Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
Rāval is the appearance place of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, who is the embodiment of mahābhāva, the essence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency. She is also Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s svarūpa-śakti, or internal energy. Only by great fortune will someone desire to visit this holy place, and reverentially touch and remember it.
The pastime of Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s appearance in this world is narrated differently in different eras (kalpa-bheda).
lalitā-sakhi! guṇa-ramita-viśākhe!
Śrīmatī Rādhikā is most loved by Her father Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja. For this reason, devotees usually refer to Her as “Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī” (the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja). Very few call Her “Kīrtidā-nandinī” (the daughter of Kīrtidā-devī).
The word rāvala means “an influential landlord”. This place is named after Śrī Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja, who was a most influential landlord.
Once, in the early morning, when Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja went to bathe in the Yamunā, he saw in the water a radiant lotus flower of one hundred petals. In the middle of that flower lay a beautiful small baby, Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself. He tenderly lifted Her into His arms and took Her home, where he placed Her in the lap of his wife Kīrtidā.
Sometimes Śrīmatī Rādhikā appears in Varsānā, where every morning, Śrī Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja goes to Vṛṣabhānu-kuṇḍa. On one such morning he found Śrīmatī Rādhikā on a lotus flower in the kuṇḍa. It other eras this takes place at Rāval.
Śrī Nārada knew that the possessor of all powers, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, already had appeared on this earth and concluded that the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa’s complete potency, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, must have surely appeared here also. He proceeded to search for Her high and low. He finally arrived at the house of Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja. “Do you have a child?” Nārada asked him.
“Yes, I have a son named Śrīdāma.”
“Do you also have a daughter?” Nārada asked.
“Yes, we also have a daughter.”
“I want to see Her and bless Her.” Nārada said, “I also want to do Her horoscope.”
Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja became delighted and brought out his baby girl. Nārada then asked him to fetch the necessary items to bless the child and do Her horoscope. As soon as he had left the room, Nārada turned to Śrīmatījī and began to pray, “Kadā kariṣyasīha māṁ kṛpā-kaṭākṣa-bhājanam – O young daughter of Vṛṣabhānu, when will You bless me with Your merciful glance?”
Then, Śrīmatī Rādhājī, along with Lalitā, Viśākhā and Her other sakhīs gave Nārada darśana of Her eternal form as a fresh youth. Upon beholding this form, Śrī Nārada became overwhelmed with ecstatic, transcendental bliss.
The desire to become a maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhikā awakens in the heart of one who comes to this place, hears pure Vaiṣṇavas speak hari-kathā here and touches its sacred dust.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says, “O Shrinivasa this is Ravala, the village where Vrishabhanu used to very happily live. Shri Radhika appeared here, and by Her auspicious appearance the whole world was filled with joy”. Radharani appeared on a Monday, which was the eighth day of the bright lunar fortnight in the month of Bhadra, as the daughter of Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida Devi. At that time it is said that the demigods showered flowers that they had collected from the Nandakanana celestial gardens near Meru Parvata. Because She was born the year after Krishna’s birth, during the constellation of Anuradha, She was called Radhika.
This village is situated on the banks of Yamuna and there is a temple here known as the Larily-lala Mandira, where one can see the beautiful Deities of Radha and Krishna which are worshiped in Their childhood forms. The word ‘larily’ is used to describe a young girl and means ‘darling girl’. The word ‘lala’ means ‘darling boy’ and is used to describe a young lad. Before the construction of Varsana’s Shriji Mandira, Shrimati Radharani’s birthplace at Raval, being very close to Mathura and Mahavana, was one of the most popular pilgrimage places in Vraja, but now very few pilgrims come here. Fortunately, Ravala (Raval) is situated on the Vraja Mandala Parikrama route and therefore the Vraja-yatris regularly visit this sacred place to have darshana of Shri Shri Larily-lala. Ravala is mentioned in the Vraja-bhakti-vilasa as being one of the upavanas, or sub-forests of Vrindavana Dhama called Ravalavana.
In the Vraja-vilasa-stava the appearance of Radharani is described as follows, “Who can understand the great joy in Vrishabhanu’s house when Radhika appeared from the womb of Kirtida. Shri Radha’s effulgent form illuminated the ten directions. Whoever sees Radha just once is freed from the threefold miseries. Her body is extremely soft and Her complexion is like molten gold. Alas! How is it possible to describe the exquisite movements of Her limbs. Seeing Her beauty Her parents could not control their excitement and repeatedly looked at Her moon-like face.”
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also visited Raval during His parikrama of Vraja and attracted large crowds who came to see Him, thinking that He must be Krishna Himself having returned to Vrindavana in the guise of a sannyasi. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says, “After coming from Gokula, Gaurachandra and His associates stayed here for some time. He became overwhelmed with ecstatic love when He saw Ravala. What to speak of others, even Ananta Sesha cannot describe His feelings of love. People came running from all directions chanting the names of Hari and exclaiming, ‘Oh brother, see this jewel amongst sannyasis!’ Everyone then became maddened drinking the nectar of Mahaprabhu’s moonlike face. Being greatly happy, they spoke amongst themselves saying that Mahaprabhu was actually Krishna while others said that simply by seeing His golden complexioned form they had become speechless, even though they wanted to speak.”
The Divine Appearance of Shrimati Radharani
In the Padma Purana (Pathala-khanda) there is a wonderful story concerning the divine appearance of Shrimati Radharani. One day, Vrishabhanu Maharaja went to the bank of Yamuna at around noon to take a midday bath. At that moment he saw a golden lotus flower floating on the water and shining brightly like a thousand suns. Vrishabhanu immediately waded into the river and when he came near to the golden lotus flower, he beheld the most beautiful and radiant form of baby girl lying within the petals of the lotus.
At that same moment, Lord Brahma suddenly appeared there and speaking in a grave voice, informed Vrishabhanu that in his previous life, Vrishabhanu and his wife Kirtida had performed great austerities in order to get the consort of Lord Vishnu as their daughter. Lord Brahma told Vrishabhanu that this girl was the origin of the goddess Lakshmi and that he should take great care of Her. Lord Brahma then placed the baby girl in the arms of Vrishabhanu who became overjoyed, and after taking permission from Lord Brahma, returned to his home. Seeing the beautiful baby girl shining like millions of autumnal moons, mother Kirtida was overcome with joy and immediately arranged for all kinds of religious rites to be performed and donated thousands of cows to the brahmanas. At that time baby Radhika was placed in a gem-studded cradle and gently rocked back and forth by all the little girls of the village. Day by day Her luster increased just like the digits of the moon.
Within a short while it was observed that the baby girl made no noise and had not yet opened Her eyes. Vrishabhanu and his wife feared that their baby girl was perhaps blind from birth and also dumb. At that time, Shrila Narada Muni visited the home of Vrishabhanu and informed him that regardless of the girl’s apparent blindness, they should continue with the birth celebrations. Vrishabhanu therefore made elaborate arrangements for a lavish birth celebration and sent out invitations to all the residents of Ravala and Gokula and especially to his dear friend Nanda Maharaja and his family.
On the appointed day, the guests had assembled and the birth celebrations were going on in great jubilation. Nanda Maharaja and Yashoda Mayi had arrived with Rohini and also brought their small children Krishna and Balarama. Kirtida met with Yashoda and told her that she was very happy to have such a beautiful daughter, but was feeling rather distraught because her child was both dumb and blind. Krishna had just passed His first birthday and was happily crawling around the courtyard on His hands and knees. Arriving at the cot in which Radhika was lying, Krishna held on to the sides and managed to lift Himself up, He then peered into the cot where His gaze fell upon the beautiful moon-like face of baby Radhika. As soon as baby Radhika smelt the exotic fragrance of Krishna’s transcendental body, She immediately opened Her eyes for the very first time and looked directly at Krishna, who was the first person that She had ever seen. As Krishna gazed lovingly at baby Radhika, He began smiling ecstatically. Radhika then suddenly began to cry and for the very first time She made a sound. Hearing the sound of Radhika’s voice for the first time, and seeing Her beautiful lotus-eyes wide open as She gazed at baby Krishna, both Vrishabhanu and Kirtida were overjoyed to find out that their beloved daughter Radhika, was neither dumb nor blind after all.
In glorification of Shrimati Radharani there is a wonderful verse found in the Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi composed by Shrila Prabhodananda Saraswati which says. “So powerful is the glancing of Her eyes, that the flute slips from Krishna’s hands, His peacock crown starts to slip, and His yellow shawl becomes displaced as He swoons and falls to the ground. Alas, will I ever get the chance to serve with love and devotion such a person as Radharani.”
