The Cowherds of Gokula
Bhagavan Baba encourages devotees to consider the Lord as one’s own close family, and His work as one’s personal labor in this touching discourse delivered a half-a-century back on the holy Janmashtami day.
It is really unfortunate that people consider the ashtami and navami thithis, (the eighth and ninth days of the bright half of the lunar month) to be inauspicious, when the facts are quite the contrary! Both these days mark the auspicious advent into this world of divine incarnations—the formless, eternal, timeless Absolute into the form, temporary, time-bound particular human body—with Sri Krishna being born on the eighth day, ashtami and Sri Rama on the ninth day, navami. It is sheer ignorance that has warped the attitude of man to discard these holy days as fraught with unseen danger.
When the godliness that is inherent in man is clouded out, when the moral code and the spiritual discipline that cleanse man in the crucible of sadhana [spiritual exercise] are neglected, God takes human form. Krishna, the Yogiswara [the lord of yogis or renunciants], who has no attachment to the fruits of His labors, appeared before human eyes as a babe in the prison where Vasudeva and Devaki [Krishna’s parents] were incarcerated on this day, which is called Janmashtami.
Sri Rama came to correct man by example; He taught man the dharma [duty] of the son, husband, ruler, friend, brother etc. The stars under which these incarnations began their earthly careers have also their significance—Rohini under which Krishna was born is related to the achievement of yogic powers, and Punarvasu under which Rama was born has a special influence on the sharanagata-rakshana trait, that which lets such beings melt easily and give succor to the best of their ability to whosoever takes refuge in them. Do not ascribe evil to these days or stars; instead, revere them and devote them for your uplift. That is My advice to you this day.
Men are eager to get unending happiness. They run about frantically for this purpose and do not stop to inquire where it can be got and how. Every one wants much fruit for little effort. But the path to real and lasting happiness cannot be won without undergoing rigorous discipline. It cannot be secured by mere scholarship or by merely listening to the discourses of elders. Control of the senses and waywardness of the mind are essential to discover it, and to stick to it when once it is discovered and adopted.
The reality will reveal itself in a flash, provided you have a sharp intellect that is capable of reducing a problem into its basic essence. Once a very learned pundit [religious expert] was holding forth in grand style in the durbar [court] of a maharajah on the subject of Gajendra-moksha, mentioned in the Bhagavata. He described how the Lord, on hearing the agonized call of the elephant [named Gajendra] in mortal distress hurried from Vaikuntha [heaven] without taking His weapons and symbols and without even taking leave of His consort. Suddenly, the maharajah interrupted him and queried, “Tell me, how far is this Vaikuntha? Where is it exactly?” The pundit was perplexed; he did not know the distance! Nor did any of the others.
Just then, the servant who has fanning the maharajah from behind the throne, offered to furnish the information, if given permission! The pundits were shocked at his effrontery, but the maharajah allowed him to speak. “Your Majesty, Vaikuntha is as far as the cry of the elephant could reach,” said the servant! Yes, when the anguish of a devotee’s heart is expressed in a cry, the Lord hears it and rushes to the rescue, since His residence, Vaikuntha, is within the reach of the cry, from every anguished heart. All the pundits assembled there realized the truth of this in a flash when that illiterate servant spoke about the omnipresence of God.
The Lord is devoid of attachment. It is His nature to support the right and correct the wrongdoer, even when He has come down in human form to restore morality and spiritual discipline. He acts as the charioteer and washes the steeds of Arjuna. He is Himself the supreme exemplar of His teachings in the Bhagavad Gita. The Mahabharata war is not an event belonging to ancient history; it is taking place in every human breast between the forces of evil and the forces of good. He who recognizes the value of installing Krishna as the charioteer can win; He who pins his faith on one’s own resources is sure to meet with disaster. Accept Him as your Master. He assures you, `Mokshayishyami [will give liberation];’ He assuages you: `Maa sucha [don’t worry].’
Arjuna knew the secret of Krishna’s advent. He was constantly aware of Krishna’s mystery. He, the Lord, is to be identified as a priya-namra-sakha (a loved and close friend). Bhishma, Uddhava, Bhima, and Draupadi [other charaters in the Mahabharata] all belonged to this category. Then there were some who are priya-sakhas (loved friends) with whom Krishna played, joked, and kept joyful company. Others were delighted with His company and with the chances they got to serve Him. Such cowherd boys [that Krishna grew up with] were sakhas (friends). Then there was a group of friends or suhrids who, because they were older in age, had a parental affection toward Krishna and who were happy when they could fondle Him or serve Him and make Him happy.
These gopis [cowherd maidens—friends of Krishna] were very unique as devotees. They had no consciousness of the body at all; they were all the while attached only to the principle that is embodied in it. They were eager to know the `other,’ and not to experience ‘this.’ As a matter of fact, it is the identification with the gross body that is at the root of all the cruelty, injustice, greed, violence, and falsehood that parade all over the world. It is this that breeds desire that multiplies wants, and that makes man ride on the waves of whim and fancy. When he is not able to catch up with his ambition, man becomes a prey to disappointment and grief, hate and avarice.
If you ask God to fulfill your wishes, your worship is degraded into an act of bargaining. Your reverence is equated with what you receive, and you are selling homage for so much of satisfaction. You become a paid servant; a hired laborer insisting on wages and calculating how much is got for the work done. Be, on the other hand, a member of the family. Feel that you are the Lord’s own, and do every task as `my work’ and `my task’ without any idea of the return thereof; then the work you do does not tire as it is done well. When you take up this attitude, you do not feed the clamor for wages. The Master will maintain you and your people as He feels you deserve it.
This secret of happiness the gopis knew; you must also live out your lives on these lines.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1965
