Surrender - Part 14

DEVOTION TRANSFORMING TO SUPREME LOVE TOWARDS GOD (contd…)

 Commencement of Rasa Lila

Krishna once promised the Gopis that they shall enjoy His company in the coming nights.

Seeing those autumnal nights, Lord Krishna wished to enjoy

Himself with the help of the inconceivable power of Yoga Maya and to satisfy the long craving of the Gopis. The moon appeared on the horizon. He played on His flute so sweetly as to enchant the Gopis and to steal their hearts.

Hearing that sweet music which kindles the fire of divine love and intensifies the desire to meet God, the Gopis with their hearts captivated by Lord Krishna, unperceived by one another in their attempts to meet Him, hastened to the place where their beloved Lord was, with their ear-rings rocking to and fro.

  

When Sri Krishna, the most generous and the Almighty Lord thus honored the Gopis by sporting with them, they were elated with pride. They thought that they were superior to all women in the world.

Perceiving their arrogance produced by their good fortune and also their great pride, Keshava (Krishna) suddenly disappeared from the spot to curb their pride and to bless them as well.

Gopis’ Love

Gopis’ love for Krishna was not a physical passion. It was supreme love. For them Lord Krishna was the living God. He was the moving image of the Supreme Lord. Their faith was intense. When they thought of Lord Krishna they forgot their worldly activities. They were merged in the love of Krishna.

Lord Krishna attracted their hearts from His very boyhood. He was a very beautiful child. He was beauty incarnate. So the Gopis began to love Krishna from His very birth.

Gradually the love for Krishna assumed the shape of intense Prema (divine love). They thought of Krishna alone when they churned the curd, when they took water from the well. They sang His praises when they took bath. They remembered Him when they took food and at all times. Their minds became Krishnamaya by incessant practice of Smarana (remembrance) of the Lord.

At the time of Rasa Lila, He multiplied Himself into so many Krishnas. The Gopis were struck with wonder and amazement. All their idea of physical love entirely vanished due to this miracle. 

They witnessed the showers of flowers poured from the skies by the Devas. They saw the Vidyadharas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Charanas, etc., singing the praise of the Lord. 

They enjoyed the blissful company of the Lord at the time of Rasa Lila, a bliss millions of times greater than the bliss they would enjoy through sense objects. They enjoyed the bliss of Samadhi or union with God.

This wonderful and unprecedented experience made the Gopis firmly believe that Krishna was not an ordinary mortal. They had firm conviction that Krishna was the Lord Himself, though sometimes they saw Him as the son of Nanda and Yasoda only. 

The idea of Lord Krishna as God was not strong in them till the time of Rasa Lila due to the Yoga Maya of the Lord.

The superhuman miracles of Krishna in his childhood made them believe in his Omniscience and Omnipotence. 

Would there be a worse fool in this world who would have lower passion towards the Lord who is the bestower of all desires of men?

Rasa Lila is divine sport (Kreeda) with the devotees for bringing about their union with the Lord through Prema or pure divine love. Rasa is the sweetest juice of Prema. It is the manifestation of divine love or higher emotion which takes the devotee to the magnanimous height of holy communion with the Lord.

Lord Krishna’s Rasa Lila is the mystery of mysteries. It is the secret of secrets. It is not a matter for intellectual discussion. It is a holy matter for silent meditation for devotees. 

It should not be divulged to insincere critics or those who have no devotion to the Lord. It should be studied with reverence and faith. 

It contains Madhurya Rasa, the crowning glory of Bhakti, which leads to absolute self-surrender and absorption in the Lord.

Sri Krishna performed the Rasa Lila to destroy carnality by means of pure love or Prema. 

He showed that through Madhurya Rasa one can effect total self-surrender or Atma-Nivedanam, and attain Sayujya or absorption in the Lord or husband of our hearts.

Rasa Lila was a sport (Kreeda) which was meant to build up the faith, to strengthen spirituality towards holiness, to improve the minds of the Gopis in particular and humanity in general.

Krishna was ten years old when he performed the Rasa Lila. During the dance, the Gopis saw Krishna only, within, without, around and everywhere. 

They forgot all about their homes, husbands, children and parents. Their hearts melted in Lord Krishna, the Supreme Soul. The fire of devotion brought about a fusion of hearts.

The glue of Prema cemented their hearts with Krishna. The Gopis were not ordinary women. They were exalted personages.

The whole Rasa Lila is pervaded by only pure divine love, or culmination of Bhakti. It is a sacred Yajna. The individual souls (Gopis) melt themselves in the Supreme Soul or Lord Krishna in their highest devotion. The two become one.

It is the realisation of oneness of Vedanta through Para Bhakti. The relation between Sri Krishna and the Vraja Gopis was most sacred. There was not a tinge of carnality in it. 

Can there be a tinge of carnality in one who is the creator, preserver and destroyer of the three worlds who is the womb of all created beings, who is an embodiment of purity itself, who is the protector of Dharma and who is the world-teacher?

The Rasa Lila had for its object spiritual unification with the Lord. Absorption in the Lord or oneness, is only possible through pure love and love alone, which the Gopis of Brindavan had. The tie between Lord Krishna and the Gopis was divine love wherein there was not the least tinge of physical passion.

Love.