Text 19

The symptom of attachment (āsakti) that is developed by taking shelter of the holy name is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.34):

चित्तं सुखेन भवतापहृतं गृहेषु यन् निर्विशत्य् उत कराव् अपि गृह्य-कृत्ये
पादौ पदं न चलतस् तव पाद-मूलाद् यामः कथं व्रजमथो करवाम किं वा

cittaṃ sukhena bhavatāpahṛtaṃ gṛheṣu yan nirviśaty uta karāv api gṛhya-kṛtye
pādau padaṃ na calatas tava pāda-mūlād yāmaḥ kathaṃ vrajamatho karavāma kiṃ vā

[The gopīs said to Kṛṣṇa:] O stealer of minds, by playing on Your flute, You have stolen our minds, which were absorbed in household affairs. This was not difficult for You. However, having lost our minds, our working senses are not functioning, and our movements and intelligence have therefore become abnormal. Our feet do not want to leave You to go anywhere else. Please tell us then, how can we possibly return to our homes?

गृह-सुखे चित्त छिल, गृह-कार्ये कर
हरिया लयेछ तुमि प्राणेर ईश्वर

gṛha-sukhe citta chila, gṛha-kārye kara
hariyā layecha tumi prāṇera īśvara

तव पाद-मूल छाडि’ पद नाहि याय
याब कोथा कि करिब बलह उपाय

tava pāda-mūla chāḍi’ pada nāhi yāya
yāba kothā ki kariba balaha upāya

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

With the sweet sound of His flute, Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra, the crown jewel of experts in amorous pastimes (vidagdha-śiromaṇi), called to the vraja-gopīs, who were abundantly endowed with paramour love. Forgetting everything, the gopīs assembled on the bank of the Yamunā at Vaṃśivaṭa, which was beautifully decorated by bright moonlight. Then Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra, concealing His real motive (avahitthā-bhāva), joked with them by instructing them to return to their respective homes. His intention, however, was as follows: during His previous pastime of stealing the gopīs’ clothes, Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra, the great connoisseur of the rāsa-līlā, saw the vraja-devīs’ entire bodies, but on this day He wanted to see the inner moods of their hearts. This is one unique attribute of the ocean of prema-rasa.

The rasika-ācāryas of the amorous mellow of Vraja ascertain that when the lover (nāyaka) assumes a submissive mood (dākṣiṇyabhāva), the beloved (nāyikā) exhibits a contrary mood (vāmyabhāva ). And when the lover assumes a contrary mood, the beloved exhibits a submissive mood. The gopīs who assembled at the rāsamaṇḍala displayed various waves of sentiments. Some of them were pragalbhā (bold and outspoken), some mṛdvī (sweet and gentle) and some madhyā (with qualities halfway between pragalbhā and mṛdvī). In this way, through the combination of such different sentiments, the ocean of rasa was adorned with unprecedented sweetness.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said, “A virtuous woman’s only duty is to serve her husband. It is improper for her to stay, even for a moment, with a brahmacārī in a lonely forest at night. Therefore, you should all quickly return home.”

Hearing these instructions, the gopīs, who possessed deep attachment and great affection (anurāga), responded with words saturated with rasa: “O emperor of thieves! We did not come here to reside in an uninhabited place, nor did we come to ask anything from You. Our minds were happily absorbed in household affairs when You stole them away with Your flute. The wealth of our hearts is already looted, so how can we return home? O You who are expert in rendering a person powerless by means of great mantras ! Please return the faculty of our minds. In their absence the activities of all our senses are disabled, and also our feet will not move; so return them and we will happily go back to our homes.”

One vraja-devī began to speak sarcastically: “O Mohana, do You think that we have come to this place because we were attracted by the sound of Your flute? No, no, this is not the case! Our minds are deeply absorbed in our happy household life; You could not steal away even the smallest part of them. Do not think that we will rest here, even for a moment. Indeed, what would we do here in this desolate place? If You ask why we have come to this lonely forest, O Śyāmasundara, it is because You were so eager to have darśana of us. That is the only reason we have come. Now that You have seen us, we are going.”