Vraja-mandala Parikrama, Cira ghata, 9 November 1993
Srila Gurudeva: This Vraja-dhama is not a new place. It has been existing since time immemorial. By hearing and witnessing these pastimes, a greed to attain Krsna awakens in the heart of the sadhakas. The Srutis also developed this greed, as did the sixty thousand rsis of the Dandakaranya forest. They all thought, "We want to serve Krsna in the same way as the gopis who stayed with Him and worshiped Him. They performed rasa and satisfied Krsna by that. We also want to be able to do this." Even at present times, upon hearing the pastimes of Krsna, a sadhaka may develop a greed within his heart to serve Radha and Krsna like the gopis.
Not only one or two gopis were there, but many different groups. For those who were qualified, who had been worshiping and practicing bhakti for a long time (like one, two, or even ten kalpas), Yogamaya had arranged to take birth in Vraja, from the womb of a gopi. The princesses (raja-kumaris) of Janaka Puri and the rsis of the Dandakaranya forest came to Vraja as groups (yuthas), whereas other gopis came alone (ayutha). Those who had been worshiping in the mood of madhurya for tens of millions of years by chanting the kama-gayatri and gopala-mantra, they all took birth here as gopis.
When they were very young, as it is the custom in Vraja...(audio cut). We find this custom not only in Vraja, but all over India. These young girls don't know what marriage means. They have no understanding of vivaha (marriage). From childhood, they approach Sankara, Durga, Katyayani, Uma, in search of a good husband. From a young age, Rukmini worshiped Uma, and Sita-devi also started this worship from childhood. As such, this Katyayani puja was a custom from ancient times. So from birth, all these gopis who now had taken birth from the womb of the gopis of Vraja, had impressions from their sadhana in their previous life (samskaras) from birth. And in this birth, seeing the nitya-siddha, or eternally perfected gopis, they worshiped Katyayaniji from childhood.
Katyayaniji resides at this place. All the small kumari girls, from this village (Sehara) and from the neighboring villages as well, would come here. Some would be of the age of two, three, four, five, six-as long as they were not married, up to the age of twelve, they would come here to do this puja. After twelve, they would get married, and that marriage would be strong. Nowadays, however, even marriages that take place at the age of thirty are weak. Marriages are no longer arranged by the family. Rather, girls now make their own arrangements. Sometimes they only marry in court, they arrange in whatever way they want, but then they leave their husband and go for a second, third, or fourth marriage. Both boys and girls are doing these things now. But before, when girls were given in marriage at the age of twelve, the verbal agreement made by the parents would last not just for one life, but for ten lives. That's how strong these agreements were. That's how their samskaras were made.
So these small girls would come here from their villages, and for one month they would bathe in the Yamuna. There is a tree at that place, and the Yamuna was flowing just nearby. The flow of the Yamuna is sometimes here and sometimes there. Now she is somewhat closer. One time when we came, she was flooding this whole area, yet at other times, we have seen her way over there. Still, she anyhow remains here. She especially refuses to leave Tapovana and always stays close to that place.
Here, the gopis performed aradhana (worship) for one month by bathing every day, changing their clothes, and then offering dhupa (incense), dipa (ghee-lamps), conch shell water, and so on. They would perform worship with sixteen ingredients, such as bhoga-raga, naivedya etc. Now, a stone deity is present here, but before they would make a deity out of sand. They would place that sand deity under the tree and worship it as Katyayani. What would they say?
katyayani maha-maye maha-yoginy adhisvari nanda-gopa-sutam devi patim me kuru te namah
Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.22.4
They did not understand the meaning of 'pati' (husband) or know the meaning of marriage. But they used to do this since childhood. If they had known or had the association of the nitya-siddha gopis, they would not have used the word 'pati.' They would have used a different word instead, like 'priyatam' (beloved), or any other word. When twenty-nine days had passed, on the thirtieth day, these young girls invited all the married girls whom had not given birth to children yet and were therefore still accepted as kumaris-Lalita, Visakha, Citra, Srimati Radhika, Campakalata, Indulekha, and so on. They also invited the vipaksa-gopis, like Padma, Candravali, Saibya, and Bhadra, as well as gopis like Kundalata. They invited all of them, thinking, "If they come, our puja will become successful." So on that last full moon day, Lalita, Visakha, Radhika, and all the gopis mentioned earlier came here, to this place. They were here, at this ghata, on the bank of Yamuna. In the mood of children, all the young gopis who had been observing the vrata took off their clothes and went to take bath in the Yamuna. It was 4 a.m. when they started to take bath, the time of brahma-muhurta, and it was quite cold. Even though they were shivering, having a strong desire to successfully finish their vrata, they still took their bath. At that time, playing, Krsna arrived on the scene, along with Subala, Sridama, and other young boys of two-and-a-half to three years old. With the boys, He collected all the young gopis' clothes and climbed up into the tree. He there hung all the clothes onto the different branches. Seeing that He had not yet been able to get the attention of the young gopis who where absorbed in their bathing, Krsna started laughing and clapping, making a lot of noise and commotion. The gopis then looked up and exclaimed, "Oh! Where have our clothes gone? And who is that in the tree?" They looked and saw it was Kanhaiya, with some other boys. They then noticed all their clothes-red, blue, yellow, green, and so on- hanging from above. "It seems like Krsna may not leave us so easily today," they thought. The gopis folded their hands and began to pray, but Krsna refused to give them back their clothes, and instead began to joke with them. Krsna said, "You have committed an offense to the Jala-devata, the presiding deity of the water here. One should never bathe naked, especially not in the dark. You have committed an offense, so you should fold your hands and beg for forgiveness from the presiding deity of the water." At last, the gopis realized that He for whom they had been doing this vrata had now come, and that whatever He was saying was only like a child's play. They therefore relented and said, "Okay, okay, we will do whatever You ask from us." In the end, Krsna told the gopis to come out of the water. He sent Sridama and Subala to go and bring the gopis to Him, but when the boys came down from the tree, all the gopis together threatened them, shouting, "Grab those naughty boys." In fear, the sakhas quickly ran away. Some time later, the gopis finally came out of the water, as Krsna had requested, and with folded hands, they offered pranama to Him. After receiving their clothes back from Him, they returned back to their home. On that last day, Krsna appeared to them as the devata (He who had been the object of their worship during their vrata) and said, I will fulfill all your hearts' desires in the upcoming autumn full moon, sarada-purnima. Why did the young gopis call all the sakhis on the last day? Not because the vrata had ended, but in order to get the association of the nitya-siddha gopis. Without their association, it is impossible to become eternally perfected, or nitya-siddha. They could attain this on their own. When Krsna played His flute at the time of rasa, those gopis who already had children and those who had purva-anuraga were unable to come. They were stopped by their husbands. At that time, in intense pain of separation, they took Krsna into their hearts and embraced Him there. As such, becoming completely purified, leaving all other moods aside, they then arrived first at Krsna's rasa. Therefore, this place is the place of perfection for the gopis. Now we will go over there, to the bank of the Yamuna, and whoever is able to take bath, they can do so. Then, returning from there, we will go to the temple of Katyayani, where we will do her arati with incense (dhupa) and ghee lamps (dipa). We will chant this mantra (katyayani maha-maye_) and please her and Krsna by offering flowers to them. We will pray, "Just like you fulfilled the inner-desires of the gopis, in the same way, please fulfill our heart's desires as well." Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol! [Srila Gurudeva and devotees in unison loudly chant again and again:]katyayani maha-maye / maha-yoginy adhisvari nanda-gopa-sutam devi / patim me kuru te namah
Gurudeva: priyatama me kuru te namah All devotees: priyatama me kuru te namah