Compiled from the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, by Patitpavan Das

devi krsnamayi prokta radhika para-devata
sarva-laksmimayi sarva- kantih sammohini para

The transcendental goddess Srimati Radharani is the direct counterpart of Lord Sri Krishna. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all the attraction to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord.

The Lord is the Supreme Person, the supreme male. As a common male wants to be attracted by a female, that propensity similarly exists in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also wants to be attracted by the beautiful features of a woman. Now the question is, if He wants to be captivated by such womanly attraction, would He be attracted by any material woman? It is not possible. Even persons who are in this material existence can give up womanly attraction if they are attracted by the Supreme Brahman. This material attraction, therefore, certainly cannot attract the Supreme Lord. When He wants to be attracted by a woman, He has to create such a woman from His own energy. That woman is Radharani.

Srimati Radharani is as fully spiritual as Krishna. No one should consider Her to be material. She is definitely not like the conditioned souls, who have material bodies, gross and subtle, covered by material senses. She is all-spiritual, and both Her body and Her mind are of the same spiritual embodiment. Because Her body is spiritual, Her senses are also spiritual. Thus Her body, mind and senses fully shine in love of Krishna. She is the personified hladini-shakti (the pleasure-giving energy of the Lord’s internal potency), and therefore She is the only source of enjoyment for Sri Krishna.

Meaning of ‘Radha’.

krsna-vancha-purti-rupa kare aradhane  ataeva ‘radhika’ nama purane vakhane

Her worship [aradhana] consists of fulfilling the desires of Lord Krishna. Therefore the Puranas call Her Radhika.

The name “Radha” is derived from the root word aradhana, which means “worship.” The personality who excels all in worshiping Krishna may therefore be called Radhika, the greatest servitor. Radha – the very name suggests that she is eternally the topmost mistress of comforts to Shri Krishna. As such She is the medium of transmitting the living entity’s loving service to Sri Krishna. In Vrindavan the devotees therefore seek the mercy of Srimati Radharani in order to be recognised as a loving servitor of Sri Krishna.

The Exalted Position of Sri Radha

Srimati Radharani is fifteen days younger than Krishna. She always keeps Her hand on the shoulders of Her friends, and She always talks and thinks of pastimes with Krishna. She always offers Krishna a kind of intoxication by Her sweet talks, and She is always prepared to fulfill His desires. In other words, She supplies all the demands of Sri Krishna, and She possesses unique and uncommon qualities for Krishna’s satisfaction.

In Govinda-lilamrita there is a verse which states: “Who is the breeding ground for Krishna’s affection? The answer is that it is only Srimati Radhika. Who is Krishna’s most lovable object? The answer is that it is only Srimati Radhika and no one else.” Only Srimati Radhika is able to fulfill all the desires of Krishna. No one else can do so.

Satyabhama is another competitor of Srimati Radharani, but she always desires to come to the standard of Srimati Radharani. Radharani is so expert in all affairs that all the damsels of Vraja come to learn arts from Her. She is so extraordinarily beautiful that even the goddess of fortune and Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva, desire elevation to Her standard of beauty. Arundhati, who is known as the most chaste lady in the universe, desires to learn the standard of chastity from Srimati Radharani. Since even Lord Krishna cannot estimate Radharani’s highly transcendental qualities, it is not possible for an ordinary man to estimate them.

The Internal Energy is Worshipped First

It is not that Radharani is separate from Krishna. Radharani is also Krishna, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Radha there is no meaning to Krishna, and without Krishna there is no meaning to Radha. Because of this, the Vaishnava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Radha-Krishna. Similarly, those who worship Narayana first of all utter the name of Lakshmi, as Lakshmi-Narayana. Similarly, those who worship Lord Räma first of all utter the name of Sita. In any case—Sita-Rama, Radha-Krishna, Lakshmi-Narayana—the potency always comes first.

Radha is Krishna’s servitor

The Lord is never female. He is always male (purusha). Therefore the impersonalist who imagines the Lord’s form as that of a woman is mistaken. The Lord appears in female form if necessary, but His perpetual form is purusha because He is originally male. The feminine feature of the Lord is displayed by goddesses of fortune—Lakshmi, Radharani, Sita, etc. All these goddesses of fortune are servitors of the Lord; they are not the Supreme, as falsely imagined by the impersonalist.

Worship Lakshmi along with Narayana

Foolish materialistic people collect money and steal from other thieves, but they cannot keep it. In any case, it must be spent. One person cheats another, and another person cheats someone else; therefore the best way to possess Lakshmi is to keep her by the side of Narayana. This is the point of the Krishna consciousness movement. We worship Lakshmi (Radharani) along with Narayana (Krishna). We collect money from various sources, but that money does not belong to anyone but Radha and Krishna (Lakshmi-Narayana). If money is utilized in the service of Lakshmi-Narayana, the devotee automatically lives in an opulent way. However, if one wants to enjoy Lakshmi the way Ravana did, he will be vanquished by the laws of nature, and whatever few possessions he has will be taken away. Finally death will take everything away, and death is the representative of Krishna.

Auspicious Marks on Radharani’s Lotus Feet

Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti quotes the following detailed description of Srimati Radharani’s footprints, as given by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Sri Ujjvala-nilamani: “At the base of the large toe of Her left foot is the mark of a barleycorn, below that mark is a disc, below the disc is an umbrella, and below the umbrella is a bracelet. A vertical line extends from the middle of Her foot to the juncture of Her large and second toes. At the base of the middle toe is a lotus, below that is a flag with a banner, and below the flag is a creeper, together with a flower. At the base of Her small toe is an elephant goad, and upon Her heel is a half-moon. Thus there are eleven marks on Her left foot.

“At the base of the large toe of Her right foot is a conchshell, and below that a spear. At the base of the small toe of Her right foot is a sacrificial altar, below that an earring, and below the earring a spear. Along the base of the second, third, fourth and small toes is the mark of a mountain, below which is a chariot, and on the heel is a fish.

“Thus all together there are nineteen distinguishing marks on the soles of Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet.”

Radha Attracts Sri Krishna

Srila Rupa Gosvami has stated that devotional service attracts even Krishna. Krishna attracts everyone, but devotional service attracts Krishna. The symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is Radharani. Krishna is called Madana-mohana, which means that He is so attractive that He can defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. But Radharani is still more attractive, for She can even attract Krishna. Therefore devotees call Her Madana-mohana-mohini—the attractor of the attractor of Cupid.

To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Radharani, and devotees in Vrindavana put themselves under the care of Radharani in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service. In other words, devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is directly under the control of Radharani. In Bhagavad-gita it is confirmed that the mahatmas, or great souls, are under the protection of daivi prakrti, the internal energy—Radharani. So, being directly under the control of the internal potency of Krishna, devotional service attracts even Krishna Himself.

Radha-Krishna are Eager to Please Their Devotees

Rupa Gosvami and his brother Sanatana Gosvami were living separately in Vrindavana and going on with their bhajana, devotional service. Rupa was living in the forest, and there was no facility for cooking nice food. Rupa Gosvami was the younger brother, and he thought, “If I could get some foodstuffs, then I could prepare nice dishes and offer them to Krishna and invite my elder brother.” He had that desire. The next moment, a nice girl about twelve years old came and delivered an abundance of foodstuffs—milk, flour, ghee, etc. That is the Vedic system; sometimes householders present foodstuffs to mendicants and sages in the renounced order of life. Rupa Gosvami was very glad that Krishna had sent so many things and that he could now prepare a feast. He prepared a feast and then invited his elder brother.

When Sanatana Gosvami came, he was astonished. “How have you secured such things? You have prepared such a nice feast in this forest. How is it possible?”

So Rupa Gosvami explained, “In the morning I desired for it, and by chance Krishna sent me all these things. A nice girl came, and she offered it to me.” He was describing the girl: “A very nice girl.”

Then Sanatana said, “This nice girl is Radharani. You have taken service from Radharani, the Lord’s eternal consort. It is a great blunder.” That is their philosophy. They would not accept service from the Lord. They simply wanted to render service. But Krishna is so clever that He also wants to serve His devotee. He looks for an opportunity to serve His devotee. This is spiritual competition. A pure devotee does not want anything from Krishna; he simply wants to serve Him. And Krishna also looks for the opportunity to serve His devotee. Krishna is always as anxious to please His devotee as the devotee is to please Him.

Let Us Try to Please Srimati Radharani

If Krishna is always attractive to everyone, and Radharani is attractive to Krishna, how can we imagine the position of Srimati Radharani? We should try humbly to understand and offer Her our obeisances, saying, “Radharani, You are so dear to Krishna. You are the daughter of King Vrishabhanu, and You are Krishna’s beloved. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You. Radharani is very dear to Krishna, and if we approach Krishna through the mercy of Radharani, we can easily attain Him. If Radharani recommends a devotee, Krishna immediately accepts him, however foolish he may be. Consequently in Vrindavana we find that devotees chant Radharani’s name more often than Krishna’s. Wherever we go in India we will find devotees calling, “Jaya Radhe.” We should be more interested in worshiping Radharani, for however fallen we may be, if somehow or other we can please Her, we can very easily understand Krishna. If we try to understand Krishna by the speculative process, we will have to spend many lifetimes of speculation; but if we take to devotional service and just try to please Radharani, then Krishna can be very easily realized. Radharani is such a great devotee that She can deliver Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada on Radharani

Radharani, the original pleasure potency, is always absorbed in thought of Krishna. So anyone who comes before Radharani to serve Krishna, oh, She becomes so pleased, “Oh, here is a devotee of Krishna.” She immediately recommends, ” Krishna, oh, here is a devotee. He is better than Me.” This is Radharani. I may be a, non-devotee. I may be a most fallen rascal. But if I try to reach Krishna through Radharani, then my business is successful. Therefore we should worship Radharani first. That is our business. Instead of offering directly one flower to Krishna, you just put it in the hands of Radharani: “My mother Radharani, Jagan-mata, if you kindly take this flower and offer it to Krishna.” “Oh,” Radharani says, “Oh, you have brought a flower?” Krishna said, patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26], but don’t try to offer Krishna directly. Just offer through Radharani. It will be very much appreciated by Radharani.

So this is our philosophy, to please Krishna through Radharani, and just today is the auspicious day of Radharani’s appearance. So we should offer pushpanjali and pray to Radharani that “Radharani, kindly be merciful and tell about me to Your Krishna. To Your Krishna. Krishna is Yours.” Krishna is not independent. Krishna is Radharani’s property. So you have to approach Krishna through Radharani.

Conclusion

When one is attracted by the transcendental beauty of Radha and Krishna, he is no longer attracted by material feminine beauty. That is the special significance of Radha-Krishna worship. That is testified to by Yamunacarya. He says, “Since I have become attracted by the beauty of Radha and Krishna, when there is attraction for a woman or a memory of sex life with a woman, I at once spit on it, and my face turns in disgust.” When we are attracted by Madana-mohana and the beauty of Krishna and His consorts, then the shackles of conditioned life, namely the beauty of a material woman, cannot attract us.