Happy New Year ❤️

Srimati’s third name is goshtha yuvarajaika kamita, the only girl who is desired by the young prince of the pastures, Sri Krishna.

This young prince of the pasturelands is the Self-satisfied, Self-delighted Supreme Lord Himself, and nothing else but the love of His devotees causes waves of transcendental desire to appear in His heart.

That does not contradict His being Self-satisfied at all, though.

The love of His devotee belongs to His innate potency, which makes Him both atmarama (Self-delighted) and premarama (delighted with love).

Sri Radharani is the presiding goddess of prema, which is the essence of the Lord’s hladini-, or pleasure-potency. She appears as His consort to be always exclusively desired by Krishna for Her madana prema. Krishna can relish the love of all the gopis through Her alone, for Her madana prema is the cause of all the gopis’ ecstasy.
Therefore Sri Radha is the only one He desires. It is only for the sake of relishing Radhika’s different moods, like mana (jealous anger), khandita (disappointment) and kalahantarita (remorse after making a quarrel), that Krishna sometimes cheats Her with another girl, like Candravali for instance. This astonishes Him with an unprecedented relish. Thus, when it seems that Krishna desires Candravali, it is actually that He desires Sri Radha.

Even Krishna’s mother and father, boy- and girlfriends and other relatives are all required to assist (mostly unknowingly) Him in relishing kanta-rasa (His pastimes with Sri Radhika). Krishna desires them also only because He desires Sri Radha.

Hence it is said: ratri dina kunja krida kore
radha sange (C.C.) – “Day and night He plays in the kunja with Radha.”

One may then ask:
“If Krishna plays with Sri Radha in the kunja day and night, then when will He play with His relatives and His friends?”

The answer to this is that even when He plays with them there is an underlying current of relishing Radha’s rasa flowing within Krishna’s heart. Rasikas can easily understand this.
The words goshtha yuva-raja, or prince of the pasturelands, are significant. He is the prince, and not the king of the pastures. He doesn’t have to worry about maintaining any kingdom. He can sport freely, He is the dhira lalita-hero.

vidagdho nava tarunya parihasa visaradah; niscinto dhira lalita syat prayah preyasi-vasah (B.R.S 2.1.230).

“A dhira lalita-hero is clever, young, expert in joking, careless and always controlled by the love of his
darlings.”

Therefore there can be no obstacle to the nourishment in His heart of His constant desire for Sri Radha.
Sri Radha, being the root cause of the Lord’s pleasure potency, is also present in the hearts of all the dedicated devotees of the Lord, be they practising devotees, advanced practitioners, perfected souls, or eternally perfected souls. Sri Krishna’s desire to relish the love of all the devotees originates in His desire for Sri Radha – and therefore Her name of goshtha yuva-rajaika kamita, She who is the only desired lover of the young prince of the pasture-lands, is most justified.

Srila Ananta das Babaji