When the gopis were Dandakaranya sages, why does the Bhagavtam say that they had not gone on pilgrimage?
From Anuj Agarwal:
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Question from Anuj Jagarwal.
In the Bhagavatam in the 11th canto, 11.12.7, Krishna says that the Gopis have not gone to any pilgrimage place. They have not studied the Vedas. They have not devotedly executed any regular principle.
They have attained me just by my association. They have attained the highest perfection of devotional service. But we also know that the Gopis were citizens of Dandakaranya.
So, they must have been to pilgrimage places. Dandakaranya itself is a pilgrimage place. And they must have studied the Vedas also.
So, why does the Bhagavatam say like this? Answer, we shouldn’t confuse different issues over here. One is, there is a principle that is being demonstrated. And that principle is that simple devotion of the heart trumps everything else.
Simple devotion of the heart trumps all religious rituals. The religious rituals are important. But ultimately, they are meant to promote devotion of the heart.
And because the Gopis had devotion, even if they didn’t have any of the other things, it would not matter. And even if one had done the other things, but had not developed devotion, it would not matter. It would not have helped one to gain Krishna’s attention and to attain perfection of life.
So, that’s the first point. There is a principle of the superiority and supremacy of devotion to all other religious formularies that is being demonstrated by Krishna over here. If we look at the context of this in the Uddhav Gita also, that’s what Krishna is emphasizing.
Now, another point is that among the Gopis, there are many varieties of Gopis. Not all the Gopis were sages from Dandakaranya. Some Gopis were, they were Kanyas also.
They were Apsaras who were attracted to Krishna. And that’s how, by some arrangement through the gods and various channels, they entered into Krishna’s pastimes. Madhvacharya talks about these kind of Gopis also.
Then, of course, there are some Gopis who were eternal associates of the Lord who had descended from the spiritual world. So, there are Munichari Gopis, there are Rushachari Gopis, there are Nitya Siddha Gopis, there are Swarga Deva Kanyas. Then there are also Sadhana Siddha Gopis.
And there are Gopis who actually were there and they left their bodies and they attained perfection at that time over there. So, basically the point is, it’s not necessary that all the Gopis had done all the rituals. The point is that they had such extraordinary devotion that that attracted the Lord.
And the Lord gave them His special association in reciprocation with their devotion and that’s how they attained further perfection. So, the point of this verse is to emphasize that it is the mercy of the Lord which He bestows in reciprocation to sincere devotion that leads to the elevation to the perfection of life. Other rituals may be helpful, may not be helpful.
But it is devotion that is primary. Thank you. Hare Krishna.