The Gopis’ love is pure and selfless. God takes good care of them. God praises their love and admires their dedicated service. All our scriptures have admired the devotional love of the Gopis. Shruti scriptures have sung their praises. The Gopis are actually Rishis from the ancient years. In ancient times, they had spent centuries doing penance and absorbed in meditational trance to attain God. They have been born as Gopis of Vraj and God has showered his pleasure by living with them. God dwells with them forever.
Sadguru Nishkulanand Swami admires the devotional love of the Gopis. Swami admires their mind, heart and soul for such dedicated devotion. God dwells everywhere and in every molecule of the Gopis. Brahmanand Swami sings:
(How fortunate are the Gopis of Vraj! They love Shree Krishna and Lord Krishna loves them. They are most fortunate to taste the nectar of the lips of Shree Krishna. They have come to see the lotus-like face of Shree Krishna, but at home their families think that they have gone to milk the cows. The Gopis’ life is fulfilled. Lord Krishna graces her home. Brahmanand Swami admires the good fortunes of the Gopis. Lord Krishna dwells with them.)
Vraj is the land of devotional love. Vrindavan is the sacred land of divine leelas of Shree Krishna. Rishi Shandilya lived there. He used to arise early in the morning during the last quarter of nighttime. He concluded daily rituals and attended poojan worship of God. He worshiped Panchadev, read holy Geeta, chanted Gayantri Japa, read Vishnu Sahasra Naam, recited Shreemad Bhagwat and performed twenty one thousand Japa of the sacred names of God. The whole day passed in such devotional service. He consumed food once during the day, and that too a meal of fruits at late night. He spent the whole day in devotion and worship of God.
We should do devotion by practicing nitya niyama and the tenets of this axiomatic sect. We should read everyday the scriptures of Shikshapatra, Vachanamrit, Narayankavach, Janmangal and the devotional songs written and composed by Nand sants. Nitya Niyams are a must for sanctity of life. Mental peace and solace are attainable by a simple and well-disciplined life.
Shandilya was poor like Sudama, but he was rich and wealthy with the wealth of devotion, meditation and knowledge. His wealth was divine and majestic. Purnamasi was his wife and Madhumangal was his son. They were a happy family.
Krishna and Madhumangal were good friends. They used to play together. Shree Krishna desired in his heart to have meals from this holy family. Krishna with this intention proposed a feast to have meals together. He asked all his friends and Madhumangal, to bring tiffins from each of their homes.
Madhumangal came home and asked his mother to fix something for his tiffin. But poor mother Purnamasi only managed to give a pot of buttermilk to her son to take with him for the feast. The buttermilk had however become sour by the next morning. The boys at the meadow were arriving with tiffins of sweets, delicacies and other tasty eatables. They all sat together to share the meals among themselves.
Madhumangal was very shy of his buttermilk. He thought that the boys might make a joke of his tiffin, if he disclosed it to them. He decided to drink it hurriedly to finish off the pot. Krishna stopped him when he saw Madhumangal drinking something from the pot. Krishna said, “Don’t drink it all alone by yourself! Give it to me, I want to have some.” But Madhumangal emptied his pot. The buttermilk streamed from either side of his month so Krishna began to lick the buttermilk from Madhumangal’s mouth! Madhumangal prayed to him to stop licking.
At this time, Brahma had come there to do darshan of God. He saw them from the sky. He was shocked by such behaviour of Shree Krishna and thought that, though hailed universally as the Supreme God, Shree Krishna acted in front of him like a pastoral boy, lacking common decency. God cannot act so clumsily. He was merely a villager, illiterate and uncivilized. Brahma desired to test him; “I will take him as God, only if he creates a world like I have.”
With his divine powers, Brahma stole the calves in the herd. He took them to Brahm Loka (divine abode of the God of creation), and waited there for the next move of Shree Krishna. The pastoral boys remembered their calves after they had their meals and found them missing from the herd. They said, “Kanaiya! Our calves are missing from the herd. Where have they gone?”
Krishna said, “Friends! Don’t worry about them. Have your meals leisurely. I will get them for you.” Krishna left his group to search for the calves. Brahma grabbed the opportunity and consigned those children to his Brahma Loka.
Krishna is the omniscient supreme Lord. He knew that Brahma was responsible for the missing calves and the children. He manifested himself in plurality to duplicate each child and calf. The children and calves were recreated as per their actual number. Now Krishna was playing with Krishna! Krishna was enjoying pleasures with Krishna! The cows were feeding their calves who were actually Krishna!
Brahmaji waited for some time in his abode to study the situation and came back to the world to satisfy himself. He came to the meadows of Vrindavan and saw from the sky, the entire group of children playing with Shree Krishna and saw the cows feeding their young. Nothing was amiss!
Brahmaji was puzzled with such vision. What was true? What he saw before him or the calves he stole with the children in Brahmloka? When he gave good thought to the developments, he realised Shree Krishna dwelled in all the children and calves.
Brahmaji prayed, “O Lord! Please forgive me. Who am I to test you, but in a state of delusion I have ventured to test your good self. Please pardon me for my sin. You are the supreme God of the universe. You can create, sustain and destroy the cosmoses at your own free will. Your divine powers are unfathomable. You are omniscient and omnipresent. O Supreme Lord Shree Krishna! Please forgive me.”
Shree Krishna had defeated the deities with his divine leelas. With this leela of calves, he destroyed the ego of Brahma. With his Govardhan leela, Shree Krishna had destroyed the ego of Indra and with his raas leela, he had destroyed the ego of Kamdeva (deity of carnal desires.)
We hail the land, forest, meadows, Gopas, Gopis, children, cows and residents of Vraj, because Shree Krishna had graced them with his blessed presence. Shreeji Maharaj remembers the holy place of Vrindavan in his Vachanamrit: (J-5) and says, ‘I have performed many holy fires in Jetalpur. I have graced repeatedly with my saints the river of Dev Sarovar. I have graced personally the homes in Jetalpur and I have graced them hundreds of times. I have had feast meals at those homes of my devout followers. Therefore the region of Jetalpur has become holy like Vrindavan.” As the dialogue progressed, the three Gods came to do darshan of Shree Hari. Shreeji Maharaj said, “Brahma (god of creation), Vishnu (god of sustenance) and Shiva (god of destruction) come here regularly to do darshan of this holy-fellowship and me. You too are blessed with darshan of them.” Sadguru Badrinathanandji sings:
(How fortunate the town of Jetalpur is! No holy place is comparable to it. The dust of Jetalpur purifies the soul. Servant Badrinath sings the praises of Jetalpur.)
Nishkulanand Swami says:
(The Gopis have earned credit through their selfless love. Householders and saints praise their virtuous attributes. In the past, present or future, nothing stands equal to devotional love and affection. Lord of Nishkulanand Swami likes nothing except love.)
The Gopis have won the world with their devotional love. Devotion means to love Shree Krishna with the knowledge of his majesty.
Sneh Gita narrates the greatness of Bhakti Yoga
To concentrate on each organ of God, is called meditational concentration. To retain God in the heart through meditation is called retention. Daily worship and meditation helps the soul to forget the world and the body. Love is a must in devotion. Devotional love is the best among the yogic ways:
(Recitation of this scripture and listening to Sneh Geeta gives eternal pleasure. It narrates the divine ways and lifestyle of Shree Krishna. It is like nectar for the devotees of Shree Hari.)