Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
31.
Songs by the Gopīs
One gopī said,
"My dear Kṛṣṇa,
ever since You took Your birth in this land of Vrajabhūmi, everything appears
to be glorious. The land of Vṛndāvana 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."
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Another gopī said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, 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 Yamunā, from the serpent Kāliya, from Bakāsura, 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 Kṛṣṇa,
dear friend, we know very well that You are not actually the son of mother
Yaśodā or the cowherd man Nanda Mahārāja. 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 Brahmā 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 Kṛṣṇa, You are the killer of all the fears of the
inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 Kāliya 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 Brahmā and Lord
Śiva 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 Vaiṣṇavas, 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 Rūpa Gosvāmī also when he addressed Lord Caitanya as the most
munificent incarnation because Lord Caitanya distributed the words of Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa
free of charge all over the world.)
"Dear Kṛṣṇa," the gopīs 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 Vṛndāvana, 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 Kṛṣṇa, certainly You know how much we are saddened
when You go out of Vṛndāvana 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.
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"O Kṛṣṇa,
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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 Brahmā, 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 Kṛṣṇa,
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."
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When Lord Kṛṣṇa finally reappeared and assembled with the
gopīs, He looked very beautiful, just befitting a person with all kinds of
opulences. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, it is stated,
ānanda-cin-maya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ:
Kṛṣṇa alone is not particularly beautiful, but when
His energy--especially His pleasure energy, represented by Rādhārāṇī--expands, He looks very magnificent. The
Māyāvada 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. Ānanda-cin-maya-rasa
means that His body is a transcendental form of eternal bliss and knowledge.
Kṛṣṇa is always surrounded by different potencies,
and therefore He is perfect and beautiful. We understand from Brahma-saṁhitā and Skanda Purāṇa that Kṛṣṇa
is always surrounded by many thousands of goddesses of fortune. The gopīs are
all goddesses of fortune, and Kṛṣṇa
took them hand in hand on the bank of the Yamunā.
It is said in the Skanda Purāṇa that out of many thousands of gopīs, 16,000 are
predominant; out of those 16,000 gopīs, 108 gopīs are especially prominent;
and out of 108 gopīs, eight gopīs are still more prominent; out of eight
gopīs, Rādhārāṇī and Candrāvalī are prominent; and out of these
two gopīs, Rādhārāṇī is the most prominent.
When Kṛṣṇa
entered the forest on the bank of the Yamunā, 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 gopīs made a seat for Kṛṣṇa
by leveling the soft sand and placing cloths over it.
The gopīs who were gathered there
were mostly all followers of the Vedas. In their previous births, during Lord
Rāmacandra's advent, they were Vedic scholars who desired the association of
Lord Rāmacandra in conjugal love. Rāmacandra gave them the benediction that
they would be present for the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
and He would fulfill their desires. During Kṛṣṇa's
advent, the Vedic scholars took birth in the shape of the gopīs in Vṛndāvana; as young gopīs, they got the association
of Kṛṣṇa 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-gītā: if one attains the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he has
no desire for anything. When the gopīs had Kṛṣṇa
in their company, not only all their grief, but their lamenting in the
absence of Kṛṣṇa was relieved. They felt they had no desire to
be fulfilled. Fully satisfied in the company of Kṛṣṇa, they spread their cloths on the ground. These
garments were made of fine linen and smeared with the red kuṅkuma which decorated their breasts. With great
care they spread a sitting place for Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa was their life and soul, and they created a
very comfortable seat for Him.
Sitting on the seat amongst the
gopīs, Kṛṣṇa became more beautiful. Great yogīs like Lord
Śiva, Lord Brahmā or even Lord Śeṣa
and others always try to fix their attention upon Kṛṣṇa in their heart, but here the gopīs actually saw
Kṛṣṇa seated before them on their cloths. In the
society of the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa looked very beautiful. They were the most
beautiful damsels within the three worlds, and they assembled together around
Kṛṣṇa.
It may be asked herein how Kṛṣṇa seated Himself beside so many gopīs and yet sat
alone. There is a significant word in this verse: īśvara. As it is stated in
the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānam.
Īśvara refers to the Supreme Lord as the Supersoul seated in everyone's
heart. Kṛṣṇa also manifested this potency of expansion as Paramātmā
in this gathering with the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa
was sitting by the side of each gopī, unseen by the others. Kṛṣṇa was so kind to the gopīs 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 gopīs, who were the selected beauties of all creation. Having gotten
their most beloved Lord, the gopīs 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 Kṛṣṇa, we are ordinary women of Vṛndāvana, 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?"
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Kṛṣṇa indirectly answered the questions of the gopīs, even those questions which implied that Kṛṣṇa did not properly receive their dealings. In answer, Kṛṣṇa 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," Kṛṣṇa 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, 'Kṛṣṇa 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 Vṛndāvana is the purest type of devotion. It is enjoined in authoritative śāstra that devotional service must be ahaituka and apratihata. This means that devotional service to Kṛṣṇa cannot be checked by political or religious convention. The stage of devotional service is always transcendental. The gopīs particularly showed pure devotional service towards Kṛṣṇa, so much so that Kṛṣṇa Himself remained indebted to them. Lord Caitanya thus said that the devotional service manifested by the gopīs in Vṛndāvana excelled all other methods of approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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32.
Description of the Rāsa Dance
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Thus hearing the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, speaking to pacify them, the gopīs became very
much pleased. And not only by hearing His words, but also by touching the
hands and legs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they became completely
relieved from the great suffering of separation. After this, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead began His rāsa dance. When one dances in the midst of
many girls, it is called a rāsa dance. So Kṛṣṇa
began to dance among the most beautiful and fortunate girls within the three
worlds. The gopīs of Vṛndāvana, who were so attracted to Him, danced
with Kṛṣṇa, hand in hand.
Kṛṣṇa's
rāsa dance should never be compared with any kind of material dance, such as
a ball dance or a society dance. The rāsa dance is a completely spiritual
performance. In order to establish this fact, Kṛṣṇa,
the supreme mystic, expanded Himself in many forms and stood beside each
gopī. Placing His hands on the shoulders of the gopīs on both sides of Him,
He began to dance in their midst. The mystic expansions of Kṛṣṇa were not perceived by the gopīs because Kṛṣṇa appeared alone to each of them. Each gopī
thought that Kṛṣṇa was dancing with her alone. Above that
wonderful dance flew many airplanes carrying the denizens of the heavenly
planets, who were very anxious to see the wonderful dance of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs. The Gandharvas and the Kinnaras
began to sing, and, accompanied by their respective wives, all the Gandharvas
began to shower flowers on the dancers.
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As the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa danced together, a very blissful musical sound
was produced from the tinkling of their bells, ornaments and bangles. It
appeared that Kṛṣṇa was a greenish sapphire locket in the midst of
a golden necklace decorated with valuable stones. While Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs danced they displayed
extraordinary bodily features. The movements of their legs, their placing
their hands on one another, the movements of their eyebrows, their smiling,
the movements of the breasts of the gopīs and their clothes, their earrings,
their cheeks, their hair with flowers--as they sang and danced these combined
together to appear like clouds, thunder, snow and lightning. Kṛṣṇa's bodily features appeared just like a group of
clouds, their songs were like thunder, the beauty of the gopīs appeared to be
just like lightning in the sky, and the drops of perspiration visible on
their faces appeared like falling snow. In this way, both the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa fully engaged in dancing.
The necks of the gopīs became tinted
with red due to their desire to enjoy Kṛṣṇa
more and more. To satisfy them, Kṛṣṇa
began to clap His hands in time with their singing. Actually the whole world
is full of Kṛṣṇa's singing, but it is appreciated in different
ways by different kinds of living entities. This is confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gītā: ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. Kṛṣṇa is dancing, and every living entity is also
dancing, but there is a difference in the dancing in the spiritual world and
in the material world. This is expressed by the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, who says that the master dancer is Kṛṣṇa and everyone is His servant. Everyone is trying
to imitate Kṛṣṇa's dancing. Those who are actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness respond rightly to the dancing of
Kṛṣṇa: they do not try to dance independently. But
those in the material world try to imitate Kṛṣṇa
as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The living entities are dancing under
the direction of Kṛṣṇa's māyā and are thinking that they are equal to
Kṛṣṇa. But this is not a fact. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this misconception is absent,
for a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme master and everyone is His
servant. One has to dance to please Kṛṣṇa,
not to imitate or to become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The
gopīs wanted to please Kṛṣṇa,
and therefore as Kṛṣṇa sang, they responded and encouraged Him by
saying, "Well done, well done." Sometimes they presented beautiful music
for His pleasure, and He responded by praising their singing.
When some of the gopīs became very
tired from dancing and moving their bodies, they placed their hands on the
shoulders of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Then their hair loosened and flowers fell to
the ground. When they placed their hands on Kṛṣṇa's
shoulder they became overwhelmed by the fragrance of His body which emanated
from the lotus, other aromatic flowers, and the pulp of sandalwood. They
became filled with attraction for Him, and they began to kiss one another.
Some gopīs touched Kṛṣṇa cheek to cheek, and Kṛṣṇa began to offer them chewed betel nuts from His
mouth, which they exchanged with great pleasure by kissing. And by accepting
those betel nuts, the gopīs spiritually advanced.
The gopīs became tired after long
singing and dancing. Kṛṣṇa was dancing beside them, and to alleviate their
fatigue they took Śrī Kṛṣṇa's hand and placed it on their raised breasts. Kṛṣṇa's hand, as well as the breasts of the gopīs,
are eternally auspicious; therefore when they combined, both of them became
spiritually enhanced. The gopīs so enjoyed the company of Kṛṣṇa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, that
they forgot that they had any other husband in the world, and upon being
embraced by the arms of Kṛṣṇa
and dancing and singing with Him, they forgot everything. The
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam thus describes the beauty of the gopīs while they were rāsa
dancing with Kṛṣṇa. There were lotus flowers over both their ears,
and their faces were decorated with sandalwood pulp. They wore tilaka, and
there were drops of sweat on their smiling mouths. From their feet came the
tinkling sound of ankle bells as well as bangles. The flowers within their
hair were falling to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa,
and He was very satisfied.
As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, all these gopīs are expansions of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. Touching their bodies with
His hands and looking at their pleasing eyes, Kṛṣṇa
enjoyed the gopīs exactly as a child enjoys playing with the reflection of
his body in a mirror. When Kṛṣṇa
touched the different parts of their bodies, the gopīs felt surcharged with
spiritual energy. They could not adjust their loosened clothes, although they
tried to keep them properly. Their hair and garments became scattered, and
their ornaments loosened as they forgot themselves in company with Kṛṣṇa.
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While Kṛṣṇa
was enjoying the company of the gopīs in the rāsa dance, the astonished
demigods and their wives gathered in the sky. The moon, being afflicted with a
sort of lust, began to watch the dance and became stunned with wonder. The
gopīs had prayed to the goddess Kātyāyanī to have Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Now Kṛṣṇa was fulfilling their desire by expanding Himself
in as many forms as there were gopīs and enjoying them exactly as a husband.
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Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has remarked
that Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient--He is ātmārāma. He doesn't
need anyone else for His satisfaction. Because the gopīs wanted Kṛṣṇa as their husband, He fulfilled their desire.
When Kṛṣṇa saw that the gopīs were tired from dancing with
Him, He immediately began to smear His hands over their faces so that their
fatigue would be satiated. In order to reciprocate the kind hospitality of Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs began to look at Him lovingly. They
were overjoyed by the auspicious touch of the hand of Kṛṣṇa. Their smiling cheeks shone with beauty, and
they began to sing the glories of Kṛṣṇa
with transcendental pleasure. As pure devotees, the more the gopīs enjoyed Kṛṣṇa's company, the more they became enlightened
with His glories, and thus they reciprocated with Him. They wanted to satisfy
Kṛṣṇa by glorifying His transcendental pastimes. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
master of all masters, and the gopīs wanted to worship Him for His unusual
exhibition of mercy upon them.
Both the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa entered the water of the Yamunā just to relieve
their fatigue from the rāsa dance. The lily flower garlands around the necks
of the gopīs were strewn to pieces due to their embracing the body of Kṛṣṇa, and the flowers were reddish from being
smeared with the kuṅkuma on their breasts. The bumblebees were
humming about in order to get honey from the flowers. Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs entered the water of Yamunā just
as an elephant enters a water tank with his many female companions. Both the gopīs
and Kṛṣṇa forgot their real identity, playing in the
water, enjoying each others' company and relieving the fatigue of rāsa
dancing. The gopīs began to splash water on the body of Kṛṣṇa, all the while smiling, and Kṛṣṇa enjoyed this. As Kṛṣṇa was taking pleasure in the joking words and
splashing water, the demigods in the heavenly planets began to shower
flowers. The demigods thus praised the superexcellent rāsa dance of Kṛṣṇa, the supreme enjoyer, and His pastimes with the
gopīs in the water of Yamunā.
After this, Lord Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs came out of the water and began
to stroll along the bank of the Yamunā, where a nice breeze was blowing,
carrying the aroma of different kinds of flowers over the water and land.
While strolling on the bank of the Yamunā, Kṛṣṇa
recited various kinds of poetry. He thus enjoyed the company of the gopīs in
the soothing moonlight of autumn.
Sex desire is especially excited in
the autumn season, but the wonderful thing about Kṛṣṇa's association with the gopīs is that there was
no question of sex desire. It was, as clearly stated in the Bhāgavata
description by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, avaruddha-saurataḥ, namely the sex impulse was completely
controlled. There is a distinction between Lord Kṛṣṇa's dancing with the gopīs and the ordinary
dancing of living entities within the material world. In order to clear up
further misconceptions about the rāsa dance and the affairs of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the hearer of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, told
Śukadeva Gosvāmī, "Kṛṣṇa
appeared on the earth to establish the regulative principles of religion and
to curb the predominance of irreligion. But the behavior of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs might encourage irreligious
principles in the material world. I am simply surprised that He would act in
such a way, enjoying the company of others' wives in the dead of night."
This statement of Mahārāja Parīkṣit's
was very much appreciated by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The answer anticipates the
abominable acts of the Māyāvādī impersonalists who place themselves in the
position of Kṛṣṇa and enjoy the company of young girls and women.
The basic Vedic injunctions never
allow a person to enjoy sex with any woman except one's own wife. Kṛṣṇa's appreciation of the gopīs appeared to be
distinctly in violation of these rules. Mahārāja Parīkṣit understood the total situation from Śukadeva
Gosvāmī, yet to further clear the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs in rāsa dance, he expressed his
surprise. This is very important in order to check the unrestricted
association with women by the prakṛta-sahajiyā.
In his statement, Mahārāja Parīkṣit has used several important words which require
clarification. The first word, jugupsitam, means abominable. The first doubt
of Mahārāja Parīkṣit was as follows: Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who has
advented Himself to establish religious principles. Why then did He mix with
others' wives in the dead of night and enjoy dancing, embracing and kissing?
According to the Vedic injunctions, this is not allowed. Also, when the gopīs
first came to Him, He gave instructions to them to return to their homes. To
call the wives of other persons or young girls and enjoy dancing with them is
certainly abominable according to the Vedas. Why should Kṛṣṇa have done this?
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Another word used here is āptakāma.
Some may take it for granted that Kṛṣṇa
was very lusty among young girls, but Parīkṣit
Mahārāja said that this was not possible. He could not be lusty. First of all,
from the material calculation He was only eight years old. At that age a boy
cannot be lusty. Āptakāma means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is
self-satisfied. Even if He were lusty, He doesn't need to take help from others
to satisfy His lusty desires. The next point is that, although not lusty
Himself, He might have been induced by the lusty desires of the gopīs. But
Mahārāja Parīkṣit then used another word, yadu-pati, which
indicates that Kṛṣṇa is the most exalted personality in the dynasty of
the Yadus. The kings in the dynasty of Yadu were considered to be the most
pious, and their descendants were also like that. Having taken birth in that
family, how could Kṛṣṇa have been induced, even by the gopīs? It is
concluded, therefore, that it was not possible for Kṛṣṇa to do anything abominable. But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in doubt as to why Kṛṣṇa acted in that way. What was the real purpose?
Another word Mahārāja Parīkṣit used when he addressed Śukadeva Gosvāmī is
suvrata, which means to take a vow to enact pious activities. Śukadeva Gosvāmī
was an educated brahmacārī, and under the circumstances, it was not possible
for him to indulge in sex. This is strictly prohibited for brahmacārīs, and
what to speak of a brahmacārī like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. But because the
circumstances of the rāsa dance were very suspect, Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired for clarification from Śukadeva
Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī immediately replied that transgressions of religious
principles by the supreme controller testify to His great power. For example,
fire can consume any abominable thing; that is the manifestation of the
supremacy of fire. Similarly, the sun can absorb water from a urinal or from
stool, and the sun is not polluted; rather, due to the influence of sunshine,
the polluted, contaminated place becomes disinfected and sterilized.
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One may also argue that since Kṛṣṇa is the supreme authority, His activities should
be followed. In answer to this question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī has very clearly
said that īśvaraṇam, or the supreme controller, may sometimes
violate His instructions, but this is only possible for the controller
Himself, not for the followers. Unusual and uncommon activities by the
controller can never be imitated. Śukadeva Gosvāmī warned that the
conditioned followers, who are not actually in control, should never even
imagine imitating the uncommon activities of the controller. A Māyāvādī
philosopher may falsely claim to be God or Kṛṣṇa,
but he cannot actually act like Kṛṣṇa.
He can persuade his followers to falsely imitate rāsa dance, but he is unable
to lift Govardhana Hill. We have many experiences in the past of Māyāvādī
rascals deluding their followers by posing themselves as Kṛṣṇa in order to enjoy rāsa-līlā. In many instances
they were checked by the government, arrested and punished. In Orissa, Ṭhākur Bhaktivinode also punished a so-called
incarnation of Viṣṇu, who was imitating rāsa-līlā with young girls.
There were many complaints against him. At that time, Bhaktivinode Ṭhākur was magistrate, and the government deputed
him to deal with that rascal, and he punished him very severely. The
rāsa-līlā dance cannot be imitated by anyone. Śukadeva Gosvāmī warns that one
should not even think of imitating it. He specifically mentions that if, out
of foolishness, one tries to imitate Kṛṣṇa's
rāsa dance, he will be killed, just like a person who wants to imitate Lord
Śiva's drinking of an ocean of poison. Lord Śiva drank an ocean of poison and
kept it within his throat. The poison made his throat turn blue; and
therefore Lord Śiva is called Nīlakaṇṭa.
But if any ordinary person tries to imitate Lord Śiva by drinking poison or
smoking gañja, he is sure to be vanquished and will die within a very short
time. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dealing with the gopīs was under special
circumstances.
Most of the gopīs in their previous
lives were great sages, expert in the studies of the Vedas, and when Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as Lord Rāmacandra they wanted to
enjoy with Him. Lord Rāmacandra gave them the benediction that their desires
would be fulfilled when He would appear as Kṛṣṇa.
Therefore the desire of the gopīs to enjoy the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa was long cherished. So they approached goddess
Kātyāyanī to have Kṛṣṇa as their husband. There are many other
circumstances also which testify to the supreme authority of Kṛṣṇa and show that He is not bound to the rules and
regulations of the material world. In special cases, He acts as He likes to
favor His devotees. This is only possible for Him, because He is the supreme
controller. People in general should follow the instructions of Lord Kṛṣṇa as given in the Bhagavad-gītā and should not
even imagine imitating Lord Kṛṣṇa
in the rāsa dance.
Kṛṣṇa's
lifting of Govardhana Hill, His killing great demons like Pūtanā and others
are all obviously extraordinary activities. Similarly, the rāsa dance is also
an uncommon activity and cannot be imitated by any ordinary man. An ordinary
person engaged in his occupational duty, like Arjuna, should execute his duty
for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa;
that is within his power. Arjuna was a fighter, and Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight for His satisfaction.
Arjuna agreed, although at first he was not willing to fight. Duties are
required for ordinary persons. They should not jump up and try to imitate Kṛṣṇa and indulge in rāsa-līlā and thus bring about
their ruin. One should know with certainty that Kṛṣṇa had no personal interest in whatever He did for
the benediction of the gopīs. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, na māṁ karmāṇi
limpanti: Kṛṣṇa never enjoys or suffers the result of His
activities. Therefore it is not possible for Him to act irreligiously. He is
transcendental to all activities and religious principles. He is untouched by
the modes of material nature. He is the supreme controller of all living
entities, either in human society, in the demigod society in heavenly
planets, or in lower forms of life. He is the supreme controller of all
living entities and of material nature; therefore, He has nothing to do with
religious or irreligious principles.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī further concludes
that the great sages and devotees, who are washed clean of all conditional
life, can move freely even within the contamination of material nature by
keeping Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead within their
hearts. In this way also they do not become subject to the laws of pleasure
and pain in the modes of material nature. How, then, is it possible for Kṛṣṇa, who appears in His own internal potency, to be
subjected to the laws of karma?
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It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone's heart, and from Him come all action, remembrance and forgetfulness. He is the original person to be known by Vedic knowledge. He is the author of Vedānta philosophy, and He knows the Vedānta philosophy perfectly well. The so-called Vedāntists and Māyāvādīs cannot understand Kṛṣṇa as He is; they simply mislead followers by imitating the actions of Kṛṣṇa in an unauthorized way. Kṛṣṇa, the Supersoul of everyone, is already within the body of everyone; therefore if He sees someone or embraces someone there is no question of impropriety.
Some ask that if Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient, why should He at all manifest pastimes with the gopīs, which are disturbing to the so-called moralists of the world? The answer is that such activities show special mercy to the fallen, conditioned souls. The gopīs are also expansions of His internal energy, but because Kṛṣṇa wanted to exhibit the rāsa-līlā, they also appeared as ordinary human beings. In the material world, pleasure is ultimately manifested in the sex attraction between man and woman. The man lives simply to be attracted by women, and the woman lives simply to be attracted by men. That is the basic principle of material life. As soon as these attractions are combined, people become more and more implicated in material existence. In order to show them special favor, Kṛṣṇa exhibited this rāsa-līlā dance. It is just to captivate the conditioned soul. Since they are very much attracted by sexology, they can enjoy the same life with Kṛṣṇa and thus become liberated from the material condition. In the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mahārāja Parīkṣit also explains that the pastimes and activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa are medicine for the conditioned souls. If they simply hear about Kṛṣṇa they become relieved from the material disease. They are addicted to material enjoyment and are accustomed to reading sex literature, but by hearing these transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs, they will be relieved from material contamination.
How they should hear and from whom is
also explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The difficulty is that the whole world is
full of Māyāvādīs, and when they become professional reciters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
and when people, without knowing the effect of the Māyāvāda philosophy, hear
from such persons, they become confused. Discussion of rāsa-līlā among people
in general is not recommended because they are affected by the Māyāvāda
philosophy, but if one who is advanced explains, and people hear from him,
certainly the hearers will be gradually elevated to the position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness
and liberated from materially contaminated life.
Another important point is that all the
gopīs who danced with Kṛṣṇa
were not in their material bodies. They danced with Kṛṣṇa in their
spiritual bodies. All their husbands thought that their wives were sleeping by
their sides. The so-called husbands of the gopīs were already enamored by the
influence of the external energy of Kṛṣṇa; so by dint of this very energy they could not
understand that their wives had gone to dance with Kṛṣṇa. What then is
the basis of accusing Kṛṣṇa of
dancing with others' wives? The bodies of the gopīs, which were their
husbands', were lying in bed, but the spiritual parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa were dancing
with Him. Kṛṣṇa is
the supreme person, the whole spirit, and He danced with the spiritual bodies
of the gopīs. There is therefore no reason to accuse Kṛṣṇa in any way.
After the rāsa dance was over, the
night turned into the brāhma-muhūrta (the night of Brahmā, a very, very long
period, as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā). The brāhma-muhūrta takes place
about one and a half hours before sunrise. It is recommended that one should
rise from bed at that time and, after finishing daily ablutions, take to
spiritual activities by performing Maṅgala-ārātrika and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This
period is very convenient for the execution of spiritual activities. When that
auspicious moment arrived, Kṛṣṇa asked the gopīs to leave. Although they were not
willing to quit His company, they were very obedient and dear to Him. As soon
as Kṛṣṇa
asked them to go home, they immediately left and returned home. Śukadeva
Gosvāmī concludes this episode of rāsa-līlā by pointing out that if a person
hears from the right source of the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who is Viṣṇu Himself, and the gopīs, who are expansions of His
energy, then he will be relieved from the most dangerous type of disease,
namely lust. If one actually hears rāsa-līlā, he will become completely freed
from the lusty desire of sex life and elevated to the highest level of
spiritual understanding. Generally, because they hear from Māyāvādīs and they
themselves are Māyāvādīs, people become more and more implicated in sex life.
The conditioned soul should hear the rāsa-līlā dance from an authorized
spiritual master and be trained by him so that he can understand the whole
situation; thus one can be elevated to the highest standard of spiritual life,
otherwise one will be implicated. Material lust is a kind of heart disease, and
to cure the material heart disease of the conditioned soul, it is recommended
that one should hear, but not from the impersonalist rascals. If one hears from
the right sources with right understanding, then his situation will be
different.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī has used the word
śraddhānvita for one who is trained in the spiritual life. Śraddhā, or faith,
is the beginning. One who has developed his faith in Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
Supreme Spirit Soul, can both describe and hear. Śukadeva also uses the word
anuśṛṇuyāt. One must hear from disciplic
succession. Anu means following, and anu means always. So one must always
follow the disciplic succession and not hear from any stray professional
reciter, Māyāvādī or ordinary man. Anuśṛṇuyāt means that one must hear from an authorized
person who is in the disciplic succession and is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When a person wants to hear in
this way, then the effect will be sure. By hearing rāsa-līlā, one will be
elevated to the highest position of spiritual life.Śukadeva Gosvāmī uses two specific words, bhaktim and parām. Bhaktim parām means execution of devotional service above the neophyte stage. Those who are simply attracted to temple worship but do not know the philosophy of bhakti are in the neophyte stage. That sort of bhakti is not the perfectional stage. The perfectional stage of bhakti, or devotional service, is completely free from material contamination. The most dangerous aspect of contamination is lust or sex life. Bhaktim parām devotional service is so potent that the more one advances in this line, the more he loses his attraction for material life. One who is actually deriving benefit from hearing rāsa-līlā dance surely achieves the transcendental position. He surely loses all traces of lust in his heart
Śrīla Viśvanātha
Cakravartī Ṭhākur points out
that according to Bhagavad-gītā, the Brahmā day and Brahmā night are periods of
solar years expanding to 4,300,000 multiplied by 1,000. According to Viśvanātha
Cakravartī Ṭhākur, the rāsa
dance was performed during the long period of Brahmā's night, but the gopīs
could not understand that. In order to fulfill their desire, Kṛṣṇa extended the night to cover such a
great period of time. One may ask how this was possible, and Viśvanātha
Cakravartī Ṭhākur reminds us
that Kṛṣṇa, although bound by a small rope,
could show His mother the whole universe within His mouth. How was this possible?
The answer is that He can do anything for the pleasure of His devotees.
Similarly, because the gopīs wanted to enjoy Kṛṣṇa, they were given the opportunity to
associate with Him for a long period. This was done according to His promise.
When Kṛṣṇa stole the garments of the gopīs while
they were taking bath at Cirghat on Yamunā, Kṛṣṇa promised to fulfill their desire in
some future night. In one night, therefore, they enjoyed the company of Kṛṣṇa as their beloved husband, but that
night was not an ordinary night. It was a night of Brahmā, and lasted millions
and millions of years. Everything is possible for Kṛṣṇa, for He is the supreme controller.
Om
Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
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