Gopala Champu

1] As on previous days, Madhukaṇṭha, enthusiastic in the extraordinary evening assembly of sakhīs, began to speak.

[2] After the killing of Dhenuka, the passion of the gopīs, like a growing lotus-bud, increased daily in desire as before due to the external actions of Kṛṣṇa (a bee).

[3] Rādhā’s desire became most intense. That is indicated when describing the mutual love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

Desire to associate, desire to see, desire to embrace, hatred of opposing public, and constant symptoms of distress appeared simultaneously in both of them. Because of this, even though they were separated by distance, their desire was one. ||1||

The bhāvas of the two were like mirrors facing each other and receiving the bhāvas of the other. ||2||

Whenever Rādhā or Kṛṣṇa fainted in private, they had an internal vision of their lover, equivalent to actual presence, for bringing auspicious results. ||3||

[4] Holding a desire for Kṛṣṇa, all the young women of Vraja passed the autumn season and came to the winter month of Mārgaśīrṣā, when they were to go to the houses of their husbands.

[5] The parents had previously desired to give their daughters to no one other than Kṛṣṇa but they understood that their daughters would be given to others, as if in bad dreams. Thus out of suffering the girls did not welcome their relatives. Seeing the girls’ morose state, they became fearful. They hesitated to bring the girls to the groom’s house but became fearful of public criticism, and of trespassing religious principle. Paurṇamāsī gave the following advice.

[6] “You should remain neutral. I will bring them to the groom’s houses and have them engaged in household duties there.”

[7] Paurṇamāsī, respected by the devatās, understood the unwillingness of the daughters’ parents to follow this order. Pacifying the groom’s angry parents with sweet words, she made them accept her plan.

[8] The best of women were taken to other houses and placed with their mothers-in-law, undergoing humiliating scolding.

[9] Though it was impossible for them to obtain Kṛṣṇa in those houses, Paurṇamāsī made arrangement so that the girls had no intimate contact with their husbands, thus preventing intolerable mental agony. Though they were taken to the houses, on the path she concealed them by her illusory powers, and provided substitute forms of gopīs. Later she had them live in those houses but they remained there in great fear.

Their bodies were like prisons in the absence of Kṛṣṇa. What happiness could stay in their fathers’ houses produce? If this was so, how much more they would suffer in their mothers-in-law houses, which burned them like fire? ||4||

Since favorable circumstances became most unfavorable without Kṛṣṇa, unfavorable circumstances became like a bed of fire. ||5||

[10] When Paurṇamāsī went to the girls in the houses, she told them to be patient. “If you think your limit has been reached, then escape. I will arrange this by my inconceivable power. I will make a place where you can flee.”

[11] Going from their fathers’ houses which were like the king’s prison, they went to the enemy prison and remained there.

Confined there, their longing for Kṛṣṇa increased. This longing of the gopīs holding prema for Kṛṣṇa became one with their life. ||6||

When the desire for Kṛṣṇa rose in their minds, they hid it under their consideration of dharma, like fire hidden by damp wood. ||7||

[12] This is described, taking Rādhā as the main example:

“How can I give up the person who is my life, who has an attractive effulgence and sweet form, whose qualities stun me, whose heart is always soft, who is the shelter of all the women who are like cakora birds? But dharma comes and blocks the path of adharma which destroys respect.” ||8||

[13] Kṛṣṇa thought:

“Rādhā, my heart and my life, is under another’s control. Remembering her, my mind loses consciousness.” ||9||

Remembering Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa rubbed his eyes red with affection with his yellow cloth for some days. ||10||

[14] He was eager to meet her:

“How will I reveal what is in my great friend, the mind, which trespasses dharma.” Thinking profoundly, he then simply used his glances. ||11||

[15] The gopīs describe his glance.

śarad-udāśaye sādhu-jāta-sat- sarasijodara-śrī-muṣā dṛśā |

surata-nātha te ’śulka-dāsikā varada nighnato neha kiṁ vadhaḥ ||

O Lord of love, in beauty your glance excels the whorl of the finest, most perfectly formed lotus within the autumn pond. O bestower of benedictions, you are killing the maidservants who have given themselves to you freely, without any price. Isn’t this murder? SB 10.31.2

For, when Kṛṣṇa throws his glance elsewhere, the wise describe the results in terms of scriptural benefits. But when he throws his glance on the gopīs, they consider it a sword. ||12||

This fire of love remained in the hearts of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs day and night. At dawn and dusk this spark of love shone like the sacrificial fire in a brāhmaṇa’s house fuelled by ghee in the form of seeing each other. ||13||

When the moon of Kṛṣṇa went into the forest from the town or came from the forest to the town, the gopīs gathered together to see him with their eyes. Rādhā was like the full moon with Anurādhā, shining brightly among the constellations. ||14||

[16] When he went to the forest in the morning, he falsely smiled. Touching his friends at his side he would half glance back with affection. Embracing his friends he would play. Though going far away, he took his flute and sent messages through it. ||15||

[17]The women said:

prahasitaṁ priya-prema-vīkṣitaṁ viharaṇaṁ ca te dhyāna-maṅgalam |

rahasi saṁvido yā hṛdi-spṛśaḥ kuhaka no manaḥ kṣobhayanti hi ||

Your smiles, your sweet, loving glances, the intimate pastimes and confidential talks we enjoyed with You—all these are auspicious to meditate upon, and they touch our hearts. But at the same time, O deceiver, they agitate our minds. SB 10.31.10

[18] When he entered the town, he showed his lotus face, surrounded by locks of hair resembling a swarm of bees eager for a lotus, covered with dust raised by the cows’ hooves. It seemed as if the gopīs’ black eyes were bound to that face by the noose of Cupid. ||16||

[19] The gopīs spoke.

dina-parikṣaye nīla-kuntalair vana-ruhānanaṁ bibhrad āvṛtam |

dhana-rajasvalaṁ darśayan muhur manasi naḥ smaraṁ vīra yacchasi ||

At the end of the day you repeatedly show us your lotus face, covered with dark blue locks of hair and thickly powdered with dust. Thus, O hero, you arouse lusty desires in our minds. SB 10.31.12

[20] Every day there was a competition of increasing desire in the gopīs which agitated them with sixty-four types of emotions favorable for love during Caitra and Vaiśākha months.

[21] On the evening after the killing of Pralambha, Śukadeva describes this:

gopīnāṁ paramānanda āsīd govinda-darśane |

kṣaṇaṁ yuga-śatam iva yāsāṁ yena vinābhavat ||

The young gopīs took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda come home, since for them even a moment without his association seemed like a hundred ages. SB 10.19.16

[22] The following verse explains this.

It is impossible to describe the bliss of the gopīs when they saw Kṛṣṇa. But one could ascertain this manifesting when they performed their duties. Just as a moment’s separation from Kṛṣṇa seemed like a hundred yugas, a hundred yugas of meeting Kṛṣṇa seemed like a moment. ||17||

If a moment’s separation from him seems like a hundred yugas, we remain in anxiety counting the days and nights. ||18||

[23] Seeing Kṛṣṇa in the early morning with difficulty, the gopīs passed the summer months. Then the monsoon season arrived with rumbling clouds.

When friends saw the continuous, unrestricted longing in the gopīs and prevented news of Kṛṣṇa from reaching the gopīs, the monsoon season, seemingly an enemy, endowed with clouds and lightning, produce additional sphūrtis of Kṛṣṇa.[1] ||19||

Attracted to Kṛṣṇa, the women suffered from the summer season. Thinking they would get relief in the monsoon season, they welcomed it, but the opposite happened and they simply suffered. ||20||

The women within whom Kṛṣṇa appeared like a cloud produced a second monsoon by their tears so that the rain loving frogs began to criticize the real monsoon. ||21||

Peacock feathers were like arrows for the gopīs. When a peacock raised its tail, it appeared to be Cupid’s half-moon arrows. ||22||

The gopīs began to despise the monsoon season which tried to pacify their minds with its coolness. Their friends worried about this, but then their friends became enemies as well. What was the purpose of the creator in doing this? ||23||

[24] Those kept within the houses thought to themselves:

“In the monsoon, Kṛṣṇa with his friends takes shelter under a tree to avoid the rain and eats dates grown in beautiful valleys. He sits on a stone slab near the water eating rice mixed with yogurt and calls the cows that are far away. These activities attract our hearts.” ||24||

When the dense rains fell and Kṛṣṇa could not be seen, the young women who gave joy to all people became absorbed in Kṛṣṇa in their hearts with a wealth of śṛṅgāra-rasa. They merged into the darkness. ||25||

[25] They spoke in fear:

“Though clouds are without teeth, they chew people situated on earth with teeth in the form of lightning and roar with pride.” ||26||

[26] The movement of prema was astonishing because though it gave sorrow to the mind it was actually beneficial. There was great respect shown in the praises of Rādhā.

[27] When she saw a cloud she thought as follows:

“O friend, lightning! What and how much austerity are you performing? Please tell me, since you as a cloud are similar to the chest of Kṛṣṇa, and enjoy at all times.” ||27||

[28] Though she spoke like this in madness, because of her reservation in front of her friends she spoke differently in their presence:

“Look at that black rain cloud. The lightning with attachment is playing near the cloud.” “Are you remembering Kṛṣṇa’s extraordinary love?” “No, no! This was just a description of the qualities of the monsoon season.” ||28||

Sometimes during the approaching clouds they were able to see Kṛṣṇa. “O Rādhā! Do you desire him?” “No, No.” She detested that intense blackness. ||29||

[29] After seeing Kṛṣṇa briefly, they did not notice the sweet dancing of the peacocks which gave great happiness to Kṛṣṇa. They never forgot the peacock feather on his head. ||30||

[30] When the monsoon, creating so many obstacles, was over, the autumn season arrived.

They thought that the autumn would bring a cloudless sky. But when autumn arrived it brought double confusion in their emotions. ||31||

Though previously Rādhā had suffered on seeing the cloud with lightning, now she suffered from not seeing the cloud which was similar to his complexion. ||32||

[31] The wind god, inspired by the līlā-śakti, brought to each of them verses written on fresh leaves by the finger nails of their lover:

“The lightning which takes its life from the cloud must have performed many pious acts. One sees the lightning with the cloud and one does not see it without the cloud.” ||33||

“The moon has given up the covering of clouds. The swan and the blue lotus have become beautiful but these are not seen in the autumn in Vṛndāvana. What a useless creator!” ||34||

Accidentally receiving these messages, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa continually embraced those leaves while weeping, making them the center jewels of a necklace situated within their golden hearts. ||35||

[32] The sakhīs burned in the fire of separation.

Ah! The autumn made the water, water-lily, lotus, and moon light blossom with purity, but contaminated the gopīs’ mind, eyes, mouth and lips. How could the sakhīs tolerate this? ||36||

[33] This is described:

āśliṣya sama-śītoṣṇaṁ prasūna-vana-mārutam |

janās tāpaṁ juhur gopyo na kṛṣṇa-hṛta-cetasaḥ |

Except for the gopīs, whose hearts had been stolen by Kṛṣṇa, the people could forget their suffering by embracing the wind coming from the flower-filled forest. This wind was neither hot nor cold. SB 10.20.45

When the lovers met, their beauty, dark complexion, radiance, charm and coquetry became streams of nectar. When they were separated those items were like poison. ||37||

When together with him, the women called the wind coming from Kṛṣṇa’s limbs the life air of the universe. But when they were separated from him, they called the wind an arrow. ||38||

[34] Though their eagerness reached a climax, one of them would not reveal her passion to another: “Let me love him though it is immoral.” This is how they thought. Kṛṣṇa also thought in this way. In this way, the ignorant women grieved without cessation.

[35] Finding no other alternative, Kṛṣṇa, though fearing the glances of eyes, like being beaten with a stick, when the gopīs did not accept to be controlled, began playing his flute to control them.