Gopikā Gīta
The Gopikā Gīta is a hymn of nineteen verses sung by the gopikās (the cowherd women) of Vṛndāvana on the bank of the Yamunā. They sang it in grief while they were searching for Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who had disappeared in the middle of the rāsa dance. It is found in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, chapter 31.
It is held to be one of the purest expressions in Sanskrit of viraha-bhakti, devotion through separation. The hymn moves through grief, wonder, longing, memory of the past deeds of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, and complete surrender.
The setting
During the Rāsa Pañcādhyāyī (the five chapters on the rāsa), Bhagavān Kṛshṇa disappeared in the middle of the dance. He first took one gopikā briefly aside and then withdrew completely. The gathering on the Yamunā bank was left without him.
The gopikās searched the forest. They asked the trees and the river where he was, and they found his footprints. At last they returned to the Yamunā bank in grief.
There they could no longer search or act. They sat together and sang. They were so full of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa that the only thing left to do, when he could not be found, was to call his name in verse.
The themes of the hymn
The Gopikā Gīta opens by saying that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, who delights in the rāsa, is greater than all creation. It then moves through these themes.
His deeds remembered. The gopikās recall particular acts of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa that show who he is.
- How he killed the asura Agha (Aghāsura) by entering his mouth.
- How the sound of his flute makes the whole world still.
- How even the devī Lakshmī places his lotus foot on her own breast.
- How the clouds copy the colour of his body.
- How the peacocks dance when they hear his flute.
The power of the flute. Several verses speak of the flute. It plays on their hearts beyond their control. Its sound reaches them everywhere and pulls their minds toward him even when they are at their household work. Every creature of the forest, the river and the sky stops when it hears that flute.
The remover of suffering. The gopikās call on him as the physician of the sick. Their sickness is separation from him, and the only medicine is the sight of his face. They describe his lotus face, framed with curling dark locks and lit with a smile. Seeing it ends at once the tiredness that the world puts on the eyes.
Complete surrender. The last verses reach full surrender. The gopikās say that they have come before him after giving up all dharma and every other refuge. They are entirely his. If he shows grace, even by laying his cooling hand on their burning heads, that is enough.
Place in Vaishṇava tradition
The Gopikā Gīta is studied together with the Bhramara Gīta, the song of the bee, which is told in the account of Uddhava in Gokula. The two are the main expressions of gopikā-bhakti in the Bhāgavata. In both, the absence of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa does not make the love of the gopikās smaller. It shows how deep and complete their love is, a love that does not depend on his presence.
The Gopikā Gīta is recited in Vaishṇava communities as a daily devotional text.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skandha, chapter 31