Response Paper 2: On Love Poems to Krishna

As hymns to Krishna proceed, Radha gradually transitions from normal consciousness to a state of Brahman that is parallel with some of the yogic paths÷especially the yoga done by loving Brahman. Her poems can be traced out into a kind of sensual yogic path.

She starts out with physical love with Krishna, but is still attached to the fruits of her actions enough to be afraid of the effect on her dharma. Soon, however, her "mind is not on [her] housework" and she becomes less worried about the fruits of her actions and instead begins to thing only of being with Krishna. To compare with other yogic paths she is becoming increasingly focused on Krishna only. Soon the normal senses of daily life÷such as the taste of milk÷are no longer cared about and her only true senses become those related to Krishna. She sees that the Îotherâ senses of life are meaningless and ephemeral. She soon gets to the point where she would throw away her life itself if she could not be with Krishna. She even tells him that "you are my life itself." She becomes indifferent to all things except Krishna and even sees her own life as insignificant without him. She distractedly wanders from place to place, because her full attention is on Krishna÷all parts of life and senses become nothing compared to him. She then starts losing the sense of self saying that "God made one body and one soul" out of her and Krishna. She has slowly lost touch with the fruits of her action and her idea of individual self and has become completely focused on Krishna. She seems to know at some level that he is everything because she says he is her lord "In life and in death, in birth after birth." Thus as well as losing her idea of self she seems to see herself and Krishna as some immortal part of the universe, thus dropping off her notions of being tied to one small life. Then the final step seems to be turning her love of a man÷although an immortal one÷into love of everything (at the same time in that man). Her speech about sharing the water and the breath and the land with Krishna seems to imply that she has reached the highest step and dissociated herself with being only a human.

Thus she takes her union with Krishna along the path of not caring about the fruits of her actions, stopping her outside senses, and being completely focused on Krishna to the point where she becomes one with him, realizing that she is not just one life and not just tied to one part of the universe. Thus she has fulfilled the yogic destination through her sensual love relationship.