Patience in Bhajana, the Gopīs’ Unequalled Surrender and Seeing with the Right Bhāva
• Anxiety and Saṁskāras: Answering devotees who still feel tension and lack of ānanda (bliss) though they chant, Gurudeva explains that the saṁskāras (impressions) of many births take time to be washed away, just as a very dirty cloth needs long washing. Everything is going well, he assures them; have patience, do not worry, leave everything to Guru and Bhagavān and simply keep chanting.
• Guru and the Gopīs’ Surrender: Like Kṛṣṇa, the guru-varga hold opposite qualities together, sarvajñatā (omniscience) and mugdhatā (seeming bewilderment). Kṛṣṇa reciprocates according to surrender (ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, “as they surrender to Me”), yet to the gopīs He confesses na pāraye ’haṁ niravadya-saṁyujām (“I cannot repay you”), something not possible even for Lakṣmī, who could not enter the rāsa. The gopīs are not jīva-tattva (born of the taṭasthā-śakti, marginal potency) but expansions of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, the hlādinī (bliss-giving) svarūpa-śakti.
• Cotton in Our Ears: Hearing Kṛṣṇa’s flute (niśamya gītaṁ tad anaṅga-vardhanam), the vraja-gopīs ran to Him; we do not hear that call because the cotton of saṁsāra-vāsanā (worldly desire) blocks our ears, and so we pray, saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuccha ha’be (“when will my worldly desires become insignificant?”). Attachment to children is the hardest to give up, but the holy name cleanses the mirror of the heart (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam), as even Ajāmila was saved by calling his son Nārāyaṇa; the goal is nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā (tears flowing while chanting), reached with three of the six principles of Upadeśāmṛta 3: utsāha (enthusiasm), niścaya (confidence) and dhairya (patience).
• Body and Soul: Kṛṣṇa showed Arjuna that the warriors were already slain and he was only nimitta-mātram (an instrument), teaching him to see the ātmā (soul), not the body. Aṣṭāvakra Ṛṣi, mocked in King Janaka’s assembly of brahma-jñānīs for his crooked body, called them “cobblers” who judge only skin. Gurudeva explains the fear of death, how the soul stays a while in the subtle body (called bhūta, which simply means “past”, as in bhūta-pūrva, “ex-minister”), and why vairāgya-kathā (talks on renunciation) is told to remove attachment.
• Kurukṣetra and the Lotus Feet: At Kurukṣetra Kṛṣṇa told the gopīs mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate (“devotion to Me brings immortality”) and advised meditation; they replied with loving reproach (āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindam) that His feet are for great yogīs to save those fallen in the well of saṁsāra. Gurudeva recommends remembering the marks on Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet at dawn, and explains the gopīs’ crooked, loving words, such as calasi yad vrajāc cārayan paśūn (“when You leave Vraja herding the cows, our hearts are troubled that stones and grass hurt Your soft feet”).
• No Liberation, Only Sevā: In Kali-yuga dhyāna (meditation) is practically impossible; aṣṭāṅga-yogīs reach savikalpa or nirvikalpa samādhi and merge into Brahman, gaining nothing, while the gopīs have sahaja (natural) samādhi. The jīva’s svarūpa (constitution) is kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa (Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant), so the goal is sevā, especially of the uttama-bhāgavata (topmost devotee), never sāyujya (merging).
• Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Mahāprabhu’s Heart: Rūpa Gosvāmī established Mahāprabhu’s inner desire, to give each jīva prema according to its svarūpa in śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya or mādhurya rasa, and to show Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa as distinct from Mathurā and Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa. As a disciple must understand what kind of water the guru wants, Mahāprabhu’s heart is understood only by His mercy. A speaker shapes Hari-kathā by deśa (place), kāla (time) and pātra (listener), like Parīkṣit Mahārāja the ideal listener, not like playing the flute before a buffalo.
• Yogamāyā, Durgā and Bhāva: Bhagavān performs rāsa with yoga-māyām upāśritaḥ, while Mahāmāyā bewilders conditioned souls. The Durgā whom Vasudeva brought from Nanda’s house slipped from Kaṁsa’s hands and appeared eight-armed; see her as Yogamāyā, a servant of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, for the Lord is bhāva-grāhī (He accepts the mood). For śrāddha, offer bhoga to Ṭhākurajī and then His prasāda to the forefathers with kṛtajñatā (gratitude); with firm faith in kṛṣṇa-bhakti everything is accomplished. Keep chanting, avoid the ten offences and nindā (criticism), and test faith as one tests a pot in the market.
Hearing Hari-kathā with patience, chanting the holy name without offence and seeing everything with the right bhāva, we will gradually be freed from saṁsāra and attain service in the gopīs’ footsteps
