LABOUR-PAINS OF A BARREN WOMAN

Imitation of the behaviour of gopīs is a charlatan imitation of the pastimes of the Lord.

By Vamsi Vihari Dāsa

Last month, someone told me about a high-ranking police officer who proclaims himself to be ‘Rādhā, the consort of Lord Kṛṣṇa.’ What’s more is that this gentleman goes to his office and field visits dressed in a sari with complete feminine make-up: vermilion on his forehead, lipstick, nose-ring, bangles, and ankle bells. A scarf over his head completes the picture.

The media has gone berserk covering his strange antics, and there are nationwide discussions to find the cause of this ‘historic phenomenon’. Experts from various fields have failed to arrive at a common conclusion. Some feel that it’s a psychiatric syndrome; others consider it a publicity stunt, while his hapless wife calls it a ploy to mix freely with members of the opposite sex. Intelligent members of the academic circle claim that it is a rare manifestation of the zenith of devotional sentiment: ‘Gopī-bhāva’, where the practitioner realizes that he or she is the feminine consort of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. All this expert opinion has failed, however, to pacify the common Indian, who has been watching all this tamasha with a mixture of confusion, amusement, and frustration.

The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava philosophy presents this phenomenon in its true light. Commenting extensively on this topic in his purports to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla Prabhupāda describes the gopīs and their bhāva. Chief among the internal associates of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa are the sakhīs. Their service is to assist Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Their pastimes. The sakhīs are situated completely on a spiritual platform without any trace of material sentiments or desires.

Many apasampradāyas (unauthorized disciplic traditions) propagate the cult of sakhī-bhāva through their teachings. Far from being based on eternal truths, their teachings are the products of overworked imaginations and sentimental outbursts. They encourage their followers to dress up as females and imitate sakhīs. Many illicit activities are also covertly carried out by such groups. Such people are known as ‘sahajiyās’.

Every living entity has an eternal relationship with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual world. Primarily, these relationships can be classified as belonging to any one of the following five rasas—śānta (neutrality), dāsya (servitorship), sakhya (fraternity), vātsalya (parenthood), and mādhurya (conjugal love). By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa (eternal constitutional position) in this very lifetime.

Now one may ask that if a person realizes that his svarūpa is that of a gopī in the spiritual world, then what is the trouble if he behaves like one? He is only carrying out his eternal service to the Lord.

Śrīla Prabhupāda tells us that the position of the gopīs is exceedingly pure and worshipable. Just by external imitation of their dressing style or behavior, we cannot rise to their exalted position. Only by rendering devotional service unto the Lord and thereby purifying our heart by the causeless mercy of the Lord can we realize our eternal constitutional position. This is possible only by chanting the holy names of the Lord, hearing about Him from the holy scriptures, and rendering humble menial service under the instructions of a spiritual master coming in a bona fide disciplic succession.

The relationship between the Lord and a self-realized devotee is very intimate and confidential, based purely on the platform of the soul. Just as a chaste lady does not exhibit her charms to any other man except her husband, similarly a pure devotee does not reveal his or her heartfelt devotional emotions to anyone except Lord Kṛṣṇa. Such a devotee, while fulfilling his material responsibilities to the best of his abilities, relishes his intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa within the core of his heart.

The sahajiyās act directly in contrast to this. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 8.204–205):

“Sahajiyās who cannot actually understand the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa manufacture their own lifestyles without referring to authority. They believe that the material body, which is fit to be eaten by jackals and dogs, is enjoyable for Kṛṣṇa. Consequently, they artificially decorate the material body to attract Kṛṣṇa, thinking themselves sakhīs. But Kṛṣṇa is never attracted by the artificial grooming of the material body. As far as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Her gopīs are concerned, their bodies, homes, dresses, ornaments, endeavors, and activities are all spiritual. All of these are meant to satisfy the spiritual senses of Kṛṣṇa.”

The great ācārya Śrīla Gaurakiśora Dāsa Bābājī would call the activities of such people ‘labour-pains of a barren woman’. On account of the intolerable pain of childbirth, the mother cries out aloud. By seeing her condition, if a barren woman also starts screaming loudly, will such screams result in a childbirth? The love expressed by sahajiyās is like the labour-pains of a barren woman which, however loudly they may shout, will never culminate in the birth of Kṛṣṇa-prema.

Pushing the Limits

By Śyāmānanda Dāsa

Every one of us in this material world has his own definition of what success is. Even the Vedas give ample information about the varieties of success enjoyed by different people.

The Vedas describe three types of energies. These energies are active throughout the material and spiritual worlds: Spiritual energy (cit potency), Marginal energy (jīva potency or taṭasthā potency), and Material energy (māyā potency). Material energy is considered to be the third-class energy. Those living beings within the jurisdiction of the material energy sometimes act like dogs and hogs, working very hard simply for sense gratification.

However, in this life, or after executing pious activities, in the next life, some materialistic people become strongly attracted to performing various kinds of sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas. Thus they become successful in increasing their standard of happiness. But, as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.21), after exhausting the results of their so-called pious activities, they again return to the earth, which is called martya-loka, the place of death. Although such persons may be elevated to the heavenly planets by their pious activities, and although they may enjoy life there for many thousands of years, they nonetheless must return to this planet when the results of their pious activities are exhausted.

These karmīs are considered superior to those who completely discard Vedic injunctions. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes these vikarmīs as follows: “Materialists who work hard like dogs and hogs simply for sense gratification are actually mad. They perform all kinds of abominable activities simply for sense gratification. Materialistic activities are not at all worthy of an intelligent man, for as a result of such activities, one gets a material body, which is full of misery.”

One should therefore be eager to understand the science of the soul (ātma-tattva). Unless one comes to the platform of ātma-tattva, by which one understands that the soul, and not the body, is oneself, one remains on the platform of ignorance.

Out of thousands and even millions of ignorant people who are wasting their time simply gratifying their senses, one may come to the platform of knowledge and understand higher values of life. Such a person is called a jñānī.

The jñānī knows that fruitive activities will bind him to material existence and cause him to transmigrate from one kind of body to another. As indicated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by the term śarīra-bandha (bound to bodily existence), as long as one maintains any conception of sense enjoyment, his mind will be absorbed in karma, fruitive activity, and this will oblige him to transmigrate from one body to another.

Thus a jñānī is considered superior to a karmī because he at least refrains from the blind activities of sense enjoyment. This is the verdict of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, although a jñānī may be liberated from the ignorance of the karmīs, unless he comes to the platform of devotional service, he is still considered to be in ignorance (avidyā). Although one may be accepted as a jñānī, or one advanced in knowledge, his knowledge is considered impure because he has no information of devotional service and thus neglects the direct worship of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The karmīs, engaging in hard labor, can reach at most Svarga-loka, or the heavenly planets. The jñānīs, or the empirical philosophers, can reach at most Brahma-loka, or the residence of the highest Vedāntist, Lord Brahmā. Still, none of these are even anywhere near the all-spiritual planets of the spiritual world. The Supreme Lord is all spirit, the life there is all spiritual, and the varieties there are all spiritual. None of them are comparable to the material varieties, which are full of miseries and distress and are temporary in nature, even if they may be in the highest region of Brahma-loka.

Lord Buddha and Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya propagated the distressful nature of life in the material world. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya gave a little information of the nature of spiritual life in full cognizance. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu not only gave the spiritually cognizant life but also its full varieties of spiritual bliss. Spiritual life, which exists beyond the reach of the highest planet of Brahma-loka, is the highest attainable perfection. We get this information from Bhagavad-gītā. And this perfection is attained by the great devotees who have been described in the Gītā as ‘mahātmās’. Only the unalloyed devotees are mahātmās and not the mental speculators or the hard laborers.

The hard laborers, or the karmīs, can reach at most Svarga-loka. The empiric philosophers can reach at most Brahma-loka. The highest Vedāntist is Brahmā himself, and he lives in Brahma-loka. The jñānī, or the empiric philosopher, after many births, when he is able to surrender unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, can at once attain the highest perfection of life in the abode of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is all spirit, the life in His abode is all spiritual, and the varieties there are all spiritual. None of them are comparable to the material varieties, which are full of miseries and distress and are temporary in nature.

Thus the pure devotees of the Lord are actually successful in pushing the limits of success in life.

— Śyāmānanda Dāsa