How do You justify the married Gopikas, who danced with Krishna, reaching the highest Goloka?

[This question was posed to Swami on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.]

Swami replied: A prostitute dances with some person, leaving her legitimate life-partner for the sake of earning money, through the path of injustice. The prostitute may give that money to her issues, parents etc. This means that the prostitute could overcome only one worldly bond, which is the justified bond with her life-partner and all other worldly bonds are intact! The case of the married Gopikā was different in that, she sacrificed all the worldly bonds for the sake of Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa were an ordinary human being, this would also be injustice. In fact, to put it more precisely, it would be the climax of injustice. But God Kṛṣṇa was the Human Incarnation of the unimaginable God (Parabrahman) or God Datta. In nivṛtti, even the legitimate worldly bonds are sacrificed for the sake of the divine bond with God. The Gopikā, neglecting her life-partner, danced with God Kṛṣṇa and not with a mere human being called Vāsudeva. Vāsudeva means the son of Vasudeva, who was the human being-component in God’s incarnation as Krishna. Moreover, the sacrifice of the bond with the life-partner is only one of all the worldly bonds sacrificed for the sake of God Kṛṣṇa.

The prostitute did not sacrifice all her worldly bonds and moreover, the person for whom she sacrificed was not God. Her reason for sacrificing her worldly bond was only to earn illegitimate money. In the case of the Gopikās, they sacrificed all their worldly bonds like the bonds with their issues, parents, money etc. They sacrificed butter, which was their form of money, earned by hard work. The butter was to be sold in Mathura city by them whereby they could purchase essential commodities for their livelihood. They sacrificed even the butter stored for their children to God Kṛṣṇa! So, their sacrifice of butter was the sacrifice of their bonds with money and issues. The bonds with money, issues and life-partner are the three strongest worldly bonds. There were some Gopikās, who neither sacrificed butter nor danced with Kṛṣṇa and such Gopikās did not reach Goloka. These Gopikās complained to Yaśodā, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa was stealing their butter. There were some Gopikās, who danced with Kṛṣṇa, but did not sacrifice butter and even complained to Yaśodā. These Gopikās can be somewhat compared to a prostitute. These Gopikās were looted by wild barbarians in the forest when Arjuna was taking them to the city of Hastināpura, after the death of Kṛṣṇa. King Parīkśit also asked Sage Śuka a similar question (Paradārābhimarṣaṇam...). Only eight Gopikās including Rādhā, Chitrā and Indulekhā reached Goloka. The specially-created world, Goloka, was given to these eight Gopikās by God and it lies above His own abode called Satya Loka or Vaikuṇṭha or Śiva Loka. The correct interpretation of the Bhāgavatam is the acid test for spiritual scholars (Vidyāvatāṃ bhāgavate parīkṣā).

Keywords:

| Shri Datta Swami | How do You justify the married Gopikas, who danced with Krishna, reaching the highest Goloka? |Gopikaa Krishna Pravrutti Nivrutti Vaasudeva Pariikshit Paradaaraabhimarshanam Bhagavatam vidyaavataam bhaagavate pariikshaa Radha Chitra Indulekha Yashoda Shiva Vaikuntha Suka

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