Radha Govind Geet – Part 1
In our inaugural post, we introduced our latest series of articles that will bring you the monumental work of Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj, ‘Radha Govind Geet’, a collection of 11,111 couplets (dohas).
In this edition, we continue to quote the opening couplets from ‘Radha Govind Geet’ – ‘Dainya Madhuri’, the which epitomizes a devotee’s feelings of humility and helps build the feeling of humbleness while singing the glories of Shri Radha Krishna.
These couplets form the basis of the foundation laid for a devotee to help him/her develop the positive feelings of devotion by singing the personal glories of Shri Radha and Krishna.
Couplet 4 – 6
Mere Dono Thakur Govind Radhe
Bhori Bhari Radhe Govind Sidhe Sadhe
Sada Muskuraye Dono Govind Radhe
Mere Shub Kamanaye Hai Unko Bata De
Mere Dou Thakur Govind Radhe
Mohi Dasi Dasi Dasi Dasi Bana De
Translation (Couplet 4)
Shri Radha and Krishna are most loving and innocent just like a child. In their sweetest form, they do not possess anything but love and mercy for the devotee who approaches them with a pure and sincere heart. This is the essence of this very simple but deeply moving couplet.
Translation (Couplet 5)
Radha and Govind (Shri Krishna) are always smiling and my (devotee’s) best wishes and compliments are always with them.
We could wonder, what good wishes or compliments can a devotee give to God!
A devotee should always try to develop loving sentiments towards God and keep increasing this ‘bhav‘. Bhav is the inner most feeling that we have inside our heart for any person or object. Our aim, as a devotee, is to increase the seva bhav or the feeling of servitude towards God and Guru. In our journey towards God-realization, service to God with a selfless attitude is of paramount importance. It is the eternal thread that binds us to both God and Guru and seals the bonds of our relationship with them.
It is in this context that a devotee wishes the best for his beloved Radha Krishna by showering all glories and compliments at their lotus feet.
Translation (Couplet 6)
This is a small but very powerful couplet revealed by Shri Maharajji. The greatness of his composition is the divine and consummate ease of encapsulating a vast amount of knowledge in just a few words or lines! To be able to fully explain the background and meaning of this couplet, it would take hundreds of pages!
Shri Maharajji has made it so easy for even the most simpletons to pursue the path of devotion, by simplifying the process and practically teaching us how to practice devotion and excel.
The devotee says that both Radha and Krishna are his ‘masters’, as Shri Krishna is lovingly referred to as ‘Thakurji‘ in Braj and many parts of Northern India. In ancient days, a ‘thakur‘ was like the leader, head or a chieftan of an entire village or community, sometimes spanning many hamlets, villages and even a kingdom. Even today, there are ‘thakurs‘ who enjoy the privilege of being a leader of a certain community or a village in many part of north and western India.
In the divine realm, serving Shri Radha Krishna is the sole aim and purpose of a devotee’s existence. To reach that stage, we must begin the practice of seva in early stage of devotion by serving our beloved Guru. This acts like the training we need to receive, so that one day, we may serve Shri Radha and Krishna in their divine abode, Vrindavan as per their wishes.
A devotee strives to become a selfless servant of God and Guru by forfeiting his personal desires and wishes. Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj says that although a soul cannot completely rid itself of desires, one can manoeuvre and ‘redirect’ the desires towards God. By desiring things associated with God and his true saints, the devotee can slowly but surely extinguish the flames of material desires for eternity. When the devotee learns to desire as per the wishes of the Guru he/she serves, personal desires are automatically destroyed. Serving and pleasing the Guru becomes the main priority and aim.
We have learnt earlier that serving God directly is not possible as he is not visible to our material eyes. How do we know what God wants and what way to serve him when we cannot see him? This is one of many innumerable reasons why God sends his saints as ‘Gurus’ to guide devotees towards the path of selfless devotion and seva.
When we serve a Guru, our heart and mind is cleansed to the same level as the intensity of our desire to serve. The more we sacrifice and serve our Guru with sincerity, the more our heart is cleansed. This will automatically lead us faster towards our goal of God-realization.
God’s servants are the eternal rasik saints, the innumerable God-realized saints (who were once ordinary souls) and many other categories of true saints who fully realized God and have had his true divine vision with the aim of serving him selflessly.
What the devotee asks Shri Radha Krishna in this couplet is to make him the servant of the servant of the servant of their servant!
A God-realized saint always considers himself as the servant of God. In the same way, the devotee begins his journey towards God by developing the feelings of servitude towards the saint (Guru). Many a time, a devotee may not get the good fortune of even serving the Guru directly. But as a true devotee, he only wants to serve his Guru and to fulfill that ‘desire to serve’, he begs God to make him a servant of a servant of a servant of his servant!
All the sacred scriptures say that serving God and his true saints is considered the same. In fact, serving the saint or Guru is of higher importance for a devotee or a spiritual aspirant as it the Guru who does everything for him/her and prepares the soul as a recipient of God’s grace.
All that the devotee wishes is to serve and develop such humility that he considers serving the devotee of a devotee of a devotee of a true devotee, as the aim of his existence!
Such is the power of devotion that it completely enriches one’s spiritual experience and lifts it to great heights.