Out of everything, all of Krishna’s (the Supreme Divine Personality) powers, His swaroop shakti (intrinsic Divine power) is supreme. And that swaroop shakti has an essence (which is) the power of bliss, and that power of bliss has an essence; (it is) the power of Divine love. And that power of Divine love has an essence called mahabhav (the highest state of Divine love), and that mahabhav personified is Radha (the eternal Divine Soul of Krishna).
Can we imagine what all of that means? Can we visualize it and actually grasp it? No, we can’t correctly conceive it, but it still makes some sense to us that supreme God has all these amazing powers. And out of all of that, the essence of the essence of the essence, is the power of Divine love. And the supreme essence personified, the absolute origin of Divine love, is Radharani. So we gain some appreciation for who Radha is.
That power of Divine love is so great that it keeps Shree Krishna under its control. That is, it’s due to the effect of the power of Divine love, that ordinary souls like us gain the power to control Shree Krishna.
अहं भक्तपराधीनो…।
Ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīno…- Bhagwatam 9.4.63
Shree Krishna says, “I am subservient to My Devotees.”
Devotee here is with a capital ‘D’, (it means) a God-realized Saint, controls supreme God, Shree Krishna, who is the controller of Vishnu (the sustaining aspect of God), who is the controller of unlimited brahmands (cosmos) and unlimited Brahmas (creators), Vishnus (maintainers), and Shankars (Lord Shiv).
And an ordinary soul can become the controller of Shree Krishna. How? Because when they receive that Divine love power then Shree Krishna is subservient to His Divine love power. So anyone who receives that Divine love power becomes greater than God, because Shree Krishna surrenders to the one who is in possession of that Divine love power.
Then what to say of the origin of that Divine love power? What to say of the personified essence of the essence of that Divine love power? Again, taking you back to the Vedas (eternal DIvine scriptures),
स एक एवेश्वरो नारायणोऽखिलब्रह्माण्डाधिपतिरेकोंशः।
तस्य शक्तयस्त्वनेकधा ह्लादिनी सन्धिनी ज्ञाने च क्रियाद्या भुवि धा शक्तयः।
तास्वाह्लादिनी वरीयसी परमान्तरङ्गभूता॥Sa eka eveshvaro narayano’khila-brahmandadhipatirekonshah |
Tasya shaktayas tvanekadha hladini sandhini jnane cha kriyadya bhuvi dha shaktayah |
Tasv ahladini variyasi paramantarangabhuta ||कृष्णेन आराध्यते इति राधा
Krishnena Aradhyate Ititi Radha
Radhikopanishad says that the ‘paramantarangabhuta’ (supreme innermost essence), the absolute essence of all Divine existence, is none other than Radha, and She is worshipped by Shree Krishna.
Just as Shree Krishna’s devotees, who are in possession of the prem shakti (power of Divine love), are worshipped by Him, the absolute origin and personified essence of that prem shakti is also worshipped by Shree Krishna. So Shree Radha, Her Divine status is even above Shree Krishna.
That doesn’t mean She is separate from Shree Krishna. So far, I’ve only been explaining by way of comparison—comparing Krishna to Radha in order to understand Radha’s Divine status.
But there is total oneness between Radha and Krishna.
