Krishna ExperienceThe flute
The Rasa Panchadhyayi, five chapters of the Bhagavata Purana, tells this story, and it is often called the heart of the text. On the night of the autumn full moon, Krishna played his flute on the bank of the Yamuna. The gopis heard it in their homes. They left milk boiling on the stove, food half served, children half fed, make-up half done, and ran into the forest.
Krishna teased them: it was night, the forest was dangerous, their families needed them, they should go home. They wept and said they had no homes left; their hearts were with him.
The disappearance
They danced and played together, and the gopis began to feel proud that Krishna was theirs. At that moment he vanished, taking one gopi with him. The others searched the forest like madwomen, asking the trees and creepers where he had gone, acting out his leelas to feel close to him. They found his footprints beside a woman's, then found her alone; he had left her too.
Gathered on the riverbank, they sang the Gopi Gita, one of the most loved songs of longing in Sanskrit: Since you were born, Vraj has become more glorious than heaven... we are searching for you everywhere.
Join the RaasTake your place in the ring under the moon, in A Day in Vrindavan.The circle
Krishna reappeared, smiling. Then began the maha-raas: the gopis formed a great circle, and Krishna expanded himself so that a Krishna stood between every pair of gopis, each of whom felt he danced only with her. The gods crowded the sky to watch; the night, the text says, stretched on and on.
How to read it
The Bhagavata itself warns that this leela cannot be imitated and describes it as the purest love, in which the gopis wanted nothing for themselves. Bhakti teachers read it as the soul's longing for God, and the gopis as the highest devotees. In Vrindavan, Raas leela is still performed as sacred theatre by boy actors, and Nidhivan is believed to be where the dance continues every night.
Questions people ask
When did the Raas leela happen?
According to tradition, on Sharad Purnima, the full moon of the month of Ashvin (October). In 2027, Sharad Purnima is on 14 October.
What is the Gopi Gita?
The song of longing the gopis sing when Krishna disappears during the Raas, Bhagavata Purana 10.31.
Where did the Raas leela take place?
In the forests of Vrindavan by the Yamuna. Devotees associate Nidhivan and Seva Kunj, and Vanshivat, with the Raas.
Sources
- Bhagavata Purana, Canto 10, chapter 29
- Bhagavata Purana, Canto 10, chapter 31
- Bhagavata Purana, Canto 10, chapter 33