Today is the night of Sharada Purnima (autumnal full moon) Sri Krishna blows His flute and comes towards the banks of Jamuna. A strange incident – Krishna is one, flute is one and player of flute is one but listeners are many. All the Brajabashi gopis who were there within the 84 krosh (one krosh is about two miles) of Braja mandala (region) all began to think that Sri Krishna is calling her by her name, so they abandons their household activities and sets out for Him.

            Some gopis were milking the cows and in this condition she leaves for Krishna, some were breast-feeding their child, keeping their child in the ground they goes away, some were applying collyrium in their eyes and with collyrium in one eye they proceeds. Some just wore lahanga (piece of thin cloth worn in the upper part of body above sari) didn’t even wear sari, and some wore sari but didn’t wear lahanga – starts for Govinda darshan. Some were feeding their husband, some are themselves feeding, some are cooking, all are busy in different household works, but as soon as they heard the sound of the flute of Govinda – sarba dharmam paritajya – abandoning all activities they starts running towards Sri Krishna to meet together with Him as if the river of rasa flowing towards the ocean of rasa.

            Husbands of some gopis did not let them go, locked them, so they said to their husbands, let you take this body because your love is only with this body, but I am going to have darshan of Govinda, saying thus they abandons their material body and with their divine body sets off to meet Govinda.

            King Parikshit asks acharya Sukdevji –

            guna-pravahoparamas tasam guna-dhiyam katham  (10/29/12)

            Gurubar all these gopis have thought Sri Krishna as their beloved, as their lover, they never thought of Him as Bhagavan, did they also achieve unification with the Lord and did their bodily attachment also get cut?

            Adorable Sukdevji says, rajan

            dvisann api hrisikesam kim utadhoksaja-priyah (10/29/13)

            With whatever intention you enjoin yourself with the Lord, all your binding will get cut off, all inauspiciousness will be destroyed and you will attain the lotus feet of the Lord. Sisupala and other kings have attained the Lord although they were in the mood of envy and aversion. Putana by poisonously breast feeding the Lord attains final beatitude. So what is to say about all this sadhan siddha (attained perfection by doing sadhana) and nitya-siddha (eternally perfected) gopis.

            From all the four sides, like flood waters, hundreds of gopis starts arriving there sacrificing their total possession, comes running towards the lotus feet of Bhagavan Krishnachandra. Krishna then says to them –

            vrajasyanamayam kaccid bratagamana-karanam (10/29/18)

            Welcome, dear ladies, O fortunate ones it is a great pleasure that you have come, it’s very nice, but what is the reason of your arrival. Hearing this all the gopis bows down their head and keeps standing there, hearing the words of Krishna they felt very strange because they have been called there, they didn’t come by their own wish, seizing all their intelligence, mind and reason, they are being attracted there after being cut-off from all their bindings. So hearing this from Govinda they were surprised.

            pratiyata vrajam neha stheyam stribhih su-madhyamah (10/29/19)

            Hey devis, the night is very fearful, during this time leaving your respective husbands you have come to Me, is it proper, so go back to your residences, and there serve your sons and husband, serving the husband is the supreme duty of a woman.

            The gopis does not give any reply, and sat there quietly, Krishna at that time says, yes I have understood you have come to see the beauty of the forest, now your seeing had happened

            yamunanila-lilaijat taru-pallava-sobhitam (10/29/21)

            In the whole year, in every month there is a full moon night, but like the sarad purnima no other full moon is so white, so bright and the reason for this is – at this time the moon comes to the nearest point of the earth, other times it does not happen.

            See my dear gopis this forest is very pleasing, but within it there are also malicious leaving creatures and thus it is always fearful. So you go back to your own residences.

            Acharya Sukdevji says, Parikhit do you know what is the meaning of this? First Paramatma calls the jivas towards Him and when the jiva comes, He starts taking examination in various ways. So My dear gopis you go back to your homes and serve your husband, this is the topmost religion. Hearing this, tears start shedding from the eyes of the gopis and they became very anxious. The lord takes very tough examination, the gopis says, dear Krishna, this is not proper, we have abandoned our everything and came here to achieve Your lotus feet.

            In this samsara all relations are bodily based, husband, wife, son, father, mother etc. everything, as long as there is bodily engrossment, as long as there is attachment for the body till that time everything related to the body happens to be liked, but when this bodily attachment is destroyed, I am not this body I am a soul, this sense of feeling arises than anything related to the body does not seems to be pleasing.

            The gopis then narrates a story to Krishna – once there was a woman very much devoted to her husband, the whole day she use to serve her husband, makes him eat, bath etc. all the time she use to serve him. One day the husband says to his wife that he is going to a foreign land to earn money and seeing his wife insisting to come with him he gives her a photo of his and tells her, you serve this photo and in this way you will be serving me. So as the husband leaves the wife starts serving and worshipping the photo with utmost care and the whole day she use to remain busy with it. After one year as the husband returns back and knocks the door and tells his wife to open it, the wife thinks I am busy in my service and if I go than my vow to serve will be destroyed.

            After this point the gopis asks Krishna, Sri Krishna we will ask you a question, you say what the wife should do, whether she will go and open the door or she will remain busy with the photo of the husband. Bhagavan says, my dear gopis it is a very easy thing, when the real husband has come back then there is no need to serve the photo, or serve the false husband, her duty is to immediately open the door and serve her real husband.

            At that time the gopis says, see Krishna You Yourself has spoken the truth because uptill now we are also serving our false husbands consisting of a material body but since we have got the real husband, the husband of our soul than why are you sending us back again to our false husband, please tell us hey Master of the universes.

            As Govinda sees that the feelings of the gopis are very nice, He gets ready to perform raas-lila with them.

            Amidst two gopis each, Madhava happens to manifest and in the middle of all, there is Sri Raseswara and Raseswari – Sri Radha Krishna. When the Lord was dancing laying His hand upon the neck of the gopis at that time no gopis were there without Krishna and each of the gopis were thinking that I am the best lady in this three worlds and so God is frolicking with me, dancing with me. Thus a kind of pride arises in the mind of all the gopis and they start thinking themselves as exceptional.

            To drive away this arrogance of good fortune, to drive away the vanity of the gopis Krishna disappears Himself from amidst the gopis and taking Krishoriji Srimati Radharani with Him enters more deep into the forest. The gopis unable to find Sri Krishna starts crying and lamenting, hey Krishna where are You, hey master of my life breath where are You.

            The gopis goes and searches each of the trees, bushes, thicket of Vrindavana, searches the banks of Jamuna, goes to the mountain top, but nowhere they could find Govinda.

            In this way, searching for Krishna from the beginning till the end of the forest the condition of the gopis becomes so distressful that whomever they see, they think him to be the messenger of Krishna and they begin to earnestly quest about Him. They ask the trees like asvatha, plaksa, nyagrodha, ashoka etc. about Sri Krishna but as they did not reply, the gopis thinks that since they are males so they do not understand their sorrows. The gopis then approaches the creepers – malati, juthi, mallika etc. and wanted to know where is Krishna, but they also did not reply. Then they goes to tulasi devi who is dear to the lotus feet of Govinda and asks her, hey Tulasi where is Govinda, but she is also silent. Then they ask the adorable mother earth, hey mother earth you have surely achieved the supreme throbbing of the feet of Kesava, wherever He may be He is upon your body therefore you tell us where is Govinda as He had walked through your body. But not getting any reply they again start to thoroughly search the jungles.

            Thus saying Krishna Krishna they became so much absorbed that they totally forgets themselves, means I am a gopi this attitude does not remain and everybody starts thinking, I am Krishna, I am Krishna.

            One gopi happens to say, hey Brajabashis all of you come here, I have taken up Giriraj Govardhan and I will save you all.

            One gopi posing as playing flute says, hey mother cow and calves you come here quickly. Another gopi thinking herself as Krishna says, hey cowherd children, hey Brajabashis I will subdue this wicked snake Kaliya and make Jamuna antitoxic.

            Hearing this King Parikhit asks acharya Sukdev, Bhagavan why has all these happened.

            Acharya Sukdev says, Rajan these pastimes are not to be imitated all these happen automatically, naturally. Thinking of Sri Krishna they felt themselves as Krishna and perform His pastimes among themselves. These pastimes go on for a long period and later on they realized, we are not Krishna, we are servitor of His lotus feet.

            On the other side taking Kishoriji Krishna goes to a far distance, Radhaji thinks that this is not proper, because if I take away Krishna then my dear sakhis will not have His darshan and without His darshan their life breath will stop. At that time Sri Krishna says to Radha Rani, dear let’s go more inside the dense forest so that nobody can pursue us. Radha Rani says, hey dear Krishna, I am unable to walk more, if You want to go than carry me wherever You like. Hearing this, the Lord sensing that a want of respect had also aroused in Radha Rani says, all right you climb upon My shoulder and saying this He disappears.

            Meanwhile wandering in the forest in search of Govindaji the gopis finds Radha Rani and says, hey Radhe, alas, Govinda is very cruel, He even abandoned you and gone away. Then all the gopis alongwith Chandrabali starts serving and nursing Radha Rani, brings her back to senses and from her gets the news of Govinda.

            Sri Radha Rani says; my dear sakhis, like you a sense of dignity has also aroused in me and so Kesava had also discarded me.

            Brahma makes this night equivalent to his six months and for this long duration of time, searching the entire Vrindavana when the gopis did not find Krishna, they alongwith Sri Radha Rani arrives at the banks of Jamuna. Radha Rani says –

            O dear master, O dear enjoyer where are You please come and give darshan to us, without Your darshan we are somehow holding our life breath.

            Sri Sukdevji Maharaj thus says –

            samaveta jaguh krishna tad-agamana-kanksitah  (10/30/44)

            All the gopis comes and assembles in the banks of Jamuna and keeps waiting there with greed to have a darshan of Krishna. All the gopis surrounded and Radha Rani in the middle starts an auspicious song about the name, beauty and pastimes of Sri Krishna and this kirtana sung by hundreds of gopis at the midnight of Sharada Purnima is being described in Srimad Bhagavattam as ‘gopi-geeta’ (Song of the gopis).to be continued