Krishnanandalahari- Yadhavabhyudhya of vedantadesika-chapter8 Venugaanam and Ras

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RAsakreeda- The significance

The gopis came and surrounded Krishna.To them Krishna appeared as the moon who never undergoes waning and waxing, and loki the god p of love who has given up his bow of sugarcane and tookflute in his hand because the sound of the flute ws lke the arrows of the cupd for them.

Here even before he starts to describe the rasakreeda Desika explains the significance and purity of it in order to dispel any notion of worldly love-sport.He says,

surAnganAbhih samayE DhrthAyAm

svEnEva gopAkrthibhoomikyAm

akarmavaSyasya vibhOh thadhAseeth

archAphalasparSanamAthr leelA

The gopis were suppose to be the celetial damsels who took the incarnation of cowherd girls while the Lord put on the costume of a cowherd and it is not due to karma that He was born as the son of Devaki. So the whole thing was a drama and it wasnot due to the desire for carnal pleasures.The janma of the celestial damsels as gopis was the fruit of their worship.

na khalu amushya pramadha madhAnDhyam

na kuthsanam thath thath abheeshTa dhAthuH

na Dharma samsThApana bADha ganDHaH

SuddhAnuchinthyA hi SubhasyaleelA

Krishna did not play with gopis because He was attracted by them. This was no misconduct on the part of Him who is the real Self of all and who gives each one the fruit of their desire.And hence there was not even a trace of deviation from His role of establishing DHarma.Desika further says that this leela of Bhagavan who has all the auspicious qualities is to be contemplated only through pure mind as that of the yogis.

The conduct of the gopis, says Desika is to be viewed thus: They have forsaken the path of the worldly dharma and even disobeyed their elders but it is not to be condemned because they followed the highest dharma, thier guide in that path being the Lord Himself who taught detachment thrugh Gita later on.

As Bhishma said to Yudhishtira in instructing him about dharma, 'Esha mE sarvaDHarmANAm DharmO aDHikathamO mathah;yadhbhakthyA pundareekAksham sthavairarchEth naraH sadhA.' The greatest dharma is the devotion to the Lord, weighed against which all the worldly dharma comes to a nought. We had the example of Meera and other wp omen saints even in kaliyuga to prove this. It is the soulabhya, souSeelya and vAthsalya of the Lord that while even the rshis have to struggle hard to get the pure devotion, the simple gopis and the wives of the rshis were blessed with parA- bhakthi, which is different from para-bhakthi as it is wongly understood by the uninitiated.

Suka says to parikshith in Bhagavatha that Krishna played with the gopis as a child plays with his own reflection.Krishna was the Lord who is inside not only the gopis but also their husbands and it was the play of the Self with the bodies it occupies.Moreover the gopis saw Krishn aeverywhere and aklso in their husbands and hence their love for their husbands only grew. They also never missed their wives from their side and such is the mAya of the Lord.Above all it should be remembered that Krishna was only ten at that time. Th joy experienced by the gopis in the company of Krishna is described by Desiks as 'abhinna bAhyAntharam aikarasyAth AmOdham anyOnyasaganDham ApuH.' Krishna gave them flowers picked by Him and their happiness was equally experienced both inside and outside. The bAhya or external joy was due to Krishna doing things to please them and the internal joy is because they enjoyed His presence in their heart.

 

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