Radha

[Guest guest]

Having succeeded in attaining darshan of Lord Krishna,

I can tell you that it is not too much different than

a singing idol and his adoring fans.It is the

privilege of God to be "philandering" because God is

available to all...actually, Radha attained to Krishna

because she was focused on Him alone, even though she

was supposedly married with children. The young women

were free to chase Him, and thus they did not take Him

seriously; while Radha, as a married woman, had to

keep her longing to herself, bottled up, and thus her

devotion was all-consuming. The whole story is meant

to be viewed as a metaphor. Radha is seen as His

Supreme Consort because she loves only Krishna, she

sees only Krishna, thus she is the embodiment of the

Supreme Devotee, saddled with the burdens of

existence, but longing for Union with the Beloved. She

was ready to sacrifice her all for her love of Him.

The young women, what did they sacrifice? Nothing. The

idea of the Radha/Krishna dynamic is that you accept

God the way He is, you long for Him with everything

that you have, and you are prepared to sacrifice all

for Him. At least that's the way I see it. I like to

think that when Krishna departed from Vrindavan, that

He left Radha with a little blue bun in the oven to

remember Him by! My own version of the tale, of

course, but a much nicer one than thinking He just up

and left and that was it for Him and her!!PS. Krishna

eventually ended up with 16,000 wives, BTW!

Lilith M.

--- prainbow61 <paulie-rainbow wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> A friend of mine is having a birthday and i'm trying

> to find a way to honor her personal

> tradition. She seems to follow Krsna but speaks a

> lot about Radha. I don't find Radha

> referenced any where in the literature I have on the

> Shakti tradition. I do see "Shakit of all,

> consort of none" which doesn't seem to match what my

> friend says about Radha much, as

> Her main role seems to be that of consort and

> partner.

>

> Are there any texts related to Radha Herself that I

> personally might relate to? The stuff

> about being entirely devoted to a philandering God,

> doesn't appeal to me much. Please

> don't take offense if I've misinterpreted this, I

> only know what my friend has told me and

> I'm really struggling to make it work for me. It

> doesn't help that her romantic life seems to

> mimic this *ideal*. Thank you.

>

> Blessings,

>

> prainbow

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Well, it sounds to me like your friend honors her tradition in how

she lives her life. Maybe you can honor her by bringing in another

influence, a new idea. I mean by not turning to traditional

Krishna/Radha texts or imagery, and instead supporting/calling forth

a new dynamic somehow. Maybe like Lili's idea of a "blue bun in the

oven," only not - conception refers to ideas, not just babies. And

the bun doesn't have to be blue. I have no idea what you might do,

or how, I only have a thought that something else, true to your own

heart, can be brought into play to increase your friend's abundance

and prosperity in matters of the heart and other matters, and that

such an offering would be a wonderful gift, if able to be given

freely, with no attachment, and certainly with no judgment of where

she currently is/how she lives.

 

I live in Santa Monica, and there is a statue of St. Monica in a

park that overlooks the ocean here. People bring offerings to the

statue of flowers, and one time, red paint was hurled onto the

statue. The image means a lot to many people. To me, she represents

a tradition of suffering for others - her son, and her husband. Her

life was spent wringing her hands and crying, wanting and praying

for their conversion to Christianity (I know you hate Xianity, but

bear with me here), and living with being treated badly, esp. by her

husband. Having been raised Catholic myself, it has been hard to

break the tradition of suffering for others when I care about them,

yet I know it can and must be done. It isn't that prayer and love

aren't valuable and useful and meaningful, but separating from the

hand-wringing and pain when others are not quite where we wish they

were - that must be done in order to free our own power, so that we,

too, can move beyond our own limiting traditions. I'm writing all

this only because what you posted makes me think of it, not because

I have any advice or clue what you or your friend need or want. This

just resonates for me right now. I hope you, or someone else, may

find it useful.

 

Mary Ann

 

 

, "prainbow61" <paulie-

rainbow@u...> wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> A friend of mine is having a birthday and i'm trying to find a way

to honor her personal

> tradition. She seems to follow Krsna but speaks a lot about Radha.

I don't find Radha

> referenced any where in the literature I have on the Shakti

tradition. I do see "Shakit of all,

> consort of none" which doesn't seem to match what my friend says

about Radha much, as

> Her main role seems to be that of consort and partner.

>

> Are there any texts related to Radha Herself that I personally

might relate to? The stuff

> about being entirely devoted to a philandering God, doesn't appeal

to me much. Please

> don't take offense if I've misinterpreted this, I only know what

my friend has told me and

> I'm really struggling to make it work for me. It doesn't help that

her romantic life seems to

> mimic this *ideal*. Thank you.

>

> Blessings,

>

> prainbow