20200826 Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.30.28 on Radhastami Day

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.30.28:

anayārādhito nūnaṁ
bhagavān harir īśvaraḥ
yan no vihāya govindaḥ
prīto yām anayad rahaḥ

Translation: Certainly this particular gopī has perfectly worshiped the all-powerful Personality of Godhead, Govinda, since He was so pleased with Her that He abandoned the rest of us and brought Her to a secluded place.

Purport: Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the word ārādhitaḥ refers to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He comments, “The sage Śukadeva Gosvāmī has tried with all endeavor to keep Her name hidden, but now it automatically shines forth from the moon of his mouth. That he has spoken Her name is indeed Her mercy, and thus the word ārādhitaḥ is like the rumbling of a kettledrum sounded to announce Her great good fortune.”

Although the gopīs spoke as if jealous of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, they were actually ecstatic to see that She had captured Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī quotes the following detailed description of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s footprints, as given by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Śrī Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: “At the base of the large toe of Her left foot is the mark of a barleycorn, below that mark is a disc, below the disc is an umbrella, and below the umbrella is a bracelet. A vertical line extends from the middle of Her foot to the juncture of Her large and second toes. At the base of the middle toe is a lotus, below that is a flag with a banner, and below the flag is a creeper, together with a flower. At the base of Her small toe is an elephant goad, and upon Her heel is a half-moon. Thus there are eleven marks on Her left foot.

“At the base of the large toe of Her right foot is a conchshell, and below that a spear. At the base of the small toe of Her right foot is a sacrificial altar, below that an earring, and below the earring a club. Along the base of the second, third, fourth and small toes is the mark of a mountain, below which is a chariot, and on the heel is a fish.

“Thus all together there are nineteen distinguishing marks on the soles of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet.”

* * *

Happy Rādhāṣṭamī! So, today is a very auspicious day. We are celebrating the appearance of the Supreme Energy of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. So, it is very important that we understand the position of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. This material world has things which are the perverted reflection of the things which are in the spiritual world. Everything exists in the spiritual world, and here we have the perverted reflection. So in the spiritual world there are twelve rasas of which five are primary. There are śānta, dāsya, śākya, vātsalya and mādhurya. So, just like there is love of parents for the children, in the material world. It originally existed in the spiritual world. But in the material world we are spirit souls in the material body. And we only know what is going on in our body. We can only guess what is going on in someone else’s body. But we don’t feel it. So, our own senses provide us gratification or suffering. The Bhāgavatam says we should not make indriya-tṛpti, sense gratification the goal of our life. As long as we have bodies, there will be certain amount of sensual pleasure and certain amount of sensual suffering. But in the material world, the sense pleasure seems to be the ultimate goal. But Bhāgavatam says that we should not make it our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal should be service to Kṛṣṇa, to achieve love of Kṛṣṇa. And you see in the spiritual world there are no material bodies. There everyone is spiritual. The ātmā in the material world is ten thousandth part of the tip of the hair. And that spirit soul activates each body, whether one is a deva, or one is a human, or an elephant or an ant. But in the spiritual world, the soul has form. And there we exchange various rasas with Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa is known as Rasa-śekhara, and He is the source of all rasas. Being alone, you cannot enjoy happiness. So He expanded Himself into two. So, He a too the role as the masculine, and Rādhārāṇī His energy, took the role as the supreme female. So, Rādhārāṇī is filled with love for Kṛṣṇa. By Her dealings of love, She gives spiritual pleasure. So when Kṛṣṇa is happy, Rādhārāṇī and the others who are part of Kṛṣṇa, they also feel happy. So the chemistry or the situation is completely different in the spiritual world. There one naturally serves the other person and there is no question of sense gratification there. So if you please Kṛṣṇa, and you automatically get pleased. But just as Rukmiṇī told Kṛṣṇa that, He knows everything. He knows what Brahmā is doing in Satyaloka, He knows what Śiva is doing in Kailāsa. “But there is one thing You don’t know. Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know.” He was surprised, “No one ever told Me I don’t know something!” So He said, “What is that? What is that which I don’t know?” And Rukmiṇī said, “You don’t know how much Your devotees love you! And You don’t know in what way we love You.” So, Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency, She is the supreme energy of the Lord. And all the gopīs come from Her. All the Dvārakā queens expand from Her. All the Lakṣmīs come from Her. She is the sources of all the energies, that serve the Lord. So, She is the supreme female. So Kṛṣṇa is trying to understand what the mood of Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs is. But He cannot do it. Because He is in the masculine role. And therefore, He took the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Kṛṣṇa with the color of Rādhārāṇī, the mood of Rādhārāṇī and the heart of Rādhārāṇī.

In the Teachings of Lord Caitanya, mentions that Kṛṣṇa, He wants to know the vision of the devotees, how the devotees think. And He realizes that Rādhārāṇī feels more happiness than He does. So then He accepted the mood of Rādhārāṇī, and came as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I am mentioning that because we are in Māyāpur dhāma. And this shows how special Rādhārāṇī is. It is a great offense to consider Her as an ordinary woman.

When Nārada Muni came to Vraja dhāma to see Kṛṣṇa, he told Nanda and Yaśodā that they should take care of their son, with full devotion and concentration. But then he knew, whenever Kṛṣṇa comes, His supreme energy comes. Then he went around looking for the supreme energy. So he went to different houses and asked them to bring their children so he could bless them. Then he went to Vṛṣabhānu’s house, which was a palace on the Varṣāṇā hill. So then they introduced all their children. Then he asked, “You don’t have any recent baby girl or something?” “Well, we have one girl but she is blind, so we did not think to bring her.” Because Rādhārāṇī had taken a vow that she will not open her eyes until She sees Kṛṣṇa first. So She kept Her eyes closed, they thought She is blind. Then they brought the daughter out and put Her in the hands of Nārada Muni. Then he became overwhelmed with spiritual ecstasy. He couldn’t speak. Tears started flowing down his eyes. His body was trembling. His hairs were standing on end. He was holding the supreme pleasure potency in his hands. And he had never seen a baby like Her, She was so beautiful! Vṛṣabhānu and Kīrtidā, they were amazed what is wrong with Nārada Muni! Then they took Rādhārāṇī back and he gave the instruction, the same instruction that he gave to Nanda and Yaśodā. They should concentrate all their energy and serve their daughter. Then Nārada Muni went to the nearby forest. He prayed that Rādhārāṇī appear to him in the 13 or 14 year old form! So, Lalitā and some sakhīs appeared with Her. And Lalitā said that, “You have a very special mercy. Some yogīs are doing tapasya for days of Brahmā, but they are not able to get darśana of Rādhārāṇī.” So they were saying how fortunate Nārada Muni was because he was having darśana. So Nanda Mahārāja and Vṛṣabhānu were having some ceremony for the two babies. At that time, Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī were in the same crib. Kṛṣṇa crawled over and looked at Rādhārāṇī. So Rādhārāṇī could smell that Kṛṣṇa was there. Then She opened Her eyes.

Kṛṣṇa is known as Madana-mohana, the attractor of Cupid. But Rādhārāṇī attracts Kṛṣṇa, and She is known as Madana-mohana-Mohinī. She attracts Kṛṣṇa. The most pious lady in the universe is considered to be Arundhatī, but she wants to learn chastity from Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī’s standard of chastity is unparalleled. There are two kinds of ecstasies in the spiritual world. What one gets when one is in direct contact with the person you love, that is said to be sambhoga. When one is not with the person who he loves, he is in separation, that is called vipralambha. Of the two, it is said the ecstasy of vipralambha is greater. So some devotees have recently lost their spiritual master. And as a result, they are feeling separation. It is a very great pain. But at the same time, they say their devotion for their guru has increased. So like that, sometimes Rādhārāṇī is in separation from Kṛṣṇa. In that extreme ecstasy, She talks like a mad person. And Kṛṣṇa, He is always present in Vṛndāvana, either visibly or invisibly. And He is relishing the different ecstasies of His devotees. Sometimes Rādhārāṇī faints when She is overwhelmed with separation. Since Rādhārāṇī is more dear to Kṛṣṇa than His own life, He also falls unconscious. And when He is unconscious, the whole world stops. Ananta koṭi brahmāṇḍa, the material and spiritual worlds all stop. So only Balarāma is awake. He has to wake up Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa so that everything starts again.

It is said that Rādhārāṇī is the primary reciprocator of kṛṣṇa-prema. So, it is mentioned that Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya for three purposes. One was to understand the love of Rādhārāṇī. And from Rādhārāṇī’s point of view, to understand His own sweetness. And the third reason was that Rādhārāṇī seemed to enjoy more than Kṛṣṇa, so He wanted to understand that. These were the three personal reasons He came. To establish the saṅkīrtana movement and to answer the call of Advaita Gosāñi, were secondary reasons.

One day Rādhārāṇī was playing on the flute. And Kṛṣṇa was wondering who is playing the flute so sweetly? He came to Navadvīpa dhāma and saw that Rādhārāṇī was playing the flute. Rādhārāṇī has made Navadvīpa dhāma as an offering to Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa accepted that and said, “You have created a beautiful abode! This will be non-different from Vṛndāvana. And all the holy places will come here.” So, that is why Rādhārāṇī is also special for us, because She is the creator of Navadvīpa dhāma. So we all want Her blessings. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “If She says to Kṛṣṇa that this is a good devotee, give him mercy. Then certainly Kṛṣṇa will do whatever Rādhārāṇī says.” Someone was asking Śrīla Prabhupāda, “Kṛṣṇa makes us fast till midnight and Rādhārāṇī only till midday – why?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “Well, Rādhārāṇī is more merciful!”

This Rādhāṣṭamī, I was seeing the māhātmya and it says that the benefit of this is of 100,000 Ekādaśīs! There was a history of a pretty lady travelling to a foreign country. She was basically a bit sinful. But she went to one temple. And there, she saw all the ladies were doing a special arrangement. So then she was thinking what is going on. They said, “Did you not notice? Tomorrow is Rādhārāṇī’s appearance day. Why don’t you stay?” So she stayed and helped make the arrangements. She made some garlands or something. Then when she died, the Yamadūtas came to take her to punish her in hell. But the Viṣṇudūtas came and said, “No, she observed Rādhāṣṭamī, she is going with us!”

Now is the time for darśana, so I should end the class. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Rādhe! Śyāma!