In honour of Sri Radhastami, we are presenting the verses on the Temple of Love and Affection which glorify Srimati Radharani. A passage from the upcoming release Amnaya-Tattva accompanies them in which Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj speaks about these three verses.
Temple of Love and Affection Verse Fifteen
hlādinīra sāra ‘prema’, prema-sāra ‘bhāva’
bhāvera parama-kāṣṭhā, nāma—‘mahā-bhāva’
mahābhāva-svarūpā śrī-rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī
sarva-guṇa-khani kṛṣṇa-kāntā-śiromaṇi
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi-līlā, 4.68–69)
“The essence of hladini is prem, the essence of prem is bhav, and the ultimate expression of bhav is mahabhav. Sri Radha Thakurani is the embodiment of mahabhav. She is the mine of all good qualities and the crest jewel of all the lovers of Krishna.”
Temple of Love and Affection Verse Sixteen
devī kṛṣṇa-mayī proktā rādhikā para-devatā
sarva-lakṣmī-mayī sarva-kāntiḥ sammohinī parā
(Bṛhad-Gautamīya-tantra)
“Śrī Rādhikā is known as Devi, Kṛṣṇa-mayi, Para-Devata, Sarva-Laksmi-mayi, Sarva-Kanti, Sammohini and Para.”
Temple of Love and Affection Verse Seventeen
rādhā-bhajane yadi mati nāhi bhelā
kṛṣṇa-bhajana tava akāraṇe gelā
(Gītāvalī: Rādhāṣṭakam, 8.1)
“If you do not desire to serve Rādhā, your service to Kṛṣṇa goes for nothing.”
Srila Govinda Maharaj explains in Amnaya-Tattva:
Sri Sri Radha-Krishna’s Pastimes are not ordinary human activity or ordinary interaction found within the material environment. They are called lila, they are not in any way materially connected; they are the transcendental, playful Pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Radharani is the super power of Krishna, His para-sakti, who is also known as His hladini-sakti. ‘Hladini’ means that She always gives joy to Krishna, that all of Her activities create so much joy and ecstasy in the heart of Sri Krishna. That is the meaning of hladini-sakti. Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami supremely explained,
hlādinīra sāra ‘prema’, prema-sāra ‘bhāva’
bhāvera parama-kāṣṭhā, nāma—‘mahā-bhāva’
mahābhāva-svarūpā śrī-rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī
sarva-guṇa-khani kṛṣṇa-kāntā-śiromaṇi
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi-līlā, 4.68–69)
“The essence of ecstasy is love; the essence of love is heart; and the acme of heart is called ‘mahabhav.’ The personality of mahabhav is our Queen, Sri Radha Thakurani. She is the mine of all good, the jewel of Krishna’s beloveds.”
All quality and qualifications, all beauty, love, charm, ecstasy, and everything; all the wealth of service, is in the hand of Radharani. With that She satisfies Krishna and Krishna is fully satisfied with Her.
Radharani’s Names have special quality and beauty. We know one very beautiful and very sweet sloka about Radharani’s Names.
devī kṛṣṇa-mayī proktā rādhikā para-devatā
sarva-lakṣmī-mayī sarva-kāntiḥ sammohinī parā
(Bṛhad-Gautamīya-tantra)
This is a Sanskrit sloka and Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has given an explanation of it in Bengali:
kṛṣṇa-mayī—kṛṣṇa yā̐ra bhitare bāhire
yā̐hā yā̐hā netra paḍe tā̐hā kṛṣṇa sphure
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi-līlā, 4.85)
“Radharani’s Name is Krishna-mayi because Her within and without are Lord Krishna and because She sees Lord Krishna wherever She casts Her glance.”
Kaviraj Goswami also explained that Her Name is Radhika because She satisfies all of Krishna’s senses with Her worship, sarvendriya diya kare Krishnera aradhana. Because all administration and everything within the transcendental service world is supremely in Her hand She is known as Para-devata. Because She is the wholesale proprietor of everything for Krishna’s service She is known as Sarva-lakshmi-mayi. And because She can enchant Krishna with Her mood and divine form She is Sammohini. But,
‘devī’ kahi dyotamānā, paramā sundarī
kimvā, kṛṣṇa-pūjā-krīḍāra vasati nagarī
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi-līlā, 4.84)
Here Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami miraculously revealed the meaning of the Sanskrit word devi. Normally we think the word ‘devi’ refers to a beautiful heavenly goddess. But Srila Kaviraj Goswami explained that ‘devi’ comes from the root div, which means ‘play’, div dhatu kridayam. So he explained that devi means, “She in whom there is the full play, krida, of Krishna.” Because Krishna is satisfied by the full existence of the full form of Radharani, because Krishna is fully satisfied with His play in madhura-rasa-lila with Radharani, She is called devi. No one could conceive of this meaning of the Sanskrit word devi but Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami revealed it.
The divine play of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna is eternally going on in Vrindavan Dham. Everything in Vrindavan exists to give joy to Krishna. There Radharani distributes Her power to everyone and then Krishna enjoys with everyone and Krishna tastes divine love through Radharani. Bhaktivinod Thakur very simply expressed this in his song.
rādhā-bhajane yadi mati nāhi bhelā
kṛṣṇa-bhajana tava akāraṇe gelā
(Gītāvalī: Rādhāṣṭakam, 8.1)
“If you do not worship Krishna under the guidance of Radharani everything you do will be lost. You will not get any ecstasy from the Emporium of all ecstasy—you will not taste anything. Akarane gela, you can worship Krishna, but no benefit will come to you if you do not worship Krishna under the guidance of Radharani.”
If someone worships Krishna alone without Radharani, Krishna gives them something, maybe He gives them five percent. But if you serve Krishna under Radharani’s guidance then you get everything. Lord Krishna Himself has openly confessed,
na pāraye ’haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ
sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: 10.32.22)
“I cannot equally return the love and affection that I have received from Radharani.”
So, when Krishna sees His devotee’s devotees serving Radharani, He fully enriches them with His full mercy.
Radharani supremely manages and distributes all service to Krishna. All the Pastimes of Krishna happen through Her power. Her hladini-sakti is the source of all of Krishna’s pleasure and Her potency form of Yogamaya manages the whole environment of the transcendental world.
Once when Srila Guru Maharaj was explaining this point someone said to him, “Then you are actually tantrics. You are always saying, ‘Under the guidance of Radharani you are serving Krishna’ so you are following the conception of prakriti-vada, worship of energy.”
Srila Guru Maharaj replied, “Yes. We are tantrics. But we are visuddha-tantrics, pure unalloyed tantrics. ‘Under the guidance of Radharani,’ means that under the guidance of Her mystic transcendental energy we are serving Krishna. Our service directly goes to Radharani, not to Krishna, and Radharani arranges everything for the satisfaction of Krishna with our service energy. So our service is present as Radharani gives full nourishment to Krishna and in that way we complete the most important necessity of our existence—purely satisfying Krishna.”