Scholars, both traditionally and contemporary, have had various debates on this issue. On one side sits “Radha” Krishna’s first love & devotee and on the other side sits “Meera” , a modern feminist sage whose life chronicles intense devotion to Krishna.
But who is the one closest to attaining the Purusha?
This question is the one that many saints and poets have tried to answer in their own views..
In order to answer these questions we need to first ask ourselves this first one.
What are the parameters of judging devotion “Bhakthi” to the lord?
Radha story begins with Krishna in Gokul and ends with him leaving Vrindavan. In most versions she is depicted as a Gopi who falls in love with the lord and becomes “Krishnapriya” or the favorite of the lord. Most depictions of the two are generally carnal expressions that we as humans are subject to.
In an alternative narrative, she is depicted as an older girl who has known Krishna since his arrival in Gokul as a baby, as a boy and finally as a young princeling. Her devotion to Krishna sprung out of her emotional bond with the Lord; also this forms the foundation for bringing in “Anay” her husband into the common narrative.
All scholars accept Krishna and Radha as being divine lovers, of one being the source and the other being the stream of expression of emotional engagement with the world. Some traditions often co-relate the two as expression of the divine male and female forms. But this discussion would then be forced to ask the question: Is it right for the Male to abandon the female? I see this as an interpretation of older more mature societies that understood balance between the sexes.
Most scholars emphasize that this point brings Meera and Radha in the same context. Meera like Radha had spent most of her time as a young girl thinking about Krishna. All depictions of Meera is framed with Meera with her eyes closed, engaged in singing a bhajan and always in front of an idol of Krishna. She too was married to the Rana of Chittor and consequently after his death became a mendicant who travelled the length and breadth of the nation spreading word about Krishna bhakthi. She is revered by all vaishnava sects for being a pillar of the “bhakthi” movement in the 14th and 15th centuries. She finally dies in Mathura, or as per popular narratives she is absorbed into the image of Krishna at Mathura. But my opinion is that she died similar to the gang of women who can still be found there today.
The above would serve as an academic chronicle of Meera’s life. The narrative is interesting in that, Meera was not just a household devotee but also a preacher in her own right. It is only consequential to think of her as a crusader when a revival was needed in hindu philosophy at that time. Meera’s era was in the era when Buddhist philosophy was waning, after being supplanted by the arrival of Islam and Christianity on the subcontinent. It can also be argued that Meera was at the vanguard of a revival started by Sankaracharya ‘s vedantic revival, followed by Chaitanya prabhu’s Krishna consciousness movement.
In the spiritual sense it can be argued that Radha’s devotion did not extrude onto others, She is seen as a Krishna’s inclusivity of everyone around him. “Atma Tu Radhika Tasya”, “Radha, you are his soul” is the most favourite description of Radha everywhere. She is considered to have attained Krishna not by flesh but by her mind, on a different plane. Also, as many have pointed out, “Radha” means success and “Krishna” means the dark one, when put together the form the success of the dark one or dark one’s success. What success are they talking about? Is it Krishna overcoming his uncle or helping the pandava’s. My answer would be that the success was about “Jayam”, meaning victory over self. This is the central theme to Krishna’s narrative. Incidentally it is also the title of the book of which the “The Mahabharata” forms only 11 chapters.
I find it extremely difficult to find Meera and Krishna equated in this same manner. But Meera also sacrificed her life in the service of Krishna. She spiritually was always in conversation with Krishna, always prodding away with important questions. She can be seen as a more expressive devotee. Most of her poems talk about how she is trying to attain her lord and the various conditions that she puts up with in order to keep her conversation with him alive. Maybe it is Meera’s misfortune that she was born in an era when only male sages were revered and females were just only disciples, regardless of how engaged they were with the lord.
Radha is more about the inner “Agam” and Meera is more about outer “Puram” bonding with Krishna. The choice of who is better is left only to Krishna..
