Our Lord’s Beloved Power
By Śrīla B.R. Śrīdhara Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāja, excerpted from Affectionate Guidance.
rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād
ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ
rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpamCaitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 1.5
Although the divine form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is one, sometimes for the Pastimes of love, the Power and the Powerful play together as two. There we will see hlādinī-śakti playing with Kṛṣṇa in full love, beauty, charm, and affection. That is the form of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
Praṇaya-vikṛtir—where Love Herself is taking form and playing with the Powerful, that is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Prabhu has explained that Kṛṣṇa’s power is classified in three manifestations: first is cit-śakti (transcendental potency), the second is jaḍa-śakti (mundane potency), and the third is where the first two come very close to each other, and that is called taṭasthā-śakti. First is light, second is shadow, and third is the position midway between the two. That is called taṭasthā. And from that third plane, the innumerable jīva-souls are manifest. Kṛṣṇa, the Powerful, with these three powers in their fullness, is playing in the Paravyoma Dhām. There, unlimited manifestations of the Lord are living, all within the infinite plane. And in Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṇa’s play is overflowing with love and affection, everything is for the satisfaction of the Powerful. There, love has five kinds of manifestation: śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and Madhura. And Madhura is of two types: consorthood (svakīyā) and paramour (parakīyā). Where we see the supreme manifestation of Madhura-rasa, there we see the manifestation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She is hlādinī-śakti, and hlādinī-śakti is further explained in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta:
kṛṣṇake āhlāde, tā’te nāma — ‘hlādinī’
sei śakti-dvāre sukha āsvāde āpaniThat power which is always supplying service for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and through which comes full happiness, full joy and full ecstasy, that is called by the name hlādinī.
Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 8.157
In that realm everything is eternal and we cannot properly conceive that within our mundane intelligence. Therefore Śrīmān Mahāprabhu has said it is acintya. We have seen in the garden of one lady, a tree with three different types of fruit growing from it. Apricot, pear and plum, all growing on the same tree. I often use the example that if I ask a banana tree to please give me one mango, it will not be able to give that, not in this world. But after seeing that tree—actually two or three trees were there—I can say that it is possible, but still unbelievable. So if in this mundane world it is possible, then why not in the transcendental world.
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiSurrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees, in abodes made of multitudes of wish-yielding gems, He who tends the ever-yielding cows and who is perpetually served with great affection by hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs—the Primeval Lord, Govinda, do I worship.”
Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.29
The explanation of Goloka Dhām given in Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā is inconceivable from this plane, but it exists eternally and there all play is going on by the power of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She is always trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa in so many ways. Her form is most beautiful, and Kṛṣṇa is also so nice and beautiful, and when they are playing together, the whole transcendental universe also plays through that mood of their love.
Here, is the shadow universe where jaḍa-śakti is the power, and that power is also eternal. Still in the shadow we cannot clearly see everything. The shadow of my hand will not show the colour of my hand, and many other things are unmanifest in the shadow. That jaḍa-śakti can also be divided into three: gross matter, subtle matter or the mental plane, and the ego or ahaṅkāra. These three cover the jīva-soul, so we are unable to perceive our real self.
Where the play of the Power and the Powerful is always manifest, that is called Vaikuṇṭhaloka, and there unlimited manifestations of the Lord are playing eternally. And where that play is supreme, where the principal manifestation of the Power and the Powerful is to be found, that place is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. There the Powerful is known by many Names: Kṛṣṇa, Nandānandan, Yaśodānandan, Śyāmasundara, Govinda and many more, and the Power is manifest fully as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and She also appears in many divine forms; the sakhīs, the mañjarīs, and others, for the service of Kṛṣṇa. It is said in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta:
kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā,
nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa
gopa-veśa, veṇu-kara, nava-kiśora, naṭa-vara,
nara-līlāra haya anurūpaThe most supreme form of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, who plays in His eternal divine Pastimes just like a human being, an ever-youthful cowherd boy of Vṛndāvana. He enacts His Pastimes, always playing His flute and dancing expertly.
Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 21.101
The devotees here in this world, those who have received exclusive devotion through the mercy of the Power, they can see the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, and they are distributing that to us through the Scriptures, through themselves and through their agents, the ṛṣis, munis and sādhus. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa Himself, with His full paraphernalia and associates, reveals Himself in this material world, and that is called līlā. Līlā means that which looks like our own activities, but it is not exactly that. Similar yet entirely different.
aṣṭāviṁśa catur-yuge dvāparera śeṣe
vrajera sahite haya kṛṣṇera prakāśeCaitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 3.10
When Kṛṣṇa appeared in the dvāpara-yuga the Yugāvatār Kṛṣṇa, and the original Powerful Kṛṣṇa, manifested in this mundane world in a combined way. In Dwārakā, Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa manifested Himself in different ways. They are all eternal and transcendental but there is some difference. Ācārya Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained this as pūrṇa, pūrṇatara and pūrṇatama—perfect, more perfect and most perfect, respectively. Those Pastimes begin with the janma-līlā, the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ’rjunaThose who can properly understand (vetti tattvataḥ) My birth and activities, they will never again be subject to the cycle of birth and death.
So who can really understand that?
His birth and death are not the same as ours. They are like the rising and setting of the sun. Sūrya is rising and setting in the path of our vision, but he is not born at sunrise and does not die at sunset. Kṛṣṇa’s birth and death is something like that.
When the Power Herself, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī appears in this world, along with the Powerful Himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, She is fully replete with all beauty, all charm, all love, all affection and all harmony. And when Their play is moving in Vṛndāvana, the whole atmosphere—the plants, the trees, the earth, everything—is pūrṇa, perfect.
śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpa-taravo
drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇa-mayi toyam amṛtam
kathā gānaṁ nāṭyaṁ gamanam api vaṁśī priya-sakhi
cid-ānandaṁ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca
sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś ca su-mahān
nimeṣārdhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ
bhaje śvetadvīpaṁ tam aham iha golokam iti yaṁ
vidantas te santaḥ kṣiti-virala-cārāḥ katipayeThat place where the divine Goddesses of Fortune are the beloved, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Male, is the only lover; all the trees are divine wish-fulfilling trees; the soil is made of transcendental gems and the water is nectar; where every word is a song, every movement is dancing, the flute is the dearmost companion, sunlight and moonlight are divine ecstasy, and all that be is divine and enjoyable; where a great ocean of milk eternally flows from the udders of billions of surabhī cows and the divine time is eternally present, never suffering the estrangement of past and future for even a split second … that supreme transcendental abode of Śvetadvīpa do I adore. Practically no one in this world knows that place but for only a few pure devotees—and they know it as Goloka.”
Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.56
This is the explanation, but still we cannot conceive it entirely, so the śāstra says it is acintya. When you enter into that transcendental abode, then you will feel and understand. Before that it will be astonishing to you.
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī appeared on this day five thousand years ago, and She played with Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, manifesting full Paramour Love with Him. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, knowing that our vision is not very deep, has written that although Their play is like that of a man and woman, it is in fact completely different from this mundane nature. Some expression has been given in the Scriptures because there is no other way to express it, but what kind of love Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has for Kṛṣṇa, and what kind of love Kṛṣṇa has for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī—we cannot conceive of it.
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