Radhe Radhe Radhe Shyam - Meaning
Rādhe Rādhe Rādhe Shyām
Govinda Rādhe je srī Rādhe
Govinda Rādhe Rādhe Shyām
Gopāla Rādhe Rādhe
je in Sanskrit can mean “success”, wishing ourselves success in our spiritual practice.
srī can mean “radiance”. This can mean being radiant with the spiritual Qualities, developing them until they radiate from us.
Shyām is another Name for Krishna. Among Krishna devotees, Krishna is the principle Name for Deity. Thus Krishna can mean “Deity”, or the Goal of spiritual practice.
Of all the Gopis who were attracted to Krishna’s beautiful music, Rādha was the closest to Krishna. Thus Rādha can mean being close to Deity, close to the Goal of spiritual practice. Having Deity closest to our heart : putting the spiritual Qualities in the central place of the relationship or pursuit. Encouraging the spiritual Qualities to guide and inspire our relationships and pursuits. Thus Rādha can mean spiritual practitioner.
Where Rādhe and Shyām are combined in a mantra like this one -
Rādha = Rādhe can mean the spiritual practitioner, and
Shyām can mean the Goal of spiritual practice.
The repetition of Rādhe helps focus attention on ourselves as spiritual practitioners. Then the mantra moves to Shyām (or Krishna), and this can represent shifting attention from ourselves as practitioners to the Goal of our practice.
Or the mantra starts with Govinda or Gopāla. This can focus attention on finding spiritual understanding, or caring for nutrition, or some other aspect of Govinda or Gopāla. Then it moves back to Rādhe. We then come back to ourselves, as we make effort to find or care for.
See discussion of Govinda and Gopāla.
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