Valentine's Day 2018

I take the pleasure of wishing all my friends a very 'Happy Valentine's Day 2018'. May all your dreams be fulfilled soon with the blessings of the Almighty!

'Valentine' is a person with whom one is romantically involved. The most romantic pair our country adores and even worships is Radha-Krishna.

Radha was one more cowherd girl in Nanda Gokula where Krishna grew under the affectionate care of Maa Yashoda. As per some, Radha was even elder to Krishna by a few years.  Naturally Krishna used to look at Radha for guidance.  Be it milking a cow, plucking a thorny flower, Krishna grew learning things from Radha. But when Krishna too reached the teenage, it was different story.  While Radha used to dress up only to attract Krishna, Krishna too fine tuned his 'bansuri' (flute) skills only to impress Radha. But Krishna's bansuri mesmerized many other Gopikas too and slowly it became a point of heart-burn to Radha. 

One day when jealous Radha stole and hid the bansuri of Krishna, Krishna  had to sing to please Radha........

ना तेरी बैरन, ना तेरी सौतन

ना तेरी बैरन, ना तेरी सौतन

मेरी मुरलिया, मोहे सबका मन

करे तेरी कौन बुराई, बुराई रे

   राधिके तूने बंसुरी चुराई..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGth4ISu6W0

(Listen to this Krishna's song by clicking/or copy pasting this link.
Film: Beti Bete(1964), Rafi, Shailendra, Shankar-Jaikishan)

assuring her that 'all love my music, but I love you only'!

But the turn of events proved a villain for this sublime love.  Krishna had to go to Mathura for taking on Kamsa, the demon. It is said that Krishna never returned to Nanda Gokula and never met Radha again, leaving the eternal question to we 'rasikas'.....why Krishna did not marry Radha?

Some say that Radha did the supreme sacrifice of leaving Krishna, perhaps realizing that the royal household of Mathura will never accept a cow girl. Love and marriage are two different things....love is a selfless emotion, while marriage is just an agreement or arrangement. Love is eternal and can never become extinct, just because of separation!

But Krishna's memory continued to haunt Radha.  Like many parted lovers, Radha too was eager to see Krishna at least from a distance to know how he is now? 

It is said that Radha once travelled along with other Gopis to the distant Kurukshetra as a part of Nanda Gopa's (Krishna's foster father) team. There she saw Krishna from a distance and Krishna too noticed her.  Radha started trembling.  Her heart started beating faster! Naturally all eyes were on this pair.  The two  even came close enough, but could only exchange a glimpse of each other.  On that day Krishna's eyes spoke and Radha's eyes just understood it all! 

Why the sublime romance of Radha-Krishna continues to haunt everyone even today?  After passing through the range of emotions reflected by this divine pair, perhaps every one feels that he/she too was a bit of Radha-Krishna sometime, somewhere!

Crown for love?

The dominant emotion which continues to rule even the contemporary world is 'love'. 

The entire world was dumb-struck when Edward VIII, the King of United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and the Emperor of India abdicated his Crown during 1936,  just to marry his 'valentine', Wallis!  The British Royal family and the Church authorities never approved a King marrying a divorced lady (divorced twice), whose past husbands were still alive. We have only heard that 'love is blind' and can there be a better example?

Why Valentine's day is observed? 

Saint Valentine was a priest in ancient Rome.  During those days soldiers were not allowed to marry,  by the cruel King.  But soldiers had their own secret stories of romance.  Saint Valentine used to get them married secretly.  When this  incidence came to light, the furious King got the priest killed.  Thus 'Valentine' became a symbol of love and the practice of observing Valentine's day started somewhere around 14th century.

Many in India criticize that Valentine's day is not in tune with Indian culture and it is only to propagate western culture, besides expanding the market for a range of exotic products. But the popularity of Valentine's day has caught the imagination of our people.  It has become a day for proposing and even celebrating 'love' among people from all ages!

Indian mythology too is not without its own version of 'Valentine's day'. Kamana Hunnime celebrated on coming 'Phalguna_Hunnimme (Full-moon-day)' is for glorifying Kama (also called Manmatha), the God of love and his wife Rathi who are spreading the message of love to humanity, ensuring its survival and propagation.

From Kamana Hunnime to Valentine's day, we have witnessed a great cultural change. Be it the sublime romance of Radha-Krishna,  Crown for love sacrifice of King Edward, the innumerable acts of proposing and celebrating love among our people of all ages, the spirit of love continues to charm the world.  

Long live the spirit of love!

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