Samantapañcaka Reunion

During a great solar eclipse, people from all over Bhārata went to Samantapañcaka to bathe for puṇya (merit). Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came from Dvārakā, the Pāṇḍavas came from Hastināpura, and the gopas and gopīs of Vraja came from Gokula. After years of separation, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa met Nanda, Yaśodā and the gopīs again. There he gave the gopīs a teaching on the ātmā.

The eclipse and the gathering at Samantapañcaka

When a great solar eclipse came, the ṛshis declared it a time of unusual puṇya for ritual bathing. The news spread across Bhārata. Kings, brāhmaṇas, vaiśyas, śūdras and all the varṇas left their homes for the tīrtha (holy place) of Samantapañcaka.

Samantapañcaka is the place of the five sacred lakes made by Paraśurāma. He filled them with the blood of kshatriyas when he did his great tapas for the killing of his father’s murderers. Paraśurāma himself purified the field and declared it supremely holy.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma came, with the sixteen thousand queens of Dvārakā and the Yādava chiefs and their families. The Pāṇḍavas came with Draupadī and Kuntī. Dhṛtarāshṭra, Gāndhārī and the Kauravas came. The kings of the four quarters came with their followers. The whole spiritual and warrior leadership of Bhārata was gathered in one place.

The arrival of the Vraja devotees

Most remarkable of all were the devotees of Vraja, the gopas and gopīs of Gokula, led by Nanda and Yaśodā. They heard that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was at Samantapañcaka. The longing of many years rose in every heart. That separation had begun when Akrūra took Bhagavān Kṛshṇa away to Mathurā. They set out with great hope.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa saw Nanda, Yaśodā, the gopas and the gopīs from far away and went forward to receive them. The meeting was overwhelming. Nanda and Yaśodā embraced him and could not speak.

The gopīs had not seen him since he left Vraja, and their whole lives had been lived in that separation. They gazed at him as if their eyes were drinking him without ever being full. They held his hands, sat beside him and wept.

Balarāma met his own loved ones of Vraja and was just as moved. The Pāṇḍavas and the queens of Dvārakā went to Nanda and Yaśodā with deep respect and touched their feet.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s teaching to the gopīs

The gopīs sat with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and poured out the grief of the long separation. They said: “O Kṛshṇa, we do not know whether our good *karma or our bad karma was greater. We had the great fortune to grow up with you, to see you, to love you and to give ourselves wholly to you. Then you left and took everything with you. The eyes that once saw you cannot bear to see anything else. Our minds are only in Vraja, and Vraja is only in you, but you are not here. What cruel game is this?”*

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa listened with great tenderness. Then he spoke with the calm clarity of one who sees the truth of the ātmā beneath every relationship:

“O gopīs, do not think that I was ever absent from you. The ātmā, which I am, which you are, and which lies under everything, is never separate from itself. Separation and union are only experiences of the body and mind. You kept me in your minds so completely that the feeling of separation itself became your *yoga. By holding your minds on me always, in longing and love, you fully gained what ṛshis take birth after birth to gain through tapas. This separation was not abandonment. It was the means of your deepest union.”*

The meeting of the families and the departure

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa spent time with all the guests. He met the ṛshis, honoured the kings, and received their devotion and gifts. He arranged for Nanda and the gopas to meet the Pāṇḍavas, and each side honoured the other.

When the eclipse ended and the ritual bathing was done, the groups slowly left. The kings went to their kingdoms and the Pāṇḍavas to Hastināpura. In time the Yādavas went back toward Dvārakā. Nanda and the Vraja devotees, their hearts both satisfied and freshly aching, returned to Gokula.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa sent them away with gifts, affection and words of great love. He promised them that the separation was only of the body and never of the ātmā.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 82