The Bhakti of the Gopis
The following article is a compilation of excerpts from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s discourses given at Prasanthi Nilayam during March 1963.
The meaning of the Krishna Avatar is beyond your understanding. Why, in common man’s vocabulary all avatars are inexplicable. To attempt it is to encase the ocean in a canal. You can understand it only when you become lost to the world and its attachments through the expansion and purification of your motives. The one Godhead was experienced by the gopis [milk maidens] as immanent in every being; they steadied their minds and installed Him therein. Veerabhadra Shastry [a speaker] said just now that the Lord will not stay in the heart unless it is not agitated and is fixed one-pointedly on Him. Of course, when you place a child in the cradle, it [the cradle] must be firm and unmoving, but once the child is laid down the cradle can be swung, for it is only when it is swung to a song that the child sleeps. Remember, the Lord, too, is a child, personified as satchidananda [truth-consciousness-bliss] and devoid of gunas [primary qualities].
When Uddhava [Krishna’s friend] came to Gokula, Shastry said, “the cows were fat and full [of milk], the gopis were happy and joyful, and the place was full of fragrance and music.” But the facts were different. The place was forlorn and the men and women disconsolate and helpless; the cattle, too, were overcome with grief. Uddhava brought them all a fresh lease of life. Krishna told him, “Their hearts are merged in Mine, their minds think only of Me; they have forsaken even bodily needs and they exist only because they hope to see Me again, some day.” So how could the gopis be as happy and gay as Shastry described? Uddhava himself was humbled at the sight of their complete surrender and the pangs of separation that consumed them.
That is the very reason why He sent Uddhava to them. Every act of Krishna had a meaning and a purpose with a sweet aptness. The gopis were convinced that Krishna was the Lord. Many yogis and ascetics, many rajas and maharajas among whom Krishna moved had not realized the truth that Krishna was the Lord. The simple not-so-learned cowherds and cowherdesses were wiser. Only when you feel the same pangs, can you understand the gopis, not until then. For that pain Krishna’s message is the antidote, “Your grief is caused by your limited artificial outlook; you take me to be limited and so you feel I am far away and not by your side. You are hugging a delusion; awaken to the truth and establish yourselves in joy of realization.”
The One does not of its own free will desire to become many. It has no desire. It has no likes and dislikes. It is immanent and transcendent. It is all this and more…. what then is the reason for this manifold appearance? The reason lies in the mind of the bhakta [devotee]. You declare, “Baba appeared before me in this form; I saw Baba in this form.” But what happens is that you desire that vision and it is fulfilled, but I do not change into that form. The Lord is sugar and sweetness. You put sugar into tea, coffee, milk, or water and it is sweetened. That is My nature, sweetness—My signature. Once it [sugar] has mixed, what remains is neither water nor sugar but a new form—sherbet. But when your tongue is bitter with envy, hatred, and pride, how can you taste the sweetness?
The Lord cares for the intent and not the object that is offered. The tiny leaf from the cooking vessel that Draupadi gave Him satisfied His hunger and the hunger of the universe, for she offered it with bhakti [devotion]. The tulasi [sacred basil] leaf placed by Rukmini on the scale was able to balance Krishna’s weight that had all the 14 worlds in His belly, as it [the leaf] was heavy with her pure intent. Similarly, the handful of flattened rice that Kuchela took for Krishna was worth not even a naya paisa [a cent], but it was suffused heavily with his wife’s devotion and faith and thus brought great good fortune to them. A good thought, word, and deed is what the Lord values and appreciates.
It’s a sheer waste to search for a cause for Krishna’s acts and deeds. If you go on searching for causes then you may not reach Him at all. You have come here to reach God, remember that. People stop you on the way and ask, “Why do you go to Mathura-Brindavan, to Tirupati, or to Puttaparthi?” But nobody asks you, “Why do you take food?” In fact, one has to seek God just as one seeks food. Both are necessary for happiness. Man seeks happiness, for his true nature is joy; he seeks liberation for he is truly free; and as he is immortal he seeks to overcome death.
Do not blame the Lord for your failure in sadhana [spiritual effort]; examine yourself. If you set the alarm clock at 6 A.M. and go to bed but it rings only at 10 A.M., you infer that something was wrong with its nuts, bolts, springs, wheels, etc. So, too, when the expected results do not materialize, infer that something is wrong with yourself, your habits of food, drink, sleep, conduct, behavior, or attitude to others. Everyone—brahmin, pundit, student, or an artist—has to adhere to a strict code of discipline; without that, victory is beyond reach. You must become a master of the senses and attain the Mahashakti [great universal power] from this basic mayashakti [illusion]. In short, you, too, must rise to the level of the gopis.
The body is assigned to you as a boat to cross the ocean of samsara [cycle of birth and death]. But you use it to store things that give worldly joy and do not launch it in the waters. Misusing it like that is not conducive to happiness. Use it in the way of dharma [right conduct] and success will be yours. Bhima asked Dharmaraja that if Duryodhana invited him for another game of dice after the 12 years in the forest and the one year of incognito were over, would he agree? He replied, “I can never deviate from the path of dharma.” Since that was his attitude, the Pandavas were helped by Krishna’s continuous grace and the blessings of sages like Markandeya and Vedavyasa. The Kauravas, on the other hand, were debilitated by the curses from enraged sages, and thus they had ill omens one after another.
Your sadhana should involve not just reading or writing but actually experiencing it. Ravana was a master of the four Vedas and the six Shastras [all scriptures]; his ten heads were full of them. But of what avail? He had no shanti [peace], nor could he give shanti to his kith and kin. Of what profit is it to simply repeat, “Delicious food, delicious food” a 1000 times? You have to eat it, digest it, and assimilate it. You have no deposits of Bhagavan’s grace in your bank account, and yet you dare to issue checks, expecting His grace when you are in distress! Have the deposits, or, at least have some property on hand (like service to others, prema [love] toward all, ahimsa [non violence] etc.), so that you can mortgage it and get help. If you have no deposits then why blame the bank?
Believe Me, through your daily avocations and activities you can realize the Lord. The gopis are the best examples of this. Always remember the Lord’s name with the agony of unfulfilled search and remember the ever-beauteous form with agonizing yearning—and you, too, can see Krishna in your midst. With that yearning the result is certain. Prahlada was immersed in that bhava [emotion] when he was thrown downhill, trampled by the elephant, and tortured by his father’s minions. He paid no heed, for he heeded and needed only his Lord.
When the gopis heard the murali [Krishna’s flute], they lost all attachments to the world, to the senses, and to the manifold objective things. They only yearned to merge with the infinite. By purifying the impulses one can get to the higher stage and the mystery of the Divine be grasped—the salokya [analysis] stage. Then by contemplation on the Divine, the sameepya [nearness to God] stage can be achieved, and finally reach the sarupya [attaining the form of the Lord] stage. Many great mystic poets attained the final stage. Jayadeva sang in that strain, but if you sing that song in the same way, Krishna will not appear. He wants sincerity, not imitation. The name uttered with sincere faith was the flower offerings of the gopis; that was the bead of their rosary.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1963
