The Means to Attain Gopī Love Is the Company of a Lover of God

The Means to Attain Gopī Love Is the Company of a Lover of God

Where one obtains the company of sat, the eternally real, that is called satsaṅga. Sat means that which is forever true and can never perish. God Himself is Truth. Wherever one obtains the Lord's company, there is satsaṅga.

The means of attaining God's company is the company of one who lives with God, a bhagavat-saṅgī. The term has several meanings. One attached to God is a bhagavat-saṅgī; so too is one who worships or adores Him. It may also mean one who has actually attained His company, who is always with God and with whom God always remains.

With slight variations, the Śrīmad Bhāgavata repeatedly declares the greatness of such company:

“Not even heaven or freedom from rebirth can be weighed against a single moment in the company of those who keep the Lord's company. What, then, are mortal blessings beside it?”

The glory of association with a bhagavat-saṅgī is boundless. Sensual pleasure does not even enter the comparison. One who longs for that company disregards not only heavenly enjoyment but even the joy of liberation. The sole desire that remains is to associate with a saint who loves God.

Saints are rare. The Nārada Bhakti Sūtra says, “The company of the great is difficult to obtain, difficult to comprehend, and unfailing.” Even when saints are found, recognizing them is exceedingly difficult. Lacking true discernment, people often regard as God-loving saints those who have not attained actual communion with Him. Our worldly intellect, which generally sees only outward appearances, cannot recognize them. Can a scale capable of weighing stone or wood weigh a diamond? A diamond requires a special balance and touchstone before it can be tested and known. First, saints are seldom found. When found they are not recognized; when recognized they do not inspire faith; and when faith arises, the desire to remain near them is often absent.

Yet even one who remains near a saint with an unfavorable attitude receives benefit, for an object's inherent power never leaves it. Association with a saint is unfailing even when the saint is unrecognized. Touching fire unknowingly still warms the hand, and touching ice still gives an experience of cold. By the saint's inherent power, everyone who comes into contact receives benefit, even without knowing it.

The company of a saint depends solely upon longing. Repetition of the divine name, recitation, solitude, meditation, and similar practices are all sound and helpful, but the company of a saint depends upon bhāva. When a rite is successfully completed, deities such as Sūrya, Vāyu, and Agni must appear. Nowadays they do not appear at the conclusion because the rite lacks completeness. In former ages, when every prescription was followed perfectly, the deities came, as Sūrya came when Kuntī invoked him. Summoning the gods depends upon perfect observance of ritual procedure. Such procedures may assist one in obtaining a saint's company, but they are not indispensable. That company is independent of ritual. Bhāva alone is decisive, and through bhāva it is attained.

When lovers of God meet and become absorbed in speaking of love, even if their beloved Lord Himself appears and His arrival interrupts their discussion, they tell Him, “Please go away for a little while.” Such is the incomparable nature of divine love. Among lovers of God, the gopīs hold the highest place, a state difficult even for the greatest sages to attain. The Padma Purāṇa says that Brahmavidyā herself performed austerities for many aeons to attain gopī-bhāva.

In the eightfold daily service, contemplate serving under the guidance of a mañjarī. If a mañjarī has swept the grove, humbly beg for the service of carrying away the gathered refuse. Or, when she gives you the betel box, receive the service of holding the spittoon for Priyā and Her Beloved. Conceive yourself as a maidservant of a mañjarī and enter the realm of bhāva. Entrust yourself to a particular mañjarī. If you cannot remember your own name there, adopt an imagined one.

The Devī Bhāgavata gives one set of names for the eight sakhīs, while Vaiṣṇava texts give others. At first, contemplate whatever arises in the mind. In time the real form will reveal itself of its own accord. Envision service according to your inclination, as taught in Satsaṅga-sudhā. Form the scene within your mind: Rādhākuṇḍa lies before you, lotuses bloom, and Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa stand beneath a kadamba tree. Or envision a swing in a grove upon which They are swinging. Imagine five hundred or a thousand details, as many as possible, and contemplate service accordingly. Ten, twenty, or fifty times a day, envision your own spiritual form in harmony with that realm. Repeat this constantly, for repetition strengthens bhāva.

Where there remains even the slightest possibility of fault-finding, doubt, change of devotional disposition, egoism, or the like, entry into the realm of bhāva is not granted. The possibility of shifting to another bhāva is the greatest obstacle to attaining a saint's company. In this world it is often said of a faithful wife, “Even in a dream no other man exists.” This does not mean that no other men exist in the world. It means that, from the perspective of her devoted feeling, the whole world apart from her husband has become empty of men.

Many aspirants lived at the Aurobindo Ashram, yet only those deemed qualified were permitted to sweep the rooms of Aurobindo and the Mother, meaning those in whom there was no possibility of a change in feeling. The Mahābhārata relates that before the war Sañjaya told Dhṛtarāṣṭra, “Majesty, the victory of the Pāṇḍavas is certain.” When asked how he could know, Sañjaya replied, “I entered their inner apartments and saw Arjuna sleeping with his head in Śrī Kṛṣṇa's lap while Kṛṣṇa stroked his hair. Satyabhāmā and Draupadī sat at his feet. One of Arjuna's feet rested in their laps and they were massaging it. Victory is certain for one who shares such oneness with Lord Kṛṣṇa.” When Sañjaya suddenly entered, Arjuna remained lying there without self-consciousness, while Satyabhāmā and Draupadī continued their service without embarrassment. Seeing Sañjaya, Kṛṣṇa pushed a golden stool toward him with His foot, but Sañjaya bowed to the stool and sat upon the floor.

There was no possibility of a change of feeling among them. Thus Sañjaya could enter Kṛṣṇa's inner apartments, while even Kṛṣṇa's own sons Pradyumna and Abhimanyu could not. Pradyumna naturally possessed the rights of a son, but the realm of intimate feeling within the inner chambers was different, and he had no right of entry there. Sugrīva and Hanumān are both exceedingly dear to Rāma. In the royal court Sugrīva sits in an honored place near Him while Hanumān stands in a distant corner. Yet within the royal residence it is Hanumān, not Sugrīva, who may enter freely and without obstruction.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu conducted two kinds of saṅkīrtana. One was open to everyone; the other was His intimate kīrtana, in which only inwardly intimate devotees could participate. Only those with no possibility of changing their devotional disposition could enter. Once, although such an intimate kīrtana continued for a long time, rasa did not arise. A search revealed an opponent of kīrtana hiding beneath the platform, hoping to discover what they did in private. Caitanya was so generous that He embraced even outcastes, yet He ordered that this opponent be removed. Once the man had been led outside, rasa again flowed through the kīrtana.

Uddhava came from Mathurā bearing Kṛṣṇa's message. Seeing the women of Vraja, and especially Śrī Rādhā, scorched by separation, he felt great sorrow. Rādhā thought that when he returned to Mathurā he would reproach and scold Śyāmasundara, and She could not bear this. Although Uddhava had heard Her words of separation, he had not touched the level of Her bhāva. Her voice suddenly changed and She told him, “Uddhava, what do you know? Śrī Kṛṣṇa has never left this place. Look within the grove of my heart. He is eternally sporting there.” When the devotional disposition changes, the current of rasa stops and the grove-līlā disappears from view.

Whoever obtains even the smallest opportunity to serve is supremely fortunate. Vaiṣṇavas have longed to become the servant of the servant of the attendant of His servant. Even the humblest service is a treasure of good fortune. It gives one a thread to grasp: on one side bhāva becomes strengthened, and as it grows ever stronger, one acquires the right to more intimate and elevated service. Suppose a servant works in a great man's household and someone assists that servant. When the master arrives, the servant says, “This person helps me.” The master asks, “Does he accept anything in return?” “No, he takes nothing.” On the servant's word the master becomes pleased with the helper. In the same way, a mañjarī can bring her maidservant before Priyā and Her Beloved. One should perform service under her guidance.

There are countless tasks for one who longs to serve, and none for one who has no such longing. Although the Lord is complete in every desire, for the sake of the person who longs to serve He voluntarily accepts both a desire to receive service and an apparent lack. Even this lack is an expression of God. Bhaga means divine majesty, and the Lord endowed with the six majesties eternally abides in His own glory. He is complete, yet to fulfill the lover's longing He becomes incomplete and hunger arises within Him.

Conceive yourself as a maidservant of a mañjarī and enter the realm of bhāva. Become her follower, forget this physical body, and continue contemplating service according to your inner vision. Always await her grace and depend wholly upon her favor. Through the grace of the mañjarī whom you follow, the entire vision will become real. Dependence upon her grace naturally brings the favor of Śrī Rādhārānī and Śrī Śyāmasundara, for Priyā and Her Beloved recognize you as the mañjarī's assistant and bestow Their mercy themselves.

As bhāva grows steadily nourished, it becomes strong. Once it has gained strength, talk of any other devotional disposition no longer appeals. The ears cannot hear it. If another deity appears, the eyes cannot see that deity; if they do, they see the deity colored by their own bhāva. Once Śyāmasundara slipped away from among the sakhīs and hid in a grove. Searching for Him, the gopīs reached that place. To conceal Himself, Śyāmasundara assumed the four-armed form of Viṣṇu. The gopīs prostrated before Lord Viṣṇu and asked, “Has Śrī Kṛṣṇa passed this way?” Kṛṣṇa was delighted that they had not recognized Him, thinking that the search would become still more delightful as they continued. A jñānī may object that they failed to recognize Kṛṣṇa or imagined a distinction between the two forms.

Where bhāva is strong, the eternal divine sport is always taking place. That alone is a nikunja. A place does not become a nikunja merely because someone plants a few trees and writes that name upon it. The heart free from any change of devotional disposition, where Śyāmasundara, the very form of love, eternally resides, is the secluded and solitary nikunja. Its sovereign is Nikunjeśvarī Śrī Rādhā, while Nikunjeśvara Śyāmasundara is the shelter from whom rasa flows. This is the true meaning of nikunja. The means of attaining gopī love is the company of God-loving saints and the longing for their company.