SB 10.29.33 – Sarat-purnima—Krishna and the Gopis Meet—Part 01

Giriraj Swami: Today is the auspicious day of Sarat-purnima, which was utilized by Lord Krishna five thousand years ago to celebrate the rasa-līlā.

When Lord Krishna saw the beautiful moon rising in the sky on the night of Sarat-purnima, He desired to enjoy the rasa dance, and so He went to Vaṁśīvaṭa, near the banks of the Yamuna, and played upon His transcendental flute. When the gopīs heard the song of the flute, they desired to follow the sound and meet Lord Krishna. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes that many of the cowherd girls were engaged in various household duties some were cooking, some were cleaning, some were churning butter, some were serving their family members but when they heard the sound of Krishna’s flute they immediately dropped everything and rushed to the Lord. Some of the gopīs, however, were detained. Their husbands or brothers or fathers stood at the door with sticks and forbade them to leave their houses. But somehow or other, these gopīs too, being absorbed in intense thoughts of Krishna in separation, were able to meet the Lord.

This incident is very significant, and the explanation is important, so we will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapters twenty-nine to thirty-three, beginning with Chapter Twenty-nine, “Kṛṣṇa and the Gopīs Meet”:

TEXTS 10–11

duḥsaha-preṣṭha-viraha-
tīvra-tāpa-dhutāśubhāḥ
dhyāna-prāptācyutāśleṣa-
nirvṛtyā kṣīṇa-maṅgalāḥ

tam eva paramātmānaṁ
jāra-buddhyāpi saṅgatāḥ
jahur guṇa-mayaṁ dehaṁ
sadyaḥ prakṣīṇa-bandhanāḥ

TRANSLATION

For those gopīs who could not go to see Kṛṣṇa, intolerable separation from their beloved caused an intense agony that burned away all impious karma. By meditating upon Him they realized His embrace, and the ecstasy they then felt exhausted their material piety. Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Soul, these girls simply thought of Him as their male lover and associated with Him in that intimate mood. Thus their karmic bondage was nullified and they abandoned their gross material bodies.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments upon this verse as follows: “Here Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks in a peculiar way: he presents the intimate object the gopīs attained as if it were an external idea, thus keeping its true nature secret from outsiders, while at the same time he reveals to the confidential devotees well versed in the scientific conclusions of devotional service the internal meaning that is his real purport. Thus to outsiders Śukadeva says that Kṛṣṇa gave the gopīs liberation, but to the confidential hearers Śukadeva reveals that when the gopīs experienced separation from their beloved there arose in them both immeasurable unhappiness and immeasurable happiness, and that they gradually achieved their desired goal.

“Thus the verse can be understood as follows: Because of their intolerable separation from their beloved, the gopīs felt terrible agony, by which they caused all inauspicious things to tremble. In other words, when people in general hear of the gopīs’ extreme agony in separation from their beloved, they abandon thousands of inauspicious things — things even as fearsome as the subterranean fires of millions of universes or the powerful poison swallowed by Lord Śiva. More specifically, those who hear of the gopīs’ love in separation give up their terrible false ego and, thinking themselves defeated, are shaken. When the gopīs meditated on Lord Acyuta, He became manifest and personally came to them, and they experienced great joy by embracing His body, which was full of transcendental love for them. The gopīs also experienced great joy by exhibiting personal characteristics and a sense of identification appropriate to such love. That joy made all their good fortune, both material and spiritual, seem paltry by comparison.

“The implication is that when other persons see how happy the gopīs became upon embracing Kṛṣṇa when He manifested Himself directly before them, these other persons feel that thousands of so-called auspicious objects are insignificant by comparison, including all the sense gratificatory pleasures found in millions of universes and even the supersensory pleasure of spiritual bliss (brahmānanda). Thus hearing of the gopīs’ distress and the joy that arose, respectively, out of their separation from the Supreme Lord and their union with Him, anyone can get rid of all the reactions of his past activities, both sinful and pious.”

COMMENT

Every conditioned soul is bound by a combination of pious and sinful activities. Pious activities are activities performed according to Vedic injunctions, or within the laws of God, and sinful activities are activities performed against Vedic injunctions, against the laws of God. The result of pious activities is that one takes birth in the material world and enjoys so-called material happiness, and the result of sinful activities is that one takes birth in the material world and suffers material distress. Everyone in the material world engages in some combination of pious material activities and sinful activities. Consequently, everyone in the material world to some extent suffers material miseries and to some extent enjoys material happiness. In order to become liberated from the bondage of material existence, we have to be free from both pious and sinful reactions.

By hearing of Krishna’s pastimes and specifically we are discussing Krishna’s pastimes on Sarat-purnima one becomes free from all such reactions. How? If one actually hears submissively from a proper authority about the extreme agony of the gopīs in separation from the Lord, one will feel that any pain one experiences in the material world is most insignificant compared with the pain the gopīs felt in separation from Krishna. Thus one will feel humbled and give up one’s false ego and stand in awe of the gopīs. Similarly, by hearing of the gopīs’ transcendental pleasure in meeting Krishna after the separation, one will actually understand that there is no happiness in the material world, or even in the spiritual sky, that can compare with the happiness the gopīs experience in service to Krishna. Thus one will abandon the vain pursuit of material happiness and be completely absorbed in thoughts of the pastimes of Krishna and the gopīs, relinquishing all identification with material pious activities and sinful activities. Being completely absorbed in the pastimes of Krishna with the gopīs, one will be completely purified. One will be liberated and actually give up all interest in the material world.

When the gopīs came to meet Krishna, He pretended to be surprised that they had come into the forest of Vrindavan in the middle of night. “Have you come to enjoy the beauty of the forest?” He asked. When Krishna was speaking in such a tricky way, the gopīs felt embarrassed and started looking in different directions. So when Krishna saw that they were looking in different directions, He said, “Oh, you must have come to look at the trees of Vrindavan or perhaps to see the beautiful full moon.” Then Lord Krishna instructed them, “You should go back home. Your family members must be worrying about you. There are so many ferocious animals in the jungle. It is not safe for you to be out at night. You should return home to your husbands and fathers and other relations.”

After remaining silent for some time, and crying, the gopīs finally decided to speak. They appealed to Lord Krishna that just as Lord Narayana reciprocates with His devotees in their endeavor to perform devotional service and become liberated, Krishna also should reciprocate with His devotees. And then they gave the following argument:

TEXT 32

yat paty-apatya-suhṛdām anuvṛttir aṅga
strīṇāṁ sva-dharma iti dharma-vidā tvayoktam
astv evam etad upadeśa-pade tvayīśe
preṣṭho bhavāṁs tanu-bhṛtāṁ kila bandhur ātmā

TRANSLATION

Our dear Kṛṣṇa, as an expert in religion You have advised us that the proper religious duty for women is to faithfully serve their husbands, children and other relatives. We agree that this principle is valid, but actually this service should be rendered to You. After all, O Lord, You are the dearmost friend of all embodied souls. You are their most intimate relative and indeed their very Self.

COMMENT

Lord Krishna had advised the gopīs to go home and, as good religious girls, serve their husbands and children and other relations. The gopīs reply here, “You are more intimately related to us than anyone else. You are the most intimate friend, the dearmost relative of the living entity. Therefore we should serve You.”

There were other exchanges between the gopīs and Krishna, but in the end Krishna accepted the gopīs’ desire to serve Him, and He reciprocated with them perfectly. He dealt with each gopī so lovingly and intimately that each thought that Krishna was with her alone, and thus each became transcendentally proud, thinking, “Krishna is with me; Krishna favors me over all others.” Meanwhile, Srimati Radharani was seeing Krishna with all the other gopīs and feeling neglected by Him. So to pacify Srimati Radharani, and to show Her special favor, Lord Krishna disappeared.

Chapter Thirty describes how the gopīs searched all over the Vrindavan forest looking for Krishna, how they followed His footprints, and how, seeing another pair of footprints beside His, they wondered who was that fortunate gopī with Krishna. “She must have worshiped the Lord better than the rest of us,” they thought, “and therefore Krishna has gone alone with her.” The gopīs followed the two pairs of footprints, looking in the sand for different indications. In one place they saw that the two pairs of footprints had become one the unknown gopī’s had disappeared and they concluded that Krishna must have taken her on his shoulders to save her tender feet the pain of walking on the forest floor. In another place they could see only the front part of Krishna’s footprints and thus understood that Krishna had been standing on His toes, perhaps to pick some flowers to decorate His beloved’s hair.

Eventually, however, the gopīs came upon Srimati Radharani Herself, lamenting in separation from Krishna, just like them. Krishna had left Her behind as well, disappearing when She began to feel proud of Herself for having received His exclusive attention. In fact, Her pain in separation was even greater than theirs, and therefore, instead of being envious of Her, they became sympathetic. Thus all the gopīs were united in their separation from Krishna, and all together they began to search for Him in the forest.

But although the gopīs searched and searched for Krishna, they could not find Him, and finally they decided that they could never find Him in the dark of the forest. “In fact,” they spoke among themselves, “we can never find Krishna at all unless He wants to reveal Himself to us, unless He wants to be present before us.” So the gopīs considered how to attract Krishna’s attention and gain His favor. And they concluded that the best way was through saṅkīrtana, singing Krishna’s glories together. So they decided to return to the banks of the Yamuna, where they had begun the rasa dance with Him, where no trees would block the sound, and there they cried in saṅkīrtana, hoping that Krishna would hear their cries and come to them.

Chapter Thirty-one describes the songs of the gopīs in separation from Krishna. There are many beautiful poetic verses sung by the gopīs; I will read just one or two of them that are especially important and often quoted by Srila Prabhupada.

TEXT 9

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

TRANSLATION

[The gopīs address Krsna:] The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.

COMMENT

When Lord Chaitanya was celebrating the Ratha-yatra in Jagannatha Puri, He took rest in a garden that reminded Him of Vrindavan. At that time, King Pratāparudra came in disguise to serve the Lord, and he very humbly and submissively began to massage the Lord’s lotus feet. At the same time, understanding Lord Chaitanya’s mood of separation at Ratha-yatra (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta explains that Lord Chaitanya was in the mood of Srimati Radharani in separation from Krishna), King Pratāparudra began to recite the Thirty-first Chapter of the Tenth Canto, called the Gopī-gīta. And when he came to the verse that I just read, tava kathāmṛtam, Lord Chaitanya became so overwhelmed with ecstasy that He stood up and embraced King Pratāparudra.

King Pratāparudra came in disguise because Lord Chaitanya had refused to meet him. Lord Chaitanya was playing the part of a strict sannyasi, and a strict sannyasi does not associate with materialistic persons. A king is supposed to be most materialistic, because he is always associating with women and money, and so Lord Chaitanya refused to meet him. But although Maharaja Pratāparudra was a king, actually he was a devotee of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so he came in disguise when the Lord was taking rest during the Ratha-yatra. Internally the Lord was actually pleased with King Pratāparudra, although externally He refused to meet him. So when King Pratāparudra began to sing the verse tava kathāmṛtam, Lord Chaitanya, in a mood of ecstatic love, embraced him.

The verse says that those who broadcast the message of Godhead are bhūri-dā janāḥ, the greatest welfare workers. So Lord Chaitanya was embracing Maharaja Pratāparudra and exclaiming, “You are bhūri-dā janāḥ! You are the most munificent welfare worker! You are giving the greatest pleasure by reciting the glorious pastimes of Krishna.”

Then at the end, when the gopīs’ separation reached the highest point, they sang the following verse:

TEXT 19

yat te sujāta-caraṇāmburuhaṁ staneṣu
bhītāḥ śanaiḥ priya dadhīmahi karkaśeṣu
tenāṭavīm aṭasi tad vyathate na kiṁ svit
kūrpādibhir bhramati dhīr bhavad-āyuṣāṁ naḥ

TRANSLATION

O dearly beloved! Your lotus feet are so soft that we place them gently on our breasts, fearing that Your feet will be hurt. Our life rests only in You. Our minds, therefore, are filled with anxiety that Your tender feet might be wounded by pebbles as You roam about on the forest path.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada often quoted this verse, which shows the gopīs’ pure love for Krishna that the gopīs had no thought other than the happiness of Krishna. Thinking that when Krishna was roaming in the forest His feet might be wounded by thorns or pebbles, the gopīs would cry. In other words, they were not at all thinking of their own gratification. They were simply thinking of the happiness of Krishna. They felt happiness in the happiness of the Lord, and they felt pain thinking of the pain of the Lord. Whether the Lord, who has a spiritual body, actually feels pain or not is another question, but when the gopīs thought of the Lord feeling pain, they cried.

When Lord Krishna heard the piteous appeals of the gopīs, who had no other interest than His happiness and who were crying because they thought His lotus feet might be pained by the grains of sand and pebbles and thorns in the forest of Vrindavan, Lord Krishna appeared before them.

Chapter Thirty-two describes the reunion of Krishna and the gopīs. The appearance of Lord Krishna is also described in one very nice verse, which appears repeatedly in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:

TEXT 2

tāsām āvirabhūc chauriḥ
smayamāna-mukhāmbujaḥ
pītāmbara-dharaḥ sragvī
sākṣān manmatha-manmathaḥ

TRANSLATION

Then Lord Kṛṣṇa, a smile on His lotus face, appeared before the gopīs. Wearing a garland and a yellow garment, He directly appeared as one who can bewilder the mind of Cupid, who himself bewilders the minds of ordinary people.

COMMENT

This verse describes the beautiful form of Krishna the gopīs beheld when He reappeared before them. Manmatha refers to Cupid, the demigod in charge of lust. Mana literally means “mind,” and matha means “which bewilders.” So Cupid, in Sanskrit, means “lust.” Lust bewilders the minds of ordinary people. Everyone in the material world is impelled by lust. As the poets say, “Love makes the world go round.” But there is no pure love in the material world; what passes as love is usually lust. So what the poems actually tell us is that lust makes the world go round. And this is true.

One of Srila Prabhupada’s first followers in New York was Bruce Scharf, later initiated as Brahmananda dasa. Brahmananda was studying English literature, and he had a professor who gave a Freudian interpretation to the literature, saying that the impetus for all the activities in the literature was lust, or sex drive. Brahmananda Prabhu told Srila Prabhupada that he, on the other hand, gave a spiritual interpretation to what was taking place. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Your professor is right. Everything in the material world is impelled by lust, or sex desire.”

So, manmatha. The mind of everyone is bewildered by the attraction of sex desire, or Cupid, but Lord Krishna is so beautiful that even Cupid’s mind becomes bewildered by His beauty. That’s how beautiful Krishna is. There is a story that once Cupid went to Vrindavan and wanted to shoot his arrow at Krishna. Even in Western poetry we find the image of Cupid with bow and arrow. Actually, it is true that Madan, or Manmatha, has a bow and arrow. And if someone is struck by the arrow of Cupid, he immediately becomes afflicted by lust. Srila Prabhupada says that if a man is struck by Cupid’s arrow he can become attracted even to a woman who is completely ugly. That is the power of Cupid’s arrow. So, Cupid went to Vrindavan with the idea of shooting Krishna with an arrow, and he happened to arrive on the very night of the rasa dance. But when he took up his bow to aim his arrow, he couldn’t focus on Krishna, because Krishna and the gopīs were dancing so quickly that as soon as Madan would fix his aim on Krishna, the face of a gopī would immediately appear. Madan’s mind became so bewildered by the beauty of Krsna and the gopīs that he dropped his bow and arrow and fainted in the sand of Ramaṇa-reti.

Krishna is so beautiful He is manmatha-manmathaḥ: He bewilders the mind of Cupid, who bewilders the mind of everyone with sex attraction. Later, the Bhāgavatam describes that as beautiful as Krishna is, He becomes even more beautiful in the circle of the gopīs just like a gem, a dark blue sapphire, is very beautiful, but if the beautiful sapphire is placed in a gold ring, it becomes even more beautiful. Krishna alone is so beautiful that He is manmatha-manmathaḥ He bewilders the mind of Cupid, who bewilders the mind of everyone but in the circle of the gopīs He is even more beautiful.

The gopīs had been as if dead in separation from Krishna, but when Krishna reappeared before them, they felt as if the air of life had returned to their bodies. And thus they got up, and in different ways they reciprocated with Krishna. But within their hearts they harbored some feeling about Krishna that in coming to Him they had left their husbands, children, fathers, relatives, homes, comforts, and everything to serve Him, and that He should have reciprocated their love. To their minds, Krishna had not reciprocated but rather had abandoned them, which, in their opinion, He should not have done. So they wanted to point out the defect in Krishna’s behavior, and to do so they very tactfully and intelligently phrased a question for Krishna to answer.

TEXT 16

śrī-gopya ūcuḥ
bhajato ‘nubhajanty eka
eka etad-viparyayam
nobhayāṁś ca bhajanty eka
etan no brūhi sādhu bhoḥ

TRANSLATION

The gopīs said: Some people reciprocate the affection only of those who are affectionate toward them, while others show affection even to those who are indifferent or inimical. And yet others will not show affection toward anyone. Dear Kṛṣṇa, please properly explain this matter to us.

COMMENT

In other words, the gopīs discussed three categories of lovers. In the first, one person loves another to the extent that the other loves him. If you love me, I will love you. In the second category is the person who loves the other person even if the other person does not love him: You may be indifferent to me you may even be inimical to me but still I love you. And in the third category is the person who does not love anyone: Whether you love me or not, I won’t love you.

The gopīs are hinting that Krishna is in the third category: Even though they loved Him more than their own lives, He did not love them back. But they wanted to hear what Krishna’s actual position was directly from Krishna’s own mouth. In other words, without saying it themselves, they wanted to induce Krishna to admit that He had not properly reciprocated their love.

TEXT 17

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mitho bhajanti ye sakhyaḥ
svārthaikāntodyamā hi te
na tatra sauhṛdaṁ dharmaḥ
svārthārthaṁ tad dhi nānyathā

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: So-called friends who show affection for each other only to benefit themselves are actually selfish. They have no true friendship, nor are they following the true principles of religion. Indeed, if they did not expect benefit for themselves, they would not reciprocate.

COMMENT

One typical example is politicians. Politicians come together to help each other get into power; they praise and support each other during the elections. Then, when their interests are served, they don’t reciprocate with each other anymore. More or less the same situation may exist everywhere, but because Mauritius is such a small country we can see the phenomenon there very clearly. Two parties will come together to form a coalition government, and each so-called friend will support the other. But then, when they actually get into power, they start to quarrel among themselves and the one who thinks he doesn’t need the other anymore may let him go. Or sometimes because it’s a coalition government and the leaders of both parties may want to become the prime minister the number-two man thinks, “I should become the prime minister” and threatens to withdraw his support from the prime minister’s party. Such friendship is not real friendship. It’s business. A businessman is friendly with his customer because he wants to make a sale, and the customer is friendly with the businessman because he wants to get a good deal. But actually there is no true friendship, because each is thinking of his own interest, and there is no true principle of religion. Lord Krishna does not appreciate people who are like businessmen and give only as much as they get.

Lord Krishna continues:

TEXT 18

bhajanty abhajato ye vai
karuṇāḥ pitarau yathā
dharmo nirapavādo ‘tra
sauhṛdaṁ ca su-madhyamāḥ

TRANSLATION

My dear slender-waisted gopīs, some people are genuinely merciful or, like parents, naturally affectionate. Such persons, who devotedly serve even those who fail to reciprocate with them, are following the true, faultless path of religion, and they are true well-wishers.

COMMENT

Ideally, parents should serve their children without any expectation of return. Sometimes the children appreciate the parents’ service and sometimes they don’t. But the parents love and serve the children anyway, whether the children reciprocate or not. And then there are those, not parents, who also love others even if the others don’t love them. They serve others even if others don’t reciprocate. They are devotees, the true followers of religion, the true well-wishers like Srila Prabhupada, who went all over the world to bestow mercy upon the fallen souls, whether the fallen souls appreciated it or not. Srila Prabhupada used to sign his letters “Your Ever Well-wisher,” and he actually was.

Then, coming to the third category, Lord Krishna says:

TEXT 19

bhajato ‘pi na vai kecid
bhajanty abhajataḥ kutaḥ
ātmārāmā hy āpta-kāmā
akṛta-jñā guru-druhaḥ

TRANSLATION

Then there are those individuals who are spiritually self-satisfied, materially fulfilled or by nature ungrateful or simply envious of superiors. Such persons will not love even those who love them, what to speak of those who are inimical.

COMMENT

Here Lord Krishna discusses the third category. They do not love even people who love them, what to speak of loving those who are inimical toward them. Lord Krishna mentions four categories of persons who do not reciprocate with anyone, whether the others love them or not.

The first category is ātmārāma, persons who are completely self-satisfied. Self-realized souls are ātmārāma. They take pleasure in the self, in the soul within, and they don’t need to go out of themselves to experience pleasure. So they don’t reciprocate. One might think that Lord Krishna is ātmārāma, self-satisfied, and that therefore He didn’t reciprocate with the gopīs. He didn’t need the gopīs’ love, and He didn’t need the gopīs’ service.

The second category is āpta-kāmā. Such persons have desires, but their desires are already fulfilled like someone who was hungry but after eating a full meal is satisfied. If then you offer him some more food, he will not accept, because his desire is already satisfied.

The third category is akṛta-jñā, “ungrateful.” Perhaps the gopīs thought that Krishna was akṛta-jñā, ungrateful for all they had sacrificed and done for Him.

The fourth category, the worst, is guru-druhaḥ. Guru-druhaḥ means “one who is envious of superiors.” The guru does so much for the disciple, but the disciple may be envious of the guru. He may even kill the guru, which is the greatest offense. So guru-druhi, someone who kills his guru, is considered the worst.

Then Lord Krishna explains to the gopīs that although they might think that He is in the category of people who don’t reciprocate, actually He does reciprocate. And He explains how:

TEXT 20

nāhaṁ tu sakhyo bhajato ‘pi jantūn
bhajāmy amīṣām anuvṛtti-vṛttaye
yathādhano labdha-dhane vinaṣṭe
tac-cintayānyan nibhṛto na veda

TRANSLATION

But the reason I do not immediately reciprocate the affection of living beings even when they worship Me, O gopīs, is that I want to intensify their loving devotion. They then become like a poor man who has gained some wealth and then lost it, and who thus becomes so anxious about it that he can think of nothing else.

COMMENT

If someone has some treasure, he may take it for granted; but if he loses it, he becomes so absorbed in thought of the lost treasure that he thinks of nothing else but how to get it back. For example, although our chanting beads are our connection to Krishna, our lifeline, sometimes we don’t think of them and we leave them somewhere, and then we can’t find them. Then we become very worried: “Where are my beads?” Now, of course, devotees may think, “Oh, well, I will ask guru Maharaja to chant on my beads again.” But if one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples lost his or her beads chanted on by Srila Prabhupada, he or she would be looking everywhere and thinking of nothing else but “Where are my beads? Where are my beads?”

Here Krishna says that although He appears to be in the third category (people who do not reciprocate the love of those who love them), actually He is not. He does reciprocate. The devotee has no desire other than to love Krishna, and he always prays that his love for Krishna will grow stronger and stronger. Krishna knows the desire of the devotee, and thus He reciprocates by appearing not to reciprocate, so that the devotee’s love for Krishna will become intensified.

Then, at the end of the chapter, are two famous verses spoken by Lord Krishna in appreciation of the gopīs’ love:

TEXT 21

evaṁ mad-arthojjhita-loka-veda
svānām hi vo mayy anuvṛttaye ‘balāḥ
mayāparokṣaṁ bhajatā tirohitaṁ
māsūyituṁ mārhatha tat priyaṁ priyāḥ

TRANSLATION

My dear girls, understanding that simply for My sake you had rejected the authority of worldly opinion, of the Vedas and of your relatives, I acted as I did only to increase your attachment to Me. Even when I removed Myself from your sight by suddenly disappearing, I never stopped loving you. Therefore, My beloved gopīs, please do not harbor any bad feelings toward Me, your beloved.

COMMENT

Krishna is trying to pacify the gopīs: “Although I disappeared from your sight to make your love for Me more intense, I was never far away. I was always thinking of you with love. So please do not be angry.”

TEXT 22

na pāraye ‘haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ
sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ
yā mābhajan durjara-geha-śṛṅkhalāḥ
saṁvṛścya tad vaḥ pratiyātu sādhunā

TRANSLATION

I am not able to repay My debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahmā. Your connection with Me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped Me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation.

COMMENT

Although Lord Krishna said that He sometimes reciprocates with His devotees, who desire to increase their love for Him, by not being present before them, here He admits that He cannot fully reciprocate the gopīs’ love for Him: “Your love for Me is so great I cannot reciprocate; I cannot repay you for your love for Me.”

He further says that the gopīs’ love for Him is beyond reproach. Someone might reproach the gopīs: “To serve Krishna you left your relatives, you left your husbands, you left your children.” But Krishna says, “No. Your love for Me is beyond reproach. It is completely pure.” And He continues, “You have given up all family connections for Me, which is very difficult to do.” People generally are very attached to their families, and they cannot give them up, even for Krishna.

Here Krishna is explaining why He cannot fully reciprocate the gopīs’ love for Him: they gave up their families but He didn’t give up His. He didn’t give up Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yasoda. He would sneak out at night, but they wouldn’t know, so He didn’t actually jeopardize His relationship with His family. But the gopīs, when they heard Krishna’s flute, dropped everything to meet Krishna, not caring even for their family relationships. So Krishna says, “You could sacrifice your ties with your families, but I couldn’t sacrifice My ties with My family. So your love is greater than Mine. Thus I am unable to reciprocate your loving service.”

There are many meanings to these verses, but the conclusion is that Krishna ultimately admits to the gopīs: “It is true. I couldn’t reciprocate your love for Me. Your love for Me is too great and powerful. So what can I do? Even if I tried for as long as a lifetime of Brahma, I could not repay you. Please be satisfied by your own pure love. I am unable to repay you.”

Hearing Krishna admit defeat in such a humble way (the reciprocation of the Lord and the devotee is so sweet), the gopīs thought, “Krishna has defeated us. We could not admit defeat, that Krishna’s love is greater than ours, but Krishna admitted to us that our love is greater than His. Therefore He is greater than we are. Actually, we are defeated.”

Krishna’s sweet words to the gopīs completely washed away all of their bad feelings from His separation from them. And then, to fulfill the gopīs’ desires, Krishna reinstated the rasa dance.

The entire pastime of the rasa-līlā raises some interesting philosophical issues, and King Parīkṣit, anticipating the doubts that might arise in the minds of others, asked certain critical questions.

When Maharaja Parīkṣit was cursed to die and went to the banks of the Ganges (or Yamuna), many sages and saintly persons gathered there, and not all of them were pure devotees. So when Śukadeva Gosvami was describing the rasa dance, Maharaja Parīkṣit thought that some of the audience may have had doubts about the propriety of the rasa dance and the actions of Lord Krishna. Therefore he asked Śukadeva Gosvami certain important questions.

CHAPTER 33, TEXTS 26–27

śrī-parīkṣid uvāca
saṁsthāpanāya dharmasya
praśamāyetarasya ca
avatīrṇo hi bhagavān
aṁśena jagad-īśvaraḥ

sa kathaṁ dharma-setūnāṁ
vaktā kartābhirakṣitā
pratīpam ācarad brahman
para-dārābhimarśanam

TRANSLATION

Parīkṣit Mahārāja said: O brāhmaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord of the universe, has descended to this earth along with His plenary portion to destroy irreligion and reestablish religious principles. Indeed, He is the original speaker, follower and guardian of moral laws. How, then, could He have violated them by touching other men’s wives?

COMMENT

Maharaja Parīkṣit is paraphrasing the words of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā: dharma saṁsthāpanārthāya He comes to establish dharma. But Krishna Himself appears to be violating dharma, thus defeating His own purpose. So please explain this contradiction.

TEXT 28

āpta-kāmo yadu-patiḥ
kṛtavān vai jugupsitam
kim-abhiprāya etan naḥ
śaṁśayaṁ chindhi su-vrata

TRANSLATION

O faithful upholder of vows, please destroy our doubt by explaining to us what purpose the self-satisfied Lord of the Yadus had in mind when He behaved so contemptibly.

COMMENT

One could argue that Krishna established the principles of dharma but that because He had some desire, He Himself had violated them. If someone has some desire or need, he might violate a rule that he himself established. But here Maharaja Parīkṣit makes the point that Lord Krishna has no need to fulfill He is āpta-kāmā so why would He violate His own principle?

TEXT 29

śrī-śuka uvāca
dharma-vyatikramo dṛṣṭa
īśvarāṇāṁ ca sāhasam
tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya
vahneḥ sarva-bhujo yathā

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The status of powerful controllers is not harmed by any apparently audacious transgression of morality we may see in them, for they are just like fire, which devours everything fed into it and remains unpolluted.

COMMENT

Maharaja Parīkṣit asked the question on behalf of others, and Śukadeva Gosvami gave the answer that the powerful controllers of the universe, called Isvaras, may appear to violate dharma, but because they are so powerful they are not affected, just as a strong fire can consume any amount of fuel without being affected. Srila Prabhupada often gave the example that the sun can go to a filthy place and evaporate urine but not become contaminated. The powerful controllers are like the sun. They burn off contamination and cannot be harmed by apparent transgressions of morality.

Now here is a very important instruction:

TEXT 30

naitat samācarej jātu
manasāpi hy anīśvaraḥ
vinaśyaty ācaran mauḍhyād
yathārudro ‘bdhi-jaṁ viṣam

TRANSLATION

One who is not a great controller should never imitate the behavior of ruling personalities, even mentally. If out of foolishness an ordinary person does imitate such behavior, he will simply destroy himself, just as a person who is not Rudra would destroy himself if he tried to drink an ocean of poison.

COMMENT

The demigods and the demons were churning the ocean, and the ocean became filled with poison. Lord Shiva drank the whole ocean of poison and kept it in his throat, and his throat became bluish. Thus Lord Shiva is called nila-kāṅthā, and he is considered even more beautiful because of the blue. But if an ordinary person imitates Lord Shiva by drinking an ocean of poison, he will die immediately. The conclusion is that we should not try to imitate the powerful controllers. If we do so, we will finish ourselves.

TEXT 31

īśvarāṇāṁ vacaḥ satyaṁ
tathaivācaritaṁ kvacit
teṣāṁ yat sva-vaco-yuktaṁ
buddhimāṁs tat samācaret

TRANSLATION

The statements of the Lord’s empowered servants are always true, and the acts they perform are exemplary when consistent with those statements. Therefore one who is intelligent should carry out their instructions.

COMMENT

The powerful controllers give instructions meant for us, and they also act in exemplary ways when they follow those instructions. But because they are powerful controllers, they need not always follow them. Still, we should follow their instructions, because their instructions are always true. One should be intelligent (buddhimān) and follow the instructions of the Lord’s empowered servants, not imitate the powerful.

Once, a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada about Lord Brahma’s becoming attracted to his daughter. Srila Prabhupada asked, “Why are you bringing up this point?” Then Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Brahma is acharya. So when we hear that Lord Brahma was attracted by his daughter, we should think, “Sex attraction is so powerful that even Lord Brahma became attracted, so what to speak of me. How careful I must be! I am just an insignificant creature compared with Lord Brahma.” So Srila Prabhupada asked, “Why you are bringing this point? You mean to say that Lord Brahma became passionate, so I will also become passionate? I am strict follower of the acharya.’ That is not the idea.”

We should follow the instructions of the Lord’s empowered servants, the instructions of Lord Brahma. And if he does something that happens to go against his instructions, we should not imitate but should strictly adhere to his instructions because he is powerful, and there may be some special purpose in his action that we do not understand.

TEXT 32

kuśalācaritenaiṣām
iha svārtho na vidyate
viparyayeṇa vānartho
nirahaṅkāriṇāṁ prabho

TRANSLATION

My dear Prabhu, when these great persons who are free from false ego act piously in this world, they have no selfish motives to fulfill, and even when they act in apparent contradiction to the laws of piety, they are not subject to sinful reactions.

COMMENT

A self-realized soul doesn’t engage in pious activities for any benefit. Ordinary people engage in pious activities because they want to enjoy economic development, sense gratification, elevation to heavenly planets, and so on. But the powerful controllers or the self-realized souls have nothing to gain by engaging in pious activities. Similarly, they have nothing to lose if they appear to transgress the rules of piety, because they are above pious and impious material activities.

Then Śukadeva Gosvami says, “How then could the Lord of all created beings, animals, men, and demigods have any connection with the piety and impiety that affect His subject creatures?” (SB 10.33.33) Even Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva are not affected by apparent transgressions of moral laws, so what to speak of Lord Krishna, who is the master of demigods, including Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva.

“Material activities never entangle the devotees of the Supreme Lord, who are fully satisfied by serving the dust of His lotus feet. Nor do material activities entangle those intelligent sages who have freed themselves from the bondage of all fruitive reactions by the power of yoga. So how could there be any question of bondage for the Lord Himself, who assumes His transcendental forms according to His own sweet will?” (SB 10.33.34)

Śukadeva Gosvami says that even devotees are completely satisfied by serving the dust of the Lord’s lotus feet and therefore have no material desires, so how could the Lord have any material desires? What to speak of devotees, even intelligent sages can give up fruitive activities and become free from material bondage. So how could the Lord be entangled in material activities?

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu explain that many of the gopīs who danced with Krishna were actually great sages in their past lives. So Śukadeva Gosvami says that devotees and great sages are never entangled in material reactions because someone could argue, “All right, Lord Krishna is above sinful reactions, but what about the gopīs? They are not powerful controllers; they are not the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” So Śukadeva Gosvami gives the answer that even devotees are so satisfied serving the dust of the lotus feet of the Lord that they have no material desires; materially they have nothing to gain or to lose. Similarly, sages, including those who took birth as gopīs, are beyond material reactions.

“He who lives as the overseeing witness within the gopīs and their husbands, and indeed within all embodied living beings, assumes forms in this world to enjoy transcendental pastimes.” (SB 10.33.35)

Krishna is in the heart of each and every living entity in the hearts of the gopīs, in the hearts of the husbands, in the hearts of everyone. He is already in intimate contact with them all. So if He comes out of the hearts of the gopīs and appears before them, what is the harm? Someone may say that He shouldn’t touch their bodies, but He is already in their hearts. He is already touching them. So where is the question of blame?

The next verse is also very famous and was often quoted by Srila Prabhupada.

TEXT 36

anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ
mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ
bhajate tādṛśīḥ krīḍa
yāḥ śrutvā tat-paro bhavet

TRANSLATION

When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.

COMMENT

Why does the Lord appear? Of course, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām: to deliver the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. And dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya: to establish the principles of religion. But the Lord could do that in any form. Why does He come specifically in the form of Krishna, in a two-handed humanlike form? The answer is that the Lord descends in the form of a human being to attract human beings to His pastimes and thus divert their attention from morbid material thoughts and activities.

“The cowherd men, bewildered by Krishna’s illusory potency, thought their wives had remained home at their sides. Thus they did not harbor any jealous feelings against Him.” (SB 10.33.37)

This is another mystery: when the gopīs ho were lying in bed heard the sound of Krishna’s flute, they left their homes and danced with Krishna in their spiritual bodies, but their husbands thought that their wives were sleeping by their sides, so they had no jealous feelings.

“After an entire night of Brahma had passed, Lord Krishna advised the gopīs to return to their homes. Although they did not wish to do so, the Lord’s beloved consorts complied with His command.” (SB 10.33.38)

By ordinary calculations the gopīs spent only one night with Krishna, maybe a few hours of one night. But here Śukadeva Gosvami says that “one entire night of Brahma had passed,” which is four billion three hundred million years. How could four billion three hundred million years fit in a few hours of a human being’s night? Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura gives the answer that Krishna can do anything. When the cowherd boys accused Krishna of eating dirt and Mother Yasoda looked into Krishna’s mouth, she saw all the universes. If Krishna could fit all the universes in His mouth the mouth of a small cowherd boy then He could fit an entire night of Brahma into one night in the forest of Vrindavan.

Now we come to Srila Śukadeva Gosvami’s final statement:

TEXT 39

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ
śraddhānvito ‘nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ
bhaktiṁ parāṁ bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ
hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ

TRANSLATION

Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.

COMMENT

Hṛd-rogam, “the disease of the heart,” is lust. Unless we conquer lust, we cannot attain absolutely pure devotional service. Although the pastimes of Krishna with the gopīs may appear lusty, they are actually transcendental. And if one hears about the Lord’s pastimes with faith, sraddha, then by such hearing one will become purified of the heart disease called lust. And when the heart is completely cleansed by absorption in kṛṣṇa-kathā, one can attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. That is the great value of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!