Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma Meet the Inhabitants of Vṛndāvana

As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out, the words atha and ekadā are commonly used in Sanskrit literature to introduce a new topic. Here they especially indicate that the reunion of the Yadus and Vṛṣṇis at Kurukṣetra is being narrated out of chronological sequence.

Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī explains in his Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī commentary that the events of this Eighty-second Chapter occur after Lord Baladeva’s visit to Vraja (Chapter 65) and before Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rājasūya sacrifice (Chapter 74). This must be so, the ācārya reasons, since during the eclipse at Kurukṣetra all the Kurus, including Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma and Droṇa, met in friendship and happily shared the company of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. At the Rājasūya-yajña, on the other hand, Duryodhana’s jealousy against the Pāṇḍavas became irrevocably inflamed. Soon after this, Duryodhana challenged Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers to the gambling match, in which he cheated them of their kingdom and exiled them to the forest. Right after the Pāṇḍavas’ return from exile, the great Battle of Kurukṣetra took place, during which Bhīṣma and Droṇa were killed. So it is not logically possible for the solar eclipse at Kurukṣetra to have happened after the Rājasūya sacrifice.

Vedic astronomers of five thousand years ago could predict eclipses of the sun and moon just as well as our modern astronomers can. The knowledge of the ancient astronomers went much further, however, since they understood the karmic influences of such events. Solar and lunar eclipses are generally very inauspicious, with certain rare exceptions. But just as the otherwise inauspicious Ekādaśī day becomes beneficial when used for the glorification of Lord Hari, so the time of an eclipse is also advantageous for fasting and worship.

The holy pilgrimage site known as Samanta-pañcaka is located at Kurukṣetra, the “sacred ground of the Kurus,” where the Kuru kings’ predecessors performed many Vedic sacrifices. The Kurus were thus advised by learned brāhmaṇas that this would be the best place for them to observe vows during the eclipse. Long before their time, Lord Paraśurāma had done penance at Kurukṣetra to atone for his killings. Samanta-pañcaka, the five ponds he dug there, were still present at the end of Dvāpara-yuga, as they are even today.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s grandson Aniruddha remained in Dvārakā to protect the city because He is originally Lord Viṣṇu’s manifestation as the guardian of the spiritual planet Śvetadvīpa.

This second bath marked the end of their fasting, on the following day.

These are the special dealings of Vaiṣṇavas. Even the family entanglements that delude ordinary conditioned souls are no encumbrance for those whose family members are all pure devotees of the Lord. Impersonalists have no capacity for appreciating these intimate dealings, since their philosophy condemns as illusory any kind of personal, emotional existence. When followers of impersonalism pretend to understand the loving relationships of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, they only create havoc for themselves and whoever listens to them.

Even the constant anxiety of a pure devotee, apparently just the opposite of the impersonalists’ śānti, can be an exalted manifestation of love of God, as exemplified by Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī, the aunt of Lord Kṛṣṇa and mother of the Pāṇḍavas.

Here Queen Kuntī addresses her brother Vasudeva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura both comment that Kuntī does not blame her relatives for her suffering. Thus she calls them “most saintly persons” and alludes here to her own bad fortune as the cause of her unhappiness.

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, all these kings were now followers of Yudhiṣṭhira because he had subjugated each of them to earn the privilege of performing the Rājasūya sacrifice. The Vedic injunctions state that a kṣatriya who wants to execute the Rājasūya for elevation to heaven must first send out a “victory horse” to roam freely; any other king whose territory this horse enters must either voluntarily submit or face the kṣatriya or his representatives in battle.

All Vedic mantras glorify Lord Viṣṇu; this truth is supported with elaborate evidence by learned ācāryas like Rāmānuja, in his Vedārtha-saṅgraha, and Madhva, in his Ṛg-veda-bhāṣya. The words Viṣṇu Himself speaks, such as the Bhagavad-gītā, are the confidential essence of all scripture. In His manifestation as Vyāsadeva, the Supreme Lord composed both the Vedānta-sutras and Mahābhārata, and this Mahābhārata includes Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s personal statement: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo/ vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham. “By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (Bhagavad-gītā 15.15)

When Lord Viṣṇu appeared before Bali Mahārāja to beg three steps of land, the Lord’s second step pierced the shells of the universe. The water of the transcendental river Virajā, lying just outside the universal egg, thus seeped inside, washing Lord Vāmana’s foot and flowing down to become the Ganges River. Because of the sanctity of its origin, the Ganges is generally considered the most holy of rivers. But even more potent is the water of the Yamunā, where Lord Viṣṇu in His original form of Govinda played with His intimate companions.

In these two verses the assembled kings praise the special merit of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Yadu clan. Not only do they see Kṛṣṇa, but they are also directly connected with Him by dual bonds of marital and blood relationships. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī suggests that the word bandha, beside its more obvious meaning of “relation,” can also be understood in the sense of “capture,” expressing that the love the Yadus feel for the Lord obliges Him always to stay with them.

The cowherds of Vraja were planning to stay at Kurukṣetra for some days, so they came equipped with adequate provisions, especially milk products and other foods for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.

After a long separation, a respectful child should first offer obeisances to his parents. Nanda and Yaśodā gave their sons no opportunity for this, however, for as soon as they saw Them they embraced Them. Only then could Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma offer Their proper respects.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that after the initial embraces and obeisances, Vasudeva led Nanda and Yaśodā into his tent as they held the hands of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Following them inside were Rohiṇī, other women and men of Vraja, and a number of attendants. Inside, Nanda and Yaśodā took the two boys on their laps. Despite having heard the glories of the two Lords of Dvārakā, and despite seeing these opulences now before their eyes, Nanda and Yaśodā looked upon Them as if They were still their eight-year-old children.

At this time, according to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrī Vasudeva invited Nanda outside to meet Ugrasena and the other elder Yadus. Taking this opportunity, Rohiṇī and Devakī talked with Queen Yaśodā.

As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma had not seen Their parents for two reasons: because of Their exile in Vraja, and also because They are never actually born and therefore have no parents.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī also describes what Devakī thought before speaking this verse: “Alas, because for so long these two sons of mine had you, Yaśodā, as Their guardian and mother, and because They were immersed in such a vast ocean of ecstatic loving dealings with you, now that you are once more before Them They are too distracted to even notice me. Also, you are behaving as if insane and blind with love for Them, showing millions of times more maternal affection than I possess. Thus you simply keep staring at us, your friends, without recognizing us. So let me bring you back to reality on the pretext of some affectionate words.”

Then, when Devakī failed to get any response from Yaśodā even after addressing her, Rohiṇī said, “My dear Devakī, it’s impossible just now to rouse her out of this ecstatic trance. We are crying in the wilderness, and her two sons are no less bound up in the ropes of affection for her than she is for Them. So let us now go outside to meet with Pṛthā, Draupadī and the others.”

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, just then Lord Balarāma saw the gopīs standing a short distance away. Seeing them trembling with eagerness to meet Kṛṣṇa, and apparently ready to give up their lives if they could not, He tactfully decided to get up and involve Himself elsewhere. Then the gopīs attained the state described in the current verse. In referring to the gopīs’ intolerant disrespect of Lord Brahmā, “the creator of eyelids,” Śukadeva Gosvāmī is giving vent to his own subtle jealousy of the gopīs’ favored position.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī offers an alternate understanding of the phrase nitya-yujām, which may mean “even of the Lord’s principal queens, who tend to be proud of their constant association with Him.”

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Because they had been separated from Kṛṣṇa for so many years, the gopīs, having come along with Nanda Mahārāja and mother Yaśodā, felt intense ecstasy in seeing Kṛṣṇa. No one can even imagine how anxious the gopīs were to see Kṛṣṇa again. As soon as Kṛṣṇa became visible to them, they took Him inside their hearts through their eyes and embraced Him to their full satisfaction. Even though they were embracing Kṛṣṇa only mentally, they became so ecstatic and overwhelmed with joy that for the time being they completely forgot themselves. The ecstatic trance which they achieved simply by mentally embracing Kṛṣṇa is impossible to achieve even for great yogīs constantly engaged in meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa could understand that the gopīs were rapt in ecstasy by embracing Him in their minds, and therefore, since He is present in everyone’s heart, He also reciprocated the embracing from within.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments that Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself by His vibhūti-śakti to embrace each of the gopīs individually, thus waking each of them from her trance. He inquired, “Are you now relieved of your pain of separation?” and laughed to help lighten their spirits.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī reveals the gopīs’ thoughts: “We are not like You, who, with Your heart shattered by remembering us day and night, gave up all sense enjoyment in Your distress of separation. Rather, we have not remembered You at all; in fact, we have been quite happy without You.” In response, Kṛṣṇa here asks whether they resent His ingratitude.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the gopīs then replied, “But that Supreme Lord You are blaming is none other than Yourself, O most clever of speakers. Everyone in the world knows this! Why should we be ignorant of this fact?” “All right,” Lord Kṛṣṇa then told them, “if this is true, I must be God, but still I am conquered by your loving affection.”

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Lord Kṛṣṇa implies the following idea in this verse: “If you know that I am the Supreme Lord, there should be no question of your suffering any separation from Me, since I pervade all existence. Your unhappiness must be due to a lack of discrimination. Therefore please take this instruction from Me, which will remove your ignorance.

“But the truth of the matter is that you gopīs were in your previous lives great masters of yoga, and thus you must already know this science of jñāna-yoga. Furthermore, whether I try to teach this to you in person or through My representative, such as Uddhava, it will not produce the desired result. Jñāna-yoga simply causes suffering for those who are fully immersed in pure love of Godhead.”

One should properly understand the relationships among the material objects of this world, the elements comprising their basic substance, the individual spirit souls and the one Supreme Soul. The various objects of material enjoyment, such as pots, rivers and mountains, are manufactured from the basic material elements — earth, water, fire and so on. These elements pervade material things as their cause, while the spirit souls pervade them in their special role as their enjoyer (svātmanā). And ultimately, the material elements, their products and the living entities are all manifested within and pervaded by the imperishable, perfectly complete Supreme Soul, Kṛṣṇa.

A jñānī with realization of these facts should feel no separation from the Lord in any situation, but the gopīs of Vraja are much more elevated in their Kṛṣṇa consciousness than ordinary jñānīs. Because of their intense love for Kṛṣṇa in His most humanlike, all-attractive aspect as a young cowherd boy, Kṛṣṇa’s internal potency, Yoga-māyā, covered their knowledge of His majestic aspects, such as His all-pervasiveness. Thus the gopīs were able to relish the intense ecstasy caused by their love in separation from Him. Only in jest is Śrī Kṛṣṇa ascribing to them a lack of spiritual discrimination.

Śrīla Prabhupāda renders this passage as follows in Kṛṣṇa: “The gopīs, having been instructed by Kṛṣṇa in this philosophy of simultaneous oneness and difference, remained always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus became liberated from all material contamination. The consciousness of the living entity who falsely presents himself as the enjoyer of the material world is called jīva-kośa, which means imprisonment by the false ego. Not only the gopīs but anyone who follows these instructions of Kṛṣṇa becomes immediately freed from the jīva-kośa imprisonment. A person in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always liberated from false egoism; he utilizes everything for Kṛṣṇa’s service and is not at any time separated from Kṛṣṇa.”

The translation and word meanings for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 1.81), where this verse is quoted.

Revealing the jealous mood in which the gopīs spoke these deceptively reverential words, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives their statements as follows: “O Supreme Lord, O directly manifest Supersoul, O crest jewel of instructors in definitive knowledge, You were aware of our excessive attachment to home, property and family. Therefore You previously had Uddhava instruct us in the knowledge that dispels ignorance, and now You have done so Yourself. In this way You have purified our hearts of contamination, and as a result we understand Your pure love for us, free from any motivation other than assuring our liberation. But we are only unintelligent cowherd women; how can this knowledge remain fixed in our hearts? We cannot even meditate steadily on Your feet, the focus of realization for great souls like Lord Brahmā. Please be merciful to us and somehow make it possible for us to concentrate on You, even a little. We are still suffering the reactions of our own fruitive work, so how can we meditate on You, the goal of great yogīs? Such yogīs are immeasurably wise, but we are mere feeble-minded women. Please do something to get us out of this deep well of material life.”

Pure devotees are never motivated by a desire for material elevation or spiritual liberation. And even if the Lord offers them such benedictions, the devotees often refuse to accept them. As stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.34):

“Because My devotees possess saintly behavior and deep intelligence, they completely dedicate themselves to Me and do not desire anything besides Me. Indeed, even if I offer them liberation from birth and death, they do not accept it.” It is quite appropriate, therefore, that the gopīs respond with a trace of jealous anger to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s attempt at teaching them jñāna-yoga.

Thus, according to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the words the gopīs speak in this verse may be interpreted as follows: “O sun who directly destroys the darkness of ignorance, we are scorched by the sun-rays of this philosophical knowledge. We are cakora birds who can subsist only on the moonlight radiating from Your beautiful face. Please come back to Vṛndāvana with us, and in this way bring us back to life.”

And if He says, “Then come to Dvārakā; there we will enjoy together,” they reply that Śrī Vṛndāvana is their home, and they are too attached to it for them to take up residence anywhere else. Only there, the gopīs imply, can Kṛṣṇa attract them by wearing peacock feathers in His turban and playing enchanting music with His flute. Only by His appearing again in Vṛndāvana can the gopīs be saved, not by any other kind of meditation on Him or theoretical knowledge of the self.