In worldly life, the ego is totally body-entred, and one's worldly situation is what activates one's self-regarding instrinct. To the extent that this ceases and is replaced by the sense of a Divine relationship, like "l am the servant of God", or "l am the child of the Lord"' or "l am a play-mate of the Lord" or "I am His sweetheart" - to that extent, devotion may be said to have passed on to its higher phases. Atma-samarpanam, or Atma Nivedanam as Prahlada says, meaning total dedication IS the summit of devotion. It is present to some extent in all forms of these attitudes. It is, however, in the uncalculated and absolutely unselfish dedication of the Gopikas to Sri Krishna in utter passionate love and their total immersion in his service, that this attitude reaches its highest expression, and the Indian devotional tradition has therefore found in them the highest ideal of Bhakti fulfilled. The tenth Skandha of the Srimad Bhagavatam depicts their devotional fervour in all its vividness, and this Skandha is therefore looked upon as the inmost core of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The concept of bridal mysticism is present in Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism and elsewhere too. My surmise is that it is taken from Sri Krishna Leela! Kalidasa describes this eloquently in Kumarasambhavam through the love of Parvati towards Shiva. We have historical figures like Meera, Chaitanya, Akka Mahadevi, Andal and many other exemplars of Shringara Bhakti in our history. Let us, therefore, approach these chapters with devotion!
I shall cover the 29th Chapter in 3 parts. Today is the Part 1.
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T: Hearing Bhagavan's flute which was inflaming their passion, the women of Vraja, their minds totally captivated by Bhagavan, started rushing to Vrindavan, individually, not caring about any other Gopi, as there awaited their beloved! They rushed making tinkling noises with their ear-drops.
The women forgot whatever they were doing - milking the cow, watching milk on the boil, the pot of rice being cooked, engaged in serving food to others, while feeding their babies, engaged in serving their husbands, or even eating their own dinners - all these activities were dropped at once and the ladies rushed to Vrindavan. Some decorated themselves, but others didn't care. Some even wore their clothes and ornaments upside down/amiss!
The menfolk tried to stop the Gopis. But no one could be stopped. The Bhagavan who had become the world-bewitching Sri Krishna of ultimate attractiveness as a lover was calling to the Gopis! A few Gopis, housebound beyond their control, at once evoked Sri Krishna in their hearts and embraced him with infinite love. Their torment of physical separation was so intense towards the Lord that they were at once released from the bondage of worldly existence and the ties of this physical body, regardless that their passion was physically intense towards the Lord who was not their husband and thus in defiance of the social norms of fidelity.
कृष्णं विदुः परं कान्तं न तु ब्रह्मतया मुने । गुणप्रवाहोपरमस्तासां गुणधियां कथम् ॥
T: Parikshit asked, somewhat surprised by this sudden turn of unbridled passion: "Oh, Sage! No doubt the Gopis saw Parabrahman as the man of love, Sri Krishna. But this was, after all, physical. How then could they be liberated at once from the bondage of existence as you just stated?"
उक्तं पुरस्तादेतत्ते चैद्यः सिद्धिं यथा गतः । द्विषन्नपि हृषीकेशं किमुताधोक्षजप्रियाः ॥
नृणां निःश्रेयसार्थाय व्यक्तिर्भगवतो नृप । अव्ययस्याप्रमेयस्य निर्गुणस्य गुणात्मनः ॥
कामं क्रोधं भयं स्नेहमैक्यं सौहृदमेव च । नित्यं हरौ विदधतो यान्ति तन्मयतां हि ते ॥
न चैवं विस्मयः कार्यो भवता भगवत्यजे । योगेश्वरेश्वरे कृष्णे यत एतद्विमुच्यते ॥
ता दृष्ट्वान्तिकमायाता भगवान् व्रजयोषितः । अवदद्वदतां श्रेष्ठो वाचः पेशैर्विमोहयन् ॥
