Book Excerpt | 'Radha: A Tale Of Divine Love' By Bhanumathi Narasimhan

Radha: A Tale of Divine Love, by Bhanumathi Narasimhan, is a journey of devotion and transformation, where love becomes the ultimate teacher. When Uddhava, Krishna’s cousin and disciple, seeks the highest knowledge, he expects a discourse on detachment, meditation, and the nature of the self. Instead, he is guided to Radha's Vrindavan, where he arrives as a teacher but finds himself undone. Through Uddhava’s journey, this book explores the themes of longing, surrender, and divine union. 

The book is written by Bhanumathi Narasimhan, a meditation teacher and the younger sister of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living, a humanitarian non-profit. She leads the women's welfare and childcare initiatives at the organisation. Narasimhan is also an author of bestselling books, which have been translated into 22 languages.

Here is an excerpt from Radha: A Tale of Divine Love

7. Parroting the Divine

Uddhava, along with Narada Muni, decided to go for a stroll in the palace garden in the evening. The weather was pleasant and the trees were laden with fruit—guavas, mangoes, pomegranates, jackfruit and many more. Parrots were flying past in large groups, talking to each other loudly.

‘Two of these parrots came and sat on my windowsill this morning,’ Uddhava shared with the Devarishi. ‘I could not take my eyes off them. This was the first time I saw them from such proximity.’

‘They say Radha had a pet parrot,’ the Devarishi replied. ‘He was the messenger between Radha and Krishna.’ Uddhava wondered what their messages would have been. ‘Butter is ready’ or ‘The moon is waiting’; those would be the kind of messages, short and sweet. Parrots have the blessing of repetition but only if what is being said is not too long. Uddhava smiled to himself. His father Devabhaga, who was the brother of Vasudeva (Krishna’s father) would often tell him, ‘You are parroting Krishna all the time! That boy has really made such a strong impact on you!’ He wasn’t sure if his father had been as happy about it, but for Uddhava it meant a lot.

He would take on the role of relaying messages between Krishna and Radha soon too, just like the parrot. He started imagining what the message would be like. Krishna often allowed Uddhava to compose messages that he wanted to send to people since Uddhava was good at writing. Krishna would review it, make a few changes, polish it and they would be ready to send. He decided he would use a blue silk cloth for the outer cover, a colour closest to the peacock feather. He had asked Krishna once about his style statement—the peacock feather on his crown. He had wanted to know how the idea had come about. Krishna had just said that a very special person in Vrindavan had put it up for him one day and he liked the way it looked. Uddhava was certain it must have been Radha. He could see, in his mind, a young Radha approaching Krishna with an excited gleam in her eyes and hiding something in her dupatta. She must have told little Krishna to close his eyes as she carefully took out the peacock feather and knotted it into the ornament on his hair. She must have admired how he stunning he looked. A few other gopas and gopis must have been around them and everyone would have just loved it! Krishna would have rushed to the Yamuna to see his reflection. The colours of the feather would have danced with the ripples on the surface of her flowing waters and gleamed with the light in Krishna’s eyes. ‘I will now wear this every day. It really suits me,’ Krishna would have decided then. Uddhava felt so much joy, and his emotions were palpable to the Devarishi. Narada started speaking and what came out was more like poetry.

‘From the banks of the Yamuna,
The chirping of the little parrot was heard across universes The fragrance of the delicate parijatha enveloped the heavens The coolness of the breeze touched every being from inside The little droplets of water brought sweetness to every tongue
Her banks glowed with the light from the eyes of all the saints in creation
The stage was set for the divine romance. There, under the Kadamba tree, 
Surrounded by those who saw nothing else Whose hearts were full and free
Stood Krishna
With one foot firmly on the ground and one crossed over and resting on the toes,
The delicate peacock feather dancing
And he raised his flute to his lips and blew life into it The melody that rose was the song of infinity Sweeter than silence
A nectarine serenity …’

And the rishi went into a trance. His eyes were half-closed; his face glowing with softness, radiating divinity, a sparkling tear forming in the corner of his eyes. Narada stood transported beyond time and anchored in the depth of that magical moment. Uddhava remained silently by his side with palms folded in reverence. After a few minutes, the rishi returned from his altered state of consciousness and started speaking once again.

‘Krishna has shouldered many responsibilities. So many, in fact, that anyone else would have crumbled under the weight of those tasks. But he carries them effortlessly. A crown is a symbol of the responsibility that one takes on. Radha, in her innocent way, has chosen the most appropriate ornament for Krishna’s crown—the peacock feather—expressing how he accomplishes everything with such lightness. Nothing is a burden for him.

‘After Nand Baba and the villagers had moved to Vrindavan, they were planning a puja to propitiate Indra. When Krishna asked them about the puja, they explained that it was an expression of their gratitude to the king of the devas so that he may continue to bless them with good rains and prosperity.

Excerpted with permission from 'Radha' by Bhanumathi Narasimhan, Westland Books.