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Gopi
Gopi ( sa, गोपी, ) or Gopika in Hinduism are worshipped as the consorts and devotees of Krishna within the Vaishnavism and Krishnaism traditions for their unconditional love and devotion ('' Bhakti'') to god Krishna as described in the Sanskrit scriptures like Bhagavata Purana and other Puranic literature. Gopis are often considered as the expansion of goddess Radha, the chief consort of Krishna. The Raslila of gopis with Krishna has inspired various traditional performance art forms and literatures. According to Indian philosopher, Jiva Goswami, gopis are considered as the eternal beloved and manifestation of the internal spiritual potency of Krishna. Among the gopis, Radha is the chief gopi and is the personification of bliss potency (''hladini shakti'') of Krishna. She alone manifest the stage of "''Mahabhav"'' or supreme love for Krishna and holds a place of particularly high reverence and importance in a number of religious traditions. Etymology Gopi (गो ...
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Radharani
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also described as the chief of the ''Gopis'' (milkmaids). During Krishna's youth, she appears as his lover and companion. Many traditions and scriptures accord Radha the status of the eternal consort and wife of Krishna. Radha, as a supreme goddess, is considered as the female counterpart and the internal potency (''hladini shakti'') of Krishna, who resides in Goloka, the celestial abode of Radha Krishna. Radha is said to accompany Krishna in all his incarnations. In Radha Vallabh Sampradaya and Haridasi Sampradaya, only Radha is worshiped as the supreme deity. Elsewhere, she is venerated with Krishna as his principal consort in Nimbarka Sampradaya, Pushtimarg, Mahanam Sampraday, Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Vaishnava-Sahajiya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism ...
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Radha
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also described as the chief of the ''Gopis'' (milkmaids). During Krishna's youth, she appears as his lover and companion. Many traditions and scriptures accord Radha the status of the eternal consort and wife of Krishna. Radha, as a supreme goddess, is considered as the female counterpart and the internal potency (''hladini shakti'') of Krishna, who resides in Goloka, the celestial abode of Radha Krishna. Radha is said to accompany Krishna in all his incarnations. In Radha Vallabh Sampradaya and Haridasi Sampradaya, only Radha is worshiped as the supreme deity. Elsewhere, she is venerated with Krishna as his principal consort in Nimbarka Sampradaya, Pushtimarg, Mahanam Sampraday, Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Vaishnava-Sahajiya and Gaudiya Vaishnavis ...
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Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar. The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are generally titled as ''Krishna Leela''. He is a central character in the ''Mahabharata'', the '' Bhagavata Purana'', the ''Brahma Vaivarta Purana,'' and the '' Bhagavad Gita'', and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological, and mythological texts. They portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being. Quote: "Krsna's various appearances as a di ...
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Radha Krishna
Radha-Krishna (IAST , sa, राधा कृष्ण) are collectively known within Hinduism as the combined forms of feminine as well as the masculine realities of God. Krishna and Radha are the primeval forms of God and his pleasure potency (Hladini Shakti), respectively, in several Vaishnavism, Vaishnavite schools of thought. In Krishnaism, Krishnaite traditions of Vaishnavism, Krishna is referred to as ''Svayam Bhagavan'' and Radha is illustrated as the primeval potency of the three main potencies of God, ''Hladini (immense spiritual bliss), Sandhini (eternality) and Samvit (existential consciousness)'' of which Radha is an embodiment of the feeling of love towards the almighty Lord Krishna (''Hladini''). With Krishna, Radha is acknowledged as the Supreme Goddess. It is said that Krishna is only satiated by devotional service in loving servitude and Radha is the personification of devotional service to the supreme lord. Various devotees worship her with the understandin ...
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Holi
Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival and one of the most popular festivals in Hinduism. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of Radha Krishna. The day also signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Lord Vishnu as Narasimha Narayana over Hiranyakashipu. It originated and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora.Ebeling, Karin (10), Holi, an Indian Festival, and its Reflection in English Media; Die Ordnung des Standard und die Differenzierung der Diskurse: Akten des 41. Linguistischen Kolloquiums in Mannheim 2006, 1, 107,
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Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, i.e. ''Mahavishnu''. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or ''Vaishnava''s (), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus. The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a History of Hinduism, fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with Vishnu. A merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva, Vāsudeva-krishna and ''Gopala-Krishna, Gopala-Krishna'', and Narayana, ...
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Raslila
The rasalila (), also rendered the raslila or the ras dance, is part of the traditional story of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with Radha and the gopis of Vraja. Rasalila has also been a popular theme for other India classical dances including Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, and Kathak. The Indian classical dance of Kathak evolved from the rasalila of Vraja and ''Manipuri Raas Leela Classical Dance'' (Vrindavana) also known as ''Natwari Nritya'', which was revived in 1960s by the Kathak dancer, Uma Sharma. Etymology The term, '' rasa'' meaning "aesthetics" and ''lila'' meaning "act," "play" or "dance" is a concept from Hinduism, which roughly translates to "play (lila) of aesthetics (rasa)," or more broadly as "Dance of Divine Love". Apart from the definition above, the term also comes from the Sanskrit words '' rasa'' and ''lila'', with ''rasa'' meaning "juice", "nectar", ...
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Krishnaism
Krishnaism (IAST: ''Kṛṣṇaism'') is a large group of independent Hinduism, Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as ''Svayam Bhagavan'', ''Ishvara'', ''Para Brahman'', the source of all reality, who is not an avatar of Vishnu. This is its difference from such Vaishnavite groupings as Sri Vaishnavism, Sadh Vaishnavism, Ramanandi, Ramaism, Radha Vallabh Sampradaya, Radhaism, Sitaism etc. There is also a personal Krishnaism, that is devotion to Krishna outside of any tradition and community, as in the case of the saint-poet Meera Bai. Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism. The teachings of the ''Bhagavad Gita'' can be considered as the first Krishnaite system of theology. Krishnaism originated in the late centuries BCE from the followers of the heroic Vāsudeva Krishna, which amalgamated several centuries later ...
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Lalita (gopi)
Lalita is one of the nine principal gopis within traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava worship of Radha and Krishna within the Hindu religion. Of the eight Varistha Gopis, Astasakhis, Lalita is the foremost. She is a friend of the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Her age is 14 years, 8 months and 27 days. She is the oldest of Krishna's gopi friends. Lalita resides in Yavat and is famous as Radha's constant companion. She is the personification of Khandita Bhava and the leader of the parama-prema sakis. Her kunja, the color of lightning, is the largest and is situated on the North side of Vrindavan. The personified seasons take eternally personal care of the kunja. Shaped like an 8 petal lotus, it expands and contracts when needed. Lalitadevi instructs and directs all the sakis and is an expert in the tactics of union and separation in the matter of prema.Madhurya Dhama- A guide to Govardhana by Padmalocana das Lalitadevi is known for her contradictory and hot tempered nature (vama- ...
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Pushtimarg
Pushtimarg (), also known as ''Pushtimarg sampradaya'' or ''Vallabha sampradaya'', is a subtradition of the Rudra Sampradaya (Vaishnavism). It was founded in the early 16th century by Vallabhacharya (1479–1531) and is focused on Krishna.Vallabhacharya
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Matt Stefon and Wendy Doniger (2015)
Kim, Hanna H. (2016), "In service of God and Geography: Tracing Five Centuries of the Vallabhacharya Sampradaya. Book review: Seeing Krishna in America: The Hindu Bhakti Tradition of Vallabhacharya in India and its Movement to the West, by E. Allen Richardson"
Anthropology Faculty Publications 29
Adelphi University
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Gita Govinda
The ''Gita Govinda'' ( sa, गीत गोविन्दम्; ) is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship between Krishna, Radha and ''gopis'' (female cow herders) of Vrindavan. The ''Gita Govinda'' is organized into twelve chapters. Each chapter is further sub-divided into one or more divisions called ''Prabandha''s, totalling twenty-four in all. The prabandhas contain couplets grouped into eights, called ''Ashtapadis''. It is mentioned that Radha is greater than Krishna. The text also elaborates the eight moods of Heroine, the ''Ashta Nayika'', which has been an inspiration for many compositions and choreographic works in Indian classical dances. Summary The work delineates the love of Krishna for Radha, the milkmaid, his faithlessness and subsequent return to her, and is taken as symbolical of the human soul's straying from its true allegiance but returning at length to the God which created it. Chapters # ''Sāmoda ...
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Shakti
In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the universe. She is thought of as creative, sustaining, as well as destructive, and is sometimes referred to as auspicious source energy. Shakti is sometimes personified as the creator goddess, and is known as "Adi Shakti" or "Adi Parashakti" ("inconceivableprimordial energy"). In Shaktism, Adi Parashakti is worshipped as the Supreme Being. On every plane of creation, energy manifests itself into all forms of matter; these are all thought to be infinite forms of Parashakti. She is described as ''anaadi'' (with no beginning, no ending) and ''nitya'' (forever). Origins One of the oldest representations of the goddess in India is in a triangular form. The Baghor stone, found in a ...
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