8
pleasure from material sense objects. We should not think, however, that Kr̥ṣṇa, who is always spiritual, tries to seek pleasure on this material plane like us. Kr̥ṣṇa describes the material universe as a nonpermanent place full of miseries. Why, then, would He seek pleasure in the material form? He is the Supersoul, the supreme spirit, and His pleasure is beyond the material conception.
In order to learn how Kr̥ṣṇa's pleasure can be obtained, we must read the Tenth Canto of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  in which Kr̥ṣṇa's pleasure potency is displayed in His pastimes with Rādhārāṇī and the damsels of Vraja. Unfortunately, unintelligent people turn at once to the sports of Kr̥ṣṇa in the  Daśama-skandha , the Tenth Canto. Kr̥ṣṇa's embracing Rādhārāṇī or His dancing with the cowherd girls in the  rāsa  dance are generally not understood by ordinary men because they consider these pastimes in the light of mundane lust. They incorrectly think that Kr̥ṣṇa is like themselves and that He embraces the  gopīs  just as an ordinary man embraces a young girl. Some people thus become interested in Kr̥ṣṇa because they think that His religion allows indulgence in sex. This is not  kr̥ṣṇa-bhakti , love of Kr̥ṣṇa, but  prākṛta-sahajiyā —materialistic lust.
In order to avoid such errors, we should understand what Rādhā-Kr̥ṣṇa actually is. Rādhā and Kr̥ṣṇa display their pastimes through Kr̥ṣṇa's internal energy. The pleasure potency of Kr̥ṣṇa's internal energy is a most difficult subject matter, and unless one understands what Kr̥ṣṇa is, he cannot understand it. Kr̥ṣṇa does not take any pleasure in this material world, but He has a pleasure potency. Because we are part and parcel of Kr̥ṣṇa, the pleasure potency is within us also, but we are trying to exhibit that pleasure potency in matter. Kr̥ṣṇa, however, does not make such a vain attempt. The object of Kr̥ṣṇa's pleasure potency is Rādhārāṇī, and He exhibits His potency or His energy as Rādhārāṇī and then engages in loving affairs with Her. In other words, Kr̥ṣṇa does not take pleasure in this external energy but exhibits His internal energy, His pleasure potency, as Rādhārāṇī. Thus Kr̥ṣṇa manifests Himself as Rādhārāṇī in order to exhibit His internal pleasure potency. Of the many extensions, expansions and incarnations of the Lord, this pleasure potency is the foremost and chief.
It is not that Rādhārāṇī is separate from Kr̥ṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is also Kr̥ṣṇa, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Rādhā because of this, the Vaiṣṇava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Rādhā-Kr̥ṣṇa. Similarly, those who worship the name of Nārāyaṇa first of all utter the name of Lakṣmī, as Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Similarly, those who worship Lord Rāma first of all utter the name of Sītā. In any case—Sītā-Rāma, Rādhā-Kr̥ṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa—the potency always comes first.
Rādhā and Kr̥ṣṇa are one, and when Kr̥ṣṇa desires to enjoy pleasure, He manifests Himself as Rādhārāṇī. The spiritual exchange of love between Rādhā and Kr̥ṣṇa is the actual display of the internal pleasure potency of Kr̥ṣṇa. Although we speak of