I constantly remember the foot-dust of Śrī Rādhikā, whose unlimited power instantly subdues even the Supreme Person (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), Who Himself cannot be easily seen even by the greatest devotees like Lord Brahmā, or Śiva, Śuadeva Muni, Nārarada Muni and Bhīṣma.
Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi
In Verse 4 of Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī sings praises of Rādhā in two ways. First, he glorifies the dust of her lotus feet. The power of this dust is so great, he says, that even Kṛṣṇa, God himself is under its power. Then, he notes that she is so glorious that other powerful devotees cannot even see her.
Dust that is powerful enough to subjugate Kṛṣṇa himself? Gods, demigods and mighty kings who cannot see what they wish to see? What can this mean?
The answer lies in the mystery of Rādhā’s power.
Prabodhānanda describes Rādhā’s power as unlimited, capable of instantly subduing Kṛṣṇa, where other great beings cannot even see him. Her power is greater than any ordinary material power.
The secret of Rādhā’s power lies in the work vaśīkaraṇa, which Advaita Dāsa nicely translates as ‘subdues’. Vaśīkaraṇa is indeed the power of subduing, as someone with great physical strength might subdue someone physically weaker. But the word has deeper and more revealing meanings as well. The word also suggests attraction, bewitchment, fascination, enchantment or charm.
In other words, Rādhā’s power is not the power of external force. It is not the power of a horse’s pull, a speeding car or even a hurricane wind. Rather, it is a power that calls upon the internal strength of her object of love. Rādhā’s energy is endless because it inspires and enchants Kṛṣṇa himself.
This is what is meant when it is said that Rādhā’s love is an internal potency of God. It does not assault us from the outside, it enchants us from the inside. It plays on the strings of our own instrument. It calls on the powers in our heart. It invokes the power of our own soul, a power already quietly living within our chests.
Rādhā does not command her lover with superior energy. She commands him with superior love, love that makes his energy hers. By doing so she reveals, both to Kṛṣṇa and to his devotees that the power of divine love, of loving the divine, prema-śaktī, was already his, and is already ours.
Rādhā’s power is the power held by someone in love. She is indeed so in love that she is, divinely impassioned, made of divine love (prema). It is not only her wish to love Mohan, it is her very being. It is what she is.
All her divine energy, her hladini-śaktī is directed towards him. Not onto him, not against him, but through him. She wants so ardently to love God that even the ‘want’ in her ‘wanting to love God’ is swallowed up by the selfless, magnificent, lavish power of prema.
Pure love is not given externally like a hammer on a nail. Even a shake of the hand, a pat on the back or a kiss on the forehead will fall short. My love for you is greatest when you experience strength, when my life-energy makes you live, when my power becomes yours.