Vraj Lila

 

Why do we eulogise Gopis and the time Krishna spent in Vraj ?

Some people in Pushti Marg believe that Krushna was only “fully divine” while He was in Vraj.  Once He left it for Mathura, His divine lilas were not as worthy of note as before.

Why ?

Just because a child grows up, does that child become less “exciting” ? 
Child’s pranks are only “cute”, if they are congruous with the child’s age. 
If a 12 year old behaves as a 4 year old, he / she would be ridiculed. 
Similarly, a 4 year trying to behave like a 12 year old would be ridiculous ! 
Krushna, once He grew up, had to move to Mathura and Dwarika to fulfil his life’s mission.

It would be ridiculous if He stayed in Vraj all His life, breaking the pots of gopies !  Such action, beyond a certain age, becomes a severe nuisance and would be censored by society.  Krushna is worshiped across the world because He did what was correct for His age, at the correct time.   He behaved like a cute child when it was appropriate, and took His responsibilities seriously when the time was right.  He is worshiped for being an ideal person, because different times require different actions and an ideal person reacts according to the changing times.   No one can remain in a time warp and expect to be respected for it.

Why is the “bala-lila” so special ?

Gopies and Krushna “acted” – hence their relationship is “ideal”.

The rest of the people in Krushna’s life have “reacted”, hence their relationship is slightly less perfect in the eyes of Bhakti Acharyas.

Gopies treated Krushna as one of them, not as “God”, hence they always “acted” with their Krushna.  They created the actions that engaged the Lord to react !  For the first time in the history of the universe, the Lord “reacted”, hence this lila is unique !  The love of the gopies made the Lord dance, cry, laugh, eat and drink with these great beings.  It is because of this love, love between vraj vasis and Krushna, that the first formative years are considered unique.  It is love, nothing else, that makes these vraj-lilas so special and worth the eulogies from great sages of India.

 

Bhagwat Shah �

 

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