Sri Radhastami:
Capture the Captor

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Govardhan, 5 September 2011

Today is a very auspicious day: Sri Sri Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's appearance day. The whole world is worshipping Janmastami, but in our line is worshipping Radhastami.

In Ramananda sambad, when Mahaprabhu heard Ray Ramananda's explanation, there were many conceptions mentioned, but Mahaprabhu always said, "এহো বাহ্য, অগে কহ আর, eho bahya age kaha ara: go deeper, say more." Finally, when Ramananda Ray spoke about prema-bhakti (Radharani's prema-bhakti, love and affection), Mahaprabhu accepted it.

Actually, Radharani is Krishna's world—He sees everything in relation to Her.

Once, Lord Krishna thought, "Why is Radharani crying so much about Me? Why is Radharani chanting My Name? I want to taste this too!" Thinking in this way, desiring to taste what Radharani tastes, Krishna appears in this world as His own Name and as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—Radha-Krishna's combined form, in the mood of Radha-dasya.

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

"If you do not worship Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna is nothing."

Without service to the Guru, you cannot worship Krishna—that is our main line, our main conception. You can see that Radharani and Vraja gopis do not know anything except Krishna—they see only Krishna, chant only His Name, think only about Him...

ধ্যেয়-মধ্যে জীবের কর্ত্তব্য কোন্ ধ্যান ?
রাধাকৃষ্ণপদাম্বুজ-ধ্যান—প্রধান ॥

'dhyeya-madhye jivera kartavya kon dhyana?'
'radha-krsna-padambuja-dhyana—pradhana'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Among the various types of meditation, what meditation is the main for the jiva soul?" Ramananda Ray replied, "Meditation upon the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna is the foremost."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.252)

We want to worship Radha-Krishna's lotus feet, and today is a worshippable day for us.

Srimati Radharani captures Lord Krishna—if we cannot capture Gurudev, who is nondifferent from Srimati Radharani, we cannot capture Krishna, the Lord. To capture Krishna, we must capture Srimati Radharani, but how can we capture Her? Through Her servants. That is why we worship Lalita Devi—if we cannot capture Lalita Devi, we cannot capture Radharani. This is how our line goes—through Radha-dasya.

রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে

radhara dasira krsna sarva-vede bole

"Krishna is the property of the maid servants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this."

(Gitavali, Sri Radhastaka, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Whose is Krishna? Who is Krishna for? He belongs to the maid servants of Radharani.

On this day Srimati Radhika appeared in this world, and you all know how she appeared. One day, Raja Vrisabhanu went to bathe in the Yamuna. Suddenly, he saw a big lotus came to the bank, and when he looked inside it, he saw a beautiful baby girl in it. He took the girl to Kirtida Mayi. When Kirtida Mayi saw the baby, the symptom came to her as if she had been pregnant and had just given birth to this child. This is how Radharani came.

Before Radharani took birth, She said to Krishna, "I will come after You, but when I am born, I do not want to see anybody's face before I see You." So, She was born blind.

When Kirtida Ma and Raja Vrisabhanu made a birth festival, they invited Nanda Maharaj and Mother Yasoda, who also brought Krishna with them. (It is not necessary to invite Krishna. If you invite Mother Yasoda, if you invite Nanda Maharaj, you do not have to give a separate invitation to Krishna—they will bring Krishna to you.) At that time, everybody was sad, "Oh, the Lord has given you such a beautiful daughter, but the Lord did not give Her eyes..." While everybody was busy with their service, Krishna went inside Radharani's room. He came to Her bed and looked at Her face. At that moment Radharani opened Her eyes and saw Krishna—Krishna gave Her eyes. Everybody was very surprised.

So, today is a very auspicious, very special and worshippable day for our line, today is Radhastami. Remembering that the Guru is nondifferent from Radharani, Gurudev always worshipped this day with a festival in Hapaniya.

I am very happy for all the devotees all over the world that they can worship this day. This day is a worshippable day for our spiritual life, in our devotional line. Our exclusive line is such that if we worship properly, then we will get mercy from Gurudev, get mercy from Lord, and we will have no problem. "বন্দোঁ মুঞি সাবধান মতে, bando muni savadhana mate": we must serve Gurudev carefully, we must serve Radharani carefully. That is our main duty on this day.

Today we are also fasting and breaking the fast at noon. King Vrisabhanu went to the bank of Yamuna and got the child at noon time, so it is considered that the time of Radharani's birth is at noon and this is the time when we make a festival.

It is written in Kavikarna Pura's Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika that in this Age of Kali, King Vrisabhanu came as Pundarik Vidyanidhi, and Mahaprabhu always called him "father" (বাবা, baba).

So, we must observe this day today very carefully, very respectfully, with our heart and soul.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

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