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Http://www.dollsofindia.com/ - Dolls of India and Many other devotional items as well as articles



anuraag - Wed, 19 May 2004 21:11:54 +0530
Namaste. Here is an interesting site for dolls, paintings and other items for devotees along with many articles.

I found some essays relating to St. Mirabai, Radha Krishna and Draupadi

Mirabai and Radha : The twin souls of Krishna

Devotion for Lord Krishna is equated with a huge range of emotions
and states of mind - from eroticism and sensuality to renunciation
and surrender. Complete immersion of one's soul in Krishna's soul, is
regarded as the path to unadulterated devotion for Krishna. Radha and
Meerabai are seen as the twin zeniths of devotion for Lord Krishna.
Opposites in some sense and yet so much one in their love for the
lord, the devotion of Meerabai and Radha for Krishna show the oneness
of eroticism and renunciation, and finally, the convergence of both
into the omnipresent soul of Krishna in the form of single-minded
love and devotion.

.............

As Jaidev writes so beautifully in the Geet Govindam about this
sequence:

"Paint a leaf on my breasts!
Put colour on my cheeks!
Lay a girdle on my hips!
Twine my heavy braid with flowers!
Fix rows of bangles on my hands,
And jewelled anklets on my feet!"

Her yellow-robed lover
Did what Radha said.


Such was the strength of Radha's love for Krishna and her longing for
him, that even He, being God, would try to placate the angry Radha.
Keshav Das, a celebrated poet in his treatise on erotica,
Rasikapriya, describes how Krishna would send flowers to an angry
Radha - "flowers which longed to become fragrant by a touch of her
breasts, or an ivory necklace, yearning to fulfill its destiny by
going on a pilgrimage to her bosom, the seat of holiness."

The power of her longing was so great and the focus of all her
reflexes on Krishna was so concentrated that her soul merged with
Kirshna's soul to have achieved unity with him (this state is termed
aikya). Radha, when separated from Krishna, became Krishna - reaching
a state of blissful absorption in him (tanmayate). As her spiritual
reach for Krishna crossed all limits, the separation of the desired
and the desirer vanished and so also did the pain of separation, the
yearning and the longing. Physical separation could no longer dictate
mental or spiritual separation from the lord, as Krishna appeared
wherever Radha set her divine eyes upon.

..........

Lord Krishna's mystique has created an aura around him in Hindu
Mythology. The equation that the feminine gender shares with him is
unique in the Hindu religion. In spite of being Narayana himself (one
of the trinity of supreme Gods in Hindu religion) his personality is
that which humans can identify with.
He is a God and yet loves passionately and indulges in love-
relationships which do not conform to the conventional societal and
religious standards that "good" beings are believed to work within.

He is all-powerful yet surrenders to his greatest lovers. He is the
highest deity and yet he worships all those whose devotion for
Krishna envelopes their very soul.It is this Lord Krishna, to whom so
many have dedicated their souls to.

Devotion and love for Lord Krishna has been the sole purpose of their
existence. But for a few of those, their existence itself had become
synonymous with love for Krishna. Their love for Krishna shone in
brilliance which was as brilliant as the aura of Krishna himself.

Radha and Meerabai were two such devotees, whose love for Krishna
reached a pinnacle of devotion, where their identities merged into
Krishna's. And in spite of the same love for the same lord, Meerabai
differed from Radha in soul and mind.

.......

Please read the entire article at:

http://www.dollsofindia.com/mirabai.htm

Divine Love - Radha Krishna
Entire article is available at:

http://www.dollsofindia.com/radhakrishna.htm

Another nicely written essay on Queen Draupadi:

http://www.dollsofindia.com/draupadi.htm