Srimad Bhagavatham

When Krishna showed himself in front of the gopis after vanishing, the gopis played with him and entered into nirvrithi (state of absorption).

Explanation

Many of us would want to know the state we will be in when we get a glance of the Lord whom we love a lot. Since our mind always tries to objectify things, we think that when we see the Lord (realization or liberation) we will see him standing in front of us like any other human being. But this is wrong. The ultimate reality of Lord is formless as form limits the unlimited Lord.

But it is for our mind to cognize the Lord thereby contemplating on him that different forms like that of Vishnu, Siva, Devi etc. have been propounded in the scriptures. When we contemplate on a particular form and see the form everywhere, the form vanishes as the duality of the world merges unto that one single form. This means the single form pervades the entire universe (which is the realm of our perception). When the entire universe becomes one single form, the form has no sense there. Form is when we have something limited and different from other things in the world. But here the only thing that remains behind in the universe is the form. Thus the form ceases off leading us to the formless ultimate reality of Lord. This is the way in which we are lead from a form Lord to the formless Lord (which is his natural state).

Bhagavatham here is hinting at the state where we will merge unto the formless Lord thereby leaving behind no differences at all using the word “nirvrithi”. The gopis when after a long separation found the Lord, they merged into the Lord. This merging is termed as being absorbed or complete absorption into the Lord (denoted by the term nirvrithi). It is that state wherein the gopis rejoiced in eternal bliss. It is that blissful state of absorption wherein there is not even an iota of sorrow as differences have completely vanished.

Thus getting the vision of Lord is not the Lord appearing in front of us in a human or some supernatural form but merging unto the Lord thereby rejoicing in the Lord. It is also for this reason that most Mahatmas speak about realization as not getting the vision of Lord but bliss or peace. Bliss is the very nature of Lord. It is the Lord who alone is eternally blissful. We will not be able to get happiness from the objects or people around us as everything except the Lord is temporary. It is when we realize our inner nature of Lord that we experience the bliss emanating from the Lord. Thus Bhagavatham is here telling us about vision of Lord as merging unto the Lord as well as that the experience can only be explained through the words of bliss or peace. Since all experiences vanish in that state (experiences are based on duality whereas duality completely vanishes when the entire universe is seen as the Lord and we merge unto the Lord) therefore we cannot neither call that as an objective experience nor apprehend it through words of thoughts.

Thus the scriptures say that the Lord is beyond words and thoughts as words and thoughts can only objectify objects of the world but not the Lord who is the power behind words and thoughts.

It is not necessary to get a glimpse of the bliss of the Lord through realization alone. At times when we are doing contemplation we will temporarily get into that blissful state (when temporarily duality vanishes). But once we come out of such a temporary state, we will again fall into the dual world (thereby causing sorrows and sufferings). But once a person completely merges unto the Lord, though he may still perceive the Lord there is no scope of sorrow for him as he sees the non-dual reality behind the dual world. Even as a goldsmith sees all ornaments as gold though he might externally perceive them as different from one another, similarly a realized saint though might externally perceive duality of the world he sees everything as the ultimate reality of Lord in his mind thereby ever rejoicing in bliss.

We will continue with the story tomorrow when we will see the gopis asking few questions to the Lord.

Let us all try to merge unto the Lord permanently by perceiving the Lord everywhere and ever contemplating on him so that we may ever rejoice in bliss.

The gopis after coming out of the state of absorption questioned Krishna thus:

O Krishna! Some people love others who show love towards them. Few others love even those who don’t show love towards them. There are others who don’t love both (who show love towards them and who don’t show love towards them). What is the secret behind this?

Explanation

Here the gopis are asking few very important questions. If we are able to understand the importance of these questions, then we will be able to go beyond all limitations and be ever immersed in the reality of Lord. This will be more evident in the detailed answer provided by Krishna (which we will see in the next day).

We generally love people expecting something or the other. It is also dependent on how the other person reciprocates. We often see good friends becoming foes due to some misunderstanding and lack of proper reciprocation. This is not just with friends or lovers but even with parents. We respect and worship our parents as long as they are in our path to freedom and they don’t go against our wishes. It is but a human nature to have hatred towards those who go against our wishes even if it is our own parents. There have been many cases where children have killed their own parents due to lack of agreement. We all are familiar about the story of Kamsa where he killed seven children though they were his sister’s children.

All these just show that our love and respect of another person is very much dependent on their reciprocation (and as to how they react to it). Such love isn’t pure love but just attachment seeking something in return. Parents bring up their child not for the sake of the child but so that they may be taken care of in their old age.

Thus such love is what gopis have explained as when people show love towards those who love them. The exceptions to these are Mahatmas and spiritual people who live for the welfare of the world. These people always love others even though others might not love them. Even when many thieves and murderers came to attack AMMA, AMMA met them with love. This is true love and possible only when we see the Lord in each and every person. This is possible only through the knowledge that everything is but the ultimate reality of Lord in various names and forms. It is this knowledge when applied or implemented in life that becomes pure devotion thereby loving each and every being in the world. There are videos where AMMA shows her love towards even a snake! There are other types of people who aren’t bothered at all about whether someone is loving them or that they have to love others.

We might think that those who don’t love anyone in the world is either an ignorant person or too selfish person. But we will see in the next day as to how certain jeevanmukthas can also behave in the same way – not to love anyone at all. Their “not loving anyone” is different from the same behavior of a selfish person (as we will see in Krishna’s reply).

But in short the gopis are asking this question in order to know as to how to behave in the world as well as the reason why Krishna disappeared from that place (though gopis love him very much).

These words from the gopis also is in a way Bhagavatham telling each one of us that we should love each and every person in the world remembering that they are in essence the ultimate reality of Lord. This is the vision of knowledge which will take us to the state of bliss or moksha. If we maintain such a view, we will not be able to distinguish and differentiate between two person as both are the ultimate reality of Lord in essence. Thus we will neither expect anything from the person nor get affected by the activities of the person. It is this state of being a witness to all activities that is in other words called moksha or blissful state.

We will see Krishna’s beautiful and elaborate reply which can be considered as a capsulated book of love leading to bliss in the next day.

Let us all try to merge unto the Lord permanently by perceiving the Lord everywhere and ever contemplating on him so that we may ever rejoice in bliss.