RADHA AND KRISHNA THE ART OF MYSTIC SYMBOLISM

  RADHA AND KRISHNA   THE ART OF MYSTIC SYMBOLISM

“The love of Radha and Krishna is symbolic of the eternal love affair between the devoted and the Divine
Radha’s yearning for union with her beloved Krishna is the soul’s longing for spiritual awakening.
In Sanskrit, the world Krishna means “dark”, indicating the Supreme Consciousness. Pure Consciousness is said to be “dark”, not as opposed to “light,” but in the sense that it is unseen by or unknown to one as long as one remains footed in earthly experiences, limited to the realms of perceptions, emotions, and thoughts gained through the physical body, and the intellect.
Consciousness is the pure Self, the sentient Life Principle which enlivens one’s material equipment to function in their respective realms. Consciousness is the very subject of all experiences and therefore cannot be objectively experienced.

Krishna is described as being blue in color and wearing yellow clothes. Blue is the color of the infinite and whatever is immeasurable can appear to the mortal eyes only as blue. Vast expanses in nature, such as the sky at midday or the ocean at its depths, appears blue to human perception. Yellow represents the earth. Anything buried in the earth gathers a yellowish hue; and in fire, earth emits a yellow hue. Hence the blue form of Krishna clothed in yellow appropriately suggests pure, infinite Consciousness manifesting on earth to play in finite form.

Krishna, as the Consciousness, or Atman, resides in the core of one’s personality. .

Though the infinite Being seems to be limited and confined to a human embodiment, it is ever free and un-contaminated. The pure Self within is never affected or bound by one’s material equipment , that is, the body, mind, and intellect. Though the divine child Krishna was born in prison, neither the iron bars nor the prison guards could confine Him.

Lord Krishna plays the flute, producing enchanting music. The flute, by itself, cannot create music. It is an inert, insentient piece of matter. But when the Lord plays it, divine music emanates from it and enchants everyone. Similarly, the human body is, by itself, inert and insentient. It contains the sense organs and the mind-intellect equipment (the holes in the flute) through which the Consciousness expresses Itself.

Krishna the beloved boy of Brindavan, is pictured amid the dancing gopis. Much criticism has been leveled against Krishna’s association with these milkmaids. Little do the critics realize that the Lord is ever an unconcerned and unaffected witness of the milkmaids’ dance, even though He may be in their midst. Krishna is like the Consciousness within, which vitalizes one’s thoughts (gopis) but remains unperturbed and unaffected by them. The self is ever immaculate, uncontaminated by the thoughts in one’s bosom. Thus, if the lives of such god-men are read without understanding their mystical symbolism one comes to wrong, and at times absurd, conclusions.

The gopis performed their obligatory duties throughout the day in constant remembrance of Krishna. Their limbs were ceaselessly engaged in activity, while their minds were ever attuned to the Lord. This, in short, is the essence of Karma Yoga, that is, the dedication of one’s actions to a higher altar working without ego and egocentric desires.

The most beautiful and the most beloved of all gopis was Radha. The love of Radha and Krishna is symbolic of the eternal love affair between the devoted  and the Divine.   Radha’s yearning for union with her beloved Krishna is the soul’s longing for spiritual awaking to be united with the one Source of peace and bliss from which it has become separated. This long-forgotten pain of separation is the root cause of all suffering. To rediscover our Oneness is the source of all happiness and fulfillment.

Every human being is constantly seeking a share of peace and happiness, and since one does not know the real source of these, one seeks them in the midst of sense objects. But when, in devotion, one comes to turn one’s entire attention towards the higher and the nobler, one experiences the Immortal, the Infinite

Bhagavatam says : “The mind that constantly contemplates upon the sense objects irresistibly comes to revel in their finite joys, and the mind that learns to constantly remember Me ( self)  comes to dissolve into Me and revel in Me”.
Radha represents this state of devotion and consequent merging with the Lord or self -- the pure infinite consciousness.

Ref : Writings of Swami Chinmayananda  Saraswati