Yesterday (Tuesday), we celebrated Radhastami - the birthday of Srimati Radharani.
Over the years, Sri Swami Vishwananda has been referring to Srimati Radharani as the “Queen Gopi”; as the “Shakti of Krishna”; the “manifestation of Lord Krishna Himself as bhakti, which is pure devotion, to show us how to love unconditionally”. Swamiji also said, “Radha represents all of us, the creation, the manifestation. She symbolises the Love, the example. She symbolizes the bhav, the complete surrender to the Will of God.”
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| Krishna Janmashtami 2013 (left photos) and Navaratri 2013 (right) |
Furthermore, this year in an informal satsang, Sri Swami Vishwananda told us about a deep revelation saying, “Srimat Radharani ... gave me an explanation of how the soul is concealed by Maya and how the deity, the Divine Himself is concealed also by Maya.
"So, you see, whenever we talk about spirituality, we always say that there is only a veil of illusion that covers the eyes of man. It is true! The soul of man is covered by Maha Maya, the great illusion. But, the Lord which is seated deep, deep, deep within is also covered by one veil of Maya, which is called Yogmaya. So, between the soul and the Divine there are two veils of Maya. There is not only one veil of Maya, there are two veils that cover it: one is His Maha Maya and the other one is Yogmaya.
Maha Maya is the illusion, the creation that you see outside. The things that you perceive with the mind itself. Coming to a certain level you can Realise yourself, but yet you have to break through Yogmaya.
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| Christmas 2010 |
"Yogmaya is the Maya, the illusion, that the Lord casts upon Himself, which means that while the veil of Yogmaya is not revealed, the Lord doesn't reveal Himself. That's why many people jump into the game of Maha Maya, they come to a certain level of Realisation and think that they have already reached the Ultimate. But, in reality, No! There is still the veil of Yogmaya to overcome. And that veil of Yogmaya, that's what will give you the change of seeing and meeting the Lord face to face.
"However, that veil of Yogmaya is removed by His Grace only! You can't remove it, because He Himself willingly, voluntarily, cast it upon Himself, saying ‘Here, I cover Myself with a shawl, but nobody can take that shawl away. I am the only One Who can!’ This is the Game, the Leela of the Lord Himself, which He plays with everybody, with each soul making each one ready.”
"However, that veil of Yogmaya is removed by His Grace only! You can't remove it, because He Himself willingly, voluntarily, cast it upon Himself, saying ‘Here, I cover Myself with a shawl, but nobody can take that shawl away. I am the only One Who can!’ This is the Game, the Leela of the Lord Himself, which He plays with everybody, with each soul making each one ready.”