Sri Radhastami at Sarvatma’s

Giriraj Swami: . . . bliss. He separated a portion of Himself in another form as Srimati Radharani. And She is the manifestation of Krishna’s blissful potency or hlādinī-śakti. Even an ordinary person would want a friend or a child or a lover with whom he can play, with whom he can enjoy life. So Krishna also manifested the same sentiment and therefore He manifested Srimati Radharani out of His pleasure potency and thus He enjoys many pastimes with Srimati Radharani day and night in the groves of Vrindavan. 

For us Srimati Radharani may be far away but we have experience of Srimati Radharani in the pleasure of devotional service because the pleasure of devotional service is also the manifestation of hlādinī-śakti. The hlādinī-śakti gives pleasure to Krishna through devotional service and the hlādinī-śakti also gives pleasure to the devotee who renders devotional service. Srila Prabhupada often said that when we please Krishna automatically we become pleased and certainly what Srila Prabhupada said is true. The Bhāgavatam gives the example that when you water the root of a tree automatically all of the limbs and branches and twigs and leaves of the tree are watered and when one puts food in the stomach automatically all the different limbs and parts of the body are nourished. So similarly when one renders service to Krishna, all of Krishna’s parts and parcels or all living entities are also benefited and the one who renders the service and gives pleasure to Krishna through devotional service also feels pleasure through the medium of hlādinī-śakti. Because we are parts and parcels of Krishna we also have the same qualities of Krishna in minute quantity and therefore we also have some small amount of pleasure potency. 

In one purport of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Srila Prabhupada mentions the phenomenon that probably all of us have experienced to some extent that when we come to Krishna consciousness we experience a pleasure that we never experienced before in the material world and we actually feel happy but our friends and relatives who supposedly wanted to see us happy actually are not happy when we find happiness in Krishna consciousness. I recall even George Harrison wrote a song where he mentions that he had so many friends that he thought were his friends but when he came to Krishna consciousness and experienced the supreme pleasure of Krishna consciousness, his friends were no longer his friends anymore. They wanted him to leave Krishna consciousness. So in the purport to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Srila Prabhupada remarks that when one comes to Krishna consciousness the relatives and friends of the devotee try to exhibit their pleasure potencies to get the devotee to come back to the material world. Basically they want to say in a fact to the devotee that we can give you pleasure why are you going to Radha and Krishna? We can give you pleasure and they exhibit the minute pleasure giving potency they have as parts and parcels of Krishna to try to lure the devotee back into the material world but the minute pleasure that one can get from the minute pleasure potencies of one’s friends and families in the material world cannot compare to the unlimited pleasure one can get from Srimati Radharani and Lord Krishna’s service. Srila Prabhupada often used to quote the poet Vidyapati who said that the material world is like a desert and the happiness we get from society friendship and love is like a drop in the desert. Yes we can say there is some happiness there but it is a drop and a drop of water in a desert cannot do much. We require oceans of happiness for the soul really to be satisfied because the soul originally is part of the spiritual energy and therefore Srila Prabhupada also used to give the example of the fish that the fish can only be happy in water. If you take the fish out of water even if you put the fish in a beautiful bowl filled with precious jewels and gems but without water the fish will not be happy because the fish is a creature of the water and he can only be happy in the water. 

Similarly, we spiritual souls are part of the spiritual energy. We belong in the spiritual world and therefore no matter how hard we try to be happy in the material world we can never really be happy. There is some happiness but not enough to satisfy us but when we come into contact with the pleasure potency of Sri Krishna, in other words the hlādinī-śakti personified as Srimati Radharani then we can feel the real pleasure that can satisfy the heart and soul of the devotee. Although in one sense Srimati Radharani is far away in Vrindavan with Sri Krishna but in another sense She is also very near in the form of Her holy name as the devotees here have kindly informed us or reminded us, “Glory, glory to the holy name of Radha who permanently dwells everywhere in Vrindavan and that is the ocean of Krishna’s blissful transcendental pastime.”

So when we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra we are chanting the name of Radha and Krishna and in fact great acharyas like Srila Jiva Gosvami have described different pastimes of Radha and Krishna that are contained or manifest from the Hare Krishna maha-mantra itself. So when we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra we are chanting the names of Radha and Krishna. Hare is the way we address Radha as Radhe and Krishna, of course, is the way we address Sri Krishna. So when we chant Hare Krishna we are chanting the holy name of Radha and Krishna and They are present on our tongues and we chant and They include Their forms, Their qualities, Their pastimes, Their associates, Their paraphernalia, Their dhāma, everything about Them. So when we become proficient in chanting the holy names, specially the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. In other words when we can chant without offense and purely, when we can chant purely, then we can realize everything about the divine couple in the holy names and therefore the best process to realize the pastimes of Radha and Krishna and the happiness of Krishna consciousness is to constantly chant the holy names, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare for They contain the entire abode of Sri Vrindavan dhāma along with the divine couple and all of Their associates and servants. We don’t need to practice any artificial method to realize Their pastimes and to associate with Them and therefore as so many scriptures say and specifically here I refer to one verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the doubtless and fearless way of realizing the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord following the ways of the authorities. So here I think of the cartoon that appeared in one magazine some years ago where an old couple is sitting on a park bench and the old lady is saying to the old man, “Chant! Chant! Chant!” and the old man is replying, ”Can’t! Can’t! Can’t!” So that is our misfortune although the entire bliss of the spiritual world is available in the holy names of Krishna, Hare Krishna we don’t chant. We don’t chant, we don’t have the time or the inclination and therefore we tend to get absorbed in the glimmer of the material world and the small prospects of material happiness offered in the material world and therefore the association of the devotees is so important because in the association of devotees we are reminded of the great pleasure to be experienced in Krishna consciousness through the chanting of the holy names and the great pleasure that Srimati Radharani has to offer us when we try to engage in the service of Her beloved Sri Krishna. So we are grateful to Sarvatma Prabhu and his good wife for their constant efforts to keep us engaged in chanting the holy names in the Santa Barbara area and to all of you who come and form the congregation in which we can engage in the congregational chanting of the holy names. 

The congregational chanting of the holy names was given by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the yuga-dharma. He appeared to fulfill many purposes but he also appeared as the yuga-avatar and He gave us the yuga-dharma of chanting the holy names of Krishna in saṅkīrtana. So by the grace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers, the six Gosvamis and the other acharyas in the line we are able to come together and specially by the grace of Srila Prabhupada who brought the chanting of Hare Krishna to the west and taught us the science of Krishna consciousness we are now able to meet at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda in Isla Vista, California and relish some of the bliss of Krishna consciousness. 

Sri Sri Radha-Govinda ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Question: Maharaja, on Monday, couple of days ago, Jayapataka Maharaja stopped over in LA and he took a taxi to the temple during the morning program and surprised the devotees and gave the Bhāgavatam class and he was speaking about Radhastami is coming up and he gave a really nice story that I would like to share with you. Radha and Krishna were in the groves in Vrindavan and the peacocks were dancing and Krishna said to Radharani, “I will dance for you and Krishna was dancing for Radharani’s pleasure and when He finished He came up and said, “How was that?” “It was alright.” This is how She told Him So He said, “Oh! I will do better.” So He went back and danced some more for Her pleasure and the peacocks started dancing with Him and then He was finished dancing and He came up to Radharani and He goes, ”Was that good?” It was Better.” Oh! so He went again to dance and He really really tried hard and He was dancing so beautifully that Radharani couldn’t resist and got up and danced with Him and They were like peacocks dancing together. So the example was that even Krishna wants to please Srimati Radharani.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. That is true.

Mother Urvashi: The other night I was invited to my friend’s. They were also at my Janmashtami program and it was their one year wedding anniversary. So they invited us. There were maybe twenty five people and they had asked us to bring a poem of love and read it in celebration of their wedding anniversary. So people were going up with various beautiful poems from Romain(?) and different poets and artists and so I waited till the end and I brought up one of Prabhupada’s books and I read the verses of Lord Chaitanya’s Śikṣāṣṭakam and I had explained before I read them that this is the longing of the—or I talked about Lord Chaitanya and said that He appeared in India five hundred years ago and said this is a very intense longing and devotion in separation in love of God. So I read the verses to them and they were like, ”Oh! Ok!-“ They thought it was wonderful They appreciated. 

Giriraj Swami: When you mentioned about the peacock’s dance I thought of the verse from the Veṇu-gīta where the gopīs are appreciating the flute songs of Sri Krishna and when He plays on His flute the peacocks dance in ecstasy and they are so pleased with Him that they want to make an offering to Him. But what can they offer to Krishna? I mean the only thing they really have to offer is their beautiful plumes. So they offer their plumes to Krishna and therefore Krishna keeps a peacock feather in His helmet. I actually had a chance to witness that tradition in Pakistan because in Pakistan actually many of the traditions are observed more than even in India and so our godbrother Amogha Lila Prabhu had visited a Sufi temple in Karachi and he was playing the mridanga in the Sufi temple. So the most famous and reputed to be the most expert of ghazal singers in Pakistan also happened to come into the same temple at the same time although he actually lived in Lahore. He was visiting Karachi and he saw Amogha Lila playing the mridanga so he asked if he was a musician. Amogha Lila said well he is a devotee but he does play musical instruments and they developed a friendship on the basis of music to begin and he was an old man, I mean relatively an old man and the Muslims, the older Muslims who lived in India before the partition they are used to having Hindu friends and they are much more open to the culture of devotees there. So he was invited to a (I forget the name of the famous singer) but he was invited to perform in a very wealthy man’s house in Karachi and he invited Amogha Lila and the other devotees to join him. So we all went and the man I mean Pakistan is different from India in the sense that the rich really live like rich people. In India I think they are more afraid of the income tax authorities, so they hide their wealth. But in Pakistan they don’t seem to be afraid. So I mean he had this palace. It was really like a palace and a huge lawn and garden and Karachi is really hot during the summer and this was during the summer. So the performance was scheduled from about I think from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. That was the only time it was cool enough to gather together. So anyway the man performed and there were all these aristocratic Pakistani ladies and gentlemen and as he was performing people would come up and some of the women actually gave some of their jewelry and of course many people gave money and it reminded me of how when Krishna played His flute, the peacocks would offer their feathers to Him in appreciation, that was the tradition. 

So then the man invited us to sing which was really a special opportunity and I had the idea –Oh that is another thing, that the ghazals and yes, geet and ghazals. It is a form of song I don’t know technically but it takes the guise of a love song but the esoteric explanation is that the songs actually describes the devotees’ love for the Lord but on one level they can be seen as mundane love song but actually they are meant to be love songs to the Lord. But anyway there was a Sindhi poet. He is like the most popular Sindhi poet and some scholar said like what Shakespeare is to English, (?) is to German, he is to Sindhi and he lived around the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, may be a little after. He is said to have been a vegetarian and he definitely lived with sadhus in Vraja. So he has written many poems about Vraja and about the flute and so anyway just had the idea we should sing jaya Radha-Madhava. Like Prabhupada said it gives the whole picture of Vrindavan and so we did and the people loved it. The people really loved it and they also came up and gave a little offering to us. So it is like sort of like love of God is a universal language which transcends all different cultures and linguistic differences and they were hearing about the glories of Radha and Madhava in Karachi and relishing it. That is Srimati Radharani’s mercy, pleasure potency.

Sarvatma: Now we will have the other song by Her grace Kunti devi dasi

Kunti: It is really very easy. I just wanted to tell you why we are singing this song. For anyone who ever visited Vrindavan or lived in Vrindavan you may remember that sometimes all night long the Brijbasis will sing this very simple songs sort of start slowly and then sometimes I remember I would wake up in the middle of the night and they would still be going and then wake up the next morning and they would still be singing the same song. Somehow I guess just sort of form an impression in my mind and stayed there——Sometimes we like to sing this at home. Amara dhāma means Srimati Radharani is mine, my wealth. Jīvan dhāma means Srimati Radharani is my life. Parna dhāma means She is my supreme goal and prana dhāma means She is also my life, my life air, my everything. So although I can’t say that exactly about myself but that is the meaning of the words. Very simple, you will pick it up as we sing along and I certainly can’t do justice to it either musically or devotionally but we will just go along and sing it.