The Lover's Life - 9c

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The divine pain, the anguish of the devotional

heart is from a direct connection to the Beloved. He

sports with His lovers in a lila hide-and-seek.

Sometimes, He may delay, but when the fruit is finally

given, it is totally sweet and worth the wait. Only love

can influence the Beloved. Still, the lover who

desires to be taken into her Beloved's arms, uses every

resource to find Him. She waits, she practices, cries and

contemplates, yet the Beloved may still not appear. <br>The

greatest example of this fire-like devotion is found in

the bhakti of the Svaminis of Vrindavan, the Gopis of

Braja. Some of those blessed Gopis were married to other

men in the world. Once, when Shri Krishna went to the

forest and sounded His sweet flute, its enchanting call

brought the dairy maids of Braja, those accomplished

souls, out from their worldly homes into His presence.

Meanwhile, some of them who got caught in their homes, were

unable to leave. They were stopped by their husbands and

other family members and could not join the others in

the Krishna congregation deep within the groves of

Vrindavan. <br><br>Those Gopis who remained in their homes,

did not view Krishna as the divine Beloved but they

saw Him as their paramour. This material view is what

really kept them snared in their homes. Their desires

for the Beloved had specific motives, were tainted

with worldly stuff and restricted their bhakti

movement. Their delayed Krishna meeting afflicted their

souls. They knew they were missing the Beloved's dance,

His rasa a congregation of elixir. <br><br>When they

could not find their way out of their worldly homes,

they closed their eyes and meditated upon the form of

their Beloved. At that moment, they experienced His

intense pangs of separation. In a single second, their

affliction that was equal to countless years in hell, filled

their beings. That fire of separation swept through

their karmic lots and cleansed them of all previous

obstructions. <br><br>Then, within their meditation, the

blessed form of Hari emerged and embraced them. A joy

arose form His contact that was equal to the

concentrated pleasure of a billion years in heaven. In the

intensity of the experience, those blessed lovers left

their material forms and joined the Beloved in the

eternal abode, they became partners in the love games.

And there were also the Gopis who did make it out of

their homes. They arrived in the forest of Vrindavan

only to be told by Shri Krishna to <br>return home to

their worldly lives. They did not listen to words for

they knew they were laced with double meanings. His

command to go really meant to stay, and after replying to

Him in eleven ways, their fortitude and spiritual

endurance prevailed and Hari allowed them a dalliance that

thrilled their every pore. They enjoyed Beloved Hari

because of their determination, wisdom and unconditional

love. The reward was showered upon them.