Gopi Gita 2 – “You alone can free us from contamination and tribulation – please return”

[Congregation program on Bhagavatam 10.31.7-13 at Pittsburgh, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna so yesterday we discussed about the Gopi Gita which I will be continuing today so the Gopi Gita is a set of prayers offered by the Gopis to Krishna when Krishna was disappeared from them during the Rasa Leela and these prayers express the intense and pure devotion of the Gopis for Krishna through these prayers the Bhagavatam reflects at its summit the mood of separation from Krishna which permeates the whole Bhagavatam and which also reflects our present condition although our consciousness is far away from the consciousness of the Gopis the condition of separation from him is similar and in that sense we can try to appreciate these prayers so the first six prayers that I discussed yesterday talked about how Krishna Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai Krishna you are the reservoir of good fortune and even the goddess of fortune comes where you are then why are we suffering the misfortune of being separated from you and the second prayer was about how Krishna we have offered yourself completely to you and you are you are so beautiful you are the god of love and yet Shraddhodasye Sadhujatasat Sarasijodara Shreemashadrashat Suratnathate Shulkadasika Vardhanigato Nehakinvadha You who are the god of love you who are so beautiful you to whom we have offered ourselves completely without any expectation why are you subjecting us to the unbearable misery of separation from you that is as bad as death for us and then they talk about how Krishna has protected them from death so many times and their mood is Krishna please protect us now also Vishajalapayad Vyalarakshasad Varsamarutad Vaidyanthanalad Vishamayatmajad Vishvatobayad Vishvatevayam Rakshitanah Krishna on so many occasions you protected us and is it that you are going to kill us now by separating us from you please come back as we remember Krishna’s extraordinary pastimes they are reminded of the fact that Krishna is not one of them he is god Nakhalu Gopika Nandanobhavan Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadrak Vikhannasaharthito Vishvaguptaye Sakha Udayivan Sattvatam Kule Krishna you are the supreme lord who is present in the hearts of all living beings and who has descended for protecting the world so Krishna you can see our suffering and we are also a part of the world which you have descended to protect so therefore please protect us by reappearing before us and they further meditate on how Krishna is so kind to everyone Krishna you are a hero who protects people from distress and you are the lord who blesses those who are especially devoted to relieving the misery of the distress so please bless us with your hand placing it on our head please please come back Charudarshaya so here they make explicit their prayer Charudarshaya Krishna please reveal your beautiful face to us let us have darshan of you if you think we have become proud then please it is by your appearing that our pride will get destroyed so please come back now they continue on this is the 6th verse we discussed earlier yesterday so 7th verse we will start those Dehis, those embodied living beings who bow down to your lord you destroy all their sins just by offering obeisances to you their sins are destroyed so the implication is if at all the sinful contamination of pride is there in our hearts we are offering obeisances to you please destroy that and it says that how wonderful that those lotus feet which can destroy the sins of the most sinful people what are those lotus feet doing Trunacharanugam Sriniketanam those lotus feet are Sriniketanam Lakshmidevi resides in those lotus feet and yet Trunacharanugam they follow the Trunachara, those who eat grass that is the cows so Krishna is saying that Krishna you act as the caretaker of the cows but in acting as the caretaker actually they go ahead and you follow them so that lord whom the world follows in order to be relieved of its sinful reactions, that lord is following the cows how wonderful is it how extraordinary are those lotus feet which follow the cows and then here there is a sweet vision that they have padambuja lotus feet he is saying that you offer those lotus feet to Kaliya fani, fana arpitam fani is the being with the fanas being with the hoods that is Kaliya and fana arpitam he says you offer the lotus feet to Kaliya you offer the lotus feet to Kaliya you have offered your lotus feet to the hoods of Kaliya they are saying kruna koche shuna krunde ruchayam, please offer those lotus feet to our hearts we want to hold them tight, close to our hearts they are our treasure so here earlier in the same section third verse they had said about how Kaliya is not an ordinary serpent he is he is a deadly serpent that actually he was so poisonous that he had made the whole lake and the surroundings poisonous and here now in the vision of love the gopis are saying that Krishna you offered the lotus feet to Kaliya lotus feet to Kaliya actually not exactly an offering for Kaliya it does not seem like an offering it is more like a thundering just banging on his head and he couldn’t bear it so actually the gopis their relationship with Krishna is such that at one level they know that Krishna is God at another level their relationship is so sweet with him that the awareness that Krishna is God is pushed back into the background just like in the in the night we see the stars the stars are there in the day time also but we can’t see them because the sun is so bright so similarly for the gopis their love for Krishna is so bright so great that it is like the sun and the stars are like the knowledge of Krishna’s divinity, of Krishna’s greatness, so it is there but it is pushed to the background and so here we will see as the gopis move forwards in their prayers to Krishna their focus goes more and more from his divinity from his greatness to his sweetness they remember his greatness but they focus on his sweetness in fact they talk about how later on in one of the prayers they will say that actually your lotus feet are pierced by the pebbles by the thorns, by the twigs of Vrindavan and thinking that your lotus feet are pierced our heart gets pierced therefore Krishna please come back so again the point is that if Krishna, he could survive on the ferocious fangs of Kaliya whose fangs were so sharp that one bite could kill now what danger could Krishna have that Krishna have from some twigs and some pebbles and some thorns but then this is the vision of love, that the gopis they are not thinking Krishna is God, they are thinking, oh Krishna is there in the forest his tender feet will be wounded so the gopis, their love is so great that even when they see Krishna’s divinity, that knowledge of his greatness gets pushed in the background and their focus is on his sweetness and they say, oh Krishna please come back here their mood is that Krishna you please, those lotus feet that you offered to Kaliya so basically, what is the connection in this verse, they are saying that first line says that whatever sins anybody may perform those sins can be destroyed by bowing down to you and you are so merciful that you offer those lotus feet to everyone, you are offering those lotus feet to the cows you may say, the cows are not even human beings but you are offering the lotus feet to the cows and you are following them the cows may at least be considered virtuous, but then you offer those lotus feet even to Kaliya what virtue did he have he had no virtue so they are saying that Krishna, if you offer the lotus feet so liberally to everyone why don’t you offer it to us please offer those lotus feet to us, come back and bless us with those lotus feet so actually in bhakti we are unqualified but we are never disqualified we are never qualified for practising bhakti, we are never qualified for Krishna’s mercy, Krishna is so great and we are so small and yet although we are unqualified, we are never disqualified, that means we never, Krishna never disallows us from practising bhakti no matter whatever condition we are in we always keep practising bhakti Krishna opens the doors for everyone of course it is for us to walk through but Krishna never deprives anyone of the opportunity to practise bhakti and that universality by which he offers his love to his cows, he offers his mercy to Kaliya, like that Krishna is offering, Krishna offers bhakti to everyone and therefore it is in bhakti we need to feel humble, but we should not feel discouraged the two are very different things discouragement and humility are different because the focus is different when we are discouraged our focus is on our smallness, our lowliness, our sinfulness our inabilities whereas when there is humility, the focus is on Krishna’s greatness Krishna’s potency and thus a devotee can be humble without becoming discouraged and sometimes when people have inferiority complex then actually they become discouraged by that because that is not really humility the whole point of humility is that we take our consciousness of ourselves and focus it on something greater than ourselves, so inferiority complex means that our consciousness is completely fixed on ourselves I can’t do this, this person is better than me that person is better than me in that field I am not good enough so that self-centredness is something which we need to avoid, normally we think of self-centredness in a positive sense, I think I am so great I am so wealthy, I am so clever, that’s what we call as self-centred, a person is always talking about themselves but self-centredness can also be in an opposite way it can be, if I am always thinking negatively about myself, always talking negatively about myself that’s also self-centredness I am not that important, Krishna is important and in relationship with Krishna I also become important but it is, I want to focus on Krishna so the Lord and His devotees are in a transcendental relationship of love and in that relationship the devotees feel as compared to Krishna’s greatness I am nothing and therefore they want to become more and more absorbed in Krishna Krishna is so great I just want to taste His sweetness taste His glories endlessly so the devotees feeling of smallness makes the devotee want to become more and more absorbed in Krishna but when we are not Krishna conscious when we are worldly conscious then our feeling of smallness simply means that we feel insignificant we feel powerless we feel worthless we feel as if my existence doesn’t count at all so bhakti is not so much about changing our self-conception it is more about changing our reference point as long as my reference point is me or the reference point is the world then I will feel that I am better than most people if I have some special talents or I will feel I am worse than most people if I don’t have any talents but bhakti essentially means we change our reference point and our reference point becomes Krishna and therefore because Krishna is so loving we are always joyfully absorbed even when we feel humble even when we feel even when we feel ourselves very small that doesn’t discourage us the gopis are saying that Krishna give mercy even to the demoniac snake so please give mercy to us also please offer your lotus feet to us and so here they are appealing to the lord’s sense of mercy see there is no matter how, you are so potent that you can, even if there is sinful contamination of pride within us, you please appear and remove that and then after that they pray then they talk about Krishna’s beauty, personal beauty you say Krishna when you speak the speech is so sweet and the words you speak are also so loving they are so gentle some people may have a very sweet voice but with that sweet voice they may speak harsh words so some people may have like a gritty voice but they may speak very sweetly but so it is the nature of the voice and the nature of the content of what is spoken with that voice both in the case of Krishna are attractive and they are so attractive that buddha mano gaya that buddha, buddha is the wise people, even they mano gaya that they are also you conquer their conquer their hearts, you conquer their intelligences so there are two kinds of illusion, there is mahamaya and there is yogamaya in mahamaya when we fall into the illusion of mahamaya, our intelligence is defeated that means we act unintelligently we act foolishly because our intelligence is overpowered by desires whereas when we act when we act in yogamaya, our intelligence is transcended sometimes some people say that you know this Krishna bhakti it doesn’t make sense as per logic many things make sense some things may not make sense the point is that Krishna bhakti is not illogical it is translogical illogical means that which cannot stand the scrutiny of logic translogical means that before which logic can’t stand so Krishna is so intelligent that he can come completely captivate not just foolish people but even the wisest of people generally if somebody is smooth talker smooth talker is somewhat negative reference somebody talks in such a sweet way that the person deceives other people normally those who are smooth talkers they can deceive people who are not very intelligent but those who are shrewd, those who are sharp, they will not get deceived this person is smooth talker, this person is trying to fool me but if somebody by their speech can win over even those who are those who are very intelligent then we understand this person must be very attractive must be very influential so Krishna is such a person buddha manogyaya pushkarekshana as they continue describing Krishna’s beauty they say that Krishna actually you are pushkarekshana that you are lotus eyed one vidhikaririva viramuhiyateer let’s not distract ourselves now Hare Krishna let’s not distract ourselves everybody will get, no need to put it now and distract everyone trying to put it now buddha manogyaya sorry vidhikaririva viramuhiyateer so Krishna that lotus those lotus, those beautiful lips with which you speak such sweet words please come before us and speak those words with us the nectar that comes from your lips when you speak that nectar can revive those who are dead they say Krishna by speaking by coming before us speak the sweet words that you speak and thus revive us so here also again the mood is that Krishna please come back without you we are dying so please come and speak the sweet words that you so often speak so actually the same same lips that sing the, that recite the song of the flute the venu gita by which the gopis are attracted those same lips of Krishna also speak the bhagavad gita and the purpose of both is the same although in external form the object of the venu gita is the gopis and the object of the bhagavad gita is a warrior Arjuna, so externally it may appear very different but essentially the purpose of both is the same the purpose is to attract the heart to the lord so for us the gopi gita is very exalted and we cannot rush into it prematurely but the mood that that the lord’s presence will attract our hearts so buddha mano gaya actually the more we practise bhakti the more the more we just try to approach Krishna in a proper attitude and the more we will appreciate his glory so I think it was Blaise Pascal who said that a little of science takes man away from god but immersion in science brings man back to god because little of science will make us think that oh, I can explain this I can explain that, I can explain everything we humans with our intelligence can find natural laws and explain everything so why do we need god at all but if we go deep into science, we may say that ok, we have found natural laws which explain things but then the question is what explains natural laws now why should nature at all obey any particular laws so for that science itself has no exclusion why should nature act according to particular laws of mathematical precision suppose you go to a hotel and you are going to stay in the hotel and you find in that hotel the magazines that are there are all exactly the kind of magazines you like you turn on the tv and exactly the channels that you want are there, you look at the recipe and all the food that you love are there, you look at the bed, you find exactly the kind of bed you like is there and everything there is just arranged according to your liking, you say what is going on did somebody arrange all this for me if one or two things we may say just lucky, but if there are dozen things exactly according to our liking then something is going on over here so if we look at the world, the way the whole universe is arranged everything is as is needed for life to exist nowadays there is this hurricane which created so much agitation and destruction that’s sad at the same time we have to think that if the earth moves on its orbit round if the earth would move a little faster there would be tremendous hurricanes, the movement of the earth would be so much that the hurricanes would become far far more frequent if if the earth would move a little slower then the nights would become too cold and the days would become too hot if the earth were little closer to the sun again it would be too hot to live the earth would be little further away, too close to the sun so actually everything that we need for our life is there so therefore if we actually observe the science works wonderfully but it works wonderfully because nature works wonderfully and what makes nature work wonderfully? it is not human beings who make nature work wonderfully so the wonderful working of science is because of the wonderful working of nature which is because of the wonderful arrangement of God so science does not stand in contradiction to God, science stands on the foundation of God if there had been no God there could have been no science possible so I have a whole seminar on this topic to understand Krishna stand under Krishna to understand Krishna stand under Krishna so actually if we approach in a mode of humility in the wisest people will get attracted will get captivated by the wisdom of God as is given in the Bhagavad Gita and as it culminates in the revelation of the Bhagavatam the Gopis are saying Krishna you speak such sweet words please come back and revive us with the sweet words coming from your lotus lips they go on this is the verse which Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard Pratap Rudra speaking I was extremely pleased by this verse Tava Katha Amritam Tapta Jeevanam Kavi Biriditam Kalma Shapaham Shravana Mangalam Shreemadatatam Bhuvi Grunantiye Bhuridha Janaham So here the Gopis are saying that Tava Katha Amritam your Katha your glories your pastimes they are like Amrita Tapta Jeevanam our hearts are afflicted by fire our life is afflicted by fire what is this fire? this is the fire of hankering and lamentation if you look at our mental life at a physical level we may have comforts we may have facilities but if you look at our mental life we are constantly afflicted by hankering oh I am not getting that I want that when will I get that and lamentation oh this didn’t work out this person didn’t behave like this that went wrong I didn’t get that so if you look at people’s lives externally they may be very comfortable but internally they are burning burning in the fire of hankering and lamentation and in fact the more materialistic people become even if they become materially successful their desires keep increasing and their desires keep increasing their hankering and lamentation keeps increasing as long as hankering and lamentation increases then there is no peace so everybody is burning in the fire of hankering and lamentation shokagdhinasakalayonishuddhahiyamanah Prahlad Maharaj in his prayers in the 7th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam 9th chapter he says that how are people suffering they are all burning as it is said over here so how are they burning basically he says there is priya and apriya there is something which we find desirable something which we find undesirable now we want union with the desirable and we want separation from the undesirable what life does is the exact opposite it gives us union with the undesirable and separation from the desirable and what happens because of this shokagdhina we burn in the fire of lamentation we have lamentation oh why did this undesirable thing come in my life and hankering why did this desirable thing not come in my life so actually the definition of success that materialistic society provides us is very unidimensional unidimensional means successful if we get oh if you got a big house if you got a big car if you got a lot of bank balance you got all these things then you are successful and you must be happy this is only one definition of success yes we have got the things which many people desire but if we have not learnt contentment and contentment comes by spiritual growth if we have not learnt that then no matter how much we get actually whatever we get fuels our desire for more and thus the more people have instead of becoming satisfied they end up becoming dissatisfied that’s why now normal fire if it is there we may put water and extinguish it but this fire of hankering and lamentation how can it be removed it is is Krishna your glories so when we just hear about Krishna when we absorb ourselves in hearing about Krishna we realise that this hearing gives such satisfaction this hearing gives such fulfilment because it connects me with Krishna who is the source of all fulfilment as compared to that whatever I have lost or whatever I am craving for it doesn’t matter so it is suppose I am walking along a road and I see a fire not fluttering over there and I go to catch it and it flies away and I keep chasing it and it keeps going away and I keep chasing it chasing it chasing it I am not catching it or say if I am going on a road and a thief comes along and puts his hand in the pocket I have a five dollar note steals it and goes away now if that five dollar note is all that I have I will go after that thief and catch the thief but if I know I am on a path I am going to meet some some elderly relative who is going to give the inheritance to me and I am going to get five million dollars over there then this five dollar gain or five dollar loss it doesn’t matter much to me similarly as long as we are in material consciousness material gains and material losses will seem overwhelming for us but when we start connecting with Krishna we start experiencing such a deep fulfilment that that connection with Krishna that absorption in Krishna is like five million dollars so in the light of that these ups and downs they don’t matter it’s not that we become apathetic it’s not that we become careless but it is that there is careless there is careful and there is care burdened we shouldn’t be careless we shouldn’t be irresponsible we have to be careful but care burdened means we are so worried about everything that we just become paralysed we can’t do anything properly so there are when we are careless we don’t even do the things which are in our control so when we are careful we do those things which are in our control when we are care burdened we are worrying about things which are not in our control and thus we feel burdened if a student has to prepare for an exam if a student doesn’t prepare that is careless the students start thinking what will come in the exam tomorrow what will be the mood of the teacher when they check will the computer make a mistake what if other students get better marks than me and I get a poor percentile now that is not in their control thinking about that is care burdened so we need to be not careless or care burdened so the five dollars is important but as compared to five million dollars it is not there so the devotee by focussing on Krishna by connecting with Krishna through hearing about him tapta jeevanam the burning fire of angering on lamentation that is there that gets extinguished Krishna leela is like Krishna hearing about Krishna is like a nectar kavibhiriditam kalmashapaham so kavibhiriditam the wise people speak about this kavibhiriditam they transmit it why transmit it because it is not manufactured by them it is received in a tradition like when a TV is displaying something the TV is actually not producing it it is produced somewhere it is just being transmitted like the sages they are transmitting Krishna leela kalmashapaham and what does it do it destroys the kalmashapaham it destroys the contaminations in our heart and it is those contaminations which cause jeetapta jeevanam and how can they do that shreemadatatam that they are filled with auspicious power actually greater than the power to fulfil desire is the power to conquer desire greater than the power to fulfil desire is the power to conquer desire the world thinks I have my desire and I will work hard and I will fulfil this desire yes it is we all naturally as human beings as conscious beings we have desires and we work to fulfil our desires we have ambitions we pursue our ambitions but the problem is that sometimes our desires take control of us and it is not only the control of us they actually go into undesirable directions so a person may think I want to study and I want to come first in my class I want to work hard and I want to get the best employee award in my company these desires they may consume a person but there are other desires which come up there may be desire to smoke, desire to drink, desire to take drugs desire to become in the process of working become a workaholic and what happens is as long as the desire is a power that we are using we can use it constructively but once the desire gains power over us desire controls us then it can become destructive so the world glamorises the power to fulfil desire but the devotees the spiritualists they glorify the power to conquer desire and it is this power this power to conquer desire that is provided by Krishna by hearing about Krishna we learn which desires are worth pursuing and which desires are worth conquering shreemadatatam they are filled with auspicious power bhuvigranate shreemadatatam shreemadatatam shravana mangalam so by hearing about it it brings auspiciousness because they are filled with filled with great power bhuvigranate bhuridajana and those great souls travel all over the earth speaking this krishna katha they are bhuridajana they are the greatest benefactors in human society Prabhupada was such a benefactor he was himself satisfied in Vrindavan he could have just been hearing about Krishna chanting about Krishna writing his books and he could have gone on but Prabhupada travelled all over the world to share Krishna’s message with others so now this is very profound verse especially among all the verses in the Gopi Gita for our level of consciousness this is the most relevant that Krishna and those who speak about you they are very very glorious now what is the mood over here or what is the connection of this verse with the Gopis feeling of separation actually the Gopis are saying that Krishna just by speaking about you we experience your presence and when the Gopis have been separated from Krishna and they were searching for him in the forest at that time they all started enacting Krishna’s pastimes one Gopi became Kali another Gopi went on top of her another Gopi gave him another Gopi thought that she is Krishna and let’s go over there on top of her so like that they all started enacting Krishna’s pastimes and now in enacting they started speaking Krishna’s pastimes and through enacting and speaking of Krishna’s pastimes and hearing of Krishna’s pastimes and remembering of Krishna’s pastimes they experienced relief so they are saying Krishna it is you who arrange for saintly people to travel across the world and speak your glories so that the lamentation in the heart can be removed so it is you who manifest your presence and relieve people of their distress so we too oh lord are distressed so please relieve us of our distress by manifesting your presence just as you manifest your presence through your katha please manifest your presence in your personal form and by manifesting the presence in your personal form please you act as the amrit which will remove the fire that is afflicting our hearts as they move on then the Gopis speak about how the Gopis now for us Krishna Ila is something which Krishna has performed with many devotees and we remember and we try to cherish those pastimes but for the Gopis Krishna Ila is not something which Krishna has performed with someone else Krishna Ila is something which Krishna has performed with them so when they are talking about Krishna katha it is Krishna’s katha with them Krishna Ila with them so now they remember Krishna’s pastimes with them prahasitam priya premavikshanam piharanam chate dhyanamangalam rahasisam vidho yarudhisprashah kuhaknomanah shobhayanti he you see prahasitam Krishna you have such a sweet smile priya you are so dear to us and you smile so sweetly at us premavikshanam you glance at us with so much love love laid in the glance you glance at us and you fulfil our hearts premavikshanam every evening when Krishna would come back from Vrindavan from the forest of Vrindavan all the Gopas and the elderly Gopis they all would come out to greet Krishna young Gopis would go on top of their houses to the terrace and from there they would try to see and now as Narmaharaj is the king so his house was in the centre of Vraja so Krishna would go through many of the other houses near Vraja and the Gopis would go on top and they would watch and now Krishna was with Balram so all the Gopas would all the cows would come first, Krishna and Balram would come towards the end they wanted to make sure that all the cows come back safely so now as Krishna and Balram would be coming Krishna would see all the Gopis and Krishna wanted to reciprocate with the loving glances but Krishna would feel a little shy in the presence of Balramji so what he would do suddenly as he is walking Krishna would start walking very slowly and Balram would say Krishna come on we have to go home, you know Madheshwara has cooked food for us we have to eat food, I am hungry Krishna would say I am tired you go ahead so Krishna would go, Balramji would go ahead and then as soon as Balramji would go Krishna would feel liberated and then Krishna would glance at each of the Gopis and the Gopis would offer the love of their heart through their glance to Krishna and Krishna would return the love of his heart with a glance to him so prema vikshanam the Gopis are remembering how Krishna would glance so lovingly at us and not only that viharanam chade that we have performed many in past times in the forest of Vrindavan dhyana mangalam remembering them is very very auspicious so we are remembering them now rahasi samvidhau yaarudhees prushaha you know in the groves of Vrindavan we had confidential heart to heart talks with each other rahasi samvidhau, samvadh we had but it was confidential, rahasi and yaarudhees prushaha the words you spoke they touched our hearts they moved us deeply and we are remembering them kuhakano manaha shobh yantihi that that which we relish so much and we are expecting to relish much much more suddenly it’s been taken away from us shobh yantihi it’s agitating our minds for example say suppose after this programme, after this class there is prashad, there is prashad no supposition in that but suppose there is delicious prashad and there is some very delicious item so delicious that we don’t want, we just want to experience it fully, so we don’t want any other sensory perception to distract us, just close our eyes and we want to taste every morsel, say the sweet rice is there now we want to taste it we take one handful, we taste it taste it and we put our hand plate has disappeared, what happened where did the plate go we were just savouring it and suddenly it disappeared so for the gopis it was like that they came to the forest of Vrindavan to relish intimate pastime with Krishna and just as the rasalda pastime was coming to its climax and suddenly Krishna left them and went away they say kono manaha oh cheater how could you leave us like this shobh yantihi our mind is agitated by this we are unbearably agitated by this so in the path of bhakti we do get peace that we have agitating desires the previous was talking about how the heart is afflicted with fire tapta jeevanam in bhakti we do get purified of the desires which cause agitation which cause affliction but bhakti is not a state of desirelessness in the first canto of the shivamad bhagavatam it is described how in the fifth chapter narada muni tells his autobiography he tells his own story it’s not just his autobiography it is a spiritual autobiography of how he came to Krishna and he says he had one darshan of Krishna and then Krishna disappeared and he was frantic where will I see Krishna and then the lord told him that I gave you this glimpse of me so that you would have a strong desire for me and this desire will free you from all other desires so this hankering for me will purge you of all other hankerings and thus you will become purified and one day you will attain me so similarly for us in our spiritual life that sometimes we get some taste in bhakti sometimes we come to a kirtan and we feel some very sublimely sweet experience sometimes we take darshan of the lord sometimes we go to holy places and there are profound spiritual experiences that we have now those come and when they go we feel what is this I want more of this we may not be able to get it immediately because we all are in a particular circumstance but that taste we long for it more and more then what happens is that our desire gets concentrated in that so the power of desire cannot be cannot be depleted or our desire can only be directed so the process of bhakti is meant to give us some spiritual experiences by which our desire gets directed towards Krishna what does bhakti do? bhakti is a process almost like a scientific process which gives us para isha anubhav anubhav is experience isha is the lord para is transcendental so bhakti gives us experience of that lord who cannot be experienced in any other way somebody may come to a beautiful temple, magnificently decorated deities this is just some decorated statue if the bhakti is not there they will not experience Krishna but if the bhakti is there then one experiences Krishna and that experience of Krishna is so fulfilling that what happens one feels nothing nothing else is worth craving for worth longing for Krishna is what I want to long for and thus the devotee becomes absorbed in Krishna the gopis are praying here Krishna you have given us such such sweet experiences of your personal loving reciprocation with us now after giving this how can you go away oh lord how can you go away, please come back you offered us so much love and now uncharacteristically when you promised us even greater love, how can you leave us and go away like this now it requires a lot of courage to call god a cheater isn’t it no actually so he is he is a thief now that is that is within the leela with the leela he steals but that stealing is completely innocent then the gopis say you are a cheater that is actually out of love so you know there is the we speak words, there is the there is the specific words that we speak and there is the mood with which you speak the words if a boy and a girl are having a relationship the girl says to boy you don’t love me I love you now the words may be loving but the tone is not at all loving or if somebody you rascal now the word is very hard you rascal but actually the loving the mood is there so when Shila Prabhupada would use words fools and rascals it is actually with compassion it was not with condemnation and there is there additional is online which trace the meanings of words so what was the meaning of the word say in 1950 what was the word in 1975 what was the meaning of the word in 1925 what was the meaning in 1900 so like that the catholic church actually retranslates the bible every 50 years because what happens is the meanings of words change so the same word may have a different meaning so when Prabhupada learned his English in the early 1920s at that time the words fools and rascals they were just very affectionate forms of reproach so there is a conversation there is a lecture in which Prabhupada says you know devotee prays to Krishna Krishna these rascals are suffering in material existence please deliver them so there is no condemnation Prabhupada is praying for Krishna so although they are using the word cheater over here it is not out of condemnation it is out of the intensity of their affection that they are saying actually Krishna how can you do this to us you have offered us so much love how can you leave us bereaved now like this bereft like this please come back that is the mood again then nallina sundaram nathate padam shila trunam kurai sidhati tinam kalilatam manah kantagachati so chalasi yad vraja chalasi when you go chaarayantashun you go into the forests of Vrindavan for grazing the cows nallina sundaram nathate padam oh master your lotus feet they are nallina sundaram they are as beautiful they are as gentle as delicate as lotus flowers shila trunam kurai the rocks the pebbles, the twigs, the thorns in the forests of Vrindavan sidhati tinam they will cut their feet and when you think about this kalilatam manah our mind gets immensely agitated kantagachati oh lover oh lord our mind is going to unbearable agitation so in the same verse they are using the word natha and they are using the word kanta oh master and oh lover so the gopis they are somehow or the other begging Krishna come back and the mood here again is that Krishna when you go in the day time to the forests even then we think accidentally your foot accidentally your foot may fall on a thorn and it may pierce but now it is night time and now where you have gone into the deep forest we don’t know, there may be so many thorns over there and if your foot falls on a thorn and foot gets pierced we will not be able to bear it oh lord so please come back so actually the nature of love is that we always want the best for the object of our love and we don’t want the least distress for the object of our love and the gopis love for Krishna is so great that it is actually the opposite of the normal mood in which people approach God normally people approach God because I have this problem, I have that problem please solve this problem please solve that problem so so God is, there is an advertisement I saw that which said what was that something like if you have not made your insurance with us then it is time to offer your prayers so the idea is that if you have not taken any material means for protection, if you don’t have any material means for protection then you pray to God so the idea is that you have to solve problems and you can’t solve it on your own then you pray to God but the that is the normal mood in which people approach God and it is good, Krishna also says anyway people approach him, it is good he says they are pious people that’s why they are approaching me but the gopis mood is not that Krishna should solve our problems not that Krishna should remove our distress, they feel that we should remove Krishna’s distress and this is seen most famously in the past time when Krishna gets a headache now Krishna is God and in the spiritual world there is no vyadhi, there is no disease so Krishna cannot get a headache then how does Krishna get a headache actually in the spiritual world whatever is required for the enhancement of the leela is present so there is no distress that is present which is unwanted but if something is required to flavour the past time then that is present so in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that in this world we need the sun, the moon and fire for illumination Aditya gatham tejo jagad bhasete akhilam ye chandra bhasic chagunam tat tejo viddhi mamakam they illuminate the world now Krishna, this is 15.11 15.12 and then a few verses before that, 15.6 he talks about spiritual world what does he say, he doesn’t say there is no sun, moon, fire over there, he says that place is not illumined by the sun, moon and fire na tad bhasete suryo na shashanko na pavakah It is not that there is no sun, moon, fire in the spiritual world, there is no dependence on these. Everybody is effulgent and in that effulgence, everybody can see each other.
But if for the purpose of Leela, there is the cycling of time required, there is morning, evening, night, different pastimes can be performed, the sun moves in different directions and all that is present for the enhancement of Leela. So Krishna gets a headache sometimes and when he gets a headache, then what happens? Actually when Krishna gets a headache, then he tells Naraduni that I need the dust of the feet of my devotees. Now no devotee is ready to give, how can we give the dust? If our dust reaches the Lord, then we will go to hell.
So then what do the gopis do? The gopis when they hear, they actually go to Jamuna, put their feet in the Jamuna, they come out and they move their feet in the dust of Jamuna, the dust on the banks of Jamuna and they get a big cloth and they make a sack of it, take as much as you want. And now, Naraduni starts thinking, these gopis are simple village girls, they don’t know what they are doing. He said, don’t you know that Krishna is God, the dust of your feet touches their head, you will die, you will go to hell.
The gopis reply, thinking that Krishna has a headache, that thought itself is hell for us. Just the thought that Krishna is in distress, we can’t bear that. No hell can offer any suffering that is greater than the thought that our Lord is suffering.
He says, for relieving Krishna from headache for even one moment, we are ready to go to hell for all of eternity. Such is the love of the gopis. And that same loving mood is present over here.
The gopis are not saying, Krishna, you come back so that we will be relieved from suffering. Yes, that is there, actually a devotee separated from the Lord, feels afflicted by suffering. But the gopis’ mood is, Krishna, if you are away from us, your legs are being pierced and we can’t bear that, so please come back, please come back.
And in this way, through different directions, the gopis come back to that same consistent prayer, O Krishna, please come back. So as they are recollecting Krishna’s different pastimes, the previous verse talked about how when Krishna goes out in the forest and the gopis are agitated, when Krishna comes back, even then their agitation is not relieved. Why is that? So when you come back at night and the evening comes, the day gets over, you come back, we see your beautiful face, it is adorned by your locks, your locks of hair are falling on the side of your head and vanaruhananam, vibhridhavritam, vanaruhananam, your face is like the flower that grows in the tree, in the forest, that is the lotus.
So earlier they used the word jalaruhananam, now they are using vadaruhananam, the lotus sometimes grows in the water, it grows in the water, in the forest, sometimes you can say it’s growing in the water, sometimes you can say it’s, sometimes you can say it’s growing in the forest, vibhridhavritam, and your face is covered, ganarajasvalam, so actually we see that your face, they are saying is powdered, sometimes people apply powder so that they look good. So this is Krishna, the dust of Vrindavan is the powder on your face, normally if somebody’s face has dust on it, we think they don’t look attractive, you know, we tell them, you know, first clean yourself, then come back, but everything in Vrindavan is actually meant to enhance Krishna Leela. So even when the cows walk and because of their walking, dust rises, when the dust comes on Krishna’s face, it comes on his face in such a way that it enhances their beauty, it enhances his beauty.
And they say, Krishna, when we see you, what happens, ganarajasvalam, that actually everything is arranged in such a way that you actually look so much more attractive. So in the world, the conceptions of beauty are often very different, there is a saying that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Now, that means, you know, what a person will think beautiful, that will vary from person to person.
So one person will think, oh, this looks so attractive, another person will think, oh, not so attractive, what is so attractive about this person? So there is, there is subjectivity in beauty, but so if there is love, then whatever a person may be, oh, this looks so beautiful, looks so beautiful. And in school, we may have read the story of the child who was lost, he came, was coming from home and he got from school, he got lost. And then some relatives, some villagers came by and they asked, you know, where are you going? He says, I want to go home to my mother.
He says, who is your mother? He says, my mother is the most beautiful woman in the world. Oh, I said, oh, really? Then they started looking, you know, he is going from one village to another, they got all the beautiful women in the village. He says, no, no, no.
And finally, another woman, she was frantic with anxiety, she came searching, she was not very attractive. So she is my mother and he ran and embraced her. So what happened? For her, because the mother was, for him, the mother was giving love, so mother was the most beautiful woman.
So actually, when there is love, then actually everything about the object of love seems attractive. Now this can be a contamination, but this can also be an ornamentation, you know, if our love makes us completely blind and makes us do wrong things in that process, so there is love which is blind to faults and there is love which overlooks faults. So the love that is blind to faults is irrational.
You know, if there are problems with some person, we have to be aware, no. If somebody is careless about money and we give them all our money, then that is foolishness. There is love that is blind to faults, which is bad, but there is love that overlooks faults.
Everybody has faults in this world and if you want to have a loving relationship, then we need to overlook the fault that we have and we need to see the good that we have, good that the other person has. That’s the only way that love will be sustained. Otherwise, if you start seeing the faults in others, then the love will not be sustained.
So here, the Gopis, they have so much love for Krishna that even when Krishna’s face is actually covered with dust, they feel, oh, it’s so beautiful. Now, of course, in this material world, there is subjectivity. In the spiritual world also, there is subjectivity, but the spiritual subjectivity is that which enhances the devotee’s attraction for Krishna and in that sense, it takes the devotee towards the ultimate reality.
So the Gopis are saying that Krishna, when you come, you look so beautiful and desire arises in our heart, we long for your association, we long to be with you. So the point they’re saying is, Krishna, in the daytime, we are afflicted, thinking that your legs, your feet may be pierced. In the evening, when we come back also, we can only see you from a distance, we cannot perform pastimes with you.
Now, at last, we had an opportunity to be with you, and you went away. So Krishna, please come back, please don’t subject us to such a predicament, please come back. So the mood of the Gopis is that Krishna is the only person that they love.
And among all the Gopis, Radharani is the highest, you know that pastime of Radharani, when she was born, she was born with closed eyes. It was only when Krishna came in front of her, then she opened her eyes, first time. So the devotees, the Gopis want to look only at Krishna’s beauty, at no one else’s beauty.
In the Raslila, the Raslila happens in different ways, in different kalpas, and different occasions. At one time, when the Gopis were searching for Krishna, at that time, Krishna decided to take the form of Vishnu, and in the form of Vishnu, you know, he was standing. Now, the Gopis saw Vishnu from a distance, and they thought, this is a blueish complex, this may be Krishna only, something similarity is there, so they ran there, and when they saw it was Vishnu, the yogis, they perform austerities for lifetimes to get one glimpse of Vishnu, and when they get that glimpse, they are elated.
When the Gopis saw Vishnu, they were disappointed, oh, it’s only Vishnu, it’s not Krishna. So the Gopis, they felt that actually, oh, they offered obeisances to Vishnu, and they asked him, where is Krishna, and Krishna, with his two head, two arms, he just pointed in that direction, he just pointed like this, and the Gopis just ran off, and all the Gopis, the Radharani came last, and Radharani came, she asked, where is Krishna, she asked, it’s such intense love, Krishna wanted to point, but Krishna’s two hands disappeared, he wanted to point and no two hands left, and Radharani saw her Lord in front of her, so Radharani, she wants to see Krishna and Krishna alone, so the Gopis are saying, Krishna, please come back, please come back and reveal your beautiful form to us. Such is the exalted nature of the love of the Gopis for Krishna, and it is with this love that they have attained the zenith of devotion.
So we’ll take one more verse and then we’ll stop. Again they are remembering Krishna at the Gopis’ feet. That those who bow down to these lotus feet, their desires you fulfil, O Lord, and such that the lotus feet are even worshipped by Brahmaji.
They are the ornament of the earth. So, in Vrindavan, where Krishna would put his footprint, all the Gajivasis would be careful not to put any footprint on that, it was like an architectural monument to be observed, not to be touched, like that. And those who are in distress, they meditate on your attractive form, O Lord, and thus they get relief from their distress.
Those lotus feet are the source of the greatest peace, the greatest joy. Ramanasthaneshwar, O lover, O Lord, please offer those lotus feet on our hearts, please bless us with those lotus feet. And destroy our distress.
Such is the Gopis’ love for Krishna may seem to be similar to the male-female love in this world. The difference is huge. I’ll talk more about this difference tomorrow.
But the most important point is that actually the Gopis’ love for Krishna is completely Krishna-centred. It is for Krishna’s pleasure. And in the spiritual world, the normal relationships of whatever are present in the material world are there.
But they are there in purity. Here they are contaminated by the selfishness that characterises all relationships. Krishna’s Kaviraj Goswami, he differentiates between Kama and Prem by giving a very radical definition.
He says, So he says that the desire to satisfy one’s own senses is lust. The desire to satisfy Krishna’s senses is love. Now you wonder what does this mean? What it says is that actually the principle of pleasure is not rejected in the spiritual world.
And even the principle of sense pleasure is not rejected. But the point is, is the sense pleasure in connection with Krishna or is it in disconnection from Krishna? If we see, Bhakti is actually a part of sensory spirituality. There is, we see the beautiful form of Krishna, we taste the delicious prasadam, we hear the sweet music, sweet songs about Krishna.
So actually we fill our senses with Krishna. This contrasts very much with impersonal spirituality where actually it is thought that all the stimuli coming into the senses are sources of illusion, are sources of bondage and they need to be given up. But in Bhakti, the point is that all the channels from which there is perception, that perception, the same perception, the channels of perception, if they are directed towards illusion, they lead to deception.
But the same channels of perception, if they are directed towards Krishna, the supreme reality, they lead to liberation. And in fact we see the devotees, so Haridas Thakur, he is saying that Krishna your name is so sweet that one mouth is not enough. I want thousands of mouths to chant your name and millions of ears to hear your name.
So the point is that it is not that the forms or the relationships or the senses are bad. It is whether they are connecting us with Krishna or they are disconnecting us with Krishna. So for the gopis, they are connecting themselves with Krishna in every possible way and that connection with Krishna, that absorption in Krishna represents the perfection of their love.
So the difference in terms of philosophy, we will understand between Krishna lila, between Krishna’s pastimes with the gopis and the male-female interaction, that I will discuss tomorrow. But in terms of conclusion, the philosophical analysis I will do tomorrow, but in terms of conclusion, the conclusive effect, the senses of the gopis and the senses of the devotees, they are all directed towards Krishna. And if there is connection with Krishna, then that leads to elevation and liberation.
If the sense perception leads to disconnection from Krishna, that leads to deception and degradation. We are deceived by what we perceive and it leads to deception and degradation. We become degraded.
We fall into wrong activities. So for the gopis, they are saying, Krishna, you are the fulfiller of desires. What kind of desires do you fulfil? Even the desires of elevated brahminical sages like Brahmaji, the first living being, he also worships you to fulfil his desires.
And when you fulfil the desires, what happens? Actually, the heart attains the supreme peace. So right now, we are afflicted by the desire to have your association. Just as you fulfil the desires of so many living beings, please fulfil our desire.
And please, O Lord, appear before us. So in this, we discussed about how the gopis, we discussed from text 7 to 13, and the gopis talk about, first, how Krishna, your lotus feet, you destroyed the sinful reactions of those who bow down to you. You offer them to the cows by following them.
You offer them to Kaliya by dancing on him. So please offer those lotus feet to us also. So actually, we are never, we may be unqualified for bhakti, but we are never disqualified in bhakti.
So humility and discouragement are very different. Because discouragement is self-centred, focussing on our inabilities. And humility is Krishna-centred, focussing on his greatness.
And the gopis pray about how? Actually, Krishna, you speak so sweetly and you, your words can actually bewilder even the wise. So please, we are dying in separation from you. Please give the nectar from your lips and revive us.
So we discussed about how the Bhagavad Gita is also nectar coming from Krishna’s lips. And the Bhagavad Gita is actually for the supremely wise. It’s not, Krishna’s glories are not illogical, they are translogical.
Talked about how little of, little intelligence may take us away from God, little of science. But immersion science will bring us back to Krishna. So to understand Krishna, stand under Krishna.
The wonderful working of science is because of the wonderful working of nature, which is because of the wonderful arrangement of Krishna. So we see Krishna as the one who bewilders even the wise. And then talked about how? Tavakathamritam, that we are all afflicted by the fire of hankering and lamentation.
And like 5 rupee gain, 5 dollar gain and loss, when we get 5 million dollar, which is the connection with Krishna. Then this hankering and lamentation goes away. And for us as devotees, the more we hear about Krishna, the more the desires will get, will come under control.
Otherwise, no matter how much desires we fulfil, still there will be distress because of hankering and lamentation. So we find happiness not just by fulfilling our desires, but also by conquering our desires. And that power to conquer desires comes by hearing Krishna Prakash.
The Gopis are saying, Krishna, please, you know, you manifest your presence through your Katha and relieve us, relieve those who are distressed. So please similarly manifest yourself and relieve our distress. Then they talk about how Krishna, you perform sweet pastimes with us.
And this is so sweet that they deeply touched our hearts. But now you, O Cheetah, have gone away from us. So Krishna, He gives us a taste of the sweetness of bhakti.
And even if that taste doesn’t remain, if the memory of the taste remains, then that will inspire us to move on. And the desire for Krishna will purge other desires from our heart. So the Gopis are saying, we had like, just tasting sweetness suddenly disappeared.
Please come back, O Krishna. Don’t deprive us like this. And then they remember, apart from the intimate pastime they had with Krishna, what are the other pastimes? Everyday we would see you going to the forest and then we would think, Krishna, your lotus feet will be pierced by the thorns of Vrindavan.
Please come back now. That was day time. Now night time you are not going to see also.
So please come back. So normally people go to God to relieve themselves of the distresses they face. But the Gopis, they want to relieve God’s distress.
That is the exalted level of their love. The nature of love is that you just can’t tolerate any distress for the object of our love. Then the Gopis say, when you come back, so all day we are separated from you.
When you come back also, we see you and our desire for you increases. But we can’t have union with you. Now that you are coming, now please do not deprive us of that association with you.
So actually we discussed how even the dust of Vrindavan enhances Krishna’s beauty when it comes on his face. So when there is love, it makes the object of love appear beautiful. So love that is blind to false is undesirable.
But love that overlooks false is desirable. Now with respect to devotees and Krishna, Krishna is all attractive. And the more love we have, the more we are able to see his beauty.
And thus we can become absorbed in him. And lastly I discussed about how the Gopis are praying that Krishna, you are, your lotus feet, they grant the supreme satisfaction. So please give us your lotus feet.
So they are talking in terms of, you are so attractive, O Lord. Bhakti is sensory spirituality. The senses are not the problem.
Whether the senses are connecting us with Krishna or disconnecting us from Krishna, that is the real concern. And if with our senses, with our desires, with our resources we connect with Krishna, then we become elevated and liberated. So that is, that absorption in Krishna is a defining difference between Krishna, devotees relationship with Krishna and the relationship in this world where people are primarily self-absorbed, trying to fulfil their own desires through the other person.
So further exploration of the difference between the Gopis’ love for Krishna and our male-female interaction, that we will discuss in tomorrow’s class and conclude with how the Gopis’ love culminates in their fervent call for Krishna and makes Krishna come back. Just as Krishna’s playing the flute summoned the Gopis out of their homes, similarly now the Gopi singing of the Gopi Gita will summon Krishna to come back. That we will discuss in tomorrow’s class.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? We have one question, if anyone has.
Yes, sir. Yesterday we were talking about Gopis. Correct, correct.
How do the Gopis feel proud? So how can the Gopis become proud? There are different levels of understanding this. One is that Prabhupada says that even if exalted devotees like Gopis become proud, Krishna leaves them. So it is for our instruction that Krishna demonstrates that the pride is, he doesn’t like it at all.
That even he will leave exalted devotees like the Gopis. In the Anuradhana and Champu, there is another reason given for this. So actually all the Gopis, they are simply concerned with Krishna and they are concerned with loving Krishna and they are concerned with pleasing Krishna.
So they feel that among all of us, it is Radharani who loves Krishna the most. So when Krishna is with all of us, then Krishna cannot relish Radharani’s love. And Radharani’s special love for Krishna cannot be known.
So therefore, the Gopis act as if they are proud. And they act as if they are proud so that Krishna leaves all of them except Radharani. And he goes with Radharani.
And when Krishna goes with Radharani, at that time, Radharani is initially elated. Oh, Krishna is only with me. She feels overwhelmed by love.
But then she starts thinking, but what about Lalita? What about Vishaka? What will be their plight without Krishna? They will be devastated. So if they are my sakhis and if they are devastated, how can I enjoy? How can I enjoy Krishna’s devotion for myself like this? So then as Krishna is taking Radharani deep into the forest, at that time Radharani starts thinking, what should I do? So she starts acting as if she is proud. She says, Krishna, you know, I am very tired.
I cannot walk any further. So she is thinking that if I speak like this, then Krishna will slow down. And the Gopis are searching for us.
They will catch up with us. They’ll find us. But what happens? Krishna, he says, oh, because it’s a forest, Krishna acts as if he gets angry with her.
He gets displeased with her for her unsubmissiveness, for her pride. Because this is a forest and I cannot get a palanquin for you. So you climb on my shoulders and I’ll carry you.
Radharani is surprised by Krishna’s angry tone. She looks up. Krishna has disappeared.
And she is devastated. She says, Krishna, please don’t leave me and go away like this. So Kavi Karnapur describes that Krishna goes away like this.
Radharani, in her mind, she thinks about Krishna. And sometimes when we have some very important discussion with someone and we actually mentally replay the discussion. If I say this, they may say this.
I will say this and they will say this. And I’ll say this. So like that, Radharani, she actually mentally replays the whole conversation with Krishna.
Krishna says that, you know, I don’t like how you became proud. That’s why I left you. She says, no, I was not proud.
I was simply concerned about the other gopis. Krishna said, you know, I wanted to be with you. Why didn’t you thwart me? She says, no, Krishna, I also want to be with you.
I want to serve you. It’s only that I felt my sakhis would be so distressed. So Krishna says, I’m displeased by your unsubmissive behaviours.
Radharani says, Krishna, please come back. You know, I will die in separation from you. So Krishna says, you know, the other gopis are also separated from me.
They have not died. So you’ll also not die. Radharani says, no, but at least they have each other’s association.
I don’t have anyone. I’m alone. Please come back, Krishna.
So Krishna says, they’ll soon find you. I’m not coming back. Radharani says that Krishna is really not going to come back.
She swoons. And then all the sakhis come running over there. They’re searching for Krishna and they find Radharani over there.
So the point is, later on, Krishna says that he separates himself from his devotees so that he can intensify their love for him. So the separation leads to the intensification of the love. So it is for that purpose that Krishna enacts his whole pastime.
So actually the gopis don’t become proud. Nor does Krishna misunderstand and think that the gopis become proud. There are different levels of understanding this pastime.
At the innermost level, it is the sweetest reciprocation of love between Krishna and the gopis. And not just Krishna and the gopis, between the gopis and the gopis also. And it culminates in Krishna demonstrating to the world how intense is the love of the gopis.
That even when he rejects them, they don’t reject him. That even when he abandons them in a sense, all alone in the forest, the gopis don’t abandon him. Their love for him is so great that in separation from him, they attain greater absorption in him.
So the whole pastime of the gopis apparently becoming proud is meant to reveal the glory of their love to the world. So thank you very much. Shri Prabhupada ki Jai.
Yaura Bhakta Vinda ki Jai. Jai Yaura Premananda. Jai.