Radha-Krishna Notebook

Radha-Krishna Thangka painted 2011 by ariya (roughly 480 hours) in Bhaktapur/Nepal. Krishna literally "dark, black, dark-blue" is a central figure of Hinduism and is easily recognised by his representations. Though his skin colour may be depicted as black or dark in some representations, in other images he is usually shown with blue skin. He is often shown wearing a yellow silk dhoti and peacock feather crown, as a little boy, or as a young man in a characteristic relaxed pose, playing the bansuri (bamboo) flute. In this form, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other and raises the flute to his lips, known as Tribhangi Mudra, and is either accompanied by cows, emphasising his position as the divine herdsman, Govinda, or by the gopis ( milkmaids). Krishna appears in many forms. When he is together with Radha, he is regarded as supreme lord under the name of Radha-Krishna. Thus, Radha-Krishna are the male and female aspects of God. Known as the Divine Couple, together they are the full manifestation of God. Radha-Krishna and the Rasa Lila The stories of his play with the gopis of Vrindavan, especially Radha (daughter of Vrishbhanu, one of the original residents of Vrindavan) became known as the rasa lila – the Dance of Divine Love. The topic of the spiritual love affair between the divine Krishna and his devotee Radha, became a theme celebrated throughout India since the twelfth century. The rasa lila took place one night when the gopis of Vrindavan, upon hearing the sound of Krishna's flute, sneaked away from their households and families to the forest to dance with Krishna throughout the night, which Krishna supernaturally stretched to the length of one Night of Brahma, a Hindu unit of time lasting approximately 4.32 billion years. In the Krishna Bhakti traditions, the rasa-lila is considered to be one of the highest and most esoteric of Krishna's pastimes. In these traditions, romantic love between human beings in the material world is seen as merely a diminished, illusionary reflection of the soul’s original, ecstatic spiritual love for Krishna, God, in the spiritual world. It is also believed that Radha is not just one cowherd maiden, but is the origin of all the gopis, or divine personalities that participated in the rasa dance. Radha, who is Krishna's supreme beloved, is acknowledged as the Supreme Goddess, for it is said that she controls Krishna with Her love. It is believed that Krishna enchants the world, but Radha "enchants even Him. Therefore She is the supreme goddess of all. Radha Krishna". Still, this is a complex relationship, for the devotee is the ‘same as and yet different from’ the Lord, and so even in the joy of union there is the pain of separation. Indeed, the highest form of devotion, according to Yamunacarya, comes not in union but after the union, in the ‘fear of new separation’...