Posted on: 03 Aug 2022
[Ms. Thrylokya asked (on phone):- Swami! this has reference to Your answer given to the question asked by Smt. T Sudha Rani (My mother) some time back. You told that Radha was kept as a secret wife of Krishna and Krishna did favors to Radha by meeting her secretly every fortnight in Dvaraka because love with gaps and secrecy has very deep strength, which could not be given to the 16108 official wives. In this way, You supported the love of Krishna to Radha. But, I have one question, which is that Radha could not enjoy the prestige of enjoying the honor of a legal wife in public since she could not travel with Krishna on the chariot in public. In this way, Radha underwent heavy loss of the honor of life. How do You answer my point?]
Swami replied (on phone):- You have treated Radha equal to other wives, who are only souls. Krishna is the incarnation of God Datta and Radha is the incarnation of Goddess Anagha and also God Shiva. Radha is not an ordinary soul aspiring for petty worldly fascinations. Radha is the power of Krishna because Anagha is the power of Datta. Both are, actually, one only. The program of Krishna is the program of Radha also and both never felt any dualism between them. After all, the whole life of Krishna and Radha on this earth is just a three hour drama on the stage. The divine program was formulated by both of them in the interest of the welfare of the devotees and in the interest of the welfare of pravrutti of the general public.
While Krishna and Radha lived together, the relationship between both of them was not like the present so called “live-in-relationship”, which is quite normal in these days. In those days, such live-in-relationship was viewed as a severe sin. It would spoil the discipline in the Pravrutti of souls of public. Hence, the secrecy of such live-in-relationship was very much essential. Hence, both Radha and Krishna decided to maintain such relationship secretly. Radha was married to Ayanaghosha, but Radha loved Krishna from the beginning. Due to her strong love for Krishna, Radha never touched Ayanaghosha. Krishna married Radha secretly in a garden (Bhindira vanam) and maintained His marital life in top secrecy. Radha used to come to Dvaaraka every fortnight to stay for 2-3 days and returned back to Brundavanam in the pretext of seeing God Krishna. In Dvaaraka, the meeting of Radha and Krishna used to take place secretly. Such gap of fortnight between two meetings helped to develop hunger for the meeting just like 6-8 hour duration between two meals to develop hunger for food. Secrecy in meeting also developed power in the love. In this way, Krishna gave climax enjoyment to Radha only and not to the other official wives. This plan has both advantageous sides like a knife having two sharp edges on both sides. By such secrecy, the Pravrutti in those days was not only not disturbed, but also Radha was given the climax level of love by Krishna. Ordinary people cannot understand the depth of the actions of God and mistake God Krishna doing injustice to the case of Radha. This secrecy was opened after the demise of Radha and Krishna, only after a very long time so that to some extent, it was not believed and was believed to be a false story. Even if the story is believed, it shows the strongest love between Radha and Krishna indicating the climax of sacrifice of the devotee for God. Radha stood as the marvelous example for sacrificing her entire life not caring for even hell for the sake of God. In view of Radha only, Krishna said in Gita that the devotee shall sacrifice even justice of Pravrutti for the sake of God (Sarvadharmaan parityajya…).
Q. Assuming an ordinary Gopika reaches the stage of Radha, will she be deprived of the honor if her relation with Krishna was kept secret?
[Ms. Thrylokya asked (on phone):- Swami! Let us assume an ordinary Gopika, who is not Radha at all, the incarnation of Anagha and God Shiva. If such Gopika in Brundavanam reached the stage of Radha in having climax love to Krishna, in such a case, Gopika did not participate with Krishna in fixing the pre-plan. In the case of such Gopika, if Krishna also adopted the same plan, then the Gopika is deprived of the public honor. You have said in the recent knowledge (answer to Shri Satti Reddy) that even an ordinary soul can reach the stage of Shankara, the incarnation acting as devotee and hence, an ordinary Gopika can reach the stage of Radha by her personal spiritual efforts. How do You answer this question?]
Swami replied (on phone):- Suppose a Gopika, an ordinary soul, reached the state of Radha in having climax love to Krishna. In such a case also, Krishna has to do the same climax justice as was done to Radha. The climax justice done by Krishna to such climax Gopika would be to give the climax enjoyment of love and such climax enjoyment of love given by Krishna is based on two factors:-
1) Long gaps:- Keeping Gopika in Brundavanam and allowing her to come to Dvaaraka every fortnight on the pretext of worshiping God Krishna so that there is sufficient gap between two meetings. I gave the example of taking meals and said that the gap between two meals should be long as far as possible. The Veda says that a person shall take meals twice a day and if the person takes meals more than twice, such person shall be the animal (dvirahnaa manushyaah trirahnnah pashvah— Veda). Sages involved in sexual meetings till two children were born and afterwards they avoided sexual life completely. Such long gap in sex is said to be for good health. If the Gopika is in Dvaaraka like the other 16108 wives, a long gap is not possible because Krishna was found in the house of every wife in the night every day since He was appearing in 16108 forms. Hence, every wife got 10 sons and 1 daughter. In this way, by keeping the Gopika in Brundavanam (like Radha), the long gap was possible, which gives the highest enjoyment in sexual meetings. If the Gopika is kept as the 16109th wife in Dvaaraka publicizing the relationship, the enjoyment would be reduced to 50%.
2) Secrecy in meetings:- The connection between Krishna and Gopika would be a secret (like Radha) and by this, the Gopika would not be able to travel with Krishna in public to have public honor. By this, the secrecy of the meeting of Gopika and Krishna would be maintained, which gives maximum enjoyment in the meeting. If the relationship between Krishna and Gopika were made public, the secrecy of the meeting is lost and the enjoyment will be reduced by 50%.
Since the Gopika is in par with Radha in giving climax love to Krishna, Krishna is bound to give back climax enjoyment to Gopika as given to Radha. In such a case, if any one of the two factors mentioned above is disturbed, Krishna could not have given the maximum climax enjoyment to Gopika or Radha. The plan of Krishna in giving climax enjoyment to Gopika or Radha is such that if the plan is disturbed on any side, the maximum enjoyment gets spoiled and injustice will fall on the side of Krishna. This plan is such a dualistic plan that if secrecy of the meeting is violated by publicity, the maximum justice done to Gopika or Radha would be disturbed. Hence, the Gopika or Radha did not criticize the plan of Krishna because the Gopika or Radha would be in climax happiness if the climax justice was done by Krishna for their climax love.
Therefore, the intelligence of God is always to the extent of unimaginable climax. Any devotee knows this fact and will not criticize God’s plans involving top most intelligence. God is omniscient and hence, the plan of a soul will certainly have loop holes and not the plan of God. The public honor by sitting by the side of Krishna in a chariot moving in public is not as great as the maximum love returned to the devotee from God Krishna. A real devotee cares for God only and not for the world (public) and hence, Radha or the assumed Gopika would follow the plan of Krishna only with full sincerity provided Radha or the assumed Gopika is in the state of climax love for God Krishna. All this analysis is not linked with the saving of the public-pravrutti through the secrecy of this relationship. Irrespective of such a link, secrecy would be a must for maximum enjoyment or maximum justice.