How can I cultivate the innocence and love that devotees like Vraj Gopi's had for Krishna?
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How can I cultivate the innocence and love that devotees like Vraj Gopi's had for Krishna?
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Hare Krsna
How can I cultivate the innocence and love that devotees like Vraj Gopi's had for Krishna?
The exact same way that Vrajvasis cultivated love for Sri Krsna. By hearing about Sri Krsna.
prāyaḥ-śruta-priyatamodaya-karṇa-pūrair
yasmin nimagna-manasas tam athākṣi-randraiḥ
antaḥ praveśya su-ciraṁ parirabhya tāpaṁ
prājñaṁ yathābhimatayo vijahur narendra
O ruler of men, for a long time those brāhmaṇa ladies had heard about Kṛṣṇa, their beloved, and His glories had become the constant ornaments of their ears. Indeed, their minds were always absorbed in Him. Through the apertures of their eyes they now forced Him to enter within their hearts, and then they embraced Him within for a long time. In this way they finally gave up the pain of separation from Him, just as sages give up the anxiety of false ego by embracing their innermost consciousness. SB 10.23.23
śravaṇād darśanād dhyānān
mayi bhāvo ’nukīrtanāt
na tathā sannikarṣeṇa
pratiyāta tato gṛhān
It is by hearing about Me, seeing My Deity form, meditating upon Me and chanting My names and glories that love for Me develops, not by physical proximity. Therefore please go back to your homes. SB 10.23.33
śrī-rukmiṇy uvāca
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatām akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṁ me
Śrī Rukmiṇī said [in her letter, as read by the brāhmaṇa]: O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Kṛṣṇa. SB 10.52.37
Hare Krsna
Hare Krsna!
Thank you for your beautiful response. It is truly inspiring to see how the process of hearing (śravaṇam) about Krishna naturally cultivates love for Him, just as it did for the Vrajvasis and devotees like Srimati Rukmini Devi. The verses you shared emphasize how deep, sincere absorption in Krishna through hearing, chanting, and meditating leads to the development of pure love—without the necessity of physical proximity.
Hare Krishna!
Thank you for your beautiful response. It is truly inspiring to see how the process of hearing (śravaṇam) about Krishna naturally cultivates love for Him, just as it did for the Vrajvasis and devotees like Srimati Rukmini Devi. The verses you shared emphasize how deep, sincere absorption in Krishna through hearing, chanting, and meditating leads to the development of pure love—without the necessity of physical proximity.
Hari Hari!
Just don't fall in Maya.
The maya will make you lose innocence.
You see the Vraj people are very innocent kind hearted, humble and generous they have no money.
Their main sampatthi or property was cow dung, cow urine, cow milk... butter and butter milk.
Now such people are totally different and class apart.
We cannot even think to be like them. But ya we may aspire that we should become child like so innocent as a flower.
The Brajwaasis' have absolute trust in Krishna. They don’t question His actions; they simply love and serve Him with innocence, knowing He is always there for them.
The braj gopi's knew no other world apart from Krishna .. their whole life revolved around Krishna.
They milked the cows and does all chores of a housewife but always reminded of Krishna in always.
Once it so happened that-- Krishna had a sneeze and they all said it is evil eye on kanha ( because all demons keep attacking Vrindavan) and they suggest Yashoda maiyya to do evil eye removal by applying cow dung to Krishna's whole body and taking the tail of Gau maata and started to do move it around in circles around each part of Lord .. touching each part of Lord ( baby Kitty) and saying the name of Lord Narayana and said okay now our Krishna is all protected we did evil eye removal and also chanted Narayan kavach so now Narayan will protect Krishna. now our Krishna is safe.
Look at the simply minds of these gopis' they simply don't even believed that Krishna and Narayana are same names of the Same Supreme Lord Sri Hari. All they knew is to love Krishna. They don't understand bhakti or rituals or anything.
Krishna tried hard to explain to them that I am God. He practically showed lifting even Govardhan giri.
None of them believed that Krishna is God. Instead said.. Oh Krishna you are just a little kid of 7yrs old. Don't act like you are the one who is lifting the govardhan giri. You better take rest. We are all there and all of us have held this mountain with so many sticks nothing can happen child. go take rest. Have food. Krishna smiled at their innocence and even tried to bend HIS little finger a bit to show that if He is removed the support the mountain will fall down on their heads and smash them. He just tried to bend his little finger and there was a big tremor in the montain as if it were collapsing. They got scared and said Oh Krishna you see you cannot handle this all pressure. Sit there next to all kids. We are going to stop it from falling don't worry. But they didn't even for a second believed that He was Supreme Lord.
Now had they believed they would stop loving Him and made a big asaan and made him sit on a throne and did aarti , archana, pooja and bhoga 3 times a day and wouldn't even let him to go and play with his gopa sakha. How than their intense desire to be Krishna's friends. .. Krishna's mother, father, lover those all relationships that they desired with HIM to be with them as a normal ordinary person be fulfilled?
It is as per the desire of devotees. .. Lord came to them. They wanted to serve Lord as their own friend ( putting hands on HIM, and carrying Him on their backs, sitting on His back) all these desires were the desires of the devotees of Braj in some yuga. Gopis in previous birth desired that they all wanted to marry Him and serve Him in loving intimate and most romantic way. They want to enjoy the love to the fullest. Now if He says I'm God.. how can they even play around with HIM? or laugh with HIm... or Sing with HIm or even put hands on His or climb on His back and say... goda gaadi chalo tez.. aur tez daudh.. This is their all desires which Krishna satisfies them as per each person's desires. They did lot of bhakti in their past life to come to this platform.
It is not advisable to do Anukaran or Immitation of the gopi's or gopa balak's love for Krishna.
But ya, we can have a bhaava and when time comes.. That bhava intense desire to become closest associate of Lord is planted in the time.. Will become fruitful in some lifetime and we also get the chance like gopi's to experience in real.
To have a bhava ( could be friendly, could be as a His lover. or could be motherly, fatherly, brotherly.. anything) is important.
but for getting bhava also it is tough.
Lots of previous Pious activites one can attain that stage.
No easy in one life time.
If you know who is Krishna in this lifetime.. In next life time you may continue your bhakti and achieve nishta in the holy name.. and in next life you may get to be born in an aristrocratic family and since birth become devotee of Krishna. You maybe able to achieve bhava prema in that life time or you may take another life time to become perfectly situated in that stage and from here..
Once you know who is God.. your duty to chant and burn you sins..
when your all sins are burnt off. and you are left with NO BANK BALANCE OF GOOD KARMA OR BAD KARMA ( You are said to be in neutral state)
Than onwards -- it is not your duty.. Krishna holds your hand at this JUNCTURE.
When Krishna hold's your hand... there is no way you can fall down... from this stage it is just simple as you just sit queitly and Krishna will drive you safely. All you Spiritual desires or Bhava will be eventually be satisfied by Lord.
Hare Krishna
Your words are carrying such a deep sense of devotion and love for Krishna. he simplicity of the Braj people’s love and their unwavering trust in Krishna—how they see Him not as the Supreme Lord but as a friend, a child, someone they can care for—it's so beautiful, so innocent.
There’s something magical about their love, something that makes it feel untouched by the world, and your words remind me of the importance of maintaining innocence in our own hearts. To love Krishna with no expectations, no rituals, just pure love and surrender. It’s a feeling of returning to the simplicity of the heart, where everything is just about love, trust, and devotion.
I love how you mentioned that the gopis were so immersed in their love for Krishna that they couldn't even see Him as God. It’s like they saw Him beyond that, in a way that made their love even more pure and untainted. It’s hard to even imagine such devotion, but it’s something to aspire to—maybe not in actions, but in the purity of heart.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful reflection. It’s so soothing to read and really makes me think about how I can bring more of that innocent, loving devotion into my life too. Hari Hari!