You would think that when it’s all Radha and Krishna - Radha and Krishna as Radha and Krishna, Radha-Krishna as Sita-Ram, Radha-Krishna as Viṣhṇu-Lakṣhmī, Radha-Krishna as formless God - then why does it matter? You could ask that question. Why does it matter? But it does matter in the same way that it would matter if, on a hot day, you asked someone to bring you ice, and instead they brought you steam. Steam over a hundred degrees Celsius on a boiling hot day, and you say,
“What is this!? Why did you bring me steam!?”
“Well, you said you asked for ice, and this is the same thing chemically speaking. It’s H₂O, right? So what? Here, have some steam!”
Well, the use of steam is different from the use of ice, which is different from the use of water.
Similarly, Shree Krishna in His formless aspect is not the same, cannot be experienced the same way as Shree Krishna of Divine Vrindavan or Shree Krishna with Radha. It’s very different. Just like if someone just breaks off a branch of a mango and starts chewing on it, and you say,
“What are you doing?”
He says, “It’s mango! I’m trying to get some juice out of this!”
So, you get juice out of the fruit, not out of the branch.
“So, if you analyze the DNA, the DNA of this branch is exactly the same as the DNA in the fruit. Why should it matter if I eat the fruit or I eat the branch?”
“Okay, you have the branch! I’ll have the fruit.”
In the same way, yes, internally, they’re all one, but Shree Krishna is revealing something different - more and more and more - in His different forms, and He reveals Himself in totality as Radha-Krishna of Divine Vrindavan. Think of it like a flower, like a rose. When it’s in its bud form, then the qualities of the rose are all there, but they’re in a dormant form. They’re unmanifest.
The color of the rose is unseen. The beauty of the rose is unseen. The fragrance of the rose cannot be smelled, yet the rose is there, but it’s in a bud form. That’s like formless God. All the qualities are there, but unmanifest. Now the rose starts to bloom. It’s in partial bloom. That’s like Krishna’s almighty forms. Some of His qualities are revealed, but not in full. And when that rose blooms in its fullness, then whatever are the qualities in that rose are all on maximum display. The fragrance, the beauty, the color, everything.
So, Radha-Krishna are the full-bloom form of themselves, simply put. So, that’s why we worship Radha-Krishna. Saints who have attained Radha-Krishna have attained the bliss of the Divine world in its sweetest form or in its richest form. It becomes more and more and more enriched as Shree Krishna reveals more and more of that prem shakti (power of Divine love) or that power of bhakti (devotion).
But always keep in mind that Radha and Krishna are one and the same. You understand now that Radha-Krishna are not different from other forms of God, but in those other forms, they’re not revealing that supreme bliss of Vrindavan abode.
