Now today is our Rādhāṣṭami ceremony. I must speak now something about Rādhārāṇī, and then I shall go up, reach my apartment at twelve. In the meantime, you can observe the ceremonies. So, so far Rādhārāṇī, Rādhārāṇī, today is the birthday of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman. Just try to understand. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12-13).
So when paraṁ brahma wants to enjoy . . . that enjoying spirit is there in the paraṁ brahma. Otherwise we cannot have this enjoying spirit. Because we are part and parcel, therefore we have got that enjoying spirit; but that is materially contaminated. But the fact is there, because Kṛṣṇa, He is enjoying, this enjoying spirit we have got also, but I do not know how to enjoy. We are trying to enjoy in the matter, in the dull matter. That is spiritual.
So brahman, brahman sukhānubhūtyā (SB 10.12.11). People are trying to feel what is brahma-sukha, pleasure of brahmānubhāva. That is not material pleasure. So many yogīs, they have given up their family life, their kingdom, and meditating to achieve that Brahman pleasure. Actually, the idea is Brahman pleasure.
So many brahmacārīs, so many sannyāsīs, they are trying to achieve that Brahman pleasure, and in order to achieve that Brahman pleasure they are neglecting, they are kicking off all this material pleasure. Do you think that Brahman pleasure is ordinary, this material pleasure? To achieve a portion of Brahman pleasure, if they are kicking off all this material pleasure . . .
Don't talk of ourselves. We are ordinary men. In the history we have got instances, that of Bharata Mahārāja, Bharata Mahārāja, under whose name this planet is called Bhārata-varṣa. That Bharata Mahārāja was the emperor of the whole world. And as emperor he had his beautiful wife, young children. But at the age of twenty-four years, just young man, he gave up everything. All right. This is very old story, of course, but you know Lord Buddha. He was also a prince.
He was also prince, not ordinary man, and he was kṣatriya, and he was always enjoying with beautiful woman. That is the palace pleasure, custom, in every . . . in Oriental countries, that in the palace there are many beautiful girls, they're always dancing and giving pleasure to the kings and the prince. So Lord Buddha was also in such pleasure, but he gave up everything and began to meditate.
There are many hundreds of instances in Indian history that to realize the Brahman pleasure they gave up everything. They gave up everything. That is the way. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting something severe for realizing the supreme pleasure. That is called tapasya. So if, for tasting a little Brahman pleasure, all materialistic pleasures are to be given up, do you think that the Supreme Brahman, Lord Kṛṣṇa, is enjoying this material pleasure? Is it very reasonable?
This Kṛṣṇa, He's enjoying lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). Hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune are engaged in His service. Do you think these Lakṣmīs are material women? How Kṛṣṇa can take pleasure in the material woman? No. This is mistake.
Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). In the Brahma-saṁhitā you'll find that He expands His ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, the mellow of transcendental pleasure potency. And these gopīs are expansion of His pleasure potency, and Rādhārāṇī is the center. Rādhārāṇī is the center.
So Rādhārāṇī is not . . . don't take that Rādhārāṇī is an ordinary woman, like we have our wife or sister or mother. No. She is the pleasure potency. And the birth of Rādhārāṇī was not from the womb of any human being. She was found by Her father in the field. While father was plowing, he saw one little nice child is lying there, and he had no children, so he caught it and presented to the queen, "Oh, here we have got a very nice child." "How you got?" "Oh, in the field." Just see. Rādhārāṇī's janma is like that.
So this janma is today, and Rādhā, this name is sometimes not found in Bhāgavata. So the atheistic class of men protest that "Rādhārāṇī's name is not in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. How this name came, Rādhārāṇī?" But they do not know how to see it. There is anayārādhyate. There are many gopīs, but there is mention that by this particular gopī He is served more pleasingly. Kṛṣṇa accepts this gopī's service more gladly. Anayārādhyate. Ārādhyate. This ārādhate, this word, ārādhyate means worshiping. From this word ārādhyate, Rādhā has come. But Rādhā's name are there in other Purāṇas. So this is the origin. So Rādhā.
So Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer, and He wants to enjoy. So He's the Supreme Brahman. He cannot enjoy anything, ātmarāma, He can enjoy it in Himself. Therefore Rādhārāṇī is the expansion of His pleasure potency. Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to seek external things for His pleasure. No. He is in Himself full, ātmarāma. So Rādhārāṇī is expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the energetic, and Rādhārāṇī is the energy.
Just like energy and energetic, you cannot separate. Fire and the heat you cannot separate. Wherever there is fire there is heat, and wherever there is heat there is fire. Similarly, wherever there is Kṛṣṇa there is Rādhā, and wherever there is Rādhā there is Kṛṣṇa. They are inseparable. But He is enjoying.