Srimad Bhagavatam – day 743
The Rāsa-kreeda continues
Krishna Narayana
“The jingling of the bangles, waist bands, anklets and earrings became the musical accompaniments for this dance. The humming of the bees was the music for the occasion. The flowers began to slip from the braids of the Gopikas who were dancing. The Supreme Lord Srikrishna, the husband of Mother Goddess Lakshmi, thus sported with these beautiful women of Brindavan. Just as an infant plays with his own reflections in the mirror, the Supreme Lord Krishna, who is changeless and devoid of any mental perturbation, embraced them lovingly”.
When an infant comes across buckets of water, he will admire his own reflection in each bucket and will play with them all. Similarly Krishna, who is free from all mental transformations, embraced these women, who were his reflections.
In reality, there was only one Gopika and one Krishna who were holding hands. Who was the one holding the hand? It was Krishna. who was the one whose hand was held? It was Krishna. He alone existed. However, on the physical plane there was a Gopika and He was hugging her. In reality, she too was Krishna. He too was Krishna.
“He touched them all thereby filling them with excessive happiness”.
After all, in the past He had promised the saints that He would touch them and embrace them during this incarnation as Krishna. He was now fulfilling that promise.
“The Lord lovingly looked at them and laughed heartily showing His transcendental sport. Due to the touch of the Supreme Lord, the senses of these fortunate woman, the inhabitants of Gokula, were overwhelmed. The women were ecstatic. The flowers, garlands and the ornaments on their body loosened. As they were no longer conscious of their existence, they were unable to adjust their braids or their upper garments that had loosened.
The wives of the celestials who, seated in their aircrafts, were witnessing these playful sports of the Lord were smitten by love. Even the Moon, who was surrounded by star constellations, was awe-struck”.
Do not confuse the Moon with the Moon-god. We commonly address the visible Moon as Moon-god when in reality, the Moon-god is a Devata who resides in the highest celestial plane called Go-loka. This Moon-god was shocked and surprised.
“The Supreme Lord, the embodiment of completeness who revels in the Self’s bliss, was fascinated seeing the Moon-god”.
Krishna manifesting before a Gopika represents a person who is revelling in his/her inherent Self- bliss. Close your eyes and dwell in the Self. Meditate and travel inwards towards the inner Self. Abandon every material transaction and every thought. Discard every sound heard in this universe. Forget every bondage that ties you down to this plane. Forget all bodily pains and your existence. Dwell in your inherent bliss. Believe you yourself are Krishna (Self). This is exactly what took place in the forest.
Krishna merged into Krishna. The inner Self was delighting and sporting in itself. The Supreme Self was delighting in itself. Seeing this, the wives of the celestials also desired to sport with Krishna. They too desired to merge into the Lord. Could there be any fault in this desire?
“Using His illusionary energies, the Supreme Lord, who delights in His inherent bliss, took on as many forms as the number of Gopikas present there and individually sported with each of them”.
For every Gopika there was one Krishna and hence the entire area was filled with Krishnas. The truth was that there was only one Krishna and each Gopika considered herself to be alone in the forest with Him. Barring Krishna nothing in this world was visible to her and hence she was oblivious to the presence of the other Gopikas.
“The Supreme Self thus sported with each Gopika. Due to excessive sporting, the Gopikas were exhausted. Then, the ever-compassionate Supreme Lord, wiped the sweat from their faces with His cool hand”.
The Lord simultaneously wiped the sweat from the faces of the thousands of Gopikas who were exhausted due to dancing.
“The touch of the Lord’s finger nails filled the minds of the Gopikas with untold happiness. With renewed energy, they worshipped the Supreme Lord with their glittering golden earrings, their glistening cheeks which were decorated with curly locks and with their nectarous, charming gazes. When they thus worshipped Him, He was exhausted”.
When thousands of Gopikas simultaneously offered Him worship, He was exhausted. When services are offered to the Lord who is exhausted, his exhaustion only increases. If 20 people offer to simultaneously press the feet of the person who is suffering with leg-ache, what will be his condition? He will lose the ability to walk! This is the effect of excessive service. Likewise, Krishna was exhausted with these services offered.
“In order to overcome this exhaustion, the Lord then entered into the waters of Yamuna along with all the Gopikas. Swarms of bees that were humming like the Gandharva leaders, hovered around the garland of forest flowers around His neck, which was smeared with Kumkum and which had been crushed due to embracing the Gopikas”.
It can be interpreted to say that the Gandharvas had come there in the form of bees.
Krishna Srihari