How can we know that Balarama’s gopis are different from Krishna’s gopis?

Some people say that when Balaram went to Vrindavan, he performed rasa-lila with Krishna’s gopis as both of them are non-different. How do we respond to them?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
some people say that in Vrindavan Leela the Gopis of Krishna and the Gopis of Balaram are same because Krishna and Balaram are non-different is this true? answer, although Krishna and Balaram in the sense of identity and potency may be the same but in terms of Rasa and relationships they are different and especially in Vrindavan as well as in Dwarka in their manifest pastimes they always act as two persons so the scriptural basis for the non-difference for the, rather the difference of the Gopis of Krishna and the Gopis of Balaram is elaborately analyzed and established in Gopal Champu by Shilajiva Goswami so he gives multiple reasons firstly he points out that if we look at Dwarka Leela Dwarka Leela as well as Vrindavan Leela the places where Krishna and Balaram both are present so in Dwarka Leela Balaramji had his own consort it was Revati Devi and Krishna had his own queens so they are for the purpose of Leela they are two distinct persons although from a philosophical perspective they are both the supreme personality of Godhead but for the purpose of Leela they are two distinct persons and they two act in different ways and they have different set of associates instinctively so Jiyu Goswami mentions that just as Krishna and Balaram had distinct queens in Dwarka similarly they had distinct queens in Vrindavan also and in the 10th canto chapter 65 when Balaramji returns to Vrindavan there is a progressive discussion which might at first glance or cursory glance might seem to convey the idea that Balaramji performed Rasa Leela with the gopis who were feeling separation from Krishna to mitigate their sufferings but Jiyu Goswami gives several references from various sections of the Bhagavatam so primarily he gives three relevant sections and he gives several verses from those from the 10.65 itself when Balaramji first meets the gopis the gopis tell, express to him their constant longing for Krishna and they tell him that you know when is your brother our lord going to come back and this very clearly indicates that they had their own, that their devotion to Krishna was single pointed and then after that it is mentioned that again in 10.82 in the Bhagavatam when the gopis meet with Krishna in Kurukshetra at that time also Krishna this time expresses that you were single pointed undeviated in your devotion to me, was undistracted to anyone else and the same point is again made by of course there in the gopis do not explicitly say, Shukadeva Goswami says that after seeing Krishna after such a long separation they took him in their heart and embraced him to the fullest extent and then in 11.12 11th canto major section is the Uddhava Gita so 11.12 is the Uddhava Gita going on and Krishna tells Uddhava about how the gopis are single pointedly, undeviatingly devoted to him but it is also described that Balramji also performed Rashtrila with the gopis so Jiva Goswami points out that the word gopi is a generic word and he gives several sections in the 10th canto of the Bhagavatam where the word gopi is referred to, is used to refer to either to either Yashodamayi Gopya Vasidamata, this comes in first canto in Kuntibharani’s prayers 1.8.31 or it can refer to the elderly cowherd women who are also nearly the age of Yashodamayi, so the word gopi itself should not be taken as a reference always to Krishna’s gopi associates, the word gopi can refer to many persons who are basically all gopis now it is described earlier also that when Shankhachud attacks, tries to attack Krishna and Balram and that time he tries to steal away the gopis so it is clearly described that Krishna had his gopis and Balramji had his gopis and they were having their pastimes together over there so Gopal Chimpu based on the various scriptures elaborates that actually when Balramji assured the gopis that Krishna will soon come back he has to kill some demons still and after the demons are killed he will surely come back then the gopis who were devoted to Krishna they requested him that just as we are feeling separation from Krishna similarly there are many of our friends other gopis who are devoted to you and they are also feeling separation from you so please accept them then Balramji agrees to it and then with the consent of the elderly gopi the elderly members of the Vraja community a Gandharva marriage is performed between Krishna, between Balramji and his gopis. Balramji says that as long as Krishna doesn’t come back I cannot celebrate the marriage in a very big way so then in the Bhandira forest Balramji accepts all the gopis who were devoted to him and who were waiting for him and then he performs Rasleela with those gopis and when he performs Rasleela with those gopis the gopis who are devoted to Krishna they observe this pastime and by observing this pastime they get intense sphurti sphurti means very intense emotional remembrance of Krishna performing similar pastimes with them and that remembrance mitigates their grief and satisfies their heart so in this way based on a proper understanding of the Bhagavatam narrative as given by Shri Jiva Goswami as well as a careful understanding of the principle of Rasa we can understand that the gopis who perform Rasleela with Balramji are different from the gopis who perform Rasleela with Krishna