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Remembering Radha-Krishna

BRAJ MEDITATION (Short)

Devo­tees med­i­tate daily on the fol­low­ing sce­nario while imag­in­ing them­selves in their per­fect spir­i­tual iden­tity as a char­ac­ter inter­act­ing in Radha-Krishna’s play. It fol­lows the basic plot syn­op­sis given by Rupa Goswami in his Ashta-Kaliya-Leela-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram updated for con­tem­po­rary use. It pro­vides a sim­ple out­line prac­ti­tion­ers can flesh out accord­ing to their per­sonal lov­ing rela­tion­ship with Radha-Krishna.

If peo­ple begin this prac­tice early in life as they are able and begin cul­ti­vat­ing a men­tal pic­ture of Braj while devel­op­ing their spir­i­tual iden­tity, it helps spir­i­tual progress and lays the ground­work for extended med­i­ta­tion later in life.

It is not all or noth­ing. What­ever devo­tees do to grad­u­ally progress is good. Slow, grad­ual progress is usu­ally more sus­tain­able than forced rapid progress. Each per­son finds the bal­ance that works for them.

These med­i­ta­tional prac­tices are mined from the depths of Radha-Krishna devo­tion and refined by Rupa and his fol­low­ers. It is the process of becom­ing aware of Braj, and long­ing to be there. Being able to clearly pic­ture the scene is quite help­ful.  How­ever, it is not sim­ply a mat­ter of see­ing it but also feel­ing it. Many peo­ple are not adept at men­tally pic­tur­ing a scene like Braj, and that is not an obsta­cle. Focus on devel­op­ing the mood of a girl­friend and learn how to act with other characters.

Look at it as con­scious dreaming–entering into an alter­nate real­ity. Devo­tees fix their inten­tion on becom­ing the per­son they imag­ine them­selves to be in that real­ity. By med­i­tat­ing on the pas­times at the times of day they are said to take place, the spir­i­tual plane inter­sects the space­time plane, and prac­ti­tion­ers learn to live in two real­i­ties at once.

❡

Radha-Krishna are a young cou­ple deeply in love with each other. They spend much time together, but there are peri­ods of sep­a­ra­tion. They are not mar­ried, but have a com­mit­ted open rela­tion­ship. Mar­riage is not an issue as there is no birth, death, dis­ease, or old age, which erases many of the tra­di­tional rea­sons for mar­riage. Peo­ple do form com­mit­ted rela­tion­ships if they so desire, but gen­er­ally, rela­tion­ships are more open there than here since Radha-Krishna and all their expan­sions, includ­ing their devo­tees, sim­ply want to share love and increase everyone’s enjoy­ment. Radha-Krishna are twenty years old. Their inti­mate friends are dif­fer­ent ages rang­ing from eigh­teen to twenty.

Braj pos­sesses an unimag­in­ably beau­ti­ful rus­tic charm. Nature pro­vides abun­dantly with lit­tle toil. Every­thing is con­scious, and by desir­ing some­thing, it is. The prob­lem of inert mat­ter does not exist there. Peo­ple work at what­ever they do because they enjoy it and want to con­tribute to oth­ers’ enjoy­ment. They live a coop­er­a­tive com­mu­nity lifestyle.

Krishna is the son of a lead­ing cou­ple, and Radha is the daugh­ter of another. They spend time with their fam­i­lies but live inde­pen­dently. Radha-Krishna and friends enjoy sump­tu­ous com­mu­nal meals and enter­tain­ment pro­vided by tal­ented com­mu­nity mem­bers. Due to their intense love, every­one wants to please Radha-Krishna, and they please every­one. All enjoy a life of sim­ple elegance.

THE MEDITATION

  1. I extol Radha-Krishna’s eter­nal play in Braj and describe their daily activ­i­ties, which those fol­low­ing the path of pas­sion­ate nat­ural devo­tion med­i­tate upon. This emo­tional and men­tal visu­al­iza­tion brings us to Radha-Krishna’s lov­ing asso­ci­a­tion by our intense desire to be absorbed in the play of Braj as a par­tic­i­pant. It is unat­tain­able by other means.
  2. May Radha-Krishna pro­tect us, as at dawn, they leave their for­est love cot­tage and return to their homes in town. In the morn­ing and evening, Krishna takes part in vil­lage activ­i­ties help­ing and inspir­ing every­one. He eats in the com­mu­nal din­ning hall where Radha super­vises prepa­ra­tion of deli­cious meals twice a day. After the morn­ing meal, Krishna tours the forests and mead­ows with his friends and tends the cows. He slips away to join Radha and her friends at the lake, and they return to town in the evening. After din­ner, Radha-Krishna par­tic­i­pate in com­mu­nity enter­tain­ment and then slip away to their for­est cot­tage for love play.
  3. At dawn, I remem­ber Radha-Krishna who are awak­ened by cocks crow­ing and birds singing. They unite one more time before ris­ing and being greeted by their friends who spent the night in sur­round­ing cot­tages, gaze­bos, and pavilions–well appointed for the enjoy­ment of all. Radha-Krishna each return to their own homes sur­rounded by lov­ing friends.
  4. In the morn­ing, I take shel­ter of Radha who is mas­saged, bathed, dressed, and dec­o­rated by her inti­mate female friends. She then goes to the com­mu­nity kitchen and super­vises prepa­ra­tion of deli­cious food for Krishna and the community’s enjoy­ment. I also remem­ber Krishna who bathes, dresses, and goes about inquir­ing into everyone’s well-being and bring­ing joy to all. Krishna then goes to the din­ning hall and eats with Radha, their fam­i­lies, and friends.
  5. In late morn­ing, I remem­ber Krishna who tends cows in the forests and mead­ows with his friends. He slips away to ren­dezvous with Radha for amorous play at the lake. I also remem­ber Radha who relaxes at the shore with her friends await­ing Krishna’s arrival.
  6. At mid­day, I remem­ber Radha-Krishna who look inde­scrib­ably beau­ti­ful and radi­ant due to their pas­sion­ate meet­ing. They are sur­rounded by a host of girl­friends, like Lalita, who pro­vide snacks, drinks, and pleas­ant com­pan­ion­ship. Their youth­ful beauty and pas­sion cre­ate an erot­i­cally charged atmos­phere that attracts the god of love. Radha-Krishna and friends play in the for­est and lake. They swing, make love, drink honey wine, enjoy aro­matic, sweetly rous­ing herbs and other delights.
  7. In late after­noon, I remem­ber Radha who returns home where her girl­friends bathe and beau­ti­fully dress her. She then goes and super­vises prepa­ra­tion of the evening com­mu­nity meal. Krishna strolls around town see­ing how everyone’s day went, encour­ag­ing them, and show­ing love for all.
  8. At sun­set, I remem­ber Radha-Krishna who beau­ti­fully dressed enjoy a lav­ish ban­quet with their friends and fam­i­lies. After din­ner, peo­ple enter­tain with music, song, dance, and com­edy. They tell sto­ries of won­drous dis­tant lands, of worlds filled with fan­tas­tic crea­tures and heroic deeds of insa­tiable love and dan­ger, where land and peo­ple can per­ish. Lis­ten­ing to such tales by the evening fire they some­times fall into reverie, imag­in­ing them­selves as par­tic­i­pants in such stories.
  9. At night, I remem­ber Radha-Krishna who slip away to their love cot­tage by the river­side with some close friends. Radha-Krishna enjoy each other’s com­pany sur­rounded by their dear friends who sing, joke, and speak sweetly. They drink honey wine, enjoy intox­i­cat­ing herbs, and dance pas­sion­ately. With minds absorbed in love and open hearts, they rel­ish the var­ied fla­vors of erotic joy.
  10. Radha-Krishna enjoy the com­pany of their friends who pro­vide beau­ti­ful flow­ers, tasty sweets, cool drinks, and mas­sages. After the girl­friends fall asleep, Radha-Krishna doze off on their flower strewn bed shar­ing sweet mur­mur­ings of deep love. When they fall asleep, they dream about tales they told and heard ear­lier, thus enjoy­ing both their eter­nity and worlds of per­ish­able nature in their dreams.