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HH Lokanath Swami:

Not getting answers from the trees, plants, creepers, Mother Earth, and the female deer, the gopis became directionless, completely lost. The mood of separation was increasing at every moment.

The gopis started enacting various pastimes of Krsna. One became Putana, another Krsna, just as you were all doing yesterday. The gopis were not present for these pastimes, rather they had heard them from others. When the cowherd boys would return in the evening they would narrate the Lord’s adventures for that day, and the gopis would come out and listen attentively. Once the pastimes were witnessed, immediately the boys would go out and share. This is what is going on in Goloka. That is what we will be doing there, and we should practice doing just that, here, now. Then, at the right time we will get an entry pass to that Goloka Vrndavan. The Lord is waiting for us.

Krsna does not perform pastimes alone. He performs with many, many others— His devotees. This Srimad Bhagavatam is also full of their descriptions, providing us with examples of devotion that we can follow and aspire for. This Srimad Bhagavatam is allowing us to learn devotional service from the topmost, the highest, devotees. Even Uddhava, a disciple of Brhaspati, was very learned. He had his MA, PHD, and more; yet, he had to learn what devotional service is from the young, uneducated village girls of Vraja. So, it is for our benefit that this Srimad Bhagavatam has been written and Srila Prabhupada has given the world this treasure. We have to keep ourselves close to the lotus feet of the previous acaryas. We are not trying to learn this art of devotion directly from the feet of the gopis. We must be careful of sahajyaism. Every bird has it’s own power of flight, and according to what I have understood, I am trying to share with you.

Just when the gopi’s separation was becoming unbearable, the Lord showed His mercy. They saw His footprints, "padani paramatmanah— footprints of the one who is the Supersoul." The Lord allowed them to see His footprints with all their distinguishing marks. The gopis very carefully inspected the footprints. Groups of ten to fifteen gopis sat around a set of prints and discussed to make sure they belonged to Krsna. On Lord’s left foot, He has seven marks and on His right, He has eleven. This is the truth, and if you ever come across His footprints and see more or less, you can take me to court. These marks are not just paintings on His feet. No, they all have individual purposes, namely, the disc, which cuts down the six mental enemies of the devotees, and the lotus mark, which increases the greed for Krsna in the minds of the bee-like devotees. So, when we take shelter of Krsna’s feet we are getting full protection.

The gopis followed the prints, but when they saw that there were two different sets of prints, they became disturbed. The other set belonged to Radharani. the gopis became morose, thinking, "He must be walking with His arm on Her shoulder."

Srimad Bhagavatam 10-30-28: "Certainly this particular gopi has perfectly worshiped the all-powerful Personality of Godhead, Govinda, since He was so pleased with Her that He abandoned the rest of us and brought Her to a secluded place."

This is the only place in Srimad Bhagavatam where some broken attempt has been made to take the name of Srimati Raddharani. "anayaradhito — perfectly worshiped by Her." It was very difficult for Sukadeva Goswami to use Her name. If he had done so, he would have gone into ecstatic trance for six weeks and been unable to recite to Pariksit Maharaja. Pariksit had asked Sukadeva Goswami so many times to narrate in detail the pastimes of Krsna. So, Sukadeva was being very careful to do this for Pariksit, with the limited time available.

"Without doubt, these are the footprints of Srimati Radharani. Krsna has taken Her to a secluded place and left us behind. How fortunate, She is! He is giving Her the nectar of His lotus lips."

As the Lord moved through the forest, the gopis followed His prints. They flowed as a group in the same direction. At one point, they saw the footprints of Krsna alone.

"What has happened to Radharani? Aha! This is where Krsna carried His beloved to protect Her tender feet from these sharp grasses and sprouts... Look, see. Because of the extra weight, Krsna’s footprints are pressed more deeply in the ground... Here, He put Her down to pluck some flowers to decorate Her hair. The front part of His footprint is much deeper. He must have had to reach up on His tiptoes to get the flowers up there."

Now, the scene is going to change. The Lord seeing some pride in Srimati Radharani, disappeared. The main group of gopis then came across Radharani, alone and completely bewildered.

[At this point Maharaja asked us all to sing together the verses of the next chapter, "Gopi Gita".]

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HH Lokanath Swami:
From this auditorium in Noida we will now again go to Gokul. If we do not have the greed to hear Krsna Lila, but rather the desire to hear mundane topics, if we try and hear, gradually the greed will develop. We can purify ourselves in a very short time if we apply ourselves to this hearing process. You will be saved from the tension of this material world. To become Hari Bhaktas we need to associate with Hari Bhaktas. We need to find those persons who have genuine attachment for the service of Lord Hari.

Pariksit Maharaja urges Sukadeva Goswami to continue with the narrations of Lord Krsna’s pastimes. Sukadeva continues. When Krsna was three months old He was placed under a handcart to take rest. The cart had actually been occupied by a demon ghost. When Krsna awoke He cried out for His mother, and when she did not come He kicked out with His legs. His feet were as soft as new leaves, but the kick completely toppled the cart. So, effortlessly He caused the cart and it’s paraphernalia to scatter. When Krsna’s parents came and found the mess, they were completely bewildered as to how it could have happened. The Vrajabhasis had no idea that this small baby was the Lord of the universe. Even, He couldn’t speak yet. The Lord wanted to draw the attention of everyone to Him, so He created the big disturbance.

Another time, Krsna saw the moon and wanted it as a toy. Of course, Mother Yashoda could not give it. But Krsna kept insisting. He pleaded with his mother. "If you do not give Me that toy I will never come to your lap again. I will not drink your milk, and if I get a fever or fall sick, it will be your fault. I want that toy. You remember, you said that if I drank your milk I would be big and strong like Balarama? When you told me like that I drank so much. Now, if you do not give that toy, I will stop drinking milk and I will tell everyone that I am the son of Nanda but not the son of Yashoda." In this way, the Lord could be very insistent when He wanted something from His parents.

Now the Lord is one year old. One time Krsna was sitting on Mother Yashoda’s lap, and suddenly she felt Him to be unbearably heavy. She put Him down and went to perform some household duties. The Lord knew that Trnavarta, the whirlwind demon, was coming, and He did not want Mother Yashoda to see the demon whisk Him off into the air. This would have been too painful for Yashoda to witness. So for her sake, the Lord did not want His mother on the scene when Trnavarta came along. As expected, Trnavarta came, and Krsna, reducing His weight, allowed the demon to carry Him away.

The whirlwind demon created a dust storm and made a loud, fearful vibrating sound. The dust in Vrndavan is very light and fine. When Krsna and Balarama would herd the cows, the hooves of the cows would stir up a lot of dust, which could be seen from far away. Yashoda would look out for this dust in order to know the when Lord would be returning home.

So, the demon Trnavarta stirred up all the dust, creating a darkness that fell over Vrndavan. Mother Yashoda, unable to find her son, panicked. She shouted, "Krsna! Krsna! Where are you?" She fell down on the ground, crying pitifully.

Krsna was miles away, up in the sky. Then, He decided to make Himself heavier. He became heavier and heavier until the demon was forced to crash to the ground. The demon was a great mystic able to fly in the air and create such a disturbance, but Krsna is an even greater Mystic.

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Your servant,
Ekanath dasa

© CHAKRA 21 January 2002