Wailing loudly, ‘Krishna, Narayana, Govinda, Vāsudeva’ the Gopikas, with tears rolling down in streams, fixed the Lord firmly in their hearts. All of them assembled and grieved,

‘O Lord Brahma, do feelings of compassion ever exist in you? Through feelings of love and friendship you cause living entities to unite and, even before their desire is fulfilled, you separate them. Nevertheless, your activities are as wasteful as those of infants. Having shown to us the lovely face of Srikrishna, the Lord who bestows liberation, you are now snatching him away from us.

Srikrishna’s delightful face, covered with curly locks, long raised nose, shining cheeks and charming smile dispels the sorrows of us all. Your act is truly wicked. Although bearing the name Akrūra (not cruel), in reality you are krūra (cruel), for, akin to an ignorant person you are snatching away the vision which you alone had previously given to us. Is it correct on your part to cheat us?

By creating Krishna amidst us, you were the one who showered bliss upon us. Many memorable days were spent happily in the presence of Srikrishna, the ever-compassionate Lord. With the help of the limb called the eye, we would admire His lotus face and applaud your artistic skills in creating Him, the destroyer of demon Madhu”.

Here it implies that the Lord, who had bestowed them with spiritual knowledge was now snatching it away from them. From illumination, they were being thrown back into darkness.

“O Brahma, abandoning our homes, relatives, husbands and sons, we have sought to be the servants of this Lord. Oho, this son of Nanda who is desirous of new friendships has, with His transcendental sports, cast a spell upon us and thereafter has stopped even glancing in our direction. After sporting with us through the Rāsa kreeda dance and after enchanting us with His many divine plays, He has now brought them all to an end”.

Here, these Gopikas speak as if they have abandoned everything for the Lord. Although while their statements can also be stated to be true, it is also important to note that the Lord protected their homes and their self-respect by incarnating in their respective homes, in their respective forms and completing their chores. Every cowherd believed his wife was beside him when in reality, this women-folk were engaged in rāsa kreeda. Forgetting this important fact, these ladies were accrediting themselves for having given up their homes and surrendering to the Lord. It is true that they had surrendered. Yet, it was He who protected the self-respect of the women who had totally surrendered to Him. There is no mistake in their statement, but we wonder why they failed to acknowledge His role.

“We have been deprived now of His love. He, who always played with us now fails to look at us. This night will bring auspiciousness to the women-folk of Mathura. They are about to fulfill their wishes as Krishna, the Lord of Gokula, is about to step into their city and they will be bestowed with the chance to feast upon His nectarous face enlivened with a charming smile and tender sidelong gazes.

O helpless women! Although being valorous, Srikrishna remains in the sway of others and hence His mind will be captivated by the sweet, nectar-filled words uttered by the women-folk of Mathura. With actions accompanied by bashful glances and sensuous smiles, they will cause Him to forget everything. Under such circumstances, can this Lord ever return to us, the village-folks?”

They implied- Having seen the glamour of the city, will the Lord even remember to return to us? What is to be our fate now that He is deserting us? We were living with the sole desire of gazing at his lovely face. Will we ever be bestowed with this chance in the future? Will He, who gets sunk into the politics of Mathura, ever return back to this home? We are after all, ignorant village-folks.

“Today, the eyes of all the members of the Daśārha, Andhaka, Bhoja, Vŗṣni and Satvatā clans will feast upon His divine face. They will experience great delight as they are going to set their eyes upon Krishna, the Lord who causes delight to Goddess Lakshmi. As He travels to Mathura, all the people will behold in delight this son of Devaki.

This cruel person, who has arrived here to snatch Krishna away from us, cannot be called Akrūra (not cruel). He truly is very cruel as he does not bother to even console us, who are weeping inconsolably. Neither does he glance towards us nor does he convince us that Krishna will return from Mathura. This wicked, cruel-hearted man is taking Srikrishna, who is dearer to us than our lives, to a place far away from sight. We, the women-folk from the village cannot even fathom travelling to those distances to see Him. Does Srikrishna truly have any feelings of affection towards us?”

The Gopikas who were angry that Krishna was leaving them were now scolding him- Perhaps it was sheer madness on our part to have loved him dearly, they thought. Could our love for Him be one-way traffic? He does not seem to have any feelings of love for us.

“Look how He is seated comfortably in that chariot. Look at that face which has no feelings of love in it.”

The ladies who, all along had sung in praise of that divine face were now scolding Him. It was their deep sorrow accompanied by over-flowing love that caused such words to be uttered by them. Their sorrow did not have any trace of selfishness in it. Their love for the Lord was totally selfless.

“Look how He is ready to depart even without informing us. Look at these arrogant cowherds who have readied their bullock-carts and are eagerly awaiting to go with him. Through their actions they appear to be ridiculing us, the poor village women-folk. They appear to be enthusiastic. What are we to in this helpless situation?”- they were weeping at Krishna’s departure.

Narayana Narayana