Vedanta in Bhagavata — the word Veda means science, and Anta is inside. Bhagavata means the one who is most virtuous. So the science of knowing inside of ourselves, gives us the potential to be most virtuous. Vedanta in Bhagavata is facilitated by Shrimad Bhagavatam. This is known as a Purana.and its meaning is Pura eva nava. Pura is that which is ancient, eva is also, and nava is new, so that which is ancient yet fresh. That is our Atma, that which is oldest, yet youngest. So Vedanta in Bhagavata is not the study of an external object; it is the study of the internal subject.

The tenth Skanda is known as the heart of Shrimad Bhagavatam and the focus is Ashraya. Ashraya means support, support to those who surrender. That support is always available, but we have to surrender to that support. This Skanda has a great deal of emphasis on Leela. Leela means leenam la or the cry of the Spirit. This cry is not out of sadness, but out of happiness. When one hears or feels this leela, one feels their own Spirit.

Some highlights of our Leela:

• When Bhagavan was drinking from Putana, He had closed his eyes. One commentator has shared that Bhagavan was communing with Bhagavan Shiva who is an expert in drinking poison. And subjectively what this means is that whenever poison is coming at us, that is when hardships come our way, contemplate more, not less.
• When Bhagavan Krshna had corrected Agha Asura, that python which the kids thought was a cave, those kids went in first, and then Bhagavan followed. What this shows is that when we invite Bhaktas into your home, who else will come? Bhagavan will come as well. This body is our home. This is Agha Asura, and Bhagavan is here as well. In a more subjective way, Agha means sin, and one way we know we are thinking, acting, speaking in a sinful way is when we are not happy for others’ happiness. Very practically, when we are not happy seeing others happy, then we are like this python, Agha.
• When Agni Devata tried to burn all of the cows and children, they immediately called Bhagavan and He came and helped them. For us subjectively, the fire we experience is when our senses are out of control, like when we eat too much sugar or fried food, we feel miserable, agitated. What we should do whenever we are getting to that state of being on fire, is to call for help. Make our minds quieter, so we don’t eat more, talk more, watch more.

We completed last year with a focus on Venu Gita, the divinity of Bhagavan Krshna’s flute. Bhagavan’s flute is the most natural instrument. It is just hollowed out wood. It became like that by going through a lot of adversity. The flute doesn’t treat this as adversity, but as austerity. Instead of thinking why this is happening to me, think of it as our tapa. And in doing so, this flute surrendered to Bhagavan. It can’t make any music without Bhagavan’s breath. So we too should try to be like the flute in Bhagavan’s hands. And these Gopis were jealous of this flute, an inanimate object. This shows how much they were thinking of Bhagavan. More subjectively, the sound of Bhagavan Krshna’s flute is Shruti — that which is listened to. When we listen to Bhagavan Krshna’s flute, we cannot help but follow it to Bhagavan Krshna. That is known as Smriti — that which is seen or remembered. So when we listen to the Shruti, that should lead us to acting like Bhagavan Krshna — from Shruti to Smriti, from listening to living.

Skanda 10:22:4 — Rishi Shuka tells Raja Parikshita or us that these Devis or Kumaris were engaged in the puja of Devi Katyayani. She is Ishwari or Mahamaya, in other words the one who is not subject to maya or the one in control of maya. And what were they praying for repeatedly? Nandagopa suta. May the son of Nanda become their Pati (not just husband, but protector and nourisher). They were praying to Devi Katyayani at sunrise on the banks of river Yamuna. After these Devis finished bathing and were coming out of the water, Bhagavan Krshna showed up and took all their clothes and hung them up on a tree as if He was doing them a service. He then asked the Kumaris to come get their clothes, telling them how nicely He had hung the clothes for them.

All of the devis then came out of the water without hesitation, covering their private parts with their hands. When Bhagavan Krshna saw that they were not hesitating to approach Him, He climbed higher on to the tree with all their clothes. So then the Devis could only reach His feet essentially. Then Bhagavan told them to prostrate to Devi Katyayani who was right there in front of them in the form of River Yamuna, in the form of the Earth, Bhu Devi. So once again, without hesitation, they freed their hands and prostrated to the earth and the river. Then Bhagavan Krshna gave them their clothes and as they were dressing themselves, they just stared at Bhagavan Krshna, who smiled at them and said “You were praying to Devi Katyayani for Me. May your prayers come true. You and I will be together soon, when we dance under the moonlight”. This is a prelude to what is going to come.

Vedanta: Firstly these Devis, their discipline is admirable — to be in nature, in the winter months at sunrise. Bhagavan Krshna is seven years old when He takes their clothes. These Devis are not looking at Bhagavan Krshna physically or sexually, but meta-physically. This is an intention of love. He is seven years old and they are also very young — Kumaris, so all this is love oriented.

Prior to the Gopis being introduced, this Skanda was about Asuras. In their last moments, the false form of those Asuras was converted into their real Asuri form. This shows that they gave up their deceit or mask. How this relates to us — first we have to drop some of our vices before we have the confidence to go to Bhagavan in an unreserved way. If our vices are not weakened, whether anger or fear, we will never have the courage to start dropping our Panchakapra, another name for the Panchakosha — body, breath, mind, intellect, ego — the layers that prevent us from surrendering. However these Gopis dropped it all. That is why these Gopis are sometimes described as Avadhutas, not wearing clothes, as all they are thinking about is Bhagavan.

Swami Ramakrishna, in his younger days, would take his clothes off during contemplation, without even knowing it as it was so natural to him in his contemplation. These Gopis had no reservation in coming as they were to Bhagavan. They were more identified with His body than their own. And Bhagavan tells them that whatever they were praying for was right in front of them and that they would consummate their love when they sport together under the moonlight.

Another divine detail in Bhagavatam is the reflection on the role of trees. Bhagavan Krshna calls His friends and tells them to see how these noble beings, the trees, live entirely for the sake of others, themselves bearing wind, rain, heat, dew, and other adversities, but protecting us from them. Man’s life in this world is meaningful and fruitful to the extent that his energies, wealth, intelligence and speech are utilized for the good of others. What was the need for Bhagavan Vyasa, Rishi Shuka, Bhagavan Krshna to note all of this? This shows the intensity of their sense of Oneness or Advaita. That is why the Gopis are important, the trees are important.

Skanda 10:23:34 — Rishi Shuka is sharing with Raja Parikshita a sad statement — However there was one Devi or wife, Vidrata, who was obstructed by her husband and couldn’t go to Bhagava. So whatever she heard about Bhagavan, she felt that in her heart and she held onto Bhagavan, and in doing so, she renounced her own body which is just an expression of limitation.

Once, Bhagavan Krshna, Balarama, the Gopis and Gopas were in the jungle. They were working all morning and were quite hungry. As they were right outside a village where a ritual was going on, Bhagavan Krshna and Balarama told the Gopis and Gopas to go tell them that Krshna and Balarama were here and that they were hungry and thirsty, and then collect the food and water they gave and bring it back for them to all enjoy.

So the Gopis and Gopas went to these Brahmanas who were engaged in a ritual and requested food and water for Bhagavan Krshna and Balarama, but these Brahmanas ignored them. So they came back to Bhagavan, quite sad. Bhagavan just laughed and then redirected them to go to the Brahmanas’ wives and ask them instead. So they went again with the same enthusiasm. The wives or devis of the Brahmanas dropped everything they were doing and collected all the food and water they could and ran to Bhagavan Krshna and put it all in front of Him and just stared at Him, while everyone enjoyed the food. Bhagavan Krshna then told them to go back to their families as they would always be with Him.

Vedanta: These Brahmanas who were engaged in their karma were identified with the fact that they were Brahmanas. We have studied in the Bhagavad Gita that there is no such thing as caste, only color, the color of our mind or personality. Is that determined by the color of our skin or clothing?. But see how these apparently learned personalities (Brahmanas) were identifying with the color externally and we do too. Now if we recall the Devis who were engaged in this vrata and were praying to Devi Katyayani, they stopped their vrata when Bhagavan Krshna appeared in front of them because the whole point of the vrata was Bhagavan Krshna. But these Brahmanas engaged in their satra, they were supposed to be doing this for Bhagavan, but what were they doing? They couldn’t feel Him even though Bhagavan was right in front of them.

Here is one detail about how Bhagavan Krshna was teaching all Gopis and Gopas how to drop these external identifications. When all these Gopas and Gopis brought their lunch, each one would have something different to eat. So Bhagavan would ask everyone to put all the food in the middle, and then He would mix it all up and then everyone got whatever Bhagavan gave them. The idea being that some of them were poor and some were rich, but Bhagavan never let them feel this external feeling of rich or poor. Do we live like that?

When Bhagavan Krshna told the Gopis that their prayers would be fulfilled, the vedanta behind this is that when one has darshan of Bhagavan, they start to use the Koshas rather than be the Koshas. That is how an enlightened person lives. They too have a body, a mind but they know they have it and are not it. These Gopis were all enlightened. They were not just beautiful little girls. They were Masters.

Bhagavan Krshna told the Brahmana Devis, “You go live in your homes, knowing that you live in Me.” So externally they were living in a home, but where were they really living? In Bhagavan Krshna. And that is exactly how we should be living, as these Gopis, as these Devis.

When these Brahmana devis came back to their husbands, they were all radiant as they were now living with Bhagavan Krshna. Then the Brahmanas finally had the mindset to realise the mistake they made and they discussed amongst themselves how fortunate they were to have wives like they did. But they still never went to Bhagavan, out of fear of Kamsa. Kamsa wanted all these rituals to stop. So even though they knew Bhagavan was close by and they had appreciation for Bhagavan Krshna and their wives, there was no trust there. A lot of us are like that too. We are faithful, but we still have fear. We are afraid of giving too much time, too much effort.

In the marvel comics and movies, one series is the Avenger series. One of the stones that makes this universe is called the Reality Stone. And what this stone can do, is change the reality of another person. Our reality is determined by our Bhava or feeling. If we feel all of this is just a Katha, then we will go on a yatra to Vrindavana, and there we will drink lassi and eat channa batura, take a picture and say we have been where Bhagavan Krshna was born. But if we the Bhava like these Devis, like these Gopis, we will know that we are living in Him. All that we are living in right now is only kapra, clothes that we change constantly. Do we feel the cry of our Spirit through this leela?