Rasa-pancadhyayi IV - Krsna Reappears

Bhāgavata 10.32.1

Śrī Śukadeva said: O King, singing in this way and speaking distractedly in many different manners, the gopīs wept in long, plaintive tones, yearning to see Kṛṣṇa. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī [Introductory Sanskrit verse]

In the thirty-second chapter Hari arrives. Śuka's words worship the gopīs as transformations of His own body; after honoring them in return, He declares through words of love that He is forever in their debt.

The gopīs sang in many wonderful ways, with varied musical structures and rhythms. Overwhelmed by the extraordinary surge of their helpless love, they also spoke incoherently and wept in beautiful tones.

Bhāgavata 10.32.2

Then Śauri appeared before them, His lotus face smiling. Clad in yellow cloth and adorned with a flower garland, He was Cupid's own enchanter manifest in person. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Śuka, taking the side of the gopīs, uses the name Śauri as a jealous reproach against Kṛṣṇa. Because He arose in a warrior dynasty with crooked hearts, Kṛṣṇa displayed His heroism by inflicting such suffering upon these loving women. Had He been born in the straightforward cowherd community, He would not have acted so. This suggestion explains why His face seems radiant even amid their pain.

In truth, His lotus face blossomed into a smile solely to give them joy, while the lotus of His heart remained scorched. He held His yellow garment in both hands so that it hung before Him from His shoulders, indicating a plea that they forgive His offense. He wore a garland in order to show them the very garland His beloved had placed upon Him. He is the direct churner even of Manmatha's mind. When Cupid, who enchants the universe, approached to bewilder Him, Kṛṣṇa made Cupid assume the mood of a woman; beholding Kṛṣṇa's beauty, Cupid himself became afflicted by his own arrows and fainted. Ordinary Cupid therefore has no authority over Kṛṣṇa or His beloveds, whose erotic power belongs to their essential nature. At that moment Kṛṣṇa manifested His supremely enchanting sweetness as the churner of Cupid's mind specifically to make the gopīs forget even the immense pain of separation they had endured.

Bhāgavata 10.32.3-4

Seeing their dearest beloved return, all the weakened gopīs rose at once, their eyes blossoming with joy, as bodies rise when life returns to them. One joyfully clasped Śauri's lotus hand between her joined palms. Another placed upon her shoulder His arm, fragrant with sandalwood paste. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Their "bodies" means their hands, feet, and other limbs. The repeated statement that He had arrived clarifies that His arrival alone caused the unconscious gopīs to rise.

Five verses describe the loving gestures, each appropriate to her nature, of several principal gopīs. One took His right lotus hand, as becomes clear from the explanation of the verse's latter half. She did so from humble friendship and eagerness to touch Him. Her respectful touch reveals possessive affection like clarified butter, the mood of belonging to Him, dependence upon her lover, a compliant disposition, and, because she appears first, seniority over all.

Another received His left arm, fragrant with sandalwood, as suited to her place at her lover's left side. By embracing Him herself with a trace of respect, she reveals affection like honey slightly mixed with clarified-butter affection, manifest friendship, partial control over her lover, and a compliant nature. Textual note 117: Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa reads "adorned" in place of "fragrant."

Bhāgavata 10.32.5

One slender gopī received the chewed betel from His mouth in her joined palms. Another, burning with separation, placed His lotus foot upon her breasts. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī One gopī received His hand within her joined palms. Her friendship was predominantly service; she depended upon her lover and was compliant. Another sat upon the earth, took His right lotus foot in her hands, and placed it upon her breasts. Kṛṣṇa then stood with His left arm resting on His beloved's shoulder and His left foot planted upon the ground. This gopī's service was predominantly friendship; she too depended upon her lover and was compliant. These two are therefore companions of the first gopī, who possesses clarified-butter affection centered on belonging to Him. Textual note 118: The compound can be read "burning with separation." Textual note 119: Sanātana Gosvāmī preserves the alternate reading "upon her heart."

Bhāgavata 10.32.6

One gopī, overwhelmed by the agitation of love, knit her brows and bit her lip. She looked at Him from the corners of her eyes as though striking Him with those glances. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī One gopī knitted her brows, curving them like a strung bow with arrows fixed upon it. Overcome and made helpless by the agitation of love and the force of loving anger, she seemed to strike Kṛṣṇa as her target by releasing arrow-like sidelong glances. Her look suggested: "O crown jewel of deceivers, You poured the deadly poison of Your love into me and made it thoroughly effective. Have You come near again to burn the life airs that had almost left my body? Now I understand You perfectly well." She held her bitten lower lip within her fingers, biting being an outward sign of anger. Her crooked loving resentment arises from honey-like affection centered on the sense that He belongs to her.

Bhāgavata 10.32.7

Another gopī savored the lotus of His face with unblinking eyes. Though she had drunk it deeply, she was no more satisfied than saints are satisfied by contemplating His feet. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī With eyes that did not blink because bliss had made her motionless, another gopī drank the lotus of Kṛṣṇa's face like two female bees. Or that famous lotus face appeared fearful, startled, troubled, and repentant after being pierced by the preceding gopī's arrows of sidelong glances. Although she had drunk and fully tasted its sweetness, she enjoyed it again and again, for the face's sweetness is naturally limitless. At that moment it increased into many new varieties through the mingling of transitory states such as contraction, shame, sorrow, and humility produced by her beloved group leader's desired attack of sidelong arrows. Her thirst therefore remained unsatisfied.

The verse compares her partial act of seeing with the saints' complete contemplation. At that moment Kṛṣṇa's entire sight and entire mind were fixed solely upon the gopī raining sidelong arrows, with not even a fraction directed toward anyone else. Seeing His inattention to herself, this gopī felt no arising of shame and freely gazed at His face with both eyes. Consequently, the one who rained those arrows should be understood as the most fortunate of all.

Bhāgavata 10.32.8

One gopī drew Him through the opening of her eyes and placed Him within her heart. Closing her eyes, her limbs thrilled with horripilation, she embraced Him inwardly and remained flooded with bliss like a yogī. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Another gopī carried Kṛṣṇa into her heart, thinking, "By good fortune this fickle lover has met me again; may He not depart once more." She closed her eyes from fear that He might escape again through their openings. Her body thrilled with horripilation because she believed she had obtained union free of every obstruction. She embraced Him of her own initiative: after immense separation, thirst overcame her composure, and because no outsider was present, modesty did not arise.

These last three gopīs approached the lover's side themselves. Or, because their honey-like affection centered on the thought that He belongs to them, they were excellent friends who controlled their beloved and thought, "He should come and meet us; we shall never go and meet Him." Among the three, the first is the foremost group leader among all gopīs, and the second and third are her companions. Following the Śrī Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī, the seven women described in sequence are understood as Candrāvalī, Śyāmalā, Śaibyā, Padmā, Śrī Rādhā, Lalitā, and Viśākhā.

An eighth is known as Bhadrā from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa:

[Sanskrit verse]

One gopī, seeing Govinda approach, became overwhelmed with joy and could utter nothing except, "Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!" (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 5.13.44).

The Skanda Purāṇa's Prahlāda-saṁhitā, cited by the Śrī Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī, and the Dvārakā-māhātmya confirm these famous names. These eight are the principal gopīs among three hundred crores. For their relative gradation one should consult Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. Śrī Rādhā alone is foremost of all:

[Sanskrit verses]

As Rādhā is dear to Viṣṇu, so is Her lake dear to Him. Among all the gopīs, She alone is Viṣṇu's supremely beloved.

The goddess is described as wholly made of Kṛṣṇa; Rādhikā is the supreme deity. She embodies every Lakṣmī and every splendor and is the supreme enchantress.

Through Rādhā the god Mādhava shines among the people, and through Mādhava Rādhikā shines.

Bhāgavata 10.32.9

All the gopīs found complete relief in the supreme festival of beholding Keśava. They abandoned the fever born of separation, just as people are relieved when they attain an enlightened person. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī The wise person of the analogy is a supreme devotee, while the people scorched by material existence resemble householders who have become afflicted and weary at home. The rainy-season description likewise says that they rejoice at the arrival of Acyuta's devotee (Bhāgavata 10.20.20).

Bhāgavata 10.32.10

Dear Parīkṣit, among those gopīs whose grief had been dispelled, Bhagavān Acyuta, the all-pervading Lord, shone still more brilliantly, just as the Supreme Person shines among His potencies. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī A man shines fully through all the powers of his senses; when those powers are impaired, he no longer shines completely. In the same way, Kṛṣṇa is distressed when the gopīs are distressed and cannot manifest His full splendor. When their grief is dispelled and their beauty increases, His own beauty increases. Just as a person feels happiness when his senses are happy and pain when they suffer, Kṛṣṇa's happiness and pain arise through the happiness and pain of the gopīs. This establishes both His love for them and their status as forms of His own essential being. The Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa says:

[Sanskrit verses]

Sixteen thousand gopīs assembled there. Kṛṣṇa, Janārdana, the Supreme Self, is understood as the swan, while these sixteen are proclaimed His powers. Kṛṣṇa is the moon and they are His phases. Mālinī is their complete orb, the sixteenth phase. Each of the sixteen phases assumed the form of a gopī and separately divided into a thousand.

Āgama states that He was surrounded by hundreds of millions of women. Among thirty crores of gopīs, sixteen thousand are principal; among them, one thousand are more principal; among those, eight are most principal. Of the eight, Rādhā and Candrāvalī are the two supremely principal leaders, and between those two Śrī Rādhā alone is foremost of all. This is the conclusion of the scriptures on devotion.

Bhāgavata 10.32.11-12

The all-pervading Lord took all the gopīs with Him and entered another bank of the Yamunā. Blossoming jasmine and heavenly coral-tree flowers made its breeze fragrant, while bees hovered in that gentle air. Masses of autumn moonbeams had driven away the night's darkness. The auspicious bank's soft sand was arranged by the river's rippling hands. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Kṛṣṇa took the gopīs with Him properly and affectionately, through smiles, clasping their hands, and other gestures, and entered the riverbank. The sentence continues the preceding description that He shone resplendently. A verse and a half describe that bank. Its breeze was fragrant with blooming jasmine and mandāra flowers, and bees filled the place because of that fragrance. Contact with the riverbank made the wind cool, and its bearing the bees made it gentle. Masses of autumn moonbeams dispelled the night's darkness. The bank was auspicious and delightful, with soft sand spread by the Yamunā's dancing waves, which were like her hands.

Bhāgavata 10.32.13

The joy of seeing Him drove every pain from their hearts. Like the revealed scriptures, they reached the ultimate limit of their desire. With their own upper garments, marked by the kuṅkuma from their breasts, they prepared a seat for the intimate friend of their souls. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī The beautiful women of Vraja rendered a loving service suited to friendship. The joy of seeing Kṛṣṇa destroyed every sorrow in their minds. With their own exceedingly fine upper garments, which rested over the bodices covering their breasts, they prepared and offered a seat for Him, their dearest kinsman. The great Upaniṣads thereby reached the furthest limit of all their aspirations, beyond which no desire was possible: seeing this, they longed, "When shall we too become gopīs in Vraja and sport with Śrī Kṛṣṇa by offering cloth fragrant and moistened with the kuṅkuma of our breasts?" The Bṛhad-vāmanīya account therefore says that the personified Upaniṣads performed intense austerity, following the gopīs, in order to attain gopīhood. Their own prayer says: "We women, whose minds cling to Your serpent-king-like arms, regard ourselves as equal to them and share their vision, longing for the nectar of Your lotus feet" (Bhāgavata 10.87.23).

The personified Upaniṣads who had witnessed an earlier descent of Kṛṣṇa and fulfilled their final aspiration became gopīs in this kalpa. Those who attain that aspiration now will become gopīs in the next kalpa, for the Upaniṣads are infinite. Source note 133: The Bṛhad-vāmanīya passage relates that the Upaniṣads told Bhagavān that His beauty, surpassing millions of Cupids, had transformed their minds into the mood of women agitated by love. They wished to worship Him as the gopīs of His realm worship their lover. Bhagavān replied that their rare and difficult aspiration had His full approval and would become true: in the coming Sārasvata kalpa, when Brahmā began creation, they would become gopīs in earthly Vraja within His Mathurā district. He would appear in Vṛndāvana as their beloved in the rāsa circle, and through supremely firm paramour love for Him they would all attain complete fulfillment.

Bhāgavata 10.32.14

Bhagavān, that sovereign Lord whose seat the masters of yoga construct within their concentrated hearts, sat there among the assembly of gopīs and accepted their worship. He shone while displaying a form that is the sole abode of all the beauty of the three worlds. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Each group prepared a separate seat by piling many garments one above another, and Kṛṣṇa sat upon every one. How could one person occupy so many seats? As Lord, He manifested as many forms, unseen by the other groups. As Bhagavān, the possessor of desire and beauty, He wished to sit upon them all; through His sovereign potency Yogamāyā manifested the required forms. Masters of yoga such as Śeṣa and Śaṅkara can bring Him only mentally to an immaculate, priceless seat within the heart, inaccessible to the three worlds. The gopīs prepared a seat outside their hearts from fragrant garments that had touched their bodies, and He sat and shone there. The Lord whom Brahmā and Rudra's assembly can approach only indirectly through prayers on the shore of the Milk Ocean, and who appears in meditation for a moment, personally entered the gopīs' assembly and remained there without leaving. If the reading is "honored," they worshiped Him with betel, jokes, smiles, and sidelong glances. He bore the body that is the unique abode of all beauty in all worlds, yet nourished it further through the sweetness of their radiance, smiles, and glances. Alternatively, from that moment the great yogic lords meditated upon precisely this Kṛṣṇa seated amid the gopīs with that beauty and those playful conversations. Textual note 134: Viśvanātha reads "Acyuta."

Bhāgavata 10.32.15

They honored Him as He kindled desire, employing smiling playful glances and expressive brows. They touched and praised His feet and hands, placing them upon their laps. Yet still slightly angry, they addressed Him. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Desiring union with Him, they honored Kṛṣṇa's playful smiling glance and eyebrow, which revealed and kindled love. To conceal loving anger at His earlier abandonment, they praised Him by touching the hands and feet He placed in their laps: "How unprecedentedly cool Your hands and feet are; their touch extinguishes our burning. You must truly be an ever-happy widower who knows nothing of torment." Slightly angry, they nevertheless retained only the remnant of anger that naturally survived the joy of seeing Him. Source note 135: Compare Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.4.121.

Bhāgavata 10.32.16

The gopīs said: Some people reciprocate only with those who honor them. Others act in the opposite way. Still others honor neither those who honor them nor those who do not. Please explain these three properly to us. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Each gopī thought: "Even this crown jewel of lovers reduced us to such a condition. His relation to us cannot coherently be love, indifference, or hostility. Conditioned love pleases those who fulfill one's desire, but He burned us in separation. Unconditioned love would not abandon us in a terrible forest without fatigue from seeing our pain. He is not indifferent, since He causes both our happiness and distress. Nor is His hostility permanent, for He has not always shown it, or provoked, for we never opposed Him. He exemplifies a strange hostility that seeks to kill trusting servants. We should not accuse Him directly; let us ask through a riddle so that His truthful reply explains the matter Himself." Sharing this reflection, they asked, "O greatly wise Kṛṣṇa, explain one riddle for us."

Bhāgavata 10.32.17

The Supreme Lord said: Friends, those who mutually honor one another strive exclusively for their own benefit. No true friendship or dharma is present there, for their service is performed for self-interest and not otherwise. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Knowing their intention, Kṛṣṇa answers that those who serve one another only in expectation of reciprocation strive exclusively for visible or future personal benefit. They really worship themselves, not the other person; otherwise their mutual service would not occur. They are selfish, possess conditioned affection, and inwardly seek enjoyment. They possess neither friendship nor love, nor the faultless dharma described in the next verse. Under the variant reading, "for oneself" qualifies that self-directed benefit. Textual note 137: Vijayadhvaja reads, "they know that benefit as self-interest."

Bhāgavata 10.32.18

Those who honor even people who do not honor them are compassionate, like parents. In them dharma is without exception, and so is friendship, O slender-waisted gopīs. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī He answers the second question. Those who serve people who do not serve them act without expectation. They are of two kinds: unrelated compassionate saints and related parents. Pure devotees such as Prahlāda display causeless compassion. Both kinds expect no return, share the other's pain and happiness, and do not abandon service even at death; the compassionate saints are superior, parents comparatively lower. In both, dharma and loving friendship are faultless and imperishable because they seek no reward. The address "O slender-waisted women" also means women whose middle question was excellent, implying that the first and last questions used blameworthy examples. Or it means that they themselves exemplify this excellent middle answer. Textual note 140: A variant explicitly reads "the two parents."

Bhāgavata 10.32.19

Some people do not reciprocate even with those who honor them, so how could they honor those who do not? They are either self-satisfied, have every desire fulfilled, are unaware of another's kindness, or are hostile to their benefactors. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī He answers the third question. Those who do not reciprocate even with one who serves them fall into four successively lower classes. Some are self-delighted and inward-looking. Others, though outward-looking, have every desire fulfilled within themselves and seek no enjoyment from others. Others desire enjoyment from others but are ungrateful and do not recognize benefits received. Still others are hostile to benefactors: they repay great help with greater injury and hate without cause. Hostility with cause is included all the more. Betraying a protector, rebelling against a guru, and betraying trust are three forms of hostility and all constitute nonreciprocation. Thus the first answer had one example, the second two, and the third six, nine in all.

Bhāgavata 10.32.20

Friends, however, I do not always appear to reciprocate even with those who worship Me. I act so that their devotion may grow. A poor man who once gains wealth and then loses it becomes so absorbed in thinking of that treasure that he knows nothing else. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī The gopīs ask which example describes Kṛṣṇa. He replies playfully: "Friends, masters of smiling glances who wish to hear Me defeat Myself, listen. As Nārāyaṇa I am self-delighted and fully satisfied; as Nanda's son I am neither. As an unschooled cowherd boy I appear ungrateful; as omniscient Nārāyaṇa I am grateful. By abandoning you once despite your repeated loving services I appear to betray you, yet by returning and granting the joy of My sight I do not. Who, then, am I? I belong to none of those categories."

Bhāgavata 10.32.21

Gentle gopīs, for My sake you abandoned social convention, Vedic duty, and your own families. I disappeared only to increase your continuous devotion to Me, while remaining unseen and still loving you. My beloveds, do not therefore resent your beloved. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī Kṛṣṇa anticipates their wounded reply that, if He treats both beginners and mature lovers in the same way, they count as ordinary beings. He asks them to forgive the wrong of treating women dearer than His life like everyone else. He disappeared while hearing their loving speech in order to increase their attachment, as He does for other devotees. Yet their abandonment of society, scripture, right and wrong, self, possessions, and relatives for Him has no equal among past, present, or future devotees. Their devotion, already maximally great, could not increase any more than an atom can become smaller or the greatest magnitude larger. His action was therefore an ill-considered attempt to reveal to other loving devotees the incomparable majesty of their love in separation. They should not blame Him, for beloved women do not hold a beloved's faults in mind.

Bhāgavata 10.32.22

Even with the lifespan of the gods, I could not repay the pure service of you whose union with Me is faultless. You cut through the nearly unbreakable chains of home and worshiped Me. May your own virtue be the repayment for your deed. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's Sārārtha-darśinī He reveals what constantly arises in His heart. The gopīs' union with Him is flawless and unconditional, free from concern for desire, karma, society, dharma, or scripture. He cannot repay even a moment of their intrinsically perfect service, even over a lifetime of the gods. They worshiped Him after completely cutting the nearly indestructible chains of affection for husband, mother-in-law, parents, brothers, and relatives. Kṛṣṇa, by contrast, still loves His parents, brother, and relatives while loving them; He cannot fulfill His promise to reciprocate exactly as one surrenders to Him (Gītā 4.11). Therefore their own goodness must serve as His repayment. Their noble conduct can repay itself, while He remains forever indebted. The gopīs reflect that although He is the faultless Supreme Lord, He elevated their love, lowered Himself, and became their debtor. They wished to defeat Him, yet proved unable to become so generous themselves; through this result they were conquered by His love.

[Closing Sanskrit verse]

Thus ends the Sārārtha-darśinī on the thirty-second chapter, "The Consolation of the Gopīs," in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.