27/04/2015
When Krsna left them during rasa-lila, they were thinking about His movements and and qualities. By such continuous thinking they became maddened and began to imitate Him. Each and every gopi thought, "I alone am Krsna, and all the gopis are all my beloveds."
In his Sri Ananda-vrndavana-campu, Srila Kavi Karnapura explains how it happened that each gopi thought herself to be Krsna and saw the others as Putana, Aghasura, or Bakasura. One's attachment is never directed to something in which one has no taste. One will only develop attachment and tadatma-bhava, feelings of oneness, to that which is favorable and in which one has taste. The gopis cannot be attached to Putana, and therefore, because Putana is unfavorable to the gopis' bhava, it is not possible for them to become unmada and feel oneness with her. They are only attached to Krsna's activities.
In re-enacting Putana-lila, it appears that one gopi threw down another, climbed upon her breast, and took the breast of that other gopi in her mouth. However, Srila Kavi Karnapura explains that where it seems that a gopi is lying down as Putana, that gopi is not present there. Because they will not accept the mood of Putana, those gopis acting as Putana and other demons were created artificially by Yogamaya. This is a very important truth to understand, and it is difficult to understand simply by reading the descriptions of this pastime in Srimad-Bhagavatam. When something unfavorable to the gopis is required in a lila, Yogamaya makes the arrangements. She is doing everything; She is helping them, and thus they are thinking, "I'm Krsna," "I'm Krsna," "I'm Krsna," and performing all the lilas.
When they heard Sri Krsna's flute-song and thus left their houses and husbands in the dead of night, the real gopis came to Him and Yogamaya expanded duplicate gopis to stand by the side of their husbands. This was likewise the case here. All the gopis who played the parts of Putana, Aghasura, Bakasura, Kaliya, and so on were imitations created by Yogamaya.
Srila Kavi Karnapura has revealed something else about this rasa-lila. When the gopis were imitating Krsna, He Himself had entered their hearts and was the actual performer of His own pastimes – as mentioned earlier with reference to the fire entering and acting through the iron in tadatma-bhava. The gopis were thinking, "We are doing this," but actually Krsna was acting. Here there was no action of Yogamaya. Krsna Himself was doing everything.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Öhakura has made a similar point in this connection. When Krsna entered the gopi's hearts, His six opulences – aisvarya (wealth), virya (strength), yasasa (fame), Sri (beauty), jnana (knowledge), and vairagya (renunciation) – fully manifested in them. Because He was present there, everything was present there. Although they were merely imitating His pastimes, because He was present they had the power to lift Govardhana Hill and dance on the heads of Kaliya. If Govardhana were situated there, they could certainly have lifted him.
The reverse is also true. If the gopis are in Bhagavan Sri Krsna, He can act, otherwise He cannot. His abilities are the effect of the gopis' sakti, or power. They are His svarupa-sakti, and therefore whatever He does is actually done by them. Every quality and every power in Him is theirs. They don't reveal this, however, otherwise the pastimes cannot continue. Srimati Yasoda maiya can do every¬thing; the sakhas can kill millions of Kamsas, Aghasu¬ras, Bakasuras, and all others, but they do not exercise their power – and this is also true for the gopis.
When the demon Sankhacuda once abducted Srimati Radhika and the gopis, they began to cry. Why were they crying? This was nara-lila. If they wanted to exercise their power they could have done so. They have all qualities – everything that Krsna has. In fact, they have more than He has. They can defeat Him and they can control Him. Especially, Srimati Radhika is more beautiful than Him, and more powerful.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja
