Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī teaches how to make relation with the nitya-siddha gopīs, how one can understand their desire and follow their footsteps, and how to get one’s nitya-siddha bhāva and to serve Kṛṣṇa with eternal bhāva. Therefore Yogamāyā devī arranged this program. Yesterday we heard:
The Vraja-devīs were present in Vṛndāvana feeling great pain worried about their future. They thought, “When we are a little older, our parents will send us out of Vraja-maṇḍala, distance from Kṛṣṇa. Our life will be useless. We will have to continuously serve mundane people. We took birth in Vraja-maṇḍala. After millions of lives, we have a chance for kṛṣṇa-sevā. But now we will be sent to serve māyā.” This was their pain and tension.
Now, by the desire of Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī, Kṛṣṇa played on His attractive Mohinī flute. By this flute, Kṛṣṇa sent His message to the gopīs. The gopīs heard this, and their hearts became restless. They could not explain their mood to their friends. They thought, “If I tell to anyone, she will tease me, saying, ‘Oh, you are too young to be thinking about this. This is not good for you.’ ” But then they checked and saw all the gopīs’ hearts had the same mood. Then they all went to the bank of the Yamunā and wept there in groups.
Because of their great pain, they began to address each other, unable to tolerate their feelings in silence.
Sometime later Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī appeared and said, “I know your hearts and have a solution for your pain. I have a siddha-mantra; chant this for one month, then your desire will be fulfilled.” She told them the mantra and how to follow the mantra, and then disappeared.
The kumarīs heard Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī’s advice and became very pleased. Without anurāga it is not possible to serve and control Kṛṣṇa. Love is the cost to attain Kṛṣṇa. Following rules and regulations with an ordinary neglectful mood is not helpful. Where does this anurāga come from? Therefore Guru-pāda-padma is necessary. Gurudeva gives mantra, dīkṣā. Now, Vṛndā-devī gave all the gopa-kanyās this mantra and by her advice they followed this kātyāyanī-vrata. After this vrata, she promised them they would achieve Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they agreed. How could they protect themselves from māyā? Therefore they took this mantra. If I have no guardian, I will go the wrong way. For spiritual life a guide is necessary, and that person should be very dear and near to us. We must have a relationship with that person.
Now Vṛndā-devī gave this mantra to the gopīs by the desire of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa inspired her, “If they achieve this anurāga, then they will come nearby and serve me.” Otherwise without serving with anurāga, one can perform vaidhī-bhakti for millions of lives without progressing.
Once there was a devotee doing bhajana under a tamarind tree. Nārada Ṛṣi came and the devotee asked him, ‘Nārada, Gurudeva, please tell when I will get siddha, and meet with Lord Nārāyaṇa.’
“I will go and ask the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha and come back to tell you.” He went to Vaikuṇṭha and asked, “Your bhakta is under the tamarind tree doing bhajana. When will you bestow your mercy and darśana to him?”
Lord Nārāyaṇa said, “For as many leaves are on the tree under which he is doing bhajana, for that many lives he will have to perform bhajana before attaining me.
Nārada Ṛṣi was disturbed, “How is it possible, when will it be finished? It is too long.”
Nārada Ṛṣi returned and the devotee asked, “What did Lord Nārāyaṇa say?”
“This tree has leaves; each leaf represents one of your lives, for as many leaves are on this tree, you will do bhajana before meeting with the Lord.”
The devotee began to dance very happily, “Now it is guaranteed.” He cried and shouted, “Before I had no guarantee, now I have the Lord’s guarantee!”
As the devotee was dancing in bliss, Lord Nārāyaṇa flew down from the sky on the back of Garuḍa.
Nārada Ṛṣi was surprised and said, “Oh Lord, you have cheated me, and made me a liar. You said you would come after millions of lives, and now you came here just now?”
The Lord said, “Nārada, before he was doing bhajana without anurāga, firm faith and earnest desire. Now that he heard My word from you, so much love, faith and enthusiasm came in his heart, that I was forced to come immediately. What can I do? I had to appear. His process before was very slow. When he would cross everything and come to Me? That was a very, very long process. But now he is thinking about me with faith and running very fast. So how could I neglect him?”
All the vraja-gopīs came to Vṛndāvana. Now Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī came and gave this mantra. She did not tell how to chant the mantra, or expand very much on the process of the vrata. But this mantra is eternal; by chanting the mantra, it will give one inspiration of the proper process.
From the first day of the month of mārga-śīrṣa, the young sādhana-siddha vraja-gopīs started the vrata. Who was the driver of this vrata? The sun himself was the chariot. When he arose, he infused all the gopīs’ hearts with strength. They came to the Yamunā before sunrise, and bathed, then performed the pūjā just as the sun was rising.
Before the pūjā and bath they joked with each other, telling, “Now you are doing this vrata, chanting this mantra. Kṛṣṇa will definitely come and steal you away. He will get married to you.” The other gopī said, “I am not qualified; you are very beautiful, I know that He likes you. He will definitely marry you.” The gopīs teased each other in this way.
One said, “Kṛṣṇa likes you and will marry you, therefore decorate yourself nicely. Wear a pretty sari and take care of your body nicely. Yaśodā Mātā and Nanda Bābā like you, they will accept you into their home as their daughter-in-law. You will be Kṛṣṇa’s near and dearest queen. When your parents hear this news they will be very happy and give a lot of charity to Nanda and Yaśodā. Kṛṣṇa will be very happy during the marriage and his friends will be laughing and joking, eating sweets and playing many games.”
They teased each other to increase their anurāga.
When young boys and girls talk and hear about their friends with each other, then their anurāga increases.
One gopī said to another, “An astrologer will soon come and arrange a good auspicious day for your marriage with Kṛṣṇa. Your parents will buy a nice dress and ornaments for the marriage day. Kṛṣṇa is blackish and you are golden. At the time of your marriage, you will look like lightning flashing in the dark raincloud of Kṛṣṇa’s beautiful form. Kṛṣṇa has a syāma, blackish colour, and you will be like turmeric pasted on His body.”
One gopī said to another, “Your parents will give many presentations for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa likes yellow colour, so they will give him a Pītāmbara dhotī, shirt and turban, and will decorate Him with jewels. After offering, they will give nice prasādam and tāmbūla for Him to eat. He will chew this tāmbūla and His lips will become red and very attractive. His neck will have a beautiful jewel, His hands will have bangles, and His fingers will have rings. Before your marriage day, they will smear Kṛṣṇa’s body with turmeric, mixed with neem leaves and mustard oil. When the auspicious day comes for the marriage, the ceremony place will be decorated with beautiful flowers. They will make a thick ornament for Kṛṣṇa’s waist. Kṛṣṇa will wear this on His waist. It will be very heavy, laid with precious jewels and ornaments. He will feel it is too heavy and say, “This is not good for me. These are only stone pieces and heavy. There is no good fragrance, love and affection there. I can’t carry it. Then he will take it off and give it back, and will put on delicate and fragrant flower garlands.”
Bhūṣaṇera bhūṣaṇa aṅga (Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 21.105). It is said that Kṛṣṇa’s body is not beautified by ornaments; rather, Kṛṣṇa Himself beautifies the ornaments He wears. When ordinary people are decorated with nice cloth and flowers, their beauty is enhanced, but Kṛṣṇa’s body needs no external decoration to enhance His beauty.
In Vraja, the Vrajavāsīs are not attracted by gold, jewels and ornaments. The gopīs say, “Kṛṣṇa will go for marriage with many friends. Many relatives will follow behind your weeding chariot and people will throw flowers as you pass by.”
The sakhīs teased each other. One said, “The forest has many flowers; today I will decorate you to see if Kṛṣṇa comes and accepts you or not. If he doesn’t come, then your sādhana is not complete. If Kṛṣṇa takes you in front of everyone, then we will understand the strength of your love.” Sādhus chant Gāyatrī, mantra, and harināma, but what comes? Their anger, or many other pictures. Why? This is a test. After chanting, the mind is not cooled, the senses are not happy, and one is always disturbed and fights with others. And one is hopeless and not enthusiastic for anything, then am I chanting mantra? No. What am I doing? There must be some fault in my practice. It is said in Hindi— “Peḍa, terā nāma kyā hai?”
“Phalena paricīyate”
“Tree, what is your name?”
“Look at my fruits, then you will understand.”
Similarly, asking sādhu, “Who are you?”
“Check my fruits, result, then you will understand.” But checking the result, it is zero. Only negative, there is nothing positive. Why not? We chant, read, and hear, but do not arrange place and room in our heart for anything. Everything is done dryly without any love or enthusiasm.
The gopīs say, “Kṛṣṇa will come as your bridegroom, but not alone. He will come with His friends and a big band.”
Then the gopīs thought they heard the sound of the musical party coming from a distance, but then no one came and they became depressed. Then one gopī said to another, “Oh sakhī, Kṛṣṇa is happy with you, therefore He has come nearby you to take you away. Just look over there!”
When the gopī heard this she fell senseless.
Other sakhīs teased, “Kṛṣṇa is coming, if you don’t serve him, then what is the use of all your austerities? You have no sense. Wake up and look at yourself. Your body is dirty, your cloth is disarrayed. You are not singing in waiting for Him. How will you be ready when He comes? You will enter Kṛṣṇa’s family, so you must be very strong and prepared to serve.”
In this way, the gopīs joked with each other as they dreamt of getting married to Kṛṣṇa.
Vanamālī Kṛṣṇa knew the condition of the gopīs’ hearts. Why did He not come after the first day of pūjā? He knew that the pūjā was not complete. The gopīs did not know how to offer everything. It was like a show of complete surrender, but not real. How can it be real? Anywhere, at any moment, they would be ready for kṛṣṇa-sevā. If one says, “I am sick now, I can’t serve you—I can’t do anything.” Then that is not complete surrender. If Kṛṣṇa came nearby, then nothing would happen. Their hearts were still not ready.
On the bank of the Yamunā, the gopīs were singing. They went inside the water to bathe. They made the deity of kātyāyanī with sand, worshipped her and then chanted the mantra:
kātyāyani mahā-māye mahā-yoginy adhīśvari nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.22.4
After their pūjā was complete, they returned to their homes.How did Kṛṣṇa give darśana to the followers of this vrata? Kṛṣṇa thought, “It is not possible for me to come and meet with the gopīs now.” Therefore he did not come the first days. When they were suffering too much, Kṛṣṇa thought, “I will go now.” Śukadeva Gosvāmī told Parīkṣit Mahārāja in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam many tapasvīs and brahmarṣis did ārādhanā of vraja-rājakumāra Yaśodā-nandana. Later, the result of the ārādhanā came to them. They chanted mantra, but Kṛṣṇa did not send any bribe. Kṛṣṇa desired to go Himself, but He waited, “Today, tomorrow, the day after, I will go.” But how would He go? If they have any attachment to their relatives or any other, Kṛṣṇa would not accept them, “If I go and sit, and see them in front of Me, but they may be attached to any other and waiting for their kindness, then they would not understand My value. Therefore if I hide it is good.” The gopīs chanted mantra, offered bhoga, and performed ārati. After everything was finished, they sat and chanted this mantra. Who is the mantra-devatā? They chanted mantra with their mind near Kṛṣṇa. They were never far from him. How can Kṛṣṇa be pleased by chanting mantra? This mantra is chanted for own self. Like chanting guru-mantra, why will Guru be happy? At the time of chanting guru-mantra or Kṛṣṇa mantra, Guru’s śakti, or Kṛṣṇa’s śakti will come. When Guru’s śakti comes, then I will be able for Guru’s service and when Kṛṣṇa’s śakti comes I will be able to serve Kṛṣṇa. If we don’t chant mantra, where will their strength come from? No desire and taste will come. Therefore chanting this mantra is necessary.They chanted this mantra continuously, without forgetting it. Why? They had respect for the mantra given by Gurudeva. If one has relation with the mantra, then the mantra-devatā will be attached to that person.
Therefore the gopīs got more and more power and strength by chanting the mantra everyday. They became very strong. Also, their bodies became young and strong. They were no longer sad and they played and swam in the water. It was like Kṛṣṇa came in their hearts with the mantra. The gopīs ate very little, but they had no problem. Kṛṣṇa said, “I am Jagannātha; I will eat the food for all. I will eat alone, and fulfil the hunger of all. Now chanting and chanting this mantra, the gopīs became very strong. When one month was going to be complete, by chanting the mantra, the special mercy of Kṛṣṇa came. The sakhās were playing with Kṛṣṇa in the garden and forest, and similarly the sakhīs were playing in the water and on the bank of the Yamunā. The power of Kṛṣṇa had come to them. Manah trāyate iti mantra. Mantra controls the restless mind and bestows pure energy. After chanting for one month, on the last day the Vraja-kumārīs took their cloth off and went to bathe in the Yamunā. In the early morning, when it was very dark, earlier they bathed everyday, but today they did not wear cloth. One month was complete. Why? Kṛṣṇa would come and give darśana. They would go with Kṛṣṇa. And they could not go with wet cloth. How could they stand near Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa would come and choose one from among the millions. Who would He pick? They thought, “We will keep our clothes dry.” They had desire, “Kṛṣṇa will see us, our nature, our body—everything. We will offer everything to Kṛṣṇa.” Like a flower, its colour and smell. If anyone purchases a flower, they can see the flower in and out. The gopīs did this vrata, they were ready to show how much love they had balanced. Kṛṣṇa said ‘I will check the gopī’s bhajana.” Kṛṣṇa called His four dear sakhās— Sudāma, Dāma, Vasudāma and Kiṅkinī. Kṛṣṇa said, “Today I am going to the bank of the Yamunā.” The sakhās said, “It is cold. In the winter, we go with the cows at nine; why are we going in the early morning?” Kṛṣṇa said, “There is a nice feast there, come with me, there will be many sweets and fruits.’’ Kṛṣṇa said, “We will meet with nice people. Not yogīs, sādhus, or brahmarṣis. No. We will go meet with munis. They are doing austerity. We will go and meet with them.” Kṛṣṇa was very clever. With His kumāra friends He came to the bank of the Yamunā. The kumarīs were in the water. The sakhās smiled and began to laugh. Kṛṣṇa said, “Stop, be silent! Go and silently steal their clothes and hang them on the kadamba tree.” Kṛṣṇa told the sakhās, “Don’t laugh. The gopīs went in the water, they have no cloth. If you laugh and joke at them, all bad nature will come to you.” If anyone did wrong, that should not be discussed, or thought of, or collected. Otherwise this collection will come to me and I will suffer as a result. If you collect people’s goodness, then you will have a great balance of goodness and if you collect bad things from morning to evening, then your balance will be of only badness. Kṛṣṇa told the sakhās’ “Don’t tease them. What will you collect by this? The sakhās asked, why will you take their cloth and put it on the kadamba tree?” Kṛṣṇa said, “The gopīs use this cloth, but they neglected it.” At the time of sādhana, sometimes the sādhaka neglects many things. They think there is no need of ācamana in the early morning, no need of tilaka, ācamana; without ācamana, tilaka or āsana, they start guru-mantra. But they don’t know that by not following the rules and regulations, by their carelessness, their sādhana will be lost. By carelessness, wrong result will come. If one carefully follows all rules and regulations then good result will come. Sometimes while following sādhana-bhakti, many things are neglected. Therefore one should be very careful in their sādhana. The gopīs chanted mantra and became detached from their bodies. But they did not think they would be shy naked. Now Kṛṣṇa came and they were shy. But they were not shy amongst each other naked. Kṛṣṇa did not give order for them to go naked in the Yamunā. Bhagavatī Paurṇamāsī did not give them order. Sometimes, some people do many things independently. This is not good. In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa teaches that we should do our sādhana seriously, without a joking mood. Kṛṣṇa came with the sakhās, and the sakhās began to laugh. The sakhās were with Kṛṣṇa, not the gopa-kumarīs. They followed Kṛṣṇa’s desire. This is proper. On the other side, the gopīs were doing bhajana and worshipping kātyāyanī, but today they went a little distance. Kṛṣṇa sat on the kadamba tree and started His insults. Kṛṣṇa said,” Did your parents not teach you any etiquette, do you know nothing? In the early morning you are chanting mantra, doing bhajana, tapasyā on the bank of Yamunā, but you left your cloth and went naked in the water. Who In front of Gurudeva one should chant guru-mantra. But some think, “Serving Gurudeva is enough. What is the need for chanting mantra?” But without chanting, connection will be lost. It will run only for some time. you this? Did you never ask your Guru, or learn anything from your Guru?” After chanting the mantra for one month, they had no attachment with the body and renounced everything. They had no attachment. Like an old person who leaves the body, then if the body is naked, put in a fire, or in a grave, that person does not watch his body. This body is dead. The gopīs had body, but no relation with their body. By chanting and chanting the mantra, by this mantra’s power, they were present with Kṛṣṇa and getting entrance for Kṛṣṇa’s service. By nicely chanting, desire came for Kṛṣṇa’s service. Kṛṣṇa was hiding in the kadamba tree out of the gopīs sight. Now Kṛṣṇa began to tease them. He said, “Oh, such wonderful lotuses have blossomed in the Yamunā.” The gopīs said from the water, “Kṛṣṇa, you stole our cloth. This is not good, give it back.” Kṛṣṇa said, “You had no care for your cloth.” “If bhaktas do not care for anything, I take care of that. This is my service of the devotees. You forgot to do many things in your bhajana, I saved you from any fault. Don’t worry. Come and take back your cloth.” Kṛṣṇa said, “One should be very careful during the performance of bhajana.” Like a poor person, when wealth comes, it should not be misused. If one becomes wealthy, one should not disturb other poor people. One should not be like a hungry tiger that kills and eats weaker animals. Doing bhajana, all attachment is finished. Does that mean I should also leave my cloth and be naked? I may have no desire. But what will other people think? What mentality will come? They will think, “After chanting mantra, the gopī’s became mad, crazy.” Will the mantra-devatā be happy by this? On top of the kadamba tree, Kṛṣṇa was sitting and looking. Inside the water it was like many lotuses were blossoming that had grown from babyhood by the power of their mantra. Hari-katha spoken by Sripada Premananda Prabhu; rendition by Rasik Mohan Das This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.In front of Gurudeva one should chant guru-mantra. But some think, “Serving Gurudeva is enough. What is the need for chanting mantra?” But without chanting, connection will be lost. It will run only for some time.