Just like, Lord Krishna is the ultimate source of all incarnations, similarly, Srimati Radharani is also the source of all the Gopis, queens like Rukmini, Satyabhama etc, and Laksmi devi. She is the original potency of Krishna. The information regarding Radharani is very confidential and even is hidden in the Vedas, called Veda-Gopya. As a result, many misconceptions about Radharani have been created, or many have no idea at all. Srila Prabhupada said, “The two tattvas (perfect information)- Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna are completely unknown to the materialists.” One has to be advanced spiritually to know these mysteries. Radharani is not an ordinary or special woman in this material world; she is known as Lord Sri Krishna’s Hladini Shakti or Ananda-Daini Shakti (pleasure potency). Lord Krishna has 3 internal energies, namely- Sandhini (the existential potency), Sambit (cognitive potency), and Hladini (pleasure potency). Lord Sri Krishna’s Mother, Father, Dham, House, Beds, Asanas (sitting place) are the various expansions of His existential potency. The essence of knowledge potency is to know that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The essence of pleasure potency is ‘Bhagavat-Prem’ or ‘Pure Love of God’ which is stated in the verse (CC Adi. 4/68,69) –

hlādinīra sāra ‘prēma’ prēmasāra ‘bhāba’.

bhābēra parākāṣṭhā nāma, ‘mahābhāba’.

mahābhāba sbarūpā śrīrādhā-ṭhākurāṇī.

sarbaguṇakhani kr̥ṣṇakāntā śirōmaṇi.

 

 Srimati Radha Rani’s appearance in this material world:

In the context of the emergence of Srimati Radharani in this material world, different scriptures describe differently, since She emerges in different ways in different kalpas (Lord Brahma’s one day). Puornamasi Devi, the organizer of Radha-Krishna pastimes in Vraja, once told  Gergi, the daughter of Gargamuni, about the appearance of Srimati Radharani, what Sri Rupa Goswami mentions in his book ‘Sri Lalita Madhava’. She spoke to Mother Yashoda and Rohini Devi about this as well. Once King Vrishavanu, being immersed into the water of river Yamuna, was meditating on God, and right at that time, a lotus having thousand petals floating in the water stream touched his body. When he unleashed his eyes, he saw an effulgent- golden colored infant daughter lying in that very lotus. Since the king didn’t have children, he was very happy to have this daughter and gave it to his wife, Kirtida. In this way, Srimati Radharani appeared in the house of Her eternal parents Kirtida Sundari-Maharaja Vrishabhanu in Shukla Ashtami Tithi in the month of Vadra (August-September). This appearance day of Srimati Radha Rani is called Radhastami Tithi.

Significances of Radha Ashtami
In the Gaudiya-Vaishnava society, this day is celebrated pompously by observing Radha-Ashtami vow. Thus, one can eliminate the sins of billions of one’s births. This vow gives the same result as observing vows for one hundred thousand of Ekadashi.

Updated: 15th December, 2021