Is it true that Radharani is Krishna’s maternal aunt?
A girl devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Hare Krishna Prabhuji. Is it true that Radha is Krishna’s maternal aunt? I heard that it is Garga samhita written by Gargacharya. This is widely accepted and people have also criticized Radha Krishna for this. If you can explain it will of great help. Please don’t disclose my name.”
REPLY:
We ask questions and conveniently hide the name. But, we try to know the confidential hidden details of Krishna and His lilas though we are not eligible to know them. Even the acharyas of older days did not discuss those details. Srila Prabhupada, Sri Caitanya Maha Prabhu, even Vyasadeva did not write about them.
Why? Because most of the people (atleast 75%) of kaliyuga are contaminated and hence certain details can’t be understood properly.
Then, why should we know about the details not given by bonafide sources?
Since the people see the lilas and activities of Krishna like material relations/ activities, such concepts are propagated by many.
That is why, I have always been against localizing the devotion and scriptures that can be read by anyone of any standing.
In older days, there was a system. The scriptures can be read only through the gurukuls as preached by gurus.
In fact, all the people were not allowed to read the scriptures because they can’t understand them without the proper guidance and maturity.
If they like to learn the scriptures, they should approach a guru. He will examine the candidate and his eligibility to learn the scriptures/ vedic texts. Only if the guru feels that he will not misunderstand and misuse the scriptures/ vedic texts, he will teach him the secrets.
So, the scriptures were in safe hands in those days.
Now, there are many spiritual publications that print the scriptures like publishing novels and selling them at competitive prices.
Most of the scriptures are even available free of cost in the internet. Anyone can read them. Even those who read them to find faults and defame them can read them.
So, our scriptures are not safe now. They are in criminals’s hands also.
This was not the recommended system. Only those who like to learn our scriptures with real interest should be allowed to read them. This was confirmed by Krishna Himself in the last chapter of Bhagavad Gita.
Krishna ordered us that His messages should not be told to those who are envious at Him. But, we are making the scriptures freely available in the internet.
We have made the printing and distributing the scriptures as another business.
Krishna was not against printing His literatures. But, He is against distributing them to all without scrutinizing his eligibility.
What we do?
We take some books and push them in the hands of even those who are not interested. To escape from our torture, they buy those books and later, some of them may even comment against the scriptures.
THIS IS MY DARING OPINION ABOUT BOOK DISTRIBUTION: (NOT MY OPINION, BUT, KRISHNA’s)
DISTRIBUTING THE BOOKS ON KRISHNA AND SPIRITUALITY SHOULD NOT BE LOCALIZED AND PUSHED TO ALL. IT SHOULD BE VOLUNTARY AND SUBJECT TO SCRUTINY. THE SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD JUST ADVERTIZE THAT THEY HAVE STOCK OF VERY GOOD LITERATURES ON KRISHNA AND ANYONE WHO LIKES TO READ THEM SHOULD FOLLOW THE SCRUTINY PROCESS BY A GURU. IF HE IS FOUND ELIGIBLE, HE CAN BUY THE BOOKS AND THE GURU WILL GUIDE HIM IN LEARNING THE SCRIPTURES. AS A RULE, THOSE WHO BUY THE BOOKS FROM THE GURU SHOULD NOT GIVE IT TO ANYONE AFTER READING. INSTEAD, HE SHOULD SEND THAT PERSON TO THE GURU FOR SCRUTINY.
Only the basic details should be taught in general lectures in the temples. Advanced concepts like the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatham should be taught only for those who is found eligible by the guru.
I hope that you are now clear that we are violating the instructions of Krishna by distributing the scriptures to all and even give pressures to them to buy. That is why we are creating both the devotees and also the analyzers/ accusers.
I KNOW THAT THIS SYSTEM CAN’T BE IMPLEMENTED NOW BECAUSE ALL THE SCRIPTURES HAVE BEEN MADE AVAILABLE FREE OF COST IN LARGE NUMBERS IN THE INTERNET.
They are read, analyzed, commented, accused, misrepresented by anyone in free forums thereby creating an offensive atmosphere.
However, I just wrote what Krishna said about speaking about Him to anyone we see. As said by Krishna, we should FIRST SELECT THE RIGHT PERSON AND THEN SPEAK ABOUT KRISHNA TO HIM.
Just because we are allowing even unqualified persons in spiritual service, there are divisions, betrayals, competitions, envy, mud throwing among devotees or spiritual forums.
So, Krishna has said that His messages should not be localized and should not be given to all. So, that means, there should be a scrutiny process to select the persons. Do we have such a process?
No. We straightaway take our books including Srimad Bhagavatham to anyone. More sellers are praised. Less sellers are encouraged to cover more places. There are competition even among the devotees.
Our vedic system of preaching is not like this.
They taught about scriptures only those who were found qualified. Others were given just basic details like stories, temple visits, worship etc.
It is not inferior to get less disciples. Because they accepted disciples only after strict scrutiny.
Anyway, you have asked this question that is the effect of such localization.
All of them do not know that Only Krishna is the source of all relations and there are no relations in Krishna’s Kingdom.
These relations are only in the material planets.
Radharani is not an ordinary human being to discuss about the relations. Whenever Krishna comes to earth, He brings all His associates to perform lilas.
As far as Radharani is concerned, she is the eternal consort (wife) of Krishna. Wife means, not like material wife. She is the eternal associate of Krishna embedded within Krishna Himself. That means, without Radharani, there is no Krishna because Radharani is the eternal pleasure potency of Krishna. In other words, Internal energy of Krishna.
Krishna’s exclusive quality is performing lilas.
He wanted to enjoy being loved. So, He allowed His pleasure potency Radharani to take birth on earth when He comes there.
Since they took birth in certain families, they were following those family traditions. So, Radharani even married someone and she was also the friend of Yasodha. There may be certain type of relations between them based on the material world’s system, but, they and their confidential devotees know that they are eternal associates. When they take birth on earth, they may accept some relations, but, those relations can’t stop their lilas.
Krishna is actually the son of Devaki and grew in the house of Yasodha.
So,
However, since Krishna and Radharani knows that they are eternal associates, they did not bother about the material relations on earth.
By writing like this, I do not accept that Radharani is the maternal aunt of Krishna. Vyasadeva never wrote like this in his literatures like Mahabharatha, 18 Puranas including Srimad Bhagavatham.
He, in fact avoided to describe about the relations of Krishna and Radharani in any of his literatures. Because, he knows that the people may not have sufficient knowledge to understand them. So, such confidential details were taught only directly through Guru-disciple system.
Only Srimad Bhagavatham is the bonafide source of information about Krishna because it was written by Krishna Himself by taking literary avatar as Vyasadeva.
So, I won’t accept any detail from any samhita or later days of puranas written by others. There are many unrecognized puranas, samhitas, lila literatures, etc, written in the last 1000 years. They are some times quoted by some acharyas also if any of the details in them are found suitable for them to preach.
But, the confidential details about Krishna are final only if given in Srimad Bhagavatham. Others have no direct assess to the activities of Krishna. Since Vyasadeva is Krishna Himself, we can trust his last literature Srimad Bhagavatham.
Therefore, my request is, please do not contain Krishna and Radharani and gopis in terms of material relations. These material relations are for you, me and the people only. They are not bound by material relations since their actual relationship is spiritual and they are not different from one another.
Follow only Srimad Bhagavatham to know about Krishna. First read Bhagavad Gita and the first 9 cantos of Srimad Bhagavatham. Go to the tenth canto ONLY AFTER READING THE FIRST NINE CANTOS. That is why, Krishna’s lilas have been described in tenth canto so that the people will first read the spiritual status and glories of Krishna first and understand his lilas properly in the tenth canto.
Hope you are clear.