-
About Radha:
Radha is the manifest form of
devotion unto Krishna. In response to the question, "How devoted
should one be?"’ the
Naradbhaktisutra writes, "Like the gopis (wives of the cowherds)
of Vraj." Krishna Himself sent His great friend Uddhav to the
gopis to teach him what devotion meant. The incident goes as follows
-
‘Once to illustrate the
devotion of the gopis, Sri Krishna pretended that He had intense
headache, which did not respond to any medicine. Then He told, “Krishna’s
pain will vanish with the application of mud beneath anyone’s
feet. However, the one giving the mud beneath his feet will die.
Proclaim this and then bring the mud that anyone gives.” No
one was prepared to give the mud from under their feet. On entering
Gokul, when Uddhav asked this question to the first gopi that he
met, she replied, “If the mud under my feet will relieve Krishna’s
headache then I am prepared even to go to hell.” ‘
The devotion of the gopis is an illustration of ultimate
devotion. Radha among them was like a jewel in the crown.
-
Common misconceptions about Lord Krishna and Radha’s
relationship:
Radha’s spiritual love (priti) that is devotion
unto Krishna has been misinterpreted as love in the Radha-Krishna
relationship. Its futility will be realized if one considers Krishna’s
age at that time. When Krishna left Gokul permanently He was only
seven years old; thus His relationship with Radha was only during
the period when He was three to seven years old.
-
The significance and implied meaning of Lord Krishna’s
flute:
The sound of the flute means the anahat sound (the unceasing subtle sound of the universe). That sound had made the gopis (wives of the
cowherds) crazy for Lord Krishna. So one will realize how highly spiritually
evolved they were (as the spiritual
experience of anahat sound is
a high level experience). When leaving Gokul, Krishna gave His flute
to Radha and never played it again. Thus, He made sure that She constantly
got the spiritual experience of Absoluteness (Purnatva), which is
superior to anahat sound.
Implied meaning:
‘Water flows from a
higher to a lower level. It is called a stream (dhara). When the
letters of the word dhara are reversed the word becomes radha. That
stream which flows from below upwards is called radhagati. When it
reaches the origin, it gets a spiritual experience of being Radha
Herself. Acquisition of this state itself is called “blending
into zero” or “sainthood”.
In other words, Radha and Krishna were one and the same. Hence, although
Radha had merged into Krishna, She continued to worship Him for the
sake of guiding the other gopis. One will think that once a gopi
reaches the zenith, she will see several Radhas. Those following
Radha, that is those seekers following the Path of Devotion, will
see only one Radha because there is no duality in spiritual love,
only non-duality.’
- His Holiness Kane Maharaj, Narayangaon (Pune),
India.
|
