1.

The sorrow and joy of Gopis

Once a visitor from Mathura travelled to Brindavan and met the Gopi’s there. He noticed
that the Gopis were still immersed in the sorrow of having been separated from their
beloved Krishna. With tearful eyes, they expressed their anguish of living without the
blissful company of lord Krishna. They took the visitor to many places in Brindavan to
show where Krishna enacted his childhood leelas — “See, this is the place where Krishna
killed the poisonous snake Kalia; this is the meadow where Krishna used to take the cows
for grazing. This is the place where he killed Chakadasura…” .
They asked: “How is our Krishna? Does he ever remember us? Is he happy there at
Mathura? When will he come back to see us all?”
The visitor felt very pained to see the sorrow of the Gopis. He said remorsefully, “As far
as I know, Krishna is living very happily at Mathura. He is having a joyful time with his
wives Bhama and Rugmini. While you are crying here thinking about Krishna, I don’t
think he is concerned about you at all any longer there”. The visitor sincerely thought that
his statement would make the Gopis remorseful, kindle some anger on Krishna in their
minds and help them emotionally detach themselves from Krishna. But nothing of that
sort happened.

The moment they heard that Krishna was living happily, their faces brightened up! “Oh!
Is that so? Our Krishna is happy there? What else do we want? His happiness is our only
happiness! Thank you for bringing such a good news to us!” Saying so, the Gopis started
removing their golden bangles and rings to present to the visitor who brought such a
good news to them!
When the visitor was about to return to Mathura, the Gopis surrounded him said to him:
“We have just one request. Our Krishna loved our butter so much those days! Please take
some butter from us and give it to Krishna, but don’t ever mention about us to him. Don’t
ever tell him that we are still sorrowful on account of our separation from him. If you
mention it, he too will become sorrowful, thinking of us. We only wish that he remains
happy for ever”
The visitor was deeply moved by Gopi’s love on Krishna. With heavy heart, he took the
vessel containing the butter and bid farewell to the Gopis. Upon return to Mathura, the
visitor went straight to Lord Krishna’s palace.
As the visitor was entering the palace, Krishna had just sat to take his meals and Rugmini
was about to serve him food. Krishna stopped Rugmini and said, “Wait. I could feel the
smell of Brindavan from here. I think a visitor from Brindavan has just entered into our
house. Go immediately to receive him reverentially; wash his feet that has been purified
by dust of Brindavan and bring it to me; let me first drink that holy water surcharged with
Gopi’s unadulterated and pure love on me before consuming any food! Also bring the
butter that the Gopis would have surely sent for me through the visitor!”
2. The second thief at Brindavan!

Once a stray thief came to Brindavan. Seeing the prosperity all around, he decided to steal
valuables from the various houses of Gopis. At midnight, he sneaked into the houses of
Gopis one after another to raid their cupboards and vaults. Practically, in every Gopi’s
house, he found a very safely kept cloth bundle tightly tucked with a rope at the deepest
niche of the vaults. ‘Ah! These must be the most precious diamonds and jewels of the
Gopis! Let me pick only these bundles and not waste time on other sundries!’ — thinking
so, the thief picked up those bundles and ran away to the nearby forest before dawn.
After dawn, sitting comfortably on a tree branch, the thief started inspecting his booty. He
picked up one bundle, untied it carefully. Once the outer cloth sheath was removed, there
was yet another bundle inside. Surprised, he untied it and noticed yet another bundle
inside. After uncovering several layers like this, finally what he found was a small piece
of peacock feather inside.
The thief took another bundle and there again there were bundles one-inside-
another; finally what he got was a small piece of broken flute. The thief got exasperated!
Impatiently, the thief went through the procedure on all the rest of the bundles and what
he ended up were — a piece of yellow silk cloth, a broken piece of a bracelet, a small
conch, a piece of broken mud pot etc — all worthless items! The thief was frustrated as
well as surprised.
Why on earth these Gopis kept such worthless items so safely tucked in their vaults? What
makes them so valuable to them? At the risk of even getting a punishment for stealing,
the thief was overwhelmed with curiosity to know the truth.
He took all the items with him and went to Brindavan again.
As he entered into the street, he noticed that several Gopis were standing in groups and
loudly talking about robbery that had taken place at their houses. Their faces looked
forlorn on account of the “losses” they had incurred.
He went straight to one such group of ladies. Seeing a stranger barging in, the Gopis
gathered around him with curiosity.
“Ladies! Please excuse me, but I was the thief who came to your houses last night to
steal. I took away from your vaults what you had kept most safely tied and tucked up
thinking that they must be the costliest gems and jewels you had. But what a
disappointment for me! Please let me know, ladies! Why on earth you are keeping these
worthless pieces of pot, peacock feather and other nonsensical items so safely?” He threw
the items that he had brought on the floor.
The Gopis’ faces instantly brightened up! They jumped up and vying with each other,
rushed to pick up the items. “Ah! Thank God! My flute piece is here!” “Wonderful! My
peacock feather is back!” “Hey! Give me that piece of pot. It’s mine!” There were shouts of
joy everywhere!
After collecting the items, the Gopis swarmed around the thief. One after the other, they
started removing their bangles or nose rings and offered to the thief as gifts! “Thank you,
you are such a nice thief! Thanks for bringing back our invaluable belongings! Keep these
golden gifts for you!”
The thief was flabbergasted! He was moved to tears seeing Gopi’s overwhelming
generosity.
“May I know why these petty things are so valuable to you?” he asked.
The Gopis said “These are the items belonging to our beloved Krishna. Our little Krishna
left us years ago, never to come back. This peacock feather was worn by him. That piece
of pot was one that he broke to steal butter from that Gopi’s house. This yellow silk cloth
was what he was wearing on the day he stole butter from my house and when I tried to
grab him, that little torn piece of cloth was what I could manage to get! Whenever we look
at them, each of these pieces brings us the overwhelming of joy of the days we had spent
in the company of Krishna! It’s these precious mementos that give some joy to us amidst
our life filled with the sorrow of separation from our beloved Krishna”
The thief was moved to tears seeing the unearthly love the Gopis had on Krishna and their
overwhelming generosity in gifting him with golden ornaments. His heart melted. A life
of stealing was no longer attractive to him. He was possessed by a desire to know about
Krishna and see Him. When he inquired the Gopis where Krishna was, they told him that
he was the prince of Mathura.

The thief left for Mathura and reached the

palace. He sought an appointment with Lord
Krishna and prostrated before him when he
met the lord. The thief told his story to
Krishna. Krishna blessed the thief and said
with a smile, “One thief is enough for
Brindavan!”
The thief was very curious to know why
Krishna resorted to stealing butter at Gopi’s
homes when he lived there?

Krishna said, “The gopis earned their livelihood by selling butter, curd and milk. Some of
them are poor and they could not afford to feed their cowherd boys with milk and butter
generously at home. When I went for grazing the cows along with other cowherd boys of
Vrindavan, I noticed their hunger. I wanted to feed them. Gopis know that I love butter
very much and they always nurtured a desire to give me butter, but elders in the house
would not allow it. Then I started sneaking into one or two Gopis’ houses to steal butter
and share it with the hungry cowherd boys. Soon, It became the desire of many Gopis that
I should visit their houses for stealing butter and they intentionally left some butter at
home for this purpose. Even though they were out to sell their milk butter and curd, their
minds were constantly thinking of me: ‘Will Krishna come to my house and take away the
butter?’ Thus by stealing butter, I accomplished two things: One, feeding the poor and
hungry cowherd boys and two, making Gopis constantly think of me and meditate on
me. Since I made the gopis’ minds always throng after me, I am called ‘Chittachora’ —
‘The stealer of the mind’. Thus by throwing a single stone, I could get two mangoes!”
3. The Gopis and the Pundit

Once a very learned Sanskrit Pundit, well versed in Vedanta and other scriptures visited
Brindavan. The residents of Brindavan received him reverentially and took care of him
well. He was surprised to see that the Gopis were still sorrowful on account of their
separation from their beloved little Krishna. He said to them: “Do you think your Krishna
is just an adorable cowherd boy who loved you and gave you joy by his imitable lilas?
Don’t you know that he is verily the Paramatman, whom you can meditate upon and
attain union with Him? Why do you cling to his worldly maya and waste your time still
lamenting about his separation?”
He noticed that the Gopis showed no interest in knowing that Krishna was the
Paramatman, the universal lord who is beyond name and form. The pundit felt that
teaching those rustic villagers with a little of the essence of Vedanta philosophy would
make them understand spirituality better and relieve them from the sorrow of
sentimental attachment and longing to see Krishna’s living form.
He started conducting discourse on Vedanta. He explained : “Only God as all pervading
Brahman is real. All His creations are maya and illusory. Only the Gold is real. The
ornaments are illusory. Brahman and maya are like the mortar and pestle. The Brahman
is unmoving like the mortar and maya is like the pestle that moves. When you walk in a
dimly lit night you may get scared by seeing a rope taking it to be a snake. Only the rope
is real, snake is not. ..”
As the pundit was explaining like this, he noticed that the Gopis had started crying.
He was taken aback! “Why are you crying? Are these philosophies too complicated for
you to grasp?” he asked.
the gopis said, “No. Not really. Whatever you spoke brought us memories of Krishna and
we could not control our tears, thinking of him”

The pundit was confused! “How? I never uttered anything about your Krishna!”

The gopis said, “When you mentioned about the golden ornaments, our thoughts
immediately went to Krishna, as we have seen his beautiful form adorned with various
jewels that Yasoda would put on him! When you mentioned about the mortar and pestle,
we remembered the incidence when Yasoda once tied krishna with a rope to a mortar to
prevent him from running to Gopis’ houses for stealing butter; how painful it is to tie our
little Krishna with a rope to the mortar! When you mentioned about snake, we
immediately thought about the ferocious snake Kalia and how our Krishna danced over
the snake’s hood! How can we control our tears when we think of Krishna?”
The pundit became speechless seeing the Gopis single pointed devotion and
uninterrupted remembrance of Krishna. With folded hands and an emotionally choking
voice, he said “You blessed souls do not require any Vedanta; you already have what is
essentially needed to attain the lord’s holy abode forever”.

4. Thinking of Krishna through imagination

Once while walking on the banks of Yamuna, a Gopi saw a pair of foot prints near a tree.
Seeing that , she started imagining: ‘These must be the foot prints of lord Krishna. he must
have come this way and a Gopi must have asked him to fetch her some flowers from the
tree. Since the flowering branch of the tree is above the normal reach of the hand, Krishna
must have gripped the shoulders of the Gopi and jumped up to fetch some flowers. When
he landed with a thud, his foot prints must have got imprinted like this in the sand’.
She immediately called up severala Gopis and said to them: “See here! These are the foot
prints of our lord krishna!”
All Gopis gathered excitedly around the foot print. The Gopi who imagined so got deeply
immersed in the thoughts of lord Krishna. All other Gopis surrounding her suddenly
appeared to her as various manifestations of Krishna. When one of the Gopis touched her
shoulders, she felt as though Krishna was touching her shoulders and the very thought
made her swoon. The rest of the Gopis too were swept by thoughts of Krishna. Shedding
tears, they all lost their outer consciousness.
It is such a mindset that we should develop to attain God. We must see everything as God.

5. Krishna’s question
Once Lord Krishna was chit-chatting with gopis. He posed a question to them: “If you have to
face a grave hardships and sorrows in your life tomorrow, what will you do?”

One gopi said, “I will pray to you, Krishna, to ward off my difficulties and save me”.

Another gopi said, “I will pray you to be with me always as my support to face the difficulties
and overcome them. When, during a hot day out, if there is a good breeze, the heat does not
affect. Likewise, if you are with me Krishna, the difficulties and sorrows will not affect me”.

Yet another gopi said, “I will pray to you to give me enough mental strength to overcome the
hardship”.

Radha was sitting there, without saying anything. Krishna asked her, “Why aren’t you saying
anything, Radha? What will you do if you face difficulties in life?”

Radha said, “I will think of you and I will be totally immersed in your thoughts.”

“Won’t you make any prayers?” asked Krishna.

“If your form occupies my whole mind, where is the room for sorrow there, Krishna? When
there is only light, how can darkness be there? Then where is the need for me to pray? ” said
Radha.

6. Krishna’s Headache
Once sage Narada was with Lord Krishna. Krishna was talking very high of Gopis’ devotion
towards him. When Narada heard it, he thought that there may be other devotees of Krishna
including himself who would have much more and deeper devotion on God than gopis.

Suddenly Krishna said, “Nowadays, I am suffering from a severe headache”. Narada felt
worried; “Lord, should you not take some good medicines to cure it?”

Krishna said “I have tried so many cures, but to no avail. I know there is only one medicine
that can rid me of my incessant headache — If I can apply the dust of my one true devotee’s
feet on my head, it will get cured…”

Narada thought, “I am a true devotee of Krishna alright, but how can I ever offer the dust off
my lowly feet to be applied to God’s head? It will be a severe sin; I cannot face the
consequences of the sin”.

He went around to meet several other devotees of Krishna and told them about Krishna’s
suffering with headache. While all of them felt very concerned about it, none of them were
willing to give dust from their feet as per Narada’s request. They felt it was an abominable
solution. It amounted to insulting God and they were sure to end up in hell if they did so.

Finally, Narada went to Brindavan and told the Gopis about Krishna’s illness and the cure for
it.

The gopis felt extremely disturbed to know that their beloved lord was suffering in headache.
They said, “Here, please take as much dust off our feet as you want apply it on Krishna’s head;
please take it and go as fast as possible”

Narada said, “Is it not a sin to do so? Are we not so lowly when compared to God and how can
we ever allow him to take the dust of our feet? You may have to suffer in hell for insulting our
God like this!”

The gopis replied: “We are not bothered about sin or hell; let whatever sin meant to come to us
come; we want our Lord to be cured of his headache; that’s all; we are not bothered about
anything else”.

Narada Understood the greatness of Gopis’ devotion on God.

7. The pure love of Gopi Neeraja

Gopi Neeraja did not belong to Vrindavan. She was from a different village, but got married to
a Gopa in Vrindavan. Even before she shifted to Vrindavan to live with her husband and inlaws,
she had heard about Krishna. In fact, her village folks had forewarned her never to see Krishna
in Vrindavan.

However, she happened to see Krishna in one festival of Govardhan hill worship. At that very
moment she got enchanted by Krishna fully; she surrendered her heart totally at Krishna’s feet.
It was a divine attraction and not a physical love which common folks could not understand.
However, for having fallen thus for Krishna, she had to undergo lots of hardships in her life.

Her first sighting of Krishna was under the shed of flower creepers at the Govardhan hill. At
that time, she saw Krishna standing there, playing his flute.

She started visiting that flower shed again and again. She could hear the divine music of
Krishna, playing flute there. The very wind that touched Krishna blew over her and she felt
enthralled even by the touch of wind.

When Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Mathura, Gopi Neeraja too became furlorn, unable to
bear the pangs separation from Krishna.

Days and months passed; Like all other Gopis, she also patiently bore the pain of living without
Krishna’s presence. Like all of them, she too was hoping against hope that Krishna would
return to Vrindavan one day. With that expectation, she would visit the flower shed and wait
for His arrival at days and nights.

Years passed. Krishna never came back. Gopi Neeraja one day collapsed under the flower shed,
unable to bear the pain of waiting for Krishna any longer. When she was about to breath her
last, Lord Krishna appeared before her! Neeraja prayed to him, “My lord! I want to hear the
music from your captivating flute and leave my body; that is my only last wish”.

“Oh! Neeraja. I haven’t brought my flude with me” said Lord Krishna. Yet in order to satisfy
her last wish, Lord Krishna plucked a reed from the nearby bush, cut it to shape and making
use if it as a flute, he started playing his divine music. Neeraja rested her head on the lap of her
Lord Krishna and drinking the nectar of divine music from Krishna through her ears, she
breathed her last.

8. Akrura acquires spiritual wisdom from Radha

Akrura, the Rajarishi of Mathura came to Vrindavan to take Krishna with him to Mathura based
on the orders of King Kamsa. The gopis of Vrindavan were immersed in sorrow when they
came to know of Akrura’s mission; they did not like the very idea of getting separated from
their beloved Krishna. Radha was nowhere to be seen. She had secluded herself, trying to digest
the reality of living without Krishna.

Krishna said to Akrura, ” I feel it would be nice if you could meet Radha and get initiated by
her in the wisdom of higher truth (Jnana Diksha)”. Akrura was surprised and confused. He was
already a Raja rishi (a sage who counsels the king) and he was quite aged too. What was there
for him to seek something in spiritual wisdom from an uneducated milkmaid of Vrindavan?
Anyhow, obeying Krishna’s instructions, Akrura looked around for Radha and finally located
her in a secluded hut in Vrindavan. He showed his respects to her and conveyed to her Krishna’s
wish.

Radha was very much surprised. “Respected Raja Rishi, I am a lowly village girl with no
worldly education or spiritual wisdom whatsoever; what we have is a heart full of love for
Krishna and we really don’t know how to we would live here in Vrindavan without the
enchanting presence of our beloved Lord.”

Akrura insisted that she should tell him something in deference to Lord Krishna’s wish. Radha
thought for a while and then said:

“We all derived joy in being with Krishna, in listening to his flute, in decorating him with
garlands and so on. I particularly derived lot of joy in adoring him with a garland of Tulsi
leaves. Suddenly, a thought came to my mind one day: ‘Just because of my love and joy of
seeing Krishna decorated with the garland of Tulsi leaves, I pluck so many leaves from the
plant; Oh! will it not hurt the plant? Won’t it be suffering silently in pain? Am I not being cruel
in this way?’

“I felt deeply sorry for it; I went to the tulsi plant and sought its
forgiveness for hurting it all these days for my selfish motive. The
plant spoke to me thus: “It is true that whenever you plucked my
leaves, I felt very painful; But I used to think:’Is it not my good
fortune that my leaves are able to touch Lord Krishna’s body? Am
I not giving lot of joy to Radha when she garlands Krishna and
relish his beautiful looks with it? In this way, my pain is really
worthy; I am able to give joy to others’.

“Today, Krishna is leaving us all; I don’t know whether he would come back or not. Yes, the
pain of getting separated from Krishna is unbearable. But, like the Tulsi plant, I have also
started thinking now: ‘When Krishna reaches Mathura, how joyous would the people there feel
in seeing our lord! Every single day he lives there would be a celebration for them! Haven’t
we Gopis enjoyed the bliss of his company all these years? So, let me think of the joy of the
other people too and be contented; Let me digest the pain of separation from my lord with
pleasure”.

Hearing these words of wisdom, Akrura bowed to Radha and returned to Krishna with a heart
full of respect for Radha for her sacrifice.
9. Little Krishna’s prayer
On the birthday of Little Krishna, Ma Yashoda dressed up Krishna in new clothes and took
him to the temple for worship. After the formal worship was over, the priest heard Krishna
praying very loudly.

“Dear God, Kindly bless that the Gopis and Gopas of Brindavan always have this guileless
love for God; let rains come neither in excess nor in shortage; let their cows and bulls prosper;
let them get cow milk in abundance; let cereals, fruits and vegetables grow enough to feed all
of them sumptuously…”. The priest was wonderstruck at the little boy’s sincere prayers.

After a while, a large gathering of Gopis and Gopas of Vrindavan too came to the temple and
the priest heard a chorus of prayers: “Dear Lord, on this birth day of Krishna, we pray to you
to give him all the prosperity, joy and good health; let him not face any threat from the demons
and rakshasas and please protect him from such evil doers; please let us behave in such a way
that we remain the recipients of his love always…”

Again the priest was wonderstruck hearing their prayers. There was no trace of selfishness in
the prayers of Krishna or in the prayers of the Gopis and Gopas. Each prayed the well being
of the others.
10. When Krishna is with you
One day many gopis of Vrindavan wanted to accompany Krishna to the forests to graze the
cows. Krishna permitted them to come along with him. The gopis spent a joyful day with
Krishna roaming in the forest, playing with him, singing and dancing with him and listening to
his flute. As the evening came, they started to return to Vrindavan. Soon dark clouds gathered
in the sky, indicating the arrival of a huge thunderstorm.

Krishna said, “It will not be safe for us to get stuck in the forest when the storm arrives. It is
better to keep moving; even if we get caught in the rains, we can manage to reach our homes
before it gets too late”. All the gopas and gopis agreed. Gathering their herd of cows together,
they started walking quickly.

By the time they came out of the forest and reached the road leading to their homes, the sky
was fully enveloped with the dark clouds. It became pitch dark. Frequent lightning followed
by deafening thunders followed. A heavy downpour too started. Krishna and his group
managed to move forward on the road, ignoring the rains that drenched all of them.

Krishna asked the Gopis: “Are you not afraid of the lighting and thunders? Are you not afraid
to walk in total darkness, drenching in the rains like this?”

“No, Krishna! We have no fear. In fact we are indeed enjoying the thunders; we look forward
eagerly for the lightnings to happen!”

Krishna was surprised. “Why?” he asked.

The gopis said, “Whenever there is a lightning, O Krishna, we could see your radiant face in
those brief moments; it gives us so much joy to see your captivating face intermittently in this
pitch darkness!”
11. When fire does not burn
One day in Vrindavan, a gopi went to Nandagopa’s house in the evening with the purpose of
getting some fire for lighting the lamps in her home. She had a small earthen lamp with wick
and oil in her hand. It was rather an excuse for going there as her secret intention was to have
a look at little Krishna there.

She went inside Nandagopa’s house. There was a lamp burning in the hall. She went close to
it and extended her hand in order to ignite the tip of the wick in the lamp she hand in hand. At
that moment, she noticed that little Krishna was lying in the nearby and he was squirming there,
about to get up from sleep. As she eagerly looked there, Krishna too gazed at her and smiled.
She was instantly captivated by the inexplicable beauty radiating from little Krishna’s face.
Her entire consciousness got absorbed in Krishna and he totally lost herself. Now, instead of
the wick, she was actually extending her fingers at the flame in the main lamp, and she did not
feel any burning. She was totally transfixed at the sight of the divine form of Little Krishna.

Since the Gopi did not return home for long after igniting her lamp from the neighbouring
house, the gopi’s mother came to Nandagopa’s house, looking for her daughter. There, what
she saw was not only shocking but unbelievable too. Her daughter was simply keeping her
fingers over the flame of the lamp and seemed to have frozen without her senses working. She
rushed to her daughter, pulled her hand away from the lamp and asked “Oh my dear, what the
hell are you doing? Are you not getting hurt?”

Only then the gopi came back to her senses. The very darshan of Lord Krishna had drawn her
heart towards Him in pure devotion and in that exalted state, she had no sense of burning of
her fingers! She did not feel an iota of pain!
12. In his company forever
When Krishna was leading his married life in Mathura, Radha once went to see him. At that
time, Krishna was in Rugminis’ palace, enjoying her joyful company. When Radha reached
there, she was stopped by the guard. Radha sent a word about her arrival and waited. She waited
and waited but Krishna did not come out to see her. Radha felt furlorn and depressed. With
tear filled eyes she left the palace and returned to Vrindavan.

Radha went to her favourite garden at the banks of Yamuna where she used to meet Krishna
on those good old days when He lived in Vrindavan. She sat under the tree and closed her eyes.
She went into deep meditation by seeing Krishna in his glorious form inside her mind.

In the meanwhile, when Krishna got the message about Radha’s arrival, he rushed out to meet
her; but she was no longer waiting for Him. Krishna felt very sorry. He decided to go to
Vrindavan to meet Radha secretly and console her. He knew where she would be and went
there.

Krishna saw Radha in deep meditation. He went and touched her; he said, “Dear Radha, Here
I am, your Krishna. Please open your eyes; I am extremely sorry that I kept you waiting”.

Radha did not open her eyes. She said softly, “Krishna, as long as I was of thinking that you
were outside of me and I needed to see you in your physical form to have the bliss of your
company, there was always sorrow of separation. Now I have established you inside me; I am
able to see you all the time in my mind’s eye and I am permanently in your joyful company. I
no longer need your external form, Dear Krishna! You can go back to Mathura”.
13. True association
Once Krishna and Gopis were chit chatting joyfully near a stream.

One Gopi asked Krishna, “Dear Krishna, you know all of us are madly in love with you. We
always want to be with you. Some of us want to keep seeing you always; some of us want to
sit as close to you physically as possible. Some of us want to talk to you. Some of us want you
your attention always — we want you to look at us, smile at us, talk to us and so on. When he
have so much love on you, somehow you are always appreciating Radha; you always seemed
to be partial towards her. We want to know why”.

Krishna got up, went to the stream and

picked up a stone pebble from there. He gave
it to the gopi and said, “Break it and show to
me whether there is any water inside it”.

The gopi broke the pebble and showed it to

Krishna. Another gopi said, “Krishna, this is
just a stone. How do you expect water inside
it?”

Krishna said, “This pebble must be lying in this stream from time immemorial. It has been in
constant company with water and yet it has not absorbed even a drop of water. Likewise, even
though some of you are with me ever in my company, you may not have grasped any of my
divinity”.

He continued, “When I bent down to pick this pebble, my upper garment touched the stream
just for a moment and yet it has absorbed water and got wet. But if we keep sitting here for a
while, the cloth will get dried up soon due to the blowing of the wind. Like this, some of you
do absorb my divine nature, but you soon your bhakti dries up on account of your worldly
desires and pursuits.”

Krishna continued: “Ah! When I was picking up the pebble, I dropped the sugar candy that you
gave in the water. I want to eat it now. Please go and pick it up from the water”.

Several Gopis got up and went to the stream. They searched inside the water here and there
and returned empty handed. One gopi said, “Krishna, I have one more sugar candy here. Please
eat this. What you dropped in water must have dissolved in the water by this time, won’t it?”

Krishna smiled and said, “Yes. That’s it. Like the sugar candy getting dissolved in water and
becoming one with it, Radha’s heart has dissolved in my divinity and she has become one with
me. It is that sort of love on God which is most dear to me. That’s why I love Radha so much.”

The Gopis held their heads low when they heard those words from Krishna. Krishna said
consolingly, “Don’t feel dejected. It is not easy for everyone to be immersed in me and lose
one’s self. It is indeed a very slow process. One has to constantly put efforts cleanse one’s heart
from inborn tendencies like desire, anger, delusion, greed, hatred, envy etc. ”
14. To hear Krishna’s flute again
Once Krishna had left for Mathura from Vrindavan, he totally stopped playing his flute.
Somehow, people close to Krishna at Mathura came to know about the enchanting music that
used to flow from his flute and they too wanted to hear it. They pestered Krishna to play flute
for their sake.

Krishna however refused. He said, “If you are too keen to hear my flute, you have to go to
Vrindavan. For the gopis of Vrindavan, hearing my flute is like meditation. They have absorbed
my music so well that they keep hearing it in their hearts. They are so much immersed in my
thoughts that all their talks, actions, speeches and singing are all Krishnamayam — full of
Krishna. If you go there and listen to them carefully, you will be able to hear my flute”.
15. Krishna’s heart
Once a pundit went to Vrindavan from Dwaraka. All the gopis of Vrindavan gathered around
him very eagerly to hear about their beloved Krishna’s well being and his life at Dwaraka.

The pundit said, “Bhagavan Krishna is living a joyful life, abundant with wealth in Dwaraka.
I feel bad that Sri Krishna had not taken you people along with him to Dwaraka. Krishna has
blessed his friends like Akrura and Kuchela with plenty of wealth. For his wife Satyabhama,
Krishna has even brought Kalpavriksha (wish fulfilling tree) from heaven and gifted it to her.
I wonder why Krishna does not remember that you people are still living in thatched huts. It
is really sad”.

Hearing him, the Gopis said, “We are extremely happy to know that Bhagawan is living a very
happy and prosperous life there. You said we are still living in huts, right? It is in these huts
that the little holy feet of our beloved Krishna had walked and danced and because of it, our
huts are more valuable than palaces. In our view, every kadamba tree in Vrindavan is
a kalpavriksha. Oh! How many sweet memories do those trees keep giving to us about our
association with Krishna! It is such thoughts of our beloved Krishna are indeed eternal and
imperishable; our only wish is that such memories never get faded from our thoughts. We don’t
consider palaces or kalpavrikshas any more valuable than those precious memories”.

The pundit’s eyes filled with tears when he witnessed such a blemishless divine love of gopis.
He said, “When I saw Krishna at Dwaraka, I told him that my life got totally blessed by my
seeing him that day. Immediately Bhagavan said to me ‘You have only seen my physical body.
If you really want to see my heart, you should go to Vrindavan’. I have now fully understood
the meaning and purport of Krishna’s statement”.
16. What boon from Krishna?
After Lord Krishna went to Mathura from Vrindavan, the gopis were all in sorrow as they
missed his company terribly. They used to sit together at the bank of river Yamuna and share
their thoughts about Krishna and seek some solace from each other.

“Why didn’t Bhagavan take us too along with him to Mathura? When he returns here next time,
we should not permit him to leave Vrindavan” said one gopi.

Another gopi said, “When Krishna comes back, I will ask for a boon from him”.

“What is it?”

“He should be playing with me always. That’s what I would ask”.

Another gopi said, “I too will ask a boon from him. That boon is: He should always eat the
butter I give”.

Next another gopi said, “I will ask him to take me along with him if he goes back to Mathura”.

“I would ask his boon to make me the person to fan him always” said yet another gopi.
Radha was hearing all these talks but she was keeping quiet. Noticing it, other gopis asked.
“Radha! Why are you not saying anything? What boon will you ask Krishna?” they pestered
her.

Radha finally opened her mouth. She said, “If at all a desire rises up in my mind, I will submit
that too at the his holy feet. It won’t belong to me. Whatever he wills is my choice. What his
pleasure is, my pleasure is that”.
17. Krishna waiting

Once the gopis went to Yamuna to bring drinking water to their homes. Krishna too went along
with them. When the gopis filled water in their pots, they were ready to depart. Krishna was
sitting under a tree and playing his flute. The called him. “O Krishna, come and help us by
putting the pots on our heads”. But Krishna refused to help them. The gopis had to help each
other to lift the pots and place them on each others’ heads.

All the gopis walked back to their homes.

But as they arrived there, they saw Krishna waiting for them! He came forward to take the
water pots from their heads. The gopis were surprised. They asked: “When we asked you to
help us in placing the pots on our heads, you refused. Then why are you coming here to take
the pots from our heads?”

Krishna said smilingly, “I have come among you only to unburden; not to burden you!”
18. Separation
Once Gopis asked Radha, “We were imagining that Lord Krishna would be ours forever and
we all loved him so much; but how cruel he is to leave us in lurch and go to Mathura never to
return? What is the meaning of our living even after this? What is the point of calling Krishna
as the embodiment of love when in reality he has proved to be so stone-hearted?”

Radha said, “Don’t talk like that. The only person whom we can claim to be ours forever is
indeed Lord Krishna. But God does not belong to us alone in exclusivity. He belongs to
everyone outside Vrindavan too. Exactly like us, there are umpteen people waiting with
unabated thirst to see Him and to experience the bliss of his love.”

Radha joined her palms and picked up a handful of water from the Yamuna river and said,
“Look here. As long as we keep our palms like a cup, water remains in it. But if we close our
fingers in order to make it totally ours, the water escapes and we lose the water. We tried to
make Lord Krishna exclusively our own. We tried to keep him as a prisoner in Vrindavan.
However, in order to make us understand that he is the indweller in all beings, he left us all and
went far away. But, mind you, the Lord has not made us orphans. Every divine play of Lord
Krishna is ever living memories in our hearts. As long as those memories remain etched inside
us, He will always be with us. At the bank of the Yamuna of our love, inside the deep cave of
our hearts our Krishna will be dancing forever”.
19. Why gopis’ love on Krishna so special
Once Uddhava asked Lord Krishna: “I have heard that of all your devotees, you have a special
soft corner for the gopis of Vrindavan. There are indeed so many devotees of you who shed
tears of love the moment they hear your name; if they hear your flute, they immediately
immerse in meditation; if they see blue color anywhere, they think of your body color and
forget their surroundings. What other special characteristic of love that gopis have on you
that these devotees don’t? May I know?”

Hearing this Krishna smiled and said, “All my devotees are dear to me, no doubt. But gopis
have some special characteristics. Other devotees shed tears on hearing my name; but gopis
hear all names as my name. Whatever music they hear, they think it is the playing of my flute;
whatever color they see, it is blue to them. Thus the gopis are able to see unity in diversity.
That’s why gopis of Vrindavan are most dear to me.”

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