Worshiping Radha Krishna

Ishton men Radha Krishna Govinda Radhey,
Bhavon men madhurya shreshta bata dey.

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on January 17, 2011, in Bhakti Dham, Manghar, India, explaining this new kirtan verse.)

The one who is worshiped (ishta) or the one who is served (sevya) is of many kinds. Some are even mayic or material, such as celestial gods and goddesses. These include Indra, Varuna, Kuber and others. Such ishtas are millions in number. By acquiring spiritual understanding through the teachings of a true Saint, we come to know that the worship of a material personality results in a material consequence.

The word deva applies to both celestial beings and to supreme God.

Kah paramo devah. Krishno ha vai paramam daivatam.

This verse asks: Who is the greatest deva? Here the word deva refers to supreme God. Similarly, the word divya (divine) refers to both material celestial beings and also to God. The word atma (soul) refers to both the individual soul and God. Only Saints know which meanings apply to what words in the scriptures. Those with merely intellectual understanding of the scriptures don’t have this knowledge.

One single God has many worshipable forms. These include impersonal Brahm or Brahman and paramatma. Paramatma has three aspects: (1) karanarnoshayi paramatma, (2) garbhodashayi paramatma, and, (3) ksheerodashayi paramatma. Even though these forms are non-different from each other, the aspect of paramatma is superior to impersonal brahm.

Impersonal brahm is completely neutral, and remains this way even when loved or worshiped. Brahm is purely a divine existence. It reveals no divine powers or qualities. For example, a grain of wheat lies in a cabinet for years. An innocent person might say, “I put that grain in there, thinking in ten days it would sprout and then after a month it would be a fully grown plant, but it has stayed the same for years!”

A grain or seed is full of power but, this manifests only after it comes into contact with the soil, the sun, water and air. When all these are present, a seed could grow into a plant in one month. Similarly, even though brahm possesses all the divine powers, none of these are manifest. Therefore, brahm is called avyakta shaktik – endowed with powers that remain unrevealed.

Paramatma, on the other hand, manifests powers, form, name, and qualities, but does not perform leelas or divine pastimes, and does not have divine associates. However, don’t be confused about this point – the same brahm is paramatma, because God is only one.

So paramatma has three aspects. Karanarnoshayi paramatma permeates uncountable worlds. Garbhodashayi paramatma permeates one world. Ksheerodashayi paramatma resides in all our hearts, notes our thoughts and gives us the consequences of these actions. This is the object of worship for yogis.

The final and supreme form of God is Radha Krishna, who manifest all the divine powers, including divine love and divine pastimes. Brahm and paramatma are Their other forms.

These three forms all pertain to the same one God, but in the form of Radha Krishna every kind of divine bliss is manifest. That is why this kirtan verse says, “Out of all the worshiped forms of God, I worship Radha Krishna.” There is no other form beyond this.

Now let’s consider bhava or devotional sentiment. How should Radha Krishna be loved or worshiped? As almighty God? Arjuna listened to the teachings of the Gita from Shri Krishna on the battlefield before the Mahabharat War. Again and again Shri Krishna referred to Himself as supreme almighty God, “There is nothing beyond Me. Everything has arisen from Me. I reside in everyone’s heart.” But Arjuna thought of Shri Krishna as his friend. He said, “You keep on saying that you are almighty God. How am I to believe this? Any one could say this. Show me how you are God!”

Shri Krishna said, “How will you see this? Your eyes are mayic, material. They are made of the same material elements as is this world. Your body and senses are made of material elements and after your death they will merge into material elements. But I am divine. My body is not made of material elements.”

The Padma Purana explains that the body and soul are separate in all living beings, including celestial gods and goddesses. In God’s case, however, God’s body and soul are one. Shri Krishna asked Arjuna, “So how will you see My divine body with your material eyes?” Material eyes only see the material objects of the world – provided a person has good eyesight and light is present. These two conditions must be met. Even so, we can see only a limited distance, and small objects such as atoms are imperceptible to us even with magnification.

So with what feeling should we love God? Even the celestial gods and goddesses are terrified of God in His almighty form. When Narsingh Bhagwan appeared on this earth to kill Hiranyakashipu, all the celestial gods and goddesses said, “We must give thanks to Him. He appeared in our world to kill such a terrible demon. But He is manifesting such a scary and angry form! Who will go first?”

They said, “Brahma, you are His son. You go.” Brahma said, “No, not now.” They then said, “Shiva, you have the power to reduce this world to ashes. Please go.” Lord Shiva also said, “No, I won’t go right now.” Finally they decided, “Send for Prahlad and let him go first. After all, God appeared on his account. When He sees Prahlad, He will cool down. Then we will all go to Him.” When Lord Narsingh saw Prahlad, He started smiling. He took Prahlad in His lap and affectionately hugged and stroked him, as you see parents do with their children. Then all the celestial gods and goddesses, and Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came forward with songs of praise.

So Shri Krishna said to Arjuna, “First I will bestow on you divine vision, then afterward you will see God.” He graced Arjuna with divine eyes so Arjuna could see His almighty form. But Arjuna started to tremble in fear. He shut his eyes. He started perspiring. Stammering, he said, “I don’t want to look! You really are almighty God! Until now I had no idea. I always accepted You as my friend. Please forgive me!”

So if you worship God’s almighty form, you will not be able to love Him. Instead you will feel afraid. However, God says, “My children, don’t think of Me as a supreme almighty power. Relate to Me in the same way you relate to others in the world.”

The first type of relational feeling with God is that of dasya bhava, the love of a servant for his master. Now our devotional feelings have a way to develop because a master is benign, not angry. In the world we see there are servants in homes. A prime minister or president has a personal assistant. But the familiarity a servant is entitled to with his master is very restricted. The Ramayana says,

Sir bal chalau dharma as mora, sab tey sevak dharma kathora.

When Ram, Lakshman and Sita were leaving Ayodhya to enter the forest, Lakshman would walk behind Ram and Sita in such a way so that he would not step in their footprints. How difficult this is! A true servant instead places only his head wherever his Guru places his feet. Does this mean we have to walk on our head? How is this possible? What this implies is the role of a servant is very difficult. There are many rules of propriety that must be observed.

Beyond this is sakhya bhava, the relational feeling of a friend to a friend. What does a friend do? He places his arm around his friend’s shoulders and informally asks, “Hey, where did you go today?” Still, the rights of a friend are also restricted.

Beyond this is vatsalya bhava, the relational feeling between a parent and child. In this bhava God is loved as your child. You may spank Him, twist His ear and scold Him for being naughty. You may request, “Son, please bring my slippers…” And He will have to bring them! He has become your son. But even this feeling of love still has some restrictions.

Beyond this is madhurya bhava. This is the relational feeling of a lover and a beloved. This is not the same as the love between a husband and wife. The feelings of a lover and beloved are even beyond this. A woman’s husband is at home, but she secretly loves another. This quality of love, which was the love of the Braj Gopis for Krishna, is called jar prem.

Love in madhurya bhava is selfless. This is its uniqueness. Selfless means with no personal desire for one’s happiness. The other unique quality of this bhava is one may think of God as one’s beloved, one’s child, one’s friend, or one’s master. However, those who love God with any of the lower types of relational feelings may not think of Him with the intimacy of madhurya bhava. They do not have this right. A devotee who thinks of God as his master, cannot even love Him as a friend, let alone as a beloved. If any servant were to place his arm around his master’s shoulders, his master would scold him and say, “What is this nonsense! Maintain your distance!” A servant is not entitled to this kind of closeness.

The feelings of a lover and beloved are the most intimate. Whatever the lover asks, the beloved must do. A wife, on the other hand, cannot speak like this to her husband. She has to abide by the rules of propriety that relate to her prescribed duties as a wife. There are many social rules that relate to this kind of relationship. A wife can’t say her husband, “Son, come here.” Her husband would think, “She called me ‘son’?!” His next thought might be to send her to the hospital for treatment.

But God gives us the right to love him with all these relational feelings in madhurya bhava. We may relate to Him and love Him as a Beloved, as a Son, as a Friend and as a Master.

What is the nature of selfless devotion? People are very confused about this, including those who are supposedly learned. There are two areas – Maya’s area and God’s area. For this reason there are two kinds of desires – desires for material things related to the world and desires related to God. Therefore selflessness or niskhamata is of two kinds. One kind is directed towards the world and the other kind is directed towards God.

To have worldly desires is only natural. We perceive the world before us and so we form worldly desires thinking that by fulfilling them we will attain happiness. If clarified butter is poured on a fire, the flames reduce as if the fire is being extinguished, but then they rise up again. Similarly, when we fulfill worldly desires, these desires don’t come to an end, they only grow stronger. The Ved says,

Na jatu kamah kamanam mupabhogena shyamyati... Narad Parivrajak Upanishad, 3/37.

This verse is also in the Bhagwatam, the Vishnu Purana and the Padma Purana. Worldly desires don’t come to end when they are fulfilled; they grow stronger.

A poor person thinks, “If only I could have $100,000.” After attaining this, he starts thinking, “$100,000 is nothing. I want $200,000!” Desires keep on growing like this. The greatest billionaires feel distressed that in the coming year someone else’s wealth will surpass theirs. Even in an ordinary family it is seen that if one person is more financially successful than the others, those who have less feel jealous. This is also seen in the celestial abodes,

Surapatir brahmam padam yachatey.

Indra is the emperor of the celestial abodes. All the other celestial gods like Varuna, Kuber, Yamaraj and others are under his command. Even so, he is not satisfied with his own abode; he desires the abode of Brahma. He feels restless and has no peace of mind.

Remember this: Desires only increase when you fulfill them. This is where everyone is stuck. There are five kinds of desires of the five senses – to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, and to touch. Whatever kind of desire you have, it will either be fulfilled or not. We feel happy when a desire is fulfilled. But after this, that desire grows stronger. This is the double danger with worldly desires.

If someone says he will pray to God to fulfill his material desires, what will happen? Nothing. Why? Because God only listens to His devotees. If one hundred people go to the temple and pray to God to make them prime minister the next day – how is this possible?

Imagine that you are standing on the side of the road and you must reach Allahabad. You flag down an approaching car. The driver wonders, “Who is that person? Why is he trying to stop me?” But he does stop and you tell him, “I must go to Allahabad.” The passenger refuses and as he drives away he thinks,”That person is absolutely crazy. I have no idea who he is but he wants me to take him to Allahabad?!”

But if that driver’s relative were standing by the side of the road or if his Guru suddenly appeared there, he would immediately stop and ask, “Why are you standing here?” “My car broke down.” “Oh! Please come with me.” Without even asking, that person is invited into the car. This is because there is a relationship between the driver and that person. There is a feeling of love and devotion and that is why he stopped.

Similarly, great Saints such as Tulsi, Meera, Sur, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram asked for something from God, and God had to fulfill their desire, even if that meant making the impossible possible. But what about the other requests that people make? Nowadays people rush to pilgrimage places like Vaishno Devi or a particular Shankar Temple, Ganesha Temple or Durga Temple to ask God for something. What is this? Fruitless effort. God will not listen to even 1% of such requests. Why not?

You had a desire so you went to Vaishno Devi and prayed, “Bless me with a son.” By chance you had a son. You believed, “Vaishno Devi performed a miracle for me!” You went to Vaishno Devi a second time. When you returned home you learned your son had died. Now you believe, “This is all a deception! There is no God. My neighbour had five children and he just had a sixth. But I had just one child and he died!”

If you believe your worldly acquisitions are the result of the grace of God or Guru, when these acquisitions are lost or destroyed, you will blame Him, lose faith in Him and act adversely towards Him. Thus, as long as you haven’t attained God realisation, do not ask God, even by mistake, to fulfill your worldly desires.

After God realisation one does not continue to have material desires.

Bhidyate hridayagranthish-chidyante sarva sanshayah.
Ksheeyante chasya karmani tasmin drishte paravare.

This verse is found in the Mundak Upanishad 2/2/8, Yogashika Upanishad 5/45, Saraswati-darshan Upanishad 32, Bhagwatam 1/2/21 and 11/20/30. It says that after God realisation, one’s mayic ignorance is destroyed. As a result, all of one’s material desires are eliminated. Really, after experiencing such great divine bliss, why would one continue to have material desires? God’s bliss is unlimited. Worldly happiness has no comparison to this.

So there can be nothing more foolish than to ask God to fulfill your material desires. To say one’s desires were fulfilled by God is utter nonsense. If they were fulfilled, this was bound to happen anyway according to one’s karmic destiny. We wrongly give God the credit for this.

Further, if we have material desires, this only means we have not yet understood the ABCs of spiritual philosophy. We are still confused about whether happiness is in the world or in God. This is the very first stage of understanding. And if one realises that there is no happiness in the world including up to Brahma’s abode, then why would we ask God for the world? Why don’t we pray to God to realise God?


Once God went to the celestial abodes. Indra welcomed Him with great respect, “God has come to my kingdom!” When He was leaving, God said to Indra, “Son, ask for a boon.” Indra said, “Please give me such a woman whose beauty has never been equalled in the past nor will be in the future.” God smiled and thought, “I can’t believe what a foolish request this is. What does he lack here in the celestial abodes? The most beautiful maidens are already here.” Celestial gods have so much power they could produce thousands of such maidens simply by thought.

But to fulfill Indra’s desire, God produced thousands of extraordinarily beautiful women and said, “Choose one from among these.” Indra only saw the very first maiden and said, “I choose that one.” Her name was Urvashi. Indra took her to his Guru, Brihaspati. Brihaspati said to Indra, “Who have you brought with you? This isn’t Indrani, your wife.” Indra sheepishly said, “Oh, well, God appeared today… and… He said I could ask for something…” Brihaspati said, “What? You have given your Guru a bad name! You asked for this from God?”

So when the emperor of the celestial abodes can make this kind of mistake, how much more foolish are those who go to the temple and pray to God for the fulfillment of their material desires?


Even if God Himself where to appear before you, He will not fulfill such prayers. What is it that God could give? Take a look at history.

Even Abhimanyu, who was sinless, had to die. Although Veda Vyas, a descension of God, performed Abhimanyu’s marriange, and Abhimanyu’s uncle was Lord Krishna, who was supreme God, and his father was Arjuna, a true saint, decension of Nar-Narayana and knower of the Bhagavad Gita, no one could save him. Why not? What is death to God? Is anything impossible for Him to do? Surely He could have saved him.

Yet, when Arjuna was weeping after Abhimanyu’s death, He asked Lord Krishna, “Please let me see him just once.” Even at that time, Lord Krishna couldn’t bring him back. He said, “One’s time of death is determined by the destiny created by one’s actions. I do not interfere in this.”

So unlike Abhimanyu, when you have no relationship with Lord Krishna, what will you receive by asking Him to fulfill your desires?

Even Lord Ram’s father, Dasharath, had to die. Lord Ram Ram did not save him, even though He saved thousands of monkeys killed in the battle of Lanka. This is because when one’s destined time of death has come, he must go. We can’t do anything to alter this. Then why do we hope that merely by asking God to fulfill our material demands He will do so?

Material desires are only a source of suffering, and to ask God to fulfill these is outright foolishness. This is also pure selfishness (sakamata). What is selflessness (niskhamata), will be described next.

What is selflessness or niskhamata? To desire your beloved’s happiness, not your own. A little selflessness is seen in the world when a baby is born. A mother and father serve their child even though their child does nothing in return for them – everything is done by them for the baby. How many dirty and messy things the mother has to do, and if another baby is born within the year she undergoes even more hardship. She keeps on running back and forth changing diapers, keeping them warm, feeding them, holding them when they are crying. How can she sleep? Her husband, who is also woken up every night, is convinced at this point, “There is only suffering in this world!”

So some selflessness is seen in the relationship of a parent and child, but within this there is a hidden desire. “When my baby grows up he’ll get a good job and make a lot of money. Then he’ll take care of me in my old age…” This is the hidden planning that is going on in the parents’ mind. “The scriptures say that my child will enable me to cross over to the next world after death…” So there are many hidden desires like this, but only one desire is missing – that the child should find God. In its place are only worldly desires.

If some selflessness is seen in the world, it is found wherever there is love. Someone loved his father selflessly and that father, who was an alcoholic, died. As a consequence of his debauched lifestyle, the father was reborn as a dog. Due to his attachment, that child will also have to be reborn to his father, regardless of what form his father has taken. Whoever we love, we will have to follow them wherever they go.

This doesn’t refer to just ordinary souls, it also applies to great renounced paramhansas such as Jadbharat. He raised and had great affection for a baby deer. At the time of his death, his last thoughts were of the baby deer. As a result, he had to be reborn as a deer. You all may be familiar with this story from the Bhagwatam.

There are four classes of attachment. If you love a sattvik being, you will enter swarga, the celestial abodes. After staying there for some time, you will return to this earth plane – not in a human form, but in a lower form of life. If you love a rajas being, after your death you will return to this earthly plane and receive a human form. If you love a tamas being. you will enter naraka, the hellish abodes after death. If you love God and Guru, who are divine, you will enter the divine world. No matter with what feeling you love someone, if you are mentally attached, you will go wherever he has gone after your death.

So whether one has selfish or selfless love for a material being dominated by satvik, rajas or tamas, the consequence is always mayic or material and binds the soul in the cycle of birth and death. But if one has selfless or even selfish love for God, he will enter the divine world.

However, Saints advise against selfish devotion. Selfishness in devotion means that before God realisation, you asked God to fufill your devotional desire. What
will happen if your desire is unfulfilled?

For example, someone desires to see God, to have His divine darshan. But his mind has not become completely purified, there is still 10% more to go. So he will not receive God’s swaroopa shakti that will divinise his senses, mind and intellect. Therefore he won’t be able to perceive God’s divine form. But his desire was, “I will see God within a year!” But two years have passed and still he hasn’t had God’s darshan. At this point he may start thinking, “This is all useless!” He does an about turn and leaves his devotional practice. If this person does not have a Guru, who will tell him that he is purifying the sins of uncountable lifetimes and that he still has a little farther to go?

When a person is digging a well for water, first he encounters some damp soil and feels excited, “I’ll find water soon!” As he continues to dig, he finds big rocks. He is surprised, “Why are these here? I thought I would find water!” If an experienced well-digger is nearby, he will say, “Don’t worry. You have to dig out the rocks first. Water is definitely there.” He takes out the rocks and finds a layer of pebbles and small stones. “Hey! What is this?” Again that experienced well-digger says, “Just keep digging.” He does and he finally finds water.

If a person gives up digging after finding rocks, he will spend his whole life digging wells in different places and never finding water. This is what happens to the person who has selfish devotion. Someone tells him, “Why are you practicing devotion to Krishna? Worship Lord Shiva instead. He is so easily pleased. He will grace you immediately! You just have to sprinkle a little water on Him and give Him some bel leaves and He will be happy.” He feels swayed by this and leaves his practice of Krishna devotion. After some time another person comes and says, “Why aren’t you practicing devotion to Mother Durga? She is so gracious!” Like this, innocent practioners pass their whole lives going from here to there until their death. They don’t attain anything.

If they had met a true Saint who understood scriptural philosophy and was also a practical knower of God, and if that Saint had explained to them the difference between selfish and selfless devotion, and how to practice selfless devotion, then they could continue their practice unperturbed, “So what if I don’t attain God realisation in one birth? I’ll attain it in my next birth.” They wouldn’t give up.

Just see, when a child is learning to walk, at this stage he can’t even talk or understand what is said to him. He uses the wall for support, then a nearby couch or bed, then he holds onto his mother. He takes a few steps and then falls. This fall hurts his tender body. But again he stands up, takes a few steps and falls down. But he doesn’t give up.

You all went through this stage. You just don’t remember. No one was ever born who could start running right away. You first tried day and night and then you learned to turn over, and from there you progressed. Now if an athlete has an operation and must be confined to bed for one week, he becomes extremely restless and unhappy. But a newborn is confined to not only being bed, but remaining in the same position. This changes only if his mother holds him for some time. After this he is again confined to his bed. This is his condition at the start.

So this is the essence of the secret of selfishness and selflessness. Using these guideliness, form desires for God and Guru, not the world. Render service to them, make their desire your desire and give them happiness. This is selfless devotion.