Radharani, Durga, and us

Radharani and Durga, both are prakrtis of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but one prakrti is meant for controlling this material world, and the other prakrti is meant for blessing the spiritual world.

We living entities also belong to the spiritual prakrti, we are expansion of spiritual prakrti. Just like Srimati Radharani is always engaged in the service of the Lord, anaradhyate. Aradhyate, it is Radharani. Radharani, the name has come from the word aradhyate. Aradhana. Aradhana means worshiping. So everyone is meant, beginning from Radharani and her expansion, Laksmi, in Vaikuntha, laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami [Bs. 5.29]…

Here we worship mother Laksmiji, goddess of fortune, to receive some favor. But in the Vaikuntha world there are many hundred thousands of Laksmi, laksmi-sahasra-sata, and they are sambhrama-sevyamanam: with great respect, they are engaged in serving the Supreme Lord. So we being expansion of the spiritual Laksmi, or Radharani, our duty is to serve Radharani, and through Radharani to serve Krsna. This is the Krsna consciousness movement. We are missing this point, that instead of learning from Radharani how to serve Krsna, we are being controlled by the another prakrti, material energy, Durga, with weapons in her ten hands.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on 16 Dec 1975

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