Over five millenia ago in a place now called Northern India on a half moon night in the month of Bhadra, King Vrishabhanu came to the Jamuna to bathe and found himself engulfed in a golden aura that was emanating from a lotus, which had a baby girl standing on its whorl. When the king returned to the palace with the baby, Queen Kirtida was delighted. But, she was also shocked to find that the girl was blind.

Lord Krishna’s mother Yashoda heard that her best friend Kirtida had a baby, so she came to visit along with her husband and her son. Krishna crawled up to the cradle and pulled Himself up and looked in. At that moment, Srimati Radharani’s eyes fluttered and opened wide and blossomed like lotuses. It seems that she did not want to see anything of this world, only the form of Sri Krishna. Everyone was delighted.

Srimati Radharani is the mother of the universe. The spiritual mother of all souls. And the concept of mother is the most sacred symbol – that of purity, selflessness, caring, sharing, nurturing, and love. When the Holy Names are chanted:

Hare means Radharani. It is a plaintive desperate cry for the mother. ‘Radharani! Please wake us up from this nightmare of mortal life! Remind us of the father we have forgotten and take us home!'”

In the Krishna consciousness movement, devotees carefully worship Srimati Radharani as the bestower of devotional service to Krishna, by attentively chanting her names in the Maha-mantra, by worshiping her Deity form, and by following her instructions.

My dear auspicious Radharani, Your body is the source of all beauty. Your red lips are softer than the sense of immortal sweetness, Your face bears the aroma of a lotus flower, Your sweet words defeat the vibrations of the cuckoo, and Your limbs are cooler than the pulp of sandalwood. All My transcendental senses are overwhelmed in ecstatic pleasure by tasting You, who are completely decorated by beautiful qualities.

– Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Adi-lila 4.260, Lalita-madhava 9.9