Srimati Radharani

If you go to Vrindavan, you will see that everyone worships Radharani. Rani means "queen." They always chant "Jaya Radhe" and "Radharani." All the devotees in Vrindavan worship Radharani.

The essence of the hlādinī potency is love of God, the essence of love of God is emotion [bhāva], and the ultimate development of emotion is mahābhāva. Śrī Rādhā Ṭhākurāṇī is the embodiment of mahābhāva. She is the repository of all good qualities and the crest jewel among all the lovely consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Four kinds of devotees are the receptacles of the four kinds of mellows in love of God, namely servitude, friendship, parental affection and conjugal love. Each kind of devotee feels that his sentiment is the most excellent, and thus in that mood he tastes great happiness with Lord Kṛṣṇa. But if we compare the sentiments in an impartial mood, we find that the conjugal sentiment is superior to all others in sweetness. “Increasing love is experienced in various tastes, one above another. But that love which has the highest taste in the gradual succession of desire manifests itself in the form of conjugal love.” Therefore I call it madhura-rasa. It has two further divisions, namely wedded and unwedded love. There is a great increase of mellow in the unwedded conjugal mood. Such love is found nowhere but in Vraja.

The loving affairs of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one in Their identity, They separated Themselves eternally. Now these two transcendental identities have again united, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself.

Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one and the same, but They have assumed two bodies. Thus They enjoy each other, tasting the mellows of love.

Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the transformation of Kṛṣṇa’s love. She is His internal energy called hlādinī. That hlādinī energy gives Kṛṣṇa pleasure and nourishes His devotees.

The beloved consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa are of three kinds: the goddesses of fortune, the queens, and the milkmaids of Vraja, who are the foremost of all. These consorts all proceed from Rādhikā.

The transcendental goddess Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the direct counterpart of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all the attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord.

“Devī” means “resplendent and most beautiful.” Or else it means “the lovely abode of the worship and love sports of Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

“Kṛṣṇa-mayī” means “one whose within and without are Lord Kṛṣṇa.” She sees Lord Kṛṣṇa wherever She casts Her glance. Or “kṛṣṇa-mayī” means that She is identical with Lord Kṛṣṇa, for She embodies the mellows of love. The energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa is identical with Him.

Her worship [ārādhana] consists of fulfilling the desires of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the Purāṇas call Her Rādhikā.

Therefore Rādhā is parama-devatā, the supreme goddess, and She is worshipable for everyone. She is the protectress of all, and She is the mother of the entire universe. I have already explained the meaning of “sarva-lakṣmī.” Rādhā is the original source of all the goddesses of fortune. Or “sarva-lakṣmī” indicates that She fully represents the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore She is the supreme energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The word “sarva-kānti” indicates that all beauty and luster rest in Her body. All the lakṣmīs derive their beauty from Her.

All the desires of Lord Kṛṣṇa rest in Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Śrīmatī Rādhikā fulfills all the desires of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Kṛṣṇa enchants the world, but Śrī Rādhā enchants even Him. Therefore She is the supreme goddess of all.

Śrī Rādhā is the full power, and Lord Kṛṣṇa is the possessor of full power. The two are not different, as evidenced by the revealed scriptures. They are indeed the same, just as musk and its scent are inseparable, or as fire and its heat are nondifferent. Thus Rādhā and Lord Kṛṣṇa are one, yet They have taken two forms to enjoy the mellows of pastimes.

The highest form of conjugal love is represented by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; therefore in the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa we can see that Kṛṣṇa is always subjugated by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s influence.

Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the primary cause of all rasas. I am the full spiritual truth and am made of full joy, but the love of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī drives Me mad. I do not know the strength of Rādhā’s love, with which She always overwhelms Me. The love of Rādhikā is My teacher, and I am Her dancing pupil. Her prema makes Me dance various novel dances. Whatever pleasure I get from tasting My love for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, She tastes ten million times more than Me by Her love. Just as I am the abode of all mutually contradictory characteristics, so Rādhā’s love is always full of similar contradictions. Rādhā’s love is all-pervading, leaving no room for expansion. But still it is expanding constantly. There is certainly nothing greater than Her love. But Her love is devoid of pride. That is the sign of its greatness. Nothing is purer than Her love. But its behavior is always perverse and crooked. “Śrī Rādhikā is the highest abode of that love, and I am its only object. I taste the bliss to which the object of love is entitled. But the pleasure of Rādhā, the abode of that love, is ten million times greater. My mind races to taste the pleasure experienced by the abode, but I cannot taste it, even by My best efforts. How may I taste it? If sometime I can be the abode of that love, only then may I taste its joy.

Thinking in this way, Lord Kṛṣṇa was curious to taste that love. His eager desire for that love increasingly blazed in His heart.

Lord Kṛṣṇa began to consider. My sweetness is wonderful, infinite and full. No one in the three worlds can find its limit. Only Rādhikā, by the strength of Her love, tastes all the nectar of My sweetness. Although Rādhā’s love is pure like a mirror, its purity increases at every moment. My sweetness also has no room for expansion, yet it shines before that mirror in newer and newer beauty. There is constant competition between My sweetness and the mirror of Rādhā’s love. They both go on increasing, but neither knows defeat. My sweetness is always newer and newer. Devotees taste it according to their own respective love. If I see My sweetness in a mirror, I am tempted to taste it, but nevertheless I cannot. If I deliberate on a way to taste it, I find that I hanker for the position of Rādhikā. Who manifests an abundance of sweetness greater than Mine, which has never been experienced before and which causes wonder to all? Alas, I Myself, My mind bewildered upon seeing this beauty, impetuously desire to enjoy it like Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

This is a description of His second desire.

When the gopīs see Lord Kṛṣṇa, they derive unbounded bliss, although they have no desire for such pleasure. The gopīs taste a pleasure ten million times greater than the pleasure Lord Kṛṣṇa derives from seeing them. The gopīs have no inclination for their own enjoyment, and yet their joy increases. That is indeed a contradiction. For this contradiction I see only one solution: the joy of the gopīs lies in the joy of their beloved Kṛṣṇa. When Lord Kṛṣṇa sees the gopīs, His joy increases, and His unparalleled sweetness increases also. [The gopīs think:] “Kṛṣṇa has obtained so much pleasure by seeing me.” That thought increases the fullness and beauty of their faces and bodies. The beauty of Lord Kṛṣṇa increases at the sight of the beauty of the gopīs. And the more the gopīs see Lord Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, the more their beauty increases. In this way a competition takes place between them in which no one acknowledges defeat. Kṛṣṇa, however, derives pleasure from the beauty and good qualities of the gopīs. And when the gopīs see His pleasure, the joy of the gopīs increases. Therefore we find that the joy of the gopīs nourishes the joy of Lord Kṛṣṇa. For that reason the fault of lust is not present in their love. There is another natural symptom of the gopīs’ love that shows it to be without a trace of lust. The love of the gopīs nourishes the sweetness of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That sweetness in turn increases their love, for they are greatly satisfied. The happiness of the abode of love is in the happiness of the object of that love. This is not a relationship of desire for personal gratification. Whenever there is unselfish love, that is its style. The reservoir of love derives pleasure when the lovable object is pleased. When the pleasure of love interferes with the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the devotee becomes angry toward such ecstasy. The natural love of the gopīs is devoid of any trace of lust. It is faultless, bright and pure, like molten gold. The gopīs are the helpers, teachers, friends, wives, dear disciples, confidantes and serving maids of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs know Kṛṣṇa’s desires, and they know how to render perfect loving service for His enjoyment. They perform their service expertly for the satisfaction of their beloved. Among the gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the foremost. She surpasses all in beauty, in good qualities, in good fortune and, above all, in love. “Just as Rādhā is dear to Lord Kṛsṇa, so Her bathing place [Rādhā-kuṇḍa] is dear to Him. She alone is His most beloved of all the gopīs.” All the other gopīs help increase the joy of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes with Rādhārāṇī. The gopīs act as the instruments of Their mutual enjoyment. Rādhā is the beloved consort of Kṛṣṇa, and She is the wealth of His life. Without Her, the gopīs cannot give Him pleasure.

Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī, as the moon appeared from the ocean.

Although My beauty defeats the beauty of ten million Cupids, although it is unequaled and unsurpassed, and although it gives pleasure to the three worlds, seeing Rādhārāṇī gives pleasure to My eyes. The vibration of My transcendental flute attracts the three worlds, but My ears are enchanted by the sweet words of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Although My body lends fragrance to the entire creation, the scent of Rādhārāṇī’s limbs captivates My mind and heart. Although the entire creation is full of different tastes because of Me, I am charmed by the nectarean taste of the lips of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And although My touch is cooler than ten million moons, I am refreshed by the touch of Śrīmatī Rādhikā.

My eyes are fully satisfied when I look upon Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, but by looking upon Me, She becomes even more advanced in satisfaction. The flutelike murmur of the bamboos rubbing against one another steals Rādhārāṇī’s consciousness, for She thinks it to be the sound of My flute. And She embraces a tamāla tree, mistaking it for Me. When a favorable breeze carries to Her the fragrance of My body, She is blinded by love and tries to fly into that breeze. When She tastes the betel chewed by Me, She merges in an ocean of joy and forgets everything else. Even with hundreds of mouths I could not express the transcendental pleasure She derives from My association. Seeing the luster of Her complexion after Our pastimes together, I forget My own identity in happiness.

The sage Bharata has said that the mellows of lover and beloved are equal. But he does not know the mellows of My Vṛndāvana. The happiness I feel when meeting Rādhārāṇī is a hundred times greater than the happiness I get from meeting others.

Her eyes are enchanted by the beauty of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Kaṁsa. Her body thrills in pleasure at His touch. Her ears are always attracted to His sweet voice, Her nostrils are enchanted by His fragrance, and Her tongue hankers for the nectar of His soft lips. She hangs down her lotuslike face, exercising self-control only by pretense, but She cannot help showing the external signs of Her spontaneous love for Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Considering this, I can understand that some unknown mellow in Me controls the entire existence of My captivator, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. I am always eager to taste the joy that Rādhārāṇī derives from Me. In spite of various efforts, I have not been able to taste it. But My desire to relish that pleasure increases as I smell its sweetness.

Formerly I appeared in the world to taste mellows, and I tasted the mellows of pure love in various ways. I taught devotional service that springs from the devotees’ spontaneous love by demonstrating it with My pastimes. But these three desires of Mine were not satisfied, for one cannot enjoy them in a contrary position. Unless I accept the luster of the ecstatic love of Śrī Rādhikā, these three desires cannot be fulfilled. Therefore, assuming Rādhārāṇī’s sentiments and bodily complexion, I shall descend to fulfill these three desires.

In this way Lord Kṛṣṇa came to a decision. Simultaneously, the time came for the incarnation of the age.

Finding Herself treated equally with all the other gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī displayed Her tricky behavior and left the circle of the rāsa dance. Missing Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s presence, Kṛṣṇa became very unhappy and began to lament and wander throughout the forest to search Her out. Lord Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Kaṁsa, took Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī within His heart, for He desired to dance with Her. Thus He left the arena of the rāsa dance and the company of all the other beautiful damsels of Vraja. Being afflicted by the arrow of Cupid and unhappily regretting His mistreating Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Mādhava, Lord Kṛṣṇa, began to search for Her along the banks of the Yamunā River. When He failed to find Her, He entered the bushes of Vṛndāvana and began to lament.