Srimad Bhagavatam – day 726
Krishna’s advice to return home causes great anguish to the Gopikas
Narayana Krishna
Krishna continued, “Your mothers, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons will be anxiously searching for you at homes, hence please return and put their anxieties to rest. Please do not trouble them needlessly. Your husbands are troubled by your absence. Your children are wailing for you.
You have seen this beautiful grove in this forest filled with flowers on the banks of Yamuna. The Moon, with his glistening rays, perfectly illumines this forest. The tender leaves which gently sway due to cool breeze blowing from the river intensifies the beauty of the forest’.”
How minutely Maharishi Śuka describes the beauty of the forest!
Krishna continued, ‘O chaste women, kindly return to your homes without any further delay and serve your husbands. The calves and the infants who are wailing for milk need your attention. The calves that have been tied need to be released so that they can suck milk from their mothers’ udders. Your husbands are angered by your absence and perhaps are searching for you’.
The husbands were unaware that they had run away to meet Krishna and that they had been infatuated with him. The ladies would have been in a predicament if their husbands were to know this.
“Go and finish the tasks which you have left incomplete. Milk the cows. Deep love for me coupled with your pure minds being totally captivated by me has caused you to come to me. Having placed your mind totally upon me, you have come here whole-heartedly. Your arrival here is perfectly in tune with your love for me.
Who can ever describe your love for me? Having placed your mind entirely upon me, you have come here, O pure-minded beings. Your arrival is apt as it is natural for every living entity to have feelings of love towards me. Even if a husband is wicked, unlucky, lethargic, diseased, ailing, sinful, poor, a woman who seeks higher meritorious planes should never abandon him”.
It is improper on your part to abandon your husband and come to meet me. However sinful, annoying, wicked, diseased or old you husband may be, you should not abandon him, if you truly seek higher meritorious planes.
“Any woman, even though belonging to a higher class, is deprived of her reputation and of her eligibility to attain higher meritorious planes if she associates with a paramour. This worthless, insignificant happiness only causes fear and sufferings. Such association with a paramour or even looking at another man is considered repulsive. Even Devatas despise such women and bar their entry into heavens.
The love towards me which is generated by listening to my glories, looking at me, meditating upon me and glorifying me cannot be obtained by being in close proximity with me. Hence return to your homes. This is what I desire.”
Desirous of being in my company all of you have deserted your homes and rushed here. Isn’t this sheer madness on your part? Will proximity to me foster feelings of love towards me? On this calm, peaceful night, when the moon is showering his tender rays upon this garden, I sought to play my flute. Is it right on your part to abandon your chores and rush here captivated by my music? Listening to my glories, looking at my form, singing my glories and meditating upon me fosters more love towards me. Whatever be the work on hand and wherever be your location fix your mind upon me while dutifully completing your chores.
Merely by being in proximity to me, your devotion towards me will not intensify. The supreme Yoga that can be obtained by staying away from me and yet completing your duties with your mind fixed upon me; by meditating solely upon me, thinking of me and talking about me at all times cannot be obtained by being around me- implied the Lord.
“The words uttered by Govinda did not bring any cheer to the Gopikas. Although He tried to convince them, they refused to be convinced.
O King, the obstacle encountered by their most cherished desire only intensified their grief. They experienced unexplainable agony. Due to the hot breath emerging from their lips, their lower lips which were like the tender red bimba fruit, turned lustreless. Crest-fallen, they lowered their heads and began to sob uncontrollably while rubbing the ground with their toe. The tears mixed with the kohl (kajal) applied to their eyes and as they flowed down, they erased the red Kumkum powder applied to their chests. Their spirits dampened. They who ran to Him in great delight were now totally crest-fallen. Unbearable agony rendered them speechless. Like statues, they remained motionless. These Gopikas had unending love for the Lord. For Him, they had abandoned all other desires”.
They had abandoned all duties, desires and dharmas seeking the Lord.
“However, whom they had considered as their beloved had suddenly abandoned them as if He had no love for them. He had rejected their love. Their tears had turned their eyes lustreless. In some Gopikas, the eyes had swollen. Their vision blurred. In mild anger, their voices chocked and turned hoarse.
They wiped their tears and said, “O Lord, You are of firm intent. You ought not to speak so harshly to us, who have abandoned all comforts in totality to serve Your lotus feet. Deeply yearning for You, we have rejected everything and rushed here. We are no longer conscious of our body. We yearn to serve You.
Just as the Lord blesses the aspirants who deeply desire liberation, you please bless us. We seek the liberation known as your lotus feet; we seek the liberation known as your proximity. Please do not desert us O Lord.
You have said that it is the duty (swadharma) of every woman to serve her husband, his relatives and her children. You have now, in accordance to that rule, aptly advised us. Although your advice is true and faultless, O Lord, let it remain with you alone. Please do not pass on those teachings to us.”
Krishna Hare Mukunda