Gopi-gita (1): A Sneak Peek at Rasa Lila & Expl. of 'jayati te dhikam', SB 10.31.1

This audio is included in the following series of lectures:

Topics

• Note: The lecture starts and ends abruptly.
• One devotee asked, "Why was Sri Gadadhara pandita not there with Mahaprabhu in Gambhira? Srila Gurudeva said that Sri Gadadhara is Radhika, and if he would have present in Gambhira, Mahaprabhu wouldn’t be able to relish Radhika’s mood.
• Srila Gurudeva sings the first verse of Gopi-gita, ‘jayati te dikam’ (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.31.1), and then begins the background of rasa-lila.
• The twelve cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam are like the twelve parts of a body. The tenth canto is the heart of that body. Within that heart, the five chapters that constitute rasa-panca-adhyayi are its five life-airs, and among them, gopi-gita is the foremost.
• Remembering the promise Krsna had made to the gopis when he had stolen their clothes during Katyayani-vrata, he employed his yoga-maya potency and manifested within himself the desire to enjoy pastimes during an autumn night. Thus, he began to play his flute.
• When the gopis heard the flute’s sound, the impulses of cupid were violently aroused within them, and they immediately abandoned all their household duties and hastily went to Krsna.
• Among the gopis, some had the association of the nitya-siddha gopis, and they also had purva-raga. These gopis easily entered the rasa-lila. On the other hand, the married gopis who had purva-raga but did not have the association of nitya-siddha gopis were stopped from entering.
• In our present situation, by reading books on this subject, we must clearly define our goal. We should try to develop greed and should follow the path of our gosvamis and fix our goals clearly.
• Sri Krsna, intending to enjoy the rasa dance, engaged in arguments and counterarguments with the gopis, and then the rasa dance started.
• Krsna danced so quickly, like a firebrand orbiting in a circle, that it simply looked as if he was constantly and simultaneously dancing with each and every gopi. Had he expanded into many manifestations of himself, this pastime would have been aisvarya-lila (oppulance). Instead, he was engaged in human-like pastimes (nara-lila).
• There were two reasons Krsna disappeared from rasa: the mana of Srimati Radhika and the saubhagya-mada of gopis (intoxicated by their good fortune, in which they perceived Krsna dancing with them alone).
• When Sri Krsna suddenly disappeared from the arena of the rasa dance, gopis’ minds fully absorbed in thoughts of him, they began looking for him in the various forests. From all the moving and non-moving creatures, they asked for news of Krsna’s whereabouts. Finally, they became so distraught that they began imitating his pastimes.
• Finally, all the gopis went out to look for Krsna in the forest, going as far as the moonlight reached. But in the end, they were unsuccessful, so they went back to the shore of the Yamuna and simply sang Krsna’s glories in utter helplessness.
• The unique feature of this age of Kali is the extraordinary result of sankirtana. Its practitioner, weeping in a mood of separation and yearning from the core of his heart for Krsna’s darsana, will certainly receive his mercy.
• Srila Cakravarti Thakura states that one cannot know the confidential sentiments of gopi-gita without receiving the mercy of the gopis.
• Each and every verse of Gopi-gita contains the two distinct moods among the gopis: submissive (daksinya) and contrary (vamya), and Srila Jiva Gosvami has illustrated both moods in his commentary.
• The gopis sing, “jayati te ’dhikam janmana vrajah.”, jayati means ‘to become glorious or victorious.’
• The word adhikam means ‘exceedingly.’ Krsna’s birth in this land of Vraja has made it exceedingly more glorious than heaven, or Brahmaloka, the topmost heavenly realm in this universe. What to speak of the heavenly planets? Vraja has become even more glorious than the spiritual realm of Vaikuntha.”
• Earlier Srila Sukadeva Gosvami in eternal consciousness, told Sri Pariksita Maharaja that Krsna was born in Mathura but here absorbed in internal consciousness, he revealed the actual fact with the words ‘janmana vrajah’. This statement of the gopis, emanating from his lotus mouth, is the most substantial evidence that Krsna indeed took birth in Gokula, in Vraja.