Krishna & the Gopis
Question: Swami, Krishna was surrounded by eight consorts and is stated to have been associated with 16,000 gopis [cowherdesses]. It is very disturbing and embarrassing to hear of Lord Krishna’s many wives. Kindly enlighten us on this matter.
Bhagavan: This is what you have learnt from movies, isn’t it? Krishna of the Bhagavata was totally different from what you know about Him. It is because of such perverted and distorted versions that the number of atheists has been on the rise day by day and devotion is declining. The eternal, non-dual, and Divine truth is viewed from the ephemeral, worldly norm and perspective. This is the unfortunate situation of the modern times. The scriptures want you to consider the world as a divine manifestation, but to take God, too, in a worldly way. God is free Himself, and it is only He who liberates you from bondage to the world.
Tell me, who were the eight consorts of Krishna? Every human heart is a lotus flower with eight petals. These eight petals are the eight consorts. In the human body are the six mystic chakras [centers]. The one at the bottom of the backbone is mooladhara and the sixth on the top of the head is called sahasrara. Kundalini [coiled up energy] ascends from mooladhara to sahasrara in the state of samadhi. Now, the sahasrara chakra is compared to a thousand-petalled lotus. Each of the petals has 16 shades or faces. Thus, they add up to 16,000, representing the gopis whom Krishna is said to have been associated with.
Actually, Krishna was a young boy while He was in Brindavan. All those gopis were elderly married women. They played with Krishna as they would with their own children of the same age group. To those gopis everything was filled with Krishna. The kumkum [vermillion] they put on their forehead was blue. They wore blue bangles and blue saris. Every article they used was blue. Why? The reason is, Krishna was blue in complexion. In their devotion to Krishna, they excelled more than Narada and all the other celestial singers. The gopis had more intense love for Krishna than for their husbands. They remained in a state of joy and ecstasy, singing His glory all the time.
They grew immensely restless when they had even a momentary separation from Krishna. When Krishna left for Mathura, the bodies of the gopis appeared as though they were burning and writhing in unendurable pain, due to separation from their beloved Krishna. They blamed and accused Akrura of taking Him away from them. Theirs was the bliss of atma or spirit. Your feelings are worldly, physical, and narrow. Therefore, you view the sublime from the standpoint of your own sense perception. Truly speaking, none can estimate the standard, the depth, and the level of devotion of the gopis. Their devotion to Krishna ever remains immeasurable and unfathomable to the ordinary mortal.
Source: Satyopanishad, Vol. 1
