HH RADHANATH SWAMI
In the divine spirit that His Holiness Sacinandana Maharaja has revealed to us: begging, pleading for faith and honest, genuine devotion, begging to truly appreciate the position of the servant of the servant of the servant, we will from our hearts continuously chant the Holy names – it’s enough for your worship to Sri Sri Radha Shyamasunder and therefore visit Radha kunda and Shyama kunda.
We will go to the various Holy places. I really do not know how it’s going to be done, but we’re going to try. There are small lanes that hardly one person can fit through and we have almost two thousand. So we’re going to be going in a line procession. There will be some devotees in the primary Holy places, calling out what this place is. Many of them have been described in our insignificant lecture.
We should bow down to Kundeshwara Mahadev, Lord Shiva, who is the protector of Radha kunda, Shyama kunda. In our hearts, we should beg permission from Guru, Vaishnavas and Srila Prabhupada to perform this worship. And in each place, let us offer our love in the form of chanting Hare Krsna and our prayers for humility, faith and real bhakti, praying to Srimati Radharani for Her mercy.
The Story of Sri Radha Kunda
And those at Sri Radha kunda, we know the story, how that insignificant, fallen jackal received the ultimate perfection. We should be in the mood of that jackal. She coursed just close to Radha kunda. You remember the story – the jackal was being persecuted by the little kids. Stones thrown at it. Tried to hide in a hole, but then, fire all around it, screaming out helplessly. Radharani, here at Radha kunda, gives Her mercy. Sent gopi to rescue that jackal and that gopi brought that jackal to Radharani’s lotus feet. And that jackal, with all humility, no prestige whatsoever, really came out of the silly chain. Just fell at Srimati Radharani’s feet, whooping and crying, begging for mercy helplessly.
Srimati Radharani lovingly petted that jackal and gave her Her eternal service in the spiritual world. That is what Radha kunda is. The place where we are begging for mercy of Sri Radharani.
tapta-kancana-gaurangi radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi pranamami hari-priye
We cannot imitate great souls like Raghunath Das Goswami, but we can try to follow their footsteps. The footsteps is to be absorbed in Krsna’s service.
Raghunath Das Goswami’s Absorption in His Service to Sri Sri Radha Shyamasunder
How is Raghunath Das Goswami absorbed in Krsna’s service? He was only eating one bit of the cow’s mellow butter milk every day. Oftentimes, he would forget it, he was so absorbed in his service – chanting the Holy names, doing (0:04:51.2), bowing down – two thousand times a day, he would bow down to Vaishnavas. This is prayojana acharya. It’s not the prayojana acharya – ‘I am mahan – bow to me’ – no, he’s bowing down. He is the (0:05:09.3) of Radha kunda eternally, and he’s bowing down to two thousand Vaishnavas every day, one thousand times to Radha kunda, Radha Shyamasunder, chanting one to two lakhs everyday of the Holy names. And drinking just a little buttermilk.
For years and years and years he was doing like this. And one time, he was very sick. He had stomach disorder. And the ayurvedic doctor came. He took his pulse, made his diagnosis and took his followers (Raghunath Das Goswami’s disciples) aside and said, “His problem is over eating. Particularly, from what I hear, he has eaten a large quantity of milk and rice and sugar.”
The disciples were about to just throw this bogus crack out – “What nonsense! He just takes a little buttermilk. For years he hasn’t eaten any milk or sugar or rice!”
So they went and told Raghunath Das Goswami and he took the medicine for it. It worked. And he started to laugh. And he actually revealed, humble as he was, is while he was chanting the Holy names and deeply, deeply meditating on the Supreme lila of Radha and Krsna – absorption, now this is absorption – he was actually, in his eternal form as a gopi in Vrindavana, Manjari, he was serving Radha and Krsna. And Radharani gave him the remnants. She took Krsna’s remnants of kheer (sweet rice), paramana and then She tasted Krsna’s remnants and then She gave Her remnants to Raghunath Das Goswami. It was rice cooked in milk and sugar, and he ate everything She gave. And therefore, he was really, on the physical platform, he was having indigestion. That is absorption.
Following in the Footsteps of Raghunath Das Goswami
How do we follow in the footsteps? By trying to be honest and humble and absorb ourselves – absorb ourselves in hearing Hari katha, absorb ourselves in whatever service we’re doing and doing it with enthusiasm and with sincerity, to please the Vaishnavas, and absorbing ourselves in our prayers. And especially, as Maharaja has taught us, absorbing ourselves in really trying to take shelter of the Holy names like that jackal being burnt by material existence, helplessly, hopelessly begging for the shelter of Srimati Radharani’s causeless mercy as we chant Hare Krsna.
And if we can even one time, bathe in Radha kunda with this type of faith, Rupa Goswami tells us that Krsna will give us love like that of Srimati Radharani. Where else in the world Prabhupada’s great mercy.
So in this sprit, we will go to the Holy places of Sri Radha kunda and worship Raghunath Das Goswami, Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur, Jiva Goswami, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, Madhavendrapuri, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu where He discovered Radha kunda. We will see the wonderful deities of the original Goswamis. And then we will offer, when we bathe, it’s not really just bathing. What bathing really means is offering your body, your mind, your words and your life as an offering of sacrifice to Sri Radharani and Krsna. That is the spirit that we should bathe at Sri Radha kunda and Shyama kunda.
And at this time, His Grace Avirama Prabhu is going to tell us what in the world he has devised to bring us on this. All you have to do is follow, praying for Sri Radharani’s causeless mercy that you all have an experience that will transform your lives forever.
