English
26 August 2020
Day 7 - Radhastami - most auspicious and special
Hare Krsna! Welcome all on this special day. Participants are chanting with us from 950 locations. Today is a special day and the whole world was waiting for the arrival of Srimati Radharani. The appearance day of Srimati Radharani! Jai Radhe! Krsna was also born on the eight night of the Lunar month and Radharani was also born on the eight night of the Lunar month. Radharani is all auspicious.This is the most auspicious day. Srimati Radharani is the giver of auspiciousness and Her appearance day is all auspicious. 15 days ago we heard that the house of Nanda Maharaja was filled with bliss and now the house of Sri Vrsabhanu is filled with bliss. The birth and the pastimes of Srimati Radharani are also divine and transcendental.
janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjuna
Translation
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna. [BG 4.9]
Krsna was born at midnight. Srimati Radharani was born in the afternoon.
yasomati maiya se bole nandalala
Radha kyu gori mein kyu kala?
Why is Krsna Shyam in colour and Radharani fair? Krsna is born in the night and Srimati Radharani is born during bright sunlight.
Srimati Radharani is not only fair - she is Tapta-Kanchana Gaurangi means the complexion like that of molten gold.
tapta-kanchana-gaurangi
radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye
Translation
I offer my respects to Radharani, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the queen of Vrindavana. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu, and You are very dear to Lord Krishna. [Sri Radha Pranama]
When gold is melted, its brightness increases. In fact Her complexion is so beautiful that molten gold is the only material thing it can be compared to, but it is still not equal. She is the queen of Vrindavana.
Vrsabhanu-sute Devi means today Srimati Radharani is going to be the daughter of Vrsabhanu and Kirtida.
Pranamami Hari-priye means she is going to be Haripriya. Raval, the birth village of Srimati Radharani is on the banks of Yamuna. Today morning, when Sri Vrsabhanu was walking on the banks of Yamuna, he saw a big, beautiful lotus flowing in the Yamuna. He was surprised to see the beauty of the flower. It was bright with the rays of golden effulgence.
Suddenly there was an announcement in the sky that said, "Move forward and take your daughter, King Vrsabhanu, She has appeared in your house." He saw a very beautiful, girl child and immediately picked Her up and embraced Her. So out of ultra-happiness, Vrsabhanu carried the baby girl and brought Her home. He put Her in the hands of Kirtida and told her that this baby girl was their daughter. Their home was filled with happiness and bliss. This news spread like wild fire in the entire Braja. Now it's the time for Vrsabhanu ke ghar ananda bhayo.One who gives pleasure to Nandanandana is present now.
All the Vraja-vasis came to greet Vrsabhanu and Kirtida. Nanda Maharaja, Yasoda, Rohini and Krsna, Balarama also reached there. As all the Vraja-vasis were having darsana of Srimati Radharani, greeting Her, blessing Her, welcoming Her. They were singing the glories of Srimati Radharani.
Suswagatam Radhe Suswagatam Radhe
Jai Radhe Jai Radhe Radhe
Jai Radhe Jai Sri Radhe
Are you all also singing Her glories? Jai Radhe! Radharani is appearing today. Haribol. So one thing is worth noting. Everyone noticed that the baby girl is extremely beautiful and has an unparalleled glow and effulgence on Her face.
But She is blind. Since Vrsabhanu found Her in the lotus till that moment, She had not opened Her eyes. Everyone assumed that She was blind and they were upset. She was not blind, but She was just acting like that. When She opens Her eyes there will be netra unmilan. Just like when we install Deities in the temple, so there's netra unmilan. It is an auspicious event when the Deities in the temple open Their eyes for the first time to see the devotees.) But Srimati Radharani was waiting for the right time. She was not blind. She was purposefully not opening Her eyes. She had decided that Her netra unmilan will take place when Krsna was in front of Her. “I won't open My eyes till Krsna is in front of Me. Other forms are useless if I don't get to see Krsna.”
So well, in the grand celebration which was happening in the palace of Maharaja Vrsabhanu, Krsna and Balarama had also arrived. They were also very small. Krsna saw and noticed that everyone is going towards the cradle and greeting someone there. He expressed His desire to go and see who's there in the cradle. He was still a baby and He started crawling towards the cradle. He tried to stand up holding the cradle. Somehow He managed to balance with His two hands to stand and He also fell down. But eventually He was able to stand and He was right in front of Srimati Radharani. His face was exactly in front of Srimati Radharani. Now Radharani’s eyes were closed. But Srimati Radharani is also all-pervading Antaryami. She sensed that the right time had come. The right face was in front of Her. Then immediately She opened Her eyes and They constantly stared at each other without even blinking. They were together in Goloka as a young couple and now They met here as infants. Krsna came here and Radha was also coming. Now They're meeting again in Gokul Vrindavan. Jai Radhe! Jai Krsna!
Narada muni was not able to reach on time for this grand celebration of Her appearance. But when Narada Muni came to Gokul, he had the darsana of Krsna, and upon seeing Krsna he thinks that if Krsna has appeared, then Srimati Radharani will also undoubtedly appear. He starts looking for Her everywhere. He goes from one home to another and so on. He asks everyone how many children they had? Some would say that they did not have any, then Narada Muni would move further. Some would say, " I have only sons.” Some would say, “I have daughters, but they are 5-10 years old.”
He reached Raval at the house of Vrsabhanu. There he got to know that the girl he was searching for had taken birth here. Narada Muni and Vrsabhanu were sitting together and Narada Muni asked Vrsabhanu to bring him some water. As Vrsabhanu went out to get some water for Narada Muni Narada Muni was there alone with Srimati Radharani. Narada Muni wanted to see Srimati Radharani one on one. By making some excuse he got Vrsabhanu to leave. Now Narada Muni is offering his obeisances and rolling on the ground out of ecstasy in the association of Srimati Radharani. Srimati Radharani took Her youth form and gave darsana to Narada Muni. It is possible for Srimati Radharani. Like Krsna gave the four-handed form darsana to Devaki and Vasudev after His birth. Srimati Radharani blessed him with by saying a few words. Now Narada Muni is empowered with devotion. After the darsana, Narada Muni left from there. He is also a very special person. He and many other sages, devotees like the 12 Mahajanas, constantly sing the glories and chant the names of Radharani and Krsna.
sanaka-sanatana-varnaita-carite
Translation
O You whose divine characteristics are described by the great sages Sanaka and Sanatana!
This way Narada Muni got to see and associate with Radharani.
Now gradually Srimati Radharani and Krsna both are growing up in Their own homes. He is growing up in Gokul. First time, They met at the time of appearance day of Radharani. Here Krsna is playing His pastimes, first parental, then friendship and now it's time for the conjugal love pastimes. Krsna is 7, 8 years old. Now the Gokul-vasis have shifted to Nandagram and the Raval-vasis have shifted to Barsana.
There is a place called Saket between these two places. It was there that They met after this. They communicated there with some signs and body language. There it was decided where They shall meet in the night. They would decide like, "Today We will perform Our pastimes here. Today We will meet there." Then the transcendental pastimes of Radha and Krsna kept on happening in different forests of Braj. They met at midnight in the forests. He displayed many amorous pastimes in the groves of Vrndavana.
Jai radha madhav kunj bihari
gopi jan wallabh jai giridhar hari
Yashoda nandan braj jan ranjan
Jamuna teer ban chari
Parkiya Bhava is greater than the Svakiya bhava. Svakiya bhava also has Madhurya and Vatsalya, but Parkiya bhava is greater than that. Radharani gets married to Abhimanyu and goes to Her in-laws place in Javat. Abhimanyu is in between because They want to perform Parkiya bhava. Such pastimes were going on. Radha and Krsna got married in Bhandirvan and the priest was Brahma. The four-headed Brahma was performing severe penance with the desire to be permitted to witness the transcendental pastimes of Radha and Krsna. So he was granted and he was allowed to be a mountain in Barsana. The Mountain in Barsana is Brahma. This mountain has four blunt peaks. Radharani ki Jai! Barsane wali ki Jai, Jai, Jai! Here he carries all the pastimes on his head in Barsana. He is allowed in the pastimes of Brahma.
Lord Shiva also wanted to enter in the pastimes. Lord Shiva become Gopishvara Mahadev and enters the Rasa lila. This also has a story. He once came and desired to enter the Rasa lila. But in his form, with all entangled locks of hair, snakes in the neck, scorpions in his ears, tiger skin wrapped around his waist, a garland of skulls in his neck, etc. He was stopped from entering and asked to get a form and mood of a gopi to enter. Then he dipped in Mansarovar and came out as a Gopi. The same happened with Narada Muni. He took a dip in Kusum Sarovar and came out as Naradi Gopi. Then they got a chance to enter in the rasa lila of Radha and Krsna. They are deserving candidates so they get a chance to enter. We also desire, but we need to be deserving.
mora ei abhilāṣa, vilāsa kuñje dio vāsa
nayana heribo sadā yugala-rūpa-rāśi
Translation
My desire is that you will also grant me a residence in the pleasure groves of Sri Vrndavana-dhama. Thus, within my vision I will always behold the beautiful pastimes of Radha and Krsna. [Sri Tulasi Kirtana Verse 3]
We pray to Tulasi Maharani also, that let our eyes always have the divine sight of the divine couple, or nija-seva-yogyam mam kuru means we pray while chanting to Radha and Krsna, “Please make me eligible for Your service.” sravaya means “Please make me hear Your pastimes, dasaya means “Let me witness Your pastimes. Engage me in the pastimes.” maya saha ramasva means “Let me participate in Your pastimes.” We must do such prayers while chanting. Srila Prabhupada gave me the mercy of Radharani.
In 1976, Srila Prabhupada had arrived to Delhi, in Radha Parthasarthi temple to celebrate Radhastami. I was also there. On the day of Radhastami, Srila Prabhupad instructed me to start Padayatra. Padayatra is all about chanting, singing and preaching. This Padayatra happened for a while, took a small break and then took a huge form. On the day of Radhastami in 1984, we started a 8000 km long Padayatra from Dvaraka to Mayapur. We reached Mayapur in 1986 on Gaur Purnima, the 500th birth anniversary of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And then Srimati Radharani never let this Padayatra stop and now Padayatra is going on and on for past 36 years in India and in many other countries. I delegated the duty to Acarya Prabhu during the silver jubilee celebration and now he has been taking care of it for the past 11 years.
Hare Krishna.
Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol.