The lord is the reservoir of all pleasure. We can derive unlimited pleasure from him just by pleasing him, writes Radhanath Swami
It is explained by Kaviraj Goswami and the previous acharyas that Krishna has three primary energies. His internal energy, which is his spiritual energy. His external energy or material energy and the marginal energy which is the part and parcels spirit souls that are eternally sub-ordinate to one of these two energies as tatatha shakti. The living entity must be a servant under the subjugation of either the internal energy or the external energy.
The internal energy is where the constitutional nature of a jiva can be fully expressed. The internal energy is that which is eternal, full of knowledge, full of bliss. Where the bliss of loving ecstatic pastimes is all that takes place forever. It is the land of unlimited happiness. The external energy is the land of exploitation. The land of envy and greed.
And the Lord has explained through his representatives that this internal energy has three principles: Sandini, Samvit and Hladini. The Sandini potency of the internal energy of the Lord is that energy in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead maintains all of existence. And the Samvit potency is that in which the supreme Lord knows Himself and makes Himself known to others. And Hladini potency is that potency which gives the Lord unlimited eternal pleasure and also gives all of His devotees unlimited eternal pleasure. And it is for the purpose of this Hladini shakti that Sandini and Samvit are manifested; are existing. Because ultimately ananda mayo abhyasat Krishna is ananda mayi. That means he is the reservoir of all pleasure. And it is only for pleasure that the Lord transcendentally performs his various functions and pastimes in the spiritual world.
Krishna is the supreme enjoyer. His enjoyment is the all and all of his existence. And because Krishna is the supreme enjoyer, the jivatma, which is part and parcel of Krishna, our life and soul is also to enjoy. We find the conditioned soul under the illusions of this external energy. Every part of that soul’s existence is simply to try to find enjoyment in one way or the other. Even when we make sacrifices and perform great austerity it is ultimately for the purpose of enjoyment. Even when a man goes to the battlefield to die for his country, it is so that he can enjoy the fact that his country would be free and he has given his life for that purpose.
Factually, everything we do is for the purpose of enjoyment. We have children for the purpose of enjoyment, we raise children for the purpose of enjoyment. We go to work and suffer so many austerities for the purpose of enjoyment. We even remain in this body and suffer birth, old age, disease and death just for the purpose of little enjoyment. The whole existence of our life is to seek pleasure because we are part of Krishna , because Krishna existence is simply to taste pleasure, to enjoy pleasure.
But the illusion is we think we can enjoy apart from Krishna. But the natural function of the pleasure seeking nature of the soul is to experience unlimited pleasure in giving Krishna pleasure. When you water the root of the tree every part of the tree is satisfied. Similarly, when we satisfy Krishna automatically our soul is satisfied, all the Demi-Gods are satisfied, everyone is satisfied. That if we surrender to Mukunda we have no other responsibilities or duties to anyone because all obligations are fulfilled when we please Krishna. Because He is the reservoir of all pleasure which means that we can all derive unlimited pleasure from Krishna just by pleasing him.
But where does Krishna get his pleasure from? This is the great question that Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami is herein explaining in such wonderful, wonderful shlokas. That the supreme absolute truth is one. There is one God, there is not a second God.
Krishna says I am the source of all material and spiritual existence. Everything emanates from me.
That Krishna is the supreme truth. There is no truth superior to Krishna. He is the supreme enjoyer. But where does that one supreme truth and enjoyer get his enjoyment from? Obviously he gets it from himself. Because everything is contained within him, nothing exists separate from Him.
Krishna has multifarious energies. We have described the principal three. And they have innumerable sub-divisions, but they are all Krishna , they are all within Krishna, they are all of Krishna. So when Krishna wants to enjoy supreme bliss he is the supreme enjoyer, so in order for Him to enjoy supreme enjoyment He needs someone who is supremely enjoyable. Therefore Krishna expands Himself as His own Hladini shakti or pleasure potency. And the function of this pleasure potency is to give Krishna unlimited pleasure. And in giving Krishna pleasure, the pleasure potency enjoys even greater pleasure than Krishna. And in this relationship of supreme pure spiritual pleasure, Krishna becomes the reservoir of all pleasure and then all living entities, all the jivatmas can derive unlimited bliss from Krishna and he gets that bliss from his eternal consort Shrimati Radha Rani. She is the source of all pleasure. She is the source of all happiness. And just as Krishna expands Himself in various avatars to enjoy various rasas or pleasures at different times and at different places and in different moods for all of eternity, similarly Shrimati Radha Rani, his pleasure potency, expands alongwith Him.
When Krishna expands in Vaikunta into Lord Narayan, Shri Radhika expands Herself as Laxmi Devi. Simply to give Narayan unlimited pleasure. Radha is the supreme energy of Lord Krishna and accompanies Krishna in all his incarnations. This year on 14th Sept we celebrate RadhaAshtami the appearance day of Shrimati Radha Rani
The writer is a spiritual guru at International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
