Chapter Four from the book Secret Truths of the Bhāgavatam, 2nd edition by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja

 

I have explained the essence of some of the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. Now I am going to tell some very secret pastimes. First of all, you should know who Kṛṣṇa is. He is not a worldly boy­friend, and Śrīmatī Rādhikā is not a worldly girlfriend. Their most elevated love is not material lust. Their love is beyond the touch of all bodily senses and even beyond the mind.

vyatītya bhāvanā-vartma
yaś camatkāra-bhāra-bhūḥ
hṛdi sattvojjvale bāḍhaṁ
svadate sa raso mataḥ

Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (5.79)

[“That which is beyond imagination, heavy with wonder and relished in the heart shining with goodness — such is known as rasa.”]

No mental speculation can touch Them. That is why Kṛṣṇa is called adhokṣaja-tattva, or aprākṛta-tattva. If we have even a seed of transcendental śraddhā (faith) and honour to hear, we can gradually understand all these truths. All kinds of lust will go away, and gradually śuddha-sattva (pure transcendence) will come. We can then realise these truths. We are not qualified to speak on them or to hear them. Still, for senior devotees I am telling something. Those who are senior must hear, and they should hear with very strong faith and honour. They should know this and then follow the process from the beginning. But they should (carefully) hear.

First, Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1)

[“Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.”]

Not only that, Kṛṣṇa is Svayam Bhagavān:

ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ
mṛḍayanti yuge yuge

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.28)

[“All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.”]

Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān Himself, Vrajendra­nandana, the ocean of rasa. He is sarva-śaktimān – all kinds of powers, seemingly contradictory to each other, are within Him. He is śakti-śaktimatayor abhedaḥ – there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His powers (Vedānta-sūtra). He is sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam – the cause of all causes; sarva śaktimān – the embodiment of infinite powers; and akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu – the complete ocean of the nectar of loving relationships. We hear this, but we have no realisation of it. We can only hear. If, after practising for many thousands of births, we realise what we have heard, then we are very, very fortunate.

Who are the gopīs? They are the vilāsa-mūrti (pastime expansions) of Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇa is one without a second. He is advaya-jñāna-para-tattva (the complete truth). All viśva-brahmāṇḍa (material worlds), all cit-jagat (transcendental worlds), and all jīva-jagat (living entities) have come from His power. There is no difference between them. Still, bheda-abheda, there is difference and non­difference. We cannot understand this with our minds. We can only understand it through our guru-paramparā.

Āmnāya-prāha. You should know what āmnāya means. Āmnāya is the authentic evidence of the Vedas, Upaniṣads, and all other scriptures, which has been accepted by our guru-paramparā. If something is called Veda but is not accepted by our paramparā, then we will reject it.

Our guru-paramparā has accepted that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is amala-pramāṇa (the immaculate evidence). Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and all śāstras are saying that all gopīs are non­-different from Kṛṣṇa. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) states ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ. They are the rūpa (form) of Kṛṣṇa. They are Kṛṣṇa Himself. Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself is Kṛṣṇa; there is no difference at all between Them. Only for vilāsa (pastimes), for relishing each other, has Kṛṣṇa divided Himself into two. Kṛṣṇa was in Vṛndāvana alone at Vaṁśī­-vaṭa, and from His left side, His very beautiful para-śakti, hlādinī-śakti, in the form of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, came out and ran towards Him with rāga (attachment).

Rā means anurāga (intense transcendental affection). Dhā means dhavati (to eagerly run very fast). So Rādhā means to eagerly run with high-class ecstatic love and emotion. She ran towards Kṛṣṇa, calling, “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!” In this way, She became Rādhā. Because She was worshipped by Kṛṣṇa Himself, Her name is also Rādhikā, but She Herself is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot imagine this, but it is stated in śāstra, so you should accept it.

What is Their love? Bhāva. Bhāva is not anything of this world. It is śuddha-sāttva, the essence of hlādinī (the transcendental pleasure potency) and saṁvit (the cognisance potency) mixed together on the platform of sandhinī (the existence potency). Without sandhinī there is no hlādinī and no saṁvit. Hlādinī and saṁvit meet on the platform of sandhinī. Rādhārāṇī Herself is Kṛṣṇa’s hlādinī potency. Why hlādinī? She always gives hlāda (pleasure) to Kṛṣṇa. Her body is made of the most elevated mahābhāva (the very essence of hlādinī, the transcendental pleasure potency). All Her organs, moods, senses, hair, eyes, and everything about Her are made of mahābhāva. Therefore, She is hlādinī.

Regarding the other gopīs, they are kāya-vyūha (bodily manifestations) of Śrīmatī Rādhikā and therefore are also one with Kṛṣṇa. You cannot imagine how they are one with Him and different from Him. Their love is mahābhāva. To have some idea of this, let us begin from bhāva, or rati. What is rati? When, by the practice of bhakti-yoga, we cross sādhana-bhakti (devotional practice), we come to the border of bhāva-bhakti. We perform sādhana-bhakti only to achieve bhāva. If we do so, it is real sādhana. If someone is chanting, remembering, and practising all the processes of bhakti, but his objective is not bhāva, and he is not thinking, “I want to attain bhāva,” then it is not sādhana. What kind of bhāva do we want? Not that of Śrīdāmā or Subala, Nanda Bābā or Yaśodā Maiyā. We want mahābhāva like that of the gopīs, and among the gopīs, only the mood of mañjarīs, such as Rūpa Mañjarī, Rati Mañjarī, and Lavaṅga Mañjarī.

When that mood enters the heart like an electric current, and the mood of the jīva becomes tadātmika (one) with that of the gopīs, it is called bhāva-bhakti. There is also something inherent in the soul’s heart, and by a combination of both – one’s own eternal inherent nature combined with the hlādinī and samvit aspects of Krsna’s svarūpa-śakti – bhāva-bhakti manifests.

In the mature stage of bhāva comes svarūpa-siddhi (the perfection of one’s constitutional position), and after svarūpa-siddhi, vastu-siddhi (the spiritual body) manifests. At that time, you will totally give up this body and take birth from the womb of a gopī. You will have to continue your practice in Vraja that is manifested in this world. In that body, prema (transcendental love) will come, but it will not come in this present body. This body cannot withstand prema. If it were to come, at once you would die, or rather, this body would die. If prema were to enter this body, it would burn at once. You can never have prema in this body. For that prema, the śuddha-sattva (purely transcendental) body is essential.

Although there may be many causes for that prema to go away, it never does.

sarvathā dhvaṁsa-rahitaṁ
saty api dhvaṁsa-kāraṇe
yad bhāva-bandhanaṁ yūnoḥ
sa premā parikīrtitaḥ

Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi

[“When the affectionate bond between a young man and a young woman can never be destroyed, even when there is every cause for the destruction of that relationship, the attachment between them is said to be pure love.”]

This means that true love does not break even when there is sufficient cause. Instead of breaking, it becomes unlimitedly more new and fresh. This is called prema. It is not like the lust of worldly persons, where after one day, two days, or some days, a man and woman marry and the next day get divorced. We claim to be friends with someone, even bosom friends, but if there is any cause for the friendship to break, that friend quickly leaves us and becomes our enemy. I know so many who used to be bosom friends and afterwards became enemies, and others who used to be enemies and became friends. This is not prema; it is not actually love.

When that pure love touches our hearts and becomes very dense, very thick, then our hearts melt, tears come to our eyes, and the many symptoms of aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva (eight kinds of transcendental transformation) manifest. It is then called sneha. Sneha thickens until it finally becomes praṇaya. Do you know what praṇaya is? It is when the lover and beloved become ‘one,’ when there is no shyness at all, no difference in their thinking. When a person goes to the bathroom, he sees himself naked in the mirror, yet feels no shyness. Similarly, in praṇaya, the lover and the beloved are like the same person; neither has shame. They do not think, for example, “This is my form, and what I see in the mirror is my reflection.” Rather (one in praṇaya thinks), “I myself am the reflection of my beloved.” Both lover and beloved are like this. You cannot imagine it, but you can hear about it.

After this, māna comes. The beloved thinks, “If I do māna, if I enter a sulky mood, my lover will certainly come and pacify me.” In this stage, praṇaya has become māna. Kṛṣṇa has to come to pacify His beloved. If He does not, He will never be able to meet Her.

After this, rāga develops, and after that, anurāga, which is nitya-navīna (ever fresh). When the beloved sees Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa sees His beloved, they think their meeting is new at that time. The beloved thinks, “Oh, I have never seen Kṛṣṇa before. Who is that black person?”

When anurāga reaches its highest stage, it is called mahābhāva. This has been described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Only if we come to this stage can we realise something of the love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and understand who Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are. Still, I am giving some glimpse, a shadow of a glimpse. I am not a realised person, but I am always thinking about this, so I am giving an idea.

What is mahābhāva? When Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa meet together, They forget Themselves. They do not know who They Themselves are and who each other is. Only ecstatic love exists, and that love controls Them both. Kṛṣṇa does not know He is Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmatī Rādhikā does not know She is Rādhikā. This mood (mahābhāva) is particularly heightened in Rādhikā, even more so than in Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the object of love, but Rādhikā is the reservoir, or the abode, of love.*

pahilehi rāga nayana-bhaṅge bhela
anudina bāḍhala, avadhi nā gela

nā so ramaṇa, nā hāma ramaṇī
duṅhu-mana manobhava peṣala jāni’

e sakhi, se-saba prema-kāhinī
kānu-ṭhāme kahabi vichurala jāni’

nā khoṅjaluṅ dūtī, nā khoṅjaluṅ ān
duṅhukeri milane madhya ta pāṅca-bāṇa

ab sohi virāga, tuṅhu bheli dūtī
su-purukha-premaki aichana rīti

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 8.194)

[“Alas, before We met there was an initial attachment between Us brought about by an exchange of glances. In this way attachment evolved. That attachment has gradually grown, and there is no limit to it. Now that attachment has become a natural sequence between Ourselves. It is not that it is due to Kṛṣṇa, the enjoyer, nor is it due to Me, for I am the enjoyed. It is not like that. This attachment was made possible by mutual meeting. This mutual exchange of attraction is known as manobhava, or Cupid. Kṛṣṇa’s mind and My mind have merged together. Now, during this time of separation, it is very difficult to explain these loving affairs. My dear friend, though Kṛṣṇa might have forgotten all these things, you can understand and bring this message to Him. But during Our first meeting there was no messenger between Us, nor did I request anyone to see Him. Indeed, Cupid’s five arrows were Our via media. Now, during this separation, that attraction has increased to another ecstatic state. My dear friend, please act as a messenger on My behalf, because if one is in love with a beautiful person, this is the consequence.”]

“There was no messenger to convey Our love. Only Our eyes were there.” High­-class rasarāja-mahābhāva manifests at that time. This has been described in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Gopī-prema, therefore, is not very easily obtained, like a rasagullā from Calcutta or Delhi. Many persons here in the West make rasagullās, but they are not like rasagullās from Vṛndāvana or Calcutta, which are like a sponge saturated in sweet juice and have a very sweet fragrance.

Now, thinking about all these things, come to Vṛndāvana. Leaving your mortal body here, leaving all kinds of moods, problems, and everything else, come with me. Let us go to Vṛndāvana, and then you can realise something. Do not remember anything worldly.

Kṛṣṇa has gone to graze the cows, and the gopīs are saying:

śrī-gopya ūcuḥ
akṣaṇvatāṁ phalam idaṁ na paraṁ vidāmaḥ
sakhyaḥ paśūn anuviveśayator vayasyaiḥ
vaktraṁ vrajeśa-sutayor anaveṇu-juṣṭaṁ
yair vā nipītam anurakta-kaṭākṣa-mokṣam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.21.7)

[“(The cowherd girls said:) O friends, those eyes that see the beautiful faces of the sons of Mahārāja Nanda are certainly fortunate. As these two sons enter the forest, surrounded by Their friends, driving the cows before Them, They hold Their flutes to Their mouths and glance lovingly upon the residents of Vṛndāvana. For those who have eyes, we think there is no greater object of vision.”]

It was vasanta ṛtū (springtime), but in Vṛndāvana, the flowers of every season were in bloom. The Yamunā was flowing very sweetly, making sounds of ka-kala-kala-kala. So many lotus flowers were blooming, their fragrance attracting the bumblebees, who were perhaps saying, “Rādhe, Rādhe, Rādhe,” in glorification. All the bumblebees had become mad.

Kṛṣṇa had taken hundreds of thousands of cows to graze, and His friends had also joined Him with hundreds and thousands of their own cows. They played and jumped, and all were calling, “Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kanhaiyā, Bhaiyā, Kanhaiyā.”

There were so many cowherd boys that you could not imagine. Here in this class, there are no more than three hundred persons, but if thousands were here, perhaps the devotees would have no place to sit. If Kṛṣṇa comes here with nine hundred thousand of Nanda Bābā’s cows, and Śrīdāmā comes with eleven hundred thousand of Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja’s cows, where would they all sit or stand? There would be no room even to stand. Where would they graze, and how could they be controlled? It would be very difficult. But the dhāma is Kṛṣṇa. It is a manifestation of Baladeva Prabhu Himself. It expands, and sometimes it contracts.

At this time, the gopīs are in their homes. There are many different groups of gopīs, and as they remember Kṛṣṇa, it is as if they are actually seeing Him. They say, “We know we have eyes, but simply having eyes is not good enough, because with these eyes, we have not taken darśana of Kṛṣṇa.”

Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva are both in the forest, and Baladeva is somewhat ahead. Kṛṣṇa is playing on His flute, His crooked eyes (side­long glances) searching for something. Many gopīs are standing here and there, performing ārati of Kṛṣṇa with their eyes, and He is accepting their ārati.

Vrajeśa-sutayor means ‘the son of Nanda Bābā.’ The gopīs say, “The eyes of those who have not seen Vrajeśa-­suta going cowherding are useless. A thunderbolt should come and punish those eyes; there is no need of them.” Vrajeśa-sutayor has another meaning. Baladeva is not the son of Nanda Bābā, but He has been supported and nourished by him. He always thinks, “My father is Nanda Bābā, not Vasudeva or anyone else; and Yaśodā is My mother.” Vrajeśa­-sutayor, therefore, as explained by Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, also means the two sons of Nanda Bābā: Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva.

There is also a deeper meaning. There are two Vrajeśas (masters of Vraja). Nanda Bābā is one, and superior to him is Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja. He is also Vrajeśa. Nanda Bābā has one son, Kṛṣṇa, and Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja has three children – two daughters and one son. Sutā, his daughter, is Rādhikā. Here, sutaś ca becomes sutayor according to the rules of Sanskrit grammar.

The deeper meaning is that the eyes that do not see Vrajeśa-sutayor (Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa) are useless. What are Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa doing? Kṛṣṇa is playing on His flute, and Baladeva has walked ahead to give Kṛṣṇa a chance to be with the gopīs. The gopīs have surrounded Kṛṣṇa, and Rādhikā has met with Him. She forcibly takes His flute, anuveṇu-juṣṭaṁ, and begins to play it. Kṛṣṇa becomes very attracted and thinks, “I cannot play as She can.” He therefore looks toward Her with a crooked, side­long glance, being very attracted by Her playing.

A sakhī says, “If one has not observed this scene, one’s eyes are useless. A thunderbolt should at once come and finish that person’s life. I do not want such a life.” The explanation of Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is very rasika. He quotes a gopī as saying, “Oh, let us go to see Kṛṣṇa. Just now, He is in the lane; we should go.”

Another sakhī says, “Do not speak so loudly. If your mother­-in-law hears, she will at once punish you.”

“Do not worry. What will she do?” the first gopī replies. “Her daughter is going there, and my mother-in-law herself is going, so I do not fear.”

“But there is reason to fear. We should not go to Kṛṣṇa.”

“Oh, let us go. We will never behold this scene again, and life is very short. If the chance to see Kṛṣṇa passes us by, we will never get that chance again, so please come. We should go and meet with Him.”

“But still, how is it possible to go?”

“Kṛṣṇa’s sweet voice and face are so beautiful that when you see Him, He will attract you, and you will give up your dhairya (patience), pati-vratā-dharma (chastity), and lajjā (shame). Then you will be desperate and quickly go to Him. Let us go there.”

Vaktraṁ vrajeśa-sutayor anaveṇu-juṣṭaṁ yair vā nipītam anurakta-kaṭākṣa-mokṣam. All the gopīs were speaking and feeling this way, as shown in many other ślokas, such as pūrṇāḥ pulindya.

pūrṇāḥ pulindya urugāya-padābja-rāga
śrī-kuṅkumena dayitā-stana-maṇḍitena
tad-darśana-smara-rujas tṛṇa-rūṣitena
limpantya ānana-kuceṣu jahus tad-ādhim

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.21.17)

[“The aborigine women of the Vṛndāvana area become disturbed by lust when they see the grass marked with reddish kuṅkuma powder. Endowed with the colour of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, this powder originally decorated the breasts of His beloveds, and when the aborigine women smear it on their faces and breasts, they feel fully satisfied and give up all their anxiety.”]

After that, in the coming śārada-­ṛtū (autumn season), Kṛṣṇa decided:

śrī-bādarāyaṇir uvāca
bhagavān api tā rātṛīḥ
śāradotphulla-mallikāḥ
vīkṣya rantuṁ manaś cakre
yoga-māyām upāśritaḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.1)

[“(Śrī Bādarāyaṇi said:) Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all opulences, yet upon seeing those autumn nights scented with blossoming jasmine flowers, He turned His mind toward loving affairs. To fulfill His purposes He employed His internal potency.”]

The gopīs had no desire; Kṛṣṇa had the desire. Bhagavān api. Kṛṣṇa is Svayam Bhagavān. He is ātmārāma (self­satisfied) and āptakāma (He has no wishes).** Yet when He remembered the gopīs, He at once remembered Yogamāyā – yoga-māyām upāśritaḥ. Yogamāyā is the power of Kṛṣṇa, an expansion of His para-śakti, and she manages everything. Where there is Yogamāyā, the material Mahāmāyā has no influence at all. In Goloka Vṛndāvana, everything is managed and controlled by Yogamāyā; Mahāmāyā has no influence. Therefore, any jīva soul who is serving Kṛṣṇa in that realm cannot forget Him and cannot fall down from there.

Rantum manaś cakre. Kṛṣṇa at once decided, “I should perform such a vilāsa (pastime), that by hearing about it, everyone will be attracted, follow the principles of bhakti-yoga, become liberated, and quickly go to Goloka Vṛndāvana.” There is no other way or process as powerful. Kṛṣṇa is very merciful, and out of His mercy, He performed this pastime.

dṛṣṭvā kumudvantam akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalaṁ
ramānanābhaṁ nava-kuṅkumāruṇam
vanaṁ ca tat-komala-gobhī rañjitaṁ
jagau kalaṁ vāma-dṛśāṁ manoharam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.3)

[“Lord Kṛṣṇa saw the unbroken disk of the full moon glowing with the red effulgence of newly applied vermilion, as if it were the face of the goddess of fortune. He also saw the kumuda lotuses opening in response to the moon’s presence and the forest gently illumined by its rays. Thus the Lord began to play sweetly on His flute, attracting the minds of the beautiful-eyed gopīs.”]

Kṛṣṇa took His flute. It was evening; the moon was golden and full, rising from the very reddish eastern horizon. Pūrva-diśā (the eastern direction) is like the moon’s beloved. It was as though by his rays, which are like his hands, the moon was taking a large quantity of gulab (pink colouring) and decorating the face of the eastern direction. Remembering this, Kṛṣṇa at once placed His flute upon His lips and jagau kalaṁ (played a very sweet tune). What was that tune? It is written in klīṁ (the seed mantra). Each gopī thought that Kṛṣṇa was calling her. Rādhā, Lalitā, and all others thought, “He is calling me only, no one else.”

The essence of the gopāla-mantra is the seed klīṁ. How? Kalam (sweetly) is a combination of the two Sanskrit letters ka and la. The fourth letter of the Sanskrit alphabet is called vāma-dṛśām. [In this śloka, it means ‘the girls with charming eyes.’] Just as the English alphabet begins with a, b, c, d, the Sanskrit alphabet begins with a, aa, i, ee. The fourth letter, ī (pronounced ee), is called vāma-dṛśām. Grammar is also here, the essence of grammar. ‘Ka’ and ‘la,’ combined with ‘ī,’ become ‘klī.’

And what is manoharam? Ultimately, Manohara is Kṛṣṇa, He who attracts the mind. That Kṛṣṇa gave part of His quality [of attracting the mind] to Candra (the moon god). Thus, the adhiṣṭātrī-devatā (predominating deity of the mind) is Candra, and that moon has now taken the shape of candra-bindu (a dot). In Sanskrit, this dot is called anusvāra, and the word klīṁ is thus completed. Upon hearing klīṁ, each and every gopī thought that Kṛṣṇa was calling her alone, and therefore, all of them came. All the gopīs assembled as though mad. If a thief has taken a person’s golden ornaments, that person will pursue the thief. Here, the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute is compared to a thief. It entered the hearts of the gopīs, took them away, and quickly returned to Kṛṣṇa with those hearts. All the gopīs followed that sound and came to Kṛṣṇa, thinking, “I alone am coming to Kṛṣṇa to get back my heart.”

niśamya gītāṁ tad anaṅga-vardhanaṁ
vraja-striyaḥ kṛṣṇa-gṛhīta-mānasāḥ
ājagmur anyonyam alakṣitodyamāḥ
sa yatra kānto java-lola-kuṇḍalāḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.4)

[“When the young women of Vṛndāvana heard Kṛṣṇa’s flute-song, which arouses romantic feelings, their minds were captivated by the Lord. They went to where their lover waited, each unknown to the others, moving so quickly that their earrings swung back and forth.”]

Charmed and seemingly mad, all of the gopīs came to Kṛṣṇa, who smiled and said, “O My dear gopīs, You are high­-class devotees. I know that you came to see this scenery of Vṛndāvana forest, and you especially came to see Me, because I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Since you have seen Me and this very beautiful Vṛndāvana, the Yamunā, and everything else, you should now return (to your homes). No chaste lady should be alone with any male person. Even if her husband is very ugly, worthless, attacked by disease, incapable, penniless, crooked or hunchbacked, a chaste lady should serve him. This is Vedic culture. I know that all of you have husbands, so you should return and serve them. If you do not do this, then you are deviating from your religious dharma and your Vedic culture, and you will have to go to hell. Certainly, you should return.” In this way, Kṛṣṇa gave many examples from the Vedas and elsewhere to explain why they should go home.

The gopīs were wondering whether Kṛṣṇa was joking or speaking seriously. One gopī said, “O Gurudeva, namaskāra to You. You are our gurudeva. I think that these high-­class elevated teachings and instructions cannot be given by anyone but You. You are really our guru. Śāstra states that first, before worshipping anyone else, one must worship gurudeva. You are our gurudeva, and so You should accept our worship. Then we will worship our husbands, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, and anyone else. If You do not accept our worship, You are breaking all the laws of dharma, and You will be responsible for the reactions, especially since You have said:

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

Bhagavad-gītā (4.11)

[“As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.”]

This means, “I must reward those who worship Me, meditate on Me, and so on, according to their qualities.”

The gopīs said, “We are serving You, and You are not accepting our worship, so You are guilty and are bound to suffer.” They said so many things that Kṛṣṇa became speechless. He could not reply. They then began to dance in rāsa and sing. Kṛṣṇa later disappeared from the rāsa dance, and all the gopīs lamented and cried bitterly. They all became totally mad. They asked the trees, creepers, animals, and the Yamunā, “Have you seen Kṛṣṇa? Have you seen Kṛṣṇa?” After that, they began to perform līlā (Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes). They became like Kṛṣṇa Himself, thinking, “I am Kṛṣṇa.” One gopī held up her cloth and said, “Oh, I am Kṛṣṇa. I am lifting Govardhana. See how I am doing it.” One gopī began to sit on the breast of another lady and exclaimed, “Oh, I am Kṛṣṇa, and she is Pūtanā. Just see how I am killing this Pūtanā.” Some gopīs were playing on a flute and saying, “Oh, how sweetly I am playing. You should see.” In this way, they were imitating Kṛṣṇa. In their total madness, they began to sing:

gopya ūcuḥ
jayati te ’dhikaṁ janmanā vrajaḥ
śrayata indirā śaśvad atra hi
dayita dṛśyatāṁ dikṣu tāvakās
tvayi dhṛtāsavas tvāṁ vicinvate

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.31.1)

[“(The gopīs said:) O beloved, Your birth in the land of Vraja has made it exceedingly glorious, and thus Indirā, the goddess of fortune, always resides here. It is only for Your sake that we, Your devoted servants, maintain our lives. We have been searching everywhere for You, so please show Yourself to us.”]

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.31.9)

[“The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.”]

One gopī is singing tava kathāmṛtaṁ. Āmṛta means ‘nectar.’ “Your pastimes and Your speech are all like nectar. If anyone feels upset because of their many problems and is burning in the forest­-fire of those problems, and if he feels so much pain in this world, he will be pacified if he hears hari-kathā. Therefore, kṛṣṇa- kathā is like āmṛta (nectar), and those who distribute this nectar are the greatest donors.” In this world, those who take Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and by distributing it give to others the kind of love and affection it describes, are surely the most charitable donors.

Some gopīs give tava kathāmṛtaṁ the opposite meaning. “Your name, Your pastimes, Your teachings, and Your words are like poison (mṛtaṁ). We realise this. We were very happy in our worldly affairs, but when we heard Your words, we became as though mad. All kinds of problems came, and now we are homeless. We no longer have even a drop of love and affection for our homes, husbands, or children. Those who preach Your glories and tell hari-kathā are enemies and are like butchers. Why? If anyone hears Your glories, he will give up his home. A husband will give up his wife, and a wife will give up her husband. They will become homeless, and like birds, they will go to live in the forest. They will weep, and they will make their whole family weep. So do not hear this. Be very careful. Those who bring Bhāgavatam here and say, ‘I will not take any fee. Come and simply hear kṛṣṇa-kathā,’ are like butchers. They will cut your affection for worldly things, and you will no longer be able to be happy in this world, so do not hear all these things.”

Different groups of gopīs are giving different meanings to the same śloka; therefore, several kinds of meanings are revealed here. Śukadeva Gosvāmī has given some idea, but Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī have explained many, many meanings. The gopīs in each group sing each śloka with a different meaning.

After the gopīs sang their gopī-gītā (song of separation), Kṛṣṇa appeared in their assembly. He looked so beautiful there, smiling but somewhat ashamed. At that time, the gopīs asked Him many questions. One gopī placed His hands on her shoulder. Someone else placed His feet on her lap, another took betelnut from His mouth, and another, from a distance, stared at Him with arrow-like sidelong glances.

The gopīs asked, “What kind of person are You? We gave up everything for You and have become homeless. We left our husbands and everything else, including even our dhairya (shyness) and dharma (religious considerations), for You. But You left us in a moment. We know that there are three kinds of persons. The first love those who love them. ‘If you love me, I love you.’ This is one kind of love. Regarding the second, even if you do not love the other person, he is so perfect that he still loves you. And the third is he who, whether one loves him or not, has no love for anyone. We think that You must be one of these three kinds of persons. Which one are You? We see that we are loving You, but You are not loving us.”

Smiling, Kṛṣṇa replied, “Listen to Me. The love of someone who only loves another if his love is reciprocated is not pure love. It is like a business relationship. Such a person loves and wants to be loved in return. This is not at all transcendental or pure love, so I am not in that group.”

“Those who love despite others not loving them are like fathers and mothers. Some sons, after becoming youths, give up their parents. Despite this, mothers and fathers have so much love and affection for their sons. Children may do something against their parents, but still, fathers and mothers always love their children without any desire for gain. This is somewhat better than the first type, as there is some real relation there, some actual love. But I am not even among these persons.”

“Regarding those who do not love anyone in this world, whether others love them or not, they are of four kinds: ātmārāma, āptakāma, akṛtajña, and guru-drohi.”

Try to understand. Those who are āptakāma require nothing. Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, or Sanaka and Sananda, for example, have no worldly desire or any other desire. They are self-­satisfied.

Those who are ātmārāma are ‘ramaṇa­(-ing)’ in their ātmā; that is, always enjoying within themselves. Kṛṣṇa is satisfied in all ways. He has no need to take from anyone else to be satisfied.

The third type of lovers are akṛtajña (ungrateful creatures), like animals. A father and mother do so many things for their children, but the children may be so ungrateful that they may give up their fathers and mothers. The guru-drohi (those inimical to their guru or superiors) will not only give them up but also cause them so many problems. He will think, “Oh, why are they not dead?” He may even shoot his father and mother, thinking them his enemies. Such persons do not understand the real situation and therefore are guru-drohi.

Kṛṣṇa continued, “I am not among any of these six types.*** I am your beloved, and all of you are My beloved. I disappeared only to increase your love.”

By chance, a very poor man may obtain a cintāmaṇi (touchstone), but being unaware of its value, he may neglect it. Another person, aware of its value, may steal it. While the owner searches for it, someone may ask him, “What are you searching for?”

“I am trying to find that stone. It was very beautiful, and someone has taken it.”

“Oh, that was not an ordinary stone; it was a cintāmaṇi. It can give you everything you desire.”

The owner would then weep. “I have lost that priceless thing.”

So Kṛṣṇa said, “First I came to you, and then I disappeared. This was only to increase your love and affection for Me, to bring you nearer and nearer to Me. You are My beloveds, and I am your beloved. I cannot repay you for your love in hundreds of thousands of births.”

na pāraye ’haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ
sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ
yā mābhajan durjara-geha-śṛṅkhalāḥ
saṁvṛścya tad vaḥ pratiyātu sādhunā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.32.22)

[“I am not able to repay My debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahmā. Your connection with Me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped Me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation.”]

The gopīs are not sādhakas (practising devotees), and they are not siddhas (perfected devotees). Who are they? They are Kṛṣṇa Himself, the kāya-vyūha (bodily manifestations) of Rādhikā. Still, Kṛṣṇa tastes all these loving relationships with them. These are not ordinary things; they are all transcendental – more than transcendental.

This is the nature of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. Those who hear these topics and always remember these pastimes, chanting, “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare,” take the essence of all instructions given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī writes:

tan-nāma-rūpa-caritādi-sukīrtanānu-
smṛtyoḥ krameṇa rasanā-manasī niyojya
tiṣṭhan vraje tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī
kālaṁ nayed akhilam ity upadeśa-sāram

Upadeśāmṛta (8)

[“The essence of all advice is that one should utilize one’s full time – twenty-four hours a day – in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord’s divine name, transcendental form, qualities and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one’s tongue and mind. In this way one should reside in Vraja (Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma) and serve Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service.”]

By always chanting the names ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa,’ thinking of these very powerful, sweet pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, and being in Vṛndāvana under the guidance of any high­-class rasika and bhāvuka devotees, everything will be successful. This is the essence of all instruction. If you live in Vṛndāvana but only think of problems and are not under the guidance of any rasika Vaiṣṇava, then you are bound to commit offences to Vṛndāvana­-dhāma and to Vaiṣṇavas, as hundreds and thousands of persons are doing. You will give up your faith and again return to worldly life to engage in nonsense activities.

So, to chant in this way is the process. You will have to enter this process. I have given a glimpse, an outline, of these pastimes. At the end of Kṛṣṇa’s vṛndāvana-līlā, Akrūra came to take Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva to Mathurā, in order to save Their father and mother, Vasudeva and Devakī. Kaṁsa had put Vasudeva and Devakī in jail and was making them suffer so much. Sometimes he was kicking their chests, and other times greatly abusing them. Why? He wanted to know where they had kept their child. “I know He has taken birth from you, but you have sent Him away. Tell me where He is, otherwise I will kill you.” Every day, he would come and abuse them. He killed Devakī’s six sons. The seventh was transferred to Gokula in the womb of Rohiṇī, and the eighth was Kṛṣṇa, who was stealthily brought to Gokula, where He mixed into the pūrṇa (complete) Kṛṣṇa, who had taken birth from Yaśodā’s womb.

Kaṁsa realised, “We sent so many demons to kill Kṛṣṇa in Gokula and elsewhere, but they were themselves killed, never to return with any message or report, so I cannot kill Him there in Vṛndāvana. We should therefore try to invite Him here. We will worship Lord Śiva and have a dhanur-yajña (archery competition) and a very good wrestling match, and all my subjects will come from different parts of the country to see the festival.”

Akrūra was thus sent from Mathurā to Vṛndāvana, and tomorrow we will discuss what happened after that.

* This is explained in Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s translation of and commentary on Śrī Rāya Rāmānanda Saṁvāda (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 8.193):

It is Śrī Rādhā’s desire to give happiness to Śrī Kṛṣṇa continuously, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa desires to do the same for Śrī Rādhā. Neither Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the lover par excellence, nor Śrī Rādhā, the pre-­eminent beloved, is the cause of this spontaneous attraction, but it awakens just from seeing each other and turns into Cupid, who, grinding or melting Their minds together, makes Them one. Their hearts and minds, desiring only to give happiness to one another, become non-­different from each other. At that time, They become obsessed with a desire to engage in loving pastimes, and They forget all else except meeting together. In essence, at that time Śrī Kṛṣṇa forgets that He is a hero or lover, and Śrī Rādhā also loses the feeling that She is a heroine or beloved. “Se-saba prema-kāhinī – these are all topics of prema.”

** There is a subtle difference between ātmārāma and āptakāma. Ātmārāma means ‘taking pleasure in the self,’ and āptakāma means ‘not requiring any more than one already has in this world.’ One who is āptakāma is fully satisfied with what he already has.

*** An excerpt from Of Love and Separation, The True Spirit of Separation by Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, published in Rays of The Harmonist, No. 10, Summer 2002

Six kinds of unsatisfactory disciple are described in the scriptures:

alir bāṇo jyotiṣakaḥ
stabdhībhūtaḥ kimekakaḥ
preṣita-preṣakaś caiva
ṣaḍ ete sevakādhamāḥ

[“These six are: the ‘bee’ (ali), because of his fickleness; the bāṇa, who talks back, piercing his master like an arrow; the procrastinator (jyotiṣaka); the servant who is lazy and inactive (stabdhībhūta); the one who refuses to try to do anything on his own (kimekaka), and the one who passes the buck (preṣita-preṣaka).”]

All such unsatisfactory disciples (sevakādhamas) demonstrate an ignorance of the spiritual master’s divine nature by their lackadaisical attitude to service. They thus end up as offenders to the spiritual master and the Holy Name.

Source: Purebhakti.com

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Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)