SB 10.15.1 – Sri Gopastami

Giriraj Swami: So, today is Gopastami, the day on which Krishna and Balarama and other boys Their age, who previously had tended the cows, were given charge. Excuse me. They had previously tended the calves and now they were given charge of the cows. This event is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.15.1).

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 1

śrī-śuka uvāca
tataś ca paugaṇḍa-vayaḥ-śrītau vraje
babhūvatus tau paśu-pāla-sammatau
gāś cārayantau sakhibhiḥ samaṁ padair
vṛndāvanaṁ puṇyam atīva cakratuḥ

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa attained the age of paugaṇḍa [six to ten] while living in Vṛndāvana, the cowherd men allowed Them to take up the task of tending the cows. Engaging thus in the company of Their friends, the two boys rendered the land of Vṛndāvana most auspicious by imprinting upon it the marks of Their lotus feet.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to encourage His cowherd boyfriends, who had been swallowed by Aghāsura and then stolen by Lord Brahmā. Therefore the Lord decided to bring them into the palm-tree forest called Tālavana, where there were many delicious ripe fruits.

COMMENT

Incidentally, once I was riding on a train with Srila Prabhupada in India and a few of us came into his compartment and he asked us to read Kṛṣṇa book and we read this, about this pastime of Talavan and in which the coward boys tell Krishna that, “The fruits of this Talavan smell very delicious, but we cannot enjoy them because of the demons there. So, please kill the demons and then we can enjoy the fruits.” Hearing this Srila Prabhupada opened his eyes wide and smiled broadly and said, “Just see how the cowherd boys are trying to engage Krishna for their sense gratification.”

PURPORT (continued)

Since Lord Kṛṣṇa’s spiritual body had apparently grown slightly in age and strength, the senior men of Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, decided to promote Kṛṣṇa from the task of herding calves to the status of a regular cowherd boy. He would now take care of the full-grown cows, bulls and oxen. Out of great affection, Nanda had previously considered Kṛṣṇa too small and immature to take care of full-grown cows and bulls.

COMMENT

Now this shift of Krishna taking care of the cows rather than the calves had great implications, because when Krishna was younger, in the kumara age before paugaṇḍa, He would take care of the calves but they would do so just outside the Vrindavan village. They would never go very far away and they would only be herding the calves for a short period of time and then they would come back.

And so, mother Yasoda was quite satisfied with that arrangement. Actually, she would have preferred if she could see Krishna all the time but because Krishna was born in the cowherd community, it was His duty to take up some service and so in His kumara age He would take care of the calves and as I said, they would just go a little outside the Vrindavan village and they wouldn’t stay away for too long and mother Yasoda could live with that.

But for mother Yasoda, Krishna taking care of the cows was devastating. It was devastating, because it meant that Krishna was going to go out into the forest. She wouldn’t be able to see His beautiful form. She wouldn’t be able to watch over Him, to make sure that He was all right in every respect. So, for her this was not a happy occasion, but time marches on and so Krishna did take up that service. So, can we go back to the verse and purport?

Yes, this was a major event and yeah, the elders could see the changes in Krishna’s body as He entered the paugaṇḍa stage and they felt, yes, now He can look after the cows.

PURPORT (continued)

It is stated in the Kārttika-māhātmya section of the Padma Purāṇa:

śuklāṣṭamī kārttike tu

smṛtā gopāṣṭamī budhaiḥ

tad-dinād vāsudevo ’bhūd

gopaḥ pūrvaṁ tu vatsapaḥ

“The eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kārttika is known by authorities as Gopāṣṭamī. From that day, Lord Vāsudeva served as a cowherd, whereas previously He had tended the calves.”

The word padaiḥ indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa blessed the earth by walking on her surface with His lotus feet. The Lord wore no shoes or footgear but walked barefoot in the forest, giving great anxiety to the girls of Vṛndāvana, who feared that His soft lotus feet would be injured.

COMMENT

So, on the day of. . . we can keep this on the screen for another minute or two, there is a reason why. So, on the day that Krishna was about to go out with the cows, mother Yasoda wanted Him to wear shoes because she didn’t want His soft lotus feet to be injured by thorns or pebbles on the way. But Krishna said that He will wear footgear only if all the cows also wear footgear. He didn’t want to have something that the cows didn’t have and considering that Nanda Maharaja had 900,000 cows and each of them had four hoofs, for mother Yasoda to provide footgear for all the cows was not possible. But it’s described that the cows were very concerned about Krishna’s soft lotus feet, because in Vrindavan all the creatures are devotees. They are all Krishna conscious. They all love Krishna and want to serve Krishna and see that He is comfortable and happy in every respect. So, it’s described that the cows, they with their hooves they beat down all the pebbles and pulverize them. So, they became like powder and they also beat down the thorns and thus the path where Krishna was following the cows was very soft, like sand and therefore it could preserve His lotus footprints.

And it’s also described that all the residents of Vrindavan cherished Krishna’s lotus footprints. So, they would never walk on them, means walk on His footprints, but they would worship His footprints. And so, this is very significant, as its stated in the purport. The word ‘padaiḥ’ indicates that Lord Krishna blessed the earth by walking on her surface with His lotus feet.

It’s also said that the earth is more fortunate than Vaikuntha because in Vaikuntha, the Lord Narayana wears shoes, whereas on earth Lord Krishna

did not wear shoes. So, the earth got to feel the touch of His lotus feet and have His lotus footprints, the impressions of His lotus feet upon her surface.

So, now there was a ceremony to celebrate Krishna’s coming of age and taking care of the cows, but one of those ceremonies was meant only for the cowherd men and boys but Srimati Radharani also wanted to enjoy the fun and so, because of Her resemblance to Subal sakha, She donned his dhoti and other garments and joined Krishna. Thus, on the occasion of Janmashtami, excuse me, on the occasion of Gopastami in temples, in Vrindavan especially, Srimati Radharani is dressed as a cowherd boy and you can see that in our Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavan. And dressed as She is, as a cowherd boy, you can see Her lotus feet. And so, Gopastami and Radhastami are generally the only two days in the year when one can see Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet.

So, the Lord is very kindly disposed toward the cows and the brahmans, go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya, and whoever serves them becomes dear to Him too. Knowing this, devotees observe a special festival on the Gopastami day dedicated to the worship of cows. In Vrindavan especially, but also the world over, devotees begin the festival by brushing the cows, painting their horns and bodies with artistic designs and hanging flower garlands around their necks. Then a cow and her calf are selected and an ārati is offered to them.

During the ārati, devotees sing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and then they feed the cow, her calf and indeed the entire herd, bananas, balls of gur, jaggery, and fresh grasses. Some devotees also recite a mantra from Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (162.52):

agratah santu me gavo
gavo me santu prsthatah
gavo me parsvatah santu
gavam madhye vasamyaham

May cows stay in front of me; may cows stay behind me; may cows stay on both sides of me. May I always reside in the midst of cows.

At the ISKCON goshala in Vrindavan, this program ends with a breakfast feast served to the participants in the cowsheds. So, it’s a very blissful celebration, a very blissful celebration.

Now Gopastami also has a special significance in that, means for us, followers of Srila Prabhupada, because just before Srila Prabhupada departed this world, he expressed a desire to go by bullock cart to Govardhana Hill, on the occasion of Govardhana-puja and Srila Prabhupada’s health really would not have allowed him to sustain that journey. There was some controversy amongst Srila Prabhupada’s disciples about whether he should go or not and beyond that, what their duty as disciples was. But that would be a bit of another discussion, an interesting one but not so relevant to today’s topic. Four days after Prabhupada’s disappearance on November 18th, Gopastami, the date when Krishna came of age and was given charge of the cows, to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire to go on parikramā and to have his association along the way, the devotees took a small brass Deity of him to Govardhana Hill. We set out after maṅgala-ārati with Prabhupada present in his small Deity form and a large framed photo. The Deity was placed on the back seat of his car between Upendra and Tamal Krishna. Bhavananda, Acyutananda, and a devotee driver sat in the front. Other devotees, including me, followed in a bus. We went first to Radha-kunda and Prabhupada’s Deity was placed on the sangam, the strip between Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda, where there is a shrine with govardhana-śilās.

As we performed kirtan, I had the clear realization that the Deity and Srila Prabhupada were the same. The Deity was actually him, there was no difference. It was so tangible. I began to cry but I was happy, Prabhupada was right there still with us. Prabhupada had told Krishna dasa Babaji, “You will take bath at Radha-kunda on my behalf,” and Tamal Krishna had said, “We’ll get you better Srila Prabhupada and you will be able to take bath there personally. Krishna will make our words come true.” And there he was in his Deity form.

Acyutananda performed an abhiseka ceremony and Prabhupada’s golden form was lowered into the cool waters of Radha-kunda. Three times he bathed, as we gazed at his body in the water. Then Jayapataka carried Prabhupada on his head and bathed him three times in Syama-kunda. Prabhupada was dried and dressed in a new silk cloth, placed on his palanquin and offered full ārati, as the devotees chanted “Jaya Srila Prabhupada” and then with kirtan, we circumambulated those two most sacred ponds.

Next, we went around Govardhana where we carried Prabhupada in procession on his beautifully decorated palanquin. As we circumambulated the mountain, Tamal Krishna recounted. No longer did our hearts burn from separation. We were there with Prabhupada again. We were so glad to see him riding again on his palanquin, leading us as always, giving us shelter. It was a cool day and our walking created dust. The whole atmosphere becoming filled with dust. We could only remember Krishna coming home from tending the cows.

When we got to Govinda-kunda, where Sri Madhavendra Puri had found the Gopal Deity and Indra had performed abhiseka to Krishna, we stopped. Listened to The Nectar of Instruction, verses nine to ten and sprinkled some of the sacred kuṇḍa water on Prabhupada’s head. As we proceeded, the devotees spoke only of Prabhupada, remembering his pastimes and recounting his glories. We especially recalled his final two weeks which had been so sweet, appreciating how he had given us his last month’s solely to deepen our love for him.

By his mercy, he had simply laid on his bed, week after week, with no other purpose than to attract us. As we wound around the hill on its uneven paths, eight miles, taking us three hours, Tamal Krishna reflected that Prabhupada could have made this journey only in his present eternal form. Next, we drove to beautiful Kusuma Sarovar, where Prabhupada was placed high in a covered garden house and the devotees took pleasure sporting in the water, jumping, and frolicking, and swimming. Recorded devotional music was broadcast across the kuṇḍa and at one point the “Vande Ham” album began to play. It was an early album that Prabhupada had recorded in around 1968 and I had listened to it and loved it when I was a new devotee in the old Boston temple. When I heard the music again it was just too much, I burst into tears. That evening, we all sat down and relished a feast and then returned to Vrindavan.

“Back to home with Prabhupada,” Tamal Krishna wrote, “weary as we rode in our car, it had been a wonderful outing, because Prabhupada had been present.” Lokanath reflected, “Considering Srila Prabhupada’s last desire to go around Govardhana, his followers, his disciples did take him, a small brass murti of him and hundreds and hundreds of devotees and friends and well-wishers went. We were all thinking of Prabhupada. So, we were carrying him in our minds and in our hearts.”

How could Prabhupada not be there? He was very much there and incidentally, it turns out that that small brass Deity is in the possession of a very nice devotee in Dallas, named Gopi Gita dasi and yeah. On special occasions, she brings that Deity to the temple. After the exhilaration of the outing to Govardhana, during which we had felt Prabhupada’s presence so strongly, I was again beset by deep feelings of separation. I was constantly on the verge of tears and any slight remembrance of him could set me off.

Looking for solace and guidance in Prabhupada’s books, I came across a section that addressed the disappearance of the spiritual master, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.28.45–55). So, I won’t. . . of course, it’s a very beautiful section in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and it’s exactly to the point of the departure of the spiritual master, but it’s not exactly on our topic today. Although, in a broader sense, our topic is Srila Prabhupada, so it is to the topic but specifically, we’ve come to discuss Gopastami. But that Gopastami in 1977 was so special because we took Srila Prabhupada on parikramā to Govardhana Hill and fulfilled his last expressed desire that he wanted to go to Govardhana Hill.

So, if you like, we can ask devotees if they want to add anything, say anything or ask any questions on this auspicious occasion.

Host: Yes, Maharaja. Rajendra Nandana would like to ask a question. Please unmute yourself. [Inaudible 00:33:30]

Giriraj Swami: You mean he is with you.

Host: Yes, no, HG Rajendra Nandana is here on the call.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, oh, okay. Well, that’s nice.

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:33:48]

Giriraj Swami: Jaya! I feel honored that you’ve joined us.

Devotee: It was so inspiring to hear you speak and I never thought that I would hear you talk about our taking Srila Prabhupada around Govardhana and bathe in Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda, that was so wonderful, so wonderful. I didn’t have any question to ask but there is one that I don’t know and I was asked this morning. Do you know what Goshtashtami means?

Giriraj Swami: Oh, no. I saw that on the calendar and I also wondered but I haven’t made the effort to find out.

Devotee: Yes, I just. . . I’m happy to express my gratitude to have your company, Maharaja and to hear you speak. Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. Thank you. I’m glad you were with us. Hare Krishna.

Host: If anyone else want to ask any question from Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Ask, or add any thoughts, comments, reflections.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, can you hear me?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Yeah, this is Shanti Parana. I am in Honolulu and Hare Krishna. I want to thank you Maharaja for taking the time out to give us a lecture, for our time zone. No, it’s a serious thing. We are out in the middle of the pacific, it is the most geographically isolated inhabited area on the planet and we don’t get very many visitors per say and this is one way to do it, if we could have more of it. . .

Giriraj Swami: Nice. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Hare Krishna.

Host: I had a question, but what is it about the feet? We are talking about how Krishna’s feet are so special and gopīs are worshipping His feet. . . I’m personally really attracted to your feet, what is it about the feet that is so special and for devotees, pure devotees and for in relationship to Krishna and Radharani?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we begin our service from the feet. We begin our meditation on the form of the Lord from the feet. Even Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is considered the form of Krishna and so, we begin from the feet. The First and Second Cantos and then gradually, we come to the Tenth Canto, which is compared to the smiling face of the Lord. So, and Krishna’s feet are marked by, not only Krishna’s, also Srimati Radharani, but the soles of His feet are marked with various auspicious symbols.

So, His footprints leave not just the outline of his feet but those auspicious signs, I think there is, yeah, I’ve seen drawings of Krishna’s lotus feet, depicting those different auspicious symbols. I don’t know what it is about the feet, but I know when Srila Prabhupada was in his last days in Vrindavan, he was bedridden and so at one stage, I was massaging his lotus feet, and we’ve heard the expression the dust of the lotus feet and I actually felt some dust on Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet and I’m sure that they were quite small particles. But in my consciousness, somehow my experience of it, those little particles of dust were magnified and I felt, “Oh! This is the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee, the dust of the lotus feet of the spiritual master.”

And when I first joined the Boston temple, there was a beautiful picture of a Brijabasi print called “Murali Manohara” and it’s one of Bhurijana  Prabhu’s favorite. I’ll see if I have. He put it on the cover of his book. This [Showing book cover]

So, I remember in the Boston temple, very new, very, very new but I would sit in front of this picture and chant and with my eyes, I would focus on the tips of the toes of Krishna’s lotus feet and I found them extra- ordinarily fascinating. I was just chanting and looking at the tips of His toes and I was just chanting, chanting, going deeper and deeper in the chanting and going deeper and deeper in my meditation on His lotus toe nails. I would say, just the tips of His lotus toes. So, yeah, there is nothing like the lotus feet. Sweet, sweet can’t be beat. Yeah, we should always hanker for the lotus feet and pray to be blessed by the lotus feet.

Host: Thank you, Maharaja. Would anyone else like to add a reflection?

Giriraj Swami: Oh! there is someone in the chat.

Host: [Unintelligible 00:41:44] Madan Mohani would you like to say that. . .

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, why does Srimati Radharani dress like a gopa on Gopastami? Yes, the reason is that there is a ceremony, celebrating Gopastami that was reserved for the cowherd men and cowherd boys but Srimati Radharani also wanted to join the celebration and because of her resemblance to the cowherd boy Subal, she put on his dhoti and other garments and joined Krishna. So, on this occasion in temples in Vrindavan and elsewhere, Srimati Radharani is dressed as a cowherd boy. Yeah, as a gopa. Specifically, she was pretending to be a Subal. That was a nice question.

Host: Lalita devi dasi got a question for you.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, what you were reading was very profound, thank you very much. What I have experienced is that, it is the sense of separation, even in my neophyte conditioned state, that allows me to do better than I do most of the times. But despite trying to plug in with the process externally, that sense of separation is a rare occurring.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, you can only feel separation from someone whom you are attached to and feeling separation can be an impetus in devotional service. Especially, because the way to mitigate the feelings of separation is to follow the instructions. For example, in his dedication to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “Dedicated to my spiritual master, His Divine Grace, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, he lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower lives with him.”

So, the way to overcome feelings of separation, if you want to say, is to follow the instructions. As Srila Prabhupada often said, “There are two ways of association by vāṇī and vapuḥ.” Vāṇī means transcendental sound or words and vapuḥ means physical presence, or body. In fact, I had come to that point when after Gopastami, I came back to the temple and I mentioned looking for solace and guidance in Srila Prabhupada’s books. I came across a section that addressed the disappearance of the spiritual master, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.28.45–55).

And in this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, a wife accompanies her husband who is a king into the forest, as vanaprasthas and at a certain stage, she ascertained that the life had left her husband’s body. So, Text Forty-Seven stated, “Being now alone and a widow in that forest, the daughter of Vidarbha began to lament, incessantly shedding tears which soaked her breasts and crying very loudly.”

In his purport Prabhupada had written, “Figuratively the queen is supposed to be the disciple of the king. Thus, when the mortal body of the spiritual master expires, his disciples should cry exactly as the queen cries when the king leaves his body. However, the disciple and spiritual master are never separated because the spiritual master always keeps company with the disciple, as long as the disciple follows strictly the instructions of the spiritual master.

This is called the association of vāṇī, words, physical presence is called vapuḥ. As long as, the spiritual master is physically present the disciples should serve the physical body of the spiritual master and when the spiritual master is no longer physically existing, the disciples should serve the instructions of the spiritual master.” So, yes.

Devotee: Thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Host: Sita Thakurani dasi has a question.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, I am attached to the cows but I am scared of them also. So, I have a small money bank at home where I keep putting donation. What I wanted to ask is, can we pray to the cows when we are in distressed condition and how can we improve our relationship with the cows?

Giriraj Swami: Well, yes, it’s very interesting. One year, I went to our Bhaktivedanta ashram at Govardhana, which Tamal Krishna Goswami and I acquired and then Tamal Krishna Goswami put Kesava Bharati dasa Goswami in charge of refurbishing it, maintaining it. And so, one day I went to the palace, it used to be a king’s palace, for Tamal Krishna Goswami’s disappearance celebration and then afterwards, there was a feast of course and then Kesava Bharati Maharaja and I wanted to have a talk.

There were devotees everywhere and so we are thinking where can we go that would be peaceful and private to have our talk. So, he said, well, we could go out to where the cows are and so we went out there and he quoted something that Srila Prabhupada had said when he visited Gitanagari in 1976, which is, “If you just spend time with the cows, you will automatically come to the mode of goodness.” And yeah, just spending that time there, Kesava Bharati Maharaja and myself, just by the cows, and having our conversation. It was very nice, very nice. Why are you afraid of them?

Devotee: I’m. . . I don’t know. But I’m scared of. So, staying in the city how we can go close to the cows? And is it alright to be mentally being close to the cows?

Giriraj Swami: Oh! yes, yes.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada used to, yeah, we had a very nice devotee in Juhu named Hari dasa. He is still there, Bengali disciple of Srila Prabhupada. So, I don’t know, one day he was sort of fed up with the foreigners, so to speak, and he went and complained to Srila Prabhupada about us and Srila Prabhupada said, “Sometimes when you go to milk a cow it gives you a kick, but you tolerate the kick because you want the milk.”

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Host: Anuradha has a question in the chat. I don’t know Anuradha devi dasi has come?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, she should come. There she is. She is at new Vrindavan where they have lots of cows. Please unmute yourself Anuradha.

Devotee: Can you hear me Guru Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Yeah, we had a very nice Gopastami celebration today with the cows.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, nice, good.

Devotee: I’m just curious Guru Maharaja, how where it is said that we shouldn’t imitate the pastimes [Unintelligible 00:55:15]  of Lord Balarama.

So, I was just wondering, it’s just so charming to see the girls dressed like gopas on Gopastami and putting on pagri’s, and is that okay? I think it’s so charming but I feel like if it leads us to be criticized and is that an okay practice?

Giriraj Swami: Oh! is that something in new Vrindavan?

Devotee: No, no. When I was living in Vrindavan, in India and Mayapur, the girls, they all do it. It’s just so beautiful.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, I guess. So, you are saying the girls would dress up as cowherd boys on Gopastami?

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I guess if it was good enough for Radharani and Her intimate girlfriends, it should be good enough for our girls.

Devotee: Thank you, Guru Maharaja.

Host: Hare Krishna. Manish has a question.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Manish. Please unmute yourself.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my dandavat-pranams. Guru Maharaja, I want to know that why this Radharani’s gives darshan of her feet only on Radhastami and Gopastami? Is there a particular reason for this?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I guess there are different ways of looking at it, but She is a chaste lady and She keeps Her feet covered except on those two occasions and then it makes it more special when we can see Her lotus feet on those two occasions. But it’s a tradition in Deity worship that Her lotus feet are not exposed.

Devotee: Yeah, thank you, Guru Maharaja.

Host: Krishna Priya in the chat has a question. Krishna Priya, can you come on video?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. I won’t put the video on because it’s night time here.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Devotee: I have the question on the chat but I can also ask it, I was just wondering if the pastime of Srila Prabhupada’s Deity going around Govardhana, is that recorded in your new book?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it is. There is a full description of it in my forthcoming book. Yes, it’s at the printer in Mumbai now and it’s being printed by the BBT, under His Holiness Devamrita Swami, and Devamrita Swami said it should take two months to print. So, we are hoping that it will be ready by January 14th, which is the anniversary of the opening of the Juhu temple. But if not, it should be ready soon. It means, by the end of January. So yeah, it’s all there. Thank you for asking.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Host: We also has Shyam Chandra Das, who has a question. Please unmute yourself.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your divine grace.  I have a question, what I was thinking about was, in India there is a temple where Lord Chaitanya is dressed as a gopī, and I was wondering if, I don’t know it was the first thing that popped in my mind when I think of this pastime, was that the Radharani keep dressing up as Krishna. I was wondering if there is any symbolism, or is it because I don’t think anything would happen coincidence, is it just the spiritual loving exchange that these Krishna and Radha stared together or is it more or less of their philosophical symbolism? Maybe you could share…

Giriraj Swami: Well, not everything in every temple is authorized or bona fide. I personally cannot understand why Lord Chaitanya would be dressed as a gopī. Radharani didn’t dress as Krishna, She dressed as Subal. Yeah, I really don’t know why Lord Chaitanya should be dressed as a gopī.

Rajendra Nandan Prabhu, do you want to say something?

Devotee: If you don’t mind, Maharaja, the only time I can think of Lord Chaitanya dressing as a gopī is when they enacted the play at Chandra Shekhar’s home.

Giriraj Swami: That’s true.

Devotee: And in terms of Deity worship, the only place I’ve ever heard or seen that is, what’s the name of the Deity in Navadvipa? Visnupriya’s—Dhamesvara. Other than that, I wouldn’t. It doesn’t sound right. Does it?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, thank you for that. Hare Krishna. Jaya!

Host: Hare Krishna, we have a question from Bhakt Cruser

Devotee: Hey, thank you. I’m in your Bhagvatam kind of lesson, you mentioned the part with the cowherd boys and the red fruit trees and you said Prabhupada was talking to, one of these talks about, how even the cowherd boys were asking Krishna to help them get the fruits and I thought maybe you could have elaborate on that a little.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan are called nara-līlā. Nara means human being, man, human being and līlā means pastimes. So, in the pastimes in Vrindavan, the devotees do not think of Krishna as being God. They just think of Him as being their beloved child or dear most friend or in whatever their relationship is. So, generally as I mentioned earlier all the devotees they want to see to Krishna’s comfort and happiness in all respects. But sometimes they express their desire as a selfish desire, but it’s not actually selfish, but they express it as a selfish desire so Krishna will enjoy.

I’ll give an example, in the Gopī-gīta, the gopīs’ songs of separation from Krishna, Canto Ten, Chapter Thirty-One, they say things like please, they say it more graphically but, in this context, basically they are asking Krishna to fulfill their lusty desires. But actually, all the shastras proclaim that the gopīs have no lusty desires, that their love is completely pure, but they express it as lusty desires for Krishna’s sake because they know that He will enjoy reciprocating in love with them.

And an example is given, this is from Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, an example is given that suppose someone comes to your home and you ask him, “Are you hungry? Would you like me to prepare something for you?” So, he is not going to want to put you to any trouble. So, he’ll say, “No.” But he might be hungry, but he is not going to say that he is hungry because he doesn’t want to put you into trouble. So, the host knowing that to be the case, will say, “Oh, I was just about to prepare an offering for my Deity. So, why don’t you stay, I’ll offer the food to my Deity and then you can also have the remnants.”

He doesn’t really need to offer it. I mean, of course if he is going to cook, he needs to offer it, but he doesn’t really need to cook. But he is saying that he wants to cook so that the other person can eat. So, the gopīs are asking Krishna to fulfill their desires, but actually they are only saying that because they want Krishna to fulfill His desires, you understand the comparison?

So, yeah, it’s a very important point and although, the gopīs speak in that way, but in the very last verse of that Chapter, Canto Ten, Chapter Thirty-One, and they don’t usually speak like this but the acharyas say that in intense feelings of separation they do express their love for Krishna rather than that apparent lust. In the very last verse because of intense feelings of separation, they say, “Our hearts dwell in you and we feel pain with the thought that your soft lotus feet will be pricked by thorns and pebbles when you walk on the path.”

But that’s exceptional that they express themselves like that, but that shows really their underlying feeling, but it’s usually expressed in a crooked way. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that the paths in Vraja are very crooked. So, they say, please fulfill our desires but actually they want Krishna to. . . They want to fulfill Krishna’s desires.

Host: We have a question from [Unintelligible 01:10:58]

Giriraj Swami: I see her.

Host: Please unmute yourself.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to your divine grace. It was a wonderful class, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you.

Devotee: I had a question that I had put in the chat. . .

Giriraj Swami: Well, why don’t you just say what the question is?

Devotee: It’s regarding that I have an uncle and he is a Jain.

Giriraj Swami: Sorry?

Devotee: My uncle, he is a Jain from Jain family, Jain community.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Devotee: So, he loves to take care of the sick cows. Wherever he finds some stray cow or some cow who is physically ill, so he brings those cows and he has a small Goshala and he all the cows, there are sick cows. So, I wanted to ask how can we guide such people that, because they don’t believe in Krishna, so how can we guide such people what will be their destination? So, that was my question.

Giriraj Swami: Well, if you have an uncle who is Jain.

Devotee: Yeah.

Giriraj Swami: Does that mean you are also Jain?

Devotee: I was Jain but not now.

Giriraj Swami: But now you are Krishna conscious, of course. Well, I mean, it’s good that he is taking care of the cows and of course, I guess with him being in a superior position as an uncle, he might not be so receptive to taking instruction from his niece.

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Do you have any relatives that are of his generation?

Devotee: Yes, my mother is there, my aunty is there.

Giriraj Swami: And are they Krishna conscious at all.

Devotee: No, they all are Jain. My mother is following because I guide her. So, she is following. She’s chanting. She likes to hear Krishna’s stories and on tv also she’ is watching all those kathās regarding Krishna and Ramachandra. So, she is into little bit of following Krishna and she is making chapattis every day for cows. So, she is a bit into Krishna consciousness but my uncle is not at all. My aunt, she is not at all. They are staunch Jain. So, if we want to guide some people here also when we go for preaching. So, if there are some people like us, they come into contact with us how can we guide such people if they are Jain, but they are serving cows? The question was that.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean usually the best way to get through to people, is through Srila Prabhupada’s books. So, yeah, if you could give them, especially, the First Canto has a lot about cows, First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Well, I think that would be an idea, maybe. Yeah, there are some very beautiful passages about cows in the First Canto. Yeah, I mean Prabhupada had strong faith in book distribution and we do too, of course. So, somehow you give them some books or one book. Yeah, alright.

Host: Hare Krishan can you take one more question because we are a little past our time and then we are going to finish with the offerings with kirtan. Pragya Nagpal. . .

Giriraj Swami: Oh! Okay.

Host: Pragya Nagpal has a question.

Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna, Pragya. We can’t hear you.

Host: It shows that you are unmuted here.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, but maybe her microphone isn’t connected or something. Still don’t hear you.

Devotee: Can I type my question?

Host: Yes, you can type your questions if you want before we thank. I feel selfish while having cow’s milk, as we do nothing for them in return. Also, not sure if I’m committing sin as I don’t know the source of it.

Giriraj Swami: Well, that it would be nice if we could get milk from devotee farm communities where we know that the cows are treated well, but we can’t always, but I mean, Srila Prabhupada took cow’s milk even from regular dairies and Krishna likes milk and milk products.

So, we always offer Krishna milk and foods prepared in ghee and sweets made of milk. So, I would say that, yeah, you can buy milk and offer it to Krishna either milk or you can cook with ghee or you can offer milk sweets and it will be okay. It’ll be okay. Yeah, yeah. Srila Prabhupada said milk develops the finer tissues in the brain for spiritual understanding. So, yeah. Hare Krishna.