Radhashtami meditations – Sita and Radharani – similarities and differences

Radhashtami meditation 1 – Appreciating the sacrificing spirit of Sita and Radharani

Radhashtami meditation 2 – Appreciating the two separations endured by Sita and Radharani

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank you for coming today evening. Janmashtami has just got over and tomorrow is also a big festival.
It’s not so easy to come, especially on a weekday evening. Since tomorrow is Radhashtami, so I’ll speak today on the topic of appreciating the mood of Radharani by comparing the moods of Radharani and Sita Devi. So, one underlying theme which I will talk is that the essence of love is sacrifice.
People, the word love is very very common. Love means attraction. I feel very attracted to this person.
Or love means warmth. Oh, this person cares for me so much. Attraction means I find this person so attractive.
Or I feel that this person cares for me. So like that love can have many different meanings. And there is an aspect of attraction, there is an aspect of feeling cared for.
But the essence of love is sacrifice. And if love is to be sustained, if love is to be nourished, then sacrifice is what enables us to take that love further and deeper. And this is what both these great personalities Radha and Sita demonstrate.
So we will look at some incidents in their lives and we will look at especially the relationship that defines them, their relationship with their lord. So broadly speaking if we compare Krishna and Ram, Ram’s character embodies dharma in a relatively straightforward way. Krishna embodies dharma in a much more complicated way.
Now in general people can find something objectionable about Ram, but overall his character is exemplary. About Krishna, there are so many things especially in Mahabharata and everything, it can be very confusing. So both of them embody dharma but in different ways.
And this increase in complexity of what they embody is also reflected in the increase in complexity of their relationship with their consort. So for example, if we consider the relationship of Sita and Ram. If we consider a traditional society where primarily most marriages were arranged.
So then it is their marriage was like that. Krishna, Ram and Sita, they at least in their manifestation in this world, apparently didn’t know each other. And it is when Ram entered into Ayodhya, from Ayodhya he went to the forest with Vishwamitra and Vishwamitra took him to Mithila.
So there it was that Sita saw Ram for the first time and Ram saw Sita for the first time. So that was their meeting and there in that meeting, not a meeting actually, just beholding each other. Then after that in the Swayamvar, it was that Ram not only raised the bow and strung the bow but broke the bow.
So nowadays in corporate world they talk about you shouldn’t just meet expectations, you should exceed expectations. So Ram demonstrates that. Exceeding expectations so totally that it is like you don’t just meet a standard, you break the standard itself.
So and then Ram gallantly wins the hand of Sita. Arpit Sita varmalika Rama, she offered her varmala. Now if you consider the relationship of Krishna and Sita, Krishna and Radha rather, it’s much more complex.
Say they live, first of all Sita and Ram live in two different kingdoms. Whereas Radha and Krishna live more or less in the same community. It is different villages, different towns you could say but it is broadly the same community.
And it is that right from the beginning Radharani is, of course at that time she is not Radharani, she is Radha, she is a small baby. So the first thing she saw is Krishna. It is she refused to open her eyes, she refused to do anything and her parents were wondering what has happened to her.
And now there is a new baby in the house, everybody comes in, wants to see. So they invited Mandya Maharaja also to come. Krishna came over there, Krishna crawled over.
Krishna was also not very old at that time. So Krishna crawled over and he peered into the crib where Radha was there. And as soon as she knew that Krishna was looking over there, so then she opened her eyes.
So she wanted to begin her journey in life with the sight of the Lord. And at one level both these relationships, they are transcendental, pure, exalted. So exalted that we can’t even in many ways conceive the purity and level of that relationship.
But in some other ways you can also say that these relationships, they represent how we as souls would aspire to relate with our Lord. So maadraksham, henasya, kunyam, mukunda mala stotra and many other verses by the saints, they say that actually I do not want to even see people in whose heart Krishna is not manifest. Krishna is present in everyone’s hearts, but people who are godless, then I don’t even want to see them.
Devotee wants to simply behold the form of the Lord. Drishti satam darshane stu bhavata noonam. The Nalakumar and Manigri, Kuver Kumaras, they, after they are delivered by Krishna, they offer this prayer.
My dear Lord, in this world we are not as fortunate that we can see the Lord directly. It’s very rare to have the darshan of the Lord directly. But let us behold the form of your devotees and seeing your devotees is not different from seeing you.
Drishti satam darshane, satam darshane. So Radharani, right from her childhood, not even childhood, infancy, her attraction to Krishna is manifest. And then as they start growing up, actually the dream of everyone in Vrindavan is that Radha and Krishna be united.
Everything in this world, in some way or the other, in a purer form is present in the spiritual world. So in practically every community, after people go beyond a particular age, now one common pastime for people is matchmaking. Oh, pair this boy with this girl, pair this girl with this boy.
And at one level it can be distracting, at another level it can be intrusive, at one level it can just lead to a lot of gossip. But that is present in its purest form in the spiritual world, where the longing of everyone there is that Radha and Krishna be united. And that’s what the Vrajavasis dream.
He is such a sweet, wonderful boy and she is such a sweet, wonderful girl. And they grow up and Acharyas describe that their relationship, as I said, the relationship begins from childhood, not even childhood, infancy itself. And our Gaudiya Acharyas have described how Radha is present everywhere in Krishna’s pastimes.
So for example, Krishna is in the clutches of Kalia and it appears as if he is almost dead. And seeing him motionless near death, it is all the Vrajavasis who have become petrified. They are near death and yet Krishna stays just like that.
And now the Bhagavatam is gently indicative, pointing towards Radharani. The Bhagavatam doesn’t directly talk about Radharani. Because, there are different explanations, but Shukadeva Goswami is afraid that he will get so overwhelmed with ecstasy on remembering Radharani that he won’t be able to serve, he won’t be able to speak.
Even if we are going to speak about something which is very emotional, the summit of pure emotion, but even to speak about pure emotion, we need some control over emotion. It’s ironic, isn’t it? Bhakti is all about emotion. But if we are to give the experience of bhakti to others, then we have to rein in our emotions.
So he just points towards Radharani, he doesn’t mention it. But what he points towards, our Acharyas explicate it. They elaborate it.
They reveal the hidden nuggets over there. So they explain that actually, in the Bhagavatam it is said that Krishna was in the clutches of Kalia for some time and then he broke free and started dancing on Kalia. So our Acharyas explain that Krishna was waiting.
He was going to do his first public dance performance. And he wanted his beloved to see it. So the news that Krishna was in the clutches of Kalia, it spread rapidly.
But still Barsana was some distance away. So for the residents of Barsana to come running to there, it took some time. And then once Radha came over there, Krishna said, now let the show begin.
And Krishna started dancing over there. So that way, our Acharyas describe that Radha is present everywhere in Krishna Leela. In fact, they also say that in the Damodar Leela, we say that it is the two fingers were shot.
That one finger was Yashoda’s endeavour, the other was Krishna’s mercy. That’s true. Our Acharyas also explain that Krishna waited for a particular point.
And eventually he was tied by Yashoda. So what was that point? That point was that when this news spread again that Krishna was tied, everybody from nearby came around. And the neighbours all brought their ropes.
But they were all shot. Finally Radha came over. And Radha untied her ribbon and gave it to Yashoda.
And when that ribbon was added to the rope, Krishna said, now I’ll be conquered by the love. So Radha is like the invisible presence in all the beautiful pastimes of Krishna. And in this way, we see there is a special, we could say, sweetness in the pastimes of Radha and Krishna.
Because it’s a simple, small village. Whereas, Ayodhya also has a sweetness, but there is reality over there. There is magnificence.
There is Aishwarya very prominently present. So Sita grows up very conscious that she is a princess. That’s okay.
She is very conscious that she is a princess. And she has to act in accordance with the dignity of the position of a princess. Radharani also has her sweet dignity.
But she is a village girl. Vikretu Kama Kila Gopa Ganya There is no description of Sita ever going out to do any work. But Radha, she is living in a village.
And in a village, although they are rich in natural opulence, but still they would work. So the Gopis would go to sell. Tadhyadikam, they would go and sell curd.
But Radha was the leader of the Gopis when they were about to sell. You have to say, in traditional village settings or something like that, people would say, if you want to sell something, Oh, we’ve got some curd, we’ve got some fruits, we’ve got some sweets. Who wants to buy it? So the Gopis, it is described that they’d want to call out that, Oh, we’ve got curd, we’ve got butter.
But they’re so absorbed in Krishna that instead of speaking about curd and milk, they would say, Govinda Damodara Madhaveti Can you repeat? Govinda Damodara Madhaveti So their hearts are filled with so much love for Krishna, that that love would overflow. So in psychology, there is something called as a Freudian slip of the tongue. That means slip of the tongue is where we speak something that we didn’t intend to speak.
But sometimes it is just an accident and we speak something entirely different from what we wanted to speak. But a Freudian slip of the tongue is where something which we had hidden in our heart suddenly comes out. And we didn’t want to say it.
So the slip of tongue is not something which is just mistaken, something which is intentionally to be hidden, it comes out. So similarly here, although they want to do some work, but they just can’t. So Radha, at one level, she has that.
She’s the consort of Krishna, but it’s a pastoral paradise, Vrindavan. And in that, just like Krishna goes out to work. Krishna He goes out to graze the cows.
He goes out to graze the cows. And similarly, Radha also goes out. She goes out to sell the cow products.
The gifts that the cow is given. They try to give those to the world. And it is when Krishna and Radha go out, both, then they have many sweet meetings.
They have rendezvous in this forest, where Krishna often does many mischievous things. And sometimes you meet someone and say we know person A and we know person B. And then we may think maybe person A and person B don’t know each other. So we introduce them.
Say actually, we know each other. We go back a long time. We’ve known each other for decades.
So like that, now Radha and Krishna, they go back for a long time. And in their meetings in the forest. At different times, Krishna and Radha, they all tried, they have a game of loving one-upsmanship.
That means Radha tries to outwit Krishna and Krishna tries to outwit Radha. So Rupa Goswami has composed a very beautiful series of prayers called Radha Krishna Ashtakam. So therein he says how Krishna and Radha are saturated with each other.
And this saturation, this complete absorption of their consciousness in each other, it manifests in different ways. So that, because that reverence is somewhat lesser. So in the Ramayana, Ramayana also has a sweetness.
But Sita has that mood of reverence toward Ram. There is of course, in love sometimes there is sparring. You speak something which is teasing the other person.
And I speak something which, we speak, one person teases the other person. The other person teases the first person. So there is a devotee who, very wonderful devotee, he has a very wry sense of humour.
Recently I gave a class and after that he came to me and said, your class was brilliant. So normally I ask, what did you like about the class? So he said, everything except what you spoke. Everything except what you spoke.
So that was basically, he was trying to be sweetly sarcastic. Then after that there were some children whom he was asking, what do you like in Krishna consciousness? So I said, can I answer? He said, yeah, everything except you. So sometimes when there is a close affection, if there is no affection, and then somebody speaks like this, what is going on? You would consider it an insult.
How dare you speak like that? But when there is affection, then even apparently insulting words add to the love. So context determines everything. If somebody says, I liked everything except the class, except what you spoke.
Normally you would say, how can you speak like this? But in affection, if affection is the foundation, then the richness of the relationship requires various flavours. If it’s only I appreciate you and you appreciate me, yes, there is sweetness in that. But it is, I try to tease you and then you try to tease me.
And then there is the loving one-upsmanship in that. And that is the flavour that Krishna relishes with Radha. And Krishna longs for it.
Sometimes in our childhood, say, if our mother had cooked some very sweet delicacy, and then we loved it in our childhood. And then we grow up and maybe our mother is far away or she is no more. And then we want to have the delicacy.
And then whoever cooks that, they may cook the same item, but they may not get the same flavour, the same taste. So if there is something which we have cherished in the childhood, we long for it constantly. When can I get it? So Krishna gets that flavour in his relationship with Radha.
Where there is spice. There is sweetness has its own taste, but spice has its own taste also. So sweetness means, oh, you are so wonderful.
And you say, I am so wonderful. But spice comes when there is sarcasm, there are taunts, there is insult. So Krishna, he gets that in his relationship with Radha.
And he longs for it constantly. And that’s what he tries to get in his relationship with Rukmini. With Rukmini, he tries to taunt her.
So what is he doing over here? In Gopal Champu, Krishna consoles the Vrajivasis by sending a message that is for the Vrajivasis endearing and for the Dwarkavasis infuriating. So what is that message? The Vrajivasis are always hoping that Krishna will come back. And when will Krishna come back? When, when, when? That is the constant longing of their hearts.
And especially when Krishna gets married, then normally if somebody gets married, that means they are going to settle over there. And then they will lose hope. Will Krishna ever come back? And especially if somebody gets married and they have their family responsibilities, their professional responsibilities, then the likelihood of their coming back becomes very low.
Just like many of us are Indians over here. So we have emigrated over here. So if our parents might have some hope to come back there, of course many parents will have the hope, I want to come here.
That is also different. But they have hope, but if the children get married and they settle over here, then the likelihood that they will come becomes very low. So similarly, when Krishna gets married, now Krishna is the centre of the heart in the lives of the Vrajivasis.
And marriage is such a thing you cannot keep secret. And especially for Krishna, he knows, I cannot keep this hidden from the Vrajivasis. But at the same time he knows that they will be heartbroken.
So then Krishna sends a message to the Gopis. And he says, actually for the purpose of forming alliances to protect the Yadus, I have to get married. But I married these princesses simply because they remind me of you.
They remind me of you, but I am longing for you and I will come back to you soon. So now, what is Krishna doing over here? Is he actually not caring for the Dwarkavasis? For the Dwarka queens? No, he cares for the Dwarka Mahishis also. Definitely, but the point is, when there is a comparison in rasas, between Dwarka and Vrindavan, the Gauri Acharya described how Vrindavan’s rasa is much much higher.
So, the point I am making over here is that, Krishna wants, even when he is relating with Rukmini, he is remembering his relationship with Radha. And he is longing for that. And thus when he has this sweet interaction, he tries to provoke Rukmini.
And when he tries to provoke Rukmini, now Rukmini doesn’t understand. If somebody who has been very serious and grave, suddenly they start joking. And they start asking, what happened to you? Now, who are you? Where did this person, where did the original person go? And who is this substitute who looks like him? But who is he? So, Rukmini just can’t process what’s happening.
But what is Krishna trying to do? Krishna is actually trying to get the same flavour of the sweet relationship, that he had with Radha Rani. And as they grow up, this loving sparring becomes more and more. Now, the whole setting of Vrindavan is the setting of love.
But I started by talking about how love requires sacrifice. Without sacrifice, love is neither tested nor tasted. You can say there is love.
But love is tested. Is there real love? And what is the depth of that love? That is tasted when sacrifice is called for. So, in both Krishna Leela and Ram Leela, both Krishna and Radha and Ram and Sita, both of them have to go through sacrifices.
But the nature of the sacrifices are significantly different. In Ram Leela, the sacrifice through which Sita’s love for Ram is demonstrated is that she who has grown up always as a princess, suddenly has to, not has to, chooses to go to the forest. So, she, actually Ram comes with the full intention of dissuading her.
And in fact, Ram gives a whole speech where he is, in one sense, trying to scare Sita so that she will not go to the forest. But in spite of that, she determinately goes to the forest. And this willingness to share the pains, not just the joys, but the pains of one’s loved one, that is the test of her love.
So, she sacrifices her royalty for her loyalty. Sacrifices her royalty, the royal opulence that she has for her loyalty to her husband. That’s a great sacrifice.
It’s extraordinary, it’s very very difficult to do something like that. Now, Radha’s sacrifice is of an almost entirely different category. The whole principle of Krishna Leela is that generally, if we consider, there is the bad and the good.
This is the duality. And if we want to go towards God, we have to give up the bad. There are anti-devotional activities, there are sinful activities.
Those have to be given up. And giving up the bad is also difficult. So, giving up the bad for God is also a sacrifice.
But, if we have this duality of good and bad, we might say God is on the side of good. And we give up the bad and go towards good. But actually, God transcends this category of bad and good.
And to go towards God, we not only have to give up the bad, but we also have to give up the good. And that’s why we see in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna initially says, dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge He says, I descend to establish dharma. That’s 4.8. But, after that, in 1866, towards the end, he says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam raja So, dharma is good.
In fact, I was at one programme where there was a Gita recitation contest. It was Gita Jayanti. And there the children were reciting the Gita.
And when they recited the Gita, they recited this verse as, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam raja So, they made it to adharma. How can Krishna tell us to give up dharma? Actually, it’s adharma. So, it’s a mistake over there.
It’s not a mistake, actually. So, Krishna is saying, yes, I come to establish dharma. But ultimately, to attain bhakti, you have to give up even dharma.
So, to give up the bad, to come to the good is good. But to go to God, we have to not only give up the bad, but we may have to even give up the good. And what is the good that is to be given up? That Radharani demonstrates through her life.
And that is, Sita at least has the honour of being a duly wedded wife. And within that relationship, that honourable relationship, she exhibits extremes of sacrifice. And honourable dharmic relationship is good.
It’s important for the stability of society, for the continuance of humanity. But in Radha’s case, the setting in Vrindavan is arranged in such a way that she, for Krishna’s sake, has to sacrifice even the honour of being an honourable wife. Now, that is an excruciatingly difficult sacrifice.
So, especially in a traditional society, for a woman, her honour was very important. For a man also, his honour was important in terms of his word of honour. But now, the setting of Vrindavan is such that even the good has to be given up for God.
And Radharani demonstrates that. पति सुतन्वया ब्रात्र बान्धवान् अति विलांघ्यते अन्त्यच्युधागताः The Gopis are praying to Krishna in the Gopi Gita that Krishna, you come deep into this forest and you’ve given up everything. You’ve given up all our family members to come to you.
Because you called us, we gave up everything. And, of course, the Bhagavatam is careful that while transcending Dharma, it doesn’t trample on Dharma. That it doesn’t dismiss Dharma or deride Dharma.
So, at one level, when the act of demonstrating the Gopis’ love for Krishna is talked about, the Bhagavatam describes that actually they left everyone. And all their family members were opposing, but still they came to Krishna. And in that kind of society, when they left, they didn’t even know whether they would be ever accepted back.
And they were literally leaving everything for Krishna’s sake. So, the Gopis actually demonstrated sarva-dharman parityajya. And among those Gopis, Radharani is the topmost.
So, Radharani sacrifices that. She gives up even the good for God. Of course, she doesn’t give it up.
Why not? Because at a deeper level, what happens is that while Radharani goes, the Gopis go. And they have a wonderful Rasleela. And actually, even in the Rasleela, how at one level, Radharani is celebrated as the topmost lover of Krishna.
As the one with the topmost love for Krishna. But Anandandavan Champu is a beautiful book written by Kavi Karnapur. And therein he analyses the whole of the Rasleela to demonstrate that actually the Rasleela shows Radharani not just as the greatest lover, but as the greatest sacrificer.
If we get time, I’ll discuss that later. But at this point, I’m talking about this tension between transcending dharma and respecting dharma. So, what happens is, there is the bad, there is the good and there is God.
So now, for the sake of God, good has to be given up. But when most people give up good, they will not rise towards God. They will descend towards the bad.
So, for most people, maintaining the dignity of the good is very important. The dignity of the good is very important to be maintained and the Bhagavatam does that. And how the Bhagavatam does that is, it describes that after the Rasleela when all the Gopis come back, none of their family members resent their having gone away.
Because, it is said, Yogamaya fashions, forms the Gopis who were there with their family members. And thus they thought, yes, these Gopis wanted to go and they tried to go, but he stopped them and he stopped. So, that means, dharma is also honoured.
So, the good is honoured, but at the same time, the good is also transcended. So, in that sense, Radharani never loses her reputation. But she doesn’t know this is going to happen when she goes out.
She is ready to give up everything for Krishna. And in this, to give up the good, so there is, as I said, there is immoral, there is bad which is below morality. There is immoral, there is moral and then there is transmoral.
The transmoral is that which is above morality. However, for those who are not very discerning, the transmoral and the immoral can appear very similar. In fact, they may think that the transmoral is actually nothing but the immoral.
And they may think that, okay, why is the transmoral being celebrated and worshipped like that? And that is a common criticism of the Bhagavatam by sceptical people that it seems to celebrate immorality. But the Bhagavatam is itself conscious of this potential for criticism. And the Bhagavatam commentators have cautioned us that don’t think of this to be ordinary.
Why is it not ordinary? Because this is demonstrating the highest love. Now to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice, let’s look at other incidents which demonstrate the love of Krishna for Radha and Radha for Krishna. If we consider the love of Sita and Ram, they are in the forest also, they are together.
And Lakshman is there to attend to them. And Lakshman facilitates so that they can always be together. And they have very sweet intimate pastimes together.
At the same time, in their relationship, there is of course the traumatic separation when Ravana abducts her. And there is also eventually another separation when Sita is sent away by Ram. And all those demonstrate sacrifice in different ways.
That we will not be able to go into today. But here the principle of sacrifice, first to understand that something is not immoral but transmoral, we need to understand how there is a principle of sacrifice. The whole idea of morality is to bring us out of selfishness.
Everyone of us tends to be at one level selfish. Children, small children, they are innocent. But if you want to look at it positively, they are sweet and innocent.
But if you want to look at it negatively, they are so self-centred. They may not be conscious that they are self-centred, but anytime they have any need, they will start crying. Sometimes you see small babies and sometimes you are amazed, that size of the most advanced loudspeaker cannot make as much noise as a baby can make.
There is so much energy they have in their throat sometimes. So now they are not even conscious of anything. And they may cry suddenly in the midnight, they may cry suddenly in the middle of a serious discussion.
And now they may be crying because they are in pain or they may be crying because they need attention, whatever. But they are very self-centred. One sign of growing is that we learn how to socialise.
Socialise means that we learn how to behave in different settings. And that means we become conscious of those settings. That means we are not driven only by our emotions.
So moral codes of any kind, they are basically meant to bring us out of our self-consciousness. Me and my desires and my emotions and my pleasures, I have to become conscious of something more than that. So beyond that is as our consciousness goes upward, we learn to follow codes.
But then you have to go further than that. Just like say somebody is learning karate or judo or whatever. Then there are some standard defences which they need to learn.
If this happens, do this, do this, do this, do this. Or if you consider cricket, there are standard ways in which you get a ball here, your bat like this. You get a ball on the body, you do like this.
Get a ball over here, do like this. There are some standard strokes. So a good player needs to learn all the standard strokes.
A good batsman or a good martial arts player needs to know all the standard moves, all the good moves. But beyond being good is being great. And a great player knows all the standard moves and can do them expertly.
But the great player does something unexpected. And that’s how, say this way the opponent is attacking and the opponent knows when I attack this way, he will defend this way. And that’s what this normal well trained player would do.
But a great player does something entirely unexpected. That’s what makes them, rise them from the good to the great. So good habits have to be learned before they have to be transcended.
Similarly morality has to be learned before it has to be transcended. And to understand the Gopis’ transcendental morality, that they are trans-moral, we need to look at the principle of sacrifice. So their sacrifice melts Krishna’s heart.
And how is it that when Krishna is in the Rajlila, at that time he disappears. The Gopis are devastated. How can Krishna disappear like this? And they are searching, searching everywhere for Krishna.
And then Krishna decides to appear in the form of Vishnu. Now Vishnu and Krishna share the similar complexion, broadly speaking. And from a distance, when the Gopis see, they are delighted, oh it’s Krishna.
And they run toward Krishna. And then, they see it is Vishnu. Now normally, for the yogis, it is their deepest aspiration to have a little darshan of Krishna.
But when the Gopis see Krishna, they are disappointed. They are unbearably disappointed. It’s like somebody comes running to meet us and then says, oh it’s you.
So they ask, oh Krishna. They offer their pranams to Vishnu and then they ask, did you see Krishna? Can you tell me where is Krishna? So then, now Vishnu is also, it’s Krishna, he is playing as Vishnu. So he is so excited.
He is so delighted to see the love of the Gopis that he also becomes overwhelmed. And then he points his fingers. He can’t speak because his speech will give him away.
So he points. And he points and the Gopis thank him and run. And now, normally, when the Gopis are searching for Krishna, you would think that Radharani is the first in searching for Krishna.
But in this case, Radharani is the last. And why she is the last? Because she is searching everywhere. She is searching there, thinking we should not miss Radha.
We should not miss Krishna. She is searching everywhere and then, different people, if we have lost something, we search at one place and sometimes we search second time, we search third time. So Radharani is the most meticulous searcher.
Is Krishna hiding anywhere? Is Krishna anywhere? So she searches and then she comes there. And then she asks, with such fervent, desperate love, where is Krishna? And when Krishna hears this, he points with his two hands, with his fingers, his forearms, he tries to point, but what happens? Radha’s love is so great that Krishna’s two arms disappear. Krishna’s two arms just disappear.
There are different mystical powers by which those with those powers can assume different forms. But they need a certain level of self-awareness, a certain level of consciousness, by which they can maintain that form. It’s just like somebody is playing a fanciest competition.
Say, they put on a big moustache or a big beard or a big wig. Now they need to not get overexcited. They get overexcited, then what happens? Maybe their wig falls away.
So it’s not that simple, but they have to maintain a form. There has to be a certain level of self-consciousness. And that’s why when the demons are about to die, whichever form they may have taken up, that form disappears and their original form comes up.
Putana has come in the form of a beautiful damsel. Then she becomes this ghastly witch. The same principle applies over here.
So when Krishna sees Radha, Krishna forgets his Krishna consciousness. Or we could say Krishna forgets not his Krishna consciousness, but his Vishnu consciousness. Of course, it’s Krishna with a plan to be Vishnu.
So it is Krishna consciousness. As per his Krishna consciousness, he wants to be Vishnu. But he forgets that.
So what happens is that love melts Krishna’s, not only his heart internally, but his form externally. And then that same Radha who is calling out, where is Krishna? She sees Krishna right in front of her. Beloved is in front of her eyes.
And then her eyes dream the beautiful form of Krishna. So here is one glimpse of Radha’s love for Krishna. Now Krishna knows the love of Radharani for him.
Of course, even he doesn’t know fully, but he knows. But he wants the world to know. And because he wants the world to know, what does he do? He enacts the pastime, where he pretends to have a headache.
Now actually, he is not just pretending. In a sense, he has that headache. He is in pain.
And Narad Muni is concerned, what happened? What can I do for you? So he says, there is only one medicine. Tell me what is it, I will get it from anywhere. He says, I need the dust on the feet of my devotees.
And Narad Muni, how can I do this? Now Narad Muni is so humble, he doesn’t think, I am a devotee and I can give my dust. He thinks, okay, who is a devotee? And he goes around and asks the various devotees. And nobody is ready.
Till finally he comes to the Gopis. And among the Gopis again, it is Radharani who is most prominent. And they say, take as much dust as you want.
And go immediately. And now, at this point, Narad Muni starts thinking, hey, what is going on? Maybe these Gopis don’t understand what they are doing. He says, do you understand, if the dust of your feet touches Vishnu’s head, then you will go to hell.
And the Brajwasis say, the Gopis say that, your thought that Krishna has a headache is itself hell for us. If Krishna can get relief from his headache, that is what will get us out of hell. And if to get Krishna, to give Krishna relief for even one moment, if we have to go to hell forever, we are ready to do that.
So, what Sita does, forest is not hell, but forest is a terrible place. So, what Sita does for Ram’s sake, the Gopis are also ready to do for Krishna’s sake. Not just do that, but do much more.
And just as in a normal level, if we don’t understand the context, somebody giving their dust to God, it’s almost like you are not kicking, but what is on the foot you are giving. It doesn’t make sense. So, here, if we understand the context, we understand it is a sacrifice.
It’s a glorious sacrifice. But, even this at first glance will seem offensive. So, we can say this is, there is somebody who doesn’t know the position of God.
I was once giving a class recently on Janmashtami, and I said that how the Vrajavasis don’t accept Krishna as God. And then, one person in the audience, he said, I also don’t accept Krishna as God. Now, there is a big difference.
There is not accepting Krishna as God because of transcendence, and there is not accepting Krishna as God because of ignorance. And the two are opposite. So, somebody doesn’t know the proper way of worshipping the Lord, and then they do something like this.
Let their foot touch a sacred image, or let the dust from their foot go there. It’s a terrible thing to do. So, that is below the rules.
The Gopis want to give the dust. That’s above the rules. They are following the rules, and they are doing something more than what the rules require.
So, just as in this case, what the Gopis are doing can be seen as wrong, but it is transcendentally, extraordinarily right. But in this case, because there is no sensual connotation, we don’t see that as, yeah, this is a great sacrifice. But actually, the same thing is what Gopis demonstrate when they are ready to leave everything to go for Krishna’s sake.
So, at one level, we say, what is wrong? How can they leave like this? But actually, what they are doing is, they are doing something which is extraordinary. They know the rules, but their purpose goes beyond the rules. So, the Gopis are demonstrating how one should give up the good for God.
And among those Gopis, Radha is the topmost. So, Sita, she gives up the royal comforts for doing her duty loyally. And that’s glorious.
Now, Radha gives up the reputation of loyalty for her devotion to the Lord. And thus, that sacrifice is far, far greater. And as it is that, it is Krishna himself wants to know, what is the love of Radha Rani for me? What is the love that she has? What makes her do something like this? And to know that, he himself decides to come as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And that same mood of sacrifice that the Radha Rani demonstrates in her relationship with Krishna that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers, in the renounced order, demonstrate for their service to Krishna. The Goswamis had enormous wealth, position, followers, but they gave it up for Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was a brilliant scholar with many, many followers, living in a place where scholarship was hugely valued, and he gave it up for Krishna.
So, generally, there are two conceptions of success. The Brahminical conception of success is based on knowledge. The Kshatriya conception of success is based on power and wealth.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers, they had both of these successes. And they gave all of it up for Krishna. And for us, that same principle of sacrifice, how we can live it in our lives is demonstrated.
We can’t directly imitate the Gopis of Vrindavan, but we can follow in their footsteps, by following the footsteps of how they manifest in God Lila. That mode of sacrifice in trying to serve the Lord is the essence of what Radharani is. And if we can get even a drop of that sacrificing spirit, then our devotion will blossom.
And when we get the opportunity to sacrifice, our devotion is tested. But then, devotion is not just tested, it is also tasted. When we actually learn to sacrifice, when we give ourselves in a mood of service to Krishna, then our consciousness gets absorbed more and more.
And what we may be called to sacrifice, we don’t know. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice our physical comforts for Krishna’s sakes. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice our intellectual comforts in terms of our plan of how to serve Krishna.
And we may have to take up something else, some other way to serve Krishna. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice our relational comforts. That means there is a certain group of devotees with whom we are serving and it’s wonderful.
But then sometimes our service requires us to do something else. Prabhupada writes in Leela Amrit, in the first Janmashtami in America, he said that all my God brothers must be celebrating Janmashtami. Everybody will be filled with the Krishna-maya atmosphere.
In Vrindavan, I am all alone over here. At that time, nobody around him even knew about Krishna so much. So Prabhupada felt deeply lonely.
He was with Krishna, but still, so Prabhupada had to sacrifice that. So what we may have to sacrifice, we don’t know. But if we strive according to our capacity, then we will strengthen and deepen our devotion.
And we can pray to Srimati Radharani that she blesses us with a drop of her sacrificing spirit so that when life challenges us, when our services challenge us, we may be true to those challenges. And by her mercy, we can get a glimpse of the infinite love that she is relishing and that she is offering to Krishna. Shrimati Radharani Ki! Shri Radhashtami Mahotsav Ki! So I’ll quickly summarise.
I spoke on the topic of how Radharani compared the love of, the moods of Sita and Radha to understand how the essence of love is sacrifice. It is not just attraction. It is not just feeling warmth and belonging.
It is offering of ourselves in love. And broadly speaking, both Rama and Krishna demonstrate Dharma, but Krishna demonstrates Dharma in much more complex ways. The subtleties and complexities of life that Krishna demonstrates are also demonstrated in his relationship with his consort.
So Sita and Rama meet in an arranged marriage kind of setting and then in a royal swayambhur, Sita’s hand is won by Rama. In the case of Krishna and Radha, they go a long, long way back. Radha’s first sight is Krishna.
And in all Krishna’s important pastimes, Radha is often an invisible but vital presence. Krishna waits to dance on Kalia till Radha comes. Krishna doesn’t let himself get tied till Radha provides a ribbon from her.
And while Sita and Rama have a very respectful relationship, Radha spars with Krishna. And Krishna longs for that sparring, that intimate love is seen not just through sweet appreciation of each other, but love is also seen through spice, spices, barbs, taunts, but in love. So Krishna longs for that even when he’s out of Vrindavan.
And that’s what he seeks even with Rukmini. So Sita sacrifices her royalty for her loyalty. She gives up royal opulence to go to the forest.
But she has the honour of a duly wedded wife. Whereas Radha, the whole setting of Vrindavan is arranged so that she gives up her reputation of loyalty for offering herself to Krishna. So the Bhagavatam demonstrates this tension of transcending Dharma at the same time maintaining Dharma.
It appears as if the gopis didn’t go. So I talked about the immoral, moral and trans-moral. So for the sake of God, the bad has to be given up.
But for the sake of God, even the good has to be given up. Just like say in Karate or in Cricket, the standard ways of playing have to be learned for a person to play to become good. But for the player to become great, they have to learn how to respond in non-standard ways.
Not because they don’t know the standard habits, but they can do better than the standard habits. So how to play expertly in the standard way, that is what is demonstrated by good. But the gopis demonstrate something beyond that.
And because it’s a male-female relationship, sometimes it might appear immoral. But it is trans-moral. And to understand this, I talked about how when the gopis offer the dust of their feet to Krishna, the gopis’ love melts Krishna’s heart and it melts Krishna’s arms, which has two extra arms.
But Krishna wants to demonstrate this love to everyone. And thus, he asks for the dust. So, just as the uninformed person might do something like that, and that will be offensive, when the gopis do it, it appears as if it is something which they don’t know the rules, but they know the rules and they know much more than that, the purpose of the rules.
So there, sacrifice is so great, that Krishna himself wants to know, what is that love? It appears in sacrifice. And thus he comes as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers demonstrate the same sacrificing spirit in a more accessible way for us.
So if we can also develop that spirit of sacrifice, then our love will be tested and tasted through the sacrifices we can do in our life of service to Krishna. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Do we have time for any questions? Yes. Yes, Swamiji. I have a few questions.
You know, we see that the gopis are willing to sacrifice their reputation to meet with Krishna. They are willing to go to hell. So, we see that the gopis are willing to do anything to Krishna.
What do we see in Radharani’s behaviour, that is so passive, that of the gopis, so much that she has… Come for tomorrow’s class in CNJ. Come for tomorrow’s class in CNJ. I am coming.
I will answer over there. What is special about Radharani’s love, which transcends all the gopis’ love? Basically, it is that, even when she is with Krishna, she is thinking of Krishna, but she is also thinking of the gopis. I will just tell one point from those beautiful points.
Like, we know in the Raas Leela, when it said the gopis become proud, and then Krishna disappears from them. He goes with Radharani, and Radharani becomes proud. And then Krishna disappears from her also.
But actually, it is all a competition of selflessness. That the gopis are all with Krishna, and the gopis feel that actually, none of our love compares with Radha’s love for Krishna. Although they all love Krishna, but they know Radha’s love is far, far greater.
So, they think that, yes, we want to be with Krishna, but Radha deserves specially to be with Krishna. And thus, they act as if they are proud. And Krishna goes away with Radharani.
And once Radharani understands that, oh, Krishna is with me alone. She is so happy to be singled out for that special attention. But in the next moment, she thinks, hey, what am I doing? If my sakhis like Lavita and Vishaka, they would be heartbroken to be without Krishna.
And if they don’t have Krishna, how can I be happy? And it is out of concern for them that she says, that Krishna, I am very tired. I am very tired. I can’t walk any further.
And then Krishna seems to get angry. Krishna says, because this is a forest, I cannot get a palanquin for you. So sit on my back and I will carry you.
And then Krishna says this in an angry tone and he disappears. And then he disappears. Radharani is devastated.
What happened? She had no desire to offend Krishna. She only wanted to avoid the distress that her friends were going through. Now Krishna understands that, but Krishna wants all the sakhis also to know that Radha was thinking about them.
And thus Krishna disappears even from them. So the speciality of Radharani is that she loves Krishna deeply, but she also loves those who love Krishna deeply. And thus she doesn’t want to be alone happy with Krishna.
She wants to be happy with Krishna, but she wants others to also be with Krishna. So that is one pastime which demonstrates how Radharani is not delighting in solitary ecstasy. I alone, everybody, she wants that.
Although she is special. Now from a philosophical perspective, Radharani is Ladini Shakti. That means that whatever devotion whoever has, it all comes from Radharani.
So the sakhis, their devotion also comes from Radharani. Even Yashoda’s devotion comes from Radharani. Because Radharani is not just one person.
Radharani is the source of all devotion. So basically there are two conceptions of masculine divinity. Similarly there are two conceptions of feminine divinity.
Masculine divinity means like Krishna. So at one level Krishna is the best of all beings. We talk about how different beings have different qualities and Krishna has 64 qualities.
So Krishna is the best of all beings. But Krishna is not just the best of all beings. Krishna is the basis of all being also.
Nothing can exist without him. Whatever quality he has, so it is that Krishna has 64 and say maybe Vishnu has 60. And Brahma has 50.
But it is not that Brahma’s 50 qualities are separate from Krishna’s 64. It is his qualities also come from Krishna only. So that means the masculine divinity is seen in two ways.
One is he is the best of all being. But other is the basis of all being also. Whoever has any qualities, they all come from Krishna.
So similarly Radharani’s conception also this two ways. That she is the best of all devotees. She has the best of all devotion.
But she is also the basis of all devotion. Whoever has any devotion also comes from Radharani. So that’s why her devotion is supreme.
How would that force be linking to Krishna? I didn’t want to go into the full story. But the idea was she thought that if I say I can’t walk any further. Then she thought Krishna will sit down over here.
And the other gopis are searching for us. They will find us. So otherwise if we just go deep into the forest.
We will go so deep that the other gopis will not be able to find us. So she wanted to slow Krishna down so that the other gopis will find her. Yes, sir.
There is the past time where Raghupati and Vrindavan I think I’m just going to commit suicide. And then Krishna manifests this past time of carrying water in a pot that has a thousand holes in it. That’s a whole past time.
But Radharani does sometimes complain about that. Here’s my question. You very wonderfully as you do all the time.
You apply these higher principles to our struggles in devotional service. So my question is about sacrifice for Krishna. So we see in Prabhupada’s life that sometimes he had a plan and Krishna didn’t allow that plan to happen.
Sometimes he just accepts it like in Jhansi. He had this building in the League of Nations and then the governor’s wife wanted the building. So he didn’t fight it so much.
But the same thing happened in Bombay. He fought like anything. So my question is when something happens to us we have a plan to serve Krishna.
And if it doesn’t happen, how do we know, oh, this isn’t Krishna’s plan. No, I should fight. Krishna wants me to fight to get it done.
How can we understand how to act in those circumstances? Krishna. So when our plan is not working, how do we know when to stick to the plan and keep fighting for Krishna or when to let go of the plan and just accept it? Just very quickly. Jutananda once asked Prabhupada, how do I know how often to try to do something before I give up? And Prabhupada said try three times.
Try three times, okay. So broadly it is purpose that gives perspective. So there is basically, there is a path and there is a purpose.
The word Niyamagraha has two different meanings. Niyamagraha, one meaning is that you insist on the rules so much that you forget the purpose. The other meaning is that you just neglect the rule and the purpose both.
So we could say that there is a purpose and there is a path to the purpose. Now on any path there will be challenges. So we need to face those challenges and we need to be willing to face those challenges.
And that is how we walk on the path toward the purpose. But sometimes when we are walking on that path toward the purpose, we may find that this path is just not leading me to the purpose. Then we may have to find another path.
So the attachment to the path should never become more than the attachment to the purpose. And it is when the attachment to the path starts blinding us to the purpose. This is what I have to do at all costs, no matter what happens.
That is when it becomes a problem. So we may ourselves maybe discuss and decide this is what I want to do. This is the extent to which I will endeavour.
And within this endeavour if it works, good. It is often when we limit our challenges, then we can challenge our limits. If we take too many challenges, then we cannot face anything.
We limit our challenges. This battle I cannot fight right now. This battle is what I am going to fight right now.
So when we limit our challenges, then we can challenge our limits. So we need to calmly do some introspection to see how much to endeavour. Prabhupada was determined in purpose, but he was quite discerning in his practise what to take forward.
Sometimes it is good to talk with devotees who are like-minded, but who are also outside. Maybe they can give some perspective. Then we can learn.
It is difficult, but we need to pray to Krishna, to consult some senior Vaishnavas, and then set some kind of limit. Maybe it will be a time frame or result. Something we have to put.
Okay, I am going to give this much time for this, and if it works, good. If it does not, then it is not that I am giving up, but rather I may have to give up this path, but it is not an easy decision. Any other questions? Well, okay.
How can we see Sita in relationship with Radharani? Generally, there is, in scripture, when one particular character is to be glorified, everyone else becomes like an agent or instrument for the glorification of that character. So, for example, when in the 7th canto, Prahalad’s devotion is being glorified, then it is described that even Lakshmi cannot pacify Narasimhadeva. She does not even try to pacify Narasimhadeva.
Actually, none of them can pacify, then it is Prahalad who pacifies. Now, is it that Prahalad’s devotion is greater than Lakshmidevi’s? Well, that is difficult to say. Lakshmidevi is in the Madhurya eras.
So, but in that particular pastime, everything is aligned so that the glory of Prahalad is demonstrated. Even Narad Muni is said to be bowing down to Hiranyakashipu, but Prahalad does not bow down to him. How can Narad Muni bow down? Narad Muni is not afraid of death or anything, but in that situation, to highlight the absolute dominance of Hiranyakashipu and then the extraordinariness of Prahalad’s resistance, the whole setting is arranged like that.
So, similarly, when we are meditating on Radhashtami, about Radharani’s glories, then we may use some other reference points to illustrate the glory of Radharani and even Sita’s devotion, Sita’s sacrifice can be seen or shown to be lesser than others. But we could take some other frame of reference and we can even glorify Sita’s devotion. And in the Brihadbhagavata Amrita, there is a very endearing transcendental subjectivity.
That means that when the Gopakumar goes to Ayodhya and he sees over there that he is initially delighted to be in Ayodhya, first he is delighted to be in Vaikuntha, then he goes to Ayodhya and wherever he goes in Vaikuntha, the Vaikunthavasis think that Vishnu is the ultimate divinity and they think Vishnu is the source of Krishna. In Ayodhya, they think that Ram is the source of Krishna and Brihadbhagavata Amrita doesn’t say, actually they are wrong. It is for them that is the ultimate reality.
So there is, nowadays there is the idea of post-modernism where everything is made relative. So even that has its pure form where it is not that everything is relative but the relativity based on affection is not a sign of lack of knowledge but it is a sign of love that transcends knowledge. So similarly, in this frame of analysis, when we are doing, we see that Sita sacrifices for Ram and her love is glorious because she stays faithful to Ram while going to the forest, she stays chaste to Ram even when she is abducted and threatened and she stays faithful to him even when based on just an, based apparently on an unsubstantiated accusation, Ram sends her away.
So her, in one sense, her love is also glorious because she is the queen so everything that happens to her is far greater public knowledge. It’s what happens to Sri Radha at least at that time in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is a small village.
Krishna kept his connection with Vrindavan low profile and he says intentionally that he keeps it low profile so that none of his enemies will ever attack Vrindavan. So he makes it appear to the world that actually I just happen to live in Vrindavan. It’s like as a student or a child maybe lives in some foster home or lives in some hostel and you live it and then you forget it.
So Krishna acts like that. So that’s why everything that happens over there is not so well known. So Sita’s love is also great.
But as I said that Krishna demonstrates dharma in increasingly complex situations and similarly his bhakti, the bhakti of his devotees including Radha is also demonstrated in increasingly complex situations. So that selflessness, that sacrifice in situations where moral lines become increasingly blurred that’s what is demonstrated by Radharani. Does that answer your question? Or was your question something else? So from tattva point of view like I said Radharani is the source of the love of everyone.
So you could say Radharani is the source of love of Sita or the bhakti of Sita also. But Radharani and Sita are one and different. But that is like, so Sita’s love is categorically at a different level than you could say the love of any ordinary devotee in any other rasa.
It’s way way higher. But still in other rasa also there are grades. Yes, one last question.
What is the nature of the Radha Krishna relationship? Especially new people ask how do we explain that? So basically the first point to understand is that they are the divine consorts. So Krishna is the God, the absolute in the male form. Radha is God in the female form.
And they are the divine couple. So that’s the straightforward answer. Now if somebody asks but were they married as king and queen or whatever? Then we need to explain.
The simplest explanation is that consider a drama in which there are various characters. And say there is a couple who are happily married. But in that drama they are playing a role where the woman is married to someone else.
And then they have a relationship. And the whole setting is done so that all the adventure, all the fear, all the suspense. See for a husband and a wife to meet each other after the initial few months or few years there is not much adventure.
There is not much danger. There can be various kinds of dangers. But the point of meeting is not very difficult.
But here the setting is made in such a way that it’s constantly sacrifice, danger, adventure is required for their union to take place. So in the setting, in the drama they are not married. But in actuality they are married.
In actuality they are a couple. So that is how. In tattva, Krishna and Radha are the divine couple.
In leela, they are related in parkirs. So we shouldn’t emphasise the parkirs so much. The rasa, there is tattva and there is rasa.
So if we emphasise the rasa so much that the tattva is not understood or tattva is downplayed then those who are not rasika, they will misunderstand. So we need to emphasise the tattva strongly. They are the divine couple.
But for the reciprocation of intense love they are arranged in a setting where there is opposition. The whole idea is that love or any strength is seen when there is opposition. Say if an elephant is rushing towards the sea elephant or elephant is rushing towards water.
Now the elephant can run very fast. But the elephant is tied. It’s difficult to run.
The elephant is tied to a big tree. And the elephant brings down. It’s a baby elephant who is now growing up.
And the baby elephant brings down the big tree. Then how much strength it has. The audience can see that.
And the baby elephant also discuss. Oh, I didn’t know I had so much strength. So the strength is internally experienced and externally expressed when there is opposition.
Similarly, the love of the gopis for Krishna, especially the love of Radha for Krishna, it is more experienced and expressed when it is restricted by another tie. So it is a setting. So it is a leela.
But the tattva is important. So if you focus on the tattva and people accept, that’s good enough. If you ask further question, then explain the leela.
But then emphasise, come back and emphasise the tattva again. He was worried about misunderstanding. On the other side, Prabhupada pushed the distribution of the Krishna book, which shows the dramatic interaction of Radha and Krishna.
And that’s what forces us to have to explain it. Yeah. Yes, Sajeeva Swami has talked about the marriage of Radha-Krishna.
That is after Krishna comes back to Vrindavan and then they married. So basically, I think this is a big subject. I’ll just make two quick points for this, that like I talked about transcending dharma and honouring dharma.
So now Krishna’s pastimes can happen in many different ways at different times. And Jiva Goswami, what he described in Gopal Champu, it is something which will be accepted by those who accept the authority of Jiva Goswami. Now, he, of course, draws away shastras, but the vivid details of the pastime which he is talking about, then we don’t find them in the shastras.
Now, of course, you could say there are various explanations given by our Acharyas. So, for example, one explanation is that when all the Gopas had expanded, and Krishna had expanded all the Gopas, that’s the time when all the Gopis got married to them. So they all are married to Krishna only.
There’s another pastime, I think, in the Brahma-Vaivarta Purana, about how Brahmaji actually performs the marriage of Radha and Krishna. So there are various occasions when there is a dual related relationship also. But that is not the prominent mood.
That is, the marriage itself is performed in secret, you could say. At least in the later two books. So, therefore, that suspense and that adventure, all that is still there.
So now when Prabhupada gave the book, Krishna book, told us to distribute the Krishna book to everyone, what he did was, he made sure that we would never forget the tattva. So time and time and time again he reminds us of the tattva. And the tattva is reminded of, then when we see the rasa, the leela, we won’t misunderstand so much.
So the idea is that, you know the upside-down tree metaphor? Upside-down tree metaphor. So there is a reflected mango, there is the water level, and there is the real mango. So the world and its relationships are like the reflected mango.
The Radha-Krishna relationship is like the pure mango, the original mango. So now, when we are guided by Prabhupada and the Acharyas, then when we see the real mango, we understand this is the real mango, different from the reflected mango. And then, on seeing the real mango, the desire for the reflected mango goes away.
But, if we do not have adequate philosophical conviction, or we do not have adequate devotional purification, then, instead of the real mango directing us away from the reflected mango, the real mango might remind us of the reflected mango. And therefore, although the Krishna book is distributed widely, Prabhupada also said, be cautious. If you read those pastimes of rasa-leela, and that agitates you, then use your common sense, then don’t read right now.
So Prabhupada gave us the picture of the real mango also, but then he told us, if you are still remembering the reflected mango so much, then at this time, don’t look at the real mango. Don’t look at at least those pastimes. So, thank you very much.
Srimati Radharani ki Prabhupada ki Jai Gaur Premanand.