Rādhā-Kṛshṇa Vivāha

This episode comes from the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 15. In the Bhāṇḍīra forest near Vṛndāvana, Nanda is caught in a sudden storm that the infant Bhagavān Kṛshṇa has raised by his māyā (divine power of appearance). There he meets Rādhā in her full beauty and gives the child to her.

Rādhā carries the child to a pavilion made by māyā. There Bhagavān Kṛshṇa shows himself as a beautiful young man. They speak together, Brahmā comes, and Brahmā performs their vivāha (marriage). Afterwards Kṛshṇa becomes an infant again, and Rādhā takes the child back to Yaśodā. Nārāyaṇa Muni tells this to Nārada.

The storm and Nanda’s meeting with Rādhā

One day Nanda went to Vṛndāvana with the infant Kṛshṇa. They rested in the nearby Bhāṇḍīra forest. Nanda let the cattle graze at a lake of sweet, fresh water. He gave the child some of that water to drink, drank himself, and sat beneath a tree with the infant resting on his chest.

Then Śrī Kṛshṇa, though he looked like a human infant, used his māyā. Suddenly dark clouds covered the whole sky and the forest grew dark. Fierce, roaring winds rose. Lightning flashed with terrible peals of thunder. Heavy rain fell in sheets. Trees swayed and great roots fell. Nanda was seized with deep fear.

In his fear Nanda thought: “If I leave the cows and calves and try to go home, something may happen to this infant in such a storm. If I do not go, what will become of the cattle?” While he was thinking, the infant Kṛshṇa clung to his neck as if frightened, and cried.

At that moment Rādhādevī came to the place. Her walk was gentle, majestic and unhurried, more graceful than the walk of the royal haṃsa (swan). The Purāṇa describes her as Nanda saw her. She had:

• A face whose beauty took the splendour of the full autumn moon.
• Eyes like lotus blooms that had taken the beauty of the midday lotuses of śarad (autumn).
• Lines of kajal (black eye-paint) in wonderful patterns on her eyelids.
• A nose more beautiful than the praised beak of Garuḍa.
• A large nose-gem (gaṇḍu-mutyamu, a nose pearl) that blazed with light.
• Hair in a heavy braid (kshabarī-bhāra), crowned with mālatī garlands.
• Earrings that blazed like the noon sun of summer and made her cheeks glow.
• Lips as red as the ripe dontraphaṇḍu fruit (a local fruit whose red is said to surpass all colour).
• Teeth that gleamed like a row of pearls.
• A smile whose brightness dimmed the blossoming jasmine.
• A kasturī tilaka (musk mark) with a sindūra dot on her forehead.
• An auspicious garland of mallikā (jasmine) flowers on her head.
• Round, beautiful cheeks, with the hairs of her body standing up in joy.
• A necklace of the nine gems (nava-ratnas) on her chest.
• Firm breasts like a pair of māreḍu (bel) fruits.
• On her chest, the glow of the gems and rows of makarikā-patra lines (ornamental designs in kasturī and kuṅkuma).
• A slender, beautiful, round waist.
• A deep navel with three folds above it.
• Below it, a jewelled waist-chain (mekhalā) hung with bells.
• A brow that could charm even the minds of the foremost yogīs, curved and full of meaning.
• Firm, mountain-like hips.
• Beautiful feet whose shine took the glory of the lotuses that bloom on the earth.
• Lotus feet marked with yāvaka (a reddish cosmetic), gems, and the bright glow of jewelled ornaments.
• Beautiful toenails shining with the rays of gems.
• Jewelled bracelets, daṇḍa-kaḍiyālas and conch-shaped glass bangles on her wrists and arms.
• Rings of gems on her fingers, and garments of bright red-gold colour, like fire.
• A body of golden campaka-flower colour (pāsimi-vaṇṇe, the glow of refined gold).
• In one hand a thousand-petalled lotus flower, held playfully.
• In the other hand a jewelled mirror, in which she looked at her own shining face.

Her body-light filled all ten directions like ten million moons. Nanda was struck with deep wonder when he saw her.

Nanda bowed his head in bhakti (loving devotion). His eyes filled with tears of joy, and he saluted her. He said: “I have heard from Garga Muni that you are dearer to Śrī Hari than even Lakshmī. I understand this infant to be the unmanifest Acyuta, who is greater even than Mahāvishṇu. Even though I know this, I am veiled by Vishṇu’s māyā and live as a simple man. O Maṅgalamūrti! Take your prāṇanātha (lord of your life). Go where you wish, for your pleasure. After you have fulfilled both your wishes, you may give the child back to me.”

So saying, the frightened Nanda gave the crying infant to Rādhā. Rādhādevī took the child, and at his touch she smiled sweetly.

Rādhā’s words to Nanda and her vara

Rādhādevī said to Nanda: “Guard this secret carefully. Do not tell it to anyone. You have seen me by the puṇya (merit) of many births. You are a wise man, and you know our origin through Garga’s words. The secret history of us two in Gokula must not be told. O lord of Gokula, ask me for any wish of your heart. Even what is hard for the devas to get, I shall give you easily.”

Nanda answered simply: “O Jagannmātā! O Parameśvarī! Give me bhakti at both your lotus feet. I have no other wish. What I most desire is your sāmīpya (nearness to both of you). I want it not only for myself but for Yaśodā too. Give it to both of us.”

Rādhādevī said: “I give you our unmatched dāsya (service). Let bhakti be fixed in you now. In both your hearts, yours and Yaśodā’s, let the memory of our joined lotus feet be always there, in a way very hard for others to gain. By my vara (a boon), māyā shall not veil you two. At the end of your lives, when you leave these human bodies, you shall go to Goloka.”

Having spoken, Rādhā lovingly took the infant Kṛshṇa in her arms. She carried him away to her chest with divine longing, kissing him again and again, her whole body thrilling with joy. Then she thought of the rāsa-maṇḍala (the circle of the rāsa dance).

The jewelled pavilion and the young Kṛshṇa

Rādhādevī then saw a pavilion (ratna-maṇṭapa) made by māyā in front of her. It shone with a hundred jewelled pots. Its walls were covered with wonderful paintings and designs. Its columns were of blazing sindūra-maṇi gems. It was decorated with pastes of sandalwood, aguru, kasturī and kuṅkuma, and hung with garlands of mālatī flowers. It held flower-beds (pushpa-śayyas), vessels of every divine pleasure, divine mirrors, and the finest pearl necklaces and gem necklaces. Its jewelled door was hung with fine cloth and flags. Seven steps of kuṅkuma colour led up to it. All around, a flower garden hummed with bees in the blossoming trees.

Rādhā went into the inner room of the pavilion and looked for the infant she had been holding. Instead she found a shining young man (nava-yuvaka) of dark, beautiful complexion (śyāmasundara). He lay on the flower-bed with a gentle smile. He wore yellow silk (pītāmbara). The kaustubha gem blazed on his chest. His face was like the full autumn moon, and his eyes were like open lotuses. His hair was tied in a triple curve and adorned with a peacock feather (navakaṇḍe-koṇḍe). He looked around the gem-chamber with his divine, playful glance. The infant she had carried was no longer in her arms.

Rādhā is the form of memory (smṛti-rūpiṇī) of all beings, yet she was struck with true wonder. She, the queen of the rāsa-maṇḍala, was overcome with longing when she saw this new and most beautiful young form. She stood with every limb thrilling and her eyes unblinking. Her eyes, like those of the cakora bird, drank in the beauty of his moon-like face with deep longing and joy.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa speaks of their oneness

Śrī Kṛshṇa saw Rādhā’s side-glances and gentle smile as she got ready for the first union (nava-saṃgama). He spoke these deep words to her.

“O Rādhā! Do you remember what happened in the assembly of devas in Goloka? The promise I made you long ago will be fulfilled in full today. O beautiful-faced one! You are dearer to me than my very prāṇas (life-breaths).

“As it is with me toward you, so it is with you toward me. Between us two there is certainly no difference. Whiteness is in milk by nature, burning is in fire by nature, and fragrance is in earth by nature. In the same way I am always present in you. A potter cannot make pots without clay. In the same way I cannot do creation without you. You are the foundation (ādhāra) of all creation. I am the imperishable seed (bīja). O virtuous one! Come to this bed. Take me to your chest.

“O beautiful-faced one! As an ornament adorns the body, you are the form (rūpa) of my beauty. Without you, people call me simply Kṛshṇa. When I am joined with you, they call me Paramātmā Śrī Kṛshṇa. You are Lakshmī. You are the wealth of the world. You are the foundation of all the lokas. You are the very form of all śaktis (powers). When I am of the form of light (tejas), you become of the form of light. When I am without a body, you are also without a body. Because I am always united with you, I am the form of all seeds. You are the form of śakti. You bear all forms of beauty (śrī). You are born from a part of my own body. You are the very Mūla-Prakṛti, the Īśvarī. In power, in understanding and in knowledge you are my equal.

“Whatever wretched person sees the two of us as separate stays bound in the noose of time in naraka for as long as the sun and moon last. He also drags seven generations before him and seven after him down from the world of puṇya. The puṇya of ten million births that such a person has gathered is certainly destroyed. Those who out of ignorance speak ill of us both (apavāda) shall suffer terrible naraka for as long as the sun and moon exist.

“The one who says the syllable ‘rā’ of my name, I myself follow that bhakta (devotee) with the gift of bhakti-yoga. The one who says ‘dhā’, I walk behind, drawn by longing to hear that name. Someone may serve me with the sixteen-part pūjā (shoḍashopachāra-pūjā) for a whole life, and the devotion I receive from him is matched by the devotion that rises in me when someone simply says ‘Rādhā.’ O Rādhā! No service is dearer to me than this. So the one who says ‘Rādhā’ is the highest devotee.

“Brahmā, Ananta, Śiva, Dharmadeva, the two ṛshis Nara and Nārāyaṇa, Kapila, Gaṇapati, my beloved Kārttikeya, Lakshmīdevī, Sarasvatī, Pārvatī, Sāvitrī, Prakṛti, and all my beloved devas are as dear to me as my prāṇas. But you are dearer than my prāṇas. They live in their separate places. You live always in my own chest. I, who am Kṛshṇa himself, carry you always on my own chest.”

Rādhā’s reply

Rādhādevī bowed her head with bhakti and spoke to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

“Svāmī! Everything is remembered. I know it all. How could I ever forget? All that you have said about ‘all being you’ comes only from the anugraha (grace) of your lotus feet. Among the creation of the Sarveśvara, are there some who are loved and some who are not? However and in whatever way people remember me, your kṛpā (mercy) will be for them or not be for them in that same way. This is how things are. You can turn a blade of grass into a mountain and a mountain into a blade of grass. Your kṛpā is the same toward the worthy and the unworthy.

“While I stood here, you lay down and spoke with me. In the time that passed, every moment was so precious that I cannot get back even one. My mind now burns in the fire of separation from you. Place your lotus feet upon my chest and upon my head. My first glance fell upon your lotus feet. I tried to move that glance to the other limbs of your body, but I could not. I looked from limb to limb, and at last I saw your calm lotus face. Then my glance could not turn away to anything else.”

Kṛshṇa smiled at these words. He spoke true and fitting words, as the śruti and smṛti set them down: “O Maṅgalā! Wait a moment. The time for your wish to be fulfilled has come. What was written from before, whatever was fixed for anyone at any time and in any place, O Rādhā, even I cannot override that. What use is my authority then? Even I, who am the cause behind the maker of destinies of all beings, cannot undo what has been ordained for Brahmā, the devas and all other beings.”

At that moment Brahmā himself came before Śrī Hari.

Brahmā’s stotra to Rādhādevī

The four-faced Brahmā came holding his japa-mālā (prayer beads) and his kamaṇḍalu (water pot), with a gentle smile. He went to Kṛshṇa, bowed to the ground and offered a stotra (hymn of praise) as the śāstra lays down. Then, with his eyes full of tears of joy and his body thrilling, he went to Rādhādevī. He bowed his head at her lotus feet so swiftly that his matted locks seemed to wrap around them. He poured water from his kamaṇḍalu over her feet, washed them with joined hands, and offered the stotra as the āgamas lay down.

Brahmā said: “O Mātā! By the anugraha of Kṛshṇa, I have received the darśana (sight) of your lotus feet. It is most hard to get for all jīvas (living beings), and above all for those in Bhāratavarsha. Long ago I did tapas (austerity) for sixty thousand years at the glorious Pushkara tīrtha of Śrī Kṛshṇa Paramātmā. When Śrī Hari himself came to give me a vara, I asked him with joy: ‘O Triguṇātīta! Show me at once the lotus feet of Rādhādevī, which are hard for all jīvas to see.’ Śrī Hari told me: ‘Son! I will show you when the right time comes. Be patient for now.’ That divine promise has not failed. Through that promise I have today received the darśana of your lotus feet.”

Brahmā then gave his own understanding. All the devī groups, Prakṛti, and those born from a part of Prakṛti all have Prakṛti as their origin. But she, Mātā, was born from a part of Kṛshṇa’s own body. She is equal to Kṛshṇa in all things.

Brahmā said: “Did Kṛshṇa become your form? Or did you take the form of Kṛshṇa? I find no answer in the Vedas. Who can decide this tattva (truth)? Goloka beyond the brahmāṇḍa (cosmic egg) is uncreated, and Vaikuṇṭha is uncreated. In the same way you too, O Mātā, were not created by anyone. The jīvas of all the brahmāṇḍas are parts of a part of Kṛshṇa. In the same way you, who are the form of Śakti, live within all those jīvas. All men in creation carry a part of Śrī Hari. All women carry a part of you.

“O Mātā! You are the foundation for him, and for us. His prāṇas follow you. The prāṇas of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa follow you. What a wonder! This Kṛshṇa is eternal, and you too are eternal. He is a part of you. You may be a part of him. Who can settle this? Even I, the maker of the worlds and father of the devas, cannot tell even the hundredth part of your natural qualities. This tattva is studied through the mouth of the guru, and so people become paṇḍitas. Neither the Vedas nor the learned can truly praise you. Praise needs knowledge, knowledge needs understanding, and you, O Mātā, are the mother of understanding itself. Who then can praise you? A paṇḍita can describe only what can be seen. Who can define what the eyes have not seen and the ears have not heard? This is the teaching of the Vedas and śāstras and the word of the elders. Do not blame me for this lack. The kṛpā of the Īśvara of all Īśvaras is the same toward the worthy and the unworthy. A mother or a father forgives a child every fault out of love. In the same way, O Mātā, forgive this worldly lack of mine.”

Having said this, Brahmā bowed at her lotus feet and stood before the divine pair.

Brahmā performs the vivāha

After Brahmā finished his stotra, he received from Rādhādevī the vara of bhakti at the lotus feet of them both. Then he took up his place as the priest of the rite.

Brahmā set up a sacred fire (agni) between Rādhā and Kṛshṇa and lit it. He called out “Hariḥ Oṃ Śrī Govinda Govinda” and offered the havana (homa, fire offering) according to the rules of the śāstra. Kṛshṇa rose from the flower-bed and came to sit beside the fire. Following Brahmā’s directions, he himself made the homa.

Brahmā had Rādhā and Kṛshṇa bow together to the fire. He led them in seven circuits around the fire (saptapradakshiṇa). Then he had Rādhādevī bow to the fire again and seated Kṛshṇa. He seated Rādhā on the left side of Kṛshṇa and joined their hands in pāṇigrahaṇa (the taking of the hand). He said the seven Vedic mantras for Mādhava (Kṛshṇa) and had him repeat them.

The Prajāpati Brahmā then placed Rādhā’s hand on Kṛshṇa’s chest and Kṛshṇa’s hand on Rādhā’s back (pṛshṭha-bhāga), and had Rādhādevī say three mantras. He had Rādhādevī put a garland of long pārijāta flowers, hanging down to the knees, around Kṛshṇa’s neck with great joy. He had Kṛshṇa put a beautiful garland of flowers around Rādhā’s neck. He seated Kṛshṇa, and he seated Rādhā at his left, her eyes fixed on Kṛshṇa and a gentle smile on her face. Brahmā then had them both say the five mantras (pañca-mantras) with surrender (prapatti, with joined palms), as the Vedas lay down.

After all this, as a father gives away a daughter, Brahmā gave Rādhādevī into Kṛshṇa’s hands. This is kanyā-dāna. Then he stood before Śrī Hari with bhakti.

At that moment all the devas thrilled with joy. They sounded their divine drums (dundubhis), murajas and musical instruments. A shower of pārijāta flowers fell from the sky. The Gandharva kings sang with rāga and tāla, and troops of apsarās danced.

Brahmā praised Śrī Hari once more with a smile and asked for his own dakshiṇā (fee for the priest): “Give me firm bhakti at both your lotus feet.” Śrī Hari replied: “May the most steady bhakti at our feet be yours without doubt. Be auspicious, O son! Go to your loka and do the work I have set for you by my command.” Hearing Kṛshṇa’s words, Brahmā bowed to both Rādhā and Kṛshṇa with joy and went back to his home.

The Nava Saṃgama

After Brahmā left, Rādhādevī looked at Kṛshṇa’s face with a sideways glance and a gentle smile. She was overcome with shyness and covered her face. Her whole body thrilled. Struck by the arrows of Manmatha, she came to his flower-bed.

She marked his chest with a kasturī tilaka and kuṅkuma and smeared him with sandalwood paste. With bhakti she offered him a jewelled cup full of nectar and a vessel full of honey, and Jagannātha drank from them. She gave him fragrant, beautiful tāmbūla (betel), and he ate it with respect. He gave her the sweet nectar to drink and the tāmbūla to eat, both from his own hand. She took it from him as though she were drinking from his lotus face itself.

Kṛshṇa gave her the tāmbūla he had himself chewed, in love. She ate it with the greatest bhakti, as though drinking from his lotus mouth. Then he asked for the tāmbūla she had chewed. She laughed, said “Forgive me,” and did not give it. Mādhava smeared every limb of Rādhādevī with the fragrant mixture of sandalwood, aguru, kasturī and kuṅkuma. Manmatha always meditates at his feet, yet for the sake of giving joy to Rādhādevī he let himself come under the power of that same Manmatha.

The Purāṇa then tells of the Nava Saṃgama, with detail that suits its holiness. Kṛshṇa raised Rādhā by the hand, drew her to his chest, loosened her garment, and gave her the four kinds of kisses (cumbana). In the ardour of that love-contest (kāma-yuddha), the thread of her waist-bells broke and fell. The red of tāmbūla on her lips was smeared. The makarikā-patra lines on her chest were scattered. Her hair-coil (koppū) came undone. The sindūra tilaka on her brow melted. The lac marks (pārāṇi) on her feet moved to other places through the play of reversed roles (viparīta). Overwhelmed in the first union, Rādhā fell into a trance (mūrcchita, a swoon of joy) and lost all sense of day and night.

Kṛshṇa, who is expert in the kāmaśāstra, joined limb to limb in embrace (āliṅgana) and carried out all eight forms of śṛṅgāra (the art of love). He drew her close again and filled her whole body with the marks of nails and teeth (nakhakshata, dantakshata) in love-play. All through this, the sweet and wonderful music of their bangles, bells and ankle-bells (kāliyandeḷa) rose around them. He drew her to the bed again and loosened her hair-coil and garments with tenderness. She took off his crest-coil (konde-koppū) and ornaments. Each was expert in the art, and so neither suffered any loss or harm. He took the jewelled mirror from her hand, and she took his flute from him by force. He strongly seized her citta (heart and mind), and she too drew his manas (mind) away from the rāsa-maṇḍala and kept it.

After the love-play ended, Rādhādevī, with a smile and a sideways glance, happily gave the flute back to the great Kṛshṇa. Kṛshṇa gave back to her the jewelled mirror and a lotus flower to play with. He himself braided her hair beautifully, put the sindūra tilaka on her brow, and drew intricate makarikā-patra designs on her limbs in their proper places. Nārāyaṇa Muni says that even Viśvakarma does not know this way of adorning. What then of her sakhīs (friends)?

The return, the voice from the sky and the farewell to Yaśodā

When Rādhādevī turned to adorn Kṛshṇa, he changed back. He did not go back even to the young form he had shown before. He became the tiniest infant, a mere newborn. She now saw only the crying, hungry infant that Nanda had given her, the same frightened child Kṛshṇa she had received. Her heart ached. She sighed deeply and looked this way and that for the young man she had known. Suffering in separation (viyoga), she spoke mild words of reproach to the infant:

“O Master of Māyā! Do you use your māyā even on me, your own servant?”

Saying this, Rādhā fell to the ground and wept. The infant Kṛshṇa also lay there crying. Then an ākāśavāṇī (divine voice from the sky) rang out:

“O Rādhā! Why do you weep? Remember Śrī Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet. As long as the rāsa-maṇḍala lasts, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa will come here to you every night. You will enjoy his longed-for company every day. Do not weep. He will leave his shadow (nīḍa, a substitute form) in his home in Gokula and come here himself. Give up your grief. O beautiful one! Take this infant form, your prāṇeśvara (lord of your life), on your hip and go to his home.”

So Rādhā was comforted by the divine voice.

Hearing the ākāśavāṇī, Rādhā took the infant into her lap. She looked once more at the flower garden and the jewelled pavilion around her, and left Vṛndāvana quickly for Nanda’s home. She reached Nanda’s house in half a moment, with the speed of the mind. Her rain-wet garments clung to her, her eyes were red, and the child was still in her arms.

Rādhādevī said to Yaśodā: “O Yaśodā! Your husband gave me this child while he was in the cattle-pasture. The hungry, crying infant gave me much trouble on the way. The child’s clothes and my clothes both got wet. It was a dark, cloudy day, the sun could not be seen, and there was deep mud everywhere. I could not carry this weight. O Bhadrā! Take this child, nurse him and calm him. It has been long since I left home. I am going back now. O Satī! Be well.”

So saying, Rādhā gave the child to Yaśodā and went back to her own home, the home of Vṛshabhānu in Gokula.

Yaśodā took the child, kissed him and gave him the breast. Rādhā returned home and took up ordinary household life again. From that time on, every night, Śrī Hari came to her in Vṛndāvana, and she enjoyed his divine company.

Nārāyaṇa Muni ended: “O Nārada! In this way this auspicious Śrī Kṛshṇa-caritra, which gives happiness and moksha (liberation), has been told to you.”

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 15