Hare Kṛṣṇa,
CC Ādi 1.6
śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo vānayaivā-
svādyo yenādbhuta-madhurimā kīdṛśo vā madīyaḥ
saukhyaṁ cāsyā mad-anubhavataḥ kīdṛśaṁ veti lobhāt
tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ samajani śacī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ
Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love, the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī, as the moon appeared from the ocean.
Therefore, the first of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s three desires is to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love for Him. How is this desire born in Him? Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami explains it beautifully by highlighting how Kṛṣṇa enjoys various ages across three ages, namely childhood, boyhood and adolescence. Of these three ages, His adolescence is especially significant because He tasted the essence of rasa, fulfilling His desires in pastimes like the rāsa dance with Śrīmatī Rādhikā and the other gopīs. Indeed, Kṛṣṇa made all three of His ages, and the entire universe, successful by His pastimes of amorous love like the rāsa dance.
Even though Kṛṣṇa, who is the abode of all mellows, somewhat essence of the mellows of love. He is called Rasaraja (King of Rasa or supreme aesthetic taste) because He is the ultimate, transcendental enjoyer and source of all loving exchanges (rasas) in Vraja-lila. Despite being the abode of all mellows, still Kṛṣṇa felt that He was unable to fulfill three desires, although He made efforts to taste them. Kṛṣṇa ponders, “I am the primary cause of all rasas. I am the full spiritual truth and am made of full joy, but the love of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī drives Me mad. I do not know the strength of Rādhā’s love, with which She always overwhelms Me. The love of Rādhikā is My teacher, and I am Her dancing pupil. Her prema makes Me dance various novel dances. Whatever pleasure I get from tasting My love for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, She tastes ten million times more than Me by Her love. Just as I am the abode of all mutually contradictory characteristics, so Rādhā’s love is always full of similar contradictions. Rādhā’s love is all-pervading, leaving no room for expansion. But still it is expanding constantly. There is certainly nothing greater than Her love. But Her love is devoid of pride. That is the sign of its greatness. Nothing is purer than Her love. But its behavior is always perverse and crooked… I taste the bliss to which the object of love is entitled. But the pleasure of Rādhā, the abode of that love, is ten million times greater. My mind races to taste the pleasure experienced by the abode, but I cannot taste it, even by My best efforts. How may I taste it? If sometime I can be the abode of that love, only then may I taste its joy.” (CC Adi 4.121-135 Purport)
Thus, in this unique sense, the devotee stands in a higher experiential position than Kṛṣṇa—not in ontological supremacy, but in the capacity to taste the sweetness of loving Him. Kṛṣṇa longs to understand the strength, purity, and ecstasy contained within the heart of His devotee, something He cannot fully relish while remaining the object of love. This intense desire led Him to exchange roles—from viṣaya to āśraya—and appear as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so that He could taste the unparalleled bliss experienced by Śrī Rādhā and the devotees who love Him.
“The transcendental consciousness of the Lord tells Him, “I am Kṛṣṇa, and I experience pleasure as the viṣaya. The pleasure enjoyed by Rādhārāṇī, the āśraya, is many times greater than the pleasure I feel.” Therefore, to feel the pleasure of the āśraya category, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” (CC Adi 4.135 Purport)
Internally, therefore, the Lord descended to taste the love possessed by His devotee; externally, He came to propagate saṅkīrtana—the congregational chanting of the Holy Name. Through the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa maha-mantra, the very mood and love that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to experience are distributed to the conditioned souls. Saṅkīrtana thus becomes the merciful bridge: by chanting the Holy Name, devotees are gradually situated in the āśraya-bhāva, participating in that same current of divine love which even Kṛṣṇa desired to taste. In this way, the Holy Name allows the living entity to enter the path of relishing devotion—the exalted position whose sweetness inspired the Lord’s own appearance.
“From the life of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, an intelligent person engaged in pure devotional service can understand that He always felt separation from Kṛṣṇa within Himself. In that separation He sometimes felt that He had found Kṛṣṇa and was enjoying the meeting. The significance of this separation and meeting is very specific. If someone tries to understand the exalted position of Lord Caitanya without knowing this, he is sure to misunderstand it.” (CC Adi 4.106 Purport)
Herein lies an important word of caution: to approach and experience even a glimpse of this love in separation, as manifested by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we require the careful guidance of spiritual master(s) and advanced devotees—just as Mahāprabhu Himself was expertly guided and supported by Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī.
“Those under the shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu can understand that His mode of worship of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in separation is the real worship of the Lord. When the feelings of separation become very intense, one attains the stage of meeting Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Lord Śrī Caitanya exhibited the highest stage of the feelings of a devotee in separation from the Lord. This exhibition was sublime because He was completely perfect in the feelings of separation. The Lord is understood only in pursuance of the principles laid down by the Gosvāmīs, headed by Svarūpa Dāmodara.” (CC Adi 4.107-108 Purport)
This is such a beautiful meditation as we approach the auspicious appearance day of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu next week. All glories to Mahāprabhu! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 