SB 10.29 – Sarat-purnima

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. I feel very honored and privileged to be here tonight on this most auspicious occasion in this most holy place in this most august assembly. The celebration of Sarat-purnima is the celebration of Sri Krishna’s rasa-līlā which is the most glorious and exalted of Krishna’s pastimes. In principle, one should not even try to understand this topic without first having studied the Bhagavad-gītā, the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and the first nine Cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which lead up to the Tenth Canto which describes the rasa-līlā. So how to discuss this exalted and intimate subject and that too with people of different degrees of background in the subject? I will try to explain in my own way and I pray that it will be comprehensible and helpful.

The sarat season is the autumn season and Purnima is the full moon night. So it is considered the most beautiful moonlight night of the year. Even the Taj Mahal is considered most beautiful in the moonlight of Sarat-purnima. And Lord Krishna who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual form—He considered the Sarat-purnima to be the most appropriate occasion for playing on His flute and sending a message through a song on His flute to His best devotees, the gopīs, the cowherd maidens of Vrindavan, that they should come and meet Him in the forest of Vrindavan, and serve Him.

So every soul, every living entity is by nature the eternal servant of Krishna and we are all meant to be attracted by Krishna to serve Him. It is our natural constitutional position to serve Krishna in ecstatic love and that eternal love that is within us is covered in the conditioned state and the process of bhakti-yoga is the process of removing that covering and allowing our natural love for Krishna to come forth. The main process by which the covering is removed is chanting and hearing about Krishna especially chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. If we chant and hear purely we can awaken our dormant love for Krishna and we can enter into Krishna’s pastimes just like the gopīs. This is not a mythological story or fiction. It is not a fable but it is not only a report of some historical events but it is a revelation of what life with Krishna is, what life the purified soul can experience. In fact Krishna comes into the world in a humanlike form to give special mercy to the conditioned souls by showing them what life with Him is like so we can also be attracted by His beauty and qualities and activities with His devotees.

So we can also aspire to enter that life. Just like someone born in America has not been to India but they might see pictures in books and think, “This is very interesting.” Or they might have friends or family who have been to India and told them about their experiences and thought, “Oh, we would also like to go to India.” So even without experiencing something, by hearing about it we can develop a desire to experience it. So in the same way by hearing about Krishna and His loving affairs with His pure devotees, we can also develop a desire to experience that life with Krishna. 

So Krishna played upon His flute and the sound of the flute entered the ears of the gopīs and conveyed Krishna’s message to them that He wanted them to come and meet Him in the forest of Vrindavan. And they did. Although according to Vedic culture, a girl should not leave home at night unescorted, but hearing the call of Krishna, they just left everything and went. 

When they came to Krishna, Krishna asked them, “Why have you come?” Now of course He should have known why they came but still He asked, “Why have you come?” And the gopīs became very bashful—what were they supposed to say—so very shyly they started looking down and Krishna said, “Oh, maybe you have come to see the beauty of the Vrindavan forest.” They were looking here and there not knowing how to respond to Krishna. “I think you must have come to see the beautiful trees in the Vrindavan forest, the full moon.” And then Krishna said, “Actually it is the duty of chaste ladies to always be under the protection of their parents or if they are married under the protection of their husbands and in-laws. So now you have seen the Vrindavan forest, you should return home. Your parents and husbands must be worried about you.” 

The gopīs replied that, “You have given us very good instructions that we should be chaste girls and go home but actually You are the Supreme Soul of all souls. Every soul is part and parcel of You so we belong to You. We don’t belong to anyone else. But You have given us very good instructions, very good śikṣā, so You are our guru, and as our guru we must worship You. We want to do guru-puja. So we will go home as You have instructed us but before that, because You have given us such good instructions as our guru, we must worship our guru, and then we will go home.”

So Krishna understood the hearts of the gopīs, He knew from the beginning of course, and so He enjoyed pastimes with them by the banks of the Yamuna River, and He dealt with them in such a perfect way—this is what God can do. He can deal with each individual in such a perfect way that each gopī thought that Krishna loves her more than anyone else that she has Krishna under her control. So Krishna thought that it would be. . . Krishna does not like. . . this is all on a transcendental platform but still there are lessons for us. So Krishna does not like any devotee to feel proud and to humble the gopīs who felt transcendental pride in Krishna’s intention and affection, He disappeared and all the gopīs were plunged into deep feelings of separation.

And so they began to search the forest of Vrindavan for Him. They could not find Him but they find some footprints. They found Krishna’s footprints and they found along with Krishna’s footprints another pair of footprints whom they deduced were the footprints of Krishna’s favorite gopī. And although the name of Radha is not mentioned, it is hinted at that, “This gopī worshiped Govinda better than all the rest of us.” Then eventually Krishna left that gopī also and She was also plunged in great feelings of separation. And when the gopīs came across that gopī, even though there was some rivalry but when they came across Her and found Her pitiful plight, transcendental, but from a certain point of view pitiful plight, they felt sympathetic to Her. 

This is also a very important feature of this pastime that earlier the gopīs were acting as individuals. Each one thought, “Krishna is with me. Krishna loves me the most.” So before Krishna left them, each gopī was thinking, “No, Krishna is mine. Krishna loves me the most.” But Krishna wanted all the gopīs to be united in their feelings of love for Him and in their friendship with each other and by removing Himself from them and putting them in separation they became humble. And then, especially when they found Srimati Radharani in such an intense state of separation, they felt sympathy for Her, and they gave up all their sectarian feelings of being separate. This was what Krishna wanted. He wanted to bring them all together because He could enjoy the rasa dance properly only with all of them together united.

So they were all together now but He was still missing. And after looking and looking they concluded that they cannot find Krishna, Krishna will only be found by them if He wants to be found by them, and they thought, “How can we attract Krishna’s attention? How can we attract Krishna’s mercy?” And they concluded, “By saṅkīrtana, by chanting together the names and glories of Krishna.” So they went back to the Yamuna River where Krishna had first called them with His flute and they began to sing their hearts out with great feeling, with great emotion. That is saṅkīrtana, praying saṅkīrtana, that kirtan will attract Krishna. And after hearing the gopīs ecstatic heartfelt prayers for Him to return to them, He came.

Now why were they so eager that He should return to them? Because the gopīs have pure love for Krishna, they have no desire other than Krishna’s happiness. There is no selfishness in their desires but they knew within themselves that Krishna can only be happy or He can experience the greatest happiness only in their company. So not for their personal happiness did they want to be with Krishna but for Krishna’s happiness. Because devotees’ perception of happiness is through Krishna’s happiness naturally they will feel happy when Krishna is happy but their modus was to make Krishna happy.

So hearing their heartfelt cries or saṅkīrtana, Krishna returned and the gopīs felt as if their lives had returned into their lives. It was as if they had been dead and now they had come to life. But even though they were happy that Krishna had come, they harbored some question about Krishna’s behavior, because they had left everything in the dead of night to meet Him and serve Him and please Him, and He had abandoned them. So they thought is this a proper way for Him to reciprocate their love. But the gopīs were so intelligent and tactful that they did not want to accuse Krishna directly but they wanted to develop a line of questioning that would bring Krishna Himself to admit His fault. 

They said to Him because they had already accepted Him as their guru that, “We have a question to place before You. There are different categories of lovers. There are those who reciprocate only with those who love them.” Like if someone loves me then I will love them otherwise they don’t—that is one category. The other category, they will love someone whether that person loves them or not, whether the person is indifferent to them or even if the person is inimical to them. And then there is another category that doesn’t reciprocate with anyone whether someone loves them or not. So logically these are the only possibilities. So someone reciprocates whether you reciprocate or not, someone doesn’t reciprocate whether you reciprocate or not, and someone who reciprocates only if you reciprocate.

So the gopīs said, “Please tell us which of these is the best.” Krishna said that those who love others only if the others love them, they are like businessmen, they only give something if they get something in return. That is not real friendship and that is not true dharma. 

And those who love others whether the other loves them or not are the best. And there are two categories of those: those who are affectionate like parents and others. So an affectionate parent will love his or her children—that is natural because there is a relationship. And a very openhearted, broadminded person will love the children of others almost as he would love his own child and extend care and protection almost as he or she to his or her own child. But the other category is even better than those who are affectionate like parents and those are the devotees, pure devotees. A pure devotee can love you more than your own parent. He can love you better than your own parent. And they have no discrimination on the basis of the body. They want to give their mercy, their love to everyone without discrimination. So they are the best. And even if others don’t reciprocate they continue to give them love. Sometimes it happens, say a disciple will go away but the guru still wants to help the disciple. Sometimes disciples even become antagonistic but the guru remains sympathetic to the disciple and wants to help. 

And then the third category, they don’t love anyone. Whether you love them or not, they don’t love you. The gopīs were thinking that Krishna’s in that category because they loved Him and He didn’t reciprocate so He couldn’t be in the first category—those who love only those who love them—and He is definitely not in the second category of loving someone even if they don’t love Him. So He has to be in the third category of someone who doesn’t love even someone who loves Him. 

So Krishna explained that in this category there are subdivisions. There is the ātmārāma, he doesn’t reciprocate because he is fully self-satisfied. He has nothing to gain or lose from anyone. He is satisfied within Himself like a type of sage. Then there is āpta-kāmā. Āpta-kāmā means he has desires but they’re already satisfied. Like I like to eat but if I’ve already eaten more than enough which has been the pattern these last few days then after eating such a huge meal cooked by expert cooks, if someone offers me something more to eat I won’t reciprocate because I am not hungry anymore. So that is āpta-kāmā. And then there is akṛta-jñā, ungrateful that even though someone serves you and loves, you are ungrateful and you don’t reciprocate. So the gopīs were thinking, “Okay, this is where Krishna fits. We loved Him, we sacrificed everything for Him, we came to Him when He called us, and He is so ungrateful He didn’t reciprocate. He left us, abandoned us.” And then the fourth category is even worse. Ungrateful means you don’t appreciate but the fourth category, guru-druhaḥ, you are envious. Ungrateful means you just don’t care, but envious, that is even worse. You turn against the person who has loved you. 

But Krishna said, “Actually I am not in any of these categories.” Just when the gopīs thought they had Him, He said, “Actually I don’t belong to any of these categories because although apparently I did not reciprocate with you but internally I was reciprocating with you because I know that your only desire, your heart’s only desire is to love Me, and by disappearing from you I intensified your love for Me, which was actually your heart’s deepest desire. So I did reciprocate with you and although you thought that I left you but I was very near to you all the time and I was watching you and appreciating your love for Me.” 

But our acharyas have analyzed this statement of Krishna’s and stated that it is not true because the nature of the gopīs’ love was that it is always increasing. He doesn’t have to disappear from them for their love to increase but it is by nature always increasing to the highest degree. So what then was the reason that Krishna disappeared? The reason was that Krishna wanted to show the supreme love of the gopīs for Him and that was brought out in separation. And particularly He wanted to show the love of Srimati Radharani for Him because Her feelings of separation were the most intense. So He really did it to glorify the gopīs and their love for Him. But Krishna didn’t say that to them but that is what our acharyas tell us. But what Krishna said to them is that, “Actually what you were thinking about is true. I cannot reciprocate your love for Me because you have given up your families, your parents, your husbands, your children, your homes, your prestige—you have given up everything for Me which I cannot do for you. You have given up everything for Me but I haven’t done that for you. I am very careful. I keep My relationships with My parents intact and I have so many devotees and My cowherd boyfriends, I have My relationships with them. There are My servants, I have My relationships with them. Aspiring devotees, sādhakas, I even give Myself to them, I reciprocate with them. So actually it is true, I cannot reciprocate your love for Me even if I had a prolonged life of Brahma. Therefore let your own glorious deeds be your own compensation. I cannot repay My debt to you.”

When the gopīs heard these words from Krishna, they thought, “Krishna has defeated us because He has admitted that we have defeated Him but we could not admit that He defeated us so He has defeated us.” So in this sublime mood of mutual love, of pure love and respect and appreciation, Krishna and the gopīs entered into the rasa dance. 

It is said that in order to experience the gopīs’ love for Him, which was beyond His capacity, that Krishna came again as Lord Chaitanya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya to experience that love.

So this is a very sublime topic, very high topic. It is not even possible for us to. . . we are just standing on the shore. We can’t even put the tip of our toe in the wave of that ocean but still we get a sense of the beauty of those relationships so that we can try to purify ourselves to be able to serve Krishna in the mood of pure love and we can also take lessons how we can live as devotees and servants of Krishna here feeling humble, feeling friendship for each other and singing the glories of Krishna together for Krishna’s pleasure and in that way attracting Krishna’s attention and favor. And that is the mood that His Holiness Radhanath Swami and all devotees, followers of Srila Prabhupada and the saṅkīrtana movement are trying to encourage in our association. So I am happy to be here where that mood is so prevalent and I hope that in your association that mood will come forth in me.

Hare Krishna.