4.

In Vaishnavism, Sri Krishna is the sole object of love, devotion and worship. The Vaishnavites believe that unreserved dedication to Lord Krishna is the matchless ideal, the supreme way of life.

Radha, Lord Krishna's divine consort and disciple, is the very embodiment of that self-dedication. Having won Him by many lives of aspiration and devotion, she surrenders her very existence to serve Him.

Chandidas wrote this poem in the 16th century. He was a great Vaishnava poet, cherished by all in Bengal.

E ghora rajani meghera ghata . . .

The night is dark, the sky is filled with teeming clouds.
Friend, what can I say to you?
By virtue of many lives, Him I have won.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote:

To the birds You gave songs,
The birds gave You songs in return.
You gave me only a voice,
But You asked for more,
And I sing.

Rabindranath was a Golden Song sung by the Divine Singer in him. He was, indeed, the World-Song, the golden chain that bound East and West.

He offered the world more than two thousand songs. He once said that when he was capable of singing, his own compositions were very few in number. But by the time he had become a prolific composer, his voice failed him.

He made a prophetic utterance about his own songs: "With the march of time, everything changes. But the Bengalees will sing my songs epoch after epoch. They will sing my songs in the hour of their sorrow, grief, joy and delight. They will have no alternative."