Radha Krishna Puja

The Bhagavata Purana's tenth Skandha, the most beloved section of all eighteen Puranas, opens with a question to Shuka: what are the deeds of the one whose very name, when heard even accidentally, purifies the listener? The entire Skandha is Shuka's answer, and at its heart is the Raas Panchadhyayi, the five chapters describing the Raas Lila: Krishna's dance with the Gopis on the night of Sharad Purnima. The Raas Lila has been the subject of more commentary, more poetry, and more devotional expression than perhaps any other episode in the Puranic literature. Its significance in the bhakti tradition is not narrative but ontological. The Gopis leave their homes and families in the middle of the night - a violation of every social norm - in response to Krishna's flute call. The Bhagavata interprets this: the flute is the call of the Atman to the Jivatma. The Gopis' response - unhesitating, total, leaving everything behind - is the model of surrender that the bhakti tradition holds as its highest ideal. Radha occupies the central position in the Braj tradition because she is not one of the Gopis but the Gopi - the one in whom Krishna's own bliss-nature is fully reflected. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana's Prakriti Khanda describes her as Krishnapriya, the dearest of all, not because of any quality she possesses separately, but because she is his own Hladini Shakti in the form of a devotee. This is the theological basis for always worshipping Radha alongside Krishna rather than Krishna alone in the Braj tradition.