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HH Lokanath Swami:

[Kirtana ends] We should take full shelter of this maha mantra in order to fully appreciate what is being said. By the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and this maha mantra that He has given us, we can have some hope of understanding this Madhurya Lila.

By disappearing, Krsna both fulfilled Radharani’s desire to have some special attention from Krsna and also increased the greed the gopis were feeling to have His association. The gopis are energies of Radharani. They are inseparable from Her and Krsna. The Lord is playing with His own forms.

So, now that search for "the most wanted" is going on, their prana vallabha. The gopis continued to ask the trees and plants if they had seen Krsna. "Have you seen Balarama’s younger brother, Ramanuja?" In Rama lila Ramanuja (younger brother of Rama) is Laxman. Then, Laxman as the younger brother had to follow Rama and do as He was told. Sometimes, Lord Rama would choose to fight and instruct Laxman to stand back. Therefore, in Krsna Lila, Balarama insisted in coming as the elder brother of Krsna.

The trees did not reply. Considering them males, the gopis approached Tulasi Devi. Vrndadevi is first a person, and then a tree. She has a very important role in Vrndavan. She is setting the scene for all of Lord Krsna’s pastimes— a very exalted devotee. The Lord is wearing Tulasi around His neck. He adorns Himself with Tulasi mala.

SB 10-30-7 "O most kind Tulasi, to whom the feet of Govinda are so dear, have you seen that infallible one walk by, wearing you and encircled by swarms of bees?"

The bees would not swarm around Tulasi leaves but rather around manjaris, therefore, the garland must have been made of manjaris. Their various descriptive questions reveal that, as they are wondering around, they had captured in their hearts very detailed pictures of the Lord.

Still, they did not get an answer. When Lord Caitanya took sannyasa, Sacimata was running around all over looking for Him. She asked everyone in the village, "Where is my Nimai? Oh, Nimai!"

Not getting an answer, she said, "You are all Nirdoya— without mercy." That is still the name of that village, today— Nirdoya. The gopis were thinking in a similar way.

Seeing the beauty and pleasure of some plants, the gopis concluded that Krsna must have passed this way and touched them with His hand. "We can see by your face that your pleasure has increased." Ananda is a spiritual term completely unlike the mundane words of this world, such as happiness and distress. When we will unite with the Lord and the Lord will touch us, when we will exchange loving affairs with Him, then we will not be able to hide the bliss we will feel from that touch.

The Gopis are seeing that bliss in the plants. "Surely this is due to touch of our Lord’s hand. Which way did He go?"

The nipa tree [a small kind of kadamba] is mentioned here. Rupa goswami also mentions this tree: "When will I see that beautiful boy who has brilliant tilaka on His forehead and wears a garland of nipa flowers around His neck?"

"Sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me." The gopis are feeling the whole world is empty in the absence of Krsna. This feeling of separation is a preparation for the eventual meeting and makes that reunion even more relishable. When the gopis were in their homes, they were feeling the pangs of separation. Then, after meeting Krsna, experiencing His association, and then losing Him, that separation had become intensified by hundreds of thousands of times.

Next the gopis ask the Mother Earth. The Earth is everywhere. Wherever the Lord is, He must be standing on the Earth somewhere. "She will tell us for sure. Mother Earth, you must have performed so many austerities to get the lotus feet of the Lord on you. He must be standing on you right now. That touch of His feet must be like a constant festival for you. We can see how all the trees and plants are standing up in ecstasy like hairs on your body."

This searching went on all night and we must remember that this night was as long as a night of Bramha. The gopis experienced the pangs of separation for such long a time. Later, Krsna will also leave Radharani and when the other gopis come across Her, they will fully appreciate the pains of separation that She is feeling.

[At this point, Maharaja gave the assembled devotees two minutes to form into small groups and prepare a simple, brief reenactment of some of Krsna’s pastimes. One bramacari took a small boy on His lap and pretended to be Putana. The same small boy was used to depict the killing of Sakatasura, Trnavarta, and Bakasura and the lifting of Giri Goverdhana.]

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HH Lokanath Swami:

In ISKCON we celebrate Nandotsava and the appearance of Srila Prabhupada on the same day. Because of his mercy, we are sitting here today and hearing Krsna Katha.

After the festival, Nanda Maharaja went to Mathura to pay the yearly taxes. He was thinking, "If I pay them on time, I can please Kamsa and in this way keep him from coming to Vrndavan and being a threat to my Krsna."

Hearing that Nanda Maharaja was in Mathura, Vasudeva went straight away to see him. He was keen to hear news of his sons, Krsna and Balarama. They embraced each other with affection, as brothers. Vasudeva was lamenting that the two of them were having to live so far apart.

SB 10-5-25 "Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time."

In this life a few of us come together for a short period and are known as family members. Then by the influence of time we are separated and in turn become the family members of other jivas.

Vasudeva advised Nanda Maharaja to return to Gokul as there may be some disturbances there. Nanda took his advice seriously and set off back home. Kamsa had sent the demon Putana out on a mission. Her speciality was the killing of babies. Converting herself into a very beautiful woman, she entered Gokul.

Unchallenged, Putana entered the house of Nanda Maharaja and saw baby Krsna lying on the bed. The Lord wanted her to come so that He could kill her and so start His mission of ridding the world of such demons. When Krsna saw her he closed His eyes. The acaryas have offered several reasons why the Lord did this:

- He did not want to see the cruel and bad face of Putana.

- He closed His eyes while He checked all the records to see if she had done any good work in the past, before taking action against her.

- He knew that she was going to give Him poison, so He closed His eyes in the same way we do when we are about to drink something distasteful, like medicine.

- The sun and moon are the eyes of the Lord and these two personalities did not want to see this demon.

- If He saw Putana, He would be merciful and unable to kill her because He was thinking it would not be good to kill a lady, especially one about to perform a motherly act.

Putana put her nipple, smeared with the poison, into the mouth of Krsna, and He sucked out both the poison and her life. Krsna was angry because Putana had killed many Vraja babies. He kept clinging to her, sucking, as Putana ran here and there in grievous pain. She cried out loudly. Her eyes popping out, she fell down in her original giantlike form.

Because of Krsna having sucked the breast of the demon, her sinful reactions automatically vanished. The Lord is so merciful that although the rakshasi came with evil intent, the Lord simply saw that she was offering Him her breast milk, like a mother, and so gave her the highest achievement in life. She attained the position of a mother in the spiritual world.

Previously, as Lord Vamanadeva, Krsna had gone to the sacrificial fire of Bali Maharaja. The daughter of Bali saw the beautiful brahmana boy, Vamana, and desired to have a son like Him. Then, when she saw Vamanadeva trick her father, Bali, she wanted to kill Him. Krsna knowing the heart of everyone, fulfilled her mixed desires. Therefore, later as Putana she was given the chance to act as the mother of Krsna and at the same time try and kill Him.

The Lord is so merciful. He always tries to see the good in every action. If we offer a little, He reciprocates tenfold. Who can be as merciful as He? Therefore we should all go and offer prayers to His lotus feet.

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Your servant,
Ekanath dasa

© CHAKRA 17 January 2002