Kṛṣṇa the Lover of the Gopīs
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada · New York · 1971
Chapters
: Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava & Purport Type: Purport Dated: July 20th 1971 Location: New York Audio file: 710720PU-NEW-YORK.mp3
Opening kirtan and sacred prayers
Prabhupāda: So you know this song Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava?
Devotees: Jaya!
Prabhupāda: So you can follow... [break] [leads singing of Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] Somebody play.
Original nature and supreme position
So this is the... [aside:] Sit down. ...original nature of Kṛṣṇa. Original nature of Kṛṣṇa. He is Rādhā-Mādhava. He is the lover of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
And kuñja-vihārī, always enjoying the company of the gopīs within the bushes of Vṛndāvana forest. Rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī.
So He's not only lover of Rādhārāṇī, but braja-jana-vallabha. The whole residents of Vṛndāvana, they love Kṛṣṇa. They do not know anything else.
They do not know whether Kṛṣṇa is God or not; neither they are very much harassed that "I shall love Kṛṣṇa if He is God." "He may be God or He may be whatever He is—it doesn't matter—but we love God..., Kṛṣṇa." That's all.
That is called unalloyed love. "If Kṛṣṇa is God, then I shall love Him"—this is conditional love; this is not pure love.
Kṛṣṇa may be God or whatever He may be, but by His wonderful acts, the vrajavāsī, they are thinking, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, He is very wonderful child; maybe some demigod.
Maybe some demigod." Because people are generally under impression that the demigods are all-powerful. They're powerful within this material world. But they do not know that Kṛṣṇa is above all of them.
Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. The highest demigod, Brahmā, is giving his opinion: "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa."
So as the residents of Vṛndāvana, they love Kṛṣṇa without any condition, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also loves them without any condition.
Divine pastimes and loving relationships
Vraja-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī. When the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were in danger because they stopped Indra-yajña and Indra became very angry, and he sent very great, powerful cloud and rained over Vṛndāvana incessantly for seven days, so when the inhabitants became very much disturbed, Kṛṣṇa, although He was only seven-years-old boy, He saved them by lifting the Govardhana Hill.
So He taught Indradeva, demigod, that "To stop your disturbance is the business of My little finger, that's all." [chuckles] So he came down to his knees. These things you'll find in Kṛṣṇa book.
So as gopī-jana-vallabha, His only business is how to protect gopī-jana. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is how to become one of the gopī-jana. Then Kṛṣṇa will save us from any danger—even by lifting a hill or mountain.
Kṛṣṇa is so kind and so powerful. When Kṛṣṇa lifted the hill, He did not practice some yoga system. That is God.
Although He was a child, He was playing like a child, He was dealing like a child, but when there was need, He was manifesting as God. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Not that He has to go and practice some* yoga* system, then He becomes God. No. He's not that type of God, not manufactured God. He's God.
So gopī-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī. And as a child, as beloved child of Yaśodā, Yaśodā-nandana... Kṛṣṇa likes to be a child of a devotee. He wants to be chastised from His devotee father and mother.
Because everyone worships Him, nobody goes to chastise Him, so He takes pleasure when a devotee chastises Him. That is Kṛṣṇa's service.
If Kṛṣṇa takes pleasure being chastised, so the responsibility is taken by a devotee: "All right, I shall become Your father and chastise You." When Kṛṣṇa wants to fight, one of His devotee becomes Hiraṇyakaśipu and fights with Him.
So all activities of Kṛṣṇa is with His devotees. He is... Therefore, to become associate of Kṛṣṇa, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness...
Spiritual reciprocation and eternal associates
Yaśodā-nandana vraja-jana-vallabha..., vraja-jana-rañjana. His only business is how to satisfy...
As braja-jana's business is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's business is how to satisfy braja-jana. This is reciprocation of love.
Yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is wandering on the banks of Yamunā to please the gopīs, the cowherds boys, the birds, beasts, calves.
They are not ordinary birds, beasts, calves or men. They are on the top of self-realization. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ [SB 10.12.11]. After many, many lives they got that position, to play with Kṛṣṇa.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that everyone can go to Kṛṣṇaloka and become His associate, as a friend or so many other things—as a servant, as father, as mother.
And Kṛṣṇa is agreeable to any one of these proposition. These things are described very nicely in our Teachings of Lord Caitanya. So Kṛṣṇa does not go even a step from Vṛndāvana. The original Kṛṣṇa is Vṛndāvana.
That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā: BS 5.29चिंतामणि प्रकार सद्मसु कल्पवृक्षलक्ष आवृतेषु सुरभिः अभिपालयन्तम् ।लक्ष्मी सहस्र शत सम्भ्रम सेव्य मानंगोविन्दम् आदि पुरुषं तमहं भजामि ॥ २९ ॥cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhir abhipālayantamlakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁgovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiI worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.
Brahmā is accepting the Supreme Personality of Govinda, Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam: "He is engaged in playing flute."
BS 5.30वेणुं क्वणन्तम् अरविन्द दल आयत अक्षंवर्हावतंसम् असित आंबुद सुन्दर अङ्गम् ।कन्दर्प कोटि कमनीय विशेष शोभम्गोविन्दम् आदि पुरुषं तमहं भजामि ॥ ३० ॥veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam-barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgamkandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁgovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiI worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.
Benefits of practicing Krishna consciousness
So take advantage of these books, this knowledge, this prasādam, this chanting, and be happy and go to Kṛṣṇa. So nice thing. All right.
Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [devotees offer obeisances] [end]