(Click on picture above to see a larger image of Srimati Radharani, the "Queen of Vrindavan.")
tapta-kancana-gaurangi
radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye
"Radharani is hari-priya, very dear to Krishna. So if we approach Krishna through the mercy of Radharani, then it becomes very easy. If Radharani recommends that, 'This devotee is very nice,' then Krishna immediately accepts, however foolish I may be. Because Radharani recommends it, Krishna accepts. Therefore, in Vrndavana you'll find all the devotees chanting Radharani's name more than Krishna's. Wherever you'll go, you'll find the devotees are addressing one another, 'Jaya Radhe.' They are glorifying Radharani. They're more interested in worshiping Her. This is because, however fallen I may be, if somehow or other I can please Radharani, then it is very easy for me to understand Krishna. Otherwise,
manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanam kascid vetti mam tattvatah
(Bhagavad-gita 7.3)
If you go by the speculative process to understand Krishna, it will take many, many lives. But if you take to devotional service and you just try to please Radharani, then Krishna will be gotten very easily, because Radharani can deliver Krishna. She is such a great devotee, the emblem of maha-bhagavata (topmost level of devotion to Krishna). Even Krishna Himself, though He says vedaham samatitani ('I know everything') cannot understand Radharani's quality. Radharani is so great."
(Srila Prabhupada lecture, September 18, 1969, London)
*Special thanks to Gary Paterson for sharing his superexcellent photos of our beloved Vancouver Deities.
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