Gita Govinda: Jayadeva

The Gita Govinda is a work composed by 12th century poet Jayadeva.  It describes the relationship between Krishna and gopis (gopikas) of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha.

The work delineates the love of Krishna for Radha, the milkmaid, his faithlessness and subsequent return to her, and is taken as symbolical of the human soul's straying from its true allegiance but returning at length to the God which created it.

Srī Radha --- is a maha bhava - 'an ecstatic concept about an exquisite beauty...' and she is the cynosure of this mini-epic gita govindam or Gita Govinda of Jayadeva

This work Gita Govindam is a lyrical dance-drama, plussed with the then romantics, poetic aesthetics and what not with a theme of vipralambha sringara - anguish in separation and joy in uniting of divine couple rādha and Krishna. The poet sings to the joy of Krishna, wishing him to be always joyous togetherness of rādha, addressing him variously like Govinda, Maadhava, Hari, Keshava etc., according to the situation, and hence it is called Gita Govindam, like bhaja govindam i.e., devout yourself unto Govinda. For easy comprehension we have put all the names as Krishna. And rādha is none else than Krishna, the very fount of his lila sakti creative power. She transmutes his glory into prema ananda, the zenith of blissful happiness, in which alone he takes pleasure. This is the idea of gita govindam.

That being the viewpoint of Absolute Theology, taking hold of Applied Theology our poet Jayadeva brings rādha a little closer to our nature, under the ozone sphere within this Earthly Nature that which is also crafted by that God for our habitation, to depict her romance with Krishna to our viewpoint. Hence, rādha can be construed as Queen Nature, in a way of interpretation of this mini-epic.

The dancing, singing, frolicking and merrymaking of Krishna with this type of unique milkmaids is rasa lila, rasa kriDa. This dancing in a circle, a ronde dance as we call it, in itself is a particular dance, by the singing of many milkmaids to the fluting of one Krishna. This happens only in Brindavan, all- holy woodland with thickets of basil plants, conceived only for the congregation of such milkmaids for their communion with Krishna.

As heat is to fire, as cold is to ice, as sweetness to honey so are god's qualities to himself, so is rādha to Krishna. rādha, or rādhika, is Krishna's power brought into play so that he may have a partner in his game, who may supersensuously share his love. Her love is the highest possible, and it is when identified with her as the Supreme Lover of God that the soul attains perfection. 'Just as Krishna is essentially god and beyond Nature, so too is rādha  essentially god, immaculate...' naarada pancaraatra. She is the power by which god creates, herself remaining beyond what he creates through her. She remains ever immaculate even while manifesting through Nature's three 'modes' sattva, rajo, tamo, gunNa-s, or subtle elements; she cannot be bound by the laws of their interaction, for she is the source of their activity  The Gospel of Narada.

On an autumnal full moon night, the gopi-s or gopika-s, or milkmaids, attracted by the flute of Krishna, went out of their homes and met him in the groves of Brindavan. He first tried to send them back, but failed. Then the raasa began on the beach of Yamuna, and when the gopika-s were besides themselves with ecstasy, Krishna suddenly disappeared from the scene. When they came to know of this, their sorrow knew no bounds. They searched for him in every grove, bewailing all the while. When they came back... he suddenly reappeared in their midst. The dance was resumed... they roamed... played... bathed in Yamuna waters...

gopika-s or the milkmaids in Brindavan are not mere girlish milkmaids, but they are all saints and sages in their earlier incarnation, or the Veda-s themselves, so says the tradition. And Krishna according his proximity to each one, wants to satisfy every soul. On such an occassion of rasa lila or rasa kriDa Krishna had to deviate from rādha in this ronde dance, in order to satisfy others. rādha's femininity spews fire at Krishna.

The sexual principle is a misunderstood symbol of Reality. It can no more be banished from our consciousness than consciousness itself. The male and female forms are also not the sole and distinctive possessions of this world. There is Reality behind them as well. The soul has a body which is symbolized by the female form and which is absolutely free from any unwholesome material association.  /

The ascetic's repugnance to the female form prevents an unprejudiced examination of the female sex that is a necessary factor of our conception of amorous love. This amorous love is the highest subject of human poetry and the most powerful factor in all human activities. Its worthlessness is not established by refusing to recognize it as a part of our nature. It would be much more to the purpose to try to understand what it really is. The Srtmad-Bhdgavatam is the only book that answers this all-important question. 

The worship of Sri Radha-Krsna is held by some modern thinkers to be dangerous, and even immoral. They apparently take exception to the erotic element, which is the prominent aspect of the highest worship of Sri Radha- Krishna. 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu teaches us that it is obligatory for everyone to pay homage to spiritual amour that characterizes the highest service of the Divine Person. This is the central topic of Srtmad-Bhdgavatam, which deals with the transcendental service of the Personal Absolute. 

Spiritual amour is the highest service to Divinity in his most complete manifestation. The real Nature of Divine Personality can never be fully understood by those who are unable to appreciate the pre-eminent excellence

of his service by amorous love.

The conception of personality that is available to us in this world necessarily refers to the gross human physique combined with convention-ridden humanmentality. These two are the definite contents of the conception.Man is connected with the entities of this world for the satisfaction of the needsof his body and mind by five varieties of relationship. These five modes exhaustall possible forms of such relationship. A person may stand in the relationship of impartiality to other human beings; however, the emotional forms of relationshipmay be said to begin with the relationship of the servant towards his master.This is characterized by the sentiment of distant respect for the master. Therelationship of friendship is closer than that of servitude. Parenthood is still more intimate. Consorthood, as of the wife or mistress to her husband or lover, is the

most intimate and comprehensive form of relationship possible with another entity. The chain of relationships is completed by the reciprocal relationships ofmaster to servant, friend to friend, child to parents, husband or lover to wife or sweetheart.

There is no reason not to believe that the five forms of relationship are alsoinseparable concomitants of the personality of the Absolute Being. However,they are free from the fetters of the gross physical body and materialistic mind.

Consorthood, as of the wife or mistress of this world, is not eligible by itself to set the tune for other relationships. Mundane consorthood is compelled to shrink, at least outwardly, into the strictly private and personal corner of theaffairs of this world. It is not welcomed for influencing other activities in an

explicit manner. It can act openly only within the limits of extreme privacy.

Consorthood is nevertheless recognized as imparting its deepest charm to life in a world in which it would not be worth living devoid of this relationship. 

Everyone in this world is however compelled to repress, more or less, the working of this admittedly deepest principle of his individual nature, on account of the opposition of the uncongenial environment in the shape of the defective organs, through which it has to be exercised. But this cannot condemn the principle itself

that is the ruling force of life. It operates with no less predominance, but with less weight of responsibility, by being driven underground by the blind opposition of an unsympathetic environment and gross sense organs.