Bhramara Gita – Radharani’s song to the messenger bee (Radhashtami 2013 Bhagavatam class)

Applause Naram chaiva narottama devim sarasvatim yasam tato jayam dheerayet naśṭa prāyeṣv abhadreṣu ityam bhāgavata sevaya bhagavateer uttama śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya devakī-nanda-nāyacha nanda-gopa-kumārāya govindāyana-mōna-maha Hare Kṛṣṇa Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 10th Canto, 47th Chapter, 12th Verse Gopya Vāca madhupakita-bandho mās prasāṅgariṁ sapatnyā uca vilulatmālā kuṅkuṅ śmaśrubhirṇā vahatu madhupati stanmāni nāṁ prasādam vahatu madhupati stanmāni nāṁ prasādam yadusato sivirambhyam yasyadutas tva-medrek sivirambhyam yasyadutas tva-medrek I would like to recite madhupati bandho mās prasāṅgariṁ sapatnyā uca vilulatmālā kuṅkuṅ śmaśrubhirṇā vahatu madhupati stanmāni nāṁ prasādam yadusato sivirambhyam yasyadutas tva-medrek Gopya Vāca madhupakita-bandho mās prasāṅgariṁ sapatnyā uca vilulatmālā kuṅkuṅ śmaśrubhirṇā vahatu madhupati stanmāni nāṁ prasādam yadusato sivirambhyam yasyadutas tva-medrek Vaishnavis, anyone? Gopya Vāca madhuskita-bandho mās prasāṅgariṁ sapatnyā uca vilulatmālā kuṅkuṅ śmaśrubhirṇā vahatu madhupati stanmāni nāṁ prasādam yadusato sivirambhyam yasyadutas tva-medrek Do a translation Gopya Vāca The Gopi said Madhupā O bumblebee utavā of a cheater mās prasā do not touch angrem the feet sapatnyā of the lover who is our rival uca the breasts vilulita fallen from garland kuṅkuṅ with the red cosmetic śmaśrubhirṇā with the whiskers nā our vahatu carries madhupati the lord of the Madhu dynasty that is māni nāṁ to the woman prasādam remnants yadusadasi in the royal assembly of the yadus vidambhyam an object of ridicule or contempt dūtaḥ messenger pāṁ you idre sac translation and purport by the followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda translation The Gopi said O honeybee, O friend of a cheater don’t touch my feet with your whiskers which are tainted with the kuṅkuṅ that rubbed onto Krishna’s garland when it was crushed by the breasts of a rival lover that Krishna’s day in Mathura one who sends a messenger like you will certainly be ridiculed in the yadus assembly purport Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī indirectly chastised Krishna by chastising the bumblebee which she took for his messenger addressed bumblebee as madhupa one who drinks the nectar of flowers and she addressed madhupa the lord of madhu Śrī Viṣṇāchakravī Ṭhākura points out that this and the following nine verses exemplify ten kinds of jalpa spoken by a lover this verse illustrates the qualities of prajalpa as described by Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī in his Ujjwal Meenamani, 14, 182 prajalpa is a speech that denigrates the tactlessness of one’s lover with expressions of disrespect it is filled with envy, jealousy and pride Śrī Viṣṇāchakravī Ṭhākura points out that the word kitabbandho expressed here is from sapatnyā to na, jealousy the phrase māskṣāṅgrim refers to pride and the phrase from vahatutu refers to jealousy while the phrase from yajusadasi to the end of the verse decries Krishna’s treatment of Rādhārāṇī oṁ jñāntimirambasya jñānāṁ jīṁśilākāya cakṣurūṁ milatāṁ yena vasvāi śrī-gura-vena-moha So, I feel very honoured to be here next to all of you to behold the darshan of beautiful deities of Rādhāmatā and Gopālaji with their intimate associates now manifesting Munikā and Ishākha Devi so I’ll try to speak something on this very exalted section of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so, some of you may have heard me speaking in Hindi earlier I’m choosing English because for me when I speak in Hindi I’m always struggling for words for me speaking and writing about Krishna is worshipping Krishna as a writer and primarily I’m a writer so like when we are decorating the deities we would like to offer the best possible flowers to decorate the deities in the most beautiful possible way so for me words are the way by which I worship Krishna while speaking and writing about him so when I speak in Hindi I’m just fumbling for the least wrong word not the most correct word but I can do that much much better in English so I’ll try to speak slower than my normal speed in English so that those who are not so familiar with English can also follow now the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in its ten cantos is fully developing to tell us the exalted love of the Gopīs and ultimately Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī there are 335 chapters in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and out of which the Madhuryaras is talked about in not so many chapters the first reference to it on a chapter wise basis comes in the 21st chapter of the 10th canto wherein the Gopīs are praising the song of Krishna’s flute 22nd chapter is also there where Krishna steals the garments of the Gopīs then the most concentrated and exalted part of the Bhāgavatam comes chapters 29 to 33 which is the Rāsa-Panchādhyay and then after that soon after that Krishna departs so Akrura’s arrival and departure is 40th chapter and then Krishna goes to Mathura and kills Kamsa and then he goes to the Gurukul to study and when he returns from the Gurukul just as the Vrajīvās sees us feeling separation from him he is feeling separation from the Vrajīvās and we will discuss in detail why Krishna is not able to come back to Vrindavan but in the 46th chapter he decides to send Krishna to Uddhava and this is the song which Radharani is singing in the presence of Buddha this is the 47th chapter so this is the not only the Madhuryabhāva but Madhuryabhāva in Viraha and then after that Madhuryabhāva we talk about once more twice more in fact once more in Vrindavan and once out of Vrindavan in 65th chapter that is Balramji visits Vrindavan and then in 81st chapter the 10th canto where the Vrajīvāsis and the Dvārakavāsis meet in Gurukṣetra now among all these sections of the Bhāgavatam explicitly Radharani is not mentioned anywhere now there is a reason for that which we will discuss later but the direct speech by Radharani in the whole Bhāgavatam which is explicit is this one these 10 verses are the only verses spoken by Radharani directly in the Gopī Gītā there are 19 verses now Jīva Goswāmī explains that this Gopī Gītā is the 31st chapter of the 10th canto now there it is Śrī Gopya Uchyū normally in Sanskrit there are two singular and plural so when one person is speaking we say Uvāca and when multiple people are speaking it’s Uchyū so there the Gopya it’s not Gopi Uvāca it’s Gopya Uchyū so it is described that each of the verses of the Gopī Gītā is spoken by one-one Gopī that Gopī is speaking her own individual heart while also speaking on behalf of the whole group and the Gopī Gītā represents unity amidst individuality every Gopī is individual in her devotion for Krishna at the same time they are all united in separation from him so there Jīva Goswāmī based on the content of the verses and the individual personality of the various primary Gopīs as is revealed in different scriptures he correlates this verse was spoken by this Gopī, this verse was spoken by this Gopī like that so among them one verse is spoken by Rādhārāṇī but here there only one verse is spoken but here ten verses are spoken and of course here also Rādhārāṇī’s name is not explicitly mentioned but the same past times are described in various Puranas and Jīva Goswāmī quotes from the Agni Purana describing the same past time when Uddhava comes to Vrindavan then he comes to meet the Gopīs and at that time it is described that Rādhārāṇī sees a bumble bee and speaks to that bumble bee so although the name is not mentioned here Rādhārāṇī it is Rādhārāṇī who is speaking that can be inferred by correlation from the other scriptures and our ācāryas have done that now generally speaking in the world’s traditions the relationship of the worshipper with God is primarily in the mood of veneration veneration means great respect as God is great and I am fallen I have to worship him now that is appropriate for most spiritual seekers it is appropriate even for us at our stage at the same time if veneration, if respecting God everybody comes and bows down to God now that is all that happens for all time in the spiritual world the spiritual world would become quite a boring place you know God sits in his throne and everybody comes and keeps bowing down to him bowing down to him that is not in the temple when Krishna is manifesting here in the material world as the deities Krishna accepts everyone’s obeisances but for him that is not what he loves he loves it because that is helping us to become elevated Lord Maharaj says that actually whatever worship we offer the Lord accepts not because he needs it but because we need it chants so he says you accept the worship that people offer you not because you need it but just as when one decorates oneself, the reflection gets decorated similarly when we glorify the law, we become satisfied by that. So, the Lord doesn’t delight in exhibiting his godhood.
The Lord delights in the intimacy of love and love is expressed in various ways. When we love someone, we think about that person and we talk intimately with that person. We want to spend time with that person.
Another way in which love is expressed is through anger. We become angry about things which we greatly care about. If something happens somewhere in some remote part of the world, we won’t get worked up about it because our emotions are not involved If somebody goes and beats up somebody, we will feel it.
Actually, a human connection is there. But somebody whom we love is beaten up. We will feel angry.
So, anger is also an expression of love and in this section of the Bhagavatam, verses 12 to 21, this is called as the Bhramarvita. The song, not of the bumblebee, but the song sung to the bumblebee. So, this exhibits love in love through criticism.
So, the context is in the 46th chapter, Uddhava has come to Vrindavan and when Uddhava comes, first he meets the parents of Krishna and consoles them and he is amazed to see their devotion. And after that, now Uddhava is staying at the house of Nandamaharaja Nishvadamaya. And every morning, the gopis would come to the house of Krishna’s parents to offer their respects to him and by seeing each other, they knew that mutually the fire of separation would be a little bit pacified.
So, this morning when they come, they see a chariot over there. Now, the sight of a chariot causes agony to the heart of the Vrajavasis. In Vrindavan, normally they don’t use chariots.
They have bullock carts. If they want to travel around, they walk along or they will take bullock carts. When the Vrajavasis emigrated from Nandgaon to Vrindavan, at that time Nishvadamaya and Rohini, they were seated in bullock carts and Krishna and Balarama were there on their laps.
So, Vrajavasis don’t use chariots and the only chariot that had entered into Vrindavan had shattered their hearts and lives. So, now as soon as they see the chariot, their emotions go into a tornado-like proportionate emotion and then they go inside and they see there is this person who looks exactly like Krishna. Exactly like Krishna.
Who is this person? Now, the Gopis, they know Krishna so intimately that they never mistake him to be Krishna. They know he is not Krishna. But who is he? Actually, Uddhava’s character is revealed to us much more by Shri Jiva Goswami in one of his books called Gopalachandra and it’s described when Krishna went from Vrindavan to Mathura, he killed Kamsa and at that time after the killing of Kamsa, he was introduced to all the Yudhavasis.
So, Krishna and Balarama were seated on nice asanas and then on one side stood Nanda Maharaj and on the other side stood Akrura. And Nanda Maharaj and Vasudeva are related. So, all the elderly Mathuravasis whom Nanda Maharaj knew.
So, Nanda Maharaj introduced. So, this is this. So, then Akrura introduced the younger Yudhavasis.
And then after that when they were going to their parents’ palace, at that time Krishna just looked around and he saw somebody. And Krishna, now he was ex officio the king, not officially the king, but he was nobody else. But Krishna just left and ran.
He said, Oh Uddhava, my dear friend. And although they had never met before, their hearts were eternally connected and they instantly bonded. So, Uddhava, like all the Yudhavasis, had been hearing about Krishna right from the childhood.
For all the Mathuravasis, Krishna was going to be their deliverer from the tyranny of Kamsa. And they were constantly waiting when will the eighth son of Vasudeva appear. And to their great horror and dismay, after the son appeared, the son disappeared.
For all practical purposes, the son didn’t appear only. Because for them, they were expecting, everybody was being tormented. And when the eighth son appeared, they found it was not a son, it was a daughter.
And the daughter also left and she said the son has appeared somewhere. Now the Yudhavasis thought that yes, probably it is Krishna and one by one the demons were being killed. So, they were waiting when will he come.
So, when they came, when they saw final Krishna, they were delighted to see him. And they crowded around him in great joy. So, Uddhava is in the hierarchy among the Yadus.
There were many elders. Ugrasen was of the second generation. Krishna and Vasudeva and Vasudeva’s father’s generation is Ugrasen.
So, Krishna was in the second generation and Uddhava was also in that generation. So, Uddhava was not introduced at that time. So, Krishna ran and embraced him.
And Uddhava, he could understand that although Krishna is in Mathura, he has killed Kamsa and he is going to be the ruler. Not officially, but he is most powerful, but Krishna is not happy. Krishna is not happy and he understood why he is not happy.
Among all the Mathuravasis, the only Mathuravasi who understood the heart of Krishna was Uddhava. The second person, two over persons understood, one was of course, Balramji, who came with Krishna. He was not a Mathuravasi.
He was Krishna’s eternal associate, Prajivasi and then he came to Mathura. And the second person was who came later, that was Rohini. When Krishna and Balram, they came and started staying in Vrindavan, from Vrindavan to Mathura.
Initially, they did not want to stay in Vrindavan. They wanted to, as soon as they killed Kamsa, they wanted to go back. And when the Yaduvamshis came and said Krishna now, actually, Ugrasen came.
And Ugrasen had been the king of the Yadu dynasty, but he had been usurped by Kamsa. So, when Kamsa was killed, the kingdom would have, the kingship would have reverted back to Ugrasen. But Ugrasen came with the crown and he said, oh Krishna, you are the most powerful, you are our saviour and please accept the kingship.
And Krishna, when he saw Ugrasen standing, actually, Ugrasen was very embarrassed. And Ugrasen said, actually, it is my son, it is my misfortune that I begot a son who not only tormented our whole dynasty, but exalted even you. And because of my connection with such a sinful son, I feel ashamed to even stand in front of you.
So, Krishna, he was sitting, but he immediately got up and he went to Ugrasen Maharaj and offered respects to him. He said, you are the eldest and you deserve to be the king. So, please accept the kingship and if you feel that you need protection, I will be there to serve you.
So, then Krishna was ready to go back to Vrindavan. But so, Krishna actually said, I will be there to protect you. If anything, I will go back to Vrindavan and if there is any danger, you call me and I will come back.
So, one of the elder Yadus, Vikadru, he said, oh Krishna, actually, you belong to us. You are the eighth son of Vasudeva. Now, it’s a great mystery.
I will not go into that. Did the Brajwasis know that Krishna was Vasudeva’s son? Now, when Gargamuni came, Gargamuni, like he did achintya bhedavaya, he told and did not tell. He told that your son in the past was the son of Vasudeva and that’s why his name was Vasudeva.
So, Yadu Maharaj thought in the past means maybe in a previous life. And he also said, he did not say your son is Narayan. He said, your son is as powerful as Narayan.
And he says in his past he has appeared. Now, in the past he has appeared doesn’t mean that he is God. So, for the Brajwasis, actually, they never accepted that Krishna was the son of Vasudeva.
So, Krishna, Vikadru told Krishna that actually, it was prophesied that the eighth son of Vasudeva will kill Kamsa and you have killed Kamsa. Therefore, you are the son of Vasudeva. You belong here.
So, please don’t go back. And if you go back now, Jarasandha is there. He will attack us.
We need protection. Earlier, we were afraid of Kamsa. Kamsa was a tyrant, but at least he was there to protect us from other enemies.
Now, all other enemies will be there. How many will we fight against? We must stay. So, Krishna reluctantly agreed to stay.
At that time, the only person with whom he could share his heart was Balramji. And from one perspective, Krishna is God and knows everything. But from another perspective, Krishna is just a 10-year-old boy.
And suddenly, he has been brought from the simplicity of a village life to the complexity of a royal palace and all its intrigues. And Vasudeva found, you know, for a small child, suddenly, you take him from one house in Thailand to another house in Thailand. You know, this is your mother, this is your father.
It just doesn’t work. So, Vasudeva found that Krishna and Balram, Krishna couldn’t, just couldn’t naturally call Devaki as mother. Although he would do his duties as a child.
So, then Vasudeva thought what to do. Then he sent a message to Nanda Maharaj. He said, I should have remembered earlier, now that Krishna has come back and now we are safe, please send Rohini back here.
Rohini was Vasudeva’s wife. Now, when Rohini came back, then Krishna and Balram poured out their heart. He said, not only can we not go back to Vrindavan, we cannot even talk about Vrindavan with anyone.
Because all the Yadavasis over here, they want us to forget Vrindavan. Because they feel if we remember Vrindavan, then we will want to go back to Vrindavan. And if we go back to Vrindavan, they feel that we will lose them.
He says, you are the only person with whom we can talk about Vrindavan. And then, he said, what to do? Then finally, they went to Gurukul and then they came back and they said, now Krishna said, I cannot tolerate separation. So, Krishna and Balramji, they went to Yadav Hill and they said, you know, we are thinking that one night when everybody is sleeping, we will slip away and we will go to Vrindavan.
And we will spend at least some time with the Vajvasis and come back. So, Rohini said, I know how you feel. And I know that you are longing to go to Vrindavan.
But even the Yadus know that. And they are watching you day and night. And they are afraid.
And Krishna says, yes, I know I cannot go like this. Because Nanda Maharaj told me that I should obey Vasudev and without his permission, I cannot go. Which is it.
You know, I told all the Vrajvasis, I had told the Gopis that I will come back. Actually, when Krishna was about to leave. Actually, when Krishna was about to leave and he got on the chariot.
The Gopis gave up their Lajja. For the Gopis, it was a traditional Indian setting. It is not that a girl goes and expresses her love to a boy.
It’s a conservative society. The Gopis and Krishna would meet, but they would meet privately. So, till that time, the Gopis had never expressed their love for Krishna.
But at that time, when Krishna was about to leave. They just gave up all their shyness and they ran to Krishna. Many of you have seen pictures of how the Gopis were lying down in front of the chariot.
And they say, if the chariot has to go, it will have to go over our dead body. We will not let this chariot go. So, that was the love of the Gopis and Krishna assured them by saying, I will come back.
I will come back. I will soon come back. And Krishna is feeling, I made this promise.
How can I not keep my promise? So, he says, I will stay some more. At that time, Krishna is thinking whom to send. And just like a person, sometimes constantly wears a jewel.
And that jewel is so much a part of a person’s being, that one forgets that the jewel is there. So, when a person wants some treasure, looking for the treasure everywhere, I have got a jewel with me. So, Krishna says, I was thinking whom to send to Vrindavan.
Krishna puts his hand on his head. Oh, Uddhava is there. Uddhava understands my heart and Uddhava will understand the heart of the Vrajivasis also.
So, let me send him. And Krishna embraces Uddhava and shares his heart’s plight and tells him, please go to Vrindavan. So, Uddhava goes to Vrindavan.
And now in this section, he was telling that what the Gopis see Uddhava and they understand that, he is Krishna’s friend. And when Krishna, he indicates that I have got a message from Krishna. So, then they take him to a secluded place and they surround him and they tell us what is it.
But before they can speak anything, before they can get Krishna, Uddhava to speak anything, they start speaking. So, prior to this, the Gopis are speaking and they are saying that how Krishna left us. In this world, all love is self-centred.
Krishna wanted something from us, he got us and he left us. So, now Radharani is speaking. So, let us look at this is a quick overview of the eight verses speaking and then we will see what the verses are all about one by one.
So, here what is depicted is criticism of the beloved as the pinnacle of love. So, normally, so there are, as I said, 10 verses. So, Krishna is a cheater and deserves ridicule.
That is the first verse, which we discussed. This is a paraphrase of these verses. And then they say that, but Krishna is now with the goddess of fortune.
Krishna is a cheater. Just as he cheaters us, he will cheat the goddess of fortune. And then they are saying this to the Now, where does the bumblebee come in? When Uddhava is speaking.
Now, Radharani, for Radharani and the Gopis, Uddhava is a male, Uddhava is a warrior, Uddhava is a Yadu vamsi. So, although they are angry, they cannot directly justice Uddhava. So, Radharani sees a bumblebee over there.
And that bumblebee they take as a representative of Krishna. Bumblebee is a messenger of Krishna. So, actually, now Vishwachandra Thakur explains that, who is that bumblebee? Actually, he analyses different acharyas.
He says that there are three possibilities. One is, it’s just an arbitrary bumblebee going along over there. Second is, when they are referring to the bumblebee, it is Uddhava they are referring to.
Now, Uddhava is a messenger and Radharani thinks that the bumblebee has come as a messenger. And third is, Chakravarthipada explains that when Krishna, he sent Uddhava, he still could not tolerate separation. And he felt just by sending Uddhava, the fire of separation will not be resolved.
So, he said that Krishna took the form of a bumblebee and came as the bumblebee. So, this bumblebee is actually Krishna. So, but the Gopis are treating, I think, oh bumblebee, you have come from Krishna.
So, indirectly they are speaking to Uddhava. And directly Radharani is speaking to the bumblebee. They say that you are going to speak about Krishna to us.
His activities are old news to us. You know, you are going to sing about him, sing those to him, sing them to those, sing them means sing about his activities to those who are still captivated. He says there are other people in Mathura, they will be captivated.
We were not going to fall for his activities. But they start thinking actually he is glorious, so sweet. Everyone loves him.
And if he doesn’t return to us, if he stays away from us, what will we do? So, our only shelter is his holy name. We will chant his holy names and try to relieve ourselves of the separation. And then the bumblebee keeps speaking something.
He says, have you, this is, Radharani says to bumblebee, have you come to make some sort of truce when two people are having a fight, then somebody else comes between and tries to resolve. So, have you come to make a truce, he says, but we don’t want any diplomatic truce. Why? Because that person is an ungrateful cheater.
Krishna will say, no, no, no, actually, I am compelled. That’s why I am not able to come back. I want to come back.
Then they say, actually, you have a history of cheating also. There is a track record of cheating. Then they will quote how in the previous incarnations, Krishna has cheated different people.
And then they say, although he has a track record of cheating, we have a track record of loving. And we can’t stop loving him. We just can’t stop loving him.
What can we do? And then after that, they say, actually, because of loving him, we are ruined. But there is a track record of ruining people also. So, whoever starts loving him, those people forget everything else and they become ruined.
And they come to Vrindavan and cry in separation from him. So, they say that actually, he has ruined many people, but we will not be ruined. So, don’t talk about him.
Don’t talk about him. We won’t be cheated again. But although they say don’t talk about him, they are themselves talking about him.
So, they are themselves talking about him. And then, or at this point, that Bumblebee just flies away. And when the Bumblebee flies away, Radharani becomes panicky.
Sometimes when we are angry, we just give vent to our anger, especially when the person about whom we are angry, that person is not present, we just vent out our emotions. But we don’t want that person to hear it. Because we still love that person.
So, Radharani still loves Krishna. And when the Bumblebee disappears, she thinks that this Bumblebee has gone and is going to report all this to Krishna. They are thinking, oh, if Krishna hears that I am speaking like this, he will be so angry.
And then she almost goes mad with anxiety. And suddenly the Bumblebee reappears. In the Bumblebee reappears, then Radharani goes, oh, good, good, Bumblebee, you have come back.
You are a very good person. And he says, I have come back. Has Krishna sent you back to take us? But you are so tiny.
How will you take me back? And even if you go back, the Goddess of Fortune is there. What will we do over there? And then, in the last words, she expresses her heart’s deepest hope. Does he remember us? Does he ever remember us? Does he talk about us? Is there any chance that he will come back? Will he come and bless us? Will we be able to smell this Aghori-scented hand? Will we be able to rest ourselves in his embrace? Will we be able to hear his sweet voice? Is there any chance of this happening? And Radharani becomes silent, her throat choked with emotion, her eyes filled with tears.
And all this is being beheld by Uddhava. And Uddhava is overwhelmed. When he has studied the scriptures, he has met great devotees of Krishna, but nowhere has he seen such intensity of devotion.
And Uddhava, in the next several verses, glorifies the Gopis and their love for Krishna. And then he speaks his message, the message which Krishna has given through him. And that is the remaining part of the chapter.
And that message is also multiple level. There is an external level message and there is an internal level message. So Jiva Goswami gives a very beautiful analysis of that message in the Gopal Chantam.
So let’s look at the verses now. So here, the Gopis, in their anger, there is anger and agony all combined in separation from Krishna. When will Krishna come back? That’s what is their hope.
So love in separation is a mysterious thing. Separation does to love what a wind does to fire. We discussed this earlier also when Narayana Krishna comes.
When there is a fire, big fire is there and wind comes, what happens? The wind spreads the fire. So separation does to love what wind does to fire. But we shouldn’t think, okay, then I’ll become separated from devotees, my devotion will increase.
No, why that won’t happen? Because if the fire is small, it is a small candle, not a fire, and then wind comes a lot, it will get extinguished. So for us, if we become separated from devotees, our love will get extinguished. It will not get nourished.
So actually, for the Vrajvasis, their love, there is no question of extinguishing that love. Everything else gets extinguished in comparison with that love. No other emotions remain.
So the Vrajvasis, this love and separation, they exemplify to the highest level and this expression which Radharani is explaining. Now, what is Radharani’s mood over here? To understand Radharani’s mood, we have to understand actually who is Radharani. So we know Radharani is Krishna’s consort and she is Krishna’s greatest devotee.
That is all true. At the same time, actually Radharani is non-different from Krishna. Radha, Krishna, Eka, Atma, Dvaita, Yudhari, they are one soul, they are manifested in two bodies.
What? Anonyamilasakori, for the purpose of performing pastimes. So Krishna tests his own love through the medium of Radharani. But for all practical purposes, they are two different people.
Conceptually they are one, but practically they are two different people. So here Radharani is saying in this particular verse, the first verse, that O Bumblebee, actually this is not a prayer, there is a prayerful mood to it, but it is essentially a song and the song is a song of chastisement. So when they are praying, when Radharani is praying in an angry way and she is saying, O Bumblebee, you come here, now actually the nature of love is that everything reminds one of one’s beloved.
That is the nature of love. So here when Radharani sees this Bumblebee, this Bumblebee has got some reddish material on its whiskers. She thinks that this is, okay this is coming from Krishna, this Bumblebee was with Krishna and the garland which Krishna was wearing, that had some red material and immediately the mind goes off into this.
For us, as soon as we see a sense object, we go into instant samadhi. Instant samadhi, mind just goes off into a spin-off of all kinds of emotions. But for the advanced devotees, actually when they have anything connected with Krishna, that sends them off in a wave of emotions, all connected with Krishna.
And actually the richness of love for Krishna is described in these sections. So Uddhava to some extent represents love in Aishwarya, Prema in Aishwarya and the Gopis represent Prema in Madhurya and here Prema in Madhurya, Aishwarya means God’s greatness and Madhurya means God’s sweetness. So the essential conflict that animates the 10th Canto, every story which is written, every story has a tension.
The tension is what gives life to that story. If there is a typical movie in that the hero and heroine are not able to meet, that is the tension which animates this story. So tension at the external level in the Bhagavatam is that Krishna has left Uddhava.
That’s true, definitely true. But the essential tension conceptually is the conflict between the Aishwarya and the Madhurya concepts. In the Aishwarya conception, the purpose of God’s descent is that to deliver the saintly and to destroy the demons.
And Krishna in Mathura and Dwarka are doing that. That is the Aishwarya aspect. But in the Madhurya aspect, what does God do? God does not kill any.
All that God does is perform Leela and not the Leela of killing any demons. The Leela is simply the Leela of reciprocating love with his devotees in various ways. So in Vrindavan, whenever some demons come and Krishna kills those demons also, the killing of the demons is like the side show in Vrindavan.
Side show means something which just happens by the way. So it’s not that it’s just like if you have a main show, you have a drama going on and then along with the drama, all the people are preparing for the drama. But along with that, you have a five minutes of other shows.
So you will not see that Krishna lifts any weapons, prepares to fight with the demons, plans, has an army, nothing like that. Krishna just goes out to play and some demon comes along and Krishna kills him. So it’s a side show in Vrindavan.
So even when demons are killed, Krishna is, through the killing of the demons, not doing Vinashaya Samaskrita. He’s actually simply performing pastimes. And while performing pastimes, the demons are killed.
That’s all that happens. So when Krishna is in Vrindavan, he is not doing his Aishwarya, not in his Aishwarya and he’s not killing the demons. He’s simply reciprocating love with his devotees.
And while he’s doing that, the devotee with whom he reciprocates love in the most intimate and intense way is Srimati Radharani. So in Ana Vrindavan Champu, the first meeting of Krishna and Radharani is described. We’ll discuss that.
Let’s look at the next verse. So the Gopis are praying now. See this is Radharani.
She’s saying, she’s into the Bumble Bee. So I’ll just re-read this. We want to recite these verses.
Padma refers to the Goddess of Fortune. So he’s saying that Krishna gave us the nectar of his association, Sakrut, once only. Adarsudham Swam.
He gave us the nectar of his association and then he left us. And now he’s with other people in Mathura and even the Goddess of Fortune is with him. So the Goddess of Fortune is with him and he’s saying but he cheated us.
The Goddess of Fortune is supposed to be very intelligent. Now how will she get cheated by him? Krishna, he’s so cunning that he will cheat her also. So that’s how he will cheat her also.
Now what is the thing? There are Goddess of Fortune, there are Super Goddess of Fortune and there is Supreme Goddess of Fortune. So Lakshmi Devi is the Goddess of Fortune. All the Gopis themselves are their Super Goddesses of Fortune and Radharani is the Supreme Goddess of Fortune.
So that’s why we see in Bilvaband, Lakshmi Devi comes and does austerities so that Krishna, she can get association of Krishna in the Madhurya Bhava along with the Gopis. But here when the Gopis are speaking, they are saying that Radharani, that Lakshmi Devi, she is the overarching deity. The Vrajavasi is, they never worship Krishna as God.
For them, Krishna is just one of their associates, the most attractive person. But then what does that mean? Do they worship anyone? The Govardhan, the Indra Puja that they do occasionally. But what about the regular worship? Who do the Vrajavasis worship? The Vrajavasis are obviously not atheists.
But they are not Krishna worshippers. They are Krishna lovers. They are not Krishna worshippers.
So whom do they worship? They worship Lord Narayana. Narayana is their Aradhidev overall and within that Nanda Maharaj has his own personal deity of Narasimhadevi and he worships Narasimha for the protection of Krishna. So for them, Lakshmi Devi is also their Aradhidevi and the Gopis are saying that actually Krishna, he is going to kill.
Radharani says he will kill even the goddess of fortune and then he will leave her also heartbroken. So actually speaking, when the Vrajavasis are speaking about Krishna in this way, they are filled with memories of Krishna. It’s all the Acharyas have described.
I will not go into the technicalities. If you read each of these purports, there is a book called Ujjwala Neelamani. Bhakti Rasamra Sundhu is the book that we study in Bhakti Shastri and there the emotions of devotion are analysed and described.
But beyond that, the emotions of Madhurya Ras are analysed in a book called Ujjwala Neelamani. So what is the idea of this analysis of emotions? Actually in the Bhakti Rasamra Sundhu, he described that we should think that when we chant Hare Krishna, sometimes we feel some happiness, sometimes we don’t feel happiness. All this is happening randomly.
No, there is a whole science of the education and the transformation of emotions and all that is described in these two books. Bhakti Rasamra Sundhu is the preliminary book and Ujjwala Neelamani is the advanced book. So in Ujjwala Neelamani, it is not so much a description of past times, but it is a description of the analysis of past times.
That means when there is a particular action happening. So what is the emotion? What is the bhava beyond the past? What is the bhava and what is the bhavana? Bhava is the mood and bhavana is the emotion. What is the difference between the two? Mood is something which is more lasting.
Bhavana is something which is more flitting, it comes and goes. So the bhava and the bhavana are analysed. So now here what is happening is the gopis are praying Krishna, you have gone away, when will you come back? That is the essential mood of this prayer.
So let’s move forward. We will look at some, not only look at all the prayers, we will look at some of them here. So in the next verse the gopis are praying here, but actually now So Krishna can delude, if he can delude the goddess of fortune, he can delude anyone and everyone.
And if he deludes everyone, then he will stay forever away from us. What can we do? We can only take shelter of his holy name and try to get relief from the agony of his separation. So I was describing that how Krishna and Radharani meet for the first time.
Now I’ll speak about that pastime and then I’ll speak about briefly about how this prayer, this mood, Brahmargita, is ultimately successful when Krishna returns back to Vrindavan. We’ll talk about these two pastimes and then we’ll conclude the class. So actually when we talk about the first meeting of Krishna and Radharani, there is no concept of first because they are eternal associates.
They are always together. I know in Prabhupada, we have Radha Parthasarathi Mandir in Vrindavan, in Delhi. So now when Krishna is on the chariot, where is, he’s a yodda, where is Radharani? Radharani is in his heart.
From there she never leaves and that mood is brought out over there. So now we know that at one level, the first meeting is when Radharani is born or Radharani appears in this world. At that time she acts as if she’s completely dumb and blind and deaf and she doesn’t seem to be at all responsive.
Only when Krishna comes in front of her, at that time she opens her eyes and she starts smiling. So the first thing that a baby does is cry. But the first thing, the first sound that Radharani does is smile.
Smile when she sees Krishna. And all the Vrajvasis are delighted with that. This is the meeting in childhood.
Then there’s another meeting. There are many meetings that keep happening. So now Krishna and Radharani, when they’re small, actually you know this is quite interesting, none of the Acharyas have used the word Radharani.
Prabhupada uses the word Srimati Radharani. If you see all the Preahs Acharyas, they just use the word Radha. Jiva Goswami uses the word Radha.
And even Vishwanath Chakravarti uses the word Radha. Bhakti Sanath Chakravarti uses the word Sri Radha. You know, there are some Gaudiya Vaishnavas who say, Srimati Radharani is a Rasabhas.
Prabhupada has coined this word, Srimati Radharani. Nobody else uses this word. And Prabhupada uses this honorific for Srimati Radharani.
But very curiously, Prabhupada uses no honorific for Krishna. Prabhupada, in his conversations, in his lectures, he says Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita. Practically never he says, Sri Krishna says, Lord Krishna says, Bhagavan Krishna says.
Prabhupada, for Krishna, Krishna is a very intimate form of address. But for Radharani, Prabhupada has this very reverential form of address. Now, Prabhupada, the Gaudiya Vaishnava legacy is that we have an intimate relationship with Krishna.
But at the same time, that intimate relationship cannot be rushed into prematurely. So, with respect to Krishna, Prabhupada has developed a very personal sense of connection with Krishna. But because Radharani’s position and Radharani’s love can be very easily misunderstood.
So, Prabhupada uses this very referential form of address, Srimati Radharani. And it is not a Rasabhas, because Radha is the Rani of Vrindavan. There are many pastimes where she is enthroned as Radharani.
There’s a whole book called Madhava Mahotsav by Jiva Goswami where, actually what is the Mahotsav that Lord Madhava is doing? It is enthronement of Radharani as the Vrindavanishvari. So, there is the meeting of Krishna. So, when Krishna and Radharani are small, Krishna and Radha are small children, they are in different villages.
Krishna is in Vrindavan, Radha is in Barsana. So, later on when they grow up, then they start meeting at different places. In childhood, they don’t meet at all.
First meeting that happens is as Radha has a baby. But then, when Krishna gets caught in the fans of Kaliya, oils of Kaliya. So, you know, in the case of most of the other demons, Krishna just kills them within a few minutes.
In Trnavart, he has a nice ride with him and then he says, enough of this fun now. He just increases weight and finishes them all. But all the other demons, he finishes all of them very quickly.
So, the only pastimes where some inimical element, inimical means opposed element, has a prolonged confrontation, there are only two. That is the Govardhan Leela with Indira and the Kaliya Marudhan Leela. And wherever there is a prolonged confrontation, Krishna doesn’t kill them.
Krishna doesn’t kill Indira, Krishna doesn’t kill Kaliya. He forgives Indira and he forgives Kaliya also. But the prolonged confrontation, what does it do? It actually enhances the devotion.
It enhances the devotion and the union of the Vrajavasis with Krishna. So, now in Govardhan Leela, Krishna is rejected for seven days and then all the Vrajavasis were beholding the nectar of Krishna’s beautiful form. They’re drinking it with their eyes.
And actually when seven days got over, Krishna told the rains have stopped now, you can go. Nobody wanted to go only. Nobody wanted to go only.
So, they were so ecstatic to be there. So, like that, when Krishna, he was performing the Kaliya Marudhan Leela. Now, Krishna, when he jumped off the Kadamba tree, he jumped with as if the strength, you know, I’m going to just defeat Kaliya right away.
But then suddenly Kaliya came along and he caught Krishna in the coils. So, why did Krishna do that? Why did Krishna let himself get caught? I don’t know. And the Vrajavasis, the Gopas who were there, they were struck with agony and the auspicious symptoms started coming up in the sky.
So, Krishna stayed for a long time in the coils and he described that everybody from Vrindavan, when they realised that Krishna is in danger, they started running. So, Anand Vrindavan Shampoo, Kavi Kaliya Go describes that everybody, you know, from 100 year old people to small children, they all started going. There are mothers with their babies.
The mothers left their babies and ran. And the babies also ran. The babies couldn’t run, but they also went.
What has happened to Krishna? We want to see. And then, then everybody from Vrindavan came and then people from all the other villages also came. And then Krishna was waiting, waiting, waiting.
Yashodamayi was in agony. Nandamayi was in agony. But Yashodamayi said, I will jump in and I will rescue Krishna.
But Ramji says, no, no, wait. Krishna will take care of things. But finally, the news went to Barsana.
In Barsana, when the news reached, then from there, Vrishabhano, Kirtida and Radha, they all came and then finally Radha came. Krishna was looking, where is Radha? Now I will dance for her pleasure. And then Krishna broke free from the fangs of Kaliya, from the coils of Kaliya and started dancing.
So here also, there was just contact of eye to eye, but there was no meeting. Then after that, what would happen is Krishna, he would go to the forest. Every morning he would go to the forest and every evening when he would come back, now Vrindavan is like a lotus.
Sometimes it expands and sometimes it contracts. So when it contracts, at that time, all the places in Vrindavan come very close to each other. So when they come close to each other, so all the Vrajavasis and not, see the word Vrajavasi can refer to specifically the Vasis of Vrindavan as a village or it can refer to everybody.
So even the Varsanavasis are also Vrajavasis. So in the evening, everybody from all of Vrindavan, they would come to welcome Krishna back. When they would come to welcome Krishna back, at that time, they would all wait and they were looking at the horizon.
You see, Krishna would go far into the forest to graze the cows. So when he would come back, the first thing that they would see is, first sign that Krishna is coming is, they would see a dust cloud. Because when Krishna had to come, when Krishna would go, he would be ahead of the cows.
He would be leading all the cows out. But when he had to come, he would be at the back. Why? Because all the cows and cows, they knew that if we go back, then we’ll be separated from Krishna.
So they didn’t want to go back only. They wanted to stay in the forest itself. That’s why Krishna, he would be at the back and watching every cow and calling each of the cows, let us go back.
So when the cows would be ahead, when they would be coming, a dust cloud would be raised. And the dust cloud would be raised. At that time, the Vrajavasis, when they see the dust cloud, they’ll be excited.
Yes, Krishna is coming. They’re waiting. When will the dust cloud subside? As the cows will come forward, they’ll say, one cow, two cow, three cow.
And then along with the cows, they’ll see the Gopas. And right at the back, there will be Balram and Krishna. So the custom was that all the Vrajavasis, the elderly Vrajavasis and the males, they would go at the outskirts of Vrindavan.
And all the Gopis, they’re young, so as per the custom, they would go on top to the houses, the terrace, and they would look from there. And then, when they say Krishna, I know, I know, yes, Krishna has come. There will be a festival of jubilation every evening when Krishna would come back.
And then, as the Gopas would move forward, Krishna would slow down. Krishna would slow down and Balramji would also slow down. Madhavangal is always there with Krishna.
And then, as Krishna and Balramji, they all come inside, all the Gopas go ahead, Krishna and Balramji. Krishna would start walking slowly and Balramji. So now the Gopis are there, Radharani and all the Gopis are there, they’re above the terraces.
Now, Krishna wants to look at the Gopis, but Balram is the older brother. So, in the presence of the older brother, he can’t look at the Gopis. So, he’s thinking, what should I do? So, what Krishna does is, Krishna slows down.
And he slows down, Balram says, Krishna, why are you slowing down? Go home and take bath. Ishwara wants to cook a wonderful feast for us, we’ll go and take. Krishna says, I’m very tired.
You go ahead, I’ll come slowly. So, Balramji takes off. And then when Balramji takes off, Krishna feels liberated.
And then, all the Gopis, they’re beholding Krishna’s beautiful form and all the love of their heart, they’re offering to Krishna through their eyes. And Krishna is accepting their love and offering his love back to them. And like that, Krishna progresses slowly, all alone, all the Gopas have gone, all the cows have gone, Krishna is slowly coming.
And then Vrindavan is such that time and space, both are under Krishna’s control. So, in Jiva Swami, in Krishna Chandra, he analyses that when, we know in the 70th chapter of the 10th canto, Narada Muni goes to the different palaces in Dwarka, and he sees Krishna is there in all the different palaces. And in all these palaces, he is doing different activities.
In one palace, he is doing royal activities. In another palace, he is talking with his consort. In another palace, he is taking food.
In another palace, he is arranging for the marriage of his children. In another palace, he is giving charity to the brahmanas. So, this indicates that Krishna expands and has many places, manifestations at the same time.
But Jiva Swami makes another point. He says, if you look at this, various descriptions, actually, they are describing not just different activities, but also different timings. At one house, it is morning.
In one palace, it is morning. In another palace, it is afternoon. In another palace, it is evening.
In another palace, it is late evening. In another palace, it is just coming above noon. He says, actually, Krishna’s omnipotence transcends both space and time.
So, Krishna can not only be at different places, but he can be at different times also. What does that mean? What it means is that we can’t understand what it means. That means that actually, that means if Krishna performs a particular pastime in the morning, Krishna performs a pastime in the afternoon, Krishna performs a particular pastime in the evening.
So, Krishna can be morning, afternoon, evening, everywhere. I answer questions on my website. One person asked a question.
That is how we are celebrating Janmashtami. So, Krishna appeared at noon, appeared at midnight in Mathura. So, you know, we should celebrate at midnight, according to time of Mathura, not midnight of the local time.
If somebody is in America, somebody is in Europe, somebody is in Africa, why do we fast till midnight at that particular place? Isn’t it? Actually, Krishna has already appeared in Mathura. The midnight has already passed. The midnight has not yet come.
So, actually, the answer is based on this point that Krishna’s manifestation is at a particular time, but Krishna is himself beyond time. See, Krishna’s pastimes are not historical. They are eternal, but manifesting through the medium of history.
Krishna’s pastimes are not historical. They are eternal, manifesting through the medium of history. So, through the medium of history, they are manifested at a particular time.
But that doesn’t mean that they are happening only at that time. They are happening eternally. To our vision, they become manifest at a particular time.
So, Krishna, when he appears, his appearance is not just some remote historical event that happened in a place called Mathura thousands of years ago. Yes, it did happen that way. But it’s also an intimate event that happens in our heart.
And the purpose of celebrating Janmashtami or Adhashtami is to purify our heart so that Krishna appears here. So, Krishna appears here, then we are on that day fasting, we are on that day purifying our heart. So, we do the austerity for the whole day and at midnight, Krishna appears in that particular place.
So, that’s why we have this celebration at different times. So, the point which I was making in this particular pastime, all the Vrajavasis, they have seen Krishna and everyone is waiting to welcome Krishna. So, how does Krishna get the time to see all the Gopis and to reciprocate love with them? Krishna expands time.
Expands time and he spends time with every one of them. You know, every one of them, not intimately talking with them, but just glancing at them. When Krishna performs the Rasa Leela, he’s not thinking time over, now I have to go.
No, he expands time. He expands time. So, Krishna is the master of time and the master of space.
So, this is a daily visual meeting between Radharani and Krishna that would happen. So, there is, this is now the Kaliya pastime, if you see the 17th chapter. At that time, Krishna has just started going out of Vrindavan to herd the cows.
But thereafter, Krishna starts going out regularly and then the Gopis in Vrindavan, they keep meeting Krishna. So, Krishna, he is not the ninth, but as I mentioned, the 20th chapter is, the 21st chapter is the song of the flute. So, that’s a beautiful, beautiful pastime.
I won’t go into that. Krishna does not, when Krishna is born, he is not born with a flute. In Shankha Chakra, Vallabhadra, he appears as Vishnu.
So, when did Krishna play the flute for the first time? So, actually, Krishna has three different kinds of flutes. One flute is for the cows, one flute is for the Gopas, and one flute is for the Gopis. So, when the 21st chapter, they are describing the flute, they are describing the flute which Krishna played for the Gopis.
And when he plays that flute, the Gopis become completely maddened with love for Krishna. So, Prabhudana says, he describes that actually, when Radharani first heard the word Krishna, just the name Krishna captivated her heart. And she said, oh, this person with the name Krishna, this person with the name Krishna, I offer my life to him.
I offer my heart to him life after life. He will be my master. And she was constantly saying Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.
And then after that, Krishna started playing his flute. Now, when the flute sound first came, then at that time, the Gopis did not know where this flute sound has come from. See, in Vrindavan, there is something called Yoga Maya.
Maya is that which covers, that Maya is that which covers our connections with Krishna. Yoga is that which connects us with Krishna. So, Yoga Maya is something mysterious.
Yoga Maya is that which covers and connects. You know, literally speaking, it seems to be a contradictory term. Now, in English, these sort of contradictory terms are called as oxymorons.
I mentioned this. Oxymoron means, if somebody says, that person is a courageous coward. You are either courageous or you are cowardly.
How is it possible? So, Yoga Maya, what does it mean? It covers and it connects. It covers Krishna’s greatness so that the connection with the sweetness increases. So, the Gopis do not know that it is actually Krishna playing the flute.
So, when Radharani hears the flute for the first time, at that time, the sound of the flute enters into her ears, into her heart and captivates her heart. She says, the person who is playing this flute, he is the lord of my heart. She starts thinking, what kind of woman am I? I am giving my heart to two people.
One person with the name Krishna and the other person who is the player of this flute. She does not need the same person. She starts thinking, what kind of person am I? And then, one day when they are going along the forest, now this is after the awakening of Purvarag.
Purvarag means, when Krishna and Radharani, when they are small, small children, they play around like children. But within the Yoga Maya, when they come to their teenage years, now then, when they come to the arrival of puberty, then the relationships intensity increases far more. And that time, when Radharani sees, Radharani is going into the forest and Krishna is passing by.
And that time she sees, oh, there is this spellbindingly beautiful young boy with a peacock feather on the forehead, beautiful bluish complexion, a three-fold bending crown. At first sight, my heart is captivated completely. He is the lord of my heart.
And then, I start thinking, what am I doing? You know, I have given my heart to three people. What is going to happen to me? The person who is playing Krishna, the person who is the player of the flute and the person who has this beautiful form. And then, Radharani is in great agony.
At one level, she is in separation and another level, she is in mortification, thinking, what have I done? And then Lalita and Vishwakant, they ask Radha, what is the matter? Why are you in so much agony? She says, what can I speak? My heart is shameless. So, actually, it is our heart that is shameless. But there, all the emotions that are there here, they are present in their pure and pristine form in the spiritual world.
And Radharani says, what should I say about my heart? Actually, once I heard the sound of Krishna, I heard about a person named Krishna and that sound conquered my heart. And that time I decided, this person will be my lord. Then I heard somebody playing the flute and that person, I felt that person is the lord of my heart.
And then I saw a bluish complexion. I felt that person is my lord. In this way, I have given my heart to three people.
And I don’t know how to unite with even one of them. But I cannot live without any of them. What should I do? So, when Lalita, Vishwakant and Sakhi is here in this, you know, yoga maya is arranged in such a way that everything is arranged for the intensification of the love.
They decide that this is a wonderful predicament. This is not a dreadful predicament. So, they decide that we will arrange for a meeting of Krishna and Radharani at a time when Radharani will see that all these three are the manifestation of the same person.
That the same person has the name Krishna, the same person’s name is Vishnu and the same person has the bluish black complexion. And then they arrange. There is an intimate Sakhi called Bakunimala.
And they said Bakunimala is a messenger. And they said, Krishna, please come and meet Radharani at this particular place. And then the Sakhis tell Radharani that we are going to take you to meet a person called Krishna.
And they take him and then Krishna at that time is playing the flute. And then Radharani, when she hears the flute, starts thinking I am going to meet Krishna, but then I am hard attracted by the person playing this flute. What is this? And as she is going along, they are going in one direction.
The Gopis don’t tell initially who is Krishna. They say, yes, Krishna is going to come. And they let the sound of the flute.
And when she sees Krishna at that time, she sees that there is a beautiful complexion boy. And then she is captivated by it. And at the same time, when Krishna, it is described that when Krishna is in control of everything, when he is lifting over them, he doesn’t tremble, he doesn’t shake.
But when Krishna is playing his flute and he is playing his flute completely absorbed, waiting for calling Radharani to come. But when he sees Radharani coming, what happens is his flute slips from his hand and flute falls down. And when Radharani sees this beautiful person Krishna, this beautiful blue complexion person, she doesn’t know it is Krishna.
This beautiful complexion person, she sees him without a flute. So, at that time, because the flute is not there, what happens? She thinks, oh, this is the second person. So, who is the person who is playing the flute? That is somebody else.
And the person who is a beautiful blue complexion boy is the second person. And then after that, then they say, yes, we will introduce you to Krishna now. And then, yes, where is Krishna? Radharani is thinking that, okay, Krishna is the third person.
And then Yoga Maya plays a mystical potential. Suddenly, all the Sakhis disappear. Krishna and Radharani are all alone in front of each other.
At that time, the Sakhis whisper into Krishna, Radharani says, this is Krishna. And Krishna is that same blue complexion flute, holding a flute. And at that time, all the agony that has been burdening Radharani’s heart, it goes away and is flooded with ecstasy.
She understands that actually, I was not loving three people. I was loving one person. And this one person who has all these wonderful attributes.
And then that is their first ecstatic meeting. So, in this way, Radharani and Krishna, they demonstrate the supremacy of pure love in the spiritual world. And that love when we understand, now this love may seem very similar to the love that we read about in novels and movies.
But actually, this love is the original. Whatever we see here is a reflection. So, when we understand the original, then our captivation with the reflection, we are no longer captivated.
We can redirect our heart towards Krishna and fall in love with him. That’s why this whole Madhurya Ras, it is very elevated. But at the same time, what is described in the Bhagavatam is that by hearing about this Madhurya Ras, if we hear it properly, then our attraction to the Vikrut Madhurya Ras, the perverted relationship with this world, that will go away.
In the last verse of the Raj Panchadhyay, it is described that when we hear and understand the intimate pastimes of Krishna with the Gopis, by understanding those intimate pastimes, our attraction to those pastimes will increase and attraction to the worldly relationships will all go away. So, I won’t in full describe the pastime of Krishna returning to Vrindavan. I will just mention two points about that, how that happens.
So, at the end of this prayers, these are all elaborate prayers, but at the end of this song, Radharani expresses the desperate desire, when Krishna ever come back, does Krishna remember us? So, actually Krishna is constantly remembering and Krishna and the Vijvasis, they have constant messengers going between, when the Maharaj keeps sending messengers and Krishna equips those messengers with fast horses, that they can keep going, keep coming, keep going, keep coming and Krishna, he sends messages, he told his messengers, in the public assembly, you read out the message to the Maharaj and in a private assembly, you go and give a message to the Gopis, to Radharani and you read out the message. So, Radharani is reassured through these messages. So, these messages don’t come when Krishna is in Mathura, because when Krishna is in Mathura, the hope is there, Krishna will soon come back.
So, when Krishna goes to Gurukul, Krishna doesn’t tell the Vijvasis that I am going to Gurukul. It’s just the Vijvasis keep sending some people and they say Krishna, we can’t see Krishna anywhere. But when Krishna goes to Dwarka, at that time the distance becomes too much and that time, from that time the messages keep coming, messengers keep coming constantly and Krishna sends a message to Radharani, he says, you know, I am personally taking care of beautiful gardens here in Dwarka, so that one day we will be reunited and we will perform pastimes.
I am daily watering the gardens. So, the Gopis send back a message, Krishna, we are also watering gardens over here for our pastimes, but these gardens never grow. Because on one side, we offer cooling water through the sprinklers to the gardens, but whatever water we offer, that is countered by the rush of our hot tears and our hot tears cause the plants to wither and dry and similarly our hearts are withering and dry.
Please come back, Krishna. So, every message that the Gopis send, it’s a heart-wrenching call, Krishna, please come back, come back. And Krishna is always planning, when will I come back? So, he finally comes back, when? Actually, he kills Shishupa, then he kills Dantavakra.
Dantavakra is in Mathura and in the area of Mathura, Dantavakra is hiding and Krishnakar kills Mathura and this whole pastime is described in Vishnu Puran. So, finally, then what happens? Krishna, he bathes in the same Vishram Ghat, which he had bathed in when he went from Vrindavan to Mathura and at that time, Krishna puts aside his weapons and he said, now my Aishwarya is over. Now, I will not lift any weapons again and that is why, that is the internal reason, why when the Mahabharata war takes place, Krishna does not lift any weapons.
Right? Because Krishna said, now I have gone back to Vrindavan. So, to Vrindavan, I will not lift any weapons. So, at that time, Krishna becomes reunited.
Krishna goes on Daruka, goes with Daruka on his chariot and when the Vrajavasis see, Vrajavasis are sitting in Asambi and they are discussing Krishna Katha and suddenly, Krishna blows the Panchajanya and as soon as they hear, the Vrajavasis have never heard Panchajanya being blown before, but they have heard about Panchajanya and their connection is so mystical that as soon as they hear the Panchajanya, they say, this is Krishna. They all become excited. The whole assembly erupts with joy.
Yes, Krishna has come back. Krishna has come back and they all run out and there Krishna is coming on Daruka. The eyes are filled with tears and Daruka is thinking, I have never seen Krishna like this before.
And all the Vrajavasis, they embrace Krishna and while they are embracing Krishna, they are constantly looking fearfully at the chariot. One chariot to Krishna. Is this chariot again going to take us? So, they think that what we will do is, we will, we couldn’t convince Akrura, but we will offer so much love to the horses that the horses will not want to leave.
And they start lovingly, the Vrajavasis are not habituated to taking care of horses. They take care of cows. And cows are, the Vrajavasis, the way they take care of cows is, they very lovingly massage and clean and bathe.
Now, nobody does that to horses. The horses themselves are bewildered. And when Daruka sees this, Daruka says, how much is the love of the Vrajavasis? They love not only Krishna, they love, even his chariot and his horses, even in Dwarka, nobody takes care like this.
And then Krishna and Vrajavasis, Krishna says that, I told you I will come back, I have come back. And the Maharaj says that now that you have come back, you should never go back. I should never go back.
And then Krishna goes deep into thought. What should I do? And while they are talking, they are constantly looking at the chariot. Krishna understands their heart.
And he says, do not fear. This chariot is here to do your heart’s bidding. It is not here to break your heart.
Whatever you want, tell me. This chariot will do for you. So, it is an elaborate pastime.
Actually, Gopal Jaffer describes based on the various Puranas, how then Krishna and the Gopis are united. They actually get married. And then Krishna feels that I cannot be separated from the Gopis.
Now they are ending in love. So, he says, we will all go back to the spiritual world. The same chariot that has brought them to Vrindavan, Lord Krishna to Vrindavan, that expands mystically.
And Radharani and all the Gopis get seated on that chariot. Not all the Gopis, all the Vrajavasis get seated on that chariot. And Krishna sits in that chariot in the centre.
And the chariot marches off. From Vrindavan, it goes towards Yamuna. And as it nears Yamuna, as the observers are watching this chariot, suddenly the chariot appears to move skywards and like a flash of lightning, it disappears.
That is how Krishna takes all the Vrajavasis back to Kolokundam, to the spiritual world, to be eternally with them. Radharani describes that Krishna goes back, but an expansion of Krishna stays on. So, an expansion of Krishna then goes back to Dwarka and continues the pastimes.
So, actually, there is a mood of love and separation, a very exalted emotion. And we can get some glimpses of that. When Srila Prabhupada shared Krishna consciousness all over the world, Srila Prabhupada gave us the Krishna book because he wanted the world to know about Krishna’s pastimes.
And he wanted the whole world to learn to love Krishna. And loving Krishna is not possible without the mercy of Shrimati Radharani. So, Radharani is the person who gives devotion to everyone.
She gives devotion. She not only has supreme devotion herself, but she is the source of all devotion. Supreme devotion means greater than everyone, but source of all devotion means that everyone else’s devotion comes from her.
So, Radhashtami is a day when by meditating on the glorious pastimes of Radharani and praying to Radharani that she bestow her mercy on us by which we can get a little drop of love. Sometimes we feel that we are so far away from Krishna. Sometimes we come to the chant, but our mind just wanders everywhere or our mind goes nowhere.
You know what happens is our mind stays fixed on some one thought and it doesn’t go towards Krishna at all. So, our mind just doesn’t cooperate. We may feel that I am so far away from Krishna.
It is true that we are far away from Krishna. Every day I write a small article in the Bhagavad Gita which I post on Gita Daily site. So, today morning I wrote this article about how focus not on how far we are from Krishna, but how close we are to Krishna.
Actually, yes, emotionally we are still very far away from Krishna, but in principle if you think among the millions of living beings who have forgotten Krishna, we are among the fortunate few who have come to know about Krishna. There are very few who endeavour also to know about Krishna and even among those few who endeavour to know about Krishna, there are very few who come to know about Krishna. So, we are among those fortunate few by the mercy of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and by the mercy of Shri Padukas.
So, yes, as compared to all the places that we might have been, you know, Radhashtami has come and gone for thousands of years. For all the past years, we have all been existing. We might have been in some different species.
We are not even aware that it is Radhashtami. Just another day continued eating, sleeping, mating, defending. Because now as compared to that, we are so close.
We are among them. We are closer to Krishna than we have ever been in our entire history of human existence. We are closer than most living beings and although we may be far away from Krishna, Krishna is never far away from us.
Krishna is closer than the closest right in our hearts and despite our conditionings, despite our half-heartedness, against all odds, Krishna has brought us so close to Him. As compared to how far we were and how far we could have been, you know, even in this mandarin mutton existence, Krishna has brought us so close to Him. So, we focus, you know, Prabhupada would say that it just matters one lifetime.
The finishing line is not far away, although it seems far away to us. We just keep practising Krishna Consciousness diligently. We cannot reach the finishing line, but Krishna can take us across the finishing line also and that is what can happen by the unification with Radharani.
So, in the sacred day, we can pray to Radharani to give us a drop of our devotion and which we can become steady and strong in our devotional service and serve Krishna, serve the Vaishnavas, assisting Shri Prabhupada’s mission and march back in our journey back to Krishna. Thank you very much.