Surrendering to Krishna through Radha

Question: In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna points out that we should make Him the center of everything, do everything as an offering to Him and always think of Him. In this case how does one receive mercy of Radharani, when one is instructed to think only of Sri Krishna.

The entire process of surrendering to Lord Krishna involves surrendering to Srimati Radharani. Radharani is the internal energy of Lord Krishna. There is no difference between Radha and Krishna – it is the Absolute Truth as enjoyer and enjoyed. Lord Krishna is the shaktiman (controller of energy), and Radha is the shakti (controlled energy). It is not possible to have one without the other. How can there be a shaktiman with out an energy for him to control?

In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna speaks in terms of general principles. He says surrender to Me, worship Me, always think of Me. But He does not go into the details of how to accomplish these activities. How do we think of the Lord? In what manner? How do we worship the Lord? Lord Krishna is never alone. He is always surrounded by His devotees, the topmost of whom is Radharani. When we think of Krishna, we will automatically think of the devotees whom He is interacting with. When we think of His pastimes in Vrindavana, we think of the gopis. When we think of His pastime of speaking the Bhagavad Gita, we think of Arjuna. We are always remembering the Lord and His devotees.

The Lord must always be approached through His devotees. When we worship the Lord in the temple, in the form of archa-murti, we will always find the Lord with His eternal consort – either Lakshmi, Sita, Radha or Rukmini.

When we chant the name of the Lord, we first invoke the Lord’s shakti: sita-rama, lakshmi-narayana, radha-krishna.

When we chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra, the word “Hare” is calling out to Sri Radha. The word “Hara” is Radharani. According to sanskrit grammar it becomes “Hare” in the vocative. Thus the words Hare Krishna and Hare Rama are calling out to Radha and Krishna, as they are never seperate.

This is the process of approaching the Lord as described in the shastras. Those who properly worship Krishna according to the scriptures will be automatically worshipping Sri Radha Devi, the original shakti, as well.