VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 31
The Songs of the Gopîs in Separation
This chapter relates how the gopīs, overwhelmed by feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa, sat down on the bank of the Yamunā and began praying for His audience and singing His glories.
Because the gopīs had dedicated their minds and very lives to Kṛṣṇa, they were beside themselves with the transcendental pain of separation. But their crying, which appears like evidence of misery, actually shows their exalted state of transcendental bliss. As it is said, yata dekha vaiṣṇaver vyavahāra duḥkh/ niścaya jāniha sei paramānanda sukh: "Whenever one sees a Vaiṣṇava acting unhappy, one should know it for sure that he is actually experiencing the highest spiritual bliss." Thus each of the gopīs began addressing Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa according to her individual mode of ecstasy, and they all prayed for Him for His mercy.
As the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa spontaneously arose in the minds of the gopīs, they sang their song, which relieves the agony of those suffering from the burning pain of separation from Kṛṣṇa and which bestows supreme auspiciousness. They sang, "O Lord, O lover, O cheater, when we remember Your smile, Your loving glances and Your pastimes with Your boyhood friends, we become extremely agitated. Remembering Your lotus face, adorned with locks of blackish hair smeared with the dust of the cows, we become irrevocably attached to You. And when we remember how You followed the cows from forest to forest with Your tender feet, we feel great pain."
In their separation from Kṛṣṇa the gopīs considered a single moment an entire age. Even when they had previously seen Him they had found the blinking of their eyelids intolerable, for it blocked their vision of Him for a fraction of a second.
The ecstatic sentiments for Lord Kṛṣṇa that the gopīs expressed may appear like symptoms of lust, but in reality they are manifestations of their pure desire to satisfy the Supreme Lord's spiritual senses. There is not even the slightest trace of lust in these moods of the gopīs.
10.31.1
gopya ūcuḥ
dayita dṛśyatāḿ dikṣu tāvakās
(1) The gopîs said: 'By Your birth is the land of Vraja more and more glorious and does the goddess of fortune reside there perpetually; indeed o Beloved, may You be seen in all directions, You for whom Your devotees sustain their life airs in search of You.
Those who are familiar with the art of chanting Sanskrit verses will be able to appreciate the especially exquisite Sanskrit poetry of this chapter. Specifically, the poetic meter of the verses is extraordinarily beautiful, and also, for the most part, in each line the first and seventh syllables begin with the same consonant, as do the second syllables of all four lines.
10.31.2
(2) Not being here, o Finest of Grace, do You, with the beauty of Your glance - which excels the exquisite beauty of the heart of the lotus that so perfectly grew in the pond of autumn - kill us, the maidservants who gave themselves to You without expecting anything in return, o Lord of Love; isn't that murder?
10.31.3
varṣa-mārutād vaidyutānalāt
vṛṣa-mayātmajād viśvato bhayād
(3) Time and again, o Greatest Personality, have we by You been protected from all the fearsome: from perishing by the water [of Kâliya, 10.16], from the demon [Agha, 10.12], from the rains, the storm and thunderbolts [of Indra, 10.25] and from the bull and the son of Maya [the incidents with Arishthâsura and Vyomâsura which S'uka discusses later].
Here the gopīs imply, "O Kṛṣṇa, You saved us from so many terrible dangers, so now that we are dying of separation from You, won't You save us again?" Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that the gopīs mention Ariṣṭa and Vyoma because, although Kṛṣṇa had not yet killed these demons, the fact that He would kill them in the future was well known, having been predicted by the sages Garga and Bhāguri at the time of the Lord's birth.
10.31.4
(4) O Friend, indeed are You who arose in the dynasty of Your devotees [the Sâtvatas] not the son of the gopî [Yas'odâ]; Your Lordship art the seer, the inner consciousness of all embodied beings, o You who appeared on the request of Brahmâ [thus called Vikhanasâ, 'the one who digs up', see 3.8: 16 and 10.14] who was praying for the protection of the universe.
10.31.5
(5) You who took the hand of the goddess, o best of the Vrishnis, brought fearlessness to those who in the fear of their material existence approached Your feet; please, o Lover fulfilling the desires, place Your lotuslike hand on our heads.
10.31.6
(6) O Destroyer of the suffering of the inhabitants of Vraja, o Hero of the women who by His own smile defeats the false smiles of the people, please accept, o Friend, us, Your eternal maidservants; please show Your beautiful lotus face.
10.31.7
(7) You who of the embodied surrendered to You remove the sins, who is after the grazers, who art the abode of the goddess, who placed His feet on the hoods of the serpent, please put Your lotus feet on our breasts and banish the lust in our hearts.
In their appeal, the gopīs point out that Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet destroy the sins of all surrendered conditioned souls. The Lord is so merciful that He even goes out to herd the cows in the pasturing ground, and thus His lotus feet follow them about in the grass. He has offered His lotus feet to the goddess of fortune and has placed them upon the hoods of the serpent Kāliya. Therefore, considering all this, the Lord should place His lotus feet on the gopīs' breasts and satisfy their desire. That is the logic the gopīs employ here.
10.31.8
(8) O You with Your lotus eyes, of Your sweet charming voice and words so attractive to the intelligent, are these maidservants, o Hero, losing their minds; please restore us to life with the nectar of Your lips.
10.31.9
kavibhir īḍitaḿ kalmaṣāpaham
(9) Your sweet talks as described by the great thinkers do, driving away all sins, bring the wretched back to life and give, charged with spiritual power, upon being heard the spiritual benefit; o how beneficent are the persons who with song spread those talks all over the world [*].
10.31.10
(10) We are happy to meditate Your affectionate smiles of divine love, Your glances and pastimes, but the conversations in secret, which go to the heart, o deceiver, disturb our minds!
10.31.11
(11) When You leave Vraja to herd the animals, o Master, are we pained, feeling uncomfortable within, o Lover, thinking of the husks, grasses and sprouting plants sharp to Your feet that are more beautiful, o Master, than a lotus.
10.31.12
dina-parikṣaye nīla-kuntalair
vanaruhānanaḿ bibhrad āvṛtam
(12) At the end of the day showing Your bluish black locks and lotus face covered thick with dust, do You time and again bring Cupid to our minds, o Hero.
10.31.13
(13) Fulfilling the desires of those who bow down, being worshiped by the one born on the lotus [Brahmâ], being the ornament of the earth and the object proper to meditate upon in times of distress, are the lotus feet giving the highest satisfaction; so please o Lover, o Remover of the Anxiety, place Your feet upon our breasts.
10.31.14
(14) By the vibrations of Your flute increases the happiness of love and is the grief destroyed; abundantly kissed [by You] are the attachments to other persons forgotten - please, o hero, distribute to us the nectar of Your lips!
this verse is in the form of a dialogue between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa:
"The gopīs say, 'O Kṛṣṇa, You exactly resemble Dhanvantari, the best of physicians. So please give us some medicine, for we are suffering from the disease of romantic desire for You. Don't hesitate to give us the medicinal nectar of Your lips freely, without our paying a substantial price. Since You are a great hero in giving charity, You should give it without any payment, even to the most wretched persons. Consider that we are losing our life and that now You can restore us to life by giving us that nectar. After all, You have already given it to Your flute, which is simply a hollow bamboo stick.'
"Kṛṣṇa says, 'But the diet of people in this world is the bad one of attachment to wealth, followers, family and so forth. The particular medicine you've requested should not be given to those who have such a bad diet.'
" 'But this medicine makes one forget all other attachments. So wonderful is this herbal drug that it counteracts bad dietary habits. Please give that nectar to us, O hero, since You are most charitable.' "
10.31.15
jaḍa udīkṣatāḿ pakṣma-kṛd dṛśām
(15) When You go to the forest during the day becomes to those who do not see Your curling locks of hair and Your beautiful face, a single moment like an eon; and how foolish is, to the ones who were granted the vision, he [Brahmâ] who created the eyelids!
10.31.16
ativilańghya te 'nty acyutāgatāḥ
(16) Completely neglecting our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and other relatives sought we Your presence o Acyuta, You who know the reasons for our movements; o cheater, how could You abandon the women bewildered by the clear sound of Your flute in the night!
10.31.17
rahasi saḿvidaḿ hṛc-chayodayaḿ
prahasitānanaḿ prema-vīkṣaṇam
(17) Privately chatting finding the lust rising in our hearts, seeing Your smiling face and loving glances and Your broad chest that is the abode of the goddess, have our minds, madly craving, over and over been bewildered by You.
10.31.18
sva-jana-hṛd-rujāḿ yan niṣūdanam
(18) Your so tender lotus feet we place, o love, gently on our breasts afraid that the forest You roam might be rough to them; we, who consider Your Lordship our very life, are with our minds fluttering concerned for them not to suffer any harm from small pebbles and so.' [see further the S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka]
According to the ācāryas, the gopīs repeatedly entreat Lord Kṛṣṇa to place His lotus feet on their breasts. The gopīs are not victims of material lust, but rather they are absorbed in pure love of Godhead and thus want to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet by offering their beautiful breasts to Him. Materialistic persons, who are victims of mundane sex desire, will not be able to understand how these conjugal dealings take place on a pure, spiritual platform, and that is the materialists' great misfortune.
10.31.19
O dearly beloved! Your lotus feet are so soft that we place them gently on our breasts, fearing that Your feet will be hurt. Our life rests only in You. Our minds, therefore, are filled with anxiety that Your tender feet might be wounded by pebbles as You roam about on the forest path. Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Thirty-first Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Gopīs' Songs of Separation."
Canto 10
Chapter 32
Krishna Returns to the Gopîs
This chapter describes how Śrī Kṛṣṇa manifested Himself in the midst of the gopīs, who had become extremely disturbed by their separation from Him. After He consoled them, they expressed to Him their deep feelings of ecstasy.
The gopīs having shown in various ways their great eagerness to see Kṛṣṇa, the attractor of Cupid, He appeared before them wearing silken yellow garments and a beautiful flower garland. Some of the gopīs, overwhelmed with ecstasy at seeing Him, grasped His hands, others placed His arm on their shoulders, and others accepted the remnants of betel nut He had chewed. Thus they served Him.
One gopī, impelled by loving anger toward Kṛṣṇa, bit her lip and looked askance at Him. Because the gopīs were so attached to Kṛṣṇa, they were not satiated even by continuously gazing at Him. One of them then placed Kṛṣṇa within her heart, closed her eyes and, embracing Him within herself again and again, became absorbed in transcendental bliss, just like a yogī. In this way the pain the gopīs had felt because of separation from the Lord was dispelled.
Next Lord Kṛṣṇa went to the bank of the Yamunā in the company of the cowherd girls, His internal potencies. The gopīs then made a seat for Kṛṣṇa out of their shawls, and after He had sat down they enjoyed with Him by gesturing amorously. The gopīs still felt hurt that Kṛṣṇa had disappeared, so He explained to them why He had done so. He further told them that He had come under the exclusive control of their loving devotion and would ever remain indebted to them.
10.32.1
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus the gopîs went on singing and speaking, endearingly crying out aloud, hankering, o King, for the audience of Krishna.
10.32.2
tāsām āvirabhūc chauriḥ
smayamāna-mukhāmbujaḥ
sākṣān manmatha-manmathaḥ
(2) The son of Vasudeva [or S'auri, 'the Son of the Hero'], the Bewilderer of [Cupid] the bewilderer of the mind, appeared directly before them smiling with His lotuslike face, wearing a yellow garment and a garland.
10.32.3
taḿ vilokyāgataḿ preṣṭhaḿ
uttasthur yugapat sarvās
(3) To see Him, their dearest, returned, opened the girls full of affection their eyes wide open and stood they all at the same time up as if life had returned to their bodies.
10.32.4
kācit karāmbujaḿ śaurer
(4) One of them joyfully seized the hand of S'auri with her folded palms while another one put His arm, adorned with sandalwood paste, around her shoulder.
10.32.5
kācid añjalināgṛhṇāt
(5) A slender one with her hands joined took the remnants of the bethel He had chewed and another one took His lotusfeet and placed them on her burning breasts.
10.32.6
ghnantīvaikṣat kaṭākṣepaiḥ
sandaṣṭa-daśana-cchadā
(6) One, with frowning eyebrows biting her lips was, beside herself in her love of God, agitated throwing sidelong looks like she would do something to Him.
10.32.7
aparānimiṣad-dṛgbhyāḿ
(7) Another one [said to be Râdhâ] with staring eyes relishing His lotus face could, although having the full taste, just like saints meditating on His feet, not get enough.
10.32.8
taḿ kācin netra-randhreṇa
pulakāńgy upaguhyāste
yogīvānanda-samplutā
(8) One of them, placed Him through the openings of her eyes in her heart and kept on embracing Him there with her eyes closed, while her hairs stood on end being drowned in ecstasy as if she was a yogi. [*]
that the seven gopīs mentioned so far in this chapter are the first seven of the eight principal gopīs, whose status allowed them to immediately approach Śrī Kṛṣṇa upon His reappearance. The ācārya quotes a verse from the Śrī Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī that gives the names of these seven as Candrāvalī, Śyāmalā, Śaibyā, Padmā, Śrī Rādhā, Lalitā and Viśākhā. The eighth is understood to be Bhadrā. Śrī Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī itself quotes a verse from the Skanda Purāṇa that declares these eight gopīs to be the principal among the three billion gopīs. Detailed information about the hierarchy of gopīs is available in Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi.
The Padma Purāṇa confirms that Śrī Rādhā is the foremost of the gopīs:
yathā rādhā priyā viṣṇos
"Just as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is most dear to Kṛṣṇa, Her bathing pond is similarly dear. Of all the gopīs, She is the most beloved of the Lord."
The Bṛhad-gautamīya-tantra also names Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī as Kṛṣṇa's foremost consort:
devī kṛṣṇa-mayī proktā
"The transcendental goddess Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the direct counterpart of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord." (This translation is Śrīla Prabhupāda's English rendering of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 4.83.)
Additional information about Śrī Rādhā is given in the Ṛg-pariśiṣṭa (the supplement to the Ṛg Veda): rādhayā mādhavo devo mādhavenaiva rādhikā/ vibhrājante janeṣu. "Among all persons, it is Śrī Rādhā in whose company Lord Mādhava is especially glorious, as She is especially glorious in His."
10.32.9
sarvās tāḥ keśavāloka-
paramotsava-nirvṛtāḥ
(9) All of them enjoying a supreme jubilation at the sight of Kes'ava gave up the distress of their separation, just like people in general do when they meet with a spiritually enlightened person.
10.32.10
tābhir vidhūta-śokābhir
vyarocatādhikaḿ tāta
(10) In the midst of them, who were fully relieved of their sorrow, appeared Acyuta, the Supreme Lord, even more brilliant, my dearest, like the Original Personality surrounded by all His transcendental potencies.
The gopīs are Lord Kṛṣṇa's internal potency, and therefore when they were relieved and happy again the Lord shone forth even more brilliantly than before, and His transcendental bliss increased. Kṛṣṇa loves the gopīs with pure transcendental love, and they love Him in the same pure way. The whole affair, conducted on the transcendental platform, is inconceivable to those bound in material existence.
10.32.11-12
surabhy-anila-ṣaṭpadam
śarac-candrāḿśu-sandoha-
(11-12) The Almighty One taking them with Him arrived at the soft sandbanks of the Yamunâ that the auspicious river had collected by the hands of her waves. There the kunda and mandâra flowers with their bees bloomed fragrant in the autumnal breeze while the moon, plentifully shining, with its rays dispelled the dark of night.
10.32.13
svair uttarīyaiḥ kuca-kuńkumāńkitair
(13) By the ecstasy of seeing Him was the pain of the desires in their heart driven away; they attained the ultimate fulfillment of their souls as is revealed by the scriptures in arranging a seat for their dear friend with their shawls that were smeared by the kunkuma of their breasts [see also 10.87: 23].
the śrutis, or personified Vedas, pray as follows:
striya uragendra-bhoga-bhuja-daṇḍa-viṣakta-dhiyo
"These women fully absorbed their minds in meditation on Lord Kṛṣṇa's powerful arms, which are like the bodies of great serpents. We want to become just like the gopīs and render service to His lotus feet." The śrutis had seen Kṛṣṇa during His appearance in the previous day of Brahmā and had become full of the most intense desire to associate with Him. Then in this kalpa they became gopīs. And since the Vedas are eternal in human society, the śrutis in this kalpa also become full of desire for Kṛṣṇa and in the next kalpa will also become gopīs.
10.32.14
yogeśvarāntar-hṛdi kalpitāsanaḥ
(14) He, the Supreme Lord and Controller, for whom the masters of Yoga arrange a seat in their hearts, seated there resplendently was, present in the assembly of the gopîs thus exhibiting His personal form, worshiped as the exclusive reservoir of all beauty and opulence in the three worlds.
The masters of mystic meditation include Lord Śiva, Ananta Śeṣa and other exalted personalities, all of whom keep the Lord seated within the lotus of their hearts. This same Lord, conquered by the intense, selfless love of the gopīs, agreed to become their boyfriend and dance with them in Vṛndāvana, after sitting upon their fragrant shawls on the bank of the Yamunā River.
10.32.15
saḿsparśanenāńka-kṛtāńghri-hastayoḥ
(15) Honoring Him, the inciter of Cupid, with smiles, with playful glances, sporting their eyebrows and massaging the feet and hands upon their laps, offered they their praise, but still being somewhat incensed they addressed Him.
10.32.16
bhajato 'nubhajanty eka
eka etad-viparyayam
(16) The fine gopîs said: 'Some answer to the love of those who respect them, some show respect [to the ones of action] while that is not the case and some are of no love for any of the two; please o dearest, tell us how it factually is.'
10.32.17
(17) The Supreme Lord said: 'Those who as friends mutually reciprocate exclusively for their own sake, are in that endeavor indeed not to the principle, not of true friendship; they are only after their own self-interest.
10.32.18
dharmo nirapavādo 'tra
(18) They who devout are of mercy with those who do not reciprocate, the way e.g. one's parents are, are faultless to the principle in this and of real friendship, o slender girls.
10.32.19
bhajanty abhajataḥ kutaḥ
(19) Some are sure not even to answer to the love of the devout; what indeed should one say of those who do not reciprocate, of the [spiritually] self-satisfied, of the ones who have all their desires fulfilled, of the ingrates and of those who are inimical towards the venerable?
Some people, being spiritually self-satisfied, do not reciprocate others' affection because they want to avoid entanglement in mundane dealings. Other persons do not reciprocate simply out of envy or arrogance. And still others fail to reciprocate because they are materially satisfied and thus uninterested in new material opportunities. Lord Kṛṣṇa patiently explains all these things to the gopīs.
10.32.20
(20) I then my friends, do not always reciprocate with those who are of worship so that their [- and your -] propensity is motivated and there with them, like with a poor man who is most afraid of losing his acquired wealth, is no thought of anything else [see also B.G. : 4.11 and 10.29: 27].
Lord Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā, ye yathā māḿ prapadyante tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: [Bg. 4.11] "As people approach Me, I reciprocate with them accordingly." Yet even if the Lord is approached by someone with devotion, to intensify the devotee's love the Lord may not immediately reciprocate fully. In fact, the Lord is truly reciprocating. After all, a sincere devotee always prays to the Lord, "Please help me to love You purely." Therefore the Lord's so-called neglect is actually the fulfillment of the devotee's prayer. Lord Kṛṣṇa intensifies our love for Him by apparently separating Himself from us, and the result is that we achieve what we really wanted and prayed for: intense love for the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa's apparent negligence is actually His thoughtful reciprocation and the fulfillment of our deepest and purest desire.
According to the ācāryas, as Lord Kṛṣṇa began to speak this verse the gopīs looked at one another with squinting eyes, trying to hide the smiles breaking out on their faces. Even as Lord Kṛṣṇa was speaking, the gopīs had begun to realize that He was bringing them to the highest perfection of loving service.
10.32.21
svānām hi vo mayy anuvṛttaye 'balāḥ
mayāparokṣaḿ bhajatā tirohitaḿ
(21) Thus with your for My sake defying of what the people, the scriptures and your relatives say vanished I, My dear girls, actually reciprocating indeed with your compliance unto Me [**]; you should therefore not grumble about your Beloved, My dear ones.
10.32.22
yā mābhajan durjara-geha-śṛńkhalāḥ
(22) Not even living as long as a god in heaven am I able to repay you who so free from deceit are worshiping Me; let that cutting with the difficult to overcome chains of your household lives be returned [be rewarded] by its own virtue.'
In conclusion, the gopīs became eternally glorious by their behavior in the Lord's temporary absence, and the mutual love between them and the Lord was wonderfully enhanced. This is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa and His loving devotees.
Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Thirty-second Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Reunion."
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