This Site to Close on January 1, 2006 Appeal for Help
Regrettably if I do not receive any financial support to help maintain this site in the coming year from sincere souls such as you, I will have to cancel this site on January 1, 2006 or at least stop updating it. READ MORE

Natural Nirvana Company Policies and Reason for Being.

Raval

Raval is the birthplace of Srimati Radharani. There is a small temple here called the Larily Lal Temple with Radha Krishna Deities, close to the bank of the Yamuna. The Deity of Krishna is said to have been established by Vrajanabha. Also located here is Radha Ghata. If you are going to Gokula to come to Raval is just a 30-minute side excursion and it is an important place. Not many people visit this place.

King Vrishabhanu and Queen Kirtida are the father and mother of Srimati Radharani. Once King Vrishabhanu went to the Yamuna River to take bath. He saw a golden lotus flower that shone like a million suns in the middle of the river. In the middle of the lotus flower was baby Srimati Radharani. Lord Brahma appeared before King Vrishabhanu and told him that in his previous life he and his wife, Kirtida, had performed great austerities to get the consort of Lord Vishnu as their daughter.

King Vrishabhanu took the child home, but found Her to be blind. Narada Muni appeared before the king and told him that despite the child’s blindness he should go ahead and perform all the auspicious birth ceremonies. Nanda Maharaja brought baby Krishna along for the ceremonies. When baby Krishna crawled before Srimati Radharani, She could smell the wonderful aroma of His body, and at that moment She opened Her eyes. The first person She saw was Her eternal consort, Sri Krishna.

How To Get Here Raval is 9km (6 miles) south of Mathura, on the other side of the Yamuna River. Raval can be visited at the same time as visiting Gokula. It is about halfway between Mathura and Gokula. The Larily Lal temple in Raval is about a km off the main road from Mathura to Gokula, all by itself, not far from the Yamuna. There is nothing to see here but the temple.

Quotes About Radharani
“Srimati Radharani is as fully spiritual as Krishna. No one should consider Her to be material. She is definitely not like the conditioned souls, who have material bodies, gross and subtle, covered by material senses. She is all spiritual, and both Her body and mind are of the same spiritual embodiment. Because Her body is spiritual, Her senses are also spiritual. Thus Her body, mind and senses fully shine in love of Krishna. She is the personified hladini-sakti (the pleasure-giving energy of the Lord’s internal potency), and therefore She is the only source of enjoyment for Sri Krishna.

Sri Krishna cannot enjoy anything that is internally different from Him. Therefore Radha and Sri Krishna are identical. The sandhini portion, Sri Krishna’s internal potency, has manifested the all-attractive form of Sri Krishna, and the same internal potency, in the hladini feature, has presented Srimati Radharani, who is the attraction for the all-attractive. No one can match Srimati Radharani in the transcendental pastimes of Sri Krishna.” (Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 4.71, purport)

“The transcendental mellow relished by the gopis in Braja is super excellently featured in Srimati Radharani. Mature assimilation of the transcendental humor of conjugal love is represented by Srimati Radharani, whose feelings are incomprehensible even to the Lord Himself. The intensity of Her loving service is the highest form of ecstasy. No one can surpass Srimati Radharani in relishing the transcendental mellow qualities of the Lord.” (Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 4.50, purport)

“Sri Krishna is the potent factor, and Srimati Radharani is the internal potency. According to Vedanta philosophy, there is no difference between the potent and potency; they are identical. We cannot differentiate between one and the other, any more than we can separate fire from heat. Everything in the Absolute is inconceivable in relative existence. Therefore in relative cognizance it is very difficult to assimilate this truth of the oneness between the potent and the potency. The philosophy of inconceivable oneness and difference propounded by Lord Caitanya is the only source of understanding for such intricacies of transcendence.

“In fact, Radharani is the internal potency of Sri Krishna, and She eternally intensifies the pleasure of Sri Krishna. Impersonalists cannot understand this without the help of a maha-bhagavata devotee. The very name Radha suggests that She is eternally the topmost mistress for the comforts of Sri Krishna. Devotees in Vrindavana therefore seek the mercy of Srimati Radharani in order to be recognized as loving servitors of Sri Krishna. (Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 4.56 purport)

Copyright ©2001 John Howley and Spiritual Guides