View source for The actual form of Radharani is just like a creeper embracing the tree of Krsna, and the damsels of Vraja, the associates of Radharani, are just like the leaves and flowers of that creeper

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{{terms|"The actual form of Rādhārāṇī is just like a creeper embracing the tree of Kṛṣṇa, and the damsels of Vraja, the associates of Rādhārāṇī, are just like the leaves and flowers of that creeper"}}
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{{compiler|SharmisthaK}}
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[[Category:Actual]]
[[Category:Form Of]]
[[Category:Radharani's Form]]
[[Category:Just Like]]
[[Category:Like A]]
[[Category:Creeper]]
[[Category:Embracing Krsna]]
[[Category:Krsna Is Like a Desire Tree]]
[[Category:Krsna's Damsels of Vraja]]
[[Category:Radharani's Associates]]
[[Category:Leaf]]
[[Category:Flower]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Teachings of Lord Caitanya</h3>
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The actual form of Rādhārāṇī is just like a creeper embracing the tree of Kṛṣṇa, and the damsels of Vraja, the associates of Rādhārāṇī, are just like the leaves and flowers of that creeper. When a creeper embraces a tree, the leaves and flowers as well as the creeper automatically embrace it. Govinda-līlāmṛta (10.16) confirms that Rādhārāṇī is the expansion of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa and is compared with a creeper, and Her associates, the damsels of Vraja, are compared to the flowers and leaves of that creeper.
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[[Vanisource:TLC 31 (1975)|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 31]]
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Whatever position one may have, if he is fully conversant&#10;with the science of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he can become a bona fide&#10;spiritual master, initiator or teacher of the science. In other words, one can&#10;become a bona fide spiritual master if he has sufficient knowledge of the&#10;science of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The position does not depend on a&#10;particular position in society or on birth. This is the conclusion of Lord&#10;Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and it is in accordance with the Vedic injunctions. On the&#10;strength of this conclusion, Lord Caitanya, previously known as Viśvambhara,&#10;accepted a spiritual master, Īśvara Purī, who was a sannyāsī. Similarly, Lord&#10;Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Advaita Ācārya also accepted another sannyāsī as&#10;their spiritual master, Mādhavendra Purī. This Mādhavendra Purī is also known&#10;as Lakṣmīpati Tīrtha. Similarly, another great ācārya, Śrī Rasikānanda,&#10;accepted Śrī Śyāmānanda as his spiritual master, although he was not born of a&#10;brāhmaṇa family. So also Gaṅgānārāyaṇa Cakravartī accepted Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura&#10;as spiritual master. In ancient days there was even a hunter named Dharma, who&#10;became a spiritual master for many people. There are clear instructions in&#10;Mahābhārata and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 7.11.32|SB 7.11.32]])&#10;stating that a person—be he brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra—should be&#10;accepted by his personal qualifications and not by birth.
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One's position should be established by personal&#10;qualifications and not by birth. For example, if a man is born in a brāhmaṇa&#10;family but his personal qualifications are those of a śūdra, he should be&#10;accepted as a śūdra. Similarly, if a person is born in a śūdra family but has&#10;the qualifications of a brāhmaṇa, he should be accepted as a brāhmaṇa. All&#10;śāstric injunctions, as well as the versions of great sages and authorities,&#10;establish that a bona fide spiritual master is not necessarily a brāhmaṇa. The&#10;only qualification is that he be conversant with the science of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa&#10;consciousness. That alone makes one perfectly eligible to become a spiritual&#10;master. This is the conclusion of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His discussions&#10;with Rāmānanda Rāya.
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In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa it is stated that if one bona fide&#10;spiritual master is born in a brāhmaṇa family and another, who is also&#10;qualified, is born in a śūdra family, one should accept the one who is born in&#10;a brāhmaṇa family. This statement serves as a social compromise, but it has&#10;nothing to do with spiritual understanding. This injunction is only applicable&#10;for those who consider social status more important than spiritual status. It&#10;is not for people who are spiritually serious. A serious person would accept&#10;Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction that anyone—regardless of his&#10;position—conversant with Kṛṣṇa science must be accepted as the spiritual&#10;master. There are many injunctions in the Padma Purāṇa which state that a&#10;highly elevated spiritually advanced devotee of the Lord is always a&#10;first-class devotee and is therefore a spiritual master, but a highly elevated&#10;person born in a brāhmaṇa family cannot be a spiritual master unless he is a&#10;devotee of the Lord. A person born in a brāhmaṇa family may be conversant with&#10;all of the rituals of the Vedic scriptures but if he is not a pure devotee, he&#10;cannot be a spiritual master. In all śāstras the chief qualification of a bona&#10;fide spiritual master is that he be conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa.
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Lord Caitanya therefore requested Rāmānanda Rāya to go on&#10;teaching Him without hesitation, not considering Lord Caitanya's position as a&#10;sannyāsī. Thus Lord Caitanya urged him to continue speaking on the pastimes of&#10;Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
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"Because You are asking me to speak of the pastimes of&#10;Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa," Rāmānanda Rāya humbly submitted, "I will obey Your&#10;order. I will speak in whatever way You like." Thus Rāmānanda Rāya humbly&#10;submitted himself as a puppet before Lord Caitanya, the puppet master. He only&#10;wanted to dance according to the will of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He compared his&#10;tongue to a stringed instrument, saying, "You are the player of that&#10;instrument." Thus as Lord Caitanya would play, Rāmānanda Rāya would vibrate&#10;the sound.
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He said that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of&#10;Godhead, the source of all incarnations and the cause of all causes. There are&#10;innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, innumerable incarnations, expansions of the&#10;Supreme Lord, and innumerable universes also, and of all these existences the&#10;Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is the only source. His transcendental body is composed of&#10;eternity, bliss and knowledge, and He is known as the son of Mahārāja Nanda and&#10;the inhabitant of Goloka Vṛndāvana. He is full with six opulences—all wealth,&#10;strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. In Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1) it&#10;is confirmed that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, the Lord of all lords, and His&#10;transcendental body is sac-cid-ānanda. No one is the source of Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa&#10;is the source of everyone. He is the supreme cause of all causes and the&#10;resident of Vṛndāvana. He is also very attractive, just like Cupid. One can&#10;worship Him by kāma-gāyatrī mantra.
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In Brahma-saṁhitā the transcendental land of Vṛndāvana is&#10;described as being always spiritual. That spiritual land is populated by&#10;goddesses of fortune, who are known as gopīs. These are all beloved of Kṛṣṇa,&#10;and Kṛṣṇa is the only lover of all those gopīs. The trees of that land are&#10;kalpa-vṛkṣa, wish fulfilling trees, and one can have anything he wants from&#10;them. The land is made of touchstone and the water of nectar. In that land all&#10;speech is song, and all walking is dancing, and one's constant companion is the&#10;flute. Everything is self-luminous, just like the sun in this material world.&#10;The human form of life is meant for understanding this transcendental land of Vṛndāvana,&#10;and one who is fortunate should cultivate knowledge of Vṛndāvana and its&#10;residents. In that supreme abode are surabhi cows that overflood the land with&#10;milk. Since not even a moment there is misused, there is no past, present or&#10;future. An expansion of this Vṛndāvana, which is the supreme abode of Kṛṣṇa, is&#10;also present on this earth, and superior devotees worship it as the supreme&#10;abode. However, no one can appreciate Vṛndāvana without being highly elevated&#10;in spiritual knowledge, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to ordinary experience,&#10;Vṛndāvana appears to be just like an ordinary village, but in the eyes of a&#10;highly elevated devotee, it is as good as the original Vṛndāvana. A great&#10;saintly ācārya has sung: "When will my mind be cleared of all&#10;contamination so I will be able to see Vṛndāvana as it is? And when will I be&#10;able to understand the literatures left by the Gosvāmīs so that I will be able&#10;to know of the transcendental pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa?"
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The loving affairs between Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs in Vṛndāvana&#10;are also transcendental. They appear as ordinary lusty affairs of this material&#10;world, but there is a gulf of difference. In the material world there may be&#10;the temporary awakening of lust, but it disappears after so-called&#10;satisfaction. In the spiritual world the love between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa is&#10;constantly increasing. That is the difference between transcendental love and&#10;material lust. The lust, or so-called love, arising out of this body is as&#10;temporary as the body itself, but the love arising from the eternal soul in the&#10;spiritual world is on the spiritual platform, and that love is also eternal.&#10;Therefore Kṛṣṇa is addressed as the ever green Cupid.
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Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by the gāyatrī mantra, and the&#10;specific mantra by which He is worshiped is called kāma-gāyatrī. Vedic&#10;literatures explain that that sound vibration which can elevate one from mental&#10;concoction is called gāyatrī. The kāma-gāyatrī mantra is composed of 24 1/2&#10;syllables thus:
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&#10;&#10;
&lt;div class="quote_verse"&gt;
&#10;&#10;
:klīṁ kāma-devāya vidmahe
&#10;&#10;
:puṣpa-bāṇāya dhīmahi 
&#10;&#10;
:tanno 'naṅgaḥ pracodayāt
&#10;&#10;
&lt;/div&gt;
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&#10;&#10;
This kāma-gāyatrī is received from the spiritual master when&#10;the disciple is advanced in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare&#10;Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In other words, this&#10;kāma-gāyatrī mantra and saṁskāra, or reformation of a perfect brāhmaṇa, are&#10;offered by the spiritual master when he sees that his disciple is advanced in&#10;spiritual knowledge. Even then, the kāma-gāyatrī is not uttered under certain&#10;circumstances. In any case, the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is sufficient to elevate&#10;one to the highest spiritual platform.
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In Brahma-saṁhitā a nice description of the flute of Kṛṣṇa&#10;is given: "When Kṛṣṇa began to play on His flute, the sound vibration&#10;entered into the ear of Brahmā as the Vedic mantra oṁ" This oṁ is composed&#10;of three letters—A, U, and M—and it describes our relationship with the Supreme&#10;Lord, our activities by which we can achieve the highest perfection of love and&#10;the actual position of love on the spiritual platform. When the sound vibration&#10;of Kṛṣṇa's flute is expressed through the mouth of Brahmā, it becomes gāyatrī.&#10;Thus by being influenced by the sound vibration of Kṛṣṇa's flute, Brahmā, the&#10;supreme creature and first living entity of this material world, was initiated&#10;as a brāhmaṇa. That Brahmā was initiated as a brāhmaṇa by the flute of Kṛṣṇa is&#10;confirmed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. When Brahmā was enlightened by the gāyatrī&#10;mantra through Kṛṣṇa's flute, he attained all Vedic knowledge. Acknowledging&#10;the benediction offered to him by Kṛṣṇa, he became the original spiritual&#10;master of all living entities.
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The word klīm added to the gāyatrī mantra is explained in&#10;Brahma-saṁhitā as the transcendental seed of love of Godhead, or the seed of&#10;the kāma-gāyatrī. The object is Kṛṣṇa, who is the ever green Cupid, and by&#10;utterance of klīm mantra Kṛṣṇa is worshiped. It is also stated in the&#10;Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad that when Kṛṣṇa is spoken of as Cupid, one should not&#10;think of Him as the Cupid of this material world. As already explained, Vṛndāvana&#10;is the spiritual abode of Kṛṣṇa, and the word Cupid is also spiritual and&#10;transcendental. One should not take the material Cupid and Kṛṣṇa to be on the&#10;same level. The material Cupid represents the attraction of the external flesh&#10;and body, but the spiritual Cupid is the attraction by which the Supersoul&#10;attracts the individual soul. Actually lust and sex are there in spiritual life,&#10;but when the spirit soul is embodied in material elements, that spiritual urge&#10;is expressed through the material body and is therefore pervertedly reflected.&#10;When one actually becomes conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he&#10;can understand that his material desire for sex is abominable, whereas&#10;spiritual sex is desirable.
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Spiritual sex is of two kinds: one in accordance with the&#10;constitutional position of the self and the other in accordance with the&#10;object. When one understands the truth about this life but is not completely&#10;cleansed of material contamination, he is not factually situated in the&#10;transcendental abode, Vṛndāvana, although he may understand spiritual life.&#10;When, however, one becomes free from the sex urges of the material body, he can&#10;actually attain the supreme abode of Vṛndāvana. When one is so situated, he can&#10;utter the kāma-gāyatrī and kāma-bīja mantra.
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Rāmānanda Rāya then explained that Kṛṣṇa is attractive both&#10;for men and women, for the movable and the immovable—indeed, for all living&#10;entities. For this reason He is called the transcendental Cupid. Rāmānanda Rāya&#10;then quoted a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 10.32.2|SB&#10;10.32.2]]) stating that when the Lord appeared before the damsels of Vraja&#10;smiling and playing on His flute, He appeared just like Cupid.
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There are different kinds of devotees who have different&#10;aptitudes and relationships with the Supreme Lord. Any one relationship with&#10;the Lord is as good as any other because the central point is Kṛṣṇa. As stated&#10;in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: "Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasures, and&#10;He is always attracting the gopīs by the spiritual luster of His body. He&#10;especially attracts Tārakā, Pāli, Śyāmā, and Lalitā. Kṛṣṇa is very dear to&#10;Rādhārāṇī, the foremost gopī." Like Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs are glorified by Kṛṣṇa's&#10;pastimes. There are different kinds of relationships with Kṛṣṇa, and anyone who&#10;is attracted to Kṛṣṇa by a particular relationship is glorified.
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Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful, transcendental and attractive that He&#10;sometimes attracts even Himself. The following verse appears in Gīta-govinda&#10;(1.11):
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:viśveṣām anurañjanena janayann ānandam indīvara-
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:śreṇī-śyāmala-komalair upanayann aṅgair anaṅgotsavam
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:svacchandaṁ vraja-sundarībhir abhitaḥ pratyaṅgam āliṅgitaḥ 
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:śṛṅgāraḥ sakhi mūrtimān iva madhau mugdho hariḥ krīḍati
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"My dear friend, just see how Kṛṣṇa is enjoying His&#10;transcendental pastimes in the spring by expanding the beauty of His personal&#10;body. His soft legs and hands, just like the most beautiful moon, are used on&#10;the bodies of the gopīs. When He embraces different parts of their bodies, He&#10;is so beautiful. Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful that He attracts even Nārāyaṇa, as well&#10;as the goddess of fortune who associates with Nārāyaṇa."
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In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 10.89.58|SB&#10;10.89.58]]) the Bhūmā-puruṣa (Mahā-Viṣṇu) told Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa and&#10;Arjuna, I have taken the brāhmaṇa's sons just to see You." Arjuna&#10;attempted to save some youths who had died untimely at Dvārakā, and when he&#10;failed to save them, Kṛṣṇa took him to the Bhūmā-puruṣa, and when the Bhūmā-puruṣa&#10;brought forth those dead bodies as living entities, He said, "Both of you&#10;appear to preserve religious principles in the world and to annihilate the&#10;demons." In other words, the Bhūmā-puruṣa was also attracted by the beauty&#10;of Kṛṣṇa, and He concocted this pastime just as a pretext to see Kṛṣṇa. It is&#10;recorded in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 10.16.36|SB 10.16.36]]) that&#10;after the serpent Kāliya was punished by Kṛṣṇa, one of Kāliya's wives told Kṛṣṇa,&#10;"Dear Lord, we cannot understand how this fallen serpent got the&#10;opportunity of being kicked by Your lotus feet when even the goddess of fortune&#10;underwent austerities for several years just to see You."
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How Kṛṣṇa is attracted by His own beauty is described in&#10;Lalita-mādhava (8.34). Upon seeing His own picture, Kṛṣṇa lamented, "How&#10;glorious this picture is! It is attracting Me just as it attracts Rādhārāṇī."
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After giving a summary of the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, Rāmānanda&#10;Rāya began to speak of the spiritual energy of Kṛṣṇa, which is headed by&#10;Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa has immense energetic expansions. Three energies are&#10;predominant: the internal energy, external energy and marginal energy. This is&#10;confirmed in the Sixth Chapter of Viṣṇu Purāṇa where it is said that Viṣṇu has&#10;one energy, which is called spiritual energy, and it is manifested in three&#10;ways. When spiritual energy is overwhelmed by ignorance, it is called marginal&#10;energy. As far as spiritual energy itself is concerned, it is exhibited in&#10;three forms because Kṛṣṇa is a combination of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As&#10;far as His bliss is concerned, His spiritual energy is manifested as the&#10;pleasure giving potency. His eternity is manifested as energy, and His&#10;knowledge is manifested as spiritual perfection. As confirmed in Viṣṇu Purāṇa&#10;(1.12.69): "The pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa gives Kṛṣṇa transcendental&#10;pleasure and bliss." Thus when Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy pleasure, He exhibits&#10;His own spiritual potency known as hlādinī.
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In His spiritual form, Kṛṣṇa enjoys His spiritual energy,&#10;and that is the sum and substance of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa pastimes. These pastimes&#10;can only be understood by elevated devotees. One should not try to understand&#10;the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa potencies and pastimes from the mundane platform. Generally&#10;people misunderstand these as being material.
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When the pleasure potency is further condensed, it is called&#10;mahābhāva. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the eternal consort of Kṛṣṇa, is the&#10;personification of that mahābhāva. In this regard, in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (4.3)&#10;Rūpa Gosvāmī states that there are two competitors in love with Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī&#10;and Candrāvalī. When they are compared, it appears that Rādhārāṇī is superior,&#10;for She possesses mahābhāva-svarūpa. Mahābhāva-svarūpa, the personification of&#10;mahābhāva, is applicable to Rādhārāṇī only. Mahābhāva is full of the pleasure&#10;potency, and it is an exhibition of the highest love for Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is&#10;therefore known throughout the world as the most beloved of Kṛṣṇa, and Her name&#10;is always associated with Kṛṣṇa as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
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Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) also confirms that Kṛṣṇa expands&#10;Himself by His pleasure potency in the spiritual world and that these potencies&#10;are all nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Although Kṛṣṇa is always enjoying the company&#10;of His pleasure potency expansions, He is all-pervading. Thus Brahmā offers his&#10;respectful obeisances to Govinda, the cause of all causes.
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As Kṛṣṇa is the highest emblem of spiritual perfection, so&#10;Rādhārāṇī is the highest emblem of that spiritual pleasure potency by which Kṛṣṇa&#10;is satisfied. Since Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, in order to satisfy Him Rādhārāṇī is&#10;also unlimited. Kṛṣṇa is satisfied just by seeing Rādhārāṇī, but Rādhārāṇī&#10;expands Herself in such a way that Kṛṣṇa desires to enjoy Her more. Because Kṛṣṇa&#10;was unable to estimate the pleasure potency of Rādhārāṇī, He decided to accept&#10;the role of Rādhārāṇī, and that combination is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
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Rāmānanda Rāya then began to explain Rādhārāṇī as the&#10;supreme emblem of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. Rādhārāṇī expands Herself in&#10;different forms, known as Lalitā, Viśākhā and Her other confidential&#10;associates. In his book Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Rūpa Gosvāmī explains the&#10;characteristics of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He points out that the body of Rādhārāṇī&#10;is in itself an actual evolution of transcendental pleasure. That body is&#10;decorated with flowers and fragrant aromas and is complete with transcendental&#10;love for Kṛṣṇa. That is the personification of His pleasure potency. That&#10;transcendental body takes bath three times: first in the water of mercy, second&#10;in the water of youthful beauty, and third in the water of youthful luster.&#10;After taking bath three times in that way, Her body is covered with shining&#10;garments and decorated with Kṛṣṇa's personal beauty, which is compared to&#10;cosmetics. Thus Her beauty constitutes the highest artistry. Her body is also&#10;decorated with the ornaments of spiritual ecstasy—trembling tears,&#10;petrification, perspiration, choking, cessation of all bodily functions due to&#10;transcendental pleasure, stumbling, high blood pressure and madness.
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The decorative transcendental pleasure potency manifests&#10;nine symptoms. Five of these are manifested by the expansion of Her personal&#10;beauty, which is adorned with garlands of flowers. Her patient calmness is&#10;compared with a covering of cloths which have been cleansed by camphor. Her&#10;confidential agony for Kṛṣṇa is the knot in Her hair, and the mark of tilaka on&#10;Her forehead is Her fortune. Rādhārāṇī's sense of hearing is eternally fixed on&#10;Kṛṣṇa's name and fame. One's lips become red from chewing betel nuts. Similarly,&#10;the borders of Rādhārāṇī's eyes are blackened due to Her complete attachment to&#10;Kṛṣṇa. This darkness might be compared to ointment used by nature when nature&#10;jokes with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī's smile is just like the taste of&#10;camphor. The garland of separation moves on Her body when She lies down on the&#10;bed of pride within the room of aroma. Out of ecstatic affection for Kṛṣṇa, Her&#10;breast is covered by the blouse of anger. Reputed as the best of all Kṛṣṇa's&#10;girl friends, She plays a stringed instrument. When Kṛṣṇa stands in His&#10;youthful posture, She puts Her hand on His shoulder. Although She possesses so&#10;many transcendental qualities, She is always engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
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&#10;&#10;
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is decorated with sūddīpta-sāttvika&#10;emotions, which sometimes include tribulation and sometimes pacification. All&#10;the transcendental ecstasies are manifested in the body of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.&#10;Sūddīpta-sāttvika emotions are manifest when a lover is overwhelmed with&#10;certain feelings which he or she cannot check. Rādhārāṇī has another emotion&#10;called kilakiñcita, which is manifest in twenty different ways. These emotions&#10;are manifested partly due to body, mind and habit. As far as the bodily&#10;emotions are concerned, they are manifested in posture and movement. As far as&#10;the emotions of the mind are concerned, they are manifested as beauty, luster,&#10;complexion, flavor, talking, magnanimity and patience. As far as habitual&#10;emotions are concerned, they are manifested as pastimes, enjoyment, preparation&#10;and forgetfulness.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
The tilaka of fortune is on the forehead of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī,&#10;and She also has a locket of prema-vaicittya. Prema-vaicittya is manifest when&#10;a lover and beloved meet and fear separation.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is fifteen days younger than Kṛṣṇa. She&#10;always keeps Her hand on the shoulders of Her friends, and She always talks and&#10;thinks of pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. She always offers Kṛṣṇa a kind of intoxication&#10;by Her sweet talks, and She is always prepared to fulfill His desires. In other&#10;words, She supplies all the demands of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and She possesses unique and&#10;uncommon qualities for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
In Govinda-līlāmṛta there is a verse which states: "Who&#10;is the breeding ground for Kṛṣṇa's affection? The answer is that it is only&#10;Śrīmatī Rādhikā. Who is Kṛṣṇa's most lovable object? The answer is that it is&#10;only Śrīmatī Rādhikā and no one else." Sheen in the hair, moisture in the&#10;eyes and firmness in the breasts are all qualities present in Śrīmatī Rādhikā.&#10;Only Śrīmatī Rādhikā is able to fulfill all the desires of Kṛṣṇa. No one else&#10;can do so.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Satyabhāmā is another competitor of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, but&#10;she always desires to come to the standard of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī is&#10;so expert in all affairs that all the damsels of Vraja come to learn arts from&#10;Her. She is so extraordinarily beautiful that even the goddess of fortune and&#10;Pārvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva, desire elevation to Her standard of beauty.&#10;Arundhatī, who is known as the most chaste lady in the universe, desires to&#10;learn the standard of chastity from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Since even Lord Kṛṣṇa&#10;cannot estimate Rādhārāṇī's highly transcendental qualities, it is not possible&#10;for an ordinary man to estimate them.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
After hearing Rāmānanda Rāya speak of the qualities of Rādhā&#10;Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya desired to hear from him about the reciprocation of love&#10;between Them. Rāmānanda Rāya described Kṛṣṇa as dhīra-lalita, a word which&#10;describes a person who is very cunning and youthful, who is always expert in&#10;joking, who is without anxiety and who is always subservient to his girl&#10;friend. Kṛṣṇa is always engaged in love affairs with Rādhārāṇī, and He takes to&#10;the bushes of Vṛndāvana to enjoy His lusty activities with Her. Thus He&#10;successfully carries out His lusty instincts. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu it is&#10;stated:. "By His impudent and daring talks about sex indulgence, Kṛṣṇa&#10;obliged Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī to close Her eyes, and taking advantage of this, Kṛṣṇa&#10;painted many pictures on Her breasts. These pictures served as subject matter&#10;for Rādhārāṇī's friends to joke about. Thus Kṛṣṇa was always engaged in lusty&#10;activities, and thus He made His youthful life successful."
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Upon hearing of these transcendental activities, Lord&#10;Caitanya said, "My dear Rāmānanda, what you have explained regarding the&#10;transcendental pastimes of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is perfectly correct, yet there&#10;is something more I would like to hear from you."
&#10;&#10;

&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"It is very difficult for me to express anything beyond&#10;this," Rāmānanda Rāya replied. "I can only say that there is an&#10;emotional activity called prema-vilāsa-vivarta, which I may try to explain but&#10;I do not know whether You will be happy to hear it." In prema-vilāsa there&#10;are two kinds of emotional activities—separation and meeting. That&#10;transcendental separation is so acute that it is actually more ecstatic than&#10;meeting. Rāmānanda Rāya was expert in understanding these highly elevated&#10;dealings between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and he composed a nice song which he narrated&#10;to the Lord. The purport of the song is that the lover and the beloved, before&#10;meeting, generate a kind of emotion by the exchange of their transcendental&#10;activities. That emotion is called rāga, or attraction. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī&#10;expressed Her willingness that "this attraction and affection between Us&#10;rise to the highest extent," but the cause of this attraction is Rādhārāṇī&#10;Herself. "Whatever the cause may be," Rādhārāṇī said, "that&#10;affection between You and Me has mixed Us in oneness. Now that it is the time&#10;of separation, I cannot see the history of the evolution of this love. There&#10;was no cause or mediator in Our love save Our meeting itself and the visionary&#10;exchange of feelings."
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
This exchange of feelings between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī is&#10;very difficult to understand unless one is elevated to the platform of pure&#10;goodness. Such transcendental reciprocation is not even possible to understand&#10;from the platform of material goodness. One has to actually transcend material&#10;goodness in order to understand. This is because the exchange of feelings&#10;between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is not a subject matter of this material world. Even&#10;the greatest mental speculator cannot understand this, directly or indirectly.&#10;Material activities are manifested either for the gross body or the subtle&#10;mind, but this exchange of feelings between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is beyond such&#10;manifestations and beyond intellectual mental speculation. It can only be&#10;understood by purified senses freed from all the designations of the material&#10;world. Those who have purified senses can understand these transcendental&#10;features and exchanges, but those who are impersonalists and who have no&#10;knowledge of spiritual senses can only discriminate within the scope of the&#10;material senses and thus cannot understand spiritual exchanges or&#10;spiritual-sensual activities. Those who are elevated by virtue of experimental&#10;knowledge can only satisfy their blunt material senses either by gross bodily&#10;activities or by mental speculation. Everything generated from the body or the&#10;mind is always imperfect and perishable, but transcendental spiritual activities&#10;are always bright and wonderful. Pure love on the transcendental platform is&#10;the paragon of purity devoid of material affection and completely spiritual.&#10;Affection for matter is perishable, as indicated by the inebriety of sex in the&#10;material world, but there is no such inebriety in the spiritual world.&#10;Hindrances on the path of sense satisfaction cause material distress, but one&#10;cannot compare that with spiritual separation. In spiritual separation there is&#10;neither inebriety nor ineffectiveness, as one finds with material separation.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Lord Caitanya admitted that this is the highest position of&#10;transcendental loving reciprocation, and He told Rāmānanda Rāya, "By your&#10;grace only have I been able to understand such a high transcendental position.&#10;Such a position cannot be attained without the performance of transcendental&#10;activities. So will you kindly explain to Me how I can raise Myself to this&#10;platform?"
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"It is similarly difficult for me to make You&#10;understand," Rāmānanda replied. "As far as I am concerned, I can only&#10;speak what You wish me to. No one can escape Your supreme will. Indeed, there&#10;is no one in the world who can surpass Your supreme will, and although I appear&#10;to be speaking, I am actually not the speaker. You are speaking. Therefore You&#10;are both the speaker and the audience. Thus let me speak only as You will me to&#10;speak about the performance required to attain this highest transcendental&#10;position."
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Rāmānanda Rāya then began to relate the confidential and&#10;transcendental activities of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. These activities cannot be&#10;understood in the emotional relationship with the Supreme Lord as master and&#10;servant, friend and friend or parent and son. This confidential subject matter&#10;can be understood only in the association of the damsels of Vraja, for the&#10;confidential activities have arisen from the feelings and emotions of those&#10;damsels. Without the association of the damsels of Vraja, one cannot nourish or&#10;cherish such transcendental understanding. In other words, these confidential&#10;pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa have expanded through the mercy of the damsels.&#10;Without their mercy, they cannot be understood. One has to follow in the&#10;footsteps of the damsels of Vraja in order to understand.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
When one is actually situated in that understanding, he becomes&#10;eligible to enter into the confidential pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. There is&#10;no alternative to understand Their confidential pastimes. This is confirmed in&#10;Govinda-līlāmṛta (10.17): "Although manifest, happy, expanded and&#10;unlimited, the emotional exchanges between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa can only be&#10;understood by the damsels of Vraja or by their followers." Just as no one&#10;can understand the expansion of the spiritual energy of the Supreme Lord&#10;without His causeless mercy, no one can understand the transcendental sex life&#10;between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa without following in the footsteps of the damsels of&#10;Vraja. The personal associates of Rādhārāṇī are called sakhīs, and Her near&#10;assistants are called mañjarīs. It is very difficult to express their dealings&#10;with Kṛṣṇa because they have no desire to mix with Kṛṣṇa or to enjoy Him&#10;personally. Rather, they are always ready to help Rādhārāṇī associate with Kṛṣṇa.&#10;Their affection for Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī is so pure that they are simply&#10;satisfied when Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are together. Indeed, their transcendental&#10;pleasure is in seeing Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa united. The actual form of Rādhārāṇī is&#10;just like a creeper embracing the tree of Kṛṣṇa, and the damsels of Vraja, the&#10;associates of Rādhārāṇī, are just like the leaves and flowers of that creeper.&#10;When a creeper embraces a tree, the leaves and flowers as well as the creeper&#10;automatically embrace it. Govinda-līlāmṛta (10.16) confirms that Rādhārāṇī is&#10;the expansion of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa and is compared with a creeper,&#10;and Her associates, the damsels of Vraja, are compared to the flowers and&#10;leaves of that creeper. When Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa enjoy Themselves, the damsels&#10;of Vraja relish the pleasure more than Rādhārāṇī Herself.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Although the associates of Rādhārāṇī do not expect any&#10;personal attention from Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī is so pleased with them that She&#10;arranges individual meetings between Kṛṣṇa and the damsels of Vraja. Indeed,&#10;Rādhārāṇī tries to combine or unite Her associates with Kṛṣṇa by many&#10;transcendental maneuvers, and She takes more pleasure in these meetings than in&#10;Her own meetings with Him. When Kṛṣṇa sees that both Rādhārāṇī and Her&#10;associates are pleased by His association, He becomes more satisfied. Such&#10;association and loving reciprocation have nothing to do with material lust,&#10;although it resembles the material union between man and woman. It is only&#10;because that similarity is there that such reciprocation is sometimes called,&#10;in transcendental language, transcendental lust. As explained in&#10;Gautamīya-tantra (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.285): "Lust means attachment&#10;to one's personal sense gratification. But as far as Rādhārāṇī and Her&#10;associates are concerned, they did not desire personal sense gratification.&#10;They only wanted to satisfy Kṛṣṇa." This is further confirmed in the&#10;Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 10.31.19|SB 10.31.19]]) in one of the&#10;speeches of the gopīs:
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
&lt;div class="quote_verse"&gt;
&#10;&#10;
:yat te sujāta-caraṇāmburuhaṁ staneṣu
&#10;&#10;
:bhītāḥ śanaiḥ priya dadhīmahi karkaśeṣu
&#10;&#10;
:tenātavīm aṭasi tad vyathate na kiṁ svit 
&#10;&#10;
:kūrpādibhir bhramati dhīr bhavad-āyuṣāṁ naḥ
&#10;&#10;
&lt;/div&gt;
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"My dear friend Kṛṣṇa, You are now roaming in the&#10;forest with Your bare feet, which You sometimes keep on our breasts. When Your&#10;feet are on our breasts, we think that our breasts are too hard for Your soft&#10;feet. Now You are wandering in the forest and walking over stones, and we do&#10;not know how You are feeling. Since You are our life and soul, the displeasure&#10;You undergo in traveling over rough stones is giving us great distress."&#10;Such feelings expressed by the damsels of Vraja constitute the highest Kṛṣṇa&#10;conscious emotions. Anyone who actually becomes captivated by Kṛṣṇa&#10;consciousness approaches this level of the gopīs. There are sixty-four&#10;categories of devotional service by performance of which one can rise to the&#10;gopīs' stage of unconditional devotion. Affection for Kṛṣṇa on the level of the&#10;gopīs is called rāgānuga, spontaneous love. When one enters into a spontaneous&#10;loving affair with Kṛṣṇa, there is no need to follow the Vedic rules and&#10;regulations.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
There are various kinds of personal devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa&#10;in the transcendental abode. For example, there are servants of Kṛṣṇa like&#10;Raktaka and Patraka and friends of Kṛṣṇa just like Śrīdāmā and Sudāmā. There&#10;are also parents of Kṛṣṇa, just like Nanda and Yaśodā, who are also engaged in&#10;the service of Kṛṣṇa according to their respective transcendental emotions. One&#10;who desires to enter into the supreme abode of Kṛṣṇa can take shelter of one of&#10;such transcendental servitors. Then, through the execution of loving service,&#10;one can attain transcendental affection for Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the devotee&#10;in this material world who executes loving service in pursuance of the&#10;activities of those eternal associates with Kṛṣṇa also attains the same post&#10;when he is perfected.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
The sages mentioned in the Upaniṣads and in śruti also&#10;desire the post of the gopīs, and they also follow in the footsteps of the&#10;gopīs in order to attain that highest goal of life. This is confirmed in&#10;Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 10.87.23|SB 10.87.23]]) when it is said that&#10;the sages practice prāṇāyāma (trance) by controlling the breathing process,&#10;mind and senses through the mystic yoga practice. Thus they try to merge into&#10;the Supreme Brahman. This same goal is attained by atheists who deny the&#10;existence of God. If such atheists are killed by an incarnation of the Supreme&#10;Personality of Godhead, they also merge into the Brahman existence of the&#10;Supreme Lord. However, when the damsels of Vṛndāvana worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa, it is&#10;as though they have been bitten by a snake, for Kṛṣṇa's body is compared with&#10;the body of a snake. A snake's body is never straight; it is always curling.&#10;Similarly, Kṛṣṇa often stands in a three curved posture, and He has bitten the&#10;gopīs with transcendental love. The gopīs are certainly better situated than&#10;all mystic yogīs and others who desire to merge into the Supreme Brahman. The&#10;sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya also follow in the footsteps of the damsels of Vraja in&#10;order to attain a similar position. One cannot attain that position simply by&#10;following the regulative principles. Rather, one must seriously follow the&#10;principles of the gopīs. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam&#10;([[Vanisource:SB 10.9.21|SB 10.9.21]]) wherein it is stated that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa,&#10;the son of Śrīmatī Yaśodā, is not easily available to those following the&#10;principles of mental speculation but is easily available to all kinds of living&#10;beings who follow the path of devotional service.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
There are many pseudo-devotees, claiming to belong to Lord&#10;Caitanya Mahāprabhu's sect, who artificially dress themselves as the damsels of&#10;Vraja, and this is not approved by advanced spiritualists or advanced students&#10;of devotional service. Such people dress the outward material body because they&#10;foolishly confuse the body with the soul. They are mistaken when they think&#10;that the spiritual bodies of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī and Their associates, the damsels&#10;of Vraja, are composed of material nature. One should know perfectly well that&#10;all such manifestations are expansions of eternal bliss and knowledge in the&#10;transcendental world. They have nothing to do with these material bodies; thus&#10;the bodies, dresses, decorations and activities of the damsels of Vṛndāvana are&#10;not of this material cosmic manifestation. The damsels of Vṛndāvana are not a&#10;subject for the attraction of those in the material world; they are&#10;transcendental attractions for the all-attractive Kṛṣṇa. Because the Lord is&#10;all-attractive, He is called Kṛṣṇa, but the damsels of Vṛndāvana are attractive&#10;even to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are not of this material world.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
If one wrongly thinks that the material body is as perfect&#10;as the spiritual body and begins to imitate the damsels of Vṛndāvana, he&#10;becomes infested with the Māyāvādī impersonal philosophy. The impersonalists recommend&#10;a process of ahaṁ grahopāsanā by which one worships his own body as the&#10;Supreme. Thinking in this way, such pseudo-transcendentalists dress themselves&#10;as the damsels of Vraja. Such activities are not acceptable in devotional&#10;service. Even Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the most authoritative ācārya in the Gauḍīya&#10;sampradāya, has condemned these imitators. The process of transcendental&#10;realization is to follow in the footsteps of the associates of the Supreme&#10;Lord; therefore if one thinks himself to be a direct associate of the Supreme&#10;Lord, he is condemned. According to authorized Vaiṣṇava principles, one should&#10;follow a particular devotee, and not think of himself as Kṛṣṇa's associate.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
In this way Rāmānanda Rāya explained that one should accept&#10;the mood of the damsels of Vraja. In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is clearly said&#10;that one should accept the emotional activities and not imitate the dress of&#10;the associates of Kṛṣṇa. One should also always meditate upon the affairs&#10;between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the transcendental world. One should think of Rādhā&#10;and Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day and eternally engage in Their service. One&#10;need not externally change his dress. By following the mood of the associates&#10;and friends of Rādhārāṇī, one can ultimately achieve the perfectional stage and&#10;be transferred to Goloka Vṛndāvana, the transcendental abode of Kṛṣṇa.
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&#10;&#10;
The mood of the gopīs' emotional pursuit is called&#10;siddha-deha. This word indicates the pure spiritual body which is beyond the&#10;senses, mind and intelligence. Siddha-deha is the purified soul who is just&#10;suitable to serve the Supreme Lord. No one can serve the Supreme Lord as His&#10;associate without being situated in his pure spiritual identity. That identity&#10;is completely free from all material contamination. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā,&#10;a materially contaminated person transmigrates to another material body by&#10;material consciousness. At the time of death he thinks materially and is&#10;therefore transferred into another material body. Similarly, when one is&#10;situated in his pure spiritual identity and thinks of the spiritual loving&#10;service rendered to the Supreme Lord, he is transferred to the spiritual&#10;kingdom to enter into the association of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, by attaining&#10;one's spiritual identity and thinking of Kṛṣṇa's associates, one can become&#10;qualified to transfer to the spiritual kingdom. No one can contemplate or think&#10;of the activities of the spiritual kingdom without being situated in his pure,&#10;spiritual identity (siddha). Thus Rāmānanda Rāya said that without attaining&#10;siddha-deha, one can neither become an associate of the damsels nor render&#10;service directly to the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and His eternal consort&#10;Rādhārāṇī. In this regard, Rāmānanda quoted Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB&#10;10.47.60|SB 10.47.60]]):
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
&lt;div class="quote_verse"&gt;
&#10;&#10;
:nāyaṁ śriyo 'ṅga u nitāntarateḥ prasādaḥ
&#10;&#10;
:svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto 'nyāḥ
&#10;&#10;
:rāsotsave 'sya bhujadaṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha- 
&#10;&#10;
:labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-vallavīnām
&#10;&#10;
&lt;/div&gt;
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"Neither the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, nor even the&#10;damsels of the heavenly kingdom can attain the facilities of the damsels of&#10;Vrajabhūmi—and what to speak of others."
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Lord Caitanya was very satisfied to hear these statements&#10;from Rāmānanda Rāya, and He embraced him. Then both of them began to cry in the&#10;ecstasy of transcendental realization. Thus the Lord and Rāmānanda Rāya&#10;discussed the transcendental pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa throughout the night,&#10;and in the morning they separated. Rāmānanda left to go to his place, and the&#10;Lord went to take His bath.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
At the time of separation, Rāmānanda fell at the feet of&#10;Lord Caitanya and prayed: "My dear Lord, You have come just to deliver me&#10;from this mire of nescience. Therefore I request that You remain here for at&#10;least ten days to purify my mind of this material contamination. There is no&#10;one else who can deliver such transcendental love of God."
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&#10;&#10;
"I have come to you to purify Myself by hearing from&#10;you the transcendental pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa," the Lord replied.&#10;"I am so fortunate, for you are the only teacher of such transcendental&#10;pastimes. I can find no one else in the world who can realize the&#10;transcendental loving reciprocation between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. You are asking Me&#10;to stay here for ten days, but I feel like remaining with you for the rest of&#10;My life. Please come to Jagannātha Purī, My headquarters, and we will remain&#10;together for the rest of our lives. Thus I can pass My remaining days in&#10;understanding Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā by your association."
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
Śrīman Rāmānanda Rāya came again to see the Lord the next&#10;evening, and there were further discourses on this transcendental subject&#10;matter.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"What is the highest standard of education?" Lord&#10;Caitanya began His inquiry, and Rāmānanda Rāya immediately replied that the&#10;highest standard of education is knowledge of the science of Kṛṣṇa. The&#10;standard of material education is sense gratification, but the highest standard&#10;of spiritual education is knowledge of the science of Kṛṣṇa. In&#10;Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ([[Vanisource:SB 4.29.50|SB 4.29.50]]) it is stated that that&#10;work which pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the highest work, and&#10;that science or knowledge which places one in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the&#10;highest knowledge. Similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja, while instructing his&#10;childhood friends at school, also stated that hearing of the Lord, chanting,&#10;remembering, worshiping, praying, serving, making friends with Kṛṣṇa, and&#10;offering everything to Him constituted the highest spiritual knowledge.
&#10;&#10;
 
&#10;&#10;
"And what is the greatest reputation one can have?"&#10;Lord Caitanya asked Rāmānanda Rāya, and Rāmānanda immediately replied that a&#10;person reputed to be Kṛṣṇa conscious should be considered the most famous man&#10;in the world.
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