Introduction to Section 5.6

The Mother finds Parāṅkuśa Nāyakī, seated like a discourser, with the fingers in an instructional pose and declaring that it is she that created the whole world, that she would become the world herself and so on. The bewildered mother, when queried by her kinsmen says that the Nāyakī is perhaps possessed by the Supreme Lord who is the Inner Self of all beings. Every song in this decad is in two distinct parts, namely, the narration of the Nāyakī’s God-vision (man identified with God), followed by the Mother's suggestion that it is perhaps God who has taken possession of the Nāyakī, that speaks through her. There is of course, a parallel for this kind of behaviour of the Nāyakī in Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa, V-13-23. In the midst of that rapturous balldance, the classical ‘Rāsakrīḍā’, Lord Kṛṣṇa suddenly withdrew Himself from the Gopīs of Vṛndāvan, who were literally bursting with joy in the company of the Divine cowherd boy, who danced in between every two girls, assuming ubiquity to the extent needed. The Lord’s sudden disappearance was motivated by His desire to stabilise the Gopīs’ God-enjoyment, which was at its highest ebb at that crucial moment, much beyond their capacity to bear. Some time later, He appeared in their midst back again, assuming afar more enchanting Form than before, as if to make amends for the pangs of separation inflicted on them. But what happened to the Gopīs during this interval? They were sunk deep in dejection, expressed by them in immortal songs, known as ‘Gopikā-Gītā’, Some of the Gopīs also resorted to the technique of impersonation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, so as to sustain themselves, as brought out in the Śloka of Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa, referred to above. There was a Gopī claiming to be none other than Kṛṣṇa and calling upon her mates to verify the truth of her statement from her gait.

Another asserted that she was Kṛṣṇa and started playing on the flute; yet another, posing as Kṛṣṇa, addressed a Gopī as:

“You, deadly snake, stay, or I will kill you”.

That other Gopī deigned to play the role of Kāliyaṉ, the snake, so that she could be smeared with the dust from the feet of Kṛṣṇa (the Gopī simulating Kṛṣṇa). With appropriate gesticulations and a great deal of gusto, a Gopī feigning as Kṛṣṇa, performed feats such as holding Mount Govardhan aloft, slaying of Dhenukāsura and so on. By such means, these Gopis managed to sustain themselves without succumbing to the pangs of separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa. There is also the example set by Śrī Āṇṭāḷ through her immortal “Tiruppāvai”, the daughter of a high class Brahmin (Viṣṇucitta) adopting, by inclination, the pastoral life of the shepherds and becoming one of them. This provides, therefore, the key to this decad.