20220904 Special Rādhāṣṭamī Question And Answer Session

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

Jayapatākā Swami: So today we are observing the Rādhāṣṭamī Mahotsava. Rādhārāṇī appeared today in the Yamunā on a golden lotus and Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja saw the golden lotus and went over to the lotus and he saw a beautiful girl and Lord Brahmā came and told him you had done tapasya in your previous life and you and your wife wanted the consort of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as your daughter. That is why this daughter has come to you. Take very good care of her and be blessed. So Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja took the girl in the golden lotus home and he and his wife were very pleased to see her. Kīrtidā was in supreme bliss. So, today we had various yajnas and pastimes of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. I explained how Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the eternal consort of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And She comes when Kṛṣṇa comes. So, since this is a very auspicious day, we would like to give you a chance to ask questions. Especially things pertinent to today.

Different versions – sometimes Rādhārāṇī came in a golden lotus, sometimes she came in the womb of Kīrtidā. Kṛṣṇa comes once in a kalpa of Brahmā and Rādhārāṇī also comes in different ways.

Question: Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the topmost devotee of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa took Her heart, mood and color and came as Lord Caitanya. Is it that if we followers of Lord Caitanya, we are the followers of Rādhārāṇī? Also, in Navadvīpa dhāma, each of the islands are connected to the aṣṭa sakhis?

Jayapatākā Swami: The devotees of Lord Caitanya are also devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That means Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So as far as the aṣṭa sakhis being connected to the eight devotional services, I never heard that. It doesn’t seem like all the gopīs did all the devotional services.

Question: How to get the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī? In bhakti when we do not get proper support from our spiritual master what is the next step we should take in our spiritual bhakti?

Jayapatākā Swami: I heard from Śrīla Prabhupāda that Rādhārāṇī is most merciful and if someone is trying to serve Kṛṣṇa very sincerely then Rādhārāṇī gives Her blessings. I don’t know what support you want from your guru and who your guru is. And we are trying to give all support to our disciples. Sometimes like one disciple told me that she wrote me a letter and she did not get a reply. I asked what was the email she sent to. She had sent to a wrong email! So I have secretaries and they can be communicated with and find out if they have the email, and they can read it to me. Rādhā Ramaṇa Sevaka dāsa brahmacārī and Haridāsa Caitanya dāsa brahmacārī, are the two secretaries. Of course, there is also Śrīvatsa Syāmasundara dāsa brahmacārī.

Question: In Kali-yuga Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has appeared as Gadādhara Paṇḍita and in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Why She has appeared in two different ways?

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa with some of the qualities of Rādhārāṇī. And Gadādhara Paṇḍita is Rādhārāṇī.

Question: What precautions should we take to not commit offences at Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet? What should be our emotion to Rādhārāṇī?

Jayapatākā Swami: We should be very respectful and surrendered to Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. And by Her mercy we get the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And we should not think of Her as an ordinary woman. She is śakti-tattva. She is much greater than we, jīva-tattvas.

Question: When Rādhārāṇī cooks for Kṛṣṇa what will Rādhārāṇī offer to Kṛṣṇa? With tulasī?

Jayapatākā Swami: She offers many sattvic preparations and naturally should have tulasī on it.

Question: Normally we see that when we are approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa there is danger of falling into sahajiyism how should we avoid that?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is said that until we are in the liberated stage we see that we worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa like Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa. That means with great respect and the sahajiyās are very familiar. We don’t think that we are at that stage yet. So we give great respect, which is more in the mood of Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa.

Question: What is the prayer that we should make as mothers, mātājīs, to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know if there is any difference! Rādhārāṇī is the best of the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And she knows how to conquer Kṛṣṇa. And so we want to offer Her our obeisances and pray for Her mercy so that we can also serve Kṛṣṇa.

Question: [Break] Lord Kṛṣṇa is said to have external, internal and marginal potency. All the saktis are [break] non-difference with Rādhārāṇī. I cannot understand this. Kindly clarify this Guru Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: Internal potency is śakti-tattva. Marginal potency is jīva-tattva and external potency is māyā-śakti. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave the example that in the government the different departments are similar. I mean, the police department is in order to keep law and order, and the social welfare department gives us social welfare. So, the government both departments are good. For the criminals they don’t like the police and for them social welfare is alright. So like that actually since material world is one of the śaktis of Kṛṣṇa, then in one sense she is non-different from Rādhārāṇī and that realization was given to Her in Sīmantadvīpa. For us there is a big difference. Māyā is keeping us away from Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī is giving us possibility of going back to Kṛṣṇa. But actually, if we are able to get back to Kṛṣṇa, Māyā devī she salutes you.