This exchange with Radhanath Swami—though momentary—for me was momentous.
One afternoon after lunch, Radhanath Swami and I rambled along the edges of the lecture hall at Radhagopinath Temple. The sight of each painting that hung on the side walls stopped us in our tracks briefly, before we proceeded ahead.
For pure devotees, to see such depictions of Lord Krishna’s pastimes is to see through a window—into the spiritual world. Will Radhanath Swami be kind enough to share some of his feelings after looking through these ‘windows’?
My desire found its fulfillment when we reached one corner of the hall. There, a painting displayed Lord Krishna lifting the Govardhan hill effortlessly, balancing it on the little finger of his left hand. His devotees—cowherd men and women, parrots, peacocks and cows—encircled him and looked on at this incredible feat admiringly.
“I like this personality, this cowherd lady,” Radhanatha Swami pointed to a lady in the painting. From behind the crowd that encircled Krishna, her face barely emerged out; she easily skipped one’s attention if the painting wasn’t examined with scrutiny.
“She is in the background and she is happy to be in the background,” Radhanath Swami said—and then said nothing. But the two lines that he spoke opened up a window into his heart. Seeing through that window I saw an ocean of humility.
–Srila Haridas Thakur.
123 replies on “A Window into Radhanath Swami’s Heart”
thank you for sharing this wonderful nectar with all of us, haribol, bhakti
HHRNSM’s humble revelation in this article crushes the ego of all who want to be noticed and Maharaj conveys a very strong and a subtle message than one should be happy and contented in doing his devotional service being in the back ground and un-noticed, thank you Maharaj for such a wonderful teaching, haribol, rajesh karia
The paintings in the temple come alive when we see them with a heart full of love and devotion for God.
Thank you for giving us the view of pure devotee’s eye. Radhanath Swami is a gift of the Lord to mankind
Radhanath Swami knows what will really help us in progressing in spiritual life
Thank you very much for shairng
Raadhanth Swami is humility personified!
Amazing Experience.
I’ll see all those paintings more carefully next time I visit.
Radhanath Swami is very humble
Thankyou Prabhuji for sharing such a beautiful incident
amazing pastime!!
This experience reveals heart of Maharajah.
He wants his disciples to serve in the mood of the servant of the servant and to be happy in that position.
Radhanath Swami Maharaj emphasizes so much on humility!
very nice. good example of humility
Its very very difficult to not expect respect for oneself even if you have done sometihng very insignificant. Thank you Maharaj for always reminding about the pronciple of “Trun api….”
H. H. Radhanath swami has given key for success in devotional life.
thanks for sharing prabhu.
amazing….
This opens the Radhanath Swami’s heart. Radhanath Swami is very humble at heart and likes to be at background even after doing so much.
Thank you prabhu for sharing!
Maharaj is the epitome of humility, as is evident from this most simple remark.
hari hari
Thanks to Radhanath Swami Maharaj we can also learn to appreciate humility!
A perfect observation.In spiritual life service rendered with proper conciousness makes one perfectly peaceful,weather he/she is on forefront or in backround.Thank you for sharing such a nice experience with us.
An enlightening article that can inspire many aspects of our life by His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
Radhanath Swami is a gem who focuses on essence
Radhanath Maharaj guides his devotees in each and every action.
This shows Radhanath Swami very scrutinisingly observes each and every thing
Thanks for sharing this beautiful experience. Many millions of thanks to Radhanath swami for this very instructive spiritual lesson.
to make ourselves the humble instruments of God is the perfection of life and Radhanth swami living this principle is teaching us…
Thank you for revealing this internal mood and attitude of Radhanath Swami through this incident.
Maharaj has nicely explained the mood of a truly humble devotee.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful realization of Maharaj.This clearly explains the real meaning of humility.Such realizations can come to a truly humble and realized souls like Maharaj.For an ordinary person such a thought is inconceivable.
Amazing!
Radhanath Swami reveals his heart by this incident.
Radhanath Swami is a king of humility!!!
amazing…
It takes one humble soul to recognize another.
Jai!!
Humility’s personification is Radhanath swami and he is teaching us also as to how we can come close to being really humble.
Radhanath swami stresses so much on humility and prodelessness. His qualities are evident from each of this interaction with others
Thank you very much for sharing. Radhanath Swami is from the spiritual world
Radhanath Swami is great.
This is really a window to Radhanath swami’s heart.
Maharajji is so mercyful that he shares even the innermost feeling of his heart.
To be in the background is very tough, In fact, people rarely deny a praise that comes unexpectedly for a task they never even did. BUt with Radhanath Swami Maharaj, humility comes naturally, perhaps God wants to use him as an instrument to teach us the essential character jewel.
Radhanath Swami’s exchanges are so deeply & simply instructive to all !
Insightful episode…
Humility Personified. Thank You for sharing this pastime of Radhanath Swami.
HH Radhanath Swami himself is a very good example of this episode and also he instructs all his desciples to follow this.