Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa dāsa: Śrīla Gurudeva, I have a question. Yesterday, Vrajanātha prabhu mentioned in his speech that when Kṛṣṇa leaves Vraja and goes to Mathurā, He becomes Mathureśa Kṛṣṇa, and when He goes to Dvārakā He becomes Dvārakādhīśa Kṛṣṇa. So, when Śrīmān Mahāprabhu leaves Navadvīpa and goes to South India or other places, is it a similar situation for Him?
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja: He is asking if Mahāprabhu would become ‘Nīlācala Mahāprabhu’ or ‘Gambhīrā Mahāprabhu.’
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: No. In the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa took the beauty and intrinsic mood of Śrīmatī Rādhikā so that He would be able to taste the fulfilment of His three desires. That is why He became Śrī Śacīnandana Gaurahari. One may say that He is comparable to Dvārakādhīśa-Kṛṣṇa when He goes to Purī, but that is not the fact. Rather, Mahāprabhu was relishing Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana.
Moreover, this question is not proper. There is something wrong in the question itself. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, but He is Kṛṣṇa who has taken the beauty of Śrīmatī Rādhikā and who is tasting the glory of Her love. We should therefore think about Mahāprabhu’s moods in relation to Rādhikā. He cannot be addressed as ‘Purī Mahāprabhu’ or any similar name.
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja: He is understood according to Rādhikā’s moods, not Kṛṣṇa’s moods.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: In the pastimes of Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa is not Kṛṣṇa. He is totally absorbed in Śrīmatī Rādhikā, thinking, “I am Rādhikā.” There is no need to think about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in relation to the moods of Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīmatī Rādhikā does not go out of Vṛndāvana for even one moment; and Kṛṣṇa, in His original, complete feature, also does not leave. Her original and complete feature, always residing in Vṛndāvana, is Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Rādhā.
When Rādhikā is in Nandagaon and lamenting in separation from Kṛṣṇa when He (His manifestation) went to Dvārakā, She is Viyoginī-Rādhā. Therefore, when Mahāprabhu is in Jagannātha Purī (which represents Dvārakā), He is in the mood of Viyoginī-Rādhā. When Rādhikā meets Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra She is Saṁyogīnī-Rādhā, and when Mahāprabhu is on the bank of Godāvarī with Rāmānanda Rāya, He is in the mood of that Saṁyogīnī-Rādhā. In Navadvīpa, which is hidden Vṛndāvana, Mahāprabhu is in the mood of Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Rādhā.
Mahāprabhu actually never leaves Navadvīpa, which has been told in śāstra to be the same as Vṛndāvana. The twelve forests of Vṛndāvana are in Navadvīpa. Neither Jagannātha Purī nor Godāvarī have been told to be the same as Vṛndāvana.
Sugata dāsa: What is the internal reason that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not stay long in Vṛndāvana?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: When He was in Vṛndāvana, He would see Govardhana and Yamunā and other stimulus for His thinking, “I am Kṛṣṇa,” and “I performed so many sweet pastimes here.” He did not want this mood to envelop Him. He did not want His mood as Mahāprabhu to disappear. He therefore quickly returned to Purī.

An excerpt from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s lecture on March 25, 2001, in Navadvīpa, India:

“Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the highest shelter of prema, and She Herself has three aspects. One aspect is the root, and the other two are Her expansions. In Vṛndāvana, especially in Govardhana, Nandagaon, Varṣāṇā, Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Śyāma-kuṇḍa, and similar places, She is Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī. She is the root, and She includes Her expansions as well. She never leaves Vṛndāvana. In Nandagaon (Uddhava-kyārī) She is Viyoginī-Rādhā after Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā. The astonishing madness of separation She experienced as Viyoginī-Rādhā is recorded in Bhramara-gīta.
“As Saṁyogīnī-Rādhā, She spent three months in Kurukṣetra, where She met with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although this is the aspect of Rādhikā who meets with Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra, Her desire cannot be fulfilled there; She wants to go back to Vṛndāvana. It is the same Kṛṣṇa there in Kurukṣetra, but in a different dress. There is no flute in His hand and no peacock feather crown; He is not Yaśodā-nandana, Nanda-nandana, Rādhā-kānta; He is not addressed by those names. The mood there is very different, because there are so many elephants, horses, and a huge army, and Vasudeva and Devakī and all their associates are present. There is no forest like Vṛndāvana there, no Yamunā, no peacocks, and no deer.
“Śrīmatī Rādhikā tells Śrī Kṛṣṇa, ‘My heart is not satisfied. There is not even one drop of the ocean of rasa of Vṛndāvana here in Kurukṣetra. I don’t want to be here.’
“Kṛṣṇa tells Her, ‘You should meditate, and You will realize that You are always with Me. If You meditate, My lotus feet will appear in Your heart.’
“She replies, ‘My heart and mind are the same, and my mind is Vṛndāvana. So You should come to Vṛndāvana.’ This is the meaning of Ratha-yātrā. The ratha-cart is the chariot of Rādhikā’s mind, the chariot of Rādhikā’s desire, taking Śrī Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana, back to Vraja (represented by the Guṇḍicā temple). Saṁyogīnī means that there is samyoga, a meeting between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, but Rādhikā wants to go back to Vṛndāvana. She wants to return to the forest of Vetasī trees; that is, the forest of Kadamba trees, the forest which is fragrant with beli, cāmeli, and juhī flowers. She wants to take Kṛṣṇa there.
“So, first Rādhikā is Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Rādhikā. Second She is Viyoginī-Rādhikā, who is always in a separation mood and absorbed in citrajalpa, prajalpa, divyonmāda, and other such bhāvas of separation. And in Kurukṣetra She is Saṁyogīnī-Rādhā.
“Saṁyogīnī-Rādhikā is meeting with Kṛṣṇa, but there is no happiness because all the sweet stimuli of Vṛndāvana are missing. Kurukṣetra is filled with many outside elements that are contrary to vraja-prema. Therefore, Rādhikā situates Kṛṣṇa on the chariot of Her mind and, along with all the other gopīs, brings Śrī Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana. This is the meaning of Ratha-yātrā, and these are the moods Mahāprabhu relished in Jagannātha Purī.”

—Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja
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