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of the three worlds.
They welcomed Sri Krishna with enchanting smiles and playful glances which had excited
love in their heart and placed His hands and feet on their lap. They praised Him and spoke as if
somewhat offended.
The Gopis said:  Some people are attached to those who are devoted to them. Others are
attached to persons who are not devoted to them; again there are people who are attached neither to
those who are devoted to them, nor to those who are not devoted to them. O Krishna! Please explain
to us the reason for this clearly.
The Lord said:  O friends! Those who love only when they are loved are actuated by a
selfish motive. They are prompted by their own selfish interests. There is neither friendship nor
virtue in this. It is all for a selfish end. In truth they are not really attached to one another, but are
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LORD KRISHNA, HIS LILAS AND TEACHINGS
attached to their own selves and to their own interests. Their only motive is gratification of self and
nothing else.
 Those who are attached to persons who are not devoted to them are like parents, full of
kindness and affection. Their conduct is governed both by righteousness and goodwill. They are of
two kinds, viz., those who are kind, and those who are affectionate. Of these the former by their
attachment reap great religious merit, while the latter secure unshaken friendship.
 Then there is a third class of people who are not attached to persons devoted to them. Then
how could they be expected to love those who do not seek them at all. These are of four classes. 1.
Those who find delight only in Atman and know nothing of the external world. 2. Those who have
obtained the objects of their desires. 3. Those who are ungrateful. 4. Those who injure their
well-wishers.
 O friends! I do not belong to any of these classes. I do not attach Myself to those who are
devoted to Me. This does not mean that I do not love them. I do so in order to intensify their
devotion, to draw their heart all the more to Me, so that in their hearts they may be fully absorbed in
Me. Then they will not care for anything else. They will devote themselves constantly to Me and
remember Me. Just as a penniless man, who accidentally attains some wealth and subsequently
loses it, solely thinks of that money only and thinks of nothing else, so also I become the object of
constant thinking of the devotees when I hide Myself again and again after meeting him.
 Even though I am granted the duration of life enjoyed by the celestials, yet I shall never be
able to return the excellent services done to Me by you all, Your relation with Me is absolutely pure
and faultless. O beloved Gopis! For My sake you have completely cut asunder the very hard ties of
family life. I shall remain a debtor to you for all time. Let your own goodness be the only
recompense for your devotion. May your own righteousness bring its fullest reward!
Gopis Love
Gopis love for Krishna was not a physical passion. It was supreme love. For them Lord
Krishna was the living God. He was the moving image of the Supreme Lord. Their faith was
intense. When they thought of Lord Krishna they forgot their worldly activities. They were merged
in the love of Krishna.
Lord Krishna attracted their hearts from His very boyhood. He was a very beautiful child.
He was beauty incarnate. So the Gopis began to love Krishna from His very birth. They caressed
and loved Krishna as they would do their own children. The Gopa girls of Brindavan loved Krishna
as their own brother. Is there any sexual love between brother and sister? A sister loves her younger
brother. She fondles him and plays with him. Such was the relationship between the Gopis and
Krishna.
Gradually the love for Krishna assumed the shape of intense Prema (divine love). They
thought of Krishna alone when they churned the curd, when they took water from the well. They
sang His praises when they took bath. They remembered Him when they took food and at all times.
Their minds became Krishnamaya by incessant practice of Smarana (remembrance) of the Lord.
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LILAS
It is possible that when the Gopis grew of age they might have been moved by physical love
also, as it is the case with every animated being. Sleep, food and sex are common to all living
beings.
But Lord Krishna knew the hearts of the Gopis. He turned the hearts of the Gopis to the
proper direction by completely eradicating lust from their minds. It is with this purpose in view that
Lord Krishna played the Rasa Lila with the Gopis.
At the time of Rasa Lila, He multiplied Himself into so many Krishnas. The Gopis were
struck with wonder and amazement. All their idea of physical love entirely vanished due to this
miracle. They witnessed the showers of flowers poured from the skies by the Devas. They saw the
Vidyadharas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Charanas, etc., singing the praise of the Lord. They enjoyed
the blissful company of the Lord at the time of Rasa Lila, a bliss millions of times greater than the
bliss they would enjoy through sense objects. They enjoyed the bliss of Samadhi or union with God.
 This is this, this is that  this conception of difference is only the delusion of a man whose
mind is distracted and uncontrolled and is not united to the Lord. The man of uncontrolled mind
falls into the error that there is plurality of objects. This error leads to merit and demerit, or right and
wrong, good and evil. The uncontrolled Jiva, who is bewildered and deluded by this diversity
created by the natural outward tendency of the senses, fancies himself as a separate unit in the world [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]