BG 9.13 – Sri Radhastami—Second Talk

Giriraj Swami: We welcome you to the auspicious celebration of Sri Radhastami. Srimati Radharani is the first expansion of Krishna on the side of His energy or shakti. She is the antaraṅga-śakti, the internal potency, or the hlādinī-śakti, the pleasure potency. And from Her all the other gopīs in Vrindavan proceed, all the queens in Dvaraka come from Her, all the Lakshmis, the eternal consorts of Lord Narayana and Vaikuntha proceed from Her. She is the source of all of them, and She is very merciful. As we discussed earlier, She is the tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the Supreme whole, Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada says that because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead it is very difficult to approach Him, but we can easily approach Him through Srimati Radharani because She is easy to approach. She represents the compassionate nature of Krishna, and She is the dear most beloved of Krishna. Whatever She offers to Krishna will be accepted by Krishna. And therefore, Srila Prabhupada said if we want to offer a flower to Krishna, we may not be able to do so, we cannot approach Krishna, we don’t have any qualification, but if we offer the flower to Srimati Radharani and She offers it to Krishna, then Krishna will certainly accept it.

So today I thought to read a verse from the Bhagavad-gītā which indicates how we in our status can take shelter of Srimati Radharani. So, we read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Nine,

TEXT 13

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha

daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ

bhajanty ananya-manaso

jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

TRANSLATION

O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this verse the description of the mahātmā is clearly given. The first sign of the mahātmā is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this effected? That is explained in the Seventh Chapter: one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, at once becomes freed from the control of material nature. That is the qualification. One can become free from the control of material nature as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the preliminary formula. Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature, he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature. The guidance of the spiritual nature is called daivī prakṛti, divine nature. So when one is promoted in that way – by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead – one attains to the stage of great soul, mahātmā.

COMMENT

So this daivī prakṛti is Srimati Radharani and we can become mahatmas by taking shelter of Her, of the daivī prakṛti, but not directly, but by taking shelter of a mahatma who has taken shelter of a mahatma who has taken shelter of a mahatma ultimately to a mahatma who has taken direct shelter of Srimati Radharani.

In perhaps December of 1976, I arranged a program for Srila Prabhupada at Birla House on Mount Pleasant Road in Bombay. The Birla family was the richest in India, one of the richest in the world, Srila Prabhupada said no one can measure their wealth. So I met Mrs. Birla and I presented a list of possible topics for Srila Prabhupada’s talk knowing that he could talk on any subject, and she chose the topic, “How to be successful?” So I thought, The Birlas and their associates are by ordinary standards already most successful. So when she chose that I thought, They are not satisfied, they are not satisfied with their success, they want to be more successful. But that is okay so we accepted that topic.

And when Srila Prabhupada came, he gave a very interesting definition of success. He said that in the material world we are under the control of the material energy who is personified as Durga. Durga rides on a lion and she carries a trident, a triśūla, with which she pierces the conditioned souls, that is us, with the threefold miseries of material life. There are three kinds of miseries that we are all subjected to, practically all the time: Adhyātmika, miseries pertaining to the body and mind, we know, well our bodies always give us trouble and our minds certainly also always give us trouble.

I always wanted to do good for people, to help people, so when I was a high school student I became the president of the future doctors’ association because I thought by being a doctor I could alleviate people’s suffering. But when I got to college, I found that there were people who weren’t suffering physically but were suffering mentally terribly. I had one friend, in retrospect I guess he was suffering from depression but he was really suffering, so then I became a psychology major. I thought I could relieve people’s suffering in that way. And fortunately, the Department of Psychology at my university, Brandeis, was very progressive. And the chairman of the department was Abraham Maslow and he had a different view of psychology from what had been the main schools of psychology up until then. In the behaviorism which studied rats, stimulus and response, and psychoanalysis which studied diseased people. 

It is a big topic, but to make a long story short, the Department of Psychology invited Srila Prabhupada to give a lecture in the auditorium of the department, and that was the first time I saw Srila Prabhupada, and that was really a turning point. So, when I met the devotees I very quickly learned about paramparā, that you can’t just be like a self-made guru. Before then I was a seeker, so I was reading different books, spiritual books, and one of them, Autobiography of a Yogi, the yogi had his guru, his guru had his guru, his guru had his guru, and that guru began in a cave, he didn’t have a guru, it just began with him. So that is not paramparā, paramparā starts with Krishna, He is the original spiritual master and perfect knowledge descends from Him through paramparā, and our service is offered to Him through paramparā. So paramparā is very important. And all the acharyas in the line are mahatmas which means that they are all under the protection of the divine energy of Srimati Radharani.

So coming back to Srila Prabhupada’s talk at Birla House. He said that. . . Because the topic was how to be successful, he gave the definition of success: to transfer yourself from the control of the material energy, personified as Durga, to the control of the spiritual energy personified as Srimati Radharani. He was saying that you are marginal, you cannot be independent, you have to be under the control of either one or the other. So it is either the control of the material energy, Durga devi, and you get pierced by her trident, the threefold miseries. As I mentioned adhyātmika, controlled by the mind and senses, sufferings pertaining to the mind and senses then ādibhautika, sufferings caused by other living entities, mosquitoes are one example. When Srila Prabhupada visited Caracas, Venezuela, one of the devotees noticed that the mosquitoes were not biting Srila Prabhupada, so they said, “Srila Prabhupada, this is amazing the mosquitoes are not biting you.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, well, that is in Caracas but in Calcutta they make no distinction.” So, we might temporarily escape the suffering for a short time but the suffering will catch up with us, and if it is not one it will be another. 

So adhyātmika, ādibhautika, and ādidaivika. Ādidaivika means you could say acts of nature like excessive heat, excessive cold, floods, hurricanes, now we are having terrible hurricanes, tsunamis, there are so many of those kinds of miseries. But all of these three types of miseries that are inflicted on us by Durga devi, by the material nature, can be escaped if we take shelter of Srimati Radharani, the spiritual nature, and that is our success in life.

So, I will continue reading the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

The mahātmā does not divert his attention to anything outside Kṛṣṇa, because he knows perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. There is no doubt about it. Such a mahātmā, or great soul, develops through association with other mahātmās, pure devotees. 

COMMENT

So we were all ordinary people but we also had the association of Srila Prabhupada and by his association, we learned the process of Krishna consciousness and by the practice of bhakti-yoga we came under the shelter of the divine energy. Because the entire practice of bhakti-yoga is under the jurisdiction of Srimati Radharani.

PURPORT (continued)

Pure devotees are not even attracted by Kṛṣṇa’s other features, such as the four-armed Mahā-viṣṇu. They are simply attracted by the two-armed form of Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

This was demonstrated in a pastime that took place at Govardhana Hill related to the vasanti- rāsa. There is the rāsa-līlā, the famous pastime of Krishna, in fact, there is a painting of it here between the two pairs of pillars where Radha and Krishna are in the center. There is just one Radha with one Krishna and then in the circle there is one Krishna between every two gopīs. I mean every gopī was next to Krishna but Krishna was between two gopīs, but in the center, He was with Srimati Radharani and it was just Him and Her. So during this rāsa-līlā, Krishna, to increase the gopīs ecstatic feelings, disappeared from the rāsa dance. In the autumn rāsa-līlā, the famous one, Śarad Purnima, Krishna also disappeared but with Radharani. But in this case, He disappeared without even Radharani.

And so it is described by, these verses are quoted in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is described that when Krishna disappeared the gopīs came searching for Him. It is described they were marching like a phalanx of an army, they were looking for Him. And Krishna, to play a trick on them or joke with them, He assumed the four-armed form of Narayana. Narayana’s complexion is very similar to Krishna’s, there are many similarities between Their features, so from a distance, the gopīs thought, Oh, there is Krishna, He is hiding in the bushes there. So they came up to Him and they saw, “Oh, this isn’t Krishna, this is Lord Narayana.” So they offered namaskār and they said, “Oh, Lord Narayana, we are looking for Krishna. Can You help us? Can You tell us where is Krishna?” But He was silent and so they moved along. And then Srimati Radharani came and Krishna wanted to play the same joke on Her, but when She came before Him, He was so overpowered by Her pure ecstatic love for Him that He could not maintain His two extra arms and He was forced by her love to manifest Himself in His original form as Krishna. So that is related to this statement.

PURPORT (continued)

Pure devotees are not even attracted by Kṛṣṇa’s other features, such as the four-armed Mahā-viṣṇu. They are simply attracted by the two-armed form of Kṛṣṇa. They are not attracted to other features of Kṛṣṇa, nor are they concerned with any form of a demigod or of a human being.

COMMENT

Unfortunately, we do get attracted to those forms sometimes.

PURPORT (continued)

They are not attracted to other features of Kṛṣṇa, nor are they concerned with any form of a demigod or of a human being. They meditate only upon Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are always engaged in the unswerving service of the Lord in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

COMMENT

So, those of you who have been following our holy days will know that fifteen days ago we observed Janmashtami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna, and today we are observing Sri Radhastami, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, fifteen days later. So they are both ashtamis, and ashtami means basically half of the moon is showing. So, during the first part of the month, say this half is illuminated, and then the second part of the month, the other half is illuminated. So they are complementary, Radha and Krishna, together they make a full moon. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on the full moon day, Gaura-purnima, because He is the combined form of Radha and Krishna, so He includes both and He is a full moon. And Srimati Radharani’s love for Krishna is so great that Krishna wanted to experience it.

It is described, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami has written a very beautiful verse and the purport of the verse is that Krishna desiring to understand the glories of Srimati Radharani’s love for Him and the special sweetness that She tastes in Her love for Him, and to experience the beauty of Krishna that She experiences, so that Krishna descended in the age of Kali which we are in, in the present age, imbued with the emotions, bhāva, and the luster of Srimati Radharani, and that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And so we can just imagine how great Srimati Radharani is that Krishna Himself could not understand Her from His position as Krishna, and therefore, He came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to understand those three aspects, the glory of Her love for Him, and so on.

And so Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu although Krishna, has the mood of Srimati Radharani, and as we discussed, Srimati Radharani represents the compassionate nature of Krishna. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is very merciful, very kind and merciful, and therefore, He was addressed by Srila Rupa Gosvami, namo mahā-vadānyāya, vadānya means munificent, mahā means great, greatly munificent. namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te, what is the manifestation of His munificent? It is that He is distributing kṛṣṇa-prema, pure love for Krishna, which is our goal, the goal of everything that we are doing. Sādhana-bhakti is to achieve prema-bhakti. 

namo mahā-vadānyāya

kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te

kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-

nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ

So Krishna is offering obeisances unto Krishna who is not Krishna. Krishna, one of the meanings of Krishna is blackish, so He is Krishna but He is not Krishna. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam.

Lord Chaitanya is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There are many pseudo-incarnations, that is another problem, but I don’t think it is, I hope it is not a problem with anyone in this assembly to accept a false incarnation, but there are many. In India, Srila Prabhupada said there are so many gods loitering in the street. And in another example he said to explain people’s attraction to these pseudo-incarnations, and I know there are groups of followers of these people even here. He said there was a man in Calcutta who could imitate the barking of different types of dogs, would you believe it? So he actually had performances, and he would sell tickets and people would come to hear him. And Srila Prabhupada said that they will pay money to hear the imitation dog barking, but the real dogs who is barking on the street they don’t care. So he is saying that the real God, Krishna, they don’t care, they want some false God who can do some magic or whatever. But I don’t think that is an issue for us here.

So Krishna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but even He cannot understand the greatness of Srimati Radharani from His position as Krishna, and therefore, He came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and fortunately for us, He has that compassionate, merciful mood of Srimati Radharani. And by His mercy, we can approach Radha and Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada made one amazing statement in Los Angeles which really summed up our whole philosophy in a few words. He said that our goal is to approach Radha and Krishna but to approach Radha and Krishna we need the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, but to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda, and to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda we have to approach people like Jagai and Madhai. Jagai and Madhai were very fallen sinful people, but Lord Nityananda was determined to deliver them and He did by the grace of Lord Chaitanya, He delivered them. And so by approaching people like Jagai and Madhai that means like the ordinary fallen souls that we find everywhere pretty much, by approaching them with Krishna consciousness, with the holy name, with Srila Prabhupada’s books, with prasādam, somehow or other, yena tena prakārena, somehow or other engage them in Krishna consciousness. And if we do that, we will get Lord Nityananda’s mercy, He is very merciful to the fallen souls. And then by His mercy, we will get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya we will be able to approach Radha and Krishna. And our goal is that, Radha and Krishna, love for Radha and Krishna.

So this is a very auspicious day, you can pray to Srimati Radharani and the paramparā, all the mahatmas who are under Her shelter, and to give us the mercy that we can please Her, please our acharyas in disciplic succession, and ultimately achieve the goal of life and help others achieve the goal of life. And of course, in Kali-yuga the best process and the easiest process in bhakti-yoga is to chant the holy names.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

And in the maha-mantra that Hare is Radhe, Hara is another name for Srimati Radharani and addressing Her Hare it is like saying Radhe, Radhe is how we address Radharani, it is not Her name, but when we address Her like jaya Sri Radhe, that is what we say, Radhe.

So, Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Patita Pavana dasa. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:52:59]?

Giriraj Swami: That is an excellent question, and in fact, you reminded me of something that I had in mind to say related to that.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:53:12].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Srila Prabhupada explains that actually there is no beginning. Even to us, we are eternal, the living entities are also eternal, so we also have no beginning. So when we say that we were created by God we really mean to say that our existence is subordinate to His or dependent on His. Just like the sun and the sunshine, technically we can’t say that the sun creates the sunshine because as long as the sun is there, there is sunshine and when there is sunshine it means the sun is there. But still, the sunshine is subordinate to the sun, and so we can say the sunshine comes from the sun. 

So in this case, as Srila Prabhupada explains in the introduction to the Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, we say that Krishna was one. This is like a statement of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami which I wanted to mention anyway. He said that Krishna is one and when He wanted to enjoy, He became two, and that is Radha and Krishna. And then the two, Radha and Krishna, became one again and that was Lord Chaitanya. But Srila Prabhupada says although we say when, when Krishna desired to enjoy, but he said actually there is no question of when because it is all eternal. But because in a way there is that psychology that Krishna was one, He wanted to enjoy and He became two, Radha and Krishna, so we can’t speak like that although they exist eternally.

And I would like to take the opportunity to add something that Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, said about kṛṣṇa-kirtan and kṛṣṇa-kathā. He said that just as Krishna is not properly or fully worshipped alone but with His hlādinī-śakti, Srimati Radharani, similarly, the holy name is not worshipped properly or completely alone but only with kṛṣṇa-kathā. And of course, that was always Srila Prabhupada’s program, there should be chanting and speaking. I sent that quotation to Bada Haridasa, our great kīrtanīyā and he really liked it. Of course, sometimes we will have like a kirtan-mela with hours and hours of kirtan which is also wonderful, but there should be kathā also.

Devotee: Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Kartikeya Prabhu. Is the sound on? Is the microphone on?

Devotee: Hello, let’s see, you just mentioned at one point Krishna whenever there was decide to enjoy so He expanded on Srimati Radharani, how that concept that Krishna doesn’t need anything? He is self-sufficient, and therefore, He doesn’t need anything, that is what we understand philosophically, but here He seems like He has a need or a desire to enjoy. So how that goes together?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean yes, Krishna is self-sufficient, so he is asking, “How can we say Krishna is self-sufficient if He need Srimati Radharani to enjoy?” Well, the answer is that Srimati Radharani is Krishna, He is enjoying with Himself. But that also reminded me of something else that Srila Prabhupada said which is that everyone in the material world is chasing after Lakshmi, money, the goddess of fortune Lakshmi, or money. But Lakshmi is always by the side of Narayana, so he is making the point that if you want Lakshmi which pretty much everyone does, you should serve Lord Narayana, you should have approached Lord Narayana because Lakshmi is always by His side. And he said, “The whole world is chasing after Lakshmi but she is chasing after Narayana,” but then he said, “Except in Vrindavan. In Vrindavan, Krishna is chasing after Srimati Radharani.”

Srimati Radharani, ki jaya!