Naradabhakthisuthra-suthras21 to 24

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Suthra 21-yaThA vrajagopikAnAm

Such indeed was the devotion of the gopikas of vraja.

 

Narada has said in the previous suthra that there are examples of this

kind of bhakthi ‘asthu evam evam,’ and now he is showing

the examples of it.

 

Sri Ramakrishna has said that the devotion of the gopis was the devotion of

love, constant unmixed and unflinching. They loved Krishna more than anyone else

and proved as the examples of the bhakthiyoga which Krishna was going to preach

in the battlefield in his discourse of the Bhagavatgita, ‘mayyeva mana

Adhathsva mayi buddhim nivesaya,’ by thinking of him alone all the time. Swami

Vivekananda said that rasalila is the acme of the religion of love, to which

individuality vanishes and there is communion. This is understood by the

unenlightened as being erotic. Even Parikshit was no exception to this

misconception and raised the doubt that how could these women who thought about

Krishna only as their lover attain the divine communion with him. Suka pointed

out that the single pointed concentration on the Lord in whatever capacity is

enough to attain Him. Krishna himself clarifies this doubt in Srimad bhagavatham

by saying that the desire of those, who approach him to satisfy the baser

instincts, become like roasted seeds which never shoot up again,(Bh.10-22-28) In

the 11th skandha Krishna remarks that the gopis attained that state which even

the yogis find difficult to reach by their sheer love.(Bh.11-12-13). Swami

Vivekananda has said that to understand the love of gopis it is first essential

to make yourself pure as it could not be understood with impure minds. It is to

be remembered that the one who told the story was Suka who was a self-realised

master and those who gathered to hear him were the sages who have renounced the

world.

 

Suthra 22- thathra:pi na ma:ha:thmyajna:navismrthi apava:dhah

Even if the love was human it could not be construed that they were not aware of

the divinity of Krishna. The gopis were fully aware of the fact that Krishna was

not human but the supreme purusha. They have witnessed his super human exploits

and never thought of him as a mere human being.

 

Brahadaranyaka Upanishad declares that everyone and everything is loved only

because one loves oneself. ‘na vA are pathyuh kAmAya pathih priyo

bhavathi----Athmanansthu kAmAya sarvam priyam bhavathi

‘(Brhd.2-4-5)

 

The Lord is the inner self of the individual self and hence compared with the

love of Him everything else becomes secondary. This was the state of the gopis

that they left everything and everyone and rushed to Krishna , the supreme self.

This was the love of Meera in more recent times.

 

 

Suthra-23- Thadviheenam jaaraanaam iva

Had they been lacking in this knowledge of divinity of Krishna it

would have been the love for a paramour. This distinguishes between the earthly

love and the divine. Even in the worldly sense a pure love should not be of the

body but of the soul. A devotee loves all because he sees the Lord in all. Love

is divine when there is no expectation or possessiveness. When you feel love for

a person it is due to a momentary removal of a screen that veils the divinity in

them which is in contact with the divinity within you. Detachment alone can give

rise to real love, which does not require the presence or even any communication

with the loved one.

 

Love in its ultimate state is the love of God .You do not see Him or speak to

Him but you feel that He is very close and that He can hear you and see you and

knows your innermost thoughts. All other kinds of love is only a semblance of

that love which is Bhakthi.

 

This idea is set out in the next suthra where Narada says that such worldly love

which is of sensual nature is selfish and does not please the one who is loved.

 

Suthra 24-naasthyeva thasmin that sukha sukhithvam

The happiness of a selfish love does not consists in the happiness of the one

who is loved. The real love is when one does not care for his own happiness but

willing to suffer to make the loved one happy. The gopis did not love Krishna

for selfish motives and were ready to give up all for making him happy This

suthra brings out yet another distinguishing feature of bhakthi which consists

in selfless love forgetting oneself in serving the Lord.

 

End of part 1 of Naradabhakthisuthra.