Blog Description


This blog is for sharing one of the six loving exchanges between vaishnavas - bhajana katha sravanam alapa - sharing and discussing bhajan topics with devotees.

It is also my humble attempt to follow the instruction my gurudeva would give at the end of every class: take these pastimes and instructions into your heart. Therefore in the hopes that it will make some impression in my heart, I am sharing lecture notes, quotes, book excerpts, and other words from the brahma-madhva-gaudiya sampradaya and vaisnava/is around the world.


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Srimati Radharani

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah

"O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance."


A friend mailed me this beautiful excerpt from a book by Srila BR Sridhara Maharaja; here he is speaking on the brahma gayatri mantra, which women do not have (it makes women hard-hearted, but softens mens' hearts, I've read), still it is very beautiful and applicable to any meditation one is doing on Srimati Radharani:

"Radha-dasyam, the service of Srimati Radharani,
is the ultimate meaning to be extracted from the
gayatri mantra. That is the supreme end of our
life. It cannot but be so. Srimad-Bhagavatam is
the ultimate or full-fledged theism to be
extracted from the Vedas, Upanisads, and so
many scriptures. All the revealed truth rises to
its acme, to its highest position, in the
conception given by Srimad-Bhagavatam. And
Srimad-Bhagavatam teaches us that the highest
realization, self-determination, is the service of
Srimati Radharani - that under her guidance we
may serve Sri Krsna. We aspire for a direct
connection with her service.


"...The very gist of svarupa-sakti is
Srimati Radharani, and the whole svarupa-sakti
is her extended self. The town of her beautiful
service is the whole svarupa-sakti.
Just as rays of light extend from the sun, the
whole internal potency is an extension of
Mahabhava, Sri Radhika. She has developed
herself into such a beautiful area of brilliance, of
internal energy, and thereby she serves her Lord.
All these necessary things have sprung from her.

"To help her in serving her Lord, they all come out.
When the entire internal energy is condensed in a
concise form, it is Mahabhava, Radharani. And
when Radharani wants to serve, she extends
herself in limitless different ways. And with
some contribution from Baladeva and Yogamaya,
the whole spiritual world, including Vrndavana,
Mathura, and Vaikuntha, evolves to assist Srimati
Radharani in the service of Sri Krsna."