Vastra-harana-lila. Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.22.22
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2021
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Invocation and opening prayers
Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, om namo
bhagavate vasudevaya. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya, naraṁ caiva narotamaṁ, devīṁ sarasvīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Yam pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano viraha-kātara ājuhāva, putreti tanmayatayā taravo 'bhinedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi.
So we're continuing our celebration of Kartika while reading the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is a very uh important undertaking.
Uh unfortunately, I was the last one to join this program and therefore practically the only chapter which remained for me was the chapter number 22, which is entitled Krishna Steals the Gopi's Garment.
It's probably one of the most controversial chapters in the whole tenth canto.
Quite difficult to speak on because it's easy for people to uh project their material misconceptions on the spiritual realm, onto the realm of transcendence. But for my own purification, I uh take this difficult task.
So I will read the verse number 22 from this chapter, chapter twenty two, verse number twenty two. Which as a purport has excerpt
from Śrīla Prabhupāda's Kṛṣṇa Book. Pralabdas Trapayacha Hapitaha Prastobitah Kridanavacha Karitaha, Vastrani Chaiva Pakritanyatyam, Nanabyasuyan Priyasanga Nirvitaha Dridham thoroughly pralabdha chitra of the Of their shame, Cha Hapita, And Hapitaha, Deprived Prastobitaha, Laughed At Kridanavat just like the dolls the dolls cha and karitaha made to act vastrani their clothing cha and Eva Indit Apachritani stolen, Atha Api nevertheless, Amum toward him, Taha they na Abbyasuyan did not feel inimical priya of their beloved Sangha by the association nirvrithaha joyful.
Translation. Although the gopis had been thoroughly cheated, deprived of their modesty, ridiculed, and made to act just like toy dolls. And although their clothing has been stolen, had been stolen.
They did not feel at all inimical towards Sri Krishna. Rather, they were simply joyful to have this opportunity to associate with their beloved. Srila Prabhupada comments.
This attitude of the gopis is described by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he prays, my dear Lord Krishna, you may embrace me or trample me under your feet, or you may make me brokenhearted by never being present before me.
Whether you like, whatever you like, you can do because you have complete freedom to act. But in spite of all your dealings, you are my Lord eternally, and I have no other worshipable object.
This is the attitude of the Gopis toward Krishna. Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
Krishna Krishna Krishna Hari Hari Hari Rama Hari Rama Rama Rama Hari Hari tahisya Mamavachi Mamampra Supam sandjivaya ta kila shakti darah svadamna anyam shahastacharana sravanat Sri
Context of Venugita and seasonal progression
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Purāṇam amalaṁ premā pum-artho mahān śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhor matam idaṁ tatrādarō na paraḥ Matamidam Tatra Daro Na Paraham.
In the previous chapter, chapter number 21, the beautiful Venugita, the song of Krishna's flute was described.
Or rather not the song itself but the effect of the song of Krishna's flute on the living entities inhabiting Sri Vrindavan Dham. How everyone to the lowest creatures of Vrindavan was mesmerized by the song of Krishna.
And actually, this Venugita is the reflection of Gopi's love towards Krishna, which they see in every living entity. This is the main quality of Uttama Bhakta.
Uttama Bhakta, everywhere, wherever he looks, he sees his own love. He doesn't see enmity, he doesn't see hatred in this world, he doesn't see faults in this world. Everywhere he sees only love.
Because Premandjana Churita Bhakti Vilochanina Santa Sadaya Vahridayesu Vilokayandi. His eyes are anointed with the balm of love. So this beautiful 21st chapter took place during this month, Kartic months.
Actually, Silasukadev Gaswami describes the development of love according to the seasons. He makes the parallel between the different seasons and different development of love within the hearts
of sadhakas and Siddha devotees. So the gopis who were singing or glorifying this Venugit, the song of the flute, were Nitya Siddha Gopis.
They were uh somewhat elder. They were elder means they were maybe twelve years old. But they were married by that time.
And in their seclusion, by trying to hide their feelings from others, they were constantly pouring out their love by glorifying verse after verse the song of the flute of Krishna, which they heard coming into their ears from the forest of Vṛndāvana.
But then the Kartik month is over. Kartic month, as we know, is dear to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and it's actually her own manifestation. And therefore, this month is especially sacred for all Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
Other people they may or may not worship this month as much as we but we being the followers of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in particular trying to learn from her how to love Krishna we are completely uh mad after this month.
At least we are supposed to become. Whether we are mad or not, that remains to be seen. But the next month is Margashira, the first month of the cold season.
And Krishna himself says in Bhagavad-gītā in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā that among the months, among the different months of the year he is Margashira months, the next months.
As we know, Radha Krishna, first Rādhārāṇī and then after her, Krishna follows.
So his the most dear months is the months of Margashira, when the full moon day will take place, when the moon is in the constellation or Mrigashira Nakshatra, which is by the way the birth star of Srila Prabhupada.
Anyway, so the next months started and Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes event which is not logically connected with the previous event.
Because Śukadeva Gosvāmī does not describe the events of the 10th Canto of the life of Krishna according to the logical sequence or historical accuracy of the events.
He describes them according to the Bhav, the development of both or feelings towards Krishna.
Young gopis and their austerities
So the next event which he is about, or next pastime, next Lila, which he is about to describe in this 22nd chapter is the famous Vastraharana līlā.
And this Vastraharana Leela, from the very beginning, Silasukadev Gaswami says, Hemante, Pratha In the first mass of Hemanta, the first months of winter, Nandavraja Kumarikaha. Kumarika, the young unmarried girls of Vraja
of the Kingdom of Maharajananda, Cherurhavisham Bunjanaha, Katyayanyarchana Vratam. So specifically he says that the heroines of this particular chapter of this particular Lila are different gopies. They are not married.
They are considerably younger, they are maybe seven years old, not more than seven years old, and they are not Nitya Sida Gopis. That is the explanation of Acharyas in connection with this particular chapter.
And why it is important that they're not need to see the Gopis because
this is the event which describes their unripe Bhava and how Krishna brings about the bhavas even of the sadhakas, of course they are gopis, they are sadhanasdhas, they are actually very highly elevated sadhakas.
Still they are in this category.
And how Krishna brings sadhakas through different events, through difficult through the difficulties, through the tests, through unbearable difficulties, actually, in fact, completely unbearable difficulties.
How Krishna helps them and us to a certain extent, to the extent which we can bear the unbearable, to develop our feelings toward Him. So, this chapter is a good warning for all of us.
It's not at all sensuous, there is actually no not at all erotic connotations which may be conceived or may be read through by some immature readers.
But this is the chapter which warns the Sadakas about the tests which they will have to go through.
The tests which test their determination, their desire to reach the ultimate goal, how they will be tested, and what they should be prepared to go through.
Ultimately, they should be prepared to stand absolutely naked in front of God.
And symbolically it means without any material designations, without any tinge of pride, without any falsities which we may have within our heart, which we have, which every conditioned living entity has within his or her heart.
And before that, it's also interesting. Srila Prabhupada explains the austerities which actually bring gopis to this point. Even to reach this point is not easy.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains for that for the whole month gopis were eating only haviṣya, which means basically rice and dal cooked together without any spices, even without salt. Only once a day.
They gave a complete vow of uh not taking any luxuries. Which means that they would not apply any oil on this body. And we all know that the winter season is a very dry season when your skin becomes dry.
So, for one full month, gopis were performing these severe austerities, very severe for young girls, to prove their determination ultimately to achieve their goal.
It's significant for us, we have to understand that to achieve the goal
we cannot, we have to pay the price. It may not be such a high price, it may be a reasonable price, but still we have to be prepared to do some austerities.
Katyayani vrata and worship of Yoga Maya
Austerities for the sake of achieving this goal because ultimately Krishna wants to test us whether we're serious about this goal or not, whether we really want to achieve this goal or we just want to play around and be distracted in this material world and remain false lords of this material world.
Therefore, it is specifically said, catur-māsyam haviṣyāśī niyamā kṛt-vā, they were only eating this haviṣya, Kātyāyani-pūjā-vratam. So, so they were performing this Katyani vrata, and Jīva Gosvāmī, while explaining the context of this particular pastime,
he very beautifully explains what happened before. He said that these young girls in the village of Vraja, they were all madly in love with Krishna.
Even though they were not really eligible to enter into any relationship, but they were very young, but still they were praying and praying and praying.
That was the only desire in their heart, and nobody knew about this desire. They were constantly praying, I want to be married to Krishna, I want to be married to Krishna. And to whom they were praying?
They were praying to different Devatas.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains, and this is actually Rūpa Gosvāmī's opinion, that this is the sign of anurāga when the love reaches very high stage, you're ready to approach for help anyone. You're so desperate.
You just want to approach anyone. You just. It doesn't matter who he is. If he is capable of helping you, you will approach him. And sometimes you will make mistakes.
Sometimes you will try to approach somebody who is not worthy of being approached, who will not be able to help you to achieve your goal.
But still, because your goal is so pure, even if you make a mistake, this is not a mistake. You want to achieve Krishna and you beg anyone.
You go to anyone and say, please give me some love of Krishna because this is the mood of somebody whose attachment to Krishna is already very strong.
So these gopis were praying and praying and praying to different devotes, and their parents they were observing the agony of their daughters. And they were really compassionate towards their daughters.
They were saying, please don't be so severe, why you are torturing your body so much? Why are you eating so less? Why are you not taking any oil or whatever? But the young girls, they were only smiling.
And their only desire was let them not know what we want. And then uh they they couldn't sleep at night.
They didn't eat during the day and at night they slept maybe one or two hours and or sometimes they spent completely sleepless nights thinking about Krishna. Feeling totally empty and unfulfilled.
Gopis gathering at Yamuna riverbank
And at one point, on one morning, which was on the first day of this Margashira months, Himantha months, the first months of Himantha. They all went from their houses early in the morning. It was still dark.
And they all came to the same place on the bank of Yamuna. Without having any prior arrangement, they all came to the same place. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he beautifully describes the reason behind this.
He says, if people are single-minded and if they have the same desire in the heart, then the destiny itself will bring them together.
The destiny itself will help them to find each other because it's very important for people who have a very high goal to nourish each other's aspirations, to support each other in this high aspirations and in these high goals.
And therefore all the Gopis with great surprise found out that they're all in the same place.
And seeing each other with wet eyes, crying and desperate and lean and thin, austere with dry skin, they became compassionate to each other and they started asking each other: what you're here for?
What is the reason for you being here? What brought you here?
And while asking these questions, the Gopi which was asked could feel the compassion, sincere compassion in the heart of the Gopi who was asking and therefore they started revealing their hearts.
And with great surprise, they found out they all came for the same reason. And they all became completely united. Śrīla Dāsa Svāmī says that before they might have had some little, I mean rough dealings with each other.
You know, it's village after all. People are sometimes rough. But when they came together and when they revealed their hearts to each other. When they completely opened their hearts and pulled out their hearts, they
became totally joyful and all their maybe little feelings, ill feelings which were there were completely forgotten. They felt absolutely united in purpose, in the mind, in the heart.
And what happened next if you are together and if you have very strong desire?
And if you sing kīrtana and actually Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he will explain that the gopīs while going to Yamunā, they were singing beautiful kīrtanas of Kṛṣṇa's name.
So if you are together and if you have the same feelings, then the arrangement will be made to fulfill your desire. This congregational prayer is very powerful.
It's one thing if you pray in your lonely room alone, it has some power definitely depending on your sincerity.
But if like-minded people come together in and if they pray, if their prayer is the same, their minds are completely tuned up and they feel the same feeling. And they pray together, then their prayer is very powerful.
And the divine arrangement will be made to fulfill their desires.
Vrinda Devi bestows secret mantra
So while they were sitting there, pouring out their hearts and praying to the Lord together, they all of a sudden saw a young girl whom they didn't see before.
This young girl was dressed in a red cloth, and she looked very magnificent, and they came to her, and they bowed down to her, and she said, "I am Vṛndā.
Vṛndā is one aspect of yoga-māyā. We know that Pūrṇamāsī, she is Yoga-māyā, the manifestation of Krishna's internal energy, who arranges the lilas. But because Yoga Maya or Purnamasi is elderly, she cannot really too intimately deal with the amorous romantic dealings of Krishna.
Therefore, one expansion of Purnamasi is Vrindadevi. And she is the one who can fulfill this kind of desires. And she said to these girls: I will teach you one Siddha mantra, very secret mantra.
And by knowing this mantra and by knowing the appropriate procedure according to this mantra, because mantra means mantra, yantra, and tantra, these three together, for mantra to become Siddha,
for mantra to fulfill our desires, you have to have tantra, the proper procedure, how to chant this mantra and how to worship according to this mantra, and you have to have yantra, you have the object of worship.
So then on this day, on the first day of Mrigashiramans, Margashiramans, Vrindadevi whispered this secret mantra in the eyes and in the ears of Gopis.
And even though it was a secret mantra, Sukadeva Goswami revealed it to everyone.
Katyani Mahamay Mahayogi Nadhiswari Nanda Gopa Sutam Devi, O Goddess Katyani O great potency of the Lord, O possessor of great mystic power and mighty controller of all, please make the son of Nanda Maharaja my husband. I offer my obeisances to you.
So Vrinda Devi said, You worship Katyayani Devi. Every day you make a special murti of Katyayani from the sand, according to the rules of Shastra. And uh you do special puja, you offer incense and you offer flowers and you offer uh chamara and you offer clothes to uh this uh deity. But first you take snana in Yamuna, and after taking snana in Yamuna, you dress yourself, you put on your tilak, you do this puja, and you chant this mantra again and again and again and again. And this is Siddha Vidya, this mantra will definitely, definitely, 100% bring the fulfillment of your desires. If you do it in the proper mood, with the proper procedure, with all the details, if you completely follow this vrata, no doubt about it, your desires will be fulfilled.
Because Katyani Devi is Yoga Maya. Some foolish people say that girls in Vrindavana, Gopis in Vrindavana, they worship Durga Devi.
Yeah, maybe Katyayani is the name of Durga, but also in the Tantras, it is said that Katyayani is the manifestation of internal energy. And depending on our approach and our desire, you know, people they worship Durga Devi to fulfill their material desires, and people worship Yoga Maya to fulfill their spiritual desires.
Yoga Maya cannot fulfill material desires as much as Mahamaya cannot fulfill spiritual desires.
Difference between Yoga Maya and Mahamaya
So Gopis definitely they worshiped Katyayani Devi, who is the manifestation of this Yoga Maya potency.
Yoga Maya is the special energy of the Lord which arranges the meeting or the connection yoga between the soul and the Lord.
As much as Mahamaya brings about separation of the soul from the Lord, covers over the consciousness of the conditioned soul becoming the hindrance of her or his connection with the Lord.
Yoga Maya is the powerful energy of the Lord which can make totally impossible possible reconnect us with the Lord even though we may be we may turn away from him.
So they were doing this vrata, they were doing this, uh, yeah, this procedure very diligently for entire months. Thus, for entire months, the girls carried out their vows and properly worshiped the goddess Badrakali.
Fully absorbing their minds in Krishna and meditating upon the following thoughts, may the son of King Nanda become my husband.
In the next uh verse, actually the last verse which is describing what they were doing for the whole month.
And the next verse it is said, Each day they rose at dawn, calling out to one another by name, they all held hands and loudly sang the glories of Krishna while going to the Kalindi to take their bath.
This place of Astrahara Nalil is very far away from Vrindavan. It's a very secluded place, it's in Chirgat, it's a very, very far away place. And Gopis, they were walking great distance.
They wanted to make sure that they're completely alone in this place because they knew that some outside people may be the hindrance to fulfill their desires. And they wanted to be fully immersed into this, in this vrata.
This absorption in spiritual practices is a very important condition because if we're not absorbed, if we are distracted, if our minds are distracted, if we are doing too many things, too many other things, and we have too many other obligations and too many relationships with some people who may be not so deeply immersed in Krishna consciousness, it will become an obstacle on our path to fulfillment of our most cherished desires.
So each day they rose at dawn, they rose at Brahmā Muhūrta even before that, because they anyway didn't sleep, so it was not a big deal for them. They were actually looking at the watch when will be the time to go there.
And they would knock at the door of each other and they will call each other's name, and by singing beautiful songs and by holding each other's hands, they would march to this place.
You can only imagine, or probably you cannot even imagine, how beautiful this procession was, how beautiful the songs of Gopis singing in unison.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he actually in Gopāla-campū he writes the songs which Gopis sang. It is said here in this verse that while going they were deeply meditating on Krishna.
And while doing this, they were deeply meditating on Krishna. So their meditation was in the form of the song.
It's not that they were sitting in padmāsana and you know with closed eyes looking in the tip of their nose, trying to meditate on Krishna. No, this is artificial. Their meditation was completely natural.
And they were singing songs, and Silajiva Goswami writes what kind of songs they were singing. One Gopi would start singing, Oh my dear sakhī, the day will come, for sure it will come.
When Krishna will announce, well Nanda Mahārāja will announce that Krishna and you are going to be married. And then of course the friends of Krishna will
be joking at him and Krishna will be very embarrassed because you know it's a very embarrassing thing to get married.
And Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā they were completely joyful, and they will prepare different gifts for you. And uh there will be a lot of commotion in your house and everyone will know that this is going to happen.
And they're looking at each other and actually they think, you know, it's about me, but they can't say it's about me. They say, Oh my friend, it's about you. So that's their very gentle way of meditating on Krishna.
And they say that at one day the astrologer will come. And the astrologer, uh daivajña, the one who knows the providence, he will appoint a very auspicious day. Very auspicious day.
And we know that this month of Margashir is actually the months where many marriages take place after four months of Chaturmasya, especially on the last day in Śālagrāma Tuḷasī, Śālagrāma Vivāha.
Anyway, the astrologer will appoint a nice day, and on this day, Krishna will be dressed in beautiful clothes. And he will be put on a bullock cart. He will not be put on a Mercedes car or whatever.
He will be put on a simple bullock cart and the joyful procession will bring him to your house. And when he will come to your house totally embarrassed, your
relatives will come and start hurling curses on him and saying, "Go away, go away." This is the, you know, the fun of marriage.
You know, they will they will say, "No, no, who you are, why you came here, you want to steal our daughter, we will not give the daughter." And you will be sitting there. And your heart will be beating.
And your body will be smeared with kunkuma and haldi, this turmeric paste, which actually is a very auspicious bath which you're supposed to take before marriage.
And in great detail they actually meditating on this most joyful event, what will happen when the goddess Katyayani will fulfill your desire and how joyful you will be.
And then ultimately, you know, your heart will be beating so much, and your mind will be completely shattered, and you just faint.
And with great difficulty, you will be revived by your relatives and you will be taken by hand.
And you will be taken out from the house and will be brought in front of Krishna and you will be completely stiff because you're so nervous and you couldn't look at him and Krishna couldn't look at you because he's so madly in love with you.
So this is how they were meditating. This is the real meditation. You know, how I will be married to Krishna.
This is and especially if you want to meditate and you can compose the song desirably in Sanskrit. And then you can meditate on this content.
But anyway, the rest of the chapter, till the verse number 28, there is little remaining verses in this chapter,
but most of the chapter from the verse number 7 to verse number 28 describes what happened after the completion of this vow. This all important preparations were only
to and you know Gopis doing this, they were completely joyful because uh Vṛndādevī instilled very strong hope in their hearts. They knew it's going to happen for sure.
The secret mantra, the secret procedure, they were doing everything properly, and they were together, and everyone was praying the same, and they were supporting each other, there was the whole community.
For sure it will happen. So the last day, when the desires are supposed to be fulfilled.
And it's actually true if you do vrata and if you do it properly, and if you chant the powerful mantra. And if you meditate on your desire, it will be fulfilled. It's proven again and again and again.
And of course, it's a very long experience of people here in this Bharata Varsha, in this holy land of India.
The vows are taken for fulfillment to fulfill of certain desires, and if you do everything properly, it will be fulfilled for sure. It just requires certain concentration of your mind, seriousness,
austerity which you have to perform, proper discipline. If you do it, the desires will be fulfilled.
Role of saintly association in sadhana
So the last day is there. For sure, something will happen on this last day. So for this last day, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in Krishna book and all the Acharyas explains this.
All the young Gopis, Kumarikas from this village, they came to the same place on the bank of Yamuna to Chirghat but not alone this time. They invited all the more senior
gopis, their friends, nity-siddha gopis, headed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Lalitā, Viśākhā, Tūṅgavidyā, Sudevī, everyone was there.
Everyone in the leela, all the gopis, all the friends of Rādhārāṇī were there, and that made this event on the last day, even more joyful. You know, the more gopis, and the very strong gopis,
and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is of course there, and all the girls in Vrindavan village, they love her. And actually there is also a great teaching behind this.
Acharyas explain what is the teaching behind this. And this is what Śrīla Prabhupāda explains too. If a sadhaka wants to fulfill his desires, he can do everything properly.
He can follow sadhana, he can do his vrata, he can do austerities, but still, to fulfill his desires, he has to have saintly association, he has to have sadhu sanga without the association
because it's actually not the austerities which fulfill our desires. In case of ordinary material desires, maybe austerities can fulfill some of these desires, but austerities only purify the heart from unwanted things.
All the procedure which we do only purify the heart. But then when the heart is sufficiently purified, when it's clear and transparent,
it can reflect, but it has to have something to reflect. Otherwise, there will be nothing to reflect. You may have a completely transparent heart. But and this transparent heart is needed to reflect the higher bhāva.
But for that, you need the source of this bala, of this love.
And therefore this event which took place on the last day of this Katyani vrata is very significant, and all the other gopis also came, and because they're much more strong and mature love, stronger and mature love, reflected in the heart of the young gopis.
Krishna fulfilled their desires. Otherwise, Krishna probably would not come. Because it's not enough. The strength of our sadhana isn't our sadhana is not powerful enough to fulfill this high aspiration.
But if we have the help and support of those who have stronger connection with Krishna, then we may hope to achieve our goal.
Gopis bathing and arrival of Krishna
So that's a very important teaching of this chapter. And on this day they are supposed to take the last snāna, which is called Apavṛt-snāna.
It's a long-standing Vedic tradition when you do some yajña or when you do some vrata or whatever. Then on the last day you have to have this concluding snāna, special ceremony, the concluding bathing.
So all the gopis, they undressed themselves and joyfully they just ran into the cold waters of the Yamuna River. Already the winter is in its height and the whole month of winter already passed.
The nights are very cold, and the water in the morning, the air is very cold. The water is extremely cold. But still, because they were together, they started splashing and joking and laughing with each other.
And sure enough, at this particular moment, Krishna appeared on the scene. Because their desires are supposed to be fulfilled. So Krishna, he knew what is within their heart. And Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī specifically
says, bhagavān tad abhipretya, seeing this Bhagavān, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself, God Himself. Krishna. Yogeśvareśvaraḥ. Yogeśvareśvaraḥ. We know that in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna is called Yogeśvara.
Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo. Yatra pārtho dhanur-dharah, last verse of Bhagavad-gītā. But here He is not called Yogeśvara. It's not enough for him to fulfill this desire. It's not enough for him to be Yogeśvara.
This desire can only be fulfilled by Yogeśvareśvaraha, by Yoga Īśvara Īśvaraha, by the Lord of all the Lords of yoga. You know, this people they're aspiring for yoga.
And they're trying to achieve the goal of yoga, and it's difficult to achieve. Those who achieve the goal of yoga, they are called yogesvaras. They have yogic powers and so on and so forth.
But to fulfill this desire, it's not enough to be yogeśvara. To fulfill this desire, you have to be Yoga Īśvara Īśvaraha. Only Krishna, who is the Lord of all the Yogeśvaras, can fulfill this desire.
And the implication or the meaning of this, why Śukadeva Gosvāmī calls Krishna Yogeśvara Īśhvara Īśhvara is that Katyāyanī herself could not fulfill this desire. She is Yogeśvarī, no doubt about it. She has a lot of mystic powers.
But it's even if she is Yogamāyā, still, only Krishna Himself can ultimately have to fulfill this desire. Therefore, he is coming. This Yogeśvara Yogeśvareśvara coming to the same place knowing that there
are gopis who for the whole month were meditating on this desire. But surprisingly enough, he is not coming alone. Vyavasīr hāvṛtās tatra. He went surrounded by his friends. It's really mysterious.
Why Śukadeva Gosvāmī, why Krishna, why for this very intimate sort of pastime, Krishna takes his friends together. It's a great mystery.
But of course, first of all, ācāryas explained that these four friends which came together with Krishna, Dhamma Sudhamma, Vasudhamma, and Kinkini, were very young at that time.
You know, Jīva Gosvāmī says they were five years old, but Viśvanātha Cakravartī says they were three years old. Just to make sure that there is nothing wrong.
So they were toddlers and they couldn't understand what's going on but they were very attached to Krishna. They just could not be separated with Krishna.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he also explains the tantric aspect of this mystery.
He says that actually these four friends of Krishna were manifestations of his mind, his ego, his citta, and his buddhi. These four functions of our antaḥkaraṇa, internal organ of perception, they were represented by this Dhamma Sudhamma, Vasudhamma and Kinkini.
So naturally, Krishna cannot go anywhere without his mind, or without his ego, or without his body. They are inseparable from him. And he took them just for fun.
Stealing gopis garments at Chirghat
Ultimately that's the highest philosophical explanation of this mystery. Krishna just wanted to have fun. That's all. And while they were going, Krishna was really in a hurry.
And because it was early in the morning and they were, you know, they were young and they they were just, you know, they were stumbling. They couldn't really go so uh fast, and they were asking Krishna,
Krishna, where are we going? Where are we going? Where are we going? But Krishna was silent, he was just going there.
And when they came there, Krishna said, He said, no more laughing, no more silly questions, you keep quiet. And the boys became very serious, as much as they could.
And Krishna started making preparations. He took off his bracelets, his kopors — Oh, not bracelets, how do you call this? Huh? Ankles? Ankles, yeah. Yeah, his ankles.
Uh, he took off, he uh, he tied his clothes, he tied his uh turban and he said ssh, and very stealthily he came and gathered all the clothes and ran towards the Kadamba tree which was growing on this bank of Yamuna, which is still growing on the bank of Yamuna.
And nobody noticed it because Krishna is the most expert thief. He was actually he was trained as a thief. You know, he was he was practicing this art from his very young age.
To to be expert in some art you really have to invest a lot of time. So Krishna, he was preparing for this act of stealing for a long time. So he knew. He knew the art, he knew everything. So nobody noticed him.
And they were just splashing and laughing and you know they were completely happy, not knowing what's going to happen next. And Krishna he hid himself in this very big and shady Kadamba tree.
And at one point and his friends they were in another tree, hiding there. And at one point, Krishna made a sign to them and he started and he looked. He looked what's going on.
And by looking and looking and looking at this beautiful scene, how gopis are splashing and taking baths in Yamuna, and ultimately Krishna started laughing.
And when he started laughing, his friends, who were silent too long, you know, for young children to be silent for so long, it was impossible, austerity. So they started laughing, you know.
They they were making up for this long silence and they started laughing.
And all of a sudden, can you imagine all these gopīs? They are they think that they're alone, and all of a sudden they hear this laughing, you know, not even single laughter, but you know, a lot of laughter.
And they immediately recognized Krishna's deep voice, deep like the thunder. You know, and they couldn't see him. Krishna is hiding there, but by his deep voice he was recognizable.
And at the same moment, as soon as this happened, they they immediately went down to the water and only their heads were sticking out of the water. Before that, they were completely free and they they were careless.
But at the moment, in the moment that you know all of a sudden all you can see, only the heads of the gopis sticking out of the water. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says it was like as if the forest of lotuses bloomed in Yamuna.
Although he says it's not a proper season for lotuses to bloom. But all of a sudden, Yamuna was decorated with this beautiful lotus-like faces of gopis.
And they were blooming with their smiles and with their, you know, and they were completely shy.
Actually, the very difficult feelings were expressed in their face, and this mixed feelings made their faces even more beautiful. There was a feeling of complete joy because Krishna is here, their desires are fulfilled.
There was a complete feeling of shyness and uh embarrassment that he is there and they are naked. And the fear what will happen if somebody else will know about this? And all kinds of emotions are crossing their faces,
making them even more beautiful.
Playful exchanges between Krishna and gopis
And Krishna is looking at this.
And Siladivaswami says that as much as the faces of the gopis were like lotuses, the eyes of Krishna were like bumblebees who were humming around the lotuses, trying to steal the nectar from the lotuses.
And Krishna completely revealed himself. He is sitting there in a very relaxed posture and starts joking with them. There was a lot of jokes exchanged by them. Gopi started accusing Krishna's friends.
They wanted to accuse Krishna, of course, but they cannot accuse Krishna. They have to accuse somebody else. We know that if we want to accuse somebody, we should abuse somebody else. This is usually the psychology.
Anyway, there is a lot of beautiful jokes which they exchange. You know, and Krishna says you know what happened? Krishna started explaining his version of the events.
He says, I was herding my cows innocently nearby, and all of a sudden I saw this Kadamba tree, beautifully decorated with different saris.
Because probably some Vandevata, some spirit of the forest stole your clothes and put it on the tree. And I just you know happened to be here and I climbed over this tree to find
out what's going on so I have nothing to do with this stealing and Gopi says of course of course of course and Krishna says please believe me I always tell truth I never tell lie he he really says this you know if you don't believe me Anṛtam tadimevi do I never tell lie. Na mā dyoditā, pūrvamva, I never told lie before and I never tell lie. Please believe me. Please believe me.
And I have nothing to do with this, I just want to help you. I'm very compassionate. So I know it's very cold, isn't it?
And Gopis, of course, had for so long in this cold water and they were shivering because of different emotions and because of this cold water. And Krishna says, you know, I'm the most compassionate. Please come out.
You please come out and I will give you the clothes. Gopis, they think, you know, of course. We will come out and you will not give us the clothes. We know you. Something, something wrong has happened.
And they started, you know, arguing with him. If you want, if you are so compassionate, why don't you leave the clothes on the bank and we'll take it? And Krishna says, no, no, I cannot do this because you are greedy girls, and there are so many clothes here. And I know somebody will just grab some other clothes and will run away, and uh the other girls will be naked, you know.
And I am very fair. I am the son of the king. Believe me. I will give every one of you your particular sari. So you just come out one after another, one after another.
And Gopi says, what if you... what if you will not give us the clothes?
Krishna says, you know, if you don't believe me, send somebody who is the, who is the least, I mean, some significant gopi and see what I will do with her.
If I give to her clothes, you also come. If I don't give, you may not come. Anyway, just if you don't want to come, I'll also stay here.
If you give the vow to be in the water for one month, I'll give my vow to be in this tree for one month, no problem for me. You know, you are water animal, and I am air animal for one month. No problem. No problem.
I will just make a hammock, uh, from your sari, and I will be just here, no problem. And you have to run.
And Krishna says no no why why you're doing this? You are totally non-dutiful. You have to go back to your village. So many household affairs are there, your parents are probably worried.
And Gopis they reply to him, don't worry Krishna. Our parents are not expecting us because they know we're fulfilling this vratas. So for one month we can be away from our home.
He says, if you want, if you can be away from your home for one month, I'll probably also take a vacation from my home. I will also be away for one month. So let's see.
And moreover, I know that you fasted for the whole month. Maybe you will teach me how to fast. So I will also be sitting on this tree and also fasting. So we will be a good company, no problem. So. And so many jokes.
Krishna completely defeated Gopis. Gopis were trying to convince Krishna and Krishna's friends they were just laughing and laughing and laughing. And at one point these Gopis they wanted to threaten them.
They said, you know, oh Krishna, we will just we will just catch your friends and we will put them in this cold water and put them completely under the water.
And his friends they became really, I mean, they saw so many girls, and the girls are angry and they were sitting on another tree. So they said, no, no, no, don't touch us, we are very nice boys.
And they came, they climbed down from this tree and they made a show that they came to the water.
And all the gods they saw that now we will take them as captures, as our captures. And then Krishna will give us the clothes.
But these boys they they said like this, they made like this and they ran to Krishna's tree and said, okay, now we're safe. Now nobody will do anything to us. So this was a lot of fun.
And Krishna was saying, please, please come out one after another you have no other you have no other way out of this situation otherwise you know you can if you prefer to stay in this cold water I don't mind.
I just, you know, I'm sincerely compassionate to you, so that's why I'm telling this to you. If you don't want, it's fine with me, you remain there.
Esoteric meaning of complete spiritual surrender
And ultimately, after threatening Krishna that we will complain to a king and uh this and that, and Krishna just couldn't care less all about these complaints because he knew that they will never say to anyone what happens? He perfectly, he was perfectly safe in this regard.
So ultimately, they said something which was a big mistake. They said Syamasundra Te Dasya Karavamatam Dehi Vasamsi Dharmagya Noche Tragne Bru They
said, you know, you please, Yamasundara, we are your servants. We are your maid servants.
We are ready to do whatever you like uh and uh you whatever you will tell us we will do uh please give us our clothes because you're dharma gya.
You know dharma they wanted to kind of play another card. You know, what you're doing is a dharmic, so but we all know that you're very dharmic, so please give us the clothes.
But Krishna couldn't care less about this Dharma, Dharma, guilt trip which they try to put on him. Instead, he caught them and he said, Oh, you said you are ready to fulfill whatever I say. So please come out.
You just said you are my maidservants. If you are my maidservants, you come out, I tell you, this is my order to you. If you don't do this, you will be liars. You will become famous as a liar.
So if you want to be truthful to your word, just come out. And that's it. And actually, what happened, Krishna wanted, Krishna was giving them good excuses, because he knew what is the desire and the bottom of their heart.
He knew that they wanted to accept him as a husband. And he came for this purpose.
He came for the purpose to accept them as his wives, because, as Prabhupada explains, it's only the wife who can stand naked in front of the husband. So it's symbolically, it's the it's the uh marriage proposal.
It may be the little unusual marriage proposal, but it is. And Krishna was giving them excuses. He says, first that this is a cold water, please come out. And they still were too shy.
And then ultimately he said, "You said that you're ready to do whatever you, whatever I say. So if you're really truthful to your word, please come out.
You know this this feeling of shyness, even in front of God, trying to hide something away from Him, it's a natural feeling.
Ultimately, the again, the very important metaphorical meaning of this pastime is that we have to become completely naked in front of God. You know, we know that all the great devotees they are painfully honest.
Sometimes they say some things about themselves which are, you know, which which is even painful to hear. But why? Because they want to be completely naked in front of God.
And ultimately, what Krishna, when Krishna says that if you want to be truthful to your word, if you say that you're dasi, das o od dasasi. If you really das odasi, then do whatever I tell you to do.
And this is, of course, not only the order of Krishna towards this fortunate gopis. This is his order to us.
If you say, and we all say, you know, I am this and this das, you know, we all have this bombastic names, you know. Paramahamsa Das, Parivrajakacharya, Mahayogeshvara, Prabhu Das. But the main point is das.
And if you say as they say you're das, it means that whatever Krishna wants, you do. And if you don't do, you're a liar, you're a cheater, you want to cheat. And Krishna wants you to be completely open.
Not to hide anything, not to hide anything from anyone, just stand in front of him. So this is what it is. So this is this is the reply of Krishna.
If you girls are actually my maid servants, and if you will really do what I say, then come here with your innocent smiles and let each girl pick out her clothes. If you don't do what I say, I won't give them back to you.
And even if the King becomes angry, what can he do? So basically, what Krishna says: you come out dressed in your smile. This is how we should feel in front of God.
Here I am with all my faults, with all my difficulties, with all my frailties, but I'm still smiling. Krishna says: you come out and you smile.
You come out dressed in your smile because this is the smile is how we should take the difficulties which Krishna sends us on this journey, we claimed ourselves to be dāsas, And Krishna will test us.
Krishna will say, Yeah, you said you're dāsa. So let's see how you will behave in this situation or that situation. And what he wants us, how he wants us to go through these situations by smiling.
This is the significance of this statement of Krishna. Whatever difficulty may be there, you know, like there is this beautiful story about Śrīla Prabhupāda when a very difficult situation was there.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda went to his room and lay down on the floor and started laughing. Problem after problem after problem, building up. Śrīla Prabhupāda was laughing.
Because this is the sign of somebody who is completely surrendered to God. And when Krishna said this, Gopis understood that there is nothing else for us to do.
This is what we should do, this is what we're supposed to do, and this is what we will do.
Actually before that it was said that at one point after joking with Krishna they started joking with each other. And they were joking with each other and they were saying to each other, hey Saki, why don't you go first? I want to see what will happen with you.
And and the other psyche would say, no, no, you go first, you go first. Krishna is waiting for you. Didn't you say that Krishna loves you the most? Why don't you go first?
Gopis emerging from cold water
So they were joking with each other. And one after another, Srila Goswami explains very uh elaborately how they were proceeding. They were there was a very interesting formation.
The shortest girl was in front, and then two next they were standing after her, and then three after her, and they were progressively higher and higher and higher in height, you know, so that they would completely cover each other.
And only the shortest girl was totally exposed.
So they were coming out from this water and from this difficult situation and this formation and they were holding their hands at the uh bottom of their uh bellies and uh they were trying with their long uh hairs to cover their breasts and they were you know very in a very shy way and they were stiff because of the shyness.
They were coming out. Can you you know it's it's it's difficult even to imagine how how difficult the whole situation was for them. But they were still coming out with very shy smiles.
The shy smiles, according to Krishna's order, were beautifying their faces. So this is they came out and then Krishna for fun.
Krishna, Krishna actually, Krishna was impressed. Krishna was impressed by the level of their surrender.
Krishna knew that they ultimately they will do this, but still, you know, he was the witness of all their austerities over one month, he was the witness of their vows and everything else.
And ultimately he was sitting there, but then
he thought, no, no, this is not enough, this is they passed this test, but this is not enough. All of a sudden he frowned his brows and he became very stern, and sternly looking at them, he said in a loud voice,
You foolish girls, what have you done? You offended the demigod Varuna by taking bath completely naked. Now what you have to do, first of all, you have to uh you have to raise your hands and then you have to bow down
to demigod Varuna. And Gopis, they said, anyway, okay. There is nothing to lose anymore. This is actually how the husband and wife together, when they worship some at home, they do pranam like this.
So they raise their hands completely leaving any sense of shyness and they bowed down, but They didn't bow down to Demogorgon, They bowed down to Krishna and they said, Krishna, we surrender to you.
We said that we will do whatever you want, we are doing what you want, we are in front of you, now you do whatever you like. Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanānmarma-hatāṁ karotu vā.
So we read this beautiful verse which is uh which is coming uh soon that gopis were humiliated, they were cheated, they were deprived of their modesty, ridiculed. And they made to act like toy dolls.
And although their clothes has been stolen, they did not feel even a trace of asuya or enmity towards the Lord. Tān abhiṣūyan priya-saṅga-nirvṛtāḥ.
On the contrary, priya-saṅga-nirvṛtāḥ and the company of Krishna, Priya-saṅga, they felt complete bliss. Despite all these difficult situations, they felt completely fulfilled and blissful.
And not even a trace of ill-feeling was... So
this is the very difficult lesson for us because sometimes if we are honest with ourselves and with others, we have we will admit that we sometimes become somewhat rebellious against God.
Sometimes we say why he's doing this to us. Why is he doing this to you know is he is he really is he really what he is is he really is that merciful as he is described?
Is he really, you know, why why he's not why he's not why he's doing this? Sometimes we become angry with God. Isn't it? Not the goddess. And you know, as Prabhupada says, this is the teaching of Lord Chaitanya.
The teachings of Lord Chaitanya is the teaching of complete surrender and complete humility, tolerance, which will ultimately bring us to this highest level of love of God, which is no different from humility.
Sanatana Goswami in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, he explains that prema and dainya, humility and love, they act as the cause and effect for each other. Dainya causes prema to appear. But prema makes us even more humble.
Even though prema is caused by dhyāna, prema causes dhyāna to increase and this increased level of humility increases the premise within the heart. So this is how it works: it's the chain reaction.
The chain reaction of humility from the third verse of Śikṣāṣṭaka, tṛṇād api su-nīcena, to the eighth verse of Śikṣāṣṭaka, the humility builds up.
Before that, before the stage of niṣṭhā we maintain certain amount of pride.
But ultimately, the any subsequent stage of spiritual development is the stage of increased humility, which increases proportionately to the increase of our love to God.
And we know, you know, if we take any religious tradition, we will see the examples of saints who manifest this highest love of God and at the same time they manifest the complete tot,al, utter humility and surrender.
Which is even painful, it's painful even to think about how humble they are. Because this is the condition of the pure heart. You know, when we are not pure, we are proud. And to the extent we are proud, we are impure.
So sadhana teaches us how to become humble. And there is only one way to become humble: to undergo difficulties. We know that people who never had difficulties are very proud.
Those people who are humble, this is usually the people who had very difficult life.
And this difficult life, and this difficulties, as Queen Kuntī says in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this difficulty is the treasure of my heart. Because these difficulties make me humble and the humility brings you to me and brings me to you.
The humility makes this connection between us because it removes the obstacle between us, removes the obstacle of the false ego and false pride which is the the the main impediment to our spiritual in our spiritual journey.
Exchange of hearts and promise of rasalila
And of course we know that there was a happy end. Krishna gave the clothes to the gopis. And Krishna wanted to go away. The pastime is over. What else to be done? But the gopis was sitting there motionless.
And Krishna realized that something else is missing. There is some final thing which has to be done.
And the final thing in the marriage ceremony, and actually Krishna fulfilled the marriage ceremony. And he showed, it's very beautifully explained here, that actually the marriage is the marriage of the hearts. It's not about bodily relationship.
It's the marriage of the hearts, it's the exchange of feelings.
During this beautiful pastime, Krishna and Gopis were exchanging their feelings by these joking words, clever words, sometimes you know, accusing each other. They were expressing their feelings.
So the most important thing happened. The feelings were exchanged, they were happy, and the pastime was concluded. But there was one last thing which has to be done. That's why Gopis was sitting there.
And this last thing is that at the end of the marriage ceremony the wife or bride, she comes to her husband, to the boy who has become husband during this ceremony, and she touches his lotus feet.
Solemnizing their relationship, making their relationship strong and explaining that yes, I am ready to serve you. So these gopis they were waiting for this final element in the whole līlā.
They wanted to come to Krishna for this because they had realized that Krishna fulfilled their desire for which they performed this difficult Pratha over one month.
But Krishna smiled, Krishna said, not now. The time will come, there will be some nights when all your desires will be fulfilled. But not now. That was the prelude. But in some future nights we will meet.
And in some future nights all your desires will be completely fulfilled.
And by saying this he said he also means that you know we as devotees who are aspiring to come closer to God, to come closer to Krishna, have to understand that there is a lot of conditions which have to be fulfilled before it really happened. And our desire has to be intensified.
With lukewarm desire we will never be able to achieve God. And the path of sadhana, the path of spiritual life, is the path of intensifying our desires.
And if we understand this, and if we understand and interpret everything which happens to us on this journey, that this is all for our ultimate benefit, to intensify our desire, to make it genuine instead of playing some game to make it a genuine desire which will be fulfilled by Krishna when it's so strong, then we are properly situated on this path of spiritual life.
But if we don't want to pay this price, if we think that our little tiny desire which we have now is enough to get this final price, we will cheat ourselves.
Krishna is showing by this pastime and any other pastimes in this 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that there is a gradual way of developing our feelings to Krishna.
And for that we need association of other devotees, we need the associations of the saints, we need the blessings of the holy place, holy dam.
And we definitely need the blessings of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is describing all this līlās. By listening to this līlās, hearing this kathā, we will be able to purify our heart from all other ulterior desires,
from inferior desires which unfortunately infest our heart like the germs, like the coronavirus. All these inferior desires are plenty in our heart.
But if we're determined and if all the other conditions are fulfilled and if we are under proper guidance and in a proper atmosphere doing proper sadhana then ultimately in a very natural way the bhāva will be developed. It's not an artificial way of developing this.
Just by hearing pastimes of Krishna, just by associating with devotees and chanting his holy name and performing our prarta. We will be able to ultimately purify our desires.
And by purifying our desires, we will become completely naked. There will be no other desires which are separating us from Krishna.
So that's the that's the summary of this chapter of the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.