Search

An analogy can be given with the sun globe and the sunshine: to remain in the sunshine does not mean Although the sunshine and the sun globe are actually one and the same, still there is a distinction, for one is the energy and one is the energetic source. The Absolute Truth and His bodily effulgence are in the same way simultaneously one and different. To enter the kingdom and to enter the king’s palace are not the same thing.

There may be some difficulty in understanding that both the gopīs and Kaṁsa achieved the same goal, so this point should be clearly understood, because the attitudes of Kaṁsa and Śiśupāla were different Although in all these cases the focus is on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all of the devotees as impersonal Brahman, Paramātmā (Supersoul) and Bhagavān (the Supreme Personality of Godhead). Although Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are the same-and-one Absolute Truth, devotees like Kaṁsa or

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is trying here to describe the different achievements of the impersonalists and the Generally, those who are impersonalists and are inimical to the Supreme Personality of Godhead get entrance only into the impersonal Brahman, when and if they reach spiritual perfection. The impersonalist philosophers are in one sense like the enemies of the Lord because the out-and-out enemies of the Lord and the impersonalists are both allowed to enter only into the impersonal effulgence

the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it is stated, “Those who have achieved liberation from material contamination and those who are demons and are killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead become absorbed in the Brahman concept of life and reside in the spiritual sky of the brahma-jyotir.” That spiritual sky is far beyond the material sky, and it is confirmed also in Bhagavad-gītā that beyond The enemies and the impersonalists may be allowed to enter into this Brahman effulgence, but the devotees

personified address the Lord in this way: “My dear Lord, yogīs meditate upon Your localized feature, and The gopīs, who are embraced by Your serpentine hands and who have such lusty attitudes, also achieve And as far as we are concerned, being different demigods in charge of the different parts of Vedic knowledge By “the same perfection” we must always remember the example of the sun and the sunshine.

The gopīs are young girls and Kṛṣṇa is a young boy. And the descendants of King Yadu, due to their family relationship with Kṛṣṇa, were always thinking of these different kinds of devotees have a spontaneous attraction for Kṛṣṇa in different categories, and

The attraction of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa and the affection of the members of the Yadu dynasty are both accepted The attraction of Kaṁsa to Kṛṣṇa in fear and the attraction of Śiśupāla in envy are not accepted as devotional And only when affection comes to the platform of spontaneous love is it counted in the category of pure

Ultimately these attractions become freed from all material contamination, and gradually the worshiper develops spiritual love and achieves that ultimate goal of life desired by the pure devotee.”

And it is specifically manifested among the gopīs.

of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kavirāja Kṛṣṇadāsa, has explained the distinction between lusty desire and attitude in this statement: “ ‘Lusty desire’ refers to the desire to gratify one’s personal senses, and The gopīs, however, wanted nothing at all but to gratify the senses of the Lord, and there is no instance

Great devotees up to the standard of Uddhava are very dear friends of the Lord, and they desire to follow But because it appears to be just like ordinary dealings of young boys and girls, it is sometimes misinterpreted Unfortunately, persons who cannot understand the transcendental nature of the love affairs of the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa take it for granted that Kṛṣṇa’s love affairs with the gopīs are mundane transactions, and therefore

have to learn anything about devotional service; they are already perfect in all regulative principles and They have passed all tests of regulative principles in their previous lives, and as a result they are

Bhagavad-gītā confirms this: “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders

of rāgānugā can be further divided into two categories: one category is called “sensual attraction,” and

But her desire for Kṛṣṇa was almost mundane, and so her love cannot be compared to the love of the gopīs