Posted on: 02 Feb 2024
[Smt. Swathi M asked:- Paadanamaskaaram, Swami. Radha used to visit Dwaraka to meet Krishna now and then, but, the other Gopikas never went to Dwaraka. Is it not discrimination between Radha and other Gopikas even though all were very strong devotees of God Krishna?]
Swami replied:- The case of Radha is entirely different from the other Gopikas. Radha loved Krishna, but since Radha was older than Krishna, she was married to Ayanaghosha, who was the younger brother of Yashoda. Radha didn’t allow Ayanaghosha to touch her due to her extreme love for Krishna. Ayanaghosha also didn’t make any attempts to touch Radha because he was cursed by Sage Durvaasa that if he touched his wife, he would die immediately. Thus, obstruction existed on both sides and this was well known to the entire village. The marriage of Radha and Krishna was performed by God Brahma in the presence of angels in a garden existing between the two villages of Radha and Krishna. Under these circumstances, the visits of Radha to Dwaraka were not very inconvenient. But, the case of other Gopikas was quite different. They were married having issues and were living with their in-laws. They did not have as much freedom as Radha had. Therefore, they could not go to Dwaraka as openly as Radha went. All the Gopikas met Krishna only once in their latter part of life on the day of a sun eclipse, where they had gone to take bath in the sea near Dwaraka. King Parikshit questioned Sage Shuka regarding the character of Krishna and he did not mention about Radha. He only mentioned the case of married Gopikas (Paradārābhimarṣaṇam...– Bhagavatam). Of course, Radha can also be included in the list of married Gopikas, but, the case of Radha was lighter compared to the case of other married Gopikas. God Krishna is the protector of Pravrutti and has to take care of Pravrutti or justified norms and traditions of the worldly life. For this reason only, He kept the affair of married Gopikas as secret and did not keep the affair of Radha as secret.