Singing Gopi-gita

View this short video of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja and Sripad Tirtha Maharaja singing Gopi-gita in Houston, 2007.

Making the Book

In the early 1990s, a small group of sannyasis and other disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada were regularly visiting Srila Bhaktivedanta  Narayana Gosvami Maharaja for guidance and instruction. Seated sometimes in his quarters in Vrndavana and sometimes in Mathura, Srila Narayana Maharaja answered their questions and explained to them the deep inner meanings of Srimad-Bhagavatam through the writings of our Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas (spiritual masters).  One of the main topics of discussion was Sri Gopi-gita, the gopis’ song of separation from Krishna, which they sang piteously after He had left the rasa-dance arena.

Five thousand years ago, the great sage Srila Sukadeva Gosvami mercifully revealed the gopis’ divine song during his recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam to the saintly King Pariksit, as they sat together on the banks of the Ganga among 88,000 sages and self-realized souls. Those Gopi-gita verses later manifested as Srimad-Bhagavatam’s Tenth Canto, Chapter Thirty-One.

A most elevated, sacred, and confidential subject, Gopi-gita is far beyond the comprehension of us conditioned souls. Therefore, with deep compassion, certain recipients of the gopis’ mercy have written commentaries on its verses. Srila Narayana Gosvami Maharaja explains, “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu respected Srila Sridhara Svami’s commentary. Using that as a foundation, Srila Sanatana Gosvami established Mahaprabhu’s beautiful mood of bhakti in his own commentary on the Tenth Canto. Srila Jiva Gosvami gave further light to that explanation with his Vaisnava-tosani commentary. And then, accepting both of those commentaries as remnants, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura extracted their ambrosial essence and composed his own.”

These acaryas’ commentaries were carefully handed down and taught by all the self-realized spiritual masters in disciplic succession, all of whom were immersed in the sublime truths therein. Then, in 1966, for the purpose of creating a worldwide platform upon which the troubled people of this Iron Age of quarrel and hypocrisy could access these hidden truths, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada carefully carried the ancient Vedic culture to the West. In his summary-study of Tenth Canto Srimad-Bhagavatam called “Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” he introduced the verses and commentaries of the gopis’ song in English, and also translated over sixty volumes of Vedic literature – to bring his worldwide audience to its gradual understanding.

Then, in order to further illuminate this divine topic, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja gave elaborate explanations of the acaryas’ contributions in his series of English discourses in the early 1990s. These were unique because, although he had previously spoken in Hindi on this subject, to his senior students in Vrndavana and Mathura, this series of discourses on Gopi-gita was the first and only time he spoke about it so extensively in English. He stated in his discourse on verse two: “Some of this explanation is from Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s commentary. There are also points that he has not explained, and in those cases I have taken the explanation from Srila Jiva Gosvami’s commentary and also from my heart.”

As mentioned earlier, Srila Maharaja’s English audience consisted of disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, and he revealed something to them of his own service to their Gurudeva. “I feel that I am serving him,” he told them. “I feel this in my heart. Therefore I do not care for my own time. I take it as my bhajana-sadhana that I am helping you all. I pray that he will bestow his mercy upon me, and that he will tell my Gurudeva also to bestow his mercy – because they were bosom friends.”

When some of the devotees in his audience suggested that a book be compiled of his wonderful discourses, he agreed, and he added that although the book would be available to all people and everyone would benefit, it would be especially precious to qualified persons.

Several years later, in 2005, while the editors were preparing the manuscript of his discourses, Srila Maharaja began his formal Hindi bhavanuvada translations* of the Sanskrit commentaries of Srila Sridhara Svami, Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura on Rasa-pancadhyayi. These five chapters, which describe Sri Krishna’s rasa dance, are considered to be panca-prana, the five life-airs of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The editors had the fortune of being able to read the English translation of Srila Maharaja’s pre-published manuscript of Gopi-gita, which is one of those five chapters, and that helped a great deal in preparing this presentation of his lectures.

*footnote on Bhavanuvada: Srila Narayana Maharaja’s translation is not a literal one. It is a bhavanuvada, an explanation of the moods of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami and the acaryas. It is an explanation of the deep meaning hidden in the commentaries of Srila Sridhara Svami, Srila Jiva Gosvami, and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.   

Srila Sridhara Svami’s commentary is entitled Bhavartha-dipika, which means “Illuminations on the Inner Meanings of the Moods.” Srila Jiva Gosvami is the author of the Vaisnava-tosani commentary, which means “Bringing Satisfaction to the Vaisnavas;” and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has given us Sarartha-darsini, meaning “Revealing the Essential Meanings.” The editors asked Srila Narayana Gosvami Maharaja if he would kindly give a name to the written form of his own discourses, his spoken commentary, and he named it Bhava-prakasika Vrtti, meaning “The Commentary Which Illuminates or Highlights the Transcendental Sentiments.”

Attached to the inside back cover, you will be pleased to find a CD of Srila Maharaja singing the nineteen verses of Gopi-gita, as well as the first two verses of the next chapter that describe Sri  Krishna reappearing to the gopis.  The CD also contains Srila Maharaja’s Hindi introduction to those Gopi-gita verses, and the translation of that introduction is given in the accompanying booklet. Finally, the CD also contains a few audio lectures given by Srila Maharaja in English, which elaborate on some of pastimes and philosophical truths surrounding Gopi-gita.

We humbly beg you to forgive any mistakes made by us in compiling Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja’s presentation. 

Aspiring for the service of Sri Guru and the Vaisnavas,

The editorial team
Gaura-purnima, 2009