Radhastami
→ Ramai Swami

Srila Prabhupada lecture:

So this janma is today and Rādhā, this name is sometimes not found in Bhāgavata. So the atheistic class of men protest this Rādhārāṇī’s name is not in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How this name came, Rādhārāṇī? But they do not know how to see it. There is anayārādhyate. 

There are many gopīs, but there is mention that by this particular gopī He is served more pleasingly. Kṛṣṇa accepts this gopī’s service more gladly. Anayārādhyate. Ārādhyate. This ārādhate,this word, ārādhyate means worshiping. From this word ārādhyate, Rādhā has come. But Rādhā’s name are there in other Purāṇas. So this is the origin.

So Rādhā, so Rādhā and KṛṣṇaKṛṣṇa is the enjoyer and He wants to enjoy. So He’s the Supreme Brahman. He cannot enjoy anything, ātmarāma, He can enjoy it in Himself. Therefore Rādhārāṇī is the expansion of His pleasure potency. 

Kṛṣṇa hasn’t got to seek external things for His pleasure. No. He is in Himself full, ātmarāma. So Rādhārāṇī is expansion of KṛṣṇaKṛṣṇa is the energetic, and Rādhārāṇī is the energy. Just like energy and energetic, you cannot separate. Fire and the heat you cannot separate. 

And wherever there is Rādhā there is Kṛṣṇa. They are inseparable.

So Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has described this intricate philosophy of Rādhāand Kṛṣṇa in one verse, very nice verse. Rādhākṛṣṇapraṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā dehabhedaṁgatau tau [Cc. Ādi 1.5].

So Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is the one Supreme, but in order to enjoy, They have divided into two. Again Lord Caitanya joined the two into one. Caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā. That one means Kṛṣṇa in the ecstasy of Rādhā. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa is in ecstasy of Rādhā. Sometimes Rādhā is in the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa. This is going on. But the whole thing is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa means the one, the Supreme.

So RādhāKṛṣṇa philosophy is a very great philosophy. It is to be understood in the liberated stage. RādhāKṛṣṇa philosophy is not to be understood in the conditioned stage. But when we worship RādhāKṛṣṇa in our conditional stage, actually we worship LakṣmīNārāyaṇa.

You have seen that picture, this viddhimārga and rāgamārga. RādhāKṛṣṇa worship is on the platform of pure love, and LakṣmīNārāyaṇa worship is on the regulative principles. So long we do not develop our pure love, we have to worship on the regulative principles.

So the lesson is that we should not treat Rādhārāṇī as ordinary girl, or Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man. They are the Supreme Absolute Truth. But in the Absolute Truth, there is the pleasure potency, and that is exhibited in the dealings of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. And Rādhā’s expansion to all the gopīs, and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord.

ISKCON Lisbon Faces New Challenge as it Continues to Expand Outreach
→ ISKCON News

A recent gathering during Sri Nrsimha Chaturdashi 2024. ISKCON Lisbon, a community with deep roots in the Portuguese capital, is steadily growing, with a strong influx of young people. Many are drawn by the dynamic programs that blend traditional Krishna Conscious practices with modern outreach methods. But facing the potential loss of its current space […]

The post ISKCON Lisbon Faces New Challenge as it Continues to Expand Outreach appeared first on ISKCON News.