RadhaKrishna standing in the middle and dancing, all of the gopis dancing with a form of Krishna.
In Raasleela, it is Radha who contributes Raas (bliss) to the Leela of Krishna. Without Raas, the leela would not be enjoyable. The feminine and masculine energies come together and attain completion here. When the gopis circle them, the gopis represent the jivatmas. The Jivatma has only one goal - to realize that it is a piece of Paramatma.
Here, Paramatma does not only constitute a masculine form or a feminine form. It is both masculine and feminine. (Ardhnareeshwar) I emphasize this point here because there has been a tendency to regard one form of God higher than the other which is anathema to the very foundational basis of Hinduism. Purush Prakriti are one. No one is superior.
Radha and Krishna represent these twin forms of God. The Gopis are jivatmas who are on the path of devotion towards RadhaKrishna. In blissful ecstasy, they dance around RadhaKrishna while RadhaKrishna represent the transcendental twin energies of Paramatma
Prakriti is the manifested form of Shakti (primordial feminine power). Radha represents the Shakti here. Shakti is dynamic and creative. With the help of Purusha, Prakriti creates this unfathomable Universe. Purusha aids Her by being the Atman in each Jiva. Hence, each Jiva is acombination of Purush and Prakriti. Following this principle, Radha extends Her feminine energy and becomes each of the gopis. She does this in conjunction with Krishna. As I stated before, when Prakriti manifests something, Purusha will accompany. Because Purusha never remains apart from Prakriti, Purusha is static energy and remains dormant until He unites with Prakriti. So when Radha(Prakriti) extends to become each gopi, Krishna (Purusha) extends His energy to accompany each gopi.
Each gopi (Radha) dancing with Krishna conveys the idea that Prakriti who is the creative feminine power will keep on expanding and the Purush who is the static dormant consciousness will accompany Prakriti in all of Her forms.
So the gopis are treated as pure jivatmas who worship the ultimate Paramatma and also extensions of Prakriti.
Another striking feature of Raaslila is that Krishna plays the flute and the Gopis go to Him. Krishna as Purusha represents the static Consciousness here; it doesn't change, it doesn't move. It is in supreme bliss all the time. Krishna stays rooted to His spot and awaits gopis. It is Shakti / Prakriti who changes and flourishes. Radha is Mula Prakriti (The most elemental form of Prakriti) and each Gopi is Her energy component. By virtue of being the active Prakriti, Radha and gopis traverse the journey to reach Krishna. This means that it is Prakriti who has to undertake the journey of uniting with Consciousness/Atman. This is another facet of Purush-Prakriti union.
Ultimately, Raaslila is a reiteration of the fact that Supreme Consciousness will co-exist with Supreme Shakti.
