Women Control the Wealth of this Vast Universe

A totally disturbed state of mind is longing! And you need to enjoy the totally disturbed state also. You know, there is a threshold, and you have to cross the threshold to bear that longing, otherwise that longing creates blame. This happens among lovers. They cannot handle their longing, so they keep blaming each other for their misery. And they say, “Look how much I love you, look what you do - you make me wait for an hour, is this fair to me? What else is more important for you? Maybe your mind is somewhere else? Maybe you don’t love me? Maybe we made a mistake.” All this paraphernalia crops up. You create a web around you and you get sucked into it. It is your own web that you create.

Longing is excruciating and that threshold of longing has to be crossed and you find that there is such sweetness in longing. This is the love between Radha and Krishna - there was so much longing between them and so much love. There is a nice story about Radha and Krishna. Radha and Krishna were going for a walk in the evening in the forest and Krishna said, “Look Radha, these flowers are so beautiful, these trees are so beautiful.” And Radha said, “Yes, they are reflecting your beauty, my dear Lord.” Krishna says, “They are beautiful just because you are looking at them. If you were not to look, they wouldn’t look so beautiful. It is the reflection of your sight that is shining and making them so beautiful.” It was sweet talk. You know, usually when lovers talk, they don’t make much sense. A scientist is completely baffled by lovers’ talk. And then they said, “Let’s play something.” Then Radha said, “Okay, I’ll hide and you search me.” They were small you know. Krishna was about 14 years old and Radha was older than Krishna by two or three years.

So, Radha hid herself in the forest somewhere and Krishna went around looking for her. He searched her here, there, everywhere and within a few minutes, maybe 20-30 minutes, he got restless because he could not find her. And the longing became more and more and he became miserable. Then he just sat in one place, absolutely miserable because he couldn’t find Radha. They both had a common friend whose name was Lalita. Lalita came and asked, “Oh my dear Krishna, what are you doing? Why are you so miserable?” He said, “You know, I can’t find Radha. Now my hands are shivering, my legs are shivering, I can’t take a step anymore. I can’t move an inch from here, so you have to help me.”

And she says, “Okay, don’t worry, I will find Radha. I know how to get her.” So Lalita goes searching and she finds Radha in some place hiding. She says, “You know, Krishna is so upset and so miserable that he couldn’t find you.” Just hearing the words that Krishna is miserable, Radha says, “See, I am paralysed now. I can’t move a step, my hands, everything is frozen. I was the cause for his misery. I cannot take it that I became the cause for the misery of my Lord. You only do something.” So she collapsed there, fainted. Now Lalita got even more upset. She didn’t know what to do, how to bring them together. Then Lalita ran back to Krishna to give him the message that she has found Radha. By that time, Krishna was sitting there and meditating, and when she reached there to give the news, Krishna opened his eyes and showed that Radha is just next to him, by his side. What does that mean? When your mind which is running, when it goes inside, when it goes to the source, right there you find the beloved. Lalita, the common friend, means descrimination.

You know when ancient people wrote stories, they didn’t make just some story, they put some symbolism in it. They put some wisdom in it so that the story became an immortal story. When love and longing were there and they both were miserable, discrimination or wisdom was essential. Wisdom came and recognised that the beloved is right there. When the mind becomes quiet and one goes inward, there is no distance. Lalita means wisdom, united. So they were always united, they were never separated, Radha and Krishna.

Women were given prime place in the Vedic traditions. That is why you always say a woman’s name first and then the man’s, Radha and then Krishna, Laxmi and Narayan, Gauri and Shankar. Women were given foremost importance. And the three important porfolios were all given to women - finance, defence and education! All the important portfolios were given to women in the cosmic field, in the Deva’s field - the field of angels. Women control the wealth of the Universe, women control the knowledge and the defence.

Source: The New Indian Express