(Sep 11,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Radha’s Prem (A Drama) by Swami Sivananda

Radha’s Prem ( A Drama)

Divine Life Society Publication: Radha’s Prem (A Drama) by Swami Sivananda

Heart is the symbol of Love.
Love is Truth. Love is Power.
Love is God. To love God is to love man
and to love man is to worship God.

 

On the most auspicious day of Radha Jayanti let us pray to Her to give us all intense devotion to the Lord and lead us on to the light of Truth, Sri Krishna. Verily the Lord is more easily moved when we approach Him through our Divine Mother; and it is a well-known fact that women have an abundance of sympathy and affection overflowing in their heart. Lord Narayana is more easily propitiated through Sri Lakshmi; Siva through Parvati. Sri Krishna through Radha. May you all attain Para Bhakti and through Her Grace reach the sublimest heights of Vedanta where you feel your oneness with the Lord!

Prem Das: Swamiji Maharaj! Yesterday you made a passing remark to Radhika as the primal Prakriti of the Lord. Again you said that all the thousands of Gopis had intense love for the Lord. Why then should there have been partiality on the part of the Lord towards Radha?

Jnana Dev: You are really a divine child to have this inquiring mind. Meditate daily on one of His Leelas; great truths will dance before you.

Radha is the Ananda aspect of the Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman. Can a piece of sugar-candy taste its own sweetness? This Lord in His inscrutable ways wanted to taste the Ananda of His own Svarupa. And so, He projected Radha and Himself was born as Sri Krishna.

Now, then, listen to a small story. Once Sri Rukmini, Satyabhama and the six other Pat Ranis had a discussion: “We all love and serve our Lord with great devotion and sincerity but He does not bestow any attention on any of us. He always repeats Radha’s name alone. We must ascertain from our Lord why she is so dear to Him”.

(Lord Krishna comes and He is garlanded by all of them. They sing and welcome Him.)

Radha Krishna Bhajo ….

(Sri Krishna is extremely pleased at the very mention of Radha’s name; repeats “Radhe, Radhe’ and is immersed in the bliss of the name “Radha”. The Ranis all stand at a respectable distance watching this. Then pent-up emotion bursts out and tears rain down their cheeks. Sri Krishna, still lost in his trance sits down. Rukmini gains control over herself after a little while, signals to Nrityaranjini to dance and bring the Lord back to consciousness.)

Sri Krishna slowly regains consciousness.

Lord Krishna: My dear Ranis! Your faces indicate that you are worried over something. I see traces of tears left on your smooth flowery cheeks. May I know what it is that stands in the way of my enjoying the sight of the sweet and blissful faces of all of you, my dear ones?

Rukmini: My Lord. We all serve you, sincerely and devoutly. We love you; we adore you. Yet you always repeat Radha’s name and show great reverence to it. This pains us greatly. Are we not superior to Radha in our devotion to you? This thought greatly torments us.

Lord Krishna: Rukmini, you—every one of you—no doubt, serve me with all sincerity, but as you yourself said just now, you feel you are superior to others on account of your relationship towards me. When you nourish your ego with such ideas, where is the necessity for me to think of any of you? But Radha has no such thoughts of herself or her superiority to others. She is completely merged in me; she has burnt up all her ego. Therefore, I should bring her particularly into my sphere of protection by always remembering her and attending to her welfare.

Rukmini: My Lord, we can’t follow you. You are rather puzzling us. What do you mean by saying that Radha has completely merged herself in you and that we have not? Have we not surrendered ourselves to you completely? Why, we are even prepared to give up our life in your service!

Lord Krishna: My dear Rukmini, don’t be so impatient. Wait for some time and you will yourself know.

(After a week Lord Krishna pretended that he had intense pain in His stomach. All His Ranis and servants were busy procuring medicines and administering them to the Lord. But they found that the “pain” did not abate. Therefore they begged of Krishna to tell them what they should do.

Lord Krishna: O! The pain is unbearable. What am I to do? (Keeps silent for a few minutes.) There is only one medicine. I can’t think of any other. It is easy to get; but I don’t know if you will get it.

Rukmini: Why do you say so, my Lord. We are all ready to sacrifice our lives if you should need it. Name the medicine and it shall be brought before you have said it.

Lord Krishna: The only cure for stomach-ache is to drink a spoonful of the “Chraranamrita” of any of my true devotees. My pain will vanish immediately I drink it. Will any of you oblige me by giving me this medicine? You are all my Bhaktas and you can produce this medicine in the winking of an eye. O Rukmini! Help me, help me. I can’t bear the pain. I shall lose my life if I am not relieved of it immediately. O! please Rukmini, get a vessel and let me have a little “Charanamrita”.

(Rukmini is shocked to hear these words. She closes her ears with her hands, looks greatly perturbed and worried, looks hither and thither like a mad woman.)

Rukmini: My Lord. You are the Lord of three Worlds. I respect you more than I respect any one else in the world. How can I commit this heinous crime of offering you my Charanamrita? What a horrible sin would it be, that you want me to commit? Oh, please ask anything else. My life is yours. (Falls at his feet.)

(Krishna looks at the others.)

All: We are ready to serve our Lord in any respect; but how can we give the Lord our Charanamrita? We will go to Naraka and suffer there for ever.

(All prostrate before the Lord.)

Lord Krishna: O! My pain is increasing every moment. O! Lord, is there not any one here who would help me. O! Rukmini, if you are not willing, please ask any one of my Bhaktas to give me the Charanamrita. O! won’t any one take pity on me? ...... Ah! (Krishna swoons.)

Rukmini: I tried all the Bhaktas of the palace. None is willing to give Charanamrita for fear of falling into Naraka.

Satyabhama: I tried all the Bhaktas in the town. They have the same feeling. Oh! Lord. Suggest some way out of this dilemma.

Lord Krishna: Send a man to Barsana and try there.

(All disperse again except an attendant. Messengers are dispatched to Barsana. One of them returns after a couple of hours, with a cup of Charanamrita. All are pleased, overjoyed, Rukmini and the Ranis are astonished. The Charanamrita is offered to Krishna. He drinks and is relieved of the “pain”. He heaves a sigh of relief.)

Lord Krishna (Smiling): Who is that Bhakta who gave me this medicine?

Kaladas: My Lord, I went to Barsana and asked everybody to give “Charanamrita” for the Lord. They all took me for a mad man. Some of them shed tears but they could not bring themselves up to offering Charanamrita to the Lord for fear of falling into hell. I had not passed through two streets before a lady came running up to me, made me halt and gave me this cup. She was gasping. In spite of this, she wouldn’t even stop for a breath, but said, “Hurry up to the Lord with this”. People around us were scolding her “You fool of a Radha! Do you think you are great enough to offer your Charanamrita to Lord Krishna? Take care, you are committing the greatest sin and you are sure to suffer in this life and go to hell afterwards”. But she would not pay any heed.

Lord Krishna: Did you not ask her if she was not afraid of Naraka?

Kaladas: Yes, my Lord. But she was impatient, abused me for entering into such arguments with her and urged me again to go to you first and give this. She asked me to return to her if necessary, and put her any questions then. I was afraid that she would even beat me; and so took to my heels.

(Rukmini listens to this narration, speechless.)

Lord Krishna (to Rukmini): Look, Rukmini! Radha is not afraid of Naraka like all of you here, nor does she revere me so much more than herself (as you do) as to deny me my requirements or to refuse to carry out my wishes. She feels one with me and acts in a way that would be to my good. She has no thought for herself and she does not care if she goes to Naraka. Nor is she desirous of joy in heaven apart from me. When she has no thought for herself, and always thinks of me, is it not my duty to remember her always and take care of her interests? When each one of you thinks of your fortune and your sufferings in Naraka, you imagine you can take care of yourselves; why should I then trouble myself about you?

Rukmini: Good Lord! This is why you made all this fuss about your stomach-ache! But I am your Jnana Shakti. Why did I not know this answer at first?

Lord Krishna: Because you felt that you were separate from me. This feeling of separation emanating from egoism should he expunged if you want to develop Parabhakti and merge in me.

All Ranis: Oh! Is this the secret of love? How ignorant were we? And how nicely does our Lord remove that veil of ignorance!

All sing in chorus.

Krishna Krishna Namostute, jeya Vishnu Nama Namostute

…… Narasimha namostute, jeya Panduranga namostute.

Jnana Dev: My dear Premdas! Do you now understand Radha’s love for Krishna? How pure, sublime, selfless and dear it is to the Lord! Now that Radha is one with Him; will any of you try and succeed loving the Lord as selflessly as Radha did, and surrender yourself so completely to Him that you will be prepared to offer him without question even such a thing as your Charanamrita? Para-bhakti is not different from Supreme knowledge. In parabhakti the devotee and Lord are one. The devotee identifies himself with the Lord. The main obstacles to the revelation of Atman or Truth in us is Egoism. Till we annihilate this, there is not the least chance of the Effulgent Light of Truth shining in all its splendor. In Parabhakti egoism takes to flight and the devotee no longer perceives any difference between himself and the Lord. The Parabhakta is thus a great Jnani also.

Prem Das: Swamiji Maharaj! You have dispelled my life-long doubt and have poured joy and light into my heart.

Excerpts from:

Radha’s Prem (A Drama) by Swami Sivananda

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org