When Krishna knows everything how can we not know Radharani’s love for him?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question. It is said that Lord Krishna, he descends at Lord Chaitanya because he wants to know Radharani’s love. But if Krishna is all-knowing, then how can he not know Radharani’s love for him? Answer.
The absolute truth can be understood from the perspective of tattva and from the perspective of Leela. From the perspective of tattva or philosophical truth, Krishna is all-knowing. At the same time, this omniscient Krishna often conceals his omniscience.
God conceals his omnipotence so that love can reign supreme in the abode of the topmost love, the spiritual world, especially Goloka Vrindavan. So, when Yashodama is chasing Krishna, Krishna is genuinely fearful. He doesn’t know whether he is going to be caught or he is going to escape.
And he is running for his life. When Yashodama catches him in the Dhammadhar Leela and has a stick in her hands, Krishna is crying. At that time, that crying is genuine.
He is horrified, thinking, oh, what if that stick hits me? How much it will hurt me? It’s not that at that time he’s thinking, oh, I’m God, this is all just a drama. No, actually, the excellence of a drama, excellence of a dramatic artist is in how much they can enter into the character. And the more they enter into the character, the more they are considered to be, the more they forget their own identity, the more they are considered to be par excellence characters.
So, when Krishna is performing Leelas, at that time he enters into the character. And entering into the character means that he, by the Yogamaya potency, his awareness of his Godhood is covered. Of course, he can uncover that as according to his will, whenever he wants.
Just as at one moment he’s fearful that Yashodamayi will tie him, tie me. And at next moment or a few moments later, he thinks, oh, these giant M.L. Arjun trees, they are actually people, celestials who have been cursed by my devotee Narada. And he has said that I will deliver them.
So let me deliver them now. So he can exhibit his omniscience and omnipotence any moment that he wants in his Leela. But when he is performing the Leela, for the purpose of Leela, he conceals his omniscience, his omnipotence, his divine attributes so that the reciprocation of love can be intensified.
So applying the same principle to the loving reciprocation of Radha and Krishna, we understand that Krishna is, Krishna when he enters into the mood of Madhuryas, of amorous affection with Radharani, at that time, he and she are lovers. And when he sees how much she loves him, he just wants to know, how can she love him so much? What is there in me that inspires her to love me so much? And what is the ecstasy she feels when I reciprocate her love? This understanding, wanting to understand this is what inspires him to take on the mood and the complexion of Radharani and come as Lord Chaitanya. That means Krishna, he is definitely God.
And in terms of philosophical truth, he is all-knowing. But in terms of the reciprocation of pastimes and the setting required for the relishing of the pastimes, he assumes whatever is appropriate. So he conceals his omniscience, conceals his omnipotence.
So Krishna genuinely feels, I don’t understand Radharani’s love. We see the similar mood in the conclusion of the Raj Panchadhyay. When Krishna tells the Gopis that I cannot repay you for the love that you have shown, for the service that you have rendered, for the surrender that you exhibited.
Actually, our existence of all of us is dependent on Krishna. So we are indebted to him, not he to us. But this is a feeling which Krishna genuinely has.
And he expresses that to convey his appreciation of the super exalted nature of the Gopis’ love. So the point is that tattva and rasa are different frames of analysis. And if we bring the point of Krishna’s being the absolute truth into the various pastimes, then no pastime will make sense or be relishable.
If Sita has been abducted and Ram is searching for Sita, if Ram is omniscient, then why does he need to ask here and there to find out where Sita is? Why does he need to form alliances with monkeys and others to regain Sita? Why does, first of all, he have to be attracted by her? Why does he have to give in to Sita’s attraction to an illusory deer and go after it, thereby letting Sita come under danger? So if the absolute truth consistently acted in an omniscient and omnipotent way, in absolute way, then no pastime would be possible. So Krishna, in his role as the enchanting Prajendranandan, Prince of Raja, he genuinely wants to know, as a part of the intensification of the rasa, the sweetness of the pastimes, he wants to know Radharani’s love. So Krishna’s wanting to understand Radharani’s love and becoming that Chaitanya is to be understood from the rasic point of view.