One day, Nanda, the Chief of the cowherds, received an invitation from Vrishbhanu to visit his family. Nanda along with his wife Yashoda and Lord Krishna went to visit them. Vrishbhanu had been King Suchandra in his previous life. As a King, Vrishbhanu and his wife, Kalavati, had received a boon from Lord Brahma that a daughter named Radha would be born to them in another life.
Radha was the incarnation of goddess Lakshmi herself. Her fair skin shone with inner radiance. She had long, black hair and beautiful doe-shaped eyes. When Lord Krishna saw the gentle and sweet Radha, He felt instant affection for her.
“Will you be My friend?” Lord Krishna asked charming Radha.
“I was hoping You would ask me that,” Radha smilingly said. Thus, a deep bond of friendship and affection formed between the two children.Lord Krishna grew
more attached to Radha as He became older. As Lord Krishna grew older, He remained very close to Radha.
All the gopis, who gathered around Him and played with Him, complained, “He is always talking to Radha. Why doesn’t He talk to us all the time instead?” A gopi sighed and said, “I would give anything to be Radha.” As much as He liked Radha, Lord Krishna was also jealous of her fair face.
One day, Lord Krishna applied colour on her face as a mark of protest. Radha laughingly put colour on Lord Krishna’s face, too. The gopis laughed with delight at this. Lord Krishna said, “You are laughing, so I must put colour on you, too.” Thus, He put colour on the faces of some of the protesting yet amused gopis. Soon, all the children started putting colours on one another’s faces. This was the initiation of the Indian festival of Holi in Vrindavan, in which people play with colours.
One day, when the gopis were bathing in the river, Lord Krishna crept up quietly on the banks of the river and stole their clothes. He then climbed up a nearby tree and placed the heap of clothes on a high branch. The gopis had been too busy to notice Krishna, so they did not suspect anything. They prepared to come out, though they were shocked to see their clothes missing. It was only when they heard Krishna laughing that they realised what actually had happened. “Please give our clothes back, Krishna,” they pleaded from inside the water.”
“I will return your clothes if you all raise your hands above your heads in total surrender,” Krishna said. Though very reluctant and highly embarrassed yet the gopis finally agreed and did as they were told. The gopis immediately got their clothes back.
In reality, Krishna was freeing the gopis of their ego and teaching them to surrender themselves in front of the Supreme.
