TLC 30: The Transcendental Pastimes of Radha and Krsna
Chapter Thirty: The Transcendental Pastimes of Radha and Krsna
The difference between executing ordinary religious activities and
devotional service is very great.
By executing religious rituals one can achieve economic development, sense gratification
or liberation (merging into the existence of the Supreme), but the
results of transcendental devotional service are completely different
from such temporary benefits.
Devotional service of the Lord is ever green, and it is increasingly
transcendentally pleasing.
Thus there is a gulf of difference between the
results derived from devotional service and those derived from religious
rituals.
The great spiritual energy known as jadadhisthatri, or mahamaya,
the superintendent of the material world, and the material departmental
directors, the demigods, as well as the products of the external energy of
the Supreme Lord, are but perverted reflections of the opulence of the
Supreme Lord.
The demigods are actually order carriers of the Supreme
Lord, and they help manage the material creation.
In Brahma-samhita it is stated that the workings of the supremely
powerful superintendent, Durga, are but shadowy indications of the workings
of the Supreme Lord.
The sun works just like the eye of the Supreme Lord,
and Brahma works just as the reflected light of the Supreme Lord.
Thus all the demigods as well as the external energy herself, Durgadevi, and all
the different departmental directors are but servants of the Supreme
Lord in the material world.
In the spiritual world, there is another energy, the superior spiritual
energy, or internal energy, which acts under the direction of yogamaya.
Yogamaya is the internal potency of the Supreme Lord; she also works under
the Lord's direction, but she works in the spiritual world.
When the living entity puts himself under the direction
of yogamaya instead of mahamaya, he gradually becomes a devotee of
Krsna.
Yet those who are after material opulence and material happiness place
themselves under the care of the material energy, mahamaya, or under
the care of material demigods like Lord Siva and others.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is found that when the
gopis of Vrndavana desired Krsna as their husband, they prayed to the
spiritual energy, yogamaya, for the fulfillment of their desire.
In the Sapta-sati it is found that King Suratha and
a merchant named Samadhi worshiped mahamaya for material opulence.
Thus one should not mistakenly equalize yogamaya and mahamaya.
Because the Lord is on the absolute platform, there is no difference
between the holy name of the Lord and the Supreme Lord Himself.
There are different names for the Supreme Lord, and
these names have different purposes and meanings.
For instance, He is known as Paramatma, the Supersoul, Brahman the Supreme Absolute, Srstikarta
the creator, Narayana the transcendental Lord, Rukminiramana the
husband of Rukmini, Gopinatha the enjoyer of the gopis, and Krsna.
In this way the Lord has different names, and these names indicate different
functions.
The aspect of the Supreme Lord as the creator is different from
the aspect of the Lord as Narayana.
Some of the names of the Lord as the creator are conceived by
materialistic men.
One cannot fully realize the essence of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead by understanding the name of the creator because
this material creation is a function of the external energy of the Supreme
Lord.
Thus the conception of God as the creator includes only the external
feature.
Similarly, when we call the Supreme Lord Brahman, we cannot have
any understanding of the six opulences of the Supreme Lord.
In Brahman realization, the six opulences are not realized
in full; therefore Brahman realization is not complete understanding
of the Supreme Lord.
Neither is Paramatma realization, realization of the
Supersoul, full realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for the
all-pervading nature of the Supreme Lord is but a partial representation
of His opulence.
Even the transcendental relationship experienced by a devotee of Narayana
in Vaikuntha is incomplete in that it is not realization of a relationship
with Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana.
The devotees of Krsna do not relish devotional service to Narayana because devotional
service to Krsna is so attractive that Krsna's devotees do not desire
to worship any other form.
Thus the gopis of Vrndavana do not like to see Krsna as the husband of
Rukmini, nor do they address Him as Rukminiramana.
In Vrndavana Krsna is addressed as Radhakrsna, or Krsna, the property
of Radharani.
Although the husband of Rukmini and Radha's Krsna are on
the same level in the ordinary sense, still, in the spiritual world, the
names indicate different understandings of various aspects of Krsna's
transcendental personality.
If one equalizes Rukminiramana, Radharamana, Narayana or any other name of
the Supreme Lord, he commits the fault of overlapping tastes, which is
technically called rasabhasa.
Those who are expert devotees do not accept such amalgamations which are against the conclusions
of pure devotional service.
Although Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, embodies all
superexcellence and beauty, when He is amongst the damsels of Vraja, He is
known as Gopijanavallabha.
The devotees cannot relish the beauty of the Supreme Lord more than the damsels of Vraja.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.33.7 ) it is confirmed that although Krsna, the
son of Devaki, is the last word in superexcellence and beauty, when He is
amongst the gopis it appears that He is a sublime jewel set amongst divine
golden craftsmanship.
Although Lord Caitanya accepted this as the highest realization of the
Supreme Lord as conjugal lover, He nonetheless requested Ramananda Raya to
proceed further.
Upon hearing this request, Ramananda Raya remarked that this was the first
time that he had been asked to go further than the gopis in an attempt to
understand Krsna.
There is certainly transcendental intimacy between the
damsels of Vraja and Krsna, Ramananda pointed out, but out of all the
relationships, the relationship between Radharani and Krsna in conjugal
love is the most perfect.
No common man can understand the ecstasy of transcendental love between Radharani and
Krsna, nor can he understand the transcendental flavor of the transcendental
love between Krsna and the gopis.
Yet if one tries to follow in the footsteps of the gopis, he may
become situated in the highest stage of transcendental love.
Thus one who wants to be elevated to the transcendental
stage of perfection should follow in the footsteps of the damsels of
Vraja as an assistant maidservant of the gopis.
Lord Caitanya exhibited the mode of Srimati Radharani when She was
contacted from Dvaraka by Sri Krsna.
Such transcendental love is not possible for any common man; therefore one
should not imitate the highest perfectional stage exhibited by Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
If, however, one desires to be in that association, he may
follow in the footsteps of the gopis.
In the Padma Purana it is stated that just as Radharani is dear to
Krsna, similarly the kunda known as Radhakunda is also very dear to Him.
Radharani is the only gopi who is dearer to Krsna than all the other
gopis.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.30.28) it is also stated that Radharani and
the gopis render the highest perfectional loving service to the Lord and
that the Lord is so pleased with them that He does not wish to leave the
company of Srimati Radharani.
When Lord Caitanya heard Ramananda Raya speak of the loving affairs between
Krsna and Radharani, He said, "Please go further.
Go on and on."
The Lord also said that He was enjoying with great
relish the descriptions of the loving affairs between Krsna and the gopis.
"It is as if a river of nectar is flowing from your lips," He said.
Ramananda Raya continued to point out that when Krsna danced amongst the gopis He
thought, "I am not giving any special attention to Radharani."
Because amongst the other gopis Radharani was not so much an object of special love,
Krsna stole Her away from the area of the rasa dance and showed Her special
favor.
After explaining this to Lord Caitanya, Ramananda Raya said, "Now
let us relish the transcendental loving affairs between Krsna
and Radha.
These have no comparison in this material world."
Ramananda Raya thus continued his descriptions.
During one performance of the rasa dance, Radharani suddenly left the
area, as if She were angry that no special attention was being shown
Her.
Krsna was desirous of seeing Radharani in order to fulfill the purpose
of the rasa dance, but not seeing Radharani there, He became very
sorrowful and went to search Her out.
In Gita-govinda there is a verse which states that the enemy of
Kamsa, Krsna, also wanted to be entangled in love affairs with women and
thus simply took Radharani away and left the company of the other damsels
of Vraja.
Krsna was very much afflicted by Radharani's absence and, being
thus mentally distressed, began to search Her out along the banks of the
Yamuna.
Failing to find Her, He entered the bushes of Vrndavana and began
to lament.
Ramananda Raya pointed out that when one discusses the purport
of these two special verses of Gita-govinda (3.1-2), he can relish the
highest nectar of Krsna's and Radha's loving affairs.
Although there were many gopis to dance with Krsna, Krsna especially
wanted to dance with Radharani.
In the rasa dance Krsna expanded Himself and placed Himself
between every two gopis, but He was especially present with Radharani.
However, Radharani was not pleased with Krsna's behavior.
As described in Ujjvala-nilamani: "The path of loving affairs
is just like the movement of a snake.
Amongst young lovers, there are two kinds of mentality --
causeless and causal."
Thus when Radharani left the area of the rasa dance
out of anger at not receiving special treatment, Krsna became very
sorrowful to see Her absent.
The perfection of the rasa dance was considered to be complete due to Radharani's
presence, and in Her absence Krsna considered the dance to be disrupted.
Therefore He left the arena to search Her out.
When He could not find Radharani after wandering in
several places, He became very distressed.
Thus it is understood that Krsna could not enjoy His pleasure potency
even in the midst of all the gopis.
But in the presence of Radharani He was satisfied.
When this transcendental love between Radharani and Krsna was described by
Ramananda Raya, Lord Caitanya admitted, "I came to you to understand the
transcendental loving affairs between Krsna and Radha, and now I am very
satisfied that you have described them so nicely.
I can understand from your version that this is the highest loving
state between Krsna and Radha."
Yet Lord Caitanya still requested Ramananda Raya to explain
something more: "What are the transcendental features of Krsna and
Radharani, and what are the transcendental features of the reciprocation
of Their feelings, and what is the love between Them?
If you kindly describe all this to Me, I will be very much
obliged.
But for you, no one can describe such things."
"I do not know anything," Ramananda Raya replied in all humility.
"I am simply saying what You are causing me to say.
I know that You are Krsna Himself, yet You are relishing hearing about
Krsna from me.
Therefore please excuse me for my faulty expression.
I am just trying to express whatever You are causing me to express."
"I am a Mayavadi sannyasi," Lord Caitanya protested.
"I have no knowledge of the transcendental features of devotional
service.
By the greatness of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya My mind has become
clear, and I am now trying to understand the nature of devotional service
to Lord Krsna.
Bhattacarya recommended that I see you in order to understand
Krsna.
Indeed, he said that Ramananda Raya is the only person who
knows something about love of Krsna.
Therefore I have come to you upon the recommendation of Sarvabhauma
Bhattacarya.
Please, then, do not hesitate to relate to Me all the
confidential affairs between Radha and Krsna."
In this way Lord Caitanya actually took the subordinate position before
Ramananda Raya.
This has very great significance.
If one is serious about understanding the transcendental nature of
Krsna, he should approach a person who is actually enriched with Krsna
consciousness.
One should not be proud of his material birth, material opulence,
material education and beauty and with these things try to conquer
the mind of an advanced student of Krsna consciousness.
One who thus goes to a Krsna conscious person, thinking that he would be favorably
induced, is deluded about this science.
One should approach a Krsna conscious person with all humility
and put relevant questions to him.
If one goes to challenge him, such a highly elevated Krsna conscious person would
not be available for any service.
A challenging puffed-up person cannot gain anything from a Krsna
conscious man; he would simply remain in material consciousness.
Although Lord Caitanya was born in a high brahmana
family and was situated in the highest perfectional stage of sannyasa, He
nonetheless showed by His behavior that even an elevated person would
not hesitate to take lessons from Ramananda Raya, although Ramananda appeared
as a householder situated in a social status beneath that of a brahmana.
Thus Lord Caitanya clearly showed that a sincere student never cares
whether his spiritual master is born in a high brahmana family or ksatriya
family, or whether he is a sannyasi, brahmacari or whatever.
Whoever can teach one about the science of Krsna is to
be accepted as guru.