The Gopis could not control themselves. They said, “O Uddhava! What are you talking about? We don’t living in the physical plane. We are detached from our householder ways. We are not conscious about the senses and the sense objects. We are free from desire. We have renounced desire through worship of God. O Uddhava! Think twice before you speak. We are innocent village girls. As we understand it, a woman separated from her husband may be interested in dialogues about Nirguna and Saguna (formless and with form), but we Gopis are not separated from our Krishna. We are in oneness with him. We don’t need such information. We are attached to God without any Yogic practice.
Shreeji Maharaj says in Vachanamrit, “Do Yoga Yagya.” What is this Yoga-Yagya? To withdraw the ten sense organs and the mind from the sense objects and place them as sacrifice into the holy fire of Brahman (pure consciousness). This is called yoga-yagya.
Samadhi in waking state
What are the fruits of Yoga-Yayga? The merit is that Lord Purushottam Narayana will manifest himself in his heart.
What is Antardrishti (inward vision, introspection)? To concentrate meditatively on the idol of God dwelling in the seat of our heart is called Antardrishti. To do poojan and worship of that idol is called Antardrishti.
The Gopis said, “O Uddhavji! You are asking us to practise Samadhi by closing our eyes. This needs to be understood well. It is possible that our mind will run to the world and the sense objects when we open our eyes. Therefore, we need to shut our eyes for tranquil state of Samadhi. But we Gopis are enjoying Samadhi state with our eyes open.”
Yogis meditate by closing their eyes. Their mind concentrates steadily till their eyes shut. Their agile mind runs and chases the sense objects as soon they open their eyes and the mind begins to think about those objects.
Great Yogi Vishwamitra did meditational penance for sixty thousand years with his eyes shut. But as soon as he opened the eyes from meditational trance, he was trapped in the alluring charms of Menka. The Gopis said, “The meditational trance attained with open eyes is the truest meditational concentration. It is not good to control the mind forcibly. It should be disciplined in its natural course.”
The Gopis have attained meditational concentration in their waking state. Their vision is in oneness with God. Wherever they look, they see Shree Krishna.
(Wherever dwells the mind, meditational concentration shall be there.)
Uddhava asked them to worship Nirguna – Brahman. The Gopis countered him, “We have already realised Shree Krishna – brahman as dwelling everywhere in human form. We have already realised him thus, then why should we worship Nirgun Brahman? The Gopis further said:
(There is nothing concrete in what you have said to us. For how long have you been striving for such incomplete knowledge?)
“O Uddhava! How much of your life has been spent in acquiring the knowledge that you have passed on to us? How much penance have you done to attain such knowledge? How many means have you used to attain it? Despite such effort and time, still you are adhering firmly to ignorance. You are talking like an ignorant child. The visible Lord plays like a child in front of us, but you are advising us to attain Him through meditational concentration? Why should we shut our eyes to see Him when we are able to see him with our open eyes?