Rādhā–Kṛshṇa Final Reunion

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa (Chapters 126 and 127), tells how Kṛshṇa and Rādhā meet again at Siddhāśrama after a long parting (viraha). Rādhā asks Kṛshṇa deep questions, and he teaches her the forms that each of them takes in every world. Then the two travel together through the whole cosmos, visiting every holy mountain, ocean, island, forest and tīrtha (holy place). The journey ends at Gokula, where Kṛshṇa meets Nanda, Yaśodā and the gopikās once more.

The reunion at Siddhāśrama (Chapter 126)

After the Rājasūya yajña, Kṛshṇa went straight to Rādhā at Siddhāśrama. He found her sitting on a throne of gems, shining in deep spiritual joy. Three hundred crore gopikās were with her, serving her with complete devotion. As Kṛshṇa came near, Rādhā rose at once. Their reunion carried all the weight of the love, and of the pain, that had come before. They sat together on one ratna-siṃhāsana (jewelled throne), while the gopikās served them with white cāmaras (fly-whisks), sweet-smelling garlands and music.

Rādhā’s deep questions (Chapter 126)

Rādhā questioned Kṛshṇa with the closeness that belongs only to the most beloved. She asked:

“You have married so many wives, Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā and all the others. Which of them holds the highest place in your heart?”
“At Kurukshetra you became Arjuna’s sārathi (charioteer). Why did Bhagavān Kṛshṇa choose to hold the reins of horses rather than take up weapons himself?”
“Bhīshma lay on his bed of arrows for 58 nights. Why did you let that great being, Vasudevottama, suffer so long?”
“Is it true that the Śrīrāma-śāpa (the curse of Śrī Rāma) was the cause of my parting from you? When will it end completely?”

As she asked these questions, tears came to Rādhā’s eyes and her body began to shake with the pain of viraha. The gopikās cried out in fear: “Rādhā is dying because of you!” Kṛshṇa at once turned his amṛta-dṛshṭi (nectar-gaze) on Rādhā, and she was revived.

Kṛshṇa’s teaching: the forms of both (Chapter 126)

Kṛshṇa gave Rādhā the highest ādhyātmika-jñāna, the knowledge of the forms each of them takes in all the planes of existence.

The forms of Kṛshṇa

He is the two-armed Gopāla in Goloka, his eternal and highest form.
He is the four-armed Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha.
He is Nara-Nārāyaṇa at Badarikāśrama.
He is Kapila among the siddhas.
He is the charioteer of Arjuna (Phalguṇa) at Kurukshetra. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa takes the role of charioteer as an act of the highest grace, not as a limit.
In Dvārakā, Rukmiṇī is Mahālakshmī, who has come to be beside him in the earthly world.

The forms of Rādhā

In Goloka she is Rādhikā, his eternal beloved (priyatamā).
In Vaikuṇṭha she is Mahālakshmī, the queen of all śrī (prosperity).
In Brahmaloka she is Sarasvatī, the mistress of vāk (speech) and jñāna (knowledge).
As Mṛtyulakshmī she rules the śakti (power) of dissolution.
As Śānti she is the peace that goes with Dharmaputra Yudhishṭhira.
As Sītā she was born in Mithilā and was the wife of Śrī Rāma.
As Draupadī, her chāyā (shadow-form), she was the wife of the five Pāṇḍavas.
As Rukmiṇī she is beside Kṛshṇa in Dvārakā.

Kṛshṇa told Rādhā: “There is no separation between us. We are one ātmā appearing in many forms. Wherever I am, you are. Wherever you are, I am. The viraha you went through was the cosmic play, the theatre of Māyā, for the lifting up of the world.”

The journey through the cosmos (Chapter 127)

After their close reunion, which the text describes as a sixteen-fold śṛṅgāra (loving union), Rādhā was full of joy again. She asked Kṛshṇa to go with her to the rāsakshetra (place of the rāsa dance) of Vṛndāvana. They travelled together through the whole cosmos and visited every holy place, in a divine tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage). They visited:

Meru, the golden mountain at the centre of the world.
Gandhamādana, the fragrant mountain where all medicinal herbs grow.
Nandana and Mandāra, the divine forest-gardens of the devas.
Every mountain and cave of the world.
Every ocean (the seven seas) and every dvīpa (island-continent).
Every pārijāta grove and every grove of mandāra trees.
Nārāyaṇa Lake, the most sacred of all divine lakes.
Malaya mountain, the source of the sandal forests.
All the seven dvīpas of Jambūdvīpa.

Returning to Jambūdvīpa, they went to Dvārakā, then to the Raivata mountain, and then to Gokula and Bhāṇḍīravana. There the great old Bhāṇḍīra banyan tree stood as witness to their reunion.

The last visit to Gokula (Chapter 127)

At Gokula, Kṛshṇa visited Yaśodā and Nanda. Yaśodā saw her son again, was overcome with a mother’s joy, and fed him with her own hands. A great celebration followed. Gifts were given to brāhmaṇas, gopikās and munis. All the people of Gokula gathered and celebrated with music and feasting.

Everyone who was there saw Rādhā. She appeared just as she had always been, eternally twelve years old in her divine form, shining with golden light. Those who saw her at that moment felt they were seeing the sun, the moon and all the stars together in one form.

Sources

Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 126 (the reunion at Siddhāśrama, Rādhā’s questions, Kṛshṇa’s teaching)
Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 127 (the journey through the cosmos, the last visit to Gokula)