Krishna Narayana

The Gopika who considered the bee to be a messenger sent by Srikrishna said to the bee,

‘O bee, you are a servant of that cheat Srikrishna. You are a cheat who drinks nectar and then immediately abandons the flower. Why can’t you sit beside that flower and enjoy it for a while? Is it right on your part to discard it soon upon completing your task? Selfishly you approach the flower only when it is filled with nectar. Akin to you, Srikrishna is also a cheat. He drank the nectar called ‘divine love’ from our hearts and then abandoned us.

O bee, in the presence of us, the forest dwellers, why do you choose to excessively sing the glories of Srikrishna, the Lord of Yadavas? Your stories are not new to us. We are very well aware of them all. Srikrishna, who is now a resident of Mathura, is fascinated by the women-folk there, isn’t He? After failing to remember us for so long, He now chooses to send you here with His message, isn’t it’?”

It appeared as if this Gopi was chastising Krishna openly in the presence of His messenger Uddhava. From her words, Uddhava could easily grasp the purport. He could gauge her anger.

She implied, ‘We are flowers from whom nectar has been sucked away. Why will Krishna care for us, whose hearts are drained of the nectar known as ‘devotion and divine love’? We have withered flowers. Where is the need for us in His heart? While He was here, we are His girl-friends and He would cajole us and lovingly address us by our names. Now that He has moved to Mathura, He is engrossed in cajoling those maidens and addressing them by their names’.

She continued, ‘O bee, go to Mathura and sing His glories in the presence of those maidens who are His latest friends. We who know Him from long, already know of all His glories. Hearing His glories our minds were totally captivated and we have surrendered in totality to Him. Becoming His servants, we handed over to Him everything that belonged to us. We were totally infatuated by Him. Lured by the love shown by Him, we surrendered our minds and our senses totally to Him. Under such circumstances, what is the use of singing His glories before us, when we know everything about Him?

Having gone to Mathura, Krishna has dispelled the grief in the hearts of those maidens and thus has become their lover. Those ladies will shower upon you whatever you seek. Hence proceed there.

Which woman residing in heaven, earth or hell can refrain from being infatuated upon seeing His beautifully arched eye-brows and the charming, loving smiles that He deceivingly casts? O bee, I am aware that you have arrived here after sitting on the garland that adorns His neck while He is at Mathura’.”

It was as if they were chastising Uddhava in the pretext of scolding the honey bee that was hovering above them.

She continued, ‘Which woman will refrain from offering services to such Lord? Even Mother Goddess Lakshmi serves the dust from His holy feet. What are we in comparison to Her? Beautiful are the women-folk of Mathura- they enticing beauty caused the Lord to desert us’.

When Lakshmi, the Goddess of beauty, herself serves the dust from His feet, what is our position? This Lord is praised as ‘uttamaślokāḥ’. However, this title aptly suits him who is filled with endless compassion and kindness towards the wretched, deplorable folks. How can this title befit Him, who lacks this compassion towards the distressed’?”

Here, she is condemning Krishna for His apathy towards the Gopikas who are distressed. Why should He, who is apathetic towards us, be titled ‘Uttama-ślokāh or bhakta-vatsala?

“O bee, discard pretentiousness and flattery. Take away your feet which are hovering over my head. I am aware that, having learnt diplomacy and flattery from that cheat Srikrishna, you are now adept in that art. The fickle-minded Krishna is akin to the cow that considers the grass greener on the other side. Why do you waste your time singing His glories in front of us? While we abandoned our children, husbands, families and even the higher realms for Him, He abandoned us and left Brindavan. In what way could His action be justified’?”

Can He just abandon us without a word? Is it right to leave us without any message? Could He not invite us to Mathura? Why did He have to leave us without notice? Why does He have to send a messenger when He can come and directly see us here? While leaving Brindavan, He did not even bother to re-assure us that He would return. He did not smile at us while leaving, nor did He look at us. He did not even bother to communicate through His eyes. He ignored us and walked away. Having drunk the bhakti-rasa from us, He simply vanished from sight.

“What do we gain now by making peace with Him?”

We don’t need to make peace with Him now. Let Him no longer pretend as if He cares for us or for our feelings. What is the need for sending a messenger after abandoning us?

“Cruel-hearted that He is, this Lord, during His incarnation as Rama, hunted and slyly killed Vali, the King of Vanaras”.

Unable to stay away from the Lord, these Gopikas in whom the agony of separation was at its peak, were abusing Him.

Krishna Srihari