20220904 Rādhāṣṭamī Morning Address

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

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Jayapatākā Swami:  Jaya Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī kī jaya! Rādhāṣṭamī kī jaya! I will speak in both English and Bengali. That way Sujitendriya will translate in Bengali. Today is the sacred day of Rādhārāṇī’s appearance. Śrīla Prabhupāda warned us that we should not consider Rādhārāṇī as an ordinary woman. She is the ahlādinī potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. She is the source of all the gopīs in Vṛndāvana. Also the queens in Dvārakā are Her reflections. And She is the source of all the Lakṣmīs. We may consider that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī possesses all the potencies. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was saying how everything rests upon Him, He presented how the different parts of the universe are on the head of Anantadeva. And then He mentioned the details of how everything is ultimately on Him. But then He told Rādhārāṇī, “I am depending on You, I am resting on You! Therefore, why will You be so humble, please tell Me the truth.” So Kṛṣṇa to enjoy, He expanded Himself into Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So the Supreme Personality of Godhead Rādhā Mādhava, They have both male and female aspect. So, everybody, all the great ṛṣis, personalities they want to enjoy spiritual bliss. This planet is named after Bharata Mahārāja. Bharata Mahārāja was the emperor of this entire planet. He gave up everything for getting spiritual bliss. That is Rādhārāṇī, She gives the spiritual bliss.

I think you heard from Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami how Rādhārāṇī appeared. And so, Nārada Muni he visited Vṛndāvana and he saw Lord Kṛṣṇa the little baby. He told Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, to take care of Kṛṣṇa is their supreme duty. He knew that if Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared certainly His energy will also appear along with Him. So he went to different houses and asked them if they had any babies, with the purpose of blessing the babies. The gṛhasthas always wishes and aspire that their children be blessed. Who wants, all the gṛhasthas here, want their children to get blessings? Raise your hand! So Nārada Muni had no problem visiting the houses. He went to Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja’s house. But he did not present any baby. And then Nārada Muni asked, “Don’t you have any girl baby?” “We have one but she is blind!” said Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja. Let me see her said Nārada Muni. And they brought the baby and placed her in the hands of Nārada Muni. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī had made up Her mind, She would only open Her eyes when She came face to face with Kṛṣṇa. That is why Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja and Kīrtidā Devī thought their daughter was blind. But when the child was put in the hands of Nārada Muni, he never saw a baby so beautiful! Then when that baby touched his hands he went into aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva. For about two hours he could not talk, he was crying and shaking. So Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja and his wife they were watching, what is wrong with Nārada Muni. So Nārada Muni gave the child back and he said the same thing that he said to Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā. And he said you just take care of this daughter as your supreme duty. And then Nārada Muni went to the nearby forest. He prayed to Rādhārāṇī to please appear before him in Her Kiśorī form. Rādhārāṇī came with Lalitā and Viśākhā. Lalitā said that your seeing Rādhārāṇī is a very special blessing. And she explained how many personalities do austerities for kalpas just to have a glimpse of Rādhārāṇī. This way, Nārada Muni got the darśana of Rādhārāṇī and Her sakhis.

When they were going to have Kṛṣṇa’s nāma-karaṇa, that time they put Kṛṣṇa, the baby in the cradle with Rādhārāṇī. So Kṛṣṇa He crawled over to Rādhārāṇī on His knees and hands. When Rādhārāṇī, She smelt Kṛṣṇa, She understood Kṛṣṇa is near Me. She opened Her eyes to see Kṛṣṇa! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja when he saw his daughter had opened Her eyes, he was very happy.

So like this, Rādhārāṇī got the blessing of Durvāsā Muni, whatever She would cook would be nectar. Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja said, Nanda Mahārāja was the king, my son should taste the nectar every day. That way Rādhārāṇī had to cook for Kṛṣṇa every day.

So you heard different pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa from Bhakti Puruṣottama Mahārāja and why Rādhāstami is a very special day because this Navadvīpa dhāma was created by Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī She played on Her flute a very beautiful tune, a melody. She was here in Navadvīpa. She made the Navadvīpa dhāma for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. And there were nine islands created – Sīmantadvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, (Madhyadvīpa), Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Jahnudvīpa, Modadrumadvīpa, Rudradvīpa, Antardvīpa. So these nine islands are also connected with the nine practices of devotional service. Hearing, kīrtana, chanting, remembering, serving the lotus feet, offering prayers, Deity worship, servitude, friendship, and offering everything. So then Kṛṣṇa came and was thinking who is that playing the flute so nice? Then He saw Rādhārāṇī and He saw Navadvīpa dhāma. And then He said, “You made this beautiful dhāma for Me! Like Vṛndāvana may all the holy places be present here.” So here was the place Kṛṣṇa had made Himself into two, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Here He combined again Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He took the heart and mood and color of Rādhārāṇī. And therefore, He came as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Haribol! who is the combined form of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. So here is the dhāma of Lord Caitanya, the audārya-dhāma. But this dhāma was created Rādhārāṇī. And Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa combined with Rādhārāṇī.

And in Dvārakā, Rukmiṇī said, “You know everything but one thing You don’t know, Rādhārāṇī knows, I know.” So Kṛṣṇa, no one ever told Him there is something He did not know. What is that He asked? “Is there something that I don’t know?” You see, Rukmiṇī said, “There is no one above You. You don’t know what it is like to love You! Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, but You don’t know.” So then He said, “I will come as My devotee in Kali-yuga. I will come! I will come! I will come!” Haribol! So Rādhārāṇī is the cause of this Navadvīpa dhāma and Kṛṣṇa he came here and combined with Rādhārāṇī and became Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Śrīla Prabhupāda had a sculpture in his room. So in that room there was a carved figure of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined. It was a very interesting carving. He is the līlā Puruṣottama Bhagavān and when He wants to enjoy, He is not interested in anything material. So His happiness, He enjoys with Rādhārāṇī and Her expansions. That is why it is very important that we understand that Rādhārāṇī is not a material woman. This is the most esoteric aspect of the Vedic literatures. But the mundane general poets want to describe about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa because they think that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and Their activities are like general man and woman in this world. So it is very important to understand that these pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, they cannot be understood from the material point of view.

And we hear that Lord Caitanya has instructed gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. So, He wanted that the gṛhasthas should also be very dedicated to serving Kṛṣṇa. Although there is some meagre happiness in material life one should serve Kṛṣṇa and taste spiritual bliss. So Rādhārāṇī is the ahlādini potency, She is the personal representation of the spiritual bliss. Śrīla Prabhupāda he was very merciful. I once as a new bhakta, I asked a question about Rādhārāṇī. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, who are you to ask about Rādhārāṇī? I was just a new devotee then! To understand Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, we have to make a lot of spiritual progress. Anyway, I remember once Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if you are in the favor of Rādhārāṇī, She tells Kṛṣṇa, this is a nice devotee, have mercy on him or her, then your life is set. So we should not try to see Kṛṣṇa, but we can hope that Kṛṣṇa sees us. If Rādhārāṇī sees us, tells Kṛṣṇa to have mercy on us, then we are successful.

It is 8 o’ clock and time to stop. Now, from Rādhāstami this pandal will stay till Pūrṇimā and you all come. There will be classes every day. And twice a day. And the last three days will be special leading up to the Bhādra Pūrṇimā. We know that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam given on the Bhādra Pūrṇimā will take the person back to Godhead. So from now on, all the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets pledged, actually the whole month, will be given officially on the Bhādra Pūrṇimā day. Hare Kṛṣṇa!