Posted on: 28 Mar 2023
[Smt. lakshmi lavanya K asked: Someone asked me why God Shiva incarnated as lady, I told them people criticized Hanuman because of not having any bonds, He was able to spend all His energy, time for God's work, so He incarnated as lady and housewife to show how to cross all bonds for God. Is my answer correct? Thank You swami.]
Swami replied:- God Vishnu became the wife of God Shiva when God Vishnu became Mohini, the most beautiful dancer. Here, God Vishnu is incarnated as Krishna and God Shiva is incarnated as Raadhaa and their husband-wife relationship was balanced. A better explanation is that both are one and the same God for whom the gender-difference is not at all significant. God Shiva and Goddess Parvati are also equal and one and the same. You must know that Goddess Parvati incarnated as Draupadi because the five faced God Shiva incarnated as the five Pandavas. God Shiva as Radha maintained the romantic bond of love with God Krishna whereas Goddess Parvati as Draupadi maintained brotherly bond of love with God Krishna. In this specific drama, God Krishna is the role of master. When Krishna’s finger was cut, all the romantic bonds ran in different directions for a piece of cloth to be used as bandage. But, Draupadi tore her just worn new sari for the sake of bandage and defeated all the romantic bonds. Here, the lesson taught to devotees is that the weight of sacrificed love is important and not the type of bond of love. Raadhaa was also in this scene. Did she also run for a piece of cloth? Radha was shocked to see the blood of Krishna and stood like a statue with a completely paralyzed mind. Neither she won nor she was defeated. She allowed the victory of Draupadi who was Goddess Parvati (her husband being Shiva). In fact, from the angle of the spectator, Raadhaa was slightly defeated by Draupadi because emotion was not controlled by knowledge in the case of Raadhaa.
Whatever may be the intensity of emotion, knowledge of Draupadi could control her emotion so that she could serve Krishna immediately. In the case of Radha, her knowledge could not control her emotion and hence, she could not serve Krishna immediately. Regarding the case of Hanuman, He was like Draupadi without losing the control of knowledge on emotion and was always successful in serving God. In the angle of successful service to God, Hanuman (God Shiva) and Draupadi (Goddess Parvati) stand equal indicating that there is no gender-difference in successful service to God. Another indication is that the bonds of Hanuman and Draupadi with God have no angle of romance. It is a thorough misunderstanding that the highest bond with God is involved with romance and hence, gender difference exists. The highest status of this bond is shown by the highest fruit called Goloka, which is above the abode of God. This is not correct because the fruit attained by male Hanuman is not inferior in any way from the fruit obtained by Raadhaa. If Raadhaa is the queen of Goloka, Hanuman is the future king of Brahmaloka, which is the abode of God. Hanuman is becoming God and only one God will create, maintain and destroy the creation. By this it results that Hanuman is becoming God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva. Raadhaa is the queen of one upper world, whereas Hanuman is becoming the king of the entire creation.
You may say that Goloka is above Brahma loka and Krishna is at the feet of Raadhaa. But, Hanuman, the would-be God created Goloka and not Raadhaa. From the analysis of so many points, we can say that both Hanuman and Raadhaa attained the same highest fruit if you see the fruits collectively in various angles. Even Krishna sat at the feet of Raadhaa due to excess of love to the devotee and not due to any inferiority. This equality of Hanuman and Raadhaa in the total value of their fruits shows their external oneness as devotees (roles) and also shows internal oneness since both are incarnations of God Shiva (actors) due to which the gender-difference is ruled out.