Rupadhyāna: Cultivating Divine Union and Longing for Goloka

In the teachings of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj, the practice of rupadhyāna, or meditative visualization, holds profound significance. It offers seekers a means to connect with the divine by vividly imagining the presence of Shri Radha and Shri Krishna. This excerpt provides guidance on two aspects of rupadhyāna: the feeling of meeting (Milana) and the feeling of separation (viraha). By delving into these practices, aspirants can nurture a deep yearning for the ultimate spiritual abode, Goloka, and experience the bliss of union with the Divine Couple.

Radha krishna bhakti | Kripalu Ji Maharaj

Rupadhyāna with the feeling of meeting, milana

Visualize that Shri Radha and Shri Krishna, either together or individually, are present before you. Be overjoyed seeing Their divine beauty and sweetness. Think that you are hearing the sweet sound of Shri Krishna’s flute. You are enjoying Their divine fragrance. You are experiencing their divine touch through a complete embrace, and so on. Now decorate Them in various ways. All this should be done with your mentally-created form of a Gopi. Sometimes sulk as though offended and sometimes reconcile. Sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions and embrace them. Bathe Them in fragrant divine water. Serve Them a variety of delicious delicacies. Sometimes prepare a beautifully adorned bed for Them. Constantly practice pleasing Them through this mental service. Engage yourself in a variety of playful activities with Them. Sometimes feel you are a servant, sometimes a friend, sometimes a parent, but primarily feel Shri Krishna is your Beloved. Sing Their names, virtues, and pastimes. Feel that as They listen to you, They are becoming absorbed in Love. Sing for Them again and again. Always keep in mind this point that whatever you are saying and doing, you are doing for the sake of Their happiness. Consider your service to Them to be your only goal. Imagine Shyama-Shyama and your Guru are standing before you and looking at you very lovingly. Shri Radha and Shri Krishna are not looking at each other but just at you. They are looking at you with the same longing as a passionate man would have when he looks at a woman. Feel They are coming closer and closer to you. Their open arms and the infinite Love in Their eyes show that They are longing to embrace you. Now they are so close that you embrace Them. Be overjoyed with Their blissful embrace. Feel as if you are actually experiencing Their presence. This is rupadhyāna with a feeling of meeting, milana. From the feeling that you can actually experience them with all your senses. Feel that you can hear Them, smell Their divine fragrance, and experience Their Divine Love and touch. Think, “I am actually seeing Shri Krishna I am hearing His words and He is saying, ‘You are mine. You have become mine forever.” You are also hearing His flute.

However, when you come back to normal consciousness, think “Oh, that was just a meditation. They did not actually come. They did not actually embrace me. I did not actually hear the flute. Oh! When will that moment come, when They will personally come and bestow on me the experience of Their divine vision, touch, and fragrance?” You have to constantly intensify this feeling of yearning to see Shri Krishna.

Meditation can be of many kinds. Imagine you are taking your soul out of your body and you are leaving your gross body here. Now visualize your soul as a divine body that is similar to Shri Krishna’s body. It has unlimited lustre, fragrance, beauty, charm, and all the divine qualities. Imagine you are rising upwards and you are passing through an opening with your divine body. Beyond this is the great divine ocean, Brahmadrava, where the Paramahamsas who have merged into Impersonal Brahman remain forever in a fully unconscious state. Beyond the Brahmadrava is the divine river, Yamuna. It is not like the Yamuna you are familiar with here on this earth. The divine Yamuna marks the boundary of Goloka. Reach the gates of Goloka in your rupadhyana. Everything in Goloka is divine and conscious. Maya cannot enter there. The earth, water, fire, air, and space there give you the same unlimited Bliss as Shri Krishna’s embrace. If you touch even a particle of the earth there, you will experience the same Bliss that Janaka experienced on seeing Shri Rama, and that the Gopis experienced in the pastimes of Rasa with Shri Krishna. In this way, the trees, the creepers, the flowers, and everything else there will give you the same Bliss that is in Shri Krishna. Because Shri Krishna Himself has become everything in Goloka. Everything there is a manifestation of Shri Krishna, and Shri Krishna alone. Nothing else exists there besides Shri Krishna. There the cows and calves and whatever you see in the world or read about in Shri Krishna’s pastimes are all Shri Krishna Himself. There is no other power than He, who manifests all the objects there. It is only He who Himself becomes everything. You will see it all for yourself when you go there. Right now, just imagine yourself at the gates of Goloka. You cannot enter because you are not yet eligible. To become eligible, stand at the boundary of Goloka and shed tears, “Oh Shri Krishna! Grace me so that I may enter Your divine abode and experience Your Divine Bliss.” This is meditation with the feeling of viraha or separation. Meditation with a feeling of meeting, milana, is when you imagine that you are standing at the boundary of Goloka and you see that Shri Krishna and Shri Rādhā have come, the Gopis have also come, along with your Guru. They all arrived there. Remembering such pastimes, practice rūpadhyāna with a feeling of meeting, milana.

Conclusion

In the journey of spiritual contemplation, rupadhyāna serves as a powerful tool for seekers to establish a personal connection with the divine realm. Whether engrossed in the feeling of meeting or the feeling of separation, the practitioner immerses themselves in a profound relationship with Shri Krishna and Shri Radha. Through the intense longing for Goloka, the aspirant’s heart becomes filled with devotion and yearning, driving them to pursue the path of divine union. As one progresses in their spiritual practice, they may eventually transcend mere visualization, entering the realm of direct experience, where they encounter the ecstasy of Shri Krishna’s divine vision, touch, and fragrance. With sincere dedication and the grace of the Guru, the seeker’s meditative journey leads them closer to the ultimate destination—the eternal abode of Goloka, where the love-filled pastimes of Shri Krishna and His beloved Radha forever enchant the hearts of devotees.