confused

It is not a sin there is no offense , but it depends on sadhaka's bhava.i would like to quote bhaktisidhanta saraswati thakur regarding it.
Shri Radhika is realizable as the Counter-Whole of the Personal Absolute. She is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute-Whole. Shri Krishna, in regard to Shri Radhika is the Predominating Moiety. The conception of Male and Female refers to the principle of Personality. As both Personalities are fully Divine, no grossness or inadequacy of the corresponding mundane conception need be imported into the subject. But it is imperative to admit the absolute logical validity, under the reservation of inconceivability by our present understanding of the conception of the Divine Pair possessing actual Male and Female Spiritual Forms.
Shri Radhika is the Eternal Associated Counter-Whole of Shri Krishna, Her Male Consort. Shri Radhika is the source of all individual souls whose function is to be employed in the service of Shri Krishna by the alternative methods of loyal conscious submission, neutrality or actual opposition. The individual souls serve Shri Krishna as constituents of Shri Radhika. When they forget that they are constituents of Shri Radhika they forget the nature of their own selves, and engage in the abnormal activities of the mundane plane.
The relation between one individual soul and another is that of obeying each other as constituents of Shri Radhika in the performance of their allotted service of Shri Krishna. To use a mundane analogy all individual souls are spiritual females in a subordinate position to Shri Radhika, whose service of Shri Krishna they naturally share by their nature as constituents. The objects of endeavor of the individual souls is to learn to obey Shri Radhika. Only by obeying Shri Radhika can they serve Shri Krishna.
Shri Krishna is the only Object of all worship. Shri Krishna alone is the Recipient of all service. No individual soul can be the recipient of any service on his own account or on account of any other individual soul.
Shri Krishna alone is Godhead. Shri Radhika alone serves Shri Krishna. This is the only Absolute Truth. Shri Krishna is the Ultimate Source of all real Receivers of service. Shri Radhika is the Ultimate Source of all real renderers of service. The infinite variety of the Pastimes of Shri Radha-Krishna constitutes the only Reality.
Shri Radhika is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute. In other words, the Predominating Moiety of the Absolute is not the full Integer. The Absolute Nature of the Personality of Shri Radhika is fully on a level with the Absolute Personality of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna is the Consort of Shri Radhika. The Absolute is both Pair and Singular Person.
Monotheism is so dear to the heart of all rational persons in this age that very few people would agree to accept Two Gods, even if they are assured that They are complimentary to Each Other. The numerical reference is illogically allowed to limit the Absolute. It is considered to be binding on the Absolute to be a singular Entity in the ordinary sense. But the pseudo-monistic view is calculated to destroy the Personality of Godhead into Void of the Undifferentiated Brahman. No theist should be prepared to reduce the Divinity, Whom he is to worship, to the Absolute Zero.
Shri Radhika is eternally distinct from Shri Krishna. Shri Radhika is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute, whereas Shri Krishna is the Predominating Moiety. Shri Krishna is Male, Shri Radhika is Female. They are Two Distinct and Complimentary Persons. But neither of Them are Male or Female in the limited worldly sense. The Absolute Male and the Absolute Female are from the worldly point of view a sheer contradiction in terms. But this apparent contradiction is also really accommodated in the Absolute in defiance of all canons of our so-called rational judgement. It is this astounding fact that makes the Absolute the concentration of all mellowness, instead of making Him devoid of all mellowness.
Jiva—Feminine Entity

The individual soul (jiva) is a feminine entity by her proper nature. This is so because all entities, except the Divinity, are subservients. The singularity of the Predominating Absolute has to be recognized without reservation. There is, however, also an Infinity of Divine Personalities. But all Divine Personalities are fully Divine. None of Them have got any Master. The milkmaids of Vraja are the expanded forms of Shri Radhika and identical with Her. But the jiva does not belong to the category of the associated constituent counterwhole of Shri Radhika. The jiva soul belongs to the decentralized plane of manifestations. Shiva is the divine Centre of the Principle of this decentralized existence. Shiva is consorted for this purpose with Mahamaya. Shiva and Mahamaya are closely connected with jiva. But the connection of jiva with Shiva and Mahamaya is not identical with his connection with Shri Krishna and Shri Radhika. The connection of jiva with Shiva and Mahamaya is established only when he is disassociated from the service of Shri Radha-Krishna.
Neither Shiva nor Mahamaya can give the jiva the service of Shri Radha-Krishna. On the contrary, their function is to delude the jiva into desiring certain covetable things of this world for his own advantage. Shiva is independent of Krishna. Shiva is a divine person. In this sense Krishna and Shiva are identical. Shri Krishna never consorts with His deluding potency. The Divinity of Shiva is adulterated with non-divinity whereas Shri Krishna is eternally unadulterated with maya. The service of Shiva and Mahamaya is not only incompatible with the service of Shri Radha-Krishna but implies positive aversion to the service of Shri Radha-Krishna.
Madhura-rati is the highest form of prema, and an individual soul even in the stage of ragatmika bhakti considers herself a maid called manjari whose service is guided by the dearest Rupa Manjari and others who in turn are subservient to the eight sakhis— Shri Lalita, Vishakha, Citra, Indulekha, Campaklata, Rangadevi, Tungavidya, Sudevi— who are the counterparts of Shri Radhika. They are all engaged in the aprakrta services of their beloved Shri Krishna for His absolute pleasures, and no one else. Their complete satisfaction lies in the absolute pleasure of their beloved.
The physical body of this world can never reach the lotus feet of the Lord. Hence a sadhaka in raganuga bhakti, who may be a man or a woman in this physical world, develops the aprakrta body of a gopi called a manjari if his or her raga is awakened in the wake of the Vraja gopi. Specifically, she is a manjari, with a particular name, conception of her form and beauty, particular age, costume, specialized service (seva), and grove (kunja) where she receives and serves the Divine Couple Shri Radha-Krishna. The individual in raganuga bhakti meditates inwardly, looking upon himself or herself as a handmaid of Shri Rupa Manjari, who is the personification of the rupa— beauty of Shri Radha, which beauty is the projected Absolute Beauty of the Absolute Lord Shri Krishna. Shri Rupa Manjari guides the individual handmaid in the fold of Shri Lalita Sakhi, who in turn engages the handmaid in the specialized services of Shri Radha-Krishna.
So long as one is in the fetters of Maya and misidentifies oneself with one’s physical body and changeable mind, one must necessarily undergo the rudimentary way of Vaidhi Bhakti, controlled and guided by scriptural prescriptions supported by favorable arguments and reasons. Such a spiritual novice when he makes tangible progress in the long and scripturally controlled path of Vaidhi Bhakti may develop, listening to the Bhagavata and allied scriptures that deal with the transcendental Pastimes of the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna, a spontaneous and intensely eager craving in his or her heart for being enabled to follow in the footsteps of any of the Four Categories of the dearmost Associates of Lord Krishna in Vraja in regard to Their feelings and applied sentiments to the Dearest Shri Krishna, viz. Dasya (as a servant) Sakhya (as a friend), Vatsalya as parents or Madhura (as consorts). When such a longing for Vraja-Bhava is strongly and genuinely achieved, such an individual is no more bound by the restrictions of scriptural injunctions or human reasoning and arguments. The soul soars in the higher realm of burning feelings for the service of Lord Krishna in subordination to any of the Bhavas of the four categories of the eternal Associates of the Lord of Vraja, which may awaken normally in the heart without any forced imagination. Such a sadhaka i.e. practicing spiritual life, is no more and cannot be kept any more restricted by scriptural regulations and mere human waves of feelings. In this stage, the individual serves by words and deeds the Supreme Lord and His dearest Associates like Shri Rupa and Shri Sanatan in the same manner in which they had lived in this world, consonant with the basis directions of the scriptures, by chanting and listening to such scriptures like the Bhagavat that deal with the transcendental Pastimes of Lord Krishna in the company of His dearmost Associates. While maintaining a normal and restricted life of spiritual practices in body and words, the individual, in whom the intense longing for the bhavas of Ragatmika-Eternal-Associates of the Lord is awakened, conceives mentally, in accordance with the genuinely awakened Vraja-Bhava either as that of Gopi or Nanda-Yasoda or Shridham-Sudham, Citraka-Patraka, a siddhadeha—a permanent spiritual body, which shall correspond to and be favorable and fit for serving the Lord under guidance of the dearest one of the dearest Associate of Lord Krishna, for whose bhava a craving has been aroused in the heart of such individual so that he or she may engage himself or herself in the service of Lord Krishna and His dearest Associates in the particular sthayi-bhava as a servant or friend or as a maid, and such services are rendered mentally in the siddhadeha or spiritual body so conceived. Thus an individual, whether a man or a woman, in the stage of spiritual both in Vaidhi-Bhakti and Raganuga-Bhakti in the Sadhana stage, must necessarily serve God and His devotees by words and deeds in the physical body by chanting and listening to the Name of God, listening to the scriptures and by worshipping in the temple as prescribed by the scriptures.
Internal remembrance can occur by the power of kirtana, and only then is solitary service possible.” Nirjana-bhajana or smarana, exclusive solitary devotion unconscious of the environment is not at all possible for beginners.

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Mohini Madhavi December 15, 2011 at 4:45pm

Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Again our Dixa in confusion ;-)

i saw many Devotees who worship Gopalji. Even in Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Mandir there is Bal Gopal who is worshiped as the One who has lifted the Govardhan Hill.

i try to worship Deities as They are my Masters my Lord and i am Their servant. If i start to think of myself as His lover or something like that i feel myself as a sahajiya, really. i do not like to pretend with God.

But i believe that when time comes by the mercy of Guru and Krishna i will attain my real rasa with Him but not now in this miserable consciousness.

If You have Gopal the take care of Him nicely dear Dixa! He is Your Master and Protector. Cook for Him, offer with love and devotion and pray to help You to chant attentively. That's it! :-)

Your servant,
manitabh December 15, 2011 at 3:27pm

It is not a sin there is no offense , but it depends on sadhaka's bhava.i would like to quote bhaktisidhanta saraswati thakur regarding it.
Shri Radhika is realizable as the Counter-Whole of the Personal Absolute. She is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute-Whole. Shri Krishna, in regard to Shri Radhika is the Predominating Moiety. The conception of Male and Female refers to the principle of Personality. As both Personalities are fully Divine, no grossness or inadequacy of the corresponding mundane conception need be imported into the subject. But it is imperative to admit the absolute logical validity, under the reservation of inconceivability by our present understanding of the conception of the Divine Pair possessing actual Male and Female Spiritual Forms.
Shri Radhika is the Eternal Associated Counter-Whole of Shri Krishna, Her Male Consort. Shri Radhika is the source of all individual souls whose function is to be employed in the service of Shri Krishna by the alternative methods of loyal conscious submission, neutrality or actual opposition. The individual souls serve Shri Krishna as constituents of Shri Radhika. When they forget that they are constituents of Shri Radhika they forget the nature of their own selves, and engage in the abnormal activities of the mundane plane.
The relation between one individual soul and another is that of obeying each other as constituents of Shri Radhika in the performance of their allotted service of Shri Krishna. To use a mundane analogy all individual souls are spiritual females in a subordinate position to Shri Radhika, whose service of Shri Krishna they naturally share by their nature as constituents. The objects of endeavor of the individual souls is to learn to obey Shri Radhika. Only by obeying Shri Radhika can they serve Shri Krishna.
Shri Krishna is the only Object of all worship. Shri Krishna alone is the Recipient of all service. No individual soul can be the recipient of any service on his own account or on account of any other individual soul.
Shri Krishna alone is Godhead. Shri Radhika alone serves Shri Krishna. This is the only Absolute Truth. Shri Krishna is the Ultimate Source of all real Receivers of service. Shri Radhika is the Ultimate Source of all real renderers of service. The infinite variety of the Pastimes of Shri Radha-Krishna constitutes the only Reality.
Shri Radhika is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute. In other words, the Predominating Moiety of the Absolute is not the full Integer. The Absolute Nature of the Personality of Shri Radhika is fully on a level with the Absolute Personality of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna is the Consort of Shri Radhika. The Absolute is both Pair and Singular Person.
Monotheism is so dear to the heart of all rational persons in this age that very few people would agree to accept Two Gods, even if they are assured that They are complimentary to Each Other. The numerical reference is illogically allowed to limit the Absolute. It is considered to be binding on the Absolute to be a singular Entity in the ordinary sense. But the pseudo-monistic view is calculated to destroy the Personality of Godhead into Void of the Undifferentiated Brahman. No theist should be prepared to reduce the Divinity, Whom he is to worship, to the Absolute Zero.
Shri Radhika is eternally distinct from Shri Krishna. Shri Radhika is the Predominated Moiety of the Absolute, whereas Shri Krishna is the Predominating Moiety. Shri Krishna is Male, Shri Radhika is Female. They are Two Distinct and Complimentary Persons. But neither of Them are Male or Female in the limited worldly sense. The Absolute Male and the Absolute Female are from the worldly point of view a sheer contradiction in terms. But this apparent contradiction is also really accommodated in the Absolute in defiance of all canons of our so-called rational judgement. It is this astounding fact that makes the Absolute the concentration of all mellowness, instead of making Him devoid of all mellowness.
Jiva—Feminine Entity

The individual soul (jiva) is a feminine entity by her proper nature. This is so because all entities, except the Divinity, are subservients. The singularity of the Predominating Absolute has to be recognized without reservation. There is, however, also an Infinity of Divine Personalities. But all Divine Personalities are fully Divine. None of Them have got any Master. The milkmaids of Vraja are the expanded forms of Shri Radhika and identical with Her. But the jiva does not belong to the category of the associated constituent counterwhole of Shri Radhika. The jiva soul belongs to the decentralized plane of manifestations. Shiva is the divine Centre of the Principle of this decentralized existence. Shiva is consorted for this purpose with Mahamaya. Shiva and Mahamaya are closely connected with jiva. But the connection of jiva with Shiva and Mahamaya is not identical with his connection with Shri Krishna and Shri Radhika. The connection of jiva with Shiva and Mahamaya is established only when he is disassociated from the service of Shri Radha-Krishna.
Neither Shiva nor Mahamaya can give the jiva the service of Shri Radha-Krishna. On the contrary, their function is to delude the jiva into desiring certain covetable things of this world for his own advantage. Shiva is independent of Krishna. Shiva is a divine person. In this sense Krishna and Shiva are identical. Shri Krishna never consorts with His deluding potency. The Divinity of Shiva is adulterated with non-divinity whereas Shri Krishna is eternally unadulterated with maya. The service of Shiva and Mahamaya is not only incompatible with the service of Shri Radha-Krishna but implies positive aversion to the service of Shri Radha-Krishna.
Madhura-rati is the highest form of prema, and an individual soul even in the stage of ragatmika bhakti considers herself a maid called manjari whose service is guided by the dearest Rupa Manjari and others who in turn are subservient to the eight sakhis— Shri Lalita, Vishakha, Citra, Indulekha, Campaklata, Rangadevi, Tungavidya, Sudevi— who are the counterparts of Shri Radhika. They are all engaged in the aprakrta services of their beloved Shri Krishna for His absolute pleasures, and no one else. Their complete satisfaction lies in the absolute pleasure of their beloved.
The physical body of this world can never reach the lotus feet of the Lord. Hence a sadhaka in raganuga bhakti, who may be a man or a woman in this physical world, develops the aprakrta body of a gopi called a manjari if his or her raga is awakened in the wake of the Vraja gopi. Specifically, she is a manjari, with a particular name, conception of her form and beauty, particular age, costume, specialized service (seva), and grove (kunja) where she receives and serves the Divine Couple Shri Radha-Krishna. The individual in raganuga bhakti meditates inwardly, looking upon himself or herself as a handmaid of Shri Rupa Manjari, who is the personification of the rupa— beauty of Shri Radha, which beauty is the projected Absolute Beauty of the Absolute Lord Shri Krishna. Shri Rupa Manjari guides the individual handmaid in the fold of Shri Lalita Sakhi, who in turn engages the handmaid in the specialized services of Shri Radha-Krishna.
So long as one is in the fetters of Maya and misidentifies oneself with one’s physical body and changeable mind, one must necessarily undergo the rudimentary way of Vaidhi Bhakti, controlled and guided by scriptural prescriptions supported by favorable arguments and reasons. Such a spiritual novice when he makes tangible progress in the long and scripturally controlled path of Vaidhi Bhakti may develop, listening to the Bhagavata and allied scriptures that deal with the transcendental Pastimes of the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna, a spontaneous and intensely eager craving in his or her heart for being enabled to follow in the footsteps of any of the Four Categories of the dearmost Associates of Lord Krishna in Vraja in regard to Their feelings and applied sentiments to the Dearest Shri Krishna, viz. Dasya (as a servant) Sakhya (as a friend), Vatsalya as parents or Madhura (as consorts). When such a longing for Vraja-Bhava is strongly and genuinely achieved, such an individual is no more bound by the restrictions of scriptural injunctions or human reasoning and arguments. The soul soars in the higher realm of burning feelings for the service of Lord Krishna in subordination to any of the Bhavas of the four categories of the eternal Associates of the Lord of Vraja, which may awaken normally in the heart without any forced imagination. Such a sadhaka i.e. practicing spiritual life, is no more and cannot be kept any more restricted by scriptural regulations and mere human waves of feelings. In this stage, the individual serves by words and deeds the Supreme Lord and His dearest Associates like Shri Rupa and Shri Sanatan in the same manner in which they had lived in this world, consonant with the basis directions of the scriptures, by chanting and listening to such scriptures like the Bhagavat that deal with the transcendental Pastimes of Lord Krishna in the company of His dearmost Associates. While maintaining a normal and restricted life of spiritual practices in body and words, the individual, in whom the intense longing for the bhavas of Ragatmika-Eternal-Associates of the Lord is awakened, conceives mentally, in accordance with the genuinely awakened Vraja-Bhava either as that of Gopi or Nanda-Yasoda or Shridham-Sudham, Citraka-Patraka, a siddhadeha—a permanent spiritual body, which shall correspond to and be favorable and fit for serving the Lord under guidance of the dearest one of the dearest Associate of Lord Krishna, for whose bhava a craving has been aroused in the heart of such individual so that he or she may engage himself or herself in the service of Lord Krishna and His dearest Associates in the particular sthayi-bhava as a servant or friend or as a maid, and such services are rendered mentally in the siddhadeha or spiritual body so conceived. Thus an individual, whether a man or a woman, in the stage of spiritual both in Vaidhi-Bhakti and Raganuga-Bhakti in the Sadhana stage, must necessarily serve God and His devotees by words and deeds in the physical body by chanting and listening to the Name of God, listening to the scriptures and by worshipping in the temple as prescribed by the scriptures.
Internal remembrance can occur by the power of kirtana, and only then is solitary service possible.” Nirjana-bhajana or smarana, exclusive solitary devotion unconscious of the environment is not at all possible for beginners.
manitabh December 15, 2011 at 3:21pm

Hare krsna pamho we should try to serve krsna in a particular mood or bhava and gradually develop that bhava. it doesn't matter and its not a sin , u can worship bal gopal . but we should always not keep changing our mood like first considering him as our lover, then as a child, as a friend and so on.

ys

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