SB 2.3.23 – Sri Radhastami—Morning Talk

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

We welcome you to this auspicious observance of Sri Radhastami, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani who is the pleasure potency of Lord Krishna and the best devotee of Lord Krishna. Srila Prabhupada explains that no one can enjoy happiness alone. To experience happiness one needs other people. He gave the example that he is speaking in the temple room and it is relishable because there are devotees in the temple. If he were to come into the temple room at midnight and speak to an empty room it would not be so relishable. So Krishna also, to enjoy spiritual bliss—of course He is always situated in spiritual bliss—but to increase His spiritual bliss, He expanded Himself into others. Eko bahu syām: the one became many. 

And His first expansion on the side of His energy—He expands on both sides, viṣṇu-tattva, the energetic and śakti-tattva, the energy—and the first expansion on the side of the energy is Srimati Radharani. There are basically three energies which correspond to the three qualities of Godhead or the three qualities of spiritual existence, sat, cit, and ānanda: eternity or existence, knowledge, and bliss. So the sandhinī potency of existence is represented by Lord Balarama, saṁvit or the energy of cognizance is Krishna Himself, and hlādinī or the pleasure giving potency is Srimati Radharani. She gives Krishna pleasure and the pleasure that the devotees feel in devotional service is also from Srimati Radharani. 

And from Srimati Radharani, just as Krishna has so many expansions and expansions of expansions, Srimati Radharani does as well. Her direct expansions begin with the aṣṭa-sakhīs, the eight gopīs, friends of Radha and Krishna, beginning with Lalita whose appearance day is two days before Radhastami, and Visakha, and their maidservants Rupa-mañjarī, Rati-mañjarī, they are also expansions of Srimati Radharani, but in a different category. And then the queens of Dvaraka, they are also expanded from Srimati Radharani beginning with Queen Rukmini and Lakshmis in Vaikuntha associated with Lord Narayana and other forms of the Lord, they are also expanded from Srimati Radharani.

Srimati Radharani is known especially for two personal qualities and the two go together. The first is Her pure desire to serve and please Krishna. She has no other desire. Whatever will please Krishna is Her goal. There is a beautiful verse in one of Rupa Gosvami’s plays, Lalita-Madhava and Vidagdha-mādhava, in which Srimati Radharani says that when She dies—of course She never dies. In Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan all of the devotees are in the mood of being ordinary human beings. That is the special feature of Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan. They are called nara-līlā or humanlike pastimes—but She is feeling that without Krishna She cannot live. But She wants to serve Krishna and please Krishna so She tells one of Her friends that when She dies She wants the earth element in Her body to merge with the earth and become the soft dirt that Krishna walks on. And she wants the water element in Her body to merge with the waters of the Yamuna so that when Krishna sports in the waters of the Yamuna, She will be able to serve Him. And in this way She goes through all of the elements, how She wants them to be engaged in Krishna’s service even after Her death. And sometimes she would think, “Although I cannot live in separation from Krishna. I would rather die,” but then She thinks that, “If I died Krishna would be unhappy, so I cannot die, because I cannot make Krishna unhappy.”

The other prominent quality in Srimati Radharani is Her compassion. Her heart is always melted in love for Krishna and also in feelings of compassion for all living beings. There is a story of a jackal who visited Radha-kunda or resided near Radha-kunda. Jackals are considered very lowly creatures. Even amongst dogs or animals like dogs they are considered very lowly. Sometimes if we want to praise someone, we say that they are as powerful as a lion or as majestic as an elephant, regal as an elephant, or if we want to praise their eyes, they have eyes like a fish (minaksi) or eyes like a doe. But we never hear of anyone—even a dog, faithful like a dog—but we never hear of anyone praising someone by comparing them to a jackal. So, this jackal resided near Radha-kunda and some boys, to have fun, were throwing stones at the jackal and creating a lot of misery for that creature. So that creature ran to take shelter of its hole or home. And so the boys, they covered the hole with straw and then they set fire to it thinking that the heat would force the jackal out of the hole and they could have more fun.

So the jackal was feeling the heat. It couldn’t stay in the hole. It was crying piteously. It tried to escape and it caught fire and it was screaming piteously. Srimati Radharani heard the cries of the jackal and She sent one of Her girlfriends, “Just find out that creature and bring that creature to Me.” So Her girlfriend went and saw that jackal and brought the jackal before Srimati Radharani and the jackal put its head on Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet and She began to pat, stroke that jackal, and She blessed that jackal with love of Godhead.

So this is an example of Her compassionate nature even on the most lowly of creatures with no qualification whatsoever to approach Her. She manifests that compassionate nature always. Even when She is in Her own mood of intense separation from Krishna, She is thinking of the welfare of others. This is very striking. Sometimes when we are distressed we don’t want to be bothered by others. Srila Prabhupada used to give the example of some big man in India, maybe he was one of the freedom fighters, and someone came to see him and he said, “I cannot see you; I am very much disturbed.” But Srimati Radharani, She may be in the throes of most intense feelings of separation for Krishna, but still She is thinking of others, the welfare of others, how She can do good for them.

For us fallen souls in the material world, Her compassion is very important because we are in need of mercy. And to the extent that we cry out to Her like the jackal—but we cry out through chanting the maha-mantra. Hare in the maha-mantra is Radharani, the form of addressing Radharani—then Her heart will melt. It is already melted but it will melt even more and She will show mercy upon us.

In The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada writes that because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead it is difficult to approach to Him, but He has a compassionate side to Him also and that compassionate side is represented by Srimati Radharani and therefore we can approach Krishna through His compassionate side, through Srimati Radharani. And we do that when we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. As Srila Prabhupada said, it is like the genuine cry of a child for its mother, “O Mother Hara, please help me in attaining the grace of Krishna.”

So today I thought to read a verse from the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service.”

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 23

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ

na jātu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu

śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ

śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

TRANSLATION

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts. There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti

na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā

na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair

vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam

“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.

COMMENT

When we consider where we are and where Krishna is, there is a big difference. Of course, as the Paramātmā He is in our heart, but as the Supreme Personality enjoying His pastimes in the spiritual world, He is far away in the sense that He is completely pure and we can approach Him only if we are pure as well. And as we discussed, of all of the lovers of Krishna, Srimati Radharani’s love is the purest. She has no thought for Her own personal happiness. Whatever She does is for Krishna’s pleasure. So we aspire for that kind of purity.

Once I had a dream in which Srila Prabhupada told me, “You must be mad for Krishna.” I mentioned that to His Holiness Radhanath Swami and Radhanath Swami became very serious and he said, “You cannot become mad for Krishna unless you are very, very pure.” So that is our goal, but that requires purification and mercy. The method of purification and simultaneously the method by which we get mercy is to serve the Lord’s devotee. As Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Ādi Purāṇa “Those who claim to be My devotees are not actually My devotees, but those who are the devotees of My devotees, they are the actual devotees.” 

So one becomes a pure devotee by serving a pure devotee who in turn has served a pure devotee who in turn has served a pure devotee and that is the paramparā system. That compassion of Srimati Radharani is conveyed to us through the disciplic succession. Srila Prabhupada certainly exhibited that compassion, otherwise why would he have left India—not just India, Vrindavan—why would he have left Vrindavan to come to New York City and then San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles? It was out of compassion. Generally people in their old age aspire to retire to Vrindavan, but Srila Prabhupada in his old age left Vrindavan and he actually felt distress that people were not leaving Vrindavan. They just wanted to enjoy Vrindavan or derive their own personal benefit from Vrindavan. 

In 1990, there was a Khumba-mela in Nasik. Apart from the famous Khumba-mela in Allahabad there is also a Khumba-mela in Nasik and Ujjain and different places. So when I was in Nasik, someone said, “There is a very saintly person, very advanced devotee and he likes ISKCON devotees and you should visit him.” So I went to visit him. His name was Dina Bandhu Maharaja and Dina Bandhu Maharaja told me a very interesting story that he knew Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavan before Srila Prabhupada went to America. When Prabhupada was preparing to leave he told him, “You should not leave Vrindavan. This is not good that you are leaving Vrindavan. You should stay in Vrindavan. You can teach shastra and practice. You should not leave Vrindavan.”

Of course Prabhupada did leave and came to the west and preached and then eventually he returned to India with some of his disciples from America and Europe. So the devotees arranged a little program for him in Nasik which is not far from Bombay. There was a press conference and Dina Bandhu Maharaja got news that Prabhupada had come to Nasik and he went to meet him. Prabhupada said, “Maharaja, you told me never to leave Vrindavan. What are you doing in Nasik?” And he said, “My guru maharaja had an ashram in Nasik and he needed someone to look after it so he requested me to come to Nasik. So out of obedience to the order of my guru I left Vrindavan and came to Nasik.” So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh, so now you understand.” He said, “Yes, now I understand.” So yes, Prabhupada’s mercy and compassion is coming from Srimati Radharani. 

One devotee shared a very nice realization that he feels that Srila Prabhupada’s books are sprinkled with compassion and mercy from Radharani through Srila Prabhupada. That ocean of mercy, some of that ocean of mercy in Srimati Radharani’s heart has been placed in Srila Prabhupada’s heart through paramparā, and that comes through the books, and therefore when we give people Srila Prabhupada’s books we are actually giving them Srimati Radharani’s love and compassion through paramparā. Of course the contents of the book have the ability to transform, to touch people’s hearts and transform their lives. 

Another devotee mentioned that he received a letter from Srila Prabhupada saying that if someone just touches his books, one of his books, they will make advancement. They don’t even have to read it; they just have to touch it. So one or two days after receiving the letter the devotee was doing book distribution and a man gave him a very nice donation and the devotee wanted to give him a book in reciprocation. He said, “No, I don’t want to read your books. I like you people, I like what you are doing, that is why I gave the donation, but I don’t want any of your books.” And the devotee was saying, “Just take it, just take it.” “No, I’ve given because I like you people. I don’t want your books.” So it went on like that. Then the devotee remembered the letter and then he told the man, “Well then, just touch the book.” So the man said, “Well look, I don’t want your books, I want to help you, I like you, but I don’t want your books. But okay, if you want me to touch it, I will touch it.” So he touched the book and walked away. Three steps later he turned around and came back. He said, “I will take that book.” These books are not ordinary; they are not just ink and paper. It is Radharani’s mercy through paramparā, through Srila Prabhupada.

One could say much more. We will be meeting again in the evening and discussing more but if any of you have any comments or questions now, you can say.

Devotee: Can you explain why in Vrindavan there is the form of human beings?

Giriraj Swami: He is asking about Vrindavan, why in Vrindavan the devotees have humanlike forms. In the spiritual sky there are many Vaikuntha planets in which the predominating Deities are Lakshmi-Narayana. They have four hands. And there is also a planet of Nṛsiṁhadeva, Lakshmi Nṛsiṁha. There is even a planet of Lord Jagannatha. But in those planets the mood of awe and reverence predominates. They have pure love but they have an awareness of the Lord’s majesty, His opulence. And because of that awareness called aiśvarya-jnana there is a barrier to intimacy, naturally. But as Srila Prabhupada explains and as our acharyas explain, sometimes Krishna wants to forget that He is God. 

Srila Prabhupada told the story of Gladstone, the prime minister of England, that once a big man came to see him and his secretary said, “Please wait, the prime minister is engaged.” And the big man was waiting and waiting and getting a little impatient, so he just opened the door a bit to look in and there he saw the prime minister Gladstone on his hands and knees on the floor and his grandchild was riding on his back. He had become like a horse for his grandchild. So Srila Prabhupada told this story to illustrate the fact that a big person out of affection and love likes to enjoy with his dear ones and forget that he is the prime minister. So Krishna also, He likes to enjoy with His dear ones in Vrindavan. That grandchild wasn’t thinking, “Oh, this is the prime minister of England.” If the grandchild was thinking, “This is the prime minister of England,” he could never ride on his back, pull his ear, or whatever else he did.

So to facilitate that intimacy, yoga-māyā which is an energy of Krishna, makes the devotees forget that Krishna is God. They know He is God but yoga-māyā makes them forget that He is God and Krishna also forgets. By the influence of yoga-māyā Krishna also forgets. This is an intricate topic but it is actually very interesting but we won’t go too deeply into it right now. 

So that is the idea in Vrindavan, nara-līlā, everyone is enchanted by yoga-māyā. The mahā-maya, maya of the material world makes us forget Krishna but yoga-māyā helps the devotees to love Krishna more by forgetting that He is God and that is the nature of Vrindavan.

Just one little detail, there is another Vrindavan, say portion of Vrindavan called Goloka where the same forms exist—Radharani, Krishna, the gopīs, the cowherd boys, Govardhana Hill, the Yamuna River—but there is an awareness of Krishna’s majesty. So the forms are just like the Vrindavan where the sweet mood prevails. The forms are the same but the mood is different. The mood is like Vaikuntha, of awe and reverence. So to enter the Vrindavan where sweetness prevails, where there is that complete intimacy, one has to aspire for the mood of those residents of Vrindavan and then one can serve Krishna in that mood of intimacy.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja. Radharani wants to bring more devotees to bring pleasure to Krishna and similarly in that saṅkīrtana mood when the devotees go out and reach out to the conditioned souls, and we hear stories as you were telling us of saṅkīrtana, the interaction of the people [who don’t even know Krishna?], can you mention something about that? 

I would say that the compassionate mood is Radharani’s. This saṅkīrtana movement, like Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His devotees are engaged trying to reach out. Is that kind of similar?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I see what you are saying. Yes, that is true that Srimati Radharani’s mood is that She always wants to make arrangements for the other gopīs to be with Krishna and the other gopīs want to make arrangements for Her to be with Krishna. So when devotees go on saṅkīrtana, they are trying to bring people to Krishna. Like Radharani, She wants to arrange for the other gopīs to be with Krishna. So the saṅkīrtana devotees are also trying to arrange for people to come to Krishna. That is true. 

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna in the mood of Radharani. That means He has the same mood of compassion as Srimati Radharani. So, yes, He definitely came because He wanted to bring people to Krishna and we are assisting Him, we are assisting Srila Prabhupada, so we are assisting Srimati Radharani. That is a very nice thought. We are.

Rasasundari dasi: Could you explain a little bit about the dust of the lotus feet of a devotee, how we should understand it correctly?

Giriraj Swami: This verse mentions the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee— bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ—and the verse quoted from the Fifth Canto also has a similar, mahat-pāda-rajo—’bhiṣekam. Is the dust literal or figurative? Yes, it is both.

The verse from the Bhāgavatam says that the person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. That means he has no life. Life is devotional service. The life of the living being is devotional service so without devotional service he is dead. Bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya: without bhakti whatever one does is just like the decoration of a dead body.

So the same question that Maharaja Rahugana asked to Jada Bharata, the same question was asked by Hiraṇyakaśipu so Prahlada because Prahlada became a great devotee and Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted him to be a big demon. When he found that Prahlada had become a devotee he accused the boy’s teachers of subverting his intentions and the teachers said, “You are accusing us wrongly. We have not told him anything about Vishnu to make him favorable to Vishnu or Vishnu-bhakti.” Then he said, “Well, you have allowed Vaishnavas to come in disguise and infiltrate the school.” And they said, “No, we haven’t. We’ve been very careful.” So then he said, ‘Well then, how has he become a devotee?” And they said, “We don’t know. You better ask him.” So he asked Prahlada and Prahlada said that, “I have not become a devotee by my own efforts.” And then he said, “I have not become a devotee by the efforts of others.” And then he said, “I have not become a devotee by the combined efforts of myself and others.” It seems that logically there is no way he could have become a devotee. And then he the same thing: mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat, that the only way one can become a devotee is if he smears his body with the dust from the lotus feet of a pure devotee. And that seemed impossible for Prahlada because he was isolated from devotees but he did have the association of vāṇī, of the instructions of Narada Muni when he was in the womb. 

So in that sense it can be taken as figurative. The dust of the lotus feet means the instructions of the pure devotee. But it can also be literal: bhakta-pada-dhūli āra bhakta-pada-jala. Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that three substances are very powerful, bhakta-pada-dhūli: the dust from a pure devotee, bhakta-pada-jala: the water that is washed the feet of a pure devotee, and bhakta-bhukta-avaśeṣa: the remnants of the food eaten by a pure devotee. These are very powerful substances and they can awaken bhakti in the heart of one who gets them.

Srila Prabhupada explains that Prahlada was telling Hiraṇyakaśipu indirectly that, “You don’t have to worry about becoming a devotee because you are too proud, you will never bow down to the lotus feet of a pure devotee. So you don’t have to worry about becoming a devotee. You are safe.” 

So, yes, that is very important and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself said, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ: [become] the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopīs. So we should have that humble feeling and we should see that we can get mercy from any devotee, we can get benefit from any devotee. Not that, “It says a pure devotee. Now I don’t know. Let me take out my pure devotee gauge and let me attach it and see is this a pure devotee or not.” Prabhupada also said that anyone who sincerely is serving the spiritual master, anyone who is surrendered to the spiritual master is considered a pure devotee. So we should in any case give the devotee the benefit of the doubt—and certainly that is Radharani’s mood—and try to serve them all and take their dust and get their mercy.

Devotee: Thank for that very wonderful class. I have a question about nara-līlā [unclear?]

Giriraj Swami: She says that she has a problem with the nara-līlā because it almost seems that Krishna is taking the example of human beings to pattern His. . . there is another way of thinking. As Prabhupada would quote the bible, “Man is created in the image of God.” Like, I don’t know now, but in the old days, atheists would say. . . We imagine God to be like a human being because we are human but it is the opposite, man is created in the image of God. We have humanlike forms because in His original form God does.

But, yes, the human form is significant, because in the human form we can realize God. But that is the original and we are patterned after that. The human form is patterned after Krishna’s form in Vrindavan, not the other way around. But the Bhāgavatam says, anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ, that out of special mercy for human beings, the Lord descends in a humanlike form because we can relate to that form more easily. So that is true, He does that. Out of mercy upon His devotees, He assumes the humanlike form to attract them to His service. So it does work that way too. But the original is Krishna. That came before us. But He descends with that out of mercy for us in particular because we have human bodies.

Gauda-candra dasa: Also mentions that Krishna takes different forms amongst different living entities. [unclear]

Giriraj Swami: He appears as a fish (Matsya), He appears as a tortoise (Kurma), He appears as a boar (Varahadeva), half man and half lion (Nṛsiṁha). Sometimes creatures in lower species can get the mercy of the Lord or the devotee like the jackal got the mercy of Srimati Radharani. So, not wanting to speculate too much, but it could be that a living entity in a body of a boar, if that living entity happened to see the boar incarnation, it might feel some special attraction, and that would help that living entity’s spiritual progress.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja, for your class. Srila Prabhupada said that even if a dog in the home of a devotee hears hari-kathā, the living soul will make benefit just by hearing.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is true, the soul within everybody can get the benefit of hearing the holy name, hearing the discussions of Krishna and Radha and the devotees. Like Prahlada, he was in the womb, he didn’t have a fully developed body but he was able to hear and he got the benefit. So we should do loud hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and benefit all the living entities and that would definitely be an expression of Lord Chaitanya’s and Srila Prabhupada’s and Srimati Radharani’s mood.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.