The Glories of Srimati Radharani—Giriraj Swami, Giridhari Swami, Rtadhvaja Swami

Giriraj Swami: One thing I learned from His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami’s clear thinking and strong speaking class was “Don’t speak because you have to say something, but speak because you have something to say.” [laughter] What I have on my mind to say now relates to a discussion we had earlier in the day, which was not completed at the time because of the abhiseka, which was wonderful. So, I thought I would speak a little on the question that was asked about different devotees not diverting their attention to any form besides Krishna. And what I was saying was that everyone has a natural attraction, eventually, when we are liberated, at least free from anarthas pretty much, we will have a natural attraction to a particular form of the Lord, and whatever the form is, the person would be most satisfied in his relationship with that particular form and in his or her particular relationship.

And then about separation. There is a pastime that took place at Prema Sarovara. How many of you have been to Vrindavan? And how many have been to Prema Sarovara? Well, Prema Sarovara is on the way to Varshana. And in this sacred place, Srimati Radharani and Krishna were sitting next to each other. And in fact, Krishna had His divine arm around the transcendental body of Srimati Radharani. Now, of course, we know that Krishna’s body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss, and Srimati Radharani, she is also mahābhāva-svarūpāni, she is the personification of mahā-bhāva, her whole body, her whole existence is mahā-bhāva, which is the highest extreme of ecstatic pure love for Krishna.

So, while they were embracing, a bumblebee came around, perhaps mistaking Radharani for a lotus flower, and was looking for some nectar. But Madhumangala, Krishna’s brahman friend, could see that this bee was hovering around and disturbing Srimati Radharani. So, he took a stick and shooed the bee away. And when he had done so, he returned and said that, “The Madhu is gone and will never come back.” So, Madhu can refer to a bee, and also to Krishna. And when Srimati Radharani heard these words that, “The Madhu has gone away and will never return,” She thought of Krishna. And although She was in Krishna’s embrace, She was plunged into an extraordinarily deep mood of separation from Krishna and nothing could get Her out of it and She was crying and crying and crying. And Krishna, seeing Radharani in such a state, also began to cry, and Their tears made a pond, that is Prema Sarovara, made of Their love in the form of Their tears. So, later Krishna considered this issue of separation, that as long as He is personally present in Vrindavan, residents of Vrindavan are always filled with a fear of separation from Him. And He considered that association with Him does not depend on physical association, and that if He left Vrindavan, then His devotees would not be preoccupied with that thought of His ‘physical or personal’ presence or absence, but they could associate with Him internally. And soon after the pastime in which Krishna killed Aristasura, as you may know, Kamsa sent Akrura to bring Krishna and Balarama to Mathura. And while leaving, Krishna assured the gopīs, “I shall return,” but apparently, Krishna did not return.

So, learned scholars have raised the question, “What does this mean? Was He incapable of keeping His promise, or was He a liar who gave His word without any intention of fulfilling it?” And the acharyas answer, “No, it is not that He was incapable of fulfilling His promise or that He gave a false promise.” This is explained in the Kṛṣṇa book, and they explained that Krishna was always present in Vrindavan in His bhāva expansion. He was invisible in one sense, but in another sense, He was present. And later, when Krishna sent Uddhava to deliver His message of consolation to Srimati Radharani and the gopīs and all the residents of Vrindavan, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes a scene that is very joyful. The women are churning butter and singing songs about Krishna, and the cows are playing and frolicking, and everyone is very happy and joyful, just like when Krishna was there. And then, when he arrives in Vrindavan, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes a very different scene, that the devotees are almost dead in separation, they are not eating, they are not bathing, they are not putting on fresh cloth, they are hardly maintaining their bodies and souls together.

And so, the acharyas explain that there are two manifestations of Vrindavan, two dimensions. And in one, Krishna is there in that bhāva expansion, vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya padam ekaṁ na gacchati, Krishna does not take one step out of Vrindavan. And in the other, the devotees are externally experiencing the symptoms of separation from Krishna. So, it is a lesson for us, an indication for us that when our feelings of separation are strong enough, they bring us to the point of meeting, if not externally then internally. And there is very nice verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in which one gopī says to another, looking at the beauty of Krishna and Balarama. . . Of course, their real interest was Krishna. Yes, Balarama was the older brother, but their romantic interest was in Krishna, but they had to be very careful of what they said because they were trying to hide their feelings for Krishna because such feelings were considered not just inappropriate but unconscionable because they were already married, or else they were unmarried and under the protection of their elders. So, to cover their special interest in Krishna, they would talk about the beauty of Krishna and Balarama. And so, one gopī said to the others, describing Their beauty, that, “There is no greater object of vision.” We might have got a little sense of that when we saw the deities, Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, “There is no greater object of vision.”

And Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains the purport, which is that, “Why are we staying at home worrying about what our parents or husbands or mothers-in-law or sisters-in-law will think or say or do? There is no higher object of vision than Krishna or Krishna and Balarama. So, we should go, we should not worry about all these things, we should just go.” Sometimes we also have these dualities. We want to go to the temple, we want to go to Vrindavan, but our duties, our spouses, our parents, our children, “Should I, shouldn’t I?” So, the gopīs were also perturbed by such questions, of course, on a very high transcendental level. And this is a very intricate topic. It is actually too intricate; not too intricate for you to understand, but just too intricate to discuss in our limited time. But in short, when their feelings of separation were too strong or their desire was too strong, they actually did leave their homes to meet Krishna. But by the arrangement of yoga-māyā, a duplicate body was left at home so none of their relatives got upset. Otherwise, if their relatives knew that they had left home, spent the night with Krishna, they would not have been welcomed back. But because of this special arrangement, they were able to spend the night with Krishna and come back because to the vision of their family members, they had been at home.

So, this is also an art. Of course, again, that is on a different level, but this is also an art how to fulfill our desires to serve Krishna and Radharani and not upset our family members too much or a little bit. Of course, people are always getting upset anyway, whether you go to Krishna or don’t go to Krishna, people get upset with us. Might not like the way we squeeze the toothpaste, there is always going to be some issue. [laughter] So, we can’t avoid the issues. But still, we want a relatively peaceful, stable, secure environment in which to practice Krishna consciousness. And so, we have to learn how to serve Krishna, fulfill our desire, which is really Krishna’s desire, Mahaprabhu’s desire, Nityananda Prabhu’s desire, Prabhupada’s desire, that we serve Krishna, but at the same time maintain a relatively peaceful situation at home. Of course, Krishna has His own plan for each of us. Radharani’s mercy will manifest in the lives of each of us in different ways, we have to be open to that but that is the general idea. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: His Holiness Giridhari Swami, you might have noticed a similarity in our names. Giridhari means the lifter of the Giri, Govardhana Hill, and Giriraj means the Hill. [laughter] So, in case you don’t know, I am actually being held up by Giridhari Swami, [applause] and he has ordered me to continue speaking.

So, coming back to this question of separation, which is so much Radharani’s mood and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mood. When we talk about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu coming in the mood of Radharani, it is mainly in the mood of separation. In the Gambira, in His room in Jagannatha Puri, how He was experiencing extreme feelings of separation from Krishna, that was actually Radharani’s mood of separation from Krishna. And in fact, when Krishna left the rasa dance. . . How many of you have read Kṛṣṇa book? Every devotee should read Kṛṣṇa book. In fact, even if you are not a devotee, you should read Kṛṣṇa book, then you will become a devotee.

So, you know that Krishna played on His flute, stood under the Vamsivata tree near the Yamuna River and played on His flute. And the sound of Krishna’s flute is actually one of His messengers. In Vrindavan, there are messengers or duties because there is so much concealment in Vrindavan because of parakīya-rasa. So, one of Krishna’s messengers or duties is His flute, the sound of His flute. And so, when He played upon His flute, He was sending a personal message to each and every gopikā, calling them to be with Him, telling them where He was and how much He was missing them and how much He needed them. So, each one got this personal invitation from Krishna, unaware that other gopīs were also going to meet Him. And so, they rushed to Vamsivata, and Krishna reciprocated with them. But then, after some time, He left them, and they were all plunged into separation.

So, when the gopīs were looking for Krishna, they saw that there were two pairs of footprints, and then they understood that Krishna was not alone but that He had gone away with some other gopī. And in the transcendental arrangements or parakīya-rasa in Vrindavan, Radharani has Her rival named Chandravali. So, Radharani has Her gopīs who are attached to Her, and Candravali has her gopīs who are attached to her. So, when the gopīs in Radharani’s camp saw that, “Oh, Krishna is with Radha,” they were very happy. So, they were in a hurry to catch up to Radha and Krishna so they could assist the divine couple in Their pastimes. And the others, they weren’t so happy. But then Krishna, He also left Radharani. It is all described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Kṛṣṇa book, how Radharani told Krishna, “You can take me wherever you like.”

Now, this is very different from Radharani’s usual mood because among the gopīs. . . So, there are two general moods among the gopīs. One is vāmya-bhāva, which means left-wing, and the other is dakṣiṇā-bhāva, which means right-wing. So, in vāmya-bhāva, the leader is Radharani. Radharani and Her associates, they believe that Krishna is more pleased when they are contrary to His wishes. And Candravali and her supporters believe that they should please Krishna or devotee should please Krishna by doing what Krishna asks. So, in this context, vāmya means contrary, and dakṣiṇā means favorable. Therefore, we give dakṣiṇā to sadhus so that they will be favorable to us or so that we will remain favorable to them. So transcendentally, Radharani is in that vāmya-bhāva of contrariness. And in the science of rasa, mādhurya-rasa, the rasa increases when there is contrariness. So, when Radharani told Krishna, “You can take me wherever you like,” Krishna thought, “What is this? She is agreeing? She never agrees.” And for the rasa to be strong, one of the parties has to disagree. So, Krishna thought, Well, if she is not going to be contrary, then I will have to be contrary. And so, He left her, He disappeared. And so, eventually, all the gopīs, all the different groups of gopīs who Krishna had called with His flute, they came upon Srimati Radharani in such intense separation that they had never seen. (Break in audio)

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, when the other gopīs, even the rival gopīs, saw Radharani in such extreme separation, they felt sympathetic toward her. That is also part of mādhurya-rasa, and in a way, it is just part of any devotee’s heart to feel sympathy. So, all the gopīs, even the rivals, they felt sympathetic toward Srimati Radharani, and then they all, together, as one group, united, began to look for Krishna. And when their separation reached the highest level, Krishna appeared before them again.

And this was one of Krishna’s inner motives, that initially, He had called all the gopīs individually through His flute, but when they got there, different gopīs were having different thoughts that, “Oh, that one, you called that one too? And that one? And that group is there? And that group is there?” So, they were not united, and there was some, you could say, transcendental envy or jealousy. But Krishna, in this particular case, He had other pastimes with select groups, but in this particular case, He wanted all the gopīs to be united. And so, He left them with Radharani. And then, when He left Radharani and they saw how extreme Her separation was, which means how deep Her love and attachment for Krishna was, they felt sympathetic for Her and they also felt, “None of us has such feelings for Krishna as she has,” they accepted it. And then, all those feelings were gone and all the gopīs were united as one group.

And then, together they sang out their songs of separation. And again, when their saṅkīrtana, this is saṅkīrtana, altogether calling out to Krishna, singing the glories of Krishna. When their saṅkīrtana reached that stage of separation with tears of love for Krishna, Krishna reappeared. This is also an instruction how we can attract Krishna through saṅkīrtana, all together, united, but with love, in feelings of separation. So, the gopīs felt that when Krishna reappeared it was as if their lives had come back into their bodies, but still, some of the gopīs harbored some feeling that, “We left everything to come to Krishna in the middle of the night, the dead of night, and Krishna left us, He didn’t reciprocate properly.” So, there was some discussion, and as I mentioned in the morning, Krishna gave the example that when a rich man loses his money, he might take it for granted when he has it, but when he loses it, he thinks of it all the time. So, Krishna gave that example, and in effect, He said that, “I know your hearts innermost desire, your innermost desire is to increase your love for Me. So, by My separating Myself from you, I was actually reciprocating with your deepest desire to increase your love for Me.” Jaya Sri Krishna. [laughter]

Giridhari Swami: Jaya Radhe

Giriraj Swami: But it doesn’t end there. [laughter] It doesn’t end there because the nature of the gopīs’ love and Srimati Radharani’s love for Krishna is that it is always increasing. He doesn’t have to do anything to make it increase, it is always increasing. So, what was the real reason? So, in the end, Krishna admits that, “Actually, I am unable to repay My debt to you.” In other words, He admitted, “I can’t reciprocate. What you have done for Me; I cannot do for you.” And so, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He showed us the confidential feelings of Radharani, and as Krishna, He felt separation just like Radharani felt.

And so, just one last pastime, very sweet pastime. In Vrindavan, there is a place called Imlitala. How many of you have been to Imlitala? Yes, Imlitala is a tree. So, when Krishna left Radharani, in separation, She rested at that tree, and She was so absorbed in thoughts of Krishna that Her body turned śyāma, became blackish. Later, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Vrindavan in the mood of Radharani feeling separation from Krishna, but with the complexion of Radharani, He also came to the same place, to the same tree, and in the mood of intense separation from Krishna, one of the times Krishna became white. [laughter] The first time Krishna went, and thinking of Radharani, He turned white, whitish, Gauri and then the second time as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the mood of Radharani, He turned śyāma. Of course, we have Radha-Kalachandji. There are ISKCON temples where Krishna is whitish; Juhu, Radha-Rasabihari. But there is a form of Krishna at Imlitala, feeling separation from Radharani, where He was so absorbed in thoughts of Her that He turned Gauri. And then when He came as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu feeling separation from Krishna, He turned śyāma

Anyway, whatever good I have said, it is my credit, and whatever bad I have said, it is His Holiness Giridhari Swami’s fault because he told me to speak. [laughter] Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna. [applause] Haribol! Haribol!