Jhulan Yatra
In Braj culture, which is also Vedic culture, married women, traditionally return to their parents’ homes for this festival. According to Braj culture, the Jhulan Mahotsava lasts for one month. In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, we observe it from Ekadashi, specifically Pavitra Ropana Ekadashi. Garga Acharya, in his Garga Samhita, mentions a one-month Jhulan Mahotsava. Some dismiss the Garga Samhita, yet we are bound to follow it. We recite the Vaishnava pranam mantra daily:
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
cakshur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
This mantra was composed by Garga Acharya, who is not an ordinary person. We follow his principles, so it is improper to disregard his teachings. Now, as Jhulan approaches, all the sakhis, Srimati Radhika’s friends, are returning to their parents’ homes. Radhika becomes deeply moody, weeping bitterly and lamenting. Living with Her mother-in-law, Jatila, who complicates simple matters, and Kutila, who is always quarrelsome, Radhika endures every moment. She watches, thinking, “When will my brother Sridama come to take me home?”
She climbs to the rooftop and spots someone approaching. Recognizing him, she descends and asks him to convey a message to her father: “When will my brother come? Oh, Vrishbhanu, your daughter is lamenting so bitterly.”
Hearing this, Vrishbhanu Baba, Kirtida Maiya, and Sridama Bhaiya all weep. As soon as Sridama arrives, Radhika embraces him and weeps bitterly, saying, “My dear brother, you all have completely forgotten me. All my sakhis have already gone home.”
Sridama replies, “How could we forget you? Last year, I came a little earlier, and your mother-in-law chastised me so much and behaved so badly that she sent me back. I decided I should not come so quickly or early this time, so I had to come late. This is the main reason.”
In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, this eternal Jhulan pastime occurs every day. The main place for Gaudiya Vaishnavas is Srimati Radha Kunda. At Sri Radha Kunda, there are eight groves, known as kunjas. Originally, these belonged to the Sakhas (male friends), but later, the Sakhis (female friends) took them by force.
On the north side is the Lalita Anandadha Kunja. Here, the divine couple, Sri Sri Radha Krishna, give pleasure to Lalita, or Lalita Devi gives pleasure to them, a reciprocal exchange. There is a Maulasri or Bakul tree with a swing. Lalita Devi and her associates swing the divine couple, engaging in this Jhulan pastime. Next, in the north-east corner, is the Vishakha Anandadha Kunja. Moving to the east, there is Chitra Anandadha Kunja, where Chitra Sakhi arranges for the divine couple to enjoy jhulan pastimes. Following that, in the south-east, is Indulekha Anandadha ****Kunja. On the south side is Champakalata Anandadha Kunja. It features a very large Champak tree with a swing, where Champaklata enjoys the swing pastime. In the southwest corner is Rangadevi Sukhada Kunja. Then, further south, is another grove with a mango tree and a swing. In the south-west corner is Rangadevi Sukhada Kunja, where Rangadevi Sakhi serves divine couple, followed by Tungavidya Anandadha Kunja towards the west, which has a Kadamba tree and a swing. Finally, in the north-west corner, is the Sudevi Sukhada Kunja. In total, these eight kunjas have four swings.
At Sri Radha Kunda, from the Lalita Anandadha Kunja, a staircase bridge leads to an island in the middle of the Kunda. This island is called Svananda Sukhada Kunja or Ananga Manjari Kunja. The divine couple goes there to rest and engage in many harmonious pastimes. Among all nine kunjas, the Svananda Sukhada Kunja or Ananga Manjari Kunja is considered the topmost.
Why Svananda Sukhada Kunja? “Sva” means “own.” Everyone belongs to Krishna, but as one progresses spiritually, Ananga Manjari is recognized as His topmost associate. Krishna derives immense pleasure from this kunja, more than any other, hence it is called Svananda Sukhada Kunja. Radhika is also extremely pleased with Ananga Manjari. While She places Herself to the left of Krishna, She places Ananga Manjari to Krishna’s right side.
It is the time for the Jhulan pastime. There are many types of swings. One swing resembles lotus petals, with Srimati Radhika Thakurani and Krishna in the center. During the swinging, Srimati Radhika becomes frightened. Just as a golden creeper envelops a Tamal tree, Radhika embraces Krishna to prevent Herself from falling. According to Vraja tradition, Radhika’s lotus feet can only be seen once a year, on Gopastami.
Gurudev used to say that Radhika is in a “leftist mood,” making it extremely difficult for Krishna to persuade her. On the swing, one person is up while the other is down. When the sakhis apply more force, the swing goes higher. Srimati Radhika and Krishna sometimes swing separately. When Krishna is up, Radhika is down, and vice versa. When Radhika is down, her footprints are visible. When both swing together, Radhika becomes fearful of falling. Out of fear, Srimati Radhika embraces Krishna. This fulfills Krishna’s desire. Such is the nature of the Jhulan pastime.
The royal palace in Varsana is not King Vrishbhanu’s royal palace; it is Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s place. Maharaj Vrishbhanu’s palace is located farther. In the early 1980s, it was somewhat visible, but now nothing is. King Vrishbhanu built a palace for His beloved daughter. Here, Srimati Radhika Thakurani used to swing, and Krishna also. When Srimati Radhika Thakurani went to Vipin, Krishna would be there. Where Srimati Radhika Thakurani is in Nikunj Sadan, Krishna is also there. If Srimati Radhika Thakurani is happy, Krishna is also happy; if Srimati Radhika Thakurani is sad, Krishna is also sad! Krishna can never be alone and independent. That is why Srimati Radhika Thakurani goes to Vipin, and Krishna goes to Vipin with Srimati Radhika Thakurani.
राधा बिना श्याम आधा , जपो राधा नाम ! जन्म जन्म के भाग्य जगा दे एक राधे का नाम ! जपो राधे, जपो श्याम!
A single chant of Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s name awakens the fortune of countless births! Chant Radha, chant Shyam! Krishna is incomplete without Srimati Radhika Thakurani, and a single chant of Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s name awakens the fortune of countless births. By chanting Sri Radha’s name, the fortune of countless births awakens.
Once, when Krishna went for cow grazing in the forest, all the friends went with him. The cowherd friends could not be without Krishna for even a moment. In such situations, Krishna would remember Yogamaya, sometimes Madhumangal, sometimes Subal, or both, and would say to his friends, “I’ll be right back.” He would then leave. Meanwhile, Srimati Radhika Thakurani, under the pretext of sun worship, would leave her in-laws’ house and meet Krishna. Srimati Radhika’s cousin, “Chandrawali,” would meet Krishna under the pretext of Gauri Puja. When we do Govardhan Parikrama, exactly opposite the Sankarsan Kund, in the east direction, about half a mile away, there is Gauri Kund. There, Chandrawali would meet Krishna under the pretext of Gauri Puja, and Srimati Radhika would meet Krishna at Surya Kund under the pretext of Surya Puja. This meeting would happen. Then, Krishna would come back, again under a pretext, saying, “I’ve just arrived” (to the friends). Yogamaya would make everyone forget everything, making them not worry at all. The friends would think, “Krishna is just coming, he’s over there.” Otherwise, without seeing Krishna, the friends couldn’t even bear it if Krishna went behind a tree. Yogamaya makes everyone forget, and they don’t think about anything.
Krishna would meet Srimati Radhika Thakurani at Prem Sarovar, sometimes at a secret meeting place, sometimes here and there, continuing to meet like this. Let me tell you about one such pastime at Prem Sarovar.
Srimati Radhika Thakurani was sitting with Her friends at Prem Sarovar. Krishna had arrived with Madhumangal. Both were sitting. Srimati Radhika Thakurani was sitting holding Krishna’s waist, and Krishna was also sitting with his arm around Srimati Radhika Thakurani. Just then, a bumblebee arrived. Such a beautiful, lotus-like fragrance was emanating from Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s divine body, and the bumblebee mistook Srimati Radhika Thakurani for a lotus flower. Bumblebees do not have human-like intelligence, and it hovered around Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s lotus feet. Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s lotus feet had a beautiful lotus-like color and fragrance. And the bumblebee is most infatuated with the fragrance of lotus flowers and lotus nectar.
There may be many flowers, but if there is a lotus, it will not go to other flowers. And God has given them such strength that they can bore through even the hardest wood and make a nest inside. When they sit in a lotus flower to drink nectar, as the sun slowly sets, the lotus petals also slowly close on their own. It will bloom again the next day. This happens for three or four days. Similarly, the bumblebee was sitting in the lotus, drinking nectar, and was so attached to the lotus that it forgot to leave. It can drill very solid wood but could not drill lotus flowers. Why? Because it is attached. This is called intense attachment. So the bumblebee thought of Srimati Radhika Thakurani’s holy feet as a lotus flower and kept coming over there. Srimati Radhika Thakurani was getting scared. This human-like pastime not compared to Dev Leela. Dev Leela means God-like pastime; the human-like pastimes are more mystical. Human-like have more mysticism. So God does pastimes like humans, but in aprakata-lilas, there is no miracle in deva lila pastime. God does not perform many miracles like that. Then what happened? Madhumangal have a stick that is called lati or cane. So he made the bumblebee run away with that stick. While coming back, he said, “Oh my friend! I have made the bumblebee, oh the Madhusudana is far away now. He cannot come back.” Listening to which, Srimati Radhika Thakurani became unconscious, thinking, “Krishna went. Madhusudana Krishna went. He’ll not come back.”
There are two meanings of Madhusudana: one who drinks the nectar of flowers, “madhu” of flowers, that is, and the second one who enjoys the nectar of Gopis’ “prem,” love of Gopis. He’s also Madhusudana, Shyamsundar Krishna, Radha Kanta Krishna. The message that Madhumangal wanted to convey was that I made the bumblebee run away, but what Srimati Radhika Thakurani took it as was that he made Krishna run away. She’s with Krishna. Krishna is also holding Her. But Srimati Radhika Thakurani fell unconscious. Krishna thought, “Oh, this is not correct. Me staying over here is not good.”
They are meeting each other. Still, they are feeling the separation. This is called Prem Vaichitya. Four types of milana. Milana means meeting, and separation means in Hindi it is called Virah. There are four types of meeting (Milana) and four types of separation (Virah). What are they? Purva Raga. These are separation. Purva Raga means the situation before meeting Krishna. Just before meeting Him, that is Purva Raga. Purva means before, Raga means love. So before meeting with Krishna, this situation is called Purva Raga. Then Srimati Radhika Thakurani and Sakhi were upset. This is called Maan (tantrums). When they say something to Krishna, Krishna does not abide by them, does not follow it, does not do something that they want, they become upset. That is called Maan. Paramarthik Krodh is called Maan. Paramarthik means spiritual, something which is not material, and Krodh means anger. So, spiritual anger. Why is it called Paramarthik? Because it is to favor Krishna, it is the pleasure of Krishna. He wants that sort of anger. Paramarthik, that is called Maan.
Our ultimate goal is undoubtedly Krishna prema. But how is Krishna prema attained? First, we must surrender at the shelter of Guru Pada Padma, and then, slowly, we will progress towards Sri Radha Dasyam. For example, when I went to America last May, after five years, for Syamrani Didi’s installation duty, it also happened to be her birthday. Devotees requested me to wish her a happy birthday. So, I wished her, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Please remember, we are not physical but we are soul, and we are eternal servants of Krishna. Radha Dasyam is our goal.” Everyone started clapping, realizing they had never heard such a thing before. By Guru’s (Srila Narayan Goswami Maharaj’s) mercy, this understanding came; I had never heard such a concept previously. Our goal is Krishna prema, but to attain it, we must first surrender to the lotus feet of the Guru and then gradually progress towards Srimati Radha Dasyam.
