Take shelter in Him for...


Smile...
and enjoy
this lila!

Welcome to

Radha's
Krishna Links

~ Spiritual Enhancement Page ~
Adoring my Beloved Krishna!
He desires you above all else!


This page was last updated 06.15.09

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"Persons whose mind and intellect are totally merged in the Eternal Being,
who are firmly devoted to the Supreme,
who have God as their supreme goal and sole refuge,
and whose impurities are destroyed by the knowledge of the Self,
do not take birth again."
-- Sri Krishna (Bhagavad Gita 5.17)



This webpage is currently being updated since the last content updates were in 2006. Note that until this task is completed, some of the links below may no longer work. In addition, other relevant websites might not be included.



You may skip to the
Table of Contents
but you are strongly encouraged to first read the
Introduction



THE INDEX PAGE

THE 'MY STORY' PAGE
Website Introduction
"My Story"
How to Surrender to God
Website Conventions

THE TERMS PAGE
Terms Used
Caution

THE LINKS PAGE
Links About Sri Krishna
Links to Krishna Scriptures
Links to the Ecstatic Poets
Links to Krishna Art
Links to Krishna Music
Links About Bhakti Yoga and Spiritual Longing
Links About Madhurya Bhava and the Kundalini Experience
Links to Krishna Organisations
Links to Other Spiritual Resources
Links to Vegetarian Resources
Other Quick Links

THE READINGS PAGE
Recommended Reading
Printed Scriptures
Other Spiritual Books

THE PRACTICE PAGE
Spiritual Practice
Focus: How to Alter Your Consciousness
Some Nuts and Bolts
Additional Information
How to Take Krishna as Your Lover
Physical Manifestations
Focus: How to Turn Sickness into Ecstasy
Lifestyle Choices and the Western Devotee
The Road Ahead
Focus: Who Is the Guru?
On the Spiritual Wounding
Devotees and Abuse
On Siddhis
On Surrendering Ego
Meditation: Transforming Into Union
My First Anniversary
My Second Anniversary
My Third Anniversary
My Fourth Anniversary
Postscript
On Madhurya Bhava
Footnotes

MY BHAVA PAGE
My Madhurya Rasa Experience
Quotes on:
I. The Divine Lover
II. Divine Eroticism and Maturation
III. Whispers from the Bosom of the Beloved
IV. Divine Reality
Krishna's Advice
In Dedication
Credits

RADHA SPEAKS OUT
The Position of Women
Abuse Links
Aggressive War
The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
On Sacred Sexuality
On Pursuing Krsna: For Proper Devotion or for the Ultimate "Lay"?
Fundamentalism and Sri Prabhupada
The Mystic and the Greater Religious Community
How Many Krishnas Are There?
The Nature of Love
An Exegesis on the Soul
A Letter to Ego

POEMS OF KAANTA BHAVA
Introduction
The Poems
Explanatory Notes
Radha Instructs Krishna's New Bride in the Arts of Love
Other Kaanta Bhava Links

DOWNLOADS PAGE
Introduction
The Rasa Pancadhyaya
Other Downloads



Rest in His loving arms...
Adore me only
With heart undistracted;
Turn all your thought
Toward solitude, spurning
The noise of the crowd,
Its fruitless commotion....

-- Bhagavad Gita 13.10

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About Sri Krishna and Practice related to Krishna

Sri Krishna said:

My dear Uddhava, narrations of My pastimes and qualities are all-auspicious and purify the entire universe. A faithful person who constantly hears, glorifies and remembers such transcendental activities, who through dramatic performances relives My pastimes, beginning with My appearance, and who takes full shelter of Me, dedicating his religious, sensual and occupational activities for My satisfaction, certainly obtains unflinching devotional service to Me, the eternal Personality of Godhead.

-- Uddhava Gita 11.23-24

Please see the caution concerning the below ISKCON links. For more about Krishna, please see the Links to Krishna Scriptures below.

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I will go and lie in the bed of my Beloved...

I will dance before the Consciousness-Charmer.
Having danced and danced, I will please my enjoyer. I will feel my lover.
I will tie on the ankle bells of love and affection.
I will wear the dancing-garment of His Face.
Worldly modesty, family honor— I will not care for either of these.
I will go and lie in the bed of my beloved.
I, Mira, will dye myself in Hari's color.

-- Mirabai

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Krishna Scripture and Writings

Please also see the Recommended Reading section for printed editions of Krishna scriptures and other writings on Krishna. None of the links below should be seen as having any endorsement, but I have found some of these sites more useful than others.

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The name of the Dark One has entered my heart....

What do I care for the words of the world?
The name of the Dark One has entered my heart.
Those who praise, those who blame,
Those who say I am crazy, wicked, an uncontrolled fire--
All ignorant fools, caught in their senses.
It is true, Mira has no sense; she is lost in the sweetness.
To take this path is to walk the edge of the sword;
Then the noose of birth and death is suddenly cut.
Mira lives now beyond Mira.
She swims, deep mind and deep body, in Shyam's ocean

-- Mirabai

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The Ecstatic Poets

Because the ecstatic poets can express so well in so few words the experience and meaning of union with God, I view the best of their writings as on nearly equal terms with scripture. Union with God is a knowing, an experience, and a practice in which the soul is ever aware of the spiritual Reality. Intellectual assent only comes part of the way. The hungry soul must give all to know this "all."

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These gopi women are the highest embodied beings...

These gopi women are the highest embodied beings on the earth: their love for Govinda, the soul of everything, is perfected. Those who are fearful of the material world aspire to this, and so do the sages, and so do we ourselves. What is the use of births as Brahma for one who has a taste for the infinite stories [of Krishna]?

On the one hand, these women are forest dwellers tainted of deviant behaviour, and, on the other, they have developed a love for Krishna, the soul of everything. Truly, the lord personally bestows blessings on the person who worships him even if that person is not learned; it is as if the king of medicines had been consumed.

Sri Bhagavata Purana X, 47.58-59

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Krishna Art

Krishna artwork seems to be a precious commodity on the internet. Sites come and go very quickly and a precious find may have disappeared by the next time you go looking for it. Do not be surprised if the links below go out of date quickly.

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Come to my bedroom, I've scattered fresh buds on the couch, perfumed my body...

Come to my bedroom,
I've scattered fresh buds on the couch,
perfumed my body.
Birth after birth I am your servant,
sleep only with you.
Mira's lord does not perish--
one glimpse of the Dark One
is all she requests.

--Mirabai

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Krishna Music

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Now she frolics in heaven, ecstatically bound...

The plums tasted sweet
to the unlettered desert-tribe girl--
but what manners! To chew into each!
She was ungainly, low-caste,
ill mannered and dirty,
but the god took the fruit she'd been sucking.
Why? She'd knew how to love.
She might not distinquish
splendor from filth
but she'd tasted the nectar of passion.
Might not know any Veda,
but a chariot swept her away--
now she frolics in heaven,
ecstatically bound to her god.
The Lord of Fallen Fools, says Mira,
will save anyone
who can practice rapture like that--
I myself in a previous birth
was a cowherding girl at Gokul.

-- Mirabai

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About Bhakti Yoga and Spiritual Longing

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Love me, Radhika!

Consent to my love; let elixir pour from your face!
To end our separation I bare my chest of the silk that bars your breast.
Narayana is faithful now. Love me, Radhika!

Throbbing breasts aching for loving embrace are hard to touch.
Rest these vessels on my chest! Quench love's burning fire!
Narayana is faithful now. Love me, Radhika!

Offer your lips' nectar to revive a dying slave, Radhika!
His obsessed mind and listless body burn in love's desolation.
Narayana is faithful now. Love me, Radhika!

-- Gita Govinda 12.4-6

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About Madhurya Bhava and the Kundalini Experience

There is considerable overlap on the topics of Madhurya Bhava and Kundalini. While Kundalini is the primary goal of Tantra Yoga and a focus of Shakti worship, it is manifested in many other mystical traditions. Madhurya bhava is a factor only in those traditions that cultivate the idea of a conjugal relationship with the Supreme...a heretical concept for many orthodox interpretations of religion. Yet, this ecstatic stream persists in most as alternative communions such as Sufism, Bhakti, and Christian mysticism. We can read of such bhava in the writings of the ecstatic poets such Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, Lalla, and Mirabai.

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Having become completely absorbed in me, you are freed from all turbulence of mind and will meet me soon...

Sri Bhagavan said: There can never be any separation between you and myself, because I am the soul of everything. Just as the elements--ether, air, fire, water and earth--exist in all entities, so I am the repository of the gunas, the senses, the elements, the vital airs and the mind....That I, your beloved, remain far removed from your vision is in order to attract your minds; it is because of longing that you meditate upon me. When the beloved is far away, the minds of women who are absorbed in him dwell on him; but consciousness does not do this when he is near at hand, within range of vision. Because you remember me always, having become completely absorbed in me, you are freed from all turbulence of mind and will meet me soon.

Sri Bhagavata Purana X, 47.29-37 (excerpted)

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Krishna Organisations

I have already rung this bell a couple of other places on this website. However, I must continue to warn against the threat of fundamentalism as I list Krishna organisations below. None of the links here are presented with any kind of an endorsement. While consistent adherence to a spiritual discipline is usually beneficial, such adherence should be done for the purpose of drawing closer to "God" and not for the sake of what is considered to be correct practice. Please see the previous warning concerning ISKCON.

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They were intent on amorous pleasure and were overjoyed at Krishna's touch...!

The festival of the rasa began, featuring a circle of gopis. The Lord of all yogis, Krishna, inserted himself between each pair gopis, and put his arms about their necks. Each woman though he was at her side only....Kettledrums resounded then, stream of flowers fell....There was a tumultuous sound of bracelets, ankle-bracelets and the bells of young women in the circle of the rasa dance with their beloved. Krishna Bhagavan, the son of Devaki, was radiant in their company, like a great emeral in the midst of golden ornaments. The consorts of Krishna, their braids and belts securely fastened, sang about him with hand gestures and dancing feet. Their faces were sweating, their earrings rolling on their cheeks, and garments on their breasts slipping. Their waists were bent, and they smiled, their eyebrows playful. They shone like lightning in a circle of clouds. They were intent on amorous pleasure and were overjoyed at Krishna's touch.

Sri Bhagavata Purana X, 33.3-8 (excerpted)

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Other Spiritual Resources

Dance through the forest of my heart, make me your flute, breathe through me...

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All the covers of the earthen vessel of my body are wide open...

All the covers of the earthen vessel
of my body are wide open;
I have thrown away
all shame before the world.
Mira's Lord is the Mountain-Holder,
the suave lover. I sacrifice myself
in devotion to His lotus feet.

-- Mirabai

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Vegetarian Links

We can reduce the bad karma in our lives and show our love to God by reducing the violence we cause other creatures. Krishna tells us in the Gita that He lives in the hearts of all creatures. He is the protector of cattle. These links below provide some resources for switching to a less violent lifestyle.

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Seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love...

I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda,
who is always seen by the devotee whose
eyes are anointed with the pulp of love.
He is seen in His eternal form of Syamasundara,
situated within the heart of the devotee.

-- Brahma Samhita 5.38

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Other Quick Links

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Reality beyond the Maya

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The moon was perched like a golden hawk on
the mango tree.

I knew the moon was like me--in heat,
crazed and hunting.

So I climbed up there with that wild old gal--
thinking:

Two drunk beauties like us
will surely snag
Krishna

with our
eyes.

-- Mirabai

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Click for Athens, Georgia Forecast

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OM

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You shall find me: This is my promise Who love you dearly.

Give me your whole heart,
Love and adore me,
Worship me always,
Bow to me only,
And you shall find me:
This is my promise
Who love you dearly.

-- Bhagavad Gita 18.65

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OM

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