Just like Parvati (the Divine consort of Lord Shiv) asked questions in the Ramayan (the Divine epic history of Lord Ram), and Shankar Ji (Lord Shiv) gave the answers, and because of that conversation all of Ram’s leelas (Divine pastimes) were revealed - just like Arjun (the disciple of Lord Krishna) questioned Shree Krishna (the Supreme Lord) in the Bhagavad Gita (the Song of God), and because of that the knowledge of the Gita is available today. And just like in the Bhagwatam, Uddhav (Krishna’s intimate devotee) asked questions and Shree Krishna gave the answers throughout the whole 11th canto. And because of that we have all of that knowledge available to us today.

Similarly, Mahaprabhu Ji was asking questions and Raya Ramanand was answering. But although He was asking the questions, Mahaprabhu Ji was also judging the answers. He was telling whether the answer was good enough or whether more information was needed. So His question was,

“What is the aim of the soul?”

A very basic question. In other words,

“Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? What are we supposed to be striving for?”

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पुनरपि जननं पुनरपि मरणं पुनरपि जननी जठरे शयनम् ।
इह संसारे बहुदुस्तारे कृपयाऽपारे पाहि मुरारे ॥

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढमते ।

Punarapi jananam punarapi maraṇam punarapi jananī jaṭhare śhayanam.
Ih saṁsāre bahu-dustāre kṛipayāpāre pāhi Murāre.

Bhaj Govindam, bhaj Govindam, Govindam bhaj mūḍha-mate.

- Bhaj Govindam 21

Shankaracharya says that we are made to take birth again and again, ‘punarapi jananam’ and ‘punarapi maraṇam’ - we are born and we die again and again. It keeps happening. And we’re put into the womb, ‘jaṭhare’, of our mother-to-be.

That keeps happening. And we don’t have a choice. We do not choose our mother. We do not choose to be reborn or not. We have to be reborn because we’re under the bondage of our past karma. And we receive our next family according to that karma.

However, Bhagwatam says in regard to Shree Krishna:

अस्यापि देव वपुषो मदनुग्रहस्य
स्वेच्छामयस्य न तु भूतमयस्य कोऽपि ।

Asyāpi dev vapuṣho mad-anugrahasya
svecchā-mayasyan tu bhūta-mayasya ko’pi.

- Bhagwatam 10.14.2

‘Svecchā’ - you come through Your own free will. Shree Krishna comes just by deciding to come. That’s it. He’s not bound to come. He’s not bound by karma. No one decides for Him when He’s going or where He’s going. He decides,

“I’m going to take avatar.”

And He goes. He appears. So He comes of His own free will. But is He born like we are? Even though we appear, we appear nonetheless in our mother’s womb, inside that little growing body that becomes our body for this life. And then, after nine months, when it’s finished growing, we are born into this world from our mother.

Was Shree Krishna born in that way? He says in the Gita:

अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन् ।
प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया ॥

Ajo ‘pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśhvaro ‘pi san.
Pakṛitiṁ svāmadhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmyātma-māyayā.

- Gita 4.6

He says, “I am ‘aj’, meaning never born. Yet I take birth in this world, but My birth is not the birth you think it is.”

So how is it? He says,

“First understand one thing. He is avyayātmā.

What does this mean?

Shvetashvatar Upanishad says:

न तस्य कार्यं करणं च विद्यते ।

Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ cha vidyate.

- Shvetashvatar Upanishad 6.8

“He does not have a body-and-soul duality.”

This is a very key point. We have our true self, our soul, which inhabits this body, which is temporary. Krishna does not have a body. See, that’s why some people get confused. There are certain statements in the Vedas that say God has no body. It doesn’t mean that He’s not sakar (with form). He has a form, but He has no body. You know why? Because His soul is His body. To have a body, you need to have a soul-body duality, right? But He Himself is His body. So He does not have a body; He is His body.

We cannot say that I am not my body; I inhabit my body. But Shree Krishna is His body. So that’s avyayātmā. He is His body, and His body is Divine and eternal.

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“Wait! We’re getting ahead of ourselves! We have some questions for You. What kind of Beloved are You?”

Krishna said, “What? What do you mean?”

“There are those in the world that, even if you love them, they’re not going to love you in return. No matter what, they’re not going to love you in return. Then there are those who, if you love them, they’ll love you back. But we can’t figure out which type are You, because we love You, but Your behavior is very confusing!”

So Shree Krishna said,

“You know the kind where you love them and they love you back; this is ordinary worldly people like us. Then the other kind, no matter how much you love them, they’re not going to love you in return - paramahamsas (fully realized Saints). Their mind is completely absorbed in the bliss of the formless God. You love them or hate them, it means nothing to them.”

“But, Krishna, what category do You come in?”

He said, “I have My own category.”

नाहं तु सख्यो भजतोऽपि जन्तून् भजाम्यमीषामनुवृत्तिवृत्तये ।
यथाधनो लब्धधने विनष्टे तच्चिन्तयान्यन्निभृतो न वेद ॥

Nāhaṁ tu sakhyo bhajato ’pi jantūn bhajāmy amīṣhām anuvṛitti-vṛttaye.
Yathādhano labdha-dhane vinaṣhṭe tach-chintayānyan nibhṛito na ved.

- Bhagwatam 10.32.20

He says, “I do love you just as much as you love Me. However, I behave in an opposite way. I love you, but I give you My separation.”

Why?

He explained with an analogy. He said,

“Let’s say there’s someone who’s been a beggar for their whole life, just scratching to get by and barely getting something to put in their belly to keep themselves alive. And one day, when they were begging, they made a few dollars. They decided, ‘Instead of buying food with this, I’m going to buy a lottery ticket!’ And they won the lottery! Imagine their state of happiness. This beggar, for their whole life, has been eking out an existence, and now they just won three hundred million dollars. The level of their happiness would be beyond understanding. Now imagine they just got that three hundred million dollars, and someone just came and snatched it out of their hand and ran away with it. And now they’re back to being a beggar. Then they are going to do chintan (contemplation) of that three hundred million dollars non-stop. They won’t be able to think of anything else!”

Shree Krishna says, “That’s what I do to you! You were beggars for your whole existence, uncountable lifetimes, desiring Divine love. And then you met Me. You got God-realized. I graced you with My Divine love. And then I disappear. I give you My virah (Divine separation). So now you’re going to do chintan of Me. So it’s like putting gold in the fire. The more you put it in the fire, the more the heat of the fire purifies it. So your heart, in the heat of love for Me, in that separation, reaches the state of total purity and selflessness.”

So Shree Krishna says, “This is why sometimes I give you My separation - not because I don’t love you!”

So what I’m saying is Shree Krishna wanted to reveal to the world the height of the Gopis’ love for Him, which could only be revealed in the state of virah. The intensity of love is expressed in separation. So that’s another reason that Shree Krishna “left” the Gopis and Radha. So with one form, the form that everyone could see, He left and went to Mathura and Dwarika. But actually, His Shyam Sundar, Ras Bihari, Vrindavan Bihari Lal form was always in Braj with the Gopis and Radha.

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Then Raya Ramanand Ji said, quoting from Bhagwatam says,

नायं श्रियोऽङ्ग उ नितान्तरतेः प्रसादः
स्वर्योषितां नलिनगन्धरुचां कुतोऽन्याः ।
रासोत्सवेऽस्य भुजदण्डगृहीतकण्ठ-
लब्धाशिषां य उदगाद् व्रजवल्लभीनाम् ॥

Nāyaṁ śhriyo ’ṅga u nitāntarateḥ prasādaḥ
swar-yoṣhitāṁ nalin-gandh-ruchāṁ kuto ’nyāḥ.
Rāsotsave ’sya bhuj-daṇḍ-gṛihīt-kaṇṭh-
labdhāśhiṣhāṁ ya udagād vraj-vallabhīnām.

- Bhagwatam 10.47.60

He said (this about) these Gopis (cowherd maidens of Braj). This is actually a quote of Uddhav Ji after he had been to Braj and met all the Gopis and came back to Mathura. He was telling Shree Krishna,

“Who could understand the greatness of Gopis, who during rāsleelā, Shree Krishna puts His arm around their necks, and they are dancing together?”

He said,

“Even Lakshmi (the Goddess of fortune) did not receive such close association with Shree Krishna. What to say of other maidens of swarg (the celestial realm) or the ladies of the Earth planet? These Gopis have received the most proximity with Shree Krishna. Nobody is closer than the Gopis who loved Shree Krishna with madhurya bhav (the mood of Divine conjugal love), selfless madhurya bhav!”

See, there are three kinds (of bhav): sadharana rati madhurya bhav, samanjasa rati madhurya bhav, and samartha rati madhurya bhav. Samartha rati madhurya bhav means loving Shree Krishna as your sweetheart, as your Beloved, with one desire in mind - His happiness.

आश्लिष्य वा पादरतां पिनष्टु माम्
अदर्शनान्मर्महतां करोतु वा ।
यथा तथा वा विदधातु लम्पटो
मत्प्राणनाथस्तु स एव नापरः ॥

Āśhliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣhṭu mām
adarśhanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā.
Yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
mat-prāṇ-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ.

- Shikshashtakam 8.

Other gyānīs (seekers of knowledge) are amazed, seeing in Braj,

“My Brahm (the Absolute Reality) is being called lampaṭa (a rogue lover) and chaur (a thief) by the Gopis.”

They are scolding Him, and He is chasing behind them. Young Krishna (saying)

“O Gopi!”

And the Gopis scolding Him, “Imagine what has happened to my Brahm!”

The gyānīs get confused. What has happened is that your Brahm is under the control of bhakti (Divine love devotion), and those Gopis have the highest form of bhakti.

अहं भक्तपराधीनो ह्यस्वतन्त्र इव द्विज ।

Ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīno hy asvatantra iva dvija.

- Bhagwatam 9.4.63.

“I am under the control of My bhakt (devotee).”

So the Gopis are the highest of all the bhaktas because they have the most intimate love for Shree Krishna and the most selfless love for Shree Krishna.

This shlok (verse) said by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expresses those feelings of selflessness, where a Gopi is saying to Shree Krishna,

“However You treat me, whether You shower Your affection on me by embracing me, or You tell me to get lost (by saying) get out! I never want to see you again! Or You completely ignore me! These are the only three ways in which You can treat me. And my challenge to You is, no matter how You treat me, only You are mine! I have nowhere else to go. There is no one else for me. You are the soul of my soul. You are my only life! You are my everything! So my love for You will only go on increasing. My job is to love You. Whether You love me in return is of no concern to me!”

Only the Gopis embody this pure selflessness in love for Shree Krishna.

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A leelā may be exactly the same on the outside, in terms of what it appears to be, as a karm. In other words, Krishna may have done many of the things that we do in our everyday life. He ate, He slept, He played with His friends. He did all of these things, yet when He does them, they are leelā, and when we do them, they are karm.

So, what’s the difference? What’s inside? What do we have inside? Māyā (material energy). What does Krishna have inside? Yogamāyā (God’s Divine internal power). That’s the difference.

I spoke to you about Yogamāyā. That is Krishna’s most personal power. And it is through that Yogamāyā-śhakti (Divine power of Yogamāyā) that He performs all of the amazing actions that He does. Whether they are Almighty actions like creating the universe, or loving actions like the leelās we’ve been hearing about in the Bhagwatam.

All of these leelās are made possible and performed through Yogamāyā. And all of our actions are because of māyā. We are under māyā. Our mind is under māyā. In fact, our mind is made of māyā, so all of our thoughts are māyic (from māyā). All of our emotions are māyic.

Add to this that Krishna has no desires. That’s another internal difference. Our desires are what impel us to perform any action. Because we have a desire to attain something, we decide to do any particular action. That’s why it is called karm. Karm are those actions performed by souls like us who are under māyā. And here we have all our own personal desires, and depending on what those desires are, then we perform our actions.

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अथैकयोर्ध्व उदानः पुण्येन पुण्यं लोकं नयति ।
पापेन पापमुभाभ्यामेव मनुष्यलोकम् ॥

Athaikayordhva udānaḥ puṇyena puṇyaṁ lokaṁ nayati.
Pāpen pāpamubhābhyāmev manuṣhyalokam.

- Prashna Upanishad 3.7

Mundakopanishad also says, “If you do puṇya (virtuous deeds), if you do a lot of good actions, you go to swarg. If you do a lot of bad actions, you go to narak, and if you do a mixture of the two, you are immediately reborn here.”

Shree Krishna is giving Arjun some incentive. But it is the type of incentive which is only useful to an agyani (ignorant person). This is the type of incentive which will motivate someone who believes himself to be the body. If someone has understood that he is the soul, this incentive will not motivate him at all.

Why? Imagine, Shree Krishna is telling Arjun, “If you fight the war and win, you’ll become king, and you’ll enjoy the pleasures of this world.” Arjun is thinking,

न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च ।

Na kāṅkṣhe vijayaṁ Krishna na cha rājyaṁ sukhāni cha.

- Gita 1.32

“I already told him I have no desire for the pleasures of kingship. I’ve already experienced that. I know there’s no true happiness in that. You Yourself have just explained to me the fleeting and limited nature of worldly pleasures, and now you’re dangling that in front of me as if it’s some kind of incentive to do my duty. In addition to that, you’re saying that I may get to go to swarg.”

However, listen to what Shree Krishna says about swarg right here in second chapter,

यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चित: |
वेदवादरता: पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिन: ||

Yāmimāṁ puṣhpitāṁ vāchaṁ pravadanty-avipaśhchitaḥ.
Veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārth nānyadastīti vādinaḥ.

- Gita 2.42

He says, “O Arjun, those who dream of going to swarg and perform a lot of good actions with so much effort in order to attain swarg, they are foolish.”

(नान्यदस्तीति वादिन) Nānyad astīti vādinaḥ - those vādinaḥ (arguers), those talkers who tell you that going to swarg is such a great thing, that you should strive to go to swarg - they are fools. And those who listen to their talks and follow what they say, they are even more foolish.

Why?

इष्टापूर्तं मन्यमाना वरिष्ठं नान्यच्छ्रेयो वेदयन्ते प्रमूढाः ।
नाकस्य पृष्ठे ते सुकृतेऽनुभूत्वेमं लोकं हीनतरं वा विशन्ति ॥

Iṣhṭāpūrtaṃ manyamānā variṣhṭhaṃ nānyacchreyo vedayante pramūḍhāḥ.
Nākasya pṛiṣhṭhe te sukṛte’nubhūtvemaṃ lokaṃ hīnataraṃ vā viśhanti.

- Mundak Upanishad 1.2.10

The Vedas say that those who go to swarg are pramūḍhāḥ (extremely foolish).

So it means Shree Krishna is trying to make a fool of Arjun by telling him, “Do your duty and you’ll get to go to swarg”? Why is it so foolish to go to swarg? Because it takes so much effort to accumulate enough good actions in one lifetime to earn a trip to swarg, and once you get there, it is only temporary. You stay there for some time and then you come back here - right back where you started.

You won’t come back in the same body looking like you do now. In fact: (हीनतरं वा विशन्ति) hīnataraṃ vā viśhanti - you may be born in lower species before you again get a chance to be born as a human.

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… सर्वात्मस्नपनं परं विजयते …
… sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate …

- Siksastakam Verse 1

In this seventh stage, the effect of maya (material energy) is finished, and the devotee exceeds all types of Divine blissfulness. ‘Vijayate’ means ‘supersedes, exceeds, goes beyond’ - all other Divine abodes, exceeds all other types of Divine blissfulness. The devotee experiences the ultimate bliss of the Divine realm when, with Guru’s grace, the effect of maya is finished.

भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः ।
क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन्दृष्टे परावरे ॥
Bhidyate hṛidayagranthiśhchidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ |
Kṣhīyante chāsya karmāṇi tasmindṛiṣhṭe parāvare ||

- Mundak Upanishad 2.2.8

With Guru’s grace, the bondage of maya is finished. The bondage of karma (fruitive actions) is finished. The bondage of ignorance is finished, and you get the Divine vision of God.

So in this case, we’re getting the Divine vision of Radha Krishna. The heart is completely suffused with swaroop shakti (God’s intrinsic Divine power) of Shree Krishna, which Divinizes it, and our senses also become Divine, and we see Radha Krishna before us. And then Guru gives us that prem-shakti (the Divine power of love), the ultimate Divine power. That ultimate Divine power, that prem-shakti, gives life to the entire Divine world. Even the bliss of Vaikunth abode is due to prem-shakti, even though it’s not being revealed there.

You can think of prem-shakti, this Divine love power, like the sun. And then, let’s say, you have a crystal globe. So that crystal globe receives the shine of the sun. Maybe the globe itself is red-colored, and so it’s got its own qualities.Now the shine from the sun is the one that’s illuminating this crystal globe. But once the light has been reflected by the globe, the original quality of the light, the sunlight, is not seen. It takes on a different character altogether.

Similarly, that light of prem-shakti, gives life to all the different experiences of blissfulness in all the other Divine abodes, even Vaikunth abode, where prem-shakti isn’t revealed at all. Only Almightiness is there. But it’s the light of that prem-shakti that’s enlivening the Almighty bliss of Vaikunth abode.

So imagine if one could actually experience that ultimate prem-shakti. Never mind the bliss of formless God. Even the bliss of the personal form of God of Vaikunth has been considered to be negligible in front of prem-shakti. Even Mahalakshmi (the Divine consort of Lord Narayan) desired it. Mahalakshmi is the very form of that Almighty blissfulness, that sandhini-shakti (the Divine existential potency) in Vaikunth abode. She desired for the experience of premānand (the bliss of Divine love).

…विहाय कामान् सुचिरं धृतव्रता ॥
…vihāya kāmān suchiraṁ dhṛitavratā.

- Bhagwatam 10.16.36

“She went and did austerities, extreme austerities, for a long period of time, trying to earn the right to experience that premānand.”

So all of this happens by practicing sādhanā (spiritual practice).

If we practice sādhanā correctly, with the grace of a true Guru, then eventually we pass through these stages of bhāv-bhakti (the stage of devotional ecstasy), and eventually we will attain that Divine love power, that prem-bhakti (Divine love devotion).

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Like a Prime Minister is not only a Prime Minister. He is the father of his son, he is the husband of his wife, and he is the son of his mother as well. When he goes back home from his office, then if he also wants them to respect him like a Prime Minister, then nobody would care. His wife, although she does not know anything about the politics of the country, she has no knowledge and she is not that educated as well, would also suggest to him,

“You should do that!”

If there is any problem, some problem at the world level, even then she will reach over there to give a suggestion,

“You should not do that! You should do that!”

“Why? You know more than me? I am Prime Minister! You are just cooking food at home. How do you know what I should do with other countries or what I should not do?”

But this is nature; this is her right. She doesn’t accept him as a Prime Minister. She only knows,

“He is my husband.”

The mother always says to her son, no matter whether he is Prime Minister or President or whatever,

“You have grown up so much, but still you have no brain. You cannot decide anything correctly!”

Mother always says that. The child will immediately go and directly sit in his lap. Here he cannot say,

“I am Prime Minister! Speak to me like this! How are you saying that?”

“No, no. If you have this ego, go to the office and sit down there. Don’t come home!”

In the same way, Shree Krishna is God, but we don’t accept Him. We don’t accept that form of God of Shree Krishna. Take it out. We know only one thing - how should we worship Shree Krishna? He is mine, and I am His alone. We have to increase this feeling, “He is mine, He is mine.” Then we can perform devotion.

When Lord Krishna came back to the Gopis (milkmaids of Braj) at the time of Mahārās (the Divine dance of Radha Krishna and unlimited numbers of Gopis when Krishna multiplied Himself in unlimited forms), He disappeared. Then the Gopis, along with Shree Radharani, were all bewailing. They were crying intensely. They were remembering Shree Krishna all the time. At the same time, they sang the Gopi Geet (the song of the Gopis) as well.

After that, when Shree Krishna came back in the form of God with four arms, the Gopis, who had been crying bitterly, immediately drew their veils and said,

“Who are you? Why did you come here? Go away from here! All the ladies are sitting here. We are not in a good condition also. We are suffering from virah (separation), and you came just like that. Get out from here!”

Shree Krishna said, “You were crying for Me for such a long time. You were remembering Me all the time. Now I have come, and you are saying, “‘Get out from here!””

They said, “Yes, we were crying for our Priyatam (beloved)! We are crying for our Priyatam Shyamsundar.”

He said, “I am your Priyatam Shyamsundar!”

“No, no, no! Our Priyatam Shyamsundar is not so horrible with four arms and this and that! He is so beautiful! His body is so soft, so beautiful! You are looking very horrible. We cannot accept you! How can you say that you are our Priyatam? Go and see your face in the mirror first, and compare it with the face of our Shyamsundar.”

Then Shyamsundar had to come in His own form. Only then did the Gopis accept Him.

So if the form of God is fearful we cannot love it.

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जब समझ प्रेम में डूब गई, तब क्या होगा समझने से ।
Jab samajh prem meiṇ doob gayiī, tab kyā hogā samjhaane se.

There comes a point when ‘samajh (intellect) prem (Divine love) mein doob gayi’ - the intellect drowns in love.

So now, when love is formed, the intellect is no longer active. The intellect is now suppressed; it is drowned in love. Now only the mind, only the heart, is in āsakti (attachment).

And then bhāv bhakti, the stage of bhāv bhakti, is reached. I must caution you - many think that bhāv bhakti means when someone goes into bhāv (devotional emotion), when an aspiring devotee starts crying a little bit for God, or when he or she starts trembling a little bit in love for God, with the grace of the Guru, people may say,

“Oh, you know what? He’s gone into bhāv bhakti.”

That’s not bhāv bhakti. That is just the grace of God and Guru. One moment we are in bhāv, and next moment we are in tāv (agitation). One moment we look so devotional, “Oh, she’s like Meera Bai (a God realized Devotee of Shree Krishna)!”, the next moment she’s getting angry; she’s speaking very cruel words. That’s not bhāv bhakti. That was just, we were experiencing the grace of God and Guru, and wonderful sanskārs (spiritual impressions) came to the forefront, and we had few tears in the eyes. And the moment that the thought comes,

“Oh, I’m really a good devotee,” there’s a dry period, there’s a dry spell. We’ve all experienced it, haven’t we? Bhāv bhakti is totally different. It’s a stage of bhakti, a stage of devotion. But now we think,

“How can I be sure that I haven’t reached it? Have I reached it? Have I reached that stage?”

We may think we have reached it, so it’s good to know what Roop Goswami says in Bhakti Rasamrit Sindhu about the signs and indications, the anubhāv (symptoms) of bhāv bhakti. He says,

क्षान्तिरव्यर्थकालत्वं विरक्तिर्मानशून्यता ।
आशाबन्धः समुत्कण्ठा नामगाने सदा रुचिः ॥ १८ ॥

(ক্ষান্তিরব্যর্থকালত্বং বিরক্তির্মানশূন্যতা ।
আশাবন্ধঃ সমুৎকণ্ঠা নামগানে সদা রুচিঃ ॥ ১৮ ॥)

Kṣhāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ viraktir māna-śhūnyatā.
Āśhā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā nāmagāne sadā ruchiḥ.

- CC Madhya 23.18-19

Some of the ‘anubhāv’. Let’s start with some of them; there are nine all in all.

First of all, he says there is kṣhānti (tolerance). Look out for kṣhānti. It’s not to be confused with the word ‘shānti’, which means ‘peace’. This is kṣhānti, ‘k-sh-h-a-n-t-i’, if you will, kṣhānti, meaning ‘tolerance’.

“Tolerance? I’m tolerant. I am tolerant! I have reached bhāv bhakti.”

We ask our intellect, Buddhi Devi (the faculty of intelligence),

“Am I tolerant? Do I have kṣhānti?”

And our intellect is the biggest fan we have. The intellect says,

“But of course, you are very tolerant!”

We are tolerant when no one is saying something to us. We are sitting down and watching TV at home.

“I’m very tolerant when I’m watching TV at home because no one is saying anything. No one is speaking, no one is talking to me, no one is insulting me. So, I’m not getting angry. That doesn’t prove my tolerance.”

So what is tolerance?

क्षोभ-हेताव् अपि प्राप्ते क्षान्तिर् अक्षुभितात्मता ॥१.३.२७॥
Kṣhobh-hetāv api prāpte kṣhāntir akṣhubhitātmatā ||1.3.27||

- Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu 1.3.27

Roop Goswami Ji says, “Tolerance is when there is a cause for anger and you don’t get angry. When there is a reason to get tense and upset, you don’t become tense, you don’t get tense, you don’t get upset; you remain calm. There is a reason for anger, but there is no anger. You are calm. Your mind is very calm.”

That is kṣhānti.

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इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम् | …
Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam…

- Gita 4.1

“Hey Arjun, this knowledge of the Gita is eternal. It is avyayam (imperishable). It exists eternally. It can never disappear or be destroyed. And I gave this same knowledge that I am giving to you now to Vivasvan, the celestial sun god. I gave it to him a long time ago, and he gave it to his son, Vaivasvat, and he gave it to his son, Ikshvaku, and it was passed on like that through generations of Rajarishis (Saintly kings). But eventually this knowledge became lost, you can say. It was unavailable for ordinary souls on the earth planet, so I am revealing the same knowledge again to you now.”

So Arjun asked, “But Vivasvan is the father of Vaivasvat, who is the current manu (progenitor of mankind for a manvantar). So You must have told this knowledge to him millions of years ago, before the current civilization began on this earth planet. So how is it possible for You? I see You standing here now before me. We are both here. How is it that You are saying that You gave this same knowledge to Vivasvan so long ago?”

The beginning of our manvantar (the reign of one manu) is more than 120 million years ago. That is when Krishna is saying He gave this knowledge to the father of our current manu. Manu means the one who started civilization on the Earth planet. There is a different manu for each manvantar. A day of Brahma has 14 manvantars. Just like our day has 12 hours and our night has 12 hours, Brahma’s day has 14 divisions. Each division is called a manvantar. And each manvantar is 71 cycles of the four yugas (ages). The four yugas are satyug (age of truth), treta yug, dwapar yug, and kali yug. One cycle of these four yugas is 4.32 million years.

Kali yug is 432,000 years long. Dwapar yug is twice that, 864,000 years long. Treta yug is three times that, 1,296,000 years long. And sat yug is four times the duration of kali yug, 1,728,000 years long. When you add them all up, you get 4,320,000 years. That is one mahayug (complete cycle of the four yugas), one full cycle through the four yugas. Do that 71 times and you get one manvantar. And 14 of those manvantars make one day of Brahma. So Brahma’s day is, in fact, 4,320,000,000 years long.

But Krishna is saying, “I am not talking about the beginning of Brahma’s day. I am just talking about the beginning of this manvantar.”

And we are in the 28th cycle of the four yugas in this manvantar. Remember, 71 cycles make the whole manvantar. We are through 28 cycles. So it is more than 120,000,000 years ago that Krishna is saying He gave this knowledge to Vivasvan. And he gave it to his son, Vaivasvat, who is the current manvantar’s Manu. So it means that Manu and his wife produced the first offspring on the Earth planet, and we are all descendants of them. That is why we are called manushya (human beings), because we are descended from Manu. And Manu is the son of Brahma. And Brahma is the son of Krishna. So, in fact, we are all children of Shree Krishna.

…अमृतस्य वै पुत्राः…
…amṛtasya vai putrāḥ..

The Vedas (eternal Divine scriptures) say,

“All souls are the children of Shree Krishna.”

And we do not just mean that figuratively. Literally, we are!

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जगु पेखन तुम्ह देखनिहारे। बिधि हरि संभु नचावनिहारे॥
तेउ न जानहिं मरमु तुम्हारा। औरु तुम्हहि को जाननिहारा॥

Jagu pekhan tumh dekhanihāre. Bidhi Hari Sambhu nachāvanihāre.
Teu na jānahiṇ maramu tumhārā. Auru tumhahi ko jānanihārā.

- Ramayan (Ayodhya Kand) 2.127

“O Krishna, who could know You? When Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma cannot know You, and they just dance according to the tune that You play, then what claim could anyone else make to know You?”

So now you are starting to understand the greatness of Shree Krishna. Brahma, the creator of our brahmand (universe); Vishnu of kshirsagar (the ocean of milk), the protector of our brahmand; and Shiv of Kailash (the Divine abode of Shiv), the destroyer of our brahmand are all just one among an infinite number of Brahmas, Vishnus, and Shankars who are all just an aṇsh (partial expansion) of Maha Vishnu, who is the creator of the whole universe.

And He who creates the whole universe with a mere thought,

ईक्षतेर्नाशब्दम्‌ ॥
Īkṣhater nāśhabdam

- Brahma Sutra, chapter 1, section 1, sutra 5

does not have to say anything or do anything. He just thinks, and the universe is created. That Maha Vishnu, Maha Narayan, is but one small aṇsh of Shree Krishna.

Let’s understand from another perspective. The Bhagwatam says,

अवतारा ह्यसङ्ख्येया हरे: सत्त्वनिधेर्द्विजा: ।
Avatārā hyasaṅkhyeyā hareḥ sattva-nidher dvijāḥ.

- Bhagwatam 1.3.26

There are infinite avatars (Divine descensions) of Bhagwan (the Supreme Lord). So I told you, brahm (the formless aspect of God) is established in Shree Krishna. Paramatma (the all-pervading Supreme Soul) is established in Shree Krishna. Well, guess what?

एते चांशकला: पुंस: कृष्णस्तु भगवान् स्वयम् ।
Ete chāṁśha-kalāḥ puṇsaḥ kṛṣhṇastu bhagavān swayam.

- Bhagwatam 1.3.28

He Himself is Bhagwan.

Bhagwan means Shree Krishna as Shree Krishna, revealing His total lovingness. So the almighty forms of God are all considered Paramatma. They are all established in Shree Krishna. And formless God is also established in Him. And He is Swayam Bhagwan (the original Supreme Personality of Godhead).

So one single Shree Krishna appears as Himself, Bhagwan; appears as all the almighty forms, Paramatma, who are all His aṇsh or aṇsh of His aṇsh; and He also exists as formless brahm. All of those unlimited avatars, all of those unlimited forms of God who visit our earth or appear on Earth, they are all His aṇsh.

एते चांशकला: …
Ete chāṁśha-kalāḥ …

From Bhagwatam 1.3.28 (quoted earlier)

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“What if Kishori Ji now does mān (a deliberate and beautiful symptom of the very highest state of Divine love) that causes viyog (separation) What if she now stops talking to Me? What if She stops associating with Me?”

And therefore, the very Radha Ji, the shrutis (Vedic revelations), went on to say,

“We, the Sankhya Darshan (a foundational Vedic philosophy that outlines the 25 cosmic elements (tattvas) of the universe according to Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj.), the Yog Darshan (philosophy of yog), the Vedant (the culmination of Vedic wisdom), etc., all the scriptures, are unable to fathom, are unable to measure the depth of Her supremacy, Her greatness. We cannot. She is beyond the range of our speech and intellect. Therefore, She of whom we cannot even give an accurate description in words, a proper analysis in words, we bow down to Her in humility.”

Such is the greatness, such is the supremacy of Radharani. Moreover, it is said when in Mahabhav (the highest state of Divine love) Shree Krishna becomes completely immersed, absorbed in the sweetest nectar of the supreme bliss residing in Radha, or experienced in Her personal association, such as when Lord Krishna rests His head in Her lap, even Shree Krishna forgets about His supreme personality, His supreme nature as being sat-chit-anand Brahma (eternal existence, knowledge, and bliss absolute). He even forgets His own abode, Golok. Such is the sweetness, the nectarean bliss of Shree Radha.

Furthermore, the shrutis stated that even great Divine powers such as Maha Lakshmi (Divine Goddess), Parvati (Divine Goddess), Durga (Divine Mother), etc., are the powers of Shree Radharani’s partial manifestations only. Therefore, they said,

“To these great Divine powers’ power, the original supreme power, Shree Radha, we pay our humble obeisances, we bow down to Her lotus feet, we offer our deepest respects unto Her.”

In fact, the very name, the very meaning of the word Radha, the name Radha itself demonstrates the specialty, uniqueness, and significance of the entity called Radha, of Radha tattva (the Divine principle of Radha).

राद साध संसिद्धौ
Rad Saad San Siddhau.

- Panini’s Dhatupatha

By adding the vowel ‘a’ to the root word ‘Radh’, the word Radha is created, which literally means samast ki aradhya (the worshipable entity of all).

The Vedas state:

कृष्णेन आराध्यते इति राधा
Krishnena ārādhyate iti rādhā

- Radhikopanishad

“That even Shree Krishna, the supreme worshipable entity, paratpar (the One beyond all), parabrahm (the Supreme Absolute Reality), even He constantly worships Radha tattva. Such is the glory of Radharani!”

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“I am making this yogurt. It should be very sweet! Probably Shyamsundar will come tomorrow to my house to steal the yogurt! Or I will go to sell the yogurt towards that side, probably Shyamsundar would come towards that side!”

The whole night she was thinking about Shyamsundar when she was making the yogurt. In the morning when she made the butter, all the time she was thinking about Shyamsundar. She could not sleep for even one second. If she could not sleep the whole night, then how can Shree Krishna sleep?

ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् ।
Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante.

- Gita 4.11

He could also not sleep. He was also waiting that as soon as the sun would be seen and it is morning time, then,

“I will go to the Gopi to give My love to her.”

He is desperate to give love,and she is desperate to have love of Shree Krishna. When Shree Krishna goes, and she is selling the yogurt, her mind is thinking about Shyamsundar only,

“Lo dahi! Lo dahi!”

She forgot because she was thinking about Shyamsundar; that’s why He started saying,

“Lo Shyamsundar! Lo Govinda! lo Madhav!”

विक्रेतुकामाखिलगोपकन्यामुरारिपादार्पितचित्तवृत्तिः।
दध्यादिकं मोहवशादवोचद्गोविन्द दामोदर माधवेति॥3॥

Vikretu kāmākhila Gopakanyā, Murāri pādārpithchithvruttih,
Dadhyādikaṃ moh vashād avochad, Govind, Dāmodar Mādhavethi. (3)

- Shree Govind Damodar Stotram

He started taking the name of Shree Krishna, then Shree Krishna thinks,

“If I will not give darshan to this Gopi now, then she will sell Me because she forgot about anything! She will sell Me!”

Then He had to come over there. When Shyamsundar comes to the Gopi, the one who is waiting whole night, and who made the yogurt with this feeling that probably He will eat this yogurt. He will snatch it from me or He will steal this yogurt from me! She was thinking whole night about all these things, but when Shree Krishna says,

“Sakhi, give Me a little bit of yogurt!”

(The Gopi said), “I am not here to donate it. I am selling it. Okay? Get out from here! I cannot give You the yogurt!

Shyamsundar says, “Give Me a little bit!”

Shyamsundar is small and His hands are also very small; He doesn’t have any pot. He has only His little hands, and He is begging for the yogurt just like how much would come in His hand, but still the Gopi is not giving! Why? Because she wants to have more darshan (Divine Vision) of Shree Krishna. If she will immediately give the yogurt, then He may go. But if she is saying,

“No, I will not give! I will not give You,” and He is asking again and again, and then when she thinks,

“If I will not give the yogurt or the butter, whatever He is asking for, then He will go.”

Then she says, “Okay, if You are insisting so much, then I can give You, but on one condition!

Shree Krishna says, “What?”

“You have to dance first! Show Your dance! After that I will give You a little yogurt!”

So Thakur Ji (beloved Lord Krishna) dances. An ordinary dancer also needs some music, some orchestra, some stage, some costumes, etc., but Thakur Ji has no orchestra, no stage, no special costumes, nothing at all. (He has to dance) just on the floor. And what is the orchestra? Clapping. The Gopis are clapping. So on the rhythm of the claps of the Gopis He is dancing.

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So looking at these two types of meditation, one is actually natural. Affectional meditation is heart-centered, not brain-centered. You do not love someone from your brain; your heart melts for them. So affectional meditation is very natural. We do it all the time. And intellectual meditation actually goes against the flow of the mind because what we are trying to do is have the mind stop. That is what we really want,

“Just stop! You are thinking too much! You are thinking about all the things I do not want to think about. Stop!”

I am just generalizing about intellectual meditation. Through these various techniques that is what we are trying to do - stop the mind. But affectional meditation achieves the same result more naturally by thinking deeply about something. Not thinking about nothing, but engrossing your mind in loving remembrance of God. It actually quiets the mind. It quiets it of material thoughts, but you are still having devotional thoughts or Divine thoughts. Material thoughts agitate the mind, but devotional thoughts, any thought we have about our relationship with God, because it is a deep truth, calms the mind at its deepest level.

So affectionately and deeply remembering our relationship with God is called bhakti (Divine loving devotion) in Sanskrit (ancient sacred language of India). It is actually a path to God. So simple, right? How do you reach God? You deeply and affectionately remember God. That is the path. That is it. Nothing more. That is called the path of bhakti, which in English we could say Divine love devotion. And when you are sitting and meditating, we call it Divine love meditation.

So what are you doing? You are meditating on your relationship with God. That is it. So how do you do that? You can think of it in terms of your relationships in the world. What kinds of relationships do we have? Brother to brother, brother to sister, son to father, son to mother, daughter to father, daughter to mother, best friends, mother to child, mother to son, mother to daughter, father to daughter, father to son, beloved to beloved. We have all of these different relationships in the world, and our heart likes all of these relationships. None of us wants just one of these relationships. We like all of them.

We like having a loving mother. We like having a loving father. I am speaking ideally. Maybe you do not have that relationship, perhaps that particular place is not filled. Ideally, we would love to have that, and friendship, and beloved-to-beloved affection, and child-to-parent affection. We like all of those relationships. They are all dear to our hearts, and we have all of those relationships with God already.

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So the Shree Krishna whom Vasudev brought and the Shree Krishna who was born of Yashoda Maiya, who appeared before Yashoda Maiya, both the Krishnas merged into one.

Vasudev even could not see this as he was walking in with little baby Krishna in his arms, in his embrace, through yogamaya (Divine spiritual power), the Divine power of the Lord, he did not see what was happening. This Krishna in his arms became the Krishna of Yashoda Maiya.

So Yashoda Maiya’s Krishna actually came and merged into the Krishna who was in the arms of Vasudev, and Vasudev was thinking that he was simply placing the baby boy he had brought, his Krishna, and taking the girl. That is all he saw. And Yashoda Maiya had no notion that she had given birth. How come?

The Lord, through His yogamaya, once again through His Divine power, through His swaroop shakti (intrinsic Divine power), made Yashoda Maiya feel so tired after labor that she could not even open her eyes. So the child was born and she was sound asleep, therefore she did not know who was born.

But did Krishna really go inside the mother’s womb? Well, we have the Brahma Vaivarta Puran and Garbha Samhita, which explain that both the ‘birth’ and the ‘actions’ are all Divine.

It is stated,

वायुगर्भा कलावती अयोनिसम्भवा देवी, वायु गर्भ कलावती ।
Vayu garbh kalāvati ayoni sambhavā Devi, vayu garbha kalāvati.

This is from Garg Samhita. Ayoni means ‘not born from a womb’ in the ordinary sense. Vayu garbh means ‘air-filled womb’. Vayu means ‘air’. Air was placed into the mother’s womb, and every month the mother would feel the baby growing bigger inside the womb. Through His yogamaya (Divine spiritual power), the Lord made the mother feel that the child was in the womb. The womb was filled with air, and the Lord remained absolutely unattached. He was not physically bound there. But the mother did not know that it was only air, and likewise in the heart of Devaki ji and in the heart of Yashoda Maiya, the Lord made them experience His real presence in the hriday (heart). He made them experience His true presence.

This is described in Brahma Vaivarta Puran.

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यथा तरोर्मूलनिषेचनेन तृप्यन्ति तत्स्कन्धभुजोपशाखा: ।
Yathā taror mūla-niṣhechanen tṛipyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśhākhāḥ.

- Bhagwatam 4.31.14

He says that if there’s a big tree and you take water and just pour it on the root, the whole tree will get the water. The trunk, the bark, the branches, the twigs, the leaves, the fruit, the flowers - everything will get the water if you just pour it on the root. But if you take the same water and sprinkle it on all the leaves, neglecting to pour it on the root, the tree’s going to dry up and die.

Similarly, if you just worship Shree Krishna directly, all the other celestial gods, even other forms of God, they’re all satisfied and happy because He’s the root. He’s Adi Purush (the original Supreme Person). So we shouldn’t have the idea,

“Oh, if I don’t worship celestial gods, I’ll be disrespecting them or they’ll be unhappy,” something like that.

Their boss is Krishna. They’re happy if you’re worshiping the boss, okay? Just do bhakti (devotion) to Shree Krishna. All the celestial gods, all the material powers, they’re all happy. All the Divine powers are happy, let alone material powers. This is ananyata. It means exclusive devotion to only one. Keep in mind that the Divine forms of God are not many. They’re one, but appearing in many forms. You should never get confused thinking there are many gods. There’s only one God, but that one God appears in many forms.

Then Shree Krishna reveals a very important philosophy about His grace. He says, first of all:

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रिय: |
Samo ’haṁ sarvabhūteṣhu na me dveṣhyo ’sti na priyaḥ.

- Gita 9.29

In the first line of the shlok (sacred verse) He says,

“I am samadarshi (one who sees everyone equally),” which means, “I look upon all the same. I don’t favor anyone, nor do I oppose anyone. I don’t love anyone or hate anyone. I’m just neutral. I’m the same towards everybody.”

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A Gopi (cowherd maiden devotee of Krishna) took a piece of paper in hand and wanted to write something. But this Gopi is absolutely illiterate. She doesn’t know how to sign her name, so how can she write a letter? Holding the paper, she is very, very seriously thinking about what to do.

And she enters into this ecstatic state where her entire body is horripilating, shaking, shivering. The temperature of virah (Divine separation), the fire of separation, is burning so much in her heart that her whole body is set on fire. Literally, she is burning. The temperature is so high. The tears are rushing down her cheeks. Big, big drops of tears are coming, washing away the kajal (eyeliner) that she had applied to her eyes. This Gopi, holding the piece of paper, does not know what to do. She has entered into samadhi (deep Divine absorption), into roopdhyan (meditation on the Divine form), into great samadhi of Krishna, thinking of Shree Krishna when He had gone to Mathura.

So the Gopi’s tears are running down. (There are) hot, hot tears in virah, and cold, cold tears in union. This is virah. This is separation. So hot, hot tears, like acid, are dropping. Hot tears washing away the kajal are falling on the paper which she is holding. Down below, where she was holding the paper, it is all burnt due to her body temperature - virah temperature. And it has left the burnt marks of her fingerprints. And the tears that had rolled, washing away the kajal, had fallen on the top of this paper. It had melted the paper over there. There are bumps created. In some places, it is even torn. And the kajal marks are everywhere, splashed all over the paper.

And then the Gopi becomes conscious. Somebody was leaving for Mathura very soon. So quickly the Gopi folds the paper, not realizing what is happening, and she gives it to this person to hand over to Shree Krishna in Mathura. The person takes it, and Shree Krishna opens the letter and reads it. How could He read it when nothing was written? Because of the burnt marks of the fingerprints He knows the temperature of virah. And the tears that had melted the paper and the kajal that had washed away - it is not any water. It is the kajal. And Krishna can see the virah of the Gopi, the pangs of separation, the fire of separation. The temperature is so high. This Gopi is so desperate in her longing, in her love for her Divine Beloved Krishna. She could not give it to anyone else to write the letter because this is something so personal, so very personal. Thus, Shree Krishna read the Gopi.

This is Gopi prem. This is how personal and how intimate our heart’s love for our Beloved should be. It is very pure. It has nothing to do with the physical. It is all with our soul, our soul Beloved. He is seated within us. He is nowhere else. He is seated within us. But to drink Divine love, we have to bring Him before us. The milk within the cow’s udder is of no use until it is milked out and then consumed, making one healthy. Where is the Lord? He is in our hearts. But He is not available to us because we do not remember Him. So we have Him in form outside and then bring Him in again, and remind ourselves of His presence all the time, consciously, that ‘He is with me. My protector is watching me, and have the deep love of your heart for Him all the time’.

This is Gopi prem.

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कृष्णेन आराध्यते इति राधा I
Krishnen aradhyate iti Radha.

- Radhikopanishad

Radha’s name has two meanings. One is the one who is worshipped by Supreme Brahm (the Supreme Absolute Truth), Shree Krishna, and in the words of Shree Krishna,

…राधैवाराध्यते मया I
…Rādhaivārādhyate mayā 8

- Radha Stotram

“I worship only Radha.”

But Radha’s name also means,

अनयाराधितो नूनं भगवान् हरिरीश्वर: ।
Anayārādhito nūnaṁ bhagavān harirīśhvaraḥ.

- Bhagwatam 10.30.28

“Radha is the one who worships Shree Krishna.”

So Radha means the one who worships Krishna, and Radha means the one who is worshipped by Shree Krishna.

That Radharani (the Divine Queen Radha) and Shree Krishna both descended on Earth. They descend many times, over and over again; They take avatar (Divine descension).

However, it doesn’t happen as often as you would think. Radha Krishna visited our earth planet once in a day of Brahma (the cosmic creator). A kalpa (a day of Brahma) is 4.32 billion years. Brahma’s one day. When you include his night, which comes before his next day, it’s 8.64 billion years between each avatar of Radha and Krishna. So, taking that into account, Their most recent descension is very recent. It’s only 5,000 years ago. Shree Krishna descended in 3228 BCE, and Radharani came, in this avatar; She came one year before Him, in 3229 BCE.

Every time They come, there are slight differences. Sometimes Shree Krishna may come first, sometimes Radharani may come first. In this case, Radha came first. She appeared in the village of Barsana (the Divine abode of Radha on Earth). And the God-realized Saints, King Vrishabhanu and Queen Kirti, got to have Her as their daughter.

Although She is the mother of the whole universe. Just like Shree Krishna is the father of the whole universe, when They take avatar, two lucky Saints, or in the case of Shree Krishna, four lucky Saints, two mothers, two fathers, get to become Their parents.

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Bring the Divine form in your mind and in your heart. Doing roopdhyan (meditation on the Divine form), remembering the Divine love, the Divine pastimes, the Divine glories, the Divine beauty of the Divine beloved Lord. Chant His glories, listen to His Divine pastimes, etc.

Shravan (hearing Divine knowledge and pastimes) and kirtan bhakti (devotional singing and chanting) are the greatest helpers to get our sumiran bhakti (constant Divine remembrance) strong. That’s the aim, to get Sumiran strong. The remembrance, through the roopdhyan, and the roopdhyan, may become so very easy to us with this practice of sadhana. So of course, sadhana practice needs an atmosphere like this. A separate time has to be dedicated. It’s not that you just do sadhana when you are talking, walking, and going to work. No, you need to allot time. There is karm sannyas sadhana (renunciation-based spiritual practice while performing actions). That is known as karm sannyas sadhana.

Karm sannyas sadhana is extremely important because the moment you start to practice your sadhana in the correct manner, by having your mind practice the sadhana, that is the only thing that you’ve got to remember.

Who is going to practice sadhana? Not your body, not your tongue, not your senses - your mind. The mind needs to be attached. That attachment needs to be built by continuously longing and yearning for the darshan (Divine vision), for the love, for the seva (loving service) of the Lord, doing roopdhyan.

If we correctly practice sadhana with the mind, then the purification of our hearts and minds will naturally start to happen.

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“Oh God, it seems he has come from the dham (Divine abode) of our Beloved.”

So they all gathered - all the gopis gathered.

You know, when you throw sweets, you don’t have to give personal invitations to the ants, do you? So likewise, when Uddho came, no personal invitation was needed. All the gopis just came. And they’re already in that intoxicated state all the time. So no gopi has even this mind to say,

“Hey sakhi (female friend), you come! Hey Lalita, you come! Hey Vishakha, you come!”

No, no. They all went in their own state of intoxication. And they are standing surrounding Uddhava. And Uddhava starts talking about his brahm gyān (knowledge of the absolute). And then the gopis could not tolerate it anymore. So they said:

श्याम तन, श्याम मन, श्याम ही हमारो धन,
आठों याम उधऔ हमें श्याम ही सों काम है ।
श्याम हिये श्याम जिये श्याम बिनु नाहिं तिये,
आँधेकी-सी लाकरी आधार श्याम नाम है ।
श्याम गति श्याम मति श्याम ही हैं प्रानपति,
श्याम श्याम रटत सखल ब्रज धाम हैं ।
…वगैरह

Shyam tan Shyam man Shyam hai hamaro dhan,
Āṭho yām Uddhau hameṇ Shyam hī soṇ kām hai.
Shyam hiye Shyam jiye Shyam binu nāhiṇ tiye,
Āṁdhekī-sī lãkrī ādhār Shyam nām hai.
Shyam gati Shyam mati Shyam hī haiṇ prānapati,
Shyam Shyam raṭat sakhal Braj dhām haiṇ
…etc.

- Sur Sagar, Shree Surdas Ji

“Shree Krishna is our body, He is our mind, He is our wealth! O Uddhao! All the 24 hours we only have a concern with Him! Shyam is our heart! He is the very breath of our life! Without Him we can have no satisfaction. Like the walking stick of a blind man, the name of Shyam is my sole support. He is our ultimate refuge, Shyam is the guiding intellect, and Shyam alone is the Lord of life; The entire realm of Braj resounds with the ceaseless chanting of “Shyam, Shyam!”

So Udho says, “Where is Kanhaiya?”

And these gopis were crying. Literally, they were crying. They were totally out of control. They were rolling on the sands,

“Ha Shyam! Ha Shyam!”

And one moment I see this, and the next moment I am seeing them talking to Shyam Sundar. They are laughing. They are rolling in laughter. Again, they are rolling in the sands of Braj out of joy. And they are talking to Shyam Sundar.

“Shyam Sundar, can You pick up this basket for me and put it on my head?”

“Hey Kanhaiya, You dance, and then I will give You balls of butter!”

Etc., etc.

Uddho cannot see Kanhaiya. And then his head started reeling. Uddho is thinking,

“Where am I? Where have I come? Where has Krishna sent me to? To all these illiterate minds of Braj who are absolutely, absolutely mental cases? Crazy! They’ve got a disease, it seems, where they have started to see and talk with Shyam Sundar!”

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