23 May 2025
[Prof. JSR Prasad asked:- When Rama and Sita or Krishna and Radha are meeting, Sita and Radha are getting the satisfaction that they got the union with the God-component. In the case of Gopika and illusory Krishna, the Gopika is not getting that satisfaction because the God-component is absent in illusory Krishna. Please elaborate on this.]
Swami replied:- Let us take the case of a Gopika, who met with her husband previously and is also meeting with an illusory Krishna at present. What is the difference between these two unions? From the point of composition, the illusory Krishna and the husband of Gopika have the same items, which are gross body, individual soul, four antaḥkaraṇams and hormonal activity. Since the entire composition of the illusory Krishna and the husband of Gopika is one and the same, you are saying that Gopika is getting the same satisfaction. Here, you slipped the main point, which is that the husband of the Gopika is not having the form of Krishna and the illusory Krishna has the form of the real Krishna. Since the form is the same between the real Krishna and the illusory Krishna, the Gopika is getting the satisfaction that she got the union with God. In the case of her husband, Gopika cannot get such type of satisfaction as she got from the illusory Krishna due to the absence of Krishna’s form in her husband.
Now, you may argue that the form of the illusory Krishna and the form of the real Krishna are not one and the same since the former is unreal and the latter is real. Again, this is another slip. The reason for this slip is that both the forms of the real and illusory Krishnas are one and the same because both are inherently unreal and became absolutely real due to the gift of absolute reality from God to the creation. Here, God means the absolutely real unmediated-unimaginable God. Even the entire medium called as real Krishna is a part of the creation only and hence, is inherently unreal and became absolutely real due to the gifted absolute reality from the unimaginable God. This point is common to the illusory Krishna and the real Krishna taken as the medium, which is other than the absolute God-component.
This merge of unimaginable God with the medium called real Krishna is not like the merge of two imaginable items like copper and gold. In the merge of copper and gold, if one metal is hot, the other metal must be hot. In this merge of unimaginable item with imaginable item, such force of the binding rules is absent since the unimaginable God is totally different from the imaginable human being-component. This is because of the full freedom of God due to His omnipotency. This difference between God and soul in such merge is explained by the Veda like this:- “On the tree, two birds (God and soul) are united (merged). There is difference between God and the soul because God-bird is not enjoying any fruit of the tree and is shining whereas the soul-bird is enjoying only the sweet fruit of the tree (Dvā suparṇā...)”. You shall not argue that the two birds are simply associated without merge. Another Vedic statement says that God merged with the soul in human incarnation so that the merged soul is also treated as God (Tat sṛṣṭvā…, Sat ca tyat ca abhavat).
You cannot say that the satisfaction of Gopika is different from the satisfaction of Radha due to the following points of logic:-
i) Both the satisfactions are generated from the same forms of media of real and illusory Krishnas.
ii) Both Radha and Gopika are having the satisfaction that the soul united with God (here, Radha shall be taken as soul only due to her imposed ignorance that is necessary to make her as ideal devotee and Krishna as God. Hence, both Radha and Gopika have the same satisfaction with the same background of logic).
iii) You may say that the real component of God exists in the real Krishna and the same is absent in the illusory Krishna from the viewpoint of factual situation. This is also ruled out because the unimaginable God is not touched by the union in both cases since the infinite ocean of bliss does not require any trace of momentary and illusory happiness. In both cases, both unions generated only traces of illusory happiness since the interacting items (gross bodies, individual souls, antaḥkaraṇams and hormonal activities are one and the same by nature as well as reality).
iv) You may argue that the omnipotent God really kissed Radha and did not really kiss Gopika. Due to the requirement of role, Radha is as ignorant as Gopika and both Radha and Gopika do not realize this truth. Of course, Gopika does not realise the truth that illusory Krishna does not contain the God-component. Both are thinking that they are united with God only and both are getting the same satisfaction. Moreover, Gopika is also reaching the position of Radha (Goloka) permanently as the final fruit. When the final fruit and satisfaction in the path are one and the same, where is difference between Radha and Gopika? The knowledge and experience of the kiss done by unimaginable God is with the unimaginable God only because even Radha as ignorant soul is thinking that Krishna Himself is the unimaginable God. The unimaginable God separates from Krishna in this one aspect of romance in order not to give any space for critics. The kiss of the unimaginable God is not recognised by Radha separately because she as ignorant soul is thinking that Krishna Himself is the mediated unimaginable God and the kiss of Krishna itself is the kiss of the unimaginable God. If you say that the kiss of the unimaginable God exists in the kiss of Krishna, there is no harm to the celibacy of God because Radha is Himself. Krishna is fixed in the role of God and Radha is fixed in the role of the devotee. Hence, Krishna is never ignorant and Radha is never the knower.
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