Rādhā Stotra of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

The Rādhā Stotra praises Rādhā in her highest form: the prāṇādhidevatā (presiding devatā of the life) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, Mūlaprakṛti, Rāseśvarī, and the source of all divine mothers. It is found in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakriti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 54. The visitor Sutapa, in a disguised form, taught it to king Suyajña as part of the Rādhā sādhana (spiritual practice).

The setting

King Suyajña served brāhmaṇas for a year and was cured of his leprosy. The divine visitor Sutapa then came back and taught him the whole Rādhā sādhana: the pūjā vidhi (method of worship), the mūla mantra (root mantra), the stotra and the kavaca. The Rādhā Stotra was to be recited as part of the pūjā.

The stotra

Prāṇādhidevatā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa

Rādhā is the presiding devatā of the prāṇa (life breath) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. His life-force is Rādhā, and she is his innermost self. She lives always with him at the rāsamaṇḍala (circle of the rāsa dance) in Goloka–Bṛndāvana, in everlasting union.

Mūlaprakṛti and Rāseśvarī

She is the first Prakṛti, the Īśvarī (sovereign) of all worlds, and the Rāseśvarī, the queen of the rāsa. All feminine divinity flows from her aṃśas (parts).

Her form

Her colour is the white campaka (śveta campaka).
Her face is like the moon of the full-moon night of autumn (śaratpūrṇimā).
Her eyes are like lotus petals.
Her waist is slender and her hips are full.
Her lips are red like the donda fruit, her teeth white like pearls, and she always smiles.
She wears ratna-mañjīras (jewelled anklets), ratna-keyūras (jewelled armlets), ratna-kuṇḍalas (jewelled earrings), a ratna-mālā (jewelled necklace), a ratna-mukuṭa (jewelled crown), a ratna-pāśa and a ratna-yuṅgara (jewelled ring).
On her forehead are three bindus, placed in this order from above: kastūrī, chandana and sindūra.
She sits with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa on a ratna-siṃhāsana (jewelled throne) in the rāsamaṇḍala, while gopikā sakhīs wave white cāmaras (fly-whisks).

Her place in creation

Mahālakshmī is born from her left side.
All the gopikās come from her romakūpas (pores of the skin).
All the devīs come from her aṃśas.
Bhagavān Kṛshṇa worships her every day.
She is the kavaca of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, worn by him at his throat and on his right arm.

Her grace

Even Brahmā cannot come near her directly: he did tapas for sixty thousand years to see her feet. Yet she gives her grace freely to devoted worshippers. By worshipping her, devotion to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa (Kṛshṇa-bhakti) is gained quickly.

The phalaśruti

Those who recite this stotra during Rādhā pūjā quickly gain Kṛshṇa-bhakti. Suyajña was the first human king to receive and practise this stotra on earth. Through his tapas he went straight to Goloka. The stotra is part of a sādhana which, joined with the mūla mantra Oṃ Rādhikāyai svāhā and the kavaca, purifies the worshipper and draws the direct grace of Rādhā.

Sources

Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakriti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 52–54 (the stotra in Chapter 54)