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The Rādhe Rādhe Resolution
A sermon delivered in Amsterdam, April 25, 2014
The governing body commission of ISKCON has, during their annual
conference in Mayapur, passed the following resolution -
315: Chanting of the Holy Names of Srimati
Radharani
[Guideline]
Whereas many devotees have expressed concern that the standard upheld
during Srila Prabhupada’s presence in regards to the chanting of Srimati
Radharani’s holy names and related mantras appears to be diminishing;
Whereas there have been conflicts amongst our devotees arising as a result
of not having a definitive policy on this topic.
Whereas although it is neither mandatory nor necessary to do so because all
personalities are automatically glorified within the maha-mantra, it is
understandable that some devotees may want to emphasize the name of Srimati
Radharani on Radhastami;
Whereas it is well known that no one could come before Srila Prabhupada and
chant “Radhe Radhe” repetitively as he would not allow it. He always told us to
chant the Hare Krishna mantra. Srila Prabhupada himself was never
heard chanting “Radhe Radhe”. There is no evidence to show that
Srila Prabhupada chanted or encouraged others to chant Srimati Radharani's
names in isolation at any time, including Radhastami. Whenever Srila Prabhupada
was greeted with “Jaya Radhe” he always replied by saying “Hare Krishna”, even
in Vrndavana.
Whereas there is risk of deviation if we do not follow Srila Prabhupada and
the acaryas. Srila Prabhupada disapproved of the introduction of mantras which
were not given by the previous acaryas or were not found in shastra
RESOLVED:
The following should be avoided in all temple and public programs, as well
as in recorded media:
(1) Chanting of
the holy name of Srimati Radharani without the holy name of Sri Krishna,
i.e. Radhe, Radhe, Radhe, Radhe, Radhe. . . .
(2) Chanting of
the holy name of Srimati Radharani within mantras that were not introduced by
Srila Prabhupada, previous Gaudiya Vaisnava Acaryas, or in sastra, including
but not limited to:
(a) Jaya Radhe, Jaya Radhe. Jaya Radhe Jaya Radhe
(b) Radhe Radhe, Radhe Radhe
(c) Jaya Radhe Jaya Radhe Radhe, Jaya Radhe Jaya Sri Radhe
(d) Radhe
Radhe Radhe Radhe Radhe Govinda
(e) Radharani ki jai, Maharani ki jai
(f) Radhe Shyam, Radhe Shyam, Shyam Shyam, Radhe Radhe
On Radhastami,
devotees may chant Srimati Radharani’s holy name in isolation of Sri Krishna’s
name to a limited degree, not more than two or three minutes.
If ISKCON devotees
want to give some special emphasis or attention to the glorification of Srimati
Radharani, beyond chanting of the maha-mantra, they should do so by chanting
mantras or bhajans which are authorized by Srila Prabhupada and our disciplic
line. An example of this is the chanting of Sri Radhika-stava from
the Stava-mala of Srila Rupa Goswami.
Advaitadas -
It should be understood
that there is no tradition in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya of extensive
Rādhe Rādhe kīrtan. There is a lot of glorification of the holy name of Śrī
Rādhā in the bhakti śāstra, especially in the Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, but
practically we have never seen, nor do we see now, in the current age, any Gauḍīya
Vaiṣṇava group, be it ISKCON, Gauḍīya Maṭha, bābājīs, or Goswāmīs, doing any
daily lengthy kīrtana with just Rādhā-nāma. An exception is the all-night Rādhe
Rādhe kīrtana in Barsānā on the eve
of Rādhāṣṭamī at the Śrījī Mandir. The
ban will therefore not practically contradict existing traditions. One may
wonder why no Rādhā kīrtan is being done since Rādhā-dāsya is the prayojana or
the goal of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya, much more so than Kṛṣṇa-dāsya is. A
very popular chant in Braja is rādhe
rādhe shyām milā de, which means ‘Rādhe! Help me meet Śyāma!’ The rasa of
this conception is, however, inferior to the opposite attitude, that of the Gauḍīya
Sampradāya, ‘Śyāma! Help me meet Rādhā!’ - this explains why there is no
extensive Rādhā-kīrtan in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya. Sādhu Bābā taught me
the following verse from Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi (259) –
DHYĀYAṀS TAṀ ŚIKHI PINCHA
MAULIM ANIŚAṀ TAN NĀMA SAṄKĪRTAYAN
NITYAṀ TAC CARAṆĀMBUJAṀ
PARICARAṀS TAN MANTRA VARYAṀ JAPAN
ŚRĪ RĀDHĀ PADA DĀSYAM
EVA PARAMĀBHĪṢṬAṀ HṚDĀ DHĀRAYAN
KARHI SYĀṀ TAD
ANUGRAHEṆA PARAMODBHUTĀNURĀGOTSAVAḤ
“I always meditate on Kṛṣṇa, who wears a crown of peacock feathers, I
always sing His name in saṅkīrtana, I always serve His lotus-feet (the deity)
and repeat His best of mantras (gopāla mantra and kāma gāyatrī), holding the
desire for the supremely cherished service of Śrī Rādhā's lotus-feet in my
heart. When will that great festival of prema
arise in my heart by His grace?”
It is said here – tan nāma sankīrtayan – I do sankīrtana of the name of Kṛṣṇa –
Hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
Hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare
The holy name of The Lord
comes in three ways here – Hari, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, but both Jīva Goswāmī and
Gopālguru Goswāmī have explained the vocative name ‘Hare’ to mean both Hari and
Harā, Harā meaning Rādhā. So Rādhārāṇī’s holy name is already included in the
Mahāmantra. In this way the ban cannot have any impact on those who aspire for rādhā dāsya. In my ISKCON-days kīrtans
were often ended with a few rounds of jaya
rādhe jaya rādhe jaya rādhe. I do not know if this is now also banned
because to my knowledge this was also the custom during the manifest pastimes
of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.
In Sādhu bābā’s ashram
we follow the consensus program of Gaura-, Rādhā- and Kṛṣṇa evening ārati and,
though all of Navadvīpa uses the greeting Jai Nitāi, we always say Rādhe Rādhe.
On the other hand, the
greeting Rādhe Rādhe is universal and is a consensus in the Vraja-region – not only
Rādhā-bhaktas, but also Kṛṣṇa-bhaktas, Rām-bhaktas, yogis, gyānīs, karmīs,
shopkeepers, hotel managers (even in Delhi!) and Rikshawallas use it. I suppose
they are all wrong?
This was quoted fully
in the GBC resolution -
(a) Jaya Radhe, Jaya Radhe. Jaya Radhe Jaya Radhe
(b) Radhe Radhe, Radhe Radhe
(c) Jaya Radhe Jaya Radhe Radhe, Jaya Radhe Jaya Sri Radhe
(d) Radhe
Radhe Radhe Radhe Radhe Govinda
(e) Radharani ki jai, Maharani ki jai
(f) Radhe Shyam, Radhe Shyam, Shyam Shyam, Radhe Radhe
It must have been an exceptionally blissful GBC meeting with so much Radhe
Radhe Namabhasa!
The ban will of course
have no effect on individual devotees greeting each other with rādhe rādhe in private. The aspiration (paramābhīṣṭa) for rādhā-dāsya can of course never be banned from the heart. The Six Gosvāmīs
chanted he rādhe braja devike ca lalite
he nanda sūno kuta – “O Rādhe! Goddess of Vraja! O Lalita!”, but this
is a very advanced stage of viraha bhakti.
This was almost certainly not organized mass kīrtan chanting, but the expression of their private feelings. Understandably
a grass roots mass preaching movement will not allow such chanting to go on.
*
Now, that gender-based
kirtans are also banned is a very good thing – not that it matters to me since
I left ISKCON 32 years ago, but I hate the idea that I’d be deprived of half a
kirtan because I have to wait till the matajis have finished their round of
responding to the kirtan. This is crazy and completely concocted. In my long
devotional life I have never seen this type of kirtan performed anywhere at
all. Hopefully this ban will be rigidly enforced.
