Secret of Rasa Leela

earn for reciving sms

Narayanam Bhaje, Narayanam Bhaje, Narayanam Bhaje, Narayanam.
Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram; Ram Ram Ram Ram
Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram; Ram Ram Ram
Rama Krishna Hari, Rama Krishna Hari Krishna Hari Ram Ram Ram
Radha Krishna Hari, Radha Krishna Hari, Radha Krishna Hari, Shyam Shyam Shyam.
[Sri Jnana Dev gives an absorbing discourse on Skandha X (Chapter 29—33) of the
Bhagavata describing the sublime Rasa Leela. At the end of the lecture, after the others have left the
Ashram, Prem Das approaches Jnana Dev, prostrates before him]
Prem Das: May I crave the indulgence of Your Holiness to clear a doubt which afflicts my
mind, Swamiji Maharaj?
Jnana Dev: Yes, my child. I am always at the service of sincere aspirants. Go ahead. You
need not stand on any formality with me.
Prem Das: Swamiji, the people nowadays make contemptuous references to Lord
Krishna’s Rasa Leela. Though I feel that there must be a sublime truth behind His Leela, I am not
able to offer satisfactory explanation to those vile critics, whom I have to face very often during the
course of my Sankirtan tours. I shall be eternally grateful to you if you will kindly throw some light
on this Mystery.
Jnana Dev: What exactly is your difficulty?
Prem Das: According to the Code of Dharma, it is adultery to remain in the company of
wives of other persons, to entice them and to sport and dance with them secretly. Is Lord Krishna to
be condemned for His conduct in this respect during Rasa Leela?
Jnana Dev: Ah! A really pardonable doubt. Just listen to this marvellous incident I am going
to narrate to you and reflect on its deep import. The women of Vraja once asked Lord Krishna to
name some Brahmin to whom they could offer food. Lord Krishna named “Durvasa”. The Gopis
asked: “How can we approach him? There is the Yamuna which is in floods. How are we to cross it?
Name some other Mahatma, please”. The Lord said “Request Yamuna in the name of Nitya
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RADHA’S PREMBrahmachari Krishna to give way and it will instantly do so. The Gopis were amused, and though
sceptic, did as requested and lo! the river at once gave way for the perplexed Gopis to cross it;
Yamuna indeed knew the real Svarupa of Krishna, the spotless divine purity that He was! He was a
Nitya Brahmacharin.
Prem Das: That is a story I have often heard. But how can that be? He spent a whole night
with the Gopis and is said to have married 16,008 wives!
Jnana Dev:—It all sounds curious to you, doesn’t it? Lord Krishna’s Rasa Leela is a
mystery of mysteries. “Go” means a Jiva or Ego. Gopala means the protector of Jivas. “Go” means
also Prithivi or this earth or in other words the Prakriti as distinguished from the Purusha Supreme.
All Jivakotis are Prakriti-sambhava. Gopala means the Lord and the protector of the entire
Jiva-rashis. Krishna means a kishora, i.e., a person between 7 and 12 years of age. At the centre of
Vrindawan, is the octagonal Yoga-seat of Sri Krishna. He is the Lord of it. Brahma, Vishnu and
Siva are His parts. His primal Prakriti (life element by which He upholds the whole Universe) is
Radhika. Govinda with Radha is seated on the golden throne, on the seat of Yoga with his
favourites, Chandravati, Chitrarekha, Chandra, Madana Sundari, Sri Madhumati, Chandrarekha,
Hari-priya. The latter were His chief Sakhis (Pat Ranis).
Prem Das: You are puzzling me further. But how does all this excuse the actions of
Krishna?
Jnana Dev:—Yes, I will tell you. But it seems preposterous to me. I should attempt to
explain this transcendental mystery to you. Who can presume to explain the Rasa Leela? What
mortal mind can approach, even in its wildest flights of imagination, the divinity, the sublimity of
Rasa Leela of the Lord? Words are of no avail. The tongue fails. The poor mind or the intellect
cannot reach the heights of Truth. No one can really explain the Truth, this Mystery, to any one else.
Nor can any one grasp this sublime Leela from another’s lips. Haven’t you read in the Gita .

One sees This (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of It as a wonder;
another hears of It as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands It at all. (2.29)
God and His Leelas are not matters for discussion. They are for direct perception and
realisation. Ah, the Bliss that you get out of this realisation, that itself is indescribable!
Now, I was saying something about Radhika and the pat-Ranis. Next to these in importance
comes the group of Gopis. The Gopis were the medium for the Lord to express the infinite variety of
His Bliss aspect. They were, in their previous birth, the sages of Dandaka forest, who wanted to
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SCENE Iembrace Rama. As Rama had taken the vow of “Ekapatnee-vrata” in that Avatar, he could not
accede to their request, but promised to fulfil their desire in His next Avatar as Krishna. The sages
were born as Gopis in their next birth for eventual merging into the Lord. They had their husbands,
their parents and sons, they had their worldly duties to perform, some of them arduous enough to
require constant attention. But the Gopis’ mind was always fixed on the Lord. When the time came
for the union with the Purusha of the Heart, when the signal music was heard, every Gopi shook off
all the bonds and offered herself up completely to the Lord. Nothing in the world could stop them.
This is the highest form of Bhakti. They present an ideal for us to keep always before us. How can
their glory be described?
Prem Das:—Excuse me, Maharaj. I am a bit dull-headed. Were not the Gopis guilty of
deserting their husbands and Krishna of seducing them with His music?
Jnana Dev:—No, Sri Krishna performed the Rasa Leela to destroy carnality by means of
pure love or Prema. When the Gopis approached their Lord, there was no human passion in them,
no love of human flesh, no idea of material gratification. It was the attraction of the soul for the
Oversoul. They placed themselves entirely at the service of the Lord. They were permeated with
Madhurya Bhav. The Lord only cared for their yearning to unite with Him and not for their external
status the worldly surroundings created by their Prarabdha Karma. The Vrindavana Leela is Nitya
or constant. The Rasa Leela is for all time for the true Bhaktas. It was meant to build up faith, to
strengthen spirituality, holiness, to improve the minds of the Gopis in particular and humanity in
general.
Prem Das:—May be. But how does it help us in our spiritual path? To a lay mind it all looks
as one of the things which happen in a man’s life which had better be forgotten.
Jnana Dev:—No. It was not merely a historical incident, but an eternal fact. The night is the
time of rest when spiritual activity sets in. There is complete absence of Loka Vasanas. Man gets
spiritual teachings and advancement during that period unconsciously. But it is only for a few who
have a conscious union with the Lord who manifests Himself in the heart of man. Many will have
dreamless and peaceful sleep but only few will enter the Turiya. Purusha is one Jiva Prakritis or
Para Prakritis are many. To Purusha the Jiva must always be negative, however positive it may be
towards the forms of Apara Prakriti. The Chaitanya is the Purushottama who generates bliss all
round the Purusha. There is no sex here. Purushottama is always the male and to Him Jiva Prakriti is
always a female. In devotional practice one should consider oneself a female, the male being the
Lord of the Universe, as reflected in the heart of the Bhakta. The Gopis were not of the world. They
had become purified by Tapas in their previous birth. In this birth they should merge in the Lord.
For the sake of the blind man who will not learn anything from the Sastras, they took the bodies of
gopis to show man how to love the Lord.
Prem Das:—You make my head reel by your explanation!
Jnana Dev: Truth is, as I said, strange, wonderful, deep in its import. Listen! They had every
right to the union with the Lord and Sri Krishna could not deny them his companionship. Nay, it
was a great thing to the Lord Himself, that the Jivas should return to Him with all their spiritual
experiences. The concession was natural and the joy was mutual.
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RADHA’S PREMLet not the dullness of perception or the mean lust of passion in man sit in judgment over
this final beatitude of human aspirations. But in the midst of the Union itself, there is a danger, a
most subtle one at that, that of the Egoism “I am in union with the Lord”. The Gopis thought of
themselves and there was an instant break in the union. Krishna could not be seen anywhere. They
imitated His actions in the world. They followed His footsteps wherever found. Tears rained down
their cheeks. They now realised that the Lord they wanted was not only the son of Yasoda but the
Lord of the Universe and they forgot their egoism in their wonderful realisation and lo! the Lord
appeared again. The best way to get rid of egoism is to forget it completely or to deny its existence
whole-heartedly. This time there was union but not individual union. Hand in hand, the Gopis
formed a circle with their Lord—not the individual Lord but the Universal Lord making Himself
many in their hearts as well as outside—and went on dancing with Him. The people of Vraja,
however, never missed their wives (Gopis) from their sides, through the Lord’s Yoga Maya! The
Devas looked with wonder and envied the lot of the Gopis. Let us catch a glimpse of that divine love
and dance—that Rasa Leela—so that men may become gods on earth. Study the Bhagawata with
faith and devotion. Though even that has its own good results by way of creating good Samskaras,
mere reading is not all. You should understand the meaning. Meditate on the sublime ideas
underlying each Leela of the Lord. The doors of the Great Secret will slowly, one by one, open to
reveal to your powerful, concentrated gaze, the immortal Truth that is apparently closed to human
vision through man’s ignorance. Once you tear this veil, you will realise you are the Lord
Himself—the state experienced by Radha.
Prem Das: Swamiji, our doubts about Rasa Leela have been melted away by the fiery
discourse you have given. We are immensely grateful to you.
(Prostrates).
Jnana Dev: (Sings).
Love is divine, Love is Prem, Love is nectar Love purifies, Love redeems, Love transmutes.
Cultivate pure Love in the garden of your heart. God is Love.
A life without love, faith, devotion is a dreary waste and real death.
Develop burning Vairagya, shed tears of Prem, you will meet now your beloved.
God bless you all. It is time for your food. By the way, are you going to stay here? (Prem
Das nods assent.) Oh! That is good. Saswat Swamiji, please attend to his comforts, give him food,
and take him to the room near the temple. Om Namo Narayanaya.






thanks !!!!