by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
naham vande tava caranayor-dvandvam advanda hetoh
kumbhipakam gurum api hare narakam napanetum
ramya-rama-mrdutanulata nandane nabhirastum
bhave bhave hrdaya-bhavane bhavayem bhavantam
"Prabhu, I am not performing bhajana so that You will remove the worldly misery which is strangling me. I am not praying at Your feet for entrance into the heavenly garden of Nandana-kanana where one can enjoy with beautiful women for a very long time, nor am I praying for liberation so that I will never again have to suffer for nine months in the womb of a mother and never again be punished by the messengers of Yamaraja. I pray that in the core of my heart You will increase the bhava of Vrndavana, where You are roaming with the gopis and enjoying amorous pastimes. In meditation on the descriptions of these pastimes, I will at once become completely lost in prema-this is what I am praying for. I am praying that I may take birth as a gopa or gopi, or even as a peacock or tree or anything, anywhere within the sixty-four squaremile Vraja-mandala. There I will acquire the company of a rasika devotee, who being full of the bhava of Vrndavana, will describe all of these pastimes to me, and then my life will be meaningful."
Comments
harekrishna
Radha and Krishna are one, yet They have assumed two separate forms to enjoy loving pastimes. Numerous theological texts explain how this is so, but most thorough are the writings of Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami, great masters in the Vaishnava tradition whose books have been translated and commented upon by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. To understand Sri Radha, then, English readers would do well to turn to Srila Prabhupada's books.
Sri Radha in Literature
Historically, the ancient Puranas reveal much about Sri Radha's manifest pastimes, even if the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.30.28), the cream of all such Puranic literature, mentions Her name only once-with the indirect anayaradhitah, indicating that She is "the one who worships Krishna best." Both the Padma Purana and the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, on the other hand, elaborate on Her pastimes of love with Krishna and reveal how the divine couple is the source of all that is. The Brahma-vaivarta Purana, in fact, reveals an esoteric creation story in which Radha co-creates the material world with Krishna.
Sri Radha's dominance in Vaishnava theology did not come to light until the twelfth century, when the saintly poet Jayadeva Gosvami wrote his famous Sanskrit work Gita Govinda. Krishna's spiritual love then became a celebrated theme throughout India, colorfully conveyed in festivals and the arts, with the personality of Radha sometimes eclipsing even Krishna.
It is important to point out that Jayadeva understood the spiritual nature of Radha and Krishna's love. He knew that people could easily misconstrue it as mundane, comparing his work to erotic love poetry (as many still do). Anticipating this misconception, he commenced his Gita Govinda with a section called Dasha-avatara, in which he clearly outlines Krishna's divine nature, listing and glorifying His transcendental descents as incarnations (avatara). With this as a preface, it becomes obvious that the loving affairs to follow-the affairs of this same divine Krishna, who incarnates as so many avataras-are not ordinary. Indeed, they represent the zenith of spiritual love.