WHO IS SHRI RADHA ?

Without knowing who Shri Radha actually is, your love and devotion for Her cannot develop.

Typically it is understood in India that Radha and Krishna must be like Lakshmi and Vishnu or Parvati and Shiva, but They are not like this. Lakshmi and Vishnu are husband and wife or eternal consorts, as are Parvati and Shiva. Radha Krishna are not husband and wife. Shri Krishna is the absolute supreme divine power.

For example you have a father. But your original father’s father is the progenitor of the human race, Manu. Manu’s father was Brahma, the creator of our brahmanda. Brahma’s father was supreme God Shri Krishna. There is no father of Shri Krishna; He is the Father of all.

So the One beyond whom there is nothing else is supreme God Shri Krishna. He governs uncountable Brahmas, uncountable Vishnus, and uncountable Shivas. The Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva that you have heard about, belong to one brahmanda, just as in India, each state has its own governor or chief minister. The one who governs all the uncountable brahmandas is Shri Krishna, just like all the states of India are governed by the prime minister. There is no post or position beyond this.

So there are uncountable brahmandas, and each and every brahmanda has one Brahma, one Vishnu and one Shiva.

Sankhya chet rajasamasti na vishvanam kadachan. (Padma Puran)

Even today’s scientists have accepted that, when light takes millions of years to reach the earth, we can never know how big the universe is. Light travels 186,000 miles in one second, and that takes millions of years to reach the earth! How inconceivably far! Who could go that far? Who will ever see it? There are millions of suns in the Milky Way galaxy like our sun, and there are uncountable galaxies in the universe. Even Jagadguru Shankaracharya accepted this.

Brahmandani bahuni pankajabhavan…

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are servants of Shri Krishna. They are uncountable. Everything that relates to Shri Krishna is absolutely unlimited. He has uncountable names, uncountable forms, uncountable qualities, uncountable pastimes, uncountable abodes, and uncountable souls related to Him – they are all unlimited. His powers are also unlimited.

Shri Krishner ananta shakti tate tin pradhan.

Gauranga Mahaprabhu has said that out of uncountable divine powers, three are foremost: sat, chit, ananda. A name of God is “sat-chit-ananda“. These are three powers. The relationship they have to each other is that sat is included in chit, and sat and chit are included in ananda. This is why God is referred to as sat-chit-ananda, as chid-ananda (which includes sat), and simply as ananda (which includes sat and chit).

Anando brahmeti vyajanat. (Veda)

Ananda-mayobhyasat. (Brahma Sutra)

Ananda, the foremost power of these three, also has an essence. This is called the power of hladini. This is the greatest power of God. All of God’s powers are governed by this power. What does this power do?

Kartum akartum anyatha kartum samarth.

With this power God does whatever He wishes, or He doesn’t act at all, or He does the complete opposite of both of these. What does it mean to perform the opposite of both of these? For example, you have eyes. What do they do? They only see. They can’t hear or smell. They perform one kind of action. But God’s eyes can see, smell, taste, touch, think, decide and be all-knowing. This is the miracle of hladini power. Even with no senses He is all-seeing and hears everything. He knows which soul has called to Him from which brahmanda.

One aspect of God resides in all the souls and notes all our unfaithful thoughts, yet He remains ever-blissful. None of these contrary thoughts affects Him. Just see that in a typical family there are about ten people – a father, mother, wife, husband, and a few children. Just from these associations alone people feel troubled! Someone or the other says something hurtful. All the children have different demands. One person feels so troubled just from ten people, and God has so many children – they are uncountable! And they are all wayward. They have forgotten Him. They don’t regard Him as their true father. God notes all this as He resides in our hearts. Even so, He doesn’t feel troubled by this. He smiles and simply notes our thoughts. This is all possible through God’s hladini power.

Hladini power also has an essence. It is called divine love (divya prem). This also has various classes. These are called prema bhakti, sneha bhakti, maan bhakti, pranaya bhakti, rag bhakti, anurag bhakti, bhav bhakti, and mahabhava bhakti, the final class. Mahabhava bhakti also has two classes, rudha mahabhav and adhirudha mahabhav, which is the highest class. Adhirudha mahabhav also has two classes, maadan and modan. Maadan is reserved for Shri Radha alone. Even Shri Krishna cannot reach there. Only Shri Radha resides here. Shri Krishna is the servant of maadanakhya mahabhava Shri Radha, and that is why He lovingly presses Her lotus feet and serves Her.

The Saint Raskhan had a big doubt, “People say that Shri Krishna is a servant of Shri Radha.” He thought, “For Hindus the wife serves the husband, and here the situation is reversed. He is pressing Her lotus feet? No one has ever seen this! Why is it like this with Radha Krishna?” He thought that Radha was merely Krishna’s wife. So when Raskhan became God realised,

Dekho duryo vahan kunja kutir men

baithyo palotat Radhika payan.

Shri Krishna appeared to Raskhan in this form. He was softly pressing Shri Radha’s lotus feet. Then He bestowed this knowledge on Raskhan and made him understand that He was the servant of Shri Radha, and His servant was Lakshmi, His eternal consort or wife.

So Shri Radha is the soul of Shri Krishna. Our body is the servant of our own soul, and our soul is a servant of Shri Krishna, so Shri Krishna is a servant of Shri Radha. She is that great a divine power. Every pore of Shri Krishna’s divine body is resounding with “Radhey Radhey”. Her name is this important. We should understand this when we take Radhey name.

Imagine you found a ring. Someone asked you, “Where did you find that?” “I was just going somewhere and I found it on the road. Why?” “That’s worth a million!” “What? I though it was worth $10 or $20!” How much happiness will you feel when you look at the ring and realise it has made you a millionaire? Now you will take great care of it.

In the same way, when we understand the greatness of Shri Radha, and then say or sing Her name, our love for Her will grow. Always keep in mind who Shri Krishna and Shri Radha are, who you are, what is the world – knowing the philosophy related to all of these is absolutely essential. By knowing these we become detached from the world and attached to God.

JAGADGURU SHRI KRIPALU JI MAHARAJ.