Question: We all know of the great epic of Lord Krishna, the holy war between good and bad but on the other end I have few questions unanswered:
We have always heard of Radha-krishna rasa lila but once Krishna left Gokul, the entire focus of Mahabharat goes to war and other important topics, but there is no explanation of what happened to Radha and her life. With all true respect I am somehow not convicned why it was not possible for Lord Krishna to be with Radha and why He had to marry Rukmini. This act is totally unfaithful; the very typical answer is that for the sake of the world, God has to leave everything and move to save the world and defeat the evil. If that was the case why in the first place did He love Radha?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Krishna’s leaving Vrindavana and all of His beloved associates there was not an act of unfaithfulness; rather it has very deep spiritual import. You might have heard that the Supreme Personality of Godhead accomplishes many purposes through one action. The external reason for Krishna’s leaving Vrindavan was to attend to other affairs such as killing the demons and establishing religious principles (as He had promised Mother Earth prior to His appearance, and which He did in the battle of Kurukshetra) as well as to reciprocate with His other devotees in Mathura and Hastinapura.
However, the internal reason was His desire to reciprocate with the unparalleled love of the residents of Vrindavan. Krishna actually never leaves Vrindavan – this is the statement of scriptures. Rather He remained with the gopis and mother Yashoda in His bhava expansion, and apparently in separation only for the reason of increasing their ecstatic love for Him. (Cf. Krsna Book, Ch 11)
Krishna explains this in His message through Uddhava, “My dear gopis, in order to increase your super excellent love for Me, I have purposely separated Myself from you. I have done this so that you may be in constant meditation on Me.” (Cf. Krishna book Ch 12) The gopis had attained such an intense degree of love for Krishna that Krishna felt unable to repay them; He explains later on that the only way He could further increase their transcendental happiness was by having them serve Him in separation.
This method of loving and serving in the mood of separation is the highest form of absorption in Krishna and the highest source of spiritual ecstasy – and this fact is very difficult to understand from the material point of view. Krishna Himself was constantly absorbed in this mood of love in separation from Radharani while in Dvaraka.
His marrying Rukmini and other queens should also not be seen from the mundane platform. Rukmini and all the other queens of Dvaraka are actually expansions of Srimati Radharani and are the internal spiritual energy of the Lord. There is nothing immoral, unfaithful or reproachable in the divine pastimes of the Supreme Lord – they are all meant simply for increasing the spiritual happiness of His devotees.
Please refer to further discussion on this topic from previous digests:
Digest 40 Question 1 Krishna and His Internal Potencies
Digest 7H How can Lord Krishna ever leave Srimati Radharani?
