SP Radhastami Lecture (Video)

RADHASTAMI 

Mercy of Srimati Radharani

Srimati Radharani is the ideal maha-bhagvat. As the greatest devotee, She is also the most compassionate. She is unable to bear the suffering of the souls trapped in the material world. The word "aradhaya" (prayers) is derived from "Radha" and means "worshippable". Similarly the word "aparadha" (offenses) means "against Radha". When one performs devotional service, one is pleasing Srimati Radharani and when commits Vaishnava aparadha against Krishna or His devotees, one is offending Radharani. 

Srimati Radharani is the guardian, the mentor and the benefactor of all aspiring devotees. When a soul starts to inquire about Krishna, Srimati Radharani is most pleased and takes charge of his devotional advancements. As one makes progress, one continues to invoke the mercy of Srimati Radharani and when She is pleased, Krishna is automatically pleased.



Srila Prabhupada says, on Radhastami, "From this word aradhyate, Radha has come."............

Prabhupada: This love of Krsna for Radharani is often compared to a blooming lotus; the only difference is that Krsna's love remains ever-increasingly beautiful.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => NoD 44: Devotional Service in Conjugal Love
Prabhupada: Don't take that Radharani is an ordinary woman, like we have our wife or sister or mother. No. She is the pleasure potency. And the birth of Radharani was not from the womb of any human being. 

She was found by Her father in the field. While father was plowing, he saw one little nice child is lying there, and he had no children, so he caught it and presented to the queen, "Oh, here we have got a very nice child." "How you got?" "Oh, in the field." Just see. Radharani's janma is like that. So this janma is today, and Radha, this name is sometimes not found in Bhagavata. So the atheistic class of men protest that "Radharani's name is not in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. 

How this name came, Radharani?" But they do not know how to see it. There is anayaradhyate. There are many gopis, but there is mention that by this particular gopi He is served more pleasingly. Krsna accepts this gopi's service more gladly. Anayaradhyate. Aradhyate. This aradhate, this word, aradhyate means worshiping. From this word aradhyate, Radha has come. But Radha's name are there in other Puranas. So this is the origin.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Radhastami Lecture – August 30, 1968, Montreal