How long did the Raasa Leela last? Technically, the Raasa Leela lasted one Brahma Ratra, which means one night of the Creator. For us humans, this is thousands and thousands of years! More personally, the Raasa Leela is known as a Nitya Raasa — Raasa means Joy and Nitya means perpetual. When we have one Purushartha in life, one purpose in life that is Moksha, and when we are free, it will last perpetually. One lets go of all limits, of space, time and matter, one feels Poornatva, one feels complete and unconcerned with time and is happy. In Kali Yuga, the age of speed, the teachings of Srimad Bhagavata become more potent as we need this now more than ever.

Review of past classes — When Bhagavan Krshna left Nandagrama and went to Mathura, He missed Devi Yashoda, Sri Nanda, the Gopas and the Gopis, but never grieved for them. This shows that He is living exactly what He teaches in the Bhagavad Gita. THE teaching is Na Anushochanti Panditah — Panditah are those who are wise, those who live vedanta. Na Anushochanti — they do not grieve. Of course we miss the people who come and go from our lives, but when we grieve for them, we fail to follow and further our Dharma. That is what Bhagavan is showing when He moves from one place to another throughout His life, that Dharma is greater than, more important than any manava. In the Bhagavad Gita, Prince Arjuna has forgotten that and that is why he is collapsing, and Bhagavatam is helping us remember that.

Once Bhagavan Krshna asks Sri Nanda to return to Nandagram, His “as if” biological parents, Sri Vasudeva and Devi Devaki, facilitate His Upanayana, the eleventh Samskara, where the focus is developing the head and heart and not pleasure. Bhagavan learns sixty-four sciences in sixty-four days and then offers dakshina, which is the twelfth Samskara known as Samaavartana. It is “as if” Bhagavan is transformed, so He expresses His gratitude for this to His Guru. And what does He do? He makes the impossible possible by bringing back to life a jeeva that has died. This is only possible by Bhagavan’s kripa. Rishi Sandeepani’s and the Gurupatni’s son is brought back to life as dakshina. How do we internalize this part of Bhagavatam? We commit to that which is noble…blindly, recklessly commit. Then we will observe that in this commitment, Bhagavan is the One who will fulfill our commitment, so that we realize that we are the instrument, not the doer. In our commitment, our name will be there, but if we are reflective, we will know that He is the One who is fulfilling that commitment.

Vivekji shared that Sri Lakshmana is his favorite character in Ramayana as Sri Lakshmana was most clear that he was number two and Bhagavan Rama was number one. With this clarity, he lived with conviction and confidence. We never came across Sri Lakshmana with a lack of conviction or confidence.

10:46:21 — Here Rishi Shuka is describing to Raja Parikshita what Sri Nanda, Bhagavan Krshna’s foster father, is saying to Sri Uddhava (someone who loves Bhagavan) — Uddhava, you are like Sri Krshna. Seeing you, we remember how Bhagavan, our son, used to look at us, how He used to laugh, how He used to talk. As we remember Him, all our work has slowed down and has become less important.

After Bhagavan Krshna and Sri Balarama complete their time at Rishi Sandeepani’s ashram, they come back to Mathura, and the people in Mathura are missing them. Bhagavan is missing the people in Vrindavana and He knows that they are missing Him too, but He has work to do in Mathura. Imagine how much destruction would have happened in Mathura due to a corrupt leader like Kamsa! So He calls Sri Uddhava, who is Bhagavan Krshna’s family member and also His Minister. He is also Rishi Brihaspati’s disciple, knowledgeable and an advanced seeker. Bhagavan Krshna tells Uddhava — I feel that You are like me. So I would like you to go to Vrindavana and share my message with my parents, with the Gopas and the Gopis. Some commentators call Sri Uddhava as Bhagavan’s Utsava murti. One will usually see the Utsava murtis in front of the Achala murtis in the temple, the main idols that do not move. The Utsava murtis or the Chala murtis are the ones that we pour water on to and the ones that are taken to people’s homes if they want to perform puja. So as Bhagavan Krshna has to stay in Mathura, Sri Uddhava becomes His Chala murti.

Sri Uddhava, after listening to Bhagavan’s instructions, questions Bhagavan — Why do You miss these village women so much? Do the Gopis know who You are? They milk cows and do all these ordinary chores. Maybe they are just attracted to You! — Bhagavan understands these questions and this is the reason that Bhagavan sends Sri Uddhava to Mathura, for his own swasti, for him to learn what the Gopis are, who the Gopis are.

Sri Uddhava leaves Mathura and gets to Nandagrama just as the sun is setting. All the cows have come back home and there are so many cows that the dust floating around makes the air hazy. When he reaches Sri Nanda’s home, Sri Nanda welcomes and cares for him by feeding him and encouraging him to rest.

Then Sri Nanda asks Sri Uddhava how everyone in Mathura was, how their Bhagavan Krshna was. And as he is listening about Bhagavan Krshna, Sri Nanda becomes silent. He just can’t say anything, and Devi Yashoda is just sobbing hearing about Bhagavan Krshna and Sri Balarama. Sensing how much they are missing Bhagavan Krshna, Sri Uddhava starts to teach them Brahmavidya and shares these insights –

• Bhagavan Krshna is the Purusha and Sri Balarama is the Prakriti. It is Purusha that pervades Prakriti and Prakriti pervades all — implying that Bhagavan Krshna and Sri Balarama are still with Sri Nanda and Devi Yashoda. It is true, but do we all feel like that? We say that Brahman is all pervading, but do we feel that?
• Bhagavan has no karma, so He is engaged in krida (commonly known as leela). Bhagavan is playing and in His play, He is sometimes here and sometimes there. Do we feel like that with all the people coming in and out of our lives? Some come and some go.
• One who is struggling with bhrama or delusion, they feel they are causing the world to spin. People have that same sense of doership with their own experiences — implying that Sri Nanda and Devi Yashoda feel they are the doer and that they deserve Bhagavan Krshna.

Sri Uddhava shares a lot of jnana, but is void of Bhakti. Sri Uddhava is a Jnani and is focusing on Moksha. That is the reason he questions Bhagavan as he lacks that Bhakti, and this is why Bhagavan sends him to Vrindavana to learn about Bhakti.

This dialogue goes late into the night. When the morning arrives, the Gopis wake up to greet the Sun and then start to sing while working — The sound of churning mingled with the loud voices of the Gopis singing about the deeds and excellences of Krshna spread throughout the air, reaching up to the heavens, thus warding off all that is inauspiciousness from the four quarters — And what they sing is famously known as Bhramara Gita.

10:47:11 — One of the Gopis sees a madhukaram, a bee, and she starts to contemplate on Bhagavan Krshna. She feels that Bhagavan Krshna has sent this bee to her as His messenger and thus she starts to sing. This is why this section is called Bhramara Gita as Bhramara is the one who wanders, referring to a bee.

Reviewing the different Gitas rendered by the Gopis so far:

• Venu Gita in Chapter 21 is the first Gita with reference to the Gopis. Here the Gopis feel jealous of Bhagavan Krshna’s venu (flute) in a satvik way.
• Pranaya Gita in Chapter 29 is the next Gita where Bhagavan Krshna tells the Gopis to go back home. They supplicate Him and say to Him that He is their only relationship and that He is their home.
• Gopi Gita in Chapter 31 is next where the Gopis start to feel that they are Bhagavan Krshna as the supplication does not work, like they start holding each other’s arms and acting out Bhagavan Krshna on Kaliya, with one Gopi on top of another’s head.
• Yugala Gita in Chapter 35 is the next Gita. Yugala means pairs and here the Gopis are going back and forth sharing about their relationship with Bhagavan Krshna.
• Viraha Gita in Chapter 39 (verses 19–31) comes next. Viraha means to be separate from. This is when the Gopis sense that Bhagavan Krshna is going to be leaving them. This is when they all show up just as the cart is leaving with Bhagavan Krshna, Sri Balarama and their uncle, Sri Akrura.
• Bhramara Gita in Chapter 47 is verses 12–21.

Why did this Gopi feel this way? Building upto to this — In the morning, when the Gopis see that someone who is not part of this community is there, they think that Akrura has come back to perform their funerals. They think that since he already took Bhagavan Krshna, he has now come back to kill them. When they get closer, they see that this person is not older, but looks quite young and similar to Bhagavan Krshna. So they are curious about why he is there and infer that Bhagavan Krshna has sent this person as His messenger to comfort them.

These Gopis are not comforted and it almost appears that they become “passive- aggressive” in a satvik or loving way. Some of the highlights of what they share –

• They tell Sri Uddhava that Bhagavan Krshna is like a bee. What does a bee do? It sucks the life out of one flower, then goes to another flower and then does the same thing again. Bhagavan Krshna sucked the life out of them, and now He is in Mathura sucking the lives out of everyone there. They are describing Bhagavan Krshna as a “bee vampire”!
• They say He even seduced Indira (Devi Lakshmi, His wife) through His charming words and ways, and that is how She married Him.
• Next they say that Bhagavan Krshna first came there as Vrajapati, the Lord of Vraja, and said that He would be there forever. But now He is Yadupati, and has no loyalty to them. He has now become the Lord of the Yadavas living in Mathura. Uddhava, don’t be tricked by His lack of loyalty, they warned Sri Uddhava.
• Next they share that He killed Vaali from behind a tree. These Gopis know that the same Bhagavan Krshna was also Bhagavan Rama who killed Vaali.
• Then the Gopis add that He is the same one who, out of jealousy for Devi Sita, hurt Shoorpanakha, that He was so attached to Devi Sita that He hurt another woman.
• And they also say that He tied up Raja Bali and made him His servant even though Raja Bali offered everything he had to Him.

These are all some of the “passive-aggressive” statements about how Bhagavan Krshna left them and that they are not comforted. Another comment the Gopis make is that Bhagavan Krshna is like a crow, as a crow will peck at the bread and at the hand holding that bread. They finish off by saying that He is not only black outside, but also inside, that His skin is black and more so is His Heart. It is as if all of this negativity is coming out, but they finish with a lovely statement, asking Sri Uddhava when they would be able to smell Bhagavan Krshna’s hands again, His hands that always smells like chandan. They ask when He would put them on their heads again, the way He would rub their backs and hold their hands. So that is how Bhramara Gita ends.

After listening to the Bhramara Gita, Sri Uddhava, who questioned Bhagavan Krshna and the Gopis, learns Bhakti. In Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan Krshna describes the micro (us) saying we have an ahankara, a buddhi and ten indriyas. In- between, He uses the word Eka, which means one. What is missing is the mind. What Bhramara Gita shows is that all of these Gopis are in Samadhi, both as a noun and a verb. As a noun, the Gopis are already enlightened. They are Bhagavan Krshna. However, here the Gopis are showing Samadhi as a verb, that as they are engaged in their responsibilities, they are always singing about Bhagavan Krshna. Sri Uddhava used to think that these Gopis were just village women, but what Sri Uddhava has now come to understand is that they are the Greatest of the Great. So before he comes back to Mathura, he takes the dust of their feet and puts it on his head.

The trace of ego in Sri Uddhava, that he was knowledgeable, was erased by these illiterate Gopis, who are mere cow maids. The only Purushartha in this life is or should be Moksha or Bhakti. When Sri Nanda shares that they have become slower at everything they do, it is because what they are doing is not as important, only Bhagavan is. If we become slower in making money, slower in being popular, slower in efficiency because of becoming more efficient and effective in living for enlightenment, that is THE way of following Dharma, and Bhagavan is only on the side of Dharma. So if we want to be with Bhagavan, we have to live like these Gopis, like Sri Nanda did. Sri Uddhava never understood that before because he is living in a controlled environment and all these village people are living in an uncontrolled environment and still more devoted to Bhagavan.

Previous week’s RAW : What does Vedanta in Bhagavatam mean to you?

• Bhakti is the purpose of our inner life. Bhagavan manifests to become relatable and real. It gives us a form to love and contemplate on. Bhagavan manifests to bless us.