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KB 1970-1-31 / Songs by the Gopis
31 / Songs by the Gopis
One gopi said, "My dear Krsna, ever since You took Your birth
in this land of Vrajabhumi, everything appears to be glorious.
The land of Vrndavana has become glorious, and it is as if the
goddess of fortune is personally always existing here. But it
is only we who are very unhappy, because we are searching for
You, but cannot see You with our greatest effort. Our life is
completely dependent upon You; therefore we request that You
again come to us."
Another gopi said, "My dear Krsna, You are the life and soul
even of the lotus flower that grows on the water of lakes made
transparent by the clear rains of autumn. Although the lotus
flowers are so beautiful, without Your glance they fade away.
Similarly, without You, we are also dying. Actually, we are
neither Your wives nor slaves. You never spent any money for us,
yet we are simply attracted by Your glance. Now, if we die
without receiving Your glance, You'll be responsible for our
deaths. Certainly the killing of women is a great sin, and if
You do not come to see us and we die, You will suffer the
reactions of sin. So please come see us. Do not think that one
can be killed only by certain weapons. We are being killed by
Your absence. You should consider how You are responsible for
killing women. We are always grateful to You because You have
protected us many times: from the poisonous water of Yamuna,
from the serpent Kaliya, from Bakasura, from the anger of Indra
and his torrents of rain, from forest fire and so many other
incidents. You are the greatest and most powerful of all. It is
wonderful for You to protect us from so many dangers, but we
are surprised that You are neglecting us at this moment. "Dear
Krsna, dear friend, we know very well that You are not actually
the son of mother Yasoda or the cowherd man Nanda Maharaja. You
are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul of all
living entities. You have, out of Your own causeless mercy,
appeared in this world, requested by Lord Brahma for the
protection of the world. It is by Your kindness only that You
have appeared in the dynasty of Yadu. O best in the dynasty of
Yadu, if anyone afraid of this materialistic way of life takes
shelter at Your lotus feet, You never deny him protection. Your
movements are sweet, and You are independent, touching the
goddess of fortune with one hand and in the other bearing a
lotus flower. That is Your extraordinary feature. Please,
therefore, come before us and bless us with the lotus flower in
Your hand.
"Dear Krsna, You are the killer of all the fears of the
inhabitants of Vrndavana. You are the supremely powerful hero,
and we know that You can kill the unnecessary pride of Your
devotee as well as the pride of women like us simply by Your
beautiful smile. We are simply Your maidservants and slaves;
please, therefore, accept us by showing us Your lotus-like
beautiful face.
"Dear Krsna, actually we have become very lusty, having been
touched by Your lotus feet. Your lotus feet certainly kill all
kinds of sinful activities of devotees who have taken shelter
there. You are so kind that even the ordinary animals take
shelter under Your lotus feet. Your lotus feet are also the
residence of the goddess of fortune, yet You dance on the head
of the Kaliya serpent with them. Now we are requesting You to
kindly place Your lotus feet on our breasts and pacify our
lusty desires to touch You.
"O Lord, Your attractive eyes, like the lotus, are so nice and
pleasing. Your sweet words are so fascinating that they please
even the greatest scholars, who also become attracted to You.
We are also attracted by Your speaking and by the beauty of
Your face and eyes. Please, therefore, satisfy us by Your
nectarean kisses. Dear Lord, words spoken by You or words
describing Your activities are full of nectar, and simply by
speaking or hearing Your words one can be saved from the
blazing fire of material existence. Great demigods like Lord
Brahma and Lord Siva are always engaged in chanting the glories
of Your words. They do so to eradicate the sinful activities of
all living entities in the material world. If one simply tries
to hear Your transcendental words, he can very quickly be
elevated to the platform of pious activities. For the Vaisnavas,
Your words give transcendental pleasure, and saintly persons
who are engaged in distributing Your transcendental message all
over the world are first-class charitable persons." (This was
confirmed by Rupa Gosvami also when he addressed Lord Caitanya
as the most munificent incarnation because Lord Caitanya
distributed the words of Krsna and love of Krsna free of charge
all over the world.)
"Dear Krsna," the gopis continued, "You are very cunning. You
can imagine how much we are distressed simply by remembering
Your cunning smile, Your pleasing glance, Your walking with us
in the forest of Vrndavana, and Your auspicious meditations.
Your talks with us in lonely places were heart-warming. Now we
are all aggrieved to remember Your behavior. Please save us.
Dear Krsna, certainly You know how much we are saddened when
You go out of Vrndavana village to tend the cows in the forest.
How we are afflicted simply to think that Your soft lotus feet
are being pricked by the dry grass and the tiny stones in the
forest! We are so attached to You that we always think simply
of Your lotus feet.
"O Krsna, when You return from the pasturing ground with the
animals, we see Your face covered by Your curly hair and dusted
by the hoof-dust of the cows. We see Your mildly smiling face,
and our desire to enjoy You increases. O dear Krsna, You are
the supreme lover, and You always give shelter to surrendered
souls. You fulfill everyone's desire; Your lotus feet are even
worshiped by Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe. To
whomever worships Your lotus feet, You without a doubt always
bestow Your benedictions. So kindly be pleased with us and keep
Your lotus feet on our breasts and thus relieve our present
distresses. Dear Krsna, we are seeking Your kisses which You
offer even to Your flute. The vibration of Your flute enchants
the whole world and our hearts also. Kindly, therefore, return
and kiss us with Your mouth of nectar."
When Lord Krsna finally reappeared and assembled with the
gopis, He looked very beautiful, just befitting a
person with all kinds of opulences. In the Brahma-samhita, it
is stated, ananda-cin-maya-rasa-pratibhavitabhih: Krsna alone
is not particularly beautiful, but when His energy --
especially His pleasure energy, represented by Radharani --
expands, He looks very magnificent. The Mayavada conception of
the perfection of the Absolute Truth without potency is due
to insufficient knowledge. Actually, outside the exhibition of
His different potencies, the Absolute Truth is not complete.
Ananda-cin-maya-rasa means that His body is a transcendental
form of eternal bliss and knowledge. Krsna is always surrounded
by different potencies, and therefore He is perfect and
beautiful. We understand from Brahma-samhita and Skanda
Purana that Krsna is always surrounded by many thousands of
goddesses of fortune. The gopis are all goddesses of fortune,
and Krsna took them hand in hand on the bank of the Yamuna.
It is said in the Skanda Purana that out of many thousands of
gopis, 16,000 are predominant; out of those 16,000 gopis, 108
gopis are especially prominent; and out of 108 gopis,
eight gopis are still more prominent; out of eight gopis,
Radharani and Candravali are prominent; and out of
these two gopis, Radharani is the most prominent.
When Krsna entered the forest on the bank of the Yamuna,
the moonlight dissipated the surrounding darkness. Due to the
season, flowers like the kunda and kadamba were blooming, and a
gentle breeze was carrying their aroma. Due to the aroma, the
bees were also flying in the breeze, thinking that the aroma
was honey. The gopis made a seat for Krsna by leveling the soft
sand and placing cloths over it.
The gopis who were gathered there were mostly all
followers of the Vedas. In their previous births, during Lord
Ramacandra's advent, they were Vedic scholars who desired
the association of Lord Ramacandra in conjugal love. Ramacandra
gave them the benediction that they would be present for
the advent of Lord Krsna, and He would fulfill their desires.
During Krsna's advent, the Vedic scholars took birth in the
shape of the gopis in Vrndavana; as young gopis, they got the
association of Krsna in fulfillment of their previous births'
desire. The ultimate goal of their perfect desire was attained,
and they were so joyous that they had nothing further to desire.
This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: if one attains the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he has no desire for
anything. When the gopis had Krsna in their company, not only
all their grief, but their lamenting in the absence of Krsna
was relieved. They felt they had no desire to be fulfilled.
Fully satisfied in the company of Krsna, they spread their
cloths on the ground. These garments were made of fine linen
and smeared with the red kunkuma which decorated their breasts.
With great care they spread a sitting place for Krsna. Krsna
was their life and soul, and they created a very comfortable
seat for Him.
Sitting on the seat amongst the gopis, Krsna became more
beautiful. Great yogis like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma or even Lord
Sesa and others always try to fix their attention upon Krsna in
their heart, but here the gopis actually saw Krsna seated
before them on their cloths. In the society of the gopis, Krsna
looked very beautiful. They were the most beautiful damsels
within the three worlds, and they assembled together around
Krsna.
It may be asked herein how Krsna seated Himself beside so
many gopis and yet sat alone.
There is a significant word in this verse: isvara. As it is
stated in the Bhagavad-gita, isvarah sarva-bhutanam.
Isvara refers to the Supreme Lord as the Supersoul
seated in everyone's heart. Krsna also manifested this potency
of expansion as Paramatma in this gathering with the gopis.
Krsna was sitting by the side of each gopi, unseen by the
others. Krsna was so kind to the gopis that instead of sitting
in their hearts to be appreciated in yogic meditation, He
seated Himself by their sides. By seating Himself outside, He
showed special favor to the gopis, who were the selected
beauties of all creation. Having gotten their most beloved Lord,
the gopis began to please Him by moving their eyebrows and
smiling and also by suppressing their anger. Some of them took
His lotus feet in their laps and began to massage Him. And
while smiling, they confidentially expressed their suppressed
anger and said, "Dear Krsna, we are ordinary women of Vrndavana,
and we do not know much about Vedic knowledge -- what is right
and what is wrong. We therefore put a question to You, and,
since You are very learned, You can answer it properly. In
dealing between lovers, we find that there are three classes
of men. One class simply receives, another class reciprocates
favorably, even if the lover is very contrary, and the third
class neither acts contrary nor answers favorably in dealings
of love. So out of these three classes, which do You prefer, or
which do You call honest?"
In answer, Krsna said, "My dear friends, persons who simply
reciprocate the loving dealings of the other party are just
like merchants. They give in loving affairs as much as they get
from the other party. Practically there is no question of love.
It is simply business dealing, and it is self-interested or
self-centered
. Better
the second class of men, who love in spite of
the opposite party's contrariness; even those without a tinge
of loving affairs are better than the merchants. Sincere
love can be seen when the father and mother love their
children in spite of their children's neglect. The third class
neither reciprocates nor neglects. They can be further divided
into two classes. One is the self-satisfied, who do not
require anyone's love. They are called atmarama, which means
they are absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and so do not care whether one loves them or not. But
another class are ungrateful men. They are called callous.
The men in this group revolt against superior persons. For
instance, a son, in spite of receiving all kinds of things from
loving parents, may be callous and not reciprocate. Those in
this class are generally known as gurudruha, which means
they receive favors from the parents or the spiritual master
and yet neglect them."
Krsna indirectly answered the questions of the gopis, even
those questions which implied that Krsna did not properly
receive their dealings. In answer, Krsna said that He, as
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is self-satisfied. He does
not require anyone's love, but at the same time He said that He
is not ungrateful.
"My dear friends," Krsna continued, "you might be aggrieved by
My words and acts, but you must know that sometimes I do not
reciprocate My devotees' dealings with Me. It appears that My
devotees are very much attached to Me, but sometimes I do not
reciprocate their feelings properly in order to increase their
love for Me more and more. If I can very easily be approached
by them, they might think, 'Krsna is so easily available.' So
sometimes I do not respond. If a person has no money but after
some time accumulates some wealth and then loses it, he will
think of the lost property twenty-four hours a day. Similarly,
in order to increase the love of My devotees, sometimes I
appear to be lost to them, and instead of forgetting Me, they
feel their loving sentiments for Me increase. My dear friends,
do not think for a moment that I have been dealing with you
just like ordinary devotees. I know what you are. You have
forsaken all kinds of social and religious obligations; you
have given up all connection with your parents. Without caring
for social convention and religious obligations, you have come
to Me and loved Me, and I am so much obliged to you that I
cannot treat you as ordinary devotees. Do not think that I was
away from you. I was near to you. I was simply seeing how much
you were anxious for Me in My absence. So please do not try to
find fault in Me. Because you consider Me so dear to you,
kindly excuse Me if I have done anything wrong. I cannot repay
your continual love for Me, even throughout the lifetimes of
the demigods in the heavenly planets. It is impossible to repay
you or show gratitude for your love; therefore please be
satisfied by your own pious activities. You have displayed
exemplary attraction for Me, overcoming the greatest
difficulties arising from family connections. Please be
satisfied with your highly exemplary character, for it is not
possible for Me to repay your debt."
The exemplary character of devotional service manifested by the
devotees of Vrndavana is the purest type of devotion. It is
enjoined in authoritative sastra that devotional service must
be ahaituka and apratihata. This means that devotional service
to Krsna cannot be checked by political or religious convention.
The stage of devotional service is always transcendental. The
gopis particularly showed pure devotional service towards Krsna,
so much so that Krsna Himself remained indebted to them. Lord
Caitanya thus said that the devotional service manifested by
the gopis in Vrndavana excelled all other methods of
approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Thirty-first
Chapter of Krsna, "Songs by the Gopis."
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KB 32: Krsna Returns to the Gopis
CHAPTER THIRTY–TWO
Krsna Returns
to
the
Gopis
When Lord Krsna finally reappeared among the
assembled gopis, He looked very beautiful, just befitting a
person with all kinds of opulences. In the Brahma-samhita it
is stated, ananda-cin-maya-rasa-pratibhavitabhih: Krsna alone
is not particularly beautiful, but when His energy --
especially His pleasure energy, represented by Radharani --
expands, He looks very magnificent. The Mayavada conception of
perfection -- an Absolute Truth without potency -- is due
to insufficient knowledge. Actually, outside the exhibition of
His different potencies, the Absolute Truth is not complete.
Ananda-cin-maya-rasa means that His body is a transcendental
form of eternal bliss and knowledge. Krsna is always surrounded
by different potencies, and therefore He is perfect and
beautiful. We understand from the Brahma-samhita and Skanda
Purana that Krsna is always surrounded by many thousands of
goddesses of fortune. The gopis are all goddesses of fortune,
and Krsna took them hand in hand on the bank of the Yamuna.
It is said in the Skanda Purana that out of many thousands of
gopis, 16,000 are prominent, out of those 16,000 gopis, 108
are especially prominent, out of these 108 gopis,
eight gopis are still more prominent, out of those eight gopis,
Radharani and Candravali are even more prominent, and out of
these two gopis, Radharani is the most prominent.
When Krsna entered the forest on the bank of the river Yamuna,
the moonlight dissipated the surrounding darkness. Due to the
season, flowers like the kunda and kadamba were blooming, and a
gentle breeze was carrying their aroma. Due to the aroma, the
bees were also flying in the breeze, thinking that the aroma
was honey. The gopis made a seat for Krsna by leveling the soft
sand and placing cloths over it.
The gopis who were gathered there had almost all been
followers of the Vedas. In their previous births, during Lord
Ramacandra's advent, they had been Vedic scholars who desired
the association of Lord Ramacandra in conjugal love. Ramacandra
had given them the benediction that they would be present for
the advent of Lord Krsna and He would fulfill their desires.
During Krsna's advent, the Vedic scholars took birth in the
shape of the gopis in Vrndavana; as young gopis, they got the
association of Krsna in fulfillment of their previous birth's
desire. The ultimate goal of their perfect desire was attained,
and they were so joyous that they had nothing further to desire.
This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: if one attains the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he has no desire for
anything. When the gopis had Krsna in their company, not only
all their grief but their lamenting in the absence of Krsna
was relieved. They felt they had no desire to be fulfilled.
Fully satisfied in the company of Krsna, they spread their
cloths on the ground. These garments were made of fine linen
and smeared with the red kunkuma which decorated their breasts.
With great care they spread a sitting place for Krsna. Krsna
was their life and soul, and they created a very comfortable
seat for Him.
Sitting on the seat amongst the gopis, Krsna became more
beautiful. Great yogis like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma or even Lord
Sesa and others always try to fix their attention upon Krsna in
their hearts, but here the gopis actually saw Krsna seated
before them on their cloths. In the society of the gopis, Krsna
looked very beautiful. They were the most beautiful damsels
within the three worlds, and they assembled together around
Krsna.
Krsna seated Himself beside each of
the many gopis, and it may be asked herein how He did this.
There is a significant word in this verse: isvara. As it is
stated in the Bhagavad-gita, isvarah sarva-bhutanam [Bg. 18.61].
Isvara refers to the Supreme Lord as the Supersoul seated in
everyone's heart. Krsna also manifested this potency of
expansion as Paramatma in this gathering with the gopis. Krsna
was sitting by the side of each gopi, unseen by the others.
Krsna was so kind to the gopis that instead of sitting in their
hearts to be appreciated in yogic meditation, He seated Himself
by their sides. By seating Himself outside, He showed special
favor to the gopis, who were the selected beauties of all
creation. Having gotten their most beloved Lord, the gopis
began to please Him by moving their eyebrows and smiling, and
also by suppressing their anger. Some of them took His lotus
feet in their laps and massaged them. And while
smiling, they confidentially expressed their suppressed anger
and said, "Dear Krsna, we are ordinary women of Vrndavana, and
we do not know much about Vedic knowledge -- what is right and
what is wrong. We therefore put a question to You, and since
You are very learned, You can answer it properly. In dealings
between lovers, we find that there are three classes of men.
One class simply receives, another class reciprocates favorably,
even if the lover is very contrary, and the third class
neither acts contrary nor answers favorably in dealings of love.
So out of these three classes, which do You prefer, or which
do You call honest?"
In answer, Krsna said, "My dear friends, persons who simply
reciprocate the loving dealings of the other party are just
like merchants. They give in loving affairs as much as they get
from the other party. Practically there is no question of love.
It is simply self-interested or
self-centered business dealing. Even those without a tinge of
loving affairs are better than these merchants. Better than the
first class is the second class of men, who love in spite of
the opposite party's contrariness
. Such
sincere love can be seen when the father and mother love their
children in spite of their children's neglect. The third class
neither reciprocate nor neglect. They can be further divided
into two classes. One comprises the self-satisfied, who do not
require anyone's love. They are called atmarama, which means
they are absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and so do not care whether one loves them or not. But
another class comprises ungrateful men. They are called callous.
The men in this group revolt against superior persons. For
instance, a son, in spite of receiving all kinds of things from
loving parents, may be callous and not reciprocate. Those in
this class are generally known as guru-druha, which means
they receive favors from the parents or the spiritual master
and yet neglect them."
Krsna indirectly answered the questions of the gopis, even
those questions which implied that Krsna did not properly
reciprocate their dealings. In answer, Krsna said that He, as
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is self-satisfied. He does
not require anyone's love, but at the same time He said that He
is not ungrateful.
"My dear friends," Krsna continued, "you might be aggrieved by
My words and acts, but you must know that sometimes I do not
reciprocate My devotees' dealings with Me. My
devotees are very much attached to Me, but sometimes I do not
reciprocate their feelings properly in order to increase their
love for Me more and more. If I can very easily be approached
by them, they might think, ‘Krsna is so easily available.' So
sometimes I do not respond. If a person has no money but after
some time accumulates some wealth and then loses it, he will
think of the lost property twenty-four hours a day. Similarly,
in order to increase the love of My devotees, sometimes I
appear to be lost to them, and instead of forgetting Me, they
feel their loving sentiments for Me increase. My dear friends,
do not think for a moment that I have been dealing with you
as I do with ordinary devotees. I know what you are. You have
forsaken all kinds of social and religious obligations; you
have given up all connection with your parents. Without caring
for social convention and religious obligations, you have come
to Me and loved Me, and I am so much obliged to you that I
cannot treat you as ordinary devotees. Do not think that I was
away from you. I was near to you. I was simply seeing how much
you were anxious for Me in My absence. So please do not try to
find fault with Me. Because you consider Me so dear to you,
kindly excuse Me if I have done anything wrong. I cannot repay
your continuous love for Me, even throughout the lifetimes of
the demigods in the heavenly planets. It is impossible to repay
you or show enough gratitude for your love; therefore please be
satisfied by your own pious activities. You have displayed
exemplary attraction for Me, overcoming the greatest
difficulties arising from family connections. Please be
satisfied with your highly exemplary character, for it is not
possible for Me to repay My debt to you."
The exemplary character of devotional service manifested by the
devotees of Vrndavana is the purest type of devotion. It is
enjoined in authoritative sastras that devotional service must
be ahaituki and apratihata. This means that devotional service
to Krsna cannot be checked by political or religious convention.
The stage of devotional service is always transcendental. The
gopis particularly showed pure devotional service toward Krsna,
so much so that Krsna Himself remained indebted to them. Lord
Caitanya thus said that the devotional service manifested by
the gopis in Vrndavana excelled all other methods of
approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Thirty-second
Chapter of Krsna, "Krsna Returns to the Gopis."
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