The following are excerpts from darśanas with Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Pui O, Hong Kong, in April 2008, published in Walking with a Saint – Morning Walks and Conversations 2008
(Darśana after the morning walk on April 9th)
Devotee: Someone said that only the sādhana-siddha devotees (those who were previously conditioned souls, but by the practice of sādhana-bhakti have become perfect) can show mercy, not the nitya-siddha devotees (those associates of the Lord who were never conditioned souls at any time).
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: A kaniṣṭha devotee will say, “Oh, he’s a guru. Come; I’ll take 
you to him.” He is like a vartma-pradarśaka-guru (the guru who shows the way). A madhyama-adhikārī will help others through his hari-kathā. He has four duties. He can help more than the siddha. [It is rare to meet an uttama-adhikārī -ed]
It is wrong to think that only the sādhana-siddha can show mercy. Those who are not sādhana-siddha are helping others.
Devotee: Śrīla Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is siddha. He was never conditioned, but still, he is helping others.
We may say that he is nitya-siddha. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī were also nitya-siddha, but they have come here to help all.
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja: They came by the desire of Kṛṣṇa.
(Darśana after the morning walk on April 11th)
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: Mostly, it is the sādhana-siddha (one who becomes perfect through sādhana, and then experiences the same spiritual bliss as that of a nitya-siddha) who is acting as guru.
Vrajanātha dāsa: Mahārāja understands that in order to be guru and give mercy, one must be a sādhana-siddha devotee. A nitya-siddha parikara, an eternal associate of the Lord from the spiritual world who was never conditioned, cannot do so.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Why?
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: It says this in Mādhurya-kādambinī.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Śrīmatī Rādhikā sent Her own nitya-siddha associate, Jayanta, to help Gopa-kumāra. So, a nitya-siddha can act as guru.
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: Nitya-siddhas have no experience of suffering…
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Generally, what you say is correct. The sādhana-siddhas
remember what they experienced in their life of sādhana. Even if they are now siddha, they can remember. It is likened to a man who was sleeping and suffering in a dream; even after he has awakened, he can remember his dream. Similarly, these self-realised persons can remember how they suffered, and their hearts melt for the suffering conditioned souls.
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: Whereas the nitya-siddha has no…
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: But the nitya-siddha can also act as guru – like Svarūpa in Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta. Nitya-siddha devotees like Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī have all acted as guru.
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: They do not know what suffering is.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Who? Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī? If that were so, how would his heart melt, and how would he have done what he did?
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja: What to speak of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī? How much suffering Śrīmatī Rādhikā experiences; how Her in-laws do not allow Her to go to Kṛṣṇa; how they create so many problems for Her.
Madhuvrata dāsa: That is not material suffering.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Generally, a sādhana-siddha has more mercy for the conditioned souls, in the sense that he comes more often, but in a special case, Kṛṣṇa may arrange that His nitya-siddha associate will also come to give mercy.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Śrīla Gadādhara Paṇḍita, who is nitya-siddha, manifested as Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura showed so much mercy.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Yes. And Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita personally made so many disciples, like Gopāla-guru Gosvāmī, Vakreśvara Paṇḍita, and those in his line. He gave mantras even to Śrī Vallabhācārya.
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: I was thinking that nitya-siddhas only come along with Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: No, no.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Nayana Mañjarī came as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Whatever Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu think best to do, that is what They do. They may bring with Them Their own personal eternal associates who were never conditioned souls, and they may bring Their sādhana-siddha devotees with Them.
Śrīpāda Dāmodara Mahārāja: How can we know who is sādhana-siddha or nitya-siddha?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: First become siddha, and then you can realise who is who.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Gurudeva, in a few days it will be Lord Rāmacandra’s appearance day. Today we are 
sending out your hari-kathā lecture from Navadvīpa at Māmagāchi, wherein you discussed the separation between Śrīmatī Sītā-devī and Lord Rāma. In that lecture, you said that at the time of meeting, one forgets everything internally. What does that mean? Even at the time of meeting, there are so many moods, aren’t there?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: If I am meeting with you, and we are speaking and absorbed in some activity, we will forget what is inside.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Don’t we experience many internal feelings as we speak together?
Vrajanātha dāsa: You forget the heart when you are externally absorbed in many things.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: At the time of meeting, Śrīmatī Rādhikā forgets the internal. Externally, She is speaking with Kṛṣṇa and engaging in numerous pastimes with Him, whereas separation is always internal. At that time, She is always absorbed internally, oblivious to the external.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: In meeting, Śrīmatī Rādhikā is experiencing mādanākhya-mahābhāva. Bhāva means ‘internal feelings’, doesn’t it?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Mādanākhya-bhāva is in meeting.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: It is an internal feeling, isn’t it?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: That is a special case, and that was only in Śrīmatī Rādhikā. She was sitting on the lap of Kṛṣṇa, but She forgot this. She was feeling only separation, totally forgetful that “I am on the lap of Kṛṣṇa; I am with Kṛṣṇa.”
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Also for the same Navadvīpa hari-kathā that we are sending out: You said that the bhakta (devotee) feels separation for Kṛṣṇa, and in that regard Rāma said to Sītā, “We must be separated sometimes, because this brings more joy in meeting.” Why is the word ‘devotee’ used? Sītā is Lord Rāma’s eternal consort. She is not in the category of ‘devotee,’ just as Kṛṣṇa’s mother, Yaśodā, is not in the category of devotee.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: I was using the word bhakta only in a general sense.
In an even more general sense, I may give the analogy of a husband and wife. If a husband has great love for his wife, who has gone for some time to her father’s house, the husband thinks, “Now that she has left, I am feeling so lonely. She used to cook for me and massage me, and she always showed me so much love and affection.” In this way, he remembers her.
(Darśana for the Philippine devotees in the late morning)
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: Good, because I have a question for Gaurāṅgi and her husband, Yadunātha Prabhu.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: What question?
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: When Yadunātha Prabhu and Gaurāṅgi were in ISKCON, they were full-time travelling preachers. They were married, but they were preaching together. Then they had two children, and from that time until now their time has been mainly spent in maintaining the family to help the children grow. Now the children are teenagers, thirteen and fourteen years old. Is now a good time for the children, who have become wonderful devotees, to assist the parents with preaching?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Very good. They should preach. Preaching is bhakti. They must preach. They should chant the holy name, read my books, and also preach.
Śyāmarāṇī dāsī: How can the children become free from their fear of preaching?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: No need of shyness at all; no need.
Kṛṣṇacandra dāsa: Gurudeva, I travel all over the Philippine islands, trying to explain to people how 
to become Kṛṣṇa-conscious. Can you instruct me regarding the best way to do this?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Try to understand our classes. Read my books and the books of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja, and preach freely without any fear. In this way, the people will appreciate you, and they will come to me for initiation.
…
Pītāmbara dāsa: Gurudeva, how did Rādhārāṇī exit Her earthly pastimes?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī left in the same way that Śrī Kṛṣṇa left – by the arrangement of Kṛṣṇa’s yogamāyā potency. When Kṛṣṇa returned on a chariot to Vraja, Gokula, from Dvārakā, He stayed there for some time. Then, along with all His Vraja associates like Nanda Bābā, Yaśodā-maiyā, and all the sakhīs, including Rādhikā, Lalitā, Viśākhā, and Candrāvalī, He returned to Goloka Vṛndāvana. At that time, His Vraja pastimes became aprakaṭa, unmanifest in this world.
Nanda-nandana Kṛṣṇa’s expansion Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, got back on His chariot and returned to Dvārakā alone. Later on, before the eyes of demigods like Lord Brahmā and Śaṅkara, He ascended to His abode, Goloka, in His own transcendental form.*
While Śrī Kṛṣṇa was still present in Dvārakā, it seemed as though all His sons and other relatives, like 
Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and so many others, fought with and killed each other. However, this was like a magic show. It was simply an external exhibition.
What actually happened was that all of Kṛṣṇa’s eternal associates entered Goloka with Him. Those who had come from Svarga (the heavenly planets) to participate in His pastimes, like Indra and other demigods, returned to Svarga after His pastimes were completed, and mixed with Indra and the other demigods there. In other words, the demigods had expanded to become the members of the Yadu dynasty (the family members of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā). Then, at the end of those pastimes, the portions of the demigods who were in the Yadu dynasty mixed again into their own demigod forms. Those who had come from Ayodhyā returned there, and all those who had come from Vaikuṇṭha returned there.
Vallabha-kānti dāsa: Gurudeva, some people have asked my wife to do some preaching for children in the schools. We want to know if we can have your blessings to do that.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: (To Asalata dāsī) You should go everywhere to preach – to schools, colleges, universities, and door-to-door. You are qualified, more so than your husband. You can preach. My blessings to you. Along with your husband, try to preach everywhere. It is not that you should always be writing. I also write, but I also preach throughout the world.
Rādhā-kānta dāsa: When Śrīmatī Rādhikā left Vṛndāvana, She entered the Yamunā, didn’t she? She apparently gave up Her body in the Yamunā?
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: No. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described the pastime in this way [in his book, Śrī Lalita-mādhava**]: Rādhikā entered the Yamunā, but from there She went via the Sun planet to Dvārakā.*** Lalitā, Viśākhā, and all other sakhīs also manifested in Dvārakā, where they appeared as Kṛṣṇa’s queens Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā, Jāmbavatī, and so on. Later on, they met Kṛṣṇa, and in the end, they understood that they were really from Vraja.
We also see in Lalita-mādhava that, due to feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhikā jumped into a lake in Dvārakā to end Her life, but Kṛṣṇa entered the lake and embraced Her. So many pastimes are revealed in Lalita-mādhava and Vidagdha-mādhava; you can read such pastimes there.
* The idea is that the demons saw that He died and left a body behind, the demigods saw Him ascend, in His transcendental form, through the heavens to His spiritual abode. Regarding His eternal associates, they did not see anything because their pastimes had become unmanifest to us, but continued as usual for them.
** In his Lalita-mādhava, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gives the following narration. In one kalpa, Śrī Rādhā was 
so unable to tolerate the affliction of separation from Kṛṣṇa after He had left for Mathurā that She jumped into the Yamunā. Yamunā, the daughter of Sūryadeva, then took Śrī Rādhā to her father. Sūryadeva entrusted Her to his friend and devotee, Satrājit, who was childless, and told him, “Her name is Satyabhāmā. Consider Her to be your daughter.” Later, upon being instructed by Nārada, King Satrājit sent Satyabhāmā to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s inner quarters in Dvārakā. The wife of Sūrya, Saṁjñā, was the daughter of Viśvakarmā. Through her father, Saṁjñā had previously created the captivating Nava-vṛndāvana for Satyabhāmā (Śrī Rādhā) in Dvārakā. Rukmiṇī, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s principal queen, kept the extraordinarily charming and beautiful Satyabhāmā hidden in Nava-vṛndāvana so that Kṛṣṇa would not see Her. In due course, however, Satyabhāmā did meet with Kṛṣṇa, and the secret that Satyabhāmā is actually Rādhā and Rukmiṇī is actually Candrāvalī was revealed. Thereafter, Rukmiṇī arranged for Satyabhāmā’s marriage to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. At the time of the wedding, Yaśodārāṇī, Paurṇamāsī, Mukharā and other Vrajavāsīs were present in Dvārakā.
One day, in this Nava-vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa said to Rādhā, “O Dearest, what more can I do to make You happy?”
Śrī Rādhā replied, “Prāṇeśvara, all the sakhīs of Vraja, My cousin-sister Candrāvalī, Mother Vrajeśvarī and everyone else came here, and I met with them. Nonetheless, My earnest request to You is to please leave this abode of opulence, Dvārakā, and in Your form as a fresh, youthful, expert dancer, wearing the attire of a cowherd boy, enjoy with Me in the kuñjas of Vraja-dhāma, the renowned land of eternal pastimes.” (Excerpt from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s commentary on Śrī Bhajana Rahasya)
*** It is written in Lalita-mādhava that when Śrī Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā and Dvārakā, Śrīmatī Rādhikā was in such a deep state of separation that She went to Khelanvana, where She entered the waters of Yamunā and “drowned”. Then, through the rays of the sun, She went to the sun-planet, Sūryaloka. The author, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, is silent about what transpired between that time and Her arrival as Satyabhāmā in Nava-vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, but he explains that once there, She met Rukmiṇī.
Rukmiṇī thought, “Oh, this young girl is so wonderfully beautiful! If Kṛṣṇa sees Her, He will be attracted to Her and He will no longer love me as He does now.” She tried to keep Satyabhāmā hidden from Kṛṣṇa, hoping to prevent Him from seeing the new girl from the sun-planet. Nevertheless, Kṛṣṇa saw Her, and He fell in love with that young lady at once.
Because Rukmiṇī continued her attempt to stop the two of Them from meeting, Satyabhāmā felt such painful separation from Kṛṣṇa that She went to the Kālīya Lake in Nava-vṛndāvana to be bitten by the poisonous serpents there. She jumped into the lake, and unbeknownst to Her, Kṛṣṇa jumped in after her. He caught hold of Her from behind, and Satyabhāmā thought with relief, “Oh, here are two very black snakes full of poison, and they are about to bite Me. But why are they not biting Me?” She was thunderstruck. She could not imagine that Kṛṣṇa was holding Her, until He turned Her around to face Him. Seeing Him, She came to her external senses and fell on His chest.
Rukmiṇī saw this and thought, “Oh, I tried so hard to separate them, so that they would not see each other, but I was not successful. Now they should be married.”
Kṛṣṇa then proposed to Satyabhāmā, and at last they were married.
Who is the young girl who travelled by the rays of the sun to Nava-vṛndāvana in Dvārakā? And who went to Kurukṣetra to meet Kṛṣṇa?
This is a significant point. The explanation is that there are three features of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. One of them, Her complete feature, is the daughter Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Kīrtidā-kanyā.
Source: Purebhakti.com
Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net
Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)
