Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Narada Bhakti Sutra 22

tatrapi na mahatmya-jnana-vismrty-apavadah

SYNONYMS

tatra -- in that case; api -- even; na -- there is not; mahatmya -- of greatness; jnana -- of awareness; vismrti -- of forgetting; apavadah -- criticism.

TRANSLATION

Even in the case of the gopis, one cannot criticize them for forgetting the Lord's greatness.

PURPORT

Narada is replying to a possible criticism: Although all Vaisnavas praise the gopis, and though even the impersonalists join in the chorus, some philosophers think the gopis' love is uninformed. Because the gopis were attracted to Krsna as a beautiful young boy, and because they ran from their homes in the dead of night to dance with Him in the moonlit Vrndavana forest, foolish critics think the gopis did not know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The accusation against the gopis is false, says Narada. The gopis knew that Sri Krsna is the Supreme Person, but in their intimate rasa with Him they put aside the awe and reverence usually offered to the Supreme Lord. The Lord's internal potency, Yogamaya, allows loving intimacy to overshadow God's majesty. But this does not mean that pure devotees like the gopis lack spiritual advancement. Except for the gopis Krsna brought with Him from the spiritual world, all the gopis came to their position of madhurya-rasa only after many lifetimes of austerity and spiritual cultivation. Regarding the cowherd boys (gopas) who play with Krsna, the Srimad-Bhagavatam states that they attained their position "only after accumulating heaps of pious activities" in many lives. So although it may sometimes appear that the liberated devotees have forgotten that Lord Krsna is God, this is actually an arrangement by Yogamaya for increasing the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees.

For example, as Vasudeva carried his baby son Krsna across the Yamuna River, the baby fell into the river. Srila Prabhupada writes, "Just to test the intense love of Vasudeva, Lord Krsna fell down into the waters of the Yamuna while His father was crossing the river. Vasudeva became mad after his child as he tried to recover Him in the midst of the rising river" (Bhag. 3.2.17, purport). Lord Krsna did not want Vasudeva to think, "Oh, Krsna will save Himself; He's God," but He wanted to evoke the paternal rasa in full intensity. In a similar way, mother Yasoda sometimes expressed her maternal love for baby Krsna by punishing Him. And when His mother came to punish Him, Krsna reciprocated by running away in fear. Srila Prabhupada describes this apparent contradiction as follows:

The Lord's pure devotee renders service unto the Lord out of unalloyed love only, and while discharging such devotional service the pure devotee forgets the position of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord also accepts the loving service of His devotees more relishably when the service is rendered spontaneously out of pure affection, without any reverential admiration.... If mother Yasoda had been conscious of the exalted position of the Lord, she would certainly have hesitated to punish the Lord. But she was made to forget this situation because the Lord wanted to make a complete gesture of childishness before the affectionate Yasoda.... Mother Yasoda is praised for her unique position of love, for she could control even the all-powerful Lord as her beloved child. [Bhag. 1.8.31, purport]

Another prominent example is Arjuna, Krsna's friend, who accepted the infallible Lord as his chariot driver.

As for the gopis of Vraja, they often manifested deep knowledge of Krsna's divinity. But they never diminished their conjugal mood in order to become scholars or meditators. Krsna wanted to dance with the most beautiful girls in the universe, and so the gopis, His completely surrendered servants, happily complied. When Krsna called the gopis to Him in the dead of night, He first began to lecture them on morality. The gopis complained to Him about this attitude, and yet their statements indicate that they knew very well who He was. The gopis said to Krsna,

Within these three worlds there is no distinction between men and women in relation to You because both men and women belong to the marginal potency, or prakrti. No one is actually the enjoyer, or male; everyone is meant to be enjoyed by You. There is no woman within these three worlds who cannot but deviate from her path of chastity when she is attracted to You because Your beauty is so sublime that not only men and women, but cows, birds, beasts, and even trees, fruits, and flowers -- everyone and everything -- become enchanted, and what to speak of ourselves? [Krsna, p. 252]

After Lord Krsna left Vrndavana, He sent Uddhava to deliver a message to the gopis. When Uddhava saw the gopis' undying devotion for Sri Krsna, he praised their transcendental perfection:

My dear gopis, the mentality you have developed in relationship to Krsna is very, very difficult to attain, even for great sages and saintly persons. You have attained the highest perfectional stage of life. It is a great boon for you that you have fixed your minds upon Krsna and have decided to have Krsna only, giving up your family, homes, relatives, husbands, and children for the sake of the Supreme Personality. Because your minds are now fully absorbed in Krsna, the Supreme Soul, universal love has automatically developed in you. I think myself very fortunate that I have been favored, by your grace, to see you in this situation. [Krsna, p. 380]

The gopis were always impatient when either Uddhava or Krsna spoke philosophy to them, because all they wanted was to be alone with Krsna in the Vrndavana mood. So when Uddhava praised them, they did not find it very pleasing. Sometimes they even denounced Krsna's behavior, and yet they remained aware of His supreme and independent position. As one gopi said, "Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and He is self-sufficient. He has no business either with us -- the girls of Vrndavana forest -- or with the city girls in Mathura. He is the great Supersoul; He has nothing to do with any of us, either here or there" (Krsna, p. 386).

It is offensive to judge the gopis according to ordinary standards of human behavior. The intimacy Krsna allowed them is inconceivable, and no one can understand it except those who are completely free of material desires. The gopis' love is certainly beyond awe and reverence, and yet it is never mundane.

The impersonalist sometimes tries to jump on the bandwagon of praise for the gopis. He says that the gopis cannot be understood by people infected with worldly lust, but then he himself commits an even worse offense: he thinks Krsna's affairs with the gopis are "allegories that contain profound spiritual truths." Behind the Mayavadi's admiration of gopi-bhava is the desire to commit spiritual annihilation, to become one with God. In other words, the impersonalist thinks that at the last stage of perfection, a gopi will realize that her beloved Krsna is her very self. We have already pointed out the foolishness of these claims, but we do so again just to expose the impersonalist's so-called praise of krsna-lila.

By contrast, Narada Muni's praise of the gopis' devotion to Lord Krsna is upheld by all sastras and sages.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari