Hare Kṛṣṇa,
This lesson beautifully captures the gopīs’ fervent prayers to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, beseeching Him to accept their devotion. A characteristic of a pure devotee is that he or she becomes an expert poet, for bhakti naturally blossoms into aesthetic expression. The gopīs’ use of vivid and meaningful metaphors to communicate their longing reveals both their literary genius and their unparalleled depth of love.
For example, they say ,”At the very beginning of our youth when we first caught sight of You, the seed of this creeper of our hopes, known as bhāva, was sent by Your lotus-like eyes (aravinda-netra) and entered through the openings of our eyes to become planted in the field of our hearts. This creeper of desire grew by the process of hearing about Your qualities and seeing Your beautiful form.” (SB 10.29.33, Sarartha Darsini)
Their love (bhava) in their hearts is pictured as a flourishing vine born from the seed of Krsna’s glance, watered by the process of hearing and remembrance about His qualities and seeing His beautiful form. How poetic!
The best metaphor I find in this lesson is the one below.
“With the sound of the flute You have entered our hearts through our ears and awakened the dormant fire of our desire. Then with the ghee of Your smile and the honey of Your glance, as well as with the wind of the flute’s melodious song, You inflamed that fire, threatening to devour our life airs. Therefore if You are afraid of the sinful reaction for starting such a fire, You should extinguish it. After all it is no labor for You to either incite it or extinguish it, since it is Your smiling glance which inflames that fire, and the nectar of Your lips that puts it out. Both these things reside in Your moon-like face. We have often seen the play of this mischievous prince, lighting and extinguishing fires. It is not just today that You are playing the game of starting fires.” (SB 10.29.35, Sarartha Darsini)
This same principle finds its perfect expression in the saṅkīrtana-yajña, the congregational chanting of the Holy Name.
Symbolically, the flute represents the divine sound vibration, analogous to the mahā-mantra in saṅkīrtana. The śabda-brahma (transcendental sound) enters through the ear and penetrates the heart, awakening the soul’s dormant love for Kṛṣṇa. Just as the gopīs’ hearts blazed with divine longing upon hearing the melody of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, our hearts too are spiritually kindled by the vibration of His holy name. In the same way that Kṛṣṇa’s smile, glance, and flute-song serve as ingredients that intensify the gopīs’ inner fire of love, the fire of saṅkīrtana-yajña within our hearts is fueled by repetition, attentiveness, devotion, and pure pronunciation of the Holy Name. And just as the gopīs pray for the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips to extinguish the fire of desire burning within their hearts, the chanter likewise prays for the nectar of the Holy Name to cool and cleanse the fire of material desires smoldering in the heart since time immemorial.
The rest of the lesson centers on the gopīs’ heartfelt prayers for eternal service at the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
The gopis said, “In this way You have made us Your lovers, but we desire simply the service of Your lotus feet… Just as Laksmi desires to give up her position as the dearmost to become Your menial servant, we feel likewise. Giving up all embarrassment, we desire to join Your servants like Raktaka, Patraka and others in massaging Your feet. Similarly, we are ready to accept positions lower than our own, like the Pulindas (aboriginal women) of Vrndavana, who rub the blades of grass tinged with the red kunkuma from Your feet on their foreheads.” (Sārārtha-darśini; SB 10.29.37)
The Vraja-gopis said, “Giving up our families, we desire to be Your servants like the devotees of Narayana. As You are similar to Narayana, You should be pleased with us… You should simply grant us the position of Your maidservants, rather than the status of wives.” (Sārārtha-darśini; SB 10.29.38)
Similarly, we chant the Holy Name in a prayerful mood, beseeching the Lord to kindly engage us in His service. It is most wonderful that Śrīla Prabhupāda rendered the meaning of the mahā-mantra in the very mood of the gopīs — as a heartfelt plea for loving service to the Lord.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 