Śrīmatī Rādhikā is Always Absorbed in Pleasing Kṛṣṇa

Early the next morning, Uddhava wanted to relay Kṛṣṇa’s message to the gopīs. The gopīs brought him to Kadamba-kyārī where they respectfully offered him an āsana (seat). Uddhava, however, just offered his obeisances to the āsana. He then noticed what appeared to be a golden doll lying on a bed of flower petals, with sandlewood paste smeared on Her limbs. Seeing Rādhikā in such an intense state of separation, the gopīs like Lalitā, Viśākhā, Citrā, Campakalata, and the māñjarīs such as Rati Māñjarī, Rāga Māñjarī, Raman Māñjarī, headed by Rūpa Māñjarī were serving Her and trying to pacify Her; but who could actually pacify Rādhikā? She was in a state of total madness with no external awareness. The others were trying to pacify Her because their consciousness was still somewhat functional. Their love is very high, millions of times greater than that of Uddhava, Satyabhāmā, and Rukmīṇī, and higher even than that of the other sakhīs of Vṛndāvana; but their love was not as high as Rādhikā’s love. Among Kṛṣṇa’s dear ones, She is the most dear. Rādhikā was motionless, lying on a bed of rose petals, which had become dried up by the touch of Her body, and all the candana (sandalwood pulp) that had been put on Her body to cool Her had completely dried up. All her friends were checking to see whether She was alive or not. She was in such a state that Her friends were completely distraught. When Uddhava saw the moods of Rādhikā, he became stunned like a wooden doll. Śrīmatī Rādhikā was engrossed in a mood in which She was feeling intense separation from Kṛṣṇa while He was in Mathurā. She was thinking, “Kṛṣṇa cannot live without women, and therefore He must be associating with the Mathurārāmaṇīs, the beautiful young damsels of Mathurā.” Rādhikā was totally delirious in separation from Kṛṣṇa and began to experience asūyā, envy, towards these city girls.

A bumble bee was flying around Her feet, thinking Her feet were lotuses. Rādhikā saw the madhukara, the bumblebee; in Her high state of loving mood She thought that the bee was a messenger of Kṛṣṇa. In this elevated state of divyonmada (madness in separation), She scolded the bumblebee, “Don’t touch me.”

Seeing that bumblebee had come to Her in an intoxicated state, She said, “O Madhukara, it appears that My kānta, My beloved, has sent you to pacify Me because He feels guilty that He has committed sins and offences. He therefore wants to plead through you in humble submission.

O messenger of Kṛṣṇa, you are just like Him. He is a cunning cheater who deceives people of their wealth, and He is a cheater from all other points of view as well. And you are his bosom friend.”

Śrīmatī Rādhikā never called Kṛṣṇa directly by His name, but She addressed Him indirectly by the use of other names. She told the bee, “You are the bosom friend of My priya-bandhu who is dhūrta, a cheater, and dhrsta, stubborn.”

As Uddhava witnessed Her talking to the bumblebee, he saw that actually Kṛṣṇa Himself had come to Vraja in the form of that bumblebee. He also saw how Rādhikā was very angry with Kṛṣṇa, criticizing and abusing Him, and calling Him an ungrateful cheater. No one else could have spoken to Kṛṣṇa in this way, not Satyabhāmā and the other queens, and not even Mother Yaśodā and Nanda Bābā.

But Rādhikā told Him, “You are ungrateful, and you are like a sixlegged bumblebee. Human beings have two legs and animals have four; but bumblebees have six legs, so they are more ignorant than any animal. We don’t want to have any relationship with that black person whose heart is as black as a bumblebee. Rāma was also black, and he cheated Sūrpanakhā and cut off her nose and ears.”

Before coming to Kadamba-kyārī, Uddhava had been with Nanda Bābā and he was very moved by his moods and amazed by his deep love. Mother Yaśodā had become blind from her separation to Kṛṣṇa. However, when Uddhava witnessed the transcendental ecstasies of divyonmada and citrājalpa (transcendental madness and anger in the mood of deep separation) in Śrī Rādhikā, he became stunned in helplessness.

Uddhava related His message, word by word, letter by letter. However, this only made the gopīs unhappy. Previously they had thought, “Kṛṣṇa has promised that He will come;” but after hearing the message, they thought, “Kṛṣṇa will never come,” and they felt even more separation.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī began to weep:

हे नाथ हे रमा-नाथ व्रज-नाथार्ति-नाशन
मग्नम् उद्धर गोविन्द गोकुलं वृजिनार्णवात्

he nātha he ramā-nātha vraja-nāthārti-nāśana
magnam uddhara govinda gokulaṃ vṛjinārṇavāt

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.52

O master of My life, O master of the goddess of fortune, O master of Vraja! O destroyer of all suffering; O Govinda, please lift Your Gokula out of the ocean of distress in which it is drowning!

Śrīmatī Rādhikā said, “I am dying without Kṛṣṇa. My dear sakhīs, if Kṛṣṇa does not come, I will die; I will surely die. Take My body, place it at the base of a tamāla tree, and place My arms around that tree so that I may feel connected to Kṛṣṇa. I pray that the water in My body will mix with Pāvana-sarovara where Kṛṣṇa bathes, so that I may touch Him. Let the air in this body go to Nanda Bābā’s courtyard and touch Kṛṣṇa when He is being fanned. May the fire in this body become rays of sunshine in Nanda Bābā’s courtyard, and then My soul will be happy. Now I cannot see Kṛṣṇa, or touch Him.”

Śrī Rādhā was in a very pitiful condition, in a mood of deep separation.

This is why Kṛṣṇa had sent Uddhava to Vṛndāvana: to try to be admitted into the school of the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa had told him, “Be admitted into the school in which I studied. Then, when you return, we will be able to have some discussion about love and affection. First, go and become qualified.”

However, Uddhava was not qualified for admittance into the school of the gopīs. Uddhava therefore prayed:

वन्दे नन्द-व्रज-स्त्रीणां पाद-रेणुम् अभीक्ष्णशः
यासां हरि-कथोद्गीतं पुनाति भुवन-त्रयम्

vande nanda-vraja-strīṇāṃ pāda-reṇum abhīkṣṇaśaḥ
yāsāṃ hari-kathodgītaṃ punāti bhuvana-trayam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.63

I repeatedly offer my respects to the dust from the feet of the women of Nanda Mahārāja’s cowherd village. When these gopīs loudly chant the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the vibration purifies the three worlds.

Nanda-vraja-strinam means the beloved gopīs of Kṛṣṇa. Uddhava prayed to them, “I want to offer myself unto the dust of your lotus feet. I want to keep even one particle of your foot-dust on my head, and if I can only get one particle of dust, it must be Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s.” Neither Brahmā nor Saṅkara, nor even Satyabhāmā and the other Dvārakā queens, can attain this. Uddhava prayed, “If I cannot attain Rādhikā’s lotus feet, then I will be satisfied with the dust particles from the feet of any of Her sakhīs. Only by taking the particle of dust or mood of the gopīs will I be able to please Kṛṣṇa”

When Uddhava returned from Vraja, he told Kṛṣṇa about the glories of the gopīs and their one-pointed love for Him.

“It is so very high that I could not touch it. I only saw that mountain of love from a great distance, but still it was so high that my hat fell off the back of my head as I looked up at it. I cannot imagine how glorious the gopīs are. I wanted to take the dust of their lotus feet, but now I am hopeless. I am not qualified to touch their foot-dust, so I simply offer praṇāma to it from very far away.”

आसाम् अहो चरण-रेणु-जुषाम् अहं स्यां
वृन्दावने किम् अपि गुल्म-लतौषधीनाम्
या दुस्त्यजं स्व-जनम् आर्य-पथं च हित्वा
भेजुर् मुकुन्द-पदवीं श्रुतिभिर् विमृग्याम्

āsām aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṃ syāṃ
vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām
yā dustyajaṃ sva-janam ārya-pathaṃ ca hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṃ śrutibhir vimṛgyām

Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 10.47.61

The gopīs of Vṛndāvana have abandoned the association of their husbands, sons, and other family members who are very difficult to give up, and they have forsaken the path of chastity to take shelter of the lotus feet of Mukunda, Kṛṣṇa, who one should search for by Vedic knowledge. Oh, let me be fortunate enough to be one of the bushes, creepers, or herbs in Vṛndāvana, because the gopīs trample them and bless them with the dust of their lotus feet.

This is our goal, the dust of the lotus feet of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. She is always absorbed in pleasing Kṛṣṇa.

Paramārādhya Gurudeva Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja has mercifully revealed these pastimes to us.