances. The significance of such a day is that we can recommit ourselves to remembering our position in relation to Krishna, to Srimati Radharani, that we can fix our consciousness on them. We can take the opportunity to remember them, to glorify them, to hear of them, and to chant their glories, to beg them for their mercy. We started by saying that we approach Krishna through Srimati Radharani, and this is very significant. And I should say something more on this topic. That we have nothing to attract Krishna, in the sense that we are conditioned, we are full of so many material contaminations, conditioned qualities, lust, anger, and greed, and so on. But personalities who are very dear to Krishna, like Srimati Radharani, they are very compassionate and merciful. And so by begging them for their mercy that, “Please engage me in your service, and in the service of Krishna, of Shyamasundara,” if they are merciful, that is our eligibility. Of our own, we don’t possess the eligibility to approach the Lord, but if the devotees of the Lord are merciful unto us, their mercy is our eligibility. And so our primary activity in spiritual life is to invoke their mercy upon us, and that is our process, bhakti-yoga.

Bhakti, bhakti means love for Krishna, devotion for the Lord. We don’t have it, but these personalities; they are abundant with that love. Srimati Radharani is the embodiment, the personification of that love. And so when a ray of that love enters into our heart, it is by their mercy. There is no amount of activity that we can do, no amount of academic study that we can do, no amount of penance or austerity that we can do to manifest that love within our hearts because this is priceless, and it cannot be created by any material engagement. It comes of its own accord. So by begging, by praying to such personalities as Srimati Radharani and Her servitors, then that ray of bhakti comes in the heart, and then we can pray more with sincere feeling. And by their mercy, be engaged in their service. The devotee doesn’t aspire to take the position of Srimati Radharani, understanding that no one can please Krishna more than Her, no one can satisfy Krishna, and no one can love Krishna more than Her. And so the devotees, in our line of spiritual teachers, begged for the position that, “Let me be the servant of the servant of Srimati Radharani.”

One more esoteric point, Krishna, He is astounded that “When I see the love of Srimati Radharani, My heart becomes filled with so much joy. When she sees that joy in my heart, her heart becomes filled with more joy.” So He is astounded that, “She is always experiencing more than Me.” And it continues that her servitors, seeing her pleasure, experience more joy. And so in this way, the bliss of loving Krishna expands more and more and more. Therefore, the devotee doesn’t aspire to take her position. And what can we do standing next to Krishna but always to assist Her servitors in assisting the union or the association of Radharani and Krishna. And the bliss experienced in such a service is more than we can ever hope for by assuming that position ourselves. So these are very deep and esoteric points of the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy. Generally, they are not spoken so much, but today, on this day of Srimati Radharani’s appearance, we take the liberty to remember these points and endeavor to take advantage of them.

So we will conclude here. Thank you very much. So I am sure I have said something wrong, if Maharaja will correct or add something.

Giriraj Swami: I just thought of one example that Srila Prabhupada gave, which I had never considered in terms of tattva and rasa. I just took it as a simple explanation. But when Krishna functions as the Supreme Godhead, He is known as Vishnu. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that Vishnu and Krishna are the same tattva, but it is like the high court judge, when he is in the courtroom, people worship him and pray to him, “Your Honor” or “Your Lordship.” But when he comes home, his wife tells him, “John, can you go to the store and bring some milk?” So when he is addressed as “Your Honor” or “Your Lordship,” then that is Vishnu. And when he is addressed in an intimate way by his intimate family members, he is acting as Krishna.

One other point that Srila Prabhupada made is that because Krishna is the Supreme Godhead, He is difficult to approach. But Srimati Radharani represents the compassionate nature of Krishna, so we can approach Her more easily. And by her grace, by her intervention, we can approach the service of Krishna. But as Sri Prahlada mentioned, not that we bypass her to approach Krishna, but we approach Krishna through Her graces and serve Him under Her guidance, or under the guidance of some other confidential devotee of Krishna. So in the material world, we have the system of paramparā. Probably you have all heard of paramparā, have you? In the spiritual also, we have the same system of paramparā. In the material world, I serve my guru, he serves his guru, he serves his guru, he serves his guru, and all the way back to the six Gosvamis, to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and ultimately to Radha and Krishna. And in the spiritual world also we serve our guru in the spiritual world, and he serves his guru in the spiritual world, and ultimately, then they serve Srimati Radharani, and Srimati Radharani serves Krishna directly.

So although apparently the activities in caitanya-līlā and the activities in kṛṣṇa-līlā are different, in caitanya-līlā, we dress like this, and in kṛṣṇa-līlā, they dress in different ways. But the essence of the activities is the same. We sit and chant the holy name of Krishna in kirtan, and in the spiritual world also, they chant the holy name of Krishna. Here we start to chant as a matter of practice, and then gradually, our love for the holy name and our love for Krishna develop. But when we actually develop love for Krishna, then we can serve Krishna in the spiritual world. And there also, we will chant the holy name, but we will do so in ecstatic love. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed us, and especially householder devotees—not just householders or devotees, but even householder devotees can engage in the same activities at home as the other devotees in the temple. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed that, chant the holy name and serve the devotees. In the material world, we chant the holy names and serve the devotees, and in the spiritual world, we chant the holy names and serve the devotees. So the activities are the same, but here we practice, and when we become perfect by the mercy of our superiors, we become eligible to go to the spiritual world to serve. And there, Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if someone is in high school but is working at the level of a student in college, or is doing the same work that a student in college would do, he or she can be promoted to college. So the same way, if here we engage in the same activities as the devotees in the spiritual world—constantly chanting the holy name and serving the devotees—then we become eligible to be promoted to the spiritual world, where we will always chant the holy name and serve the devotees.

So on auspicious occasions like Sri Radha Ashtami, and especially on Sri Radha Ashtami, we pray to Srimati Radharani, who is the personification of love for Krishna and service to Krishna, that She will help us also to develop love for Krishna and service to Krishna and His devotees. That she will help us in our practices that are meant to awaken our love, and that she will just give us her mercy, which in and of itself can imbue us with such love. So Sri Radha Asthmi is a most joyous occasion because we can remember the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, and the love of Srimati Radharani for Krishna, and His love for her, and pray to Her for Her mercy—that we can also follow in the footsteps of Her dear servants, who have appeared in the world as preachers of Krishna consciousness and servants of the preachers of Krishna consciousness. Hare Krishna.

Devotee: So without further ado, first, before we serve for prasādam, I would like to thank all of you for coming today, and more so to those who spend some time helping out with decoration or cooking. And Divyananda dasi has worked for the last two weeks, up to ten to twelve hours a day, to finish the outfit as she finished today. As I was, as I was baking one of the dishes that we are going to have tonight, I used the neighbor’s oven because, it is just too many things about good Bob. So as I was baking something and taking it out and putting another tray, he asked me, “What is going on?” I said, “Well, there is a celebration.” “What is the occasion?” “Well, it is God’s girlfriend’s birthday.” He said, “God’s girlfriend’s birthday?” I said, “Well, yes, you can see that God is not a party pooper. He has a very active life.” He said, “How long has this been going on?” I said, “Well, to be frank, eternally.” He said, “Seems like Hare Krishna’s have a lot of inside information. Have a good party.”

Devotee: “You are going to have to give him some prasādam.

Devotee: Oh yes. So he always. So perhaps you can lead us in the prasādam prayer.