In the previous episode, we had been at an important juncture and a transition point in the divine incarnation of Bhagawan Krishna – He’s at a tipping point where He’s going to move from “Phase 1” to “Phase 2” of His incarnation. Phase 1 was for ten years – His childhood days, which He happily spent at Gokula as the son of Nandagopa and Mother Yashoda. We had witnessed this phase in a great detail for over 45 episodes here. As Bhagawan Bala-Krishna is now ten years old, it is time for Him to move on with His other important duties. It is at this same time, Akroora enters the scene and is about to escort Bhagawan Krishna and Balarama from Gokula to Mathura. However, as Bhagawan Bala-Krishna is about to leave Gokula, the entire village is heart-broken! How can they leave their Bhagawan to go away just like that? As Bhagawan Krishna prepares Himself to leave, all the villagers including Bhagawan Bala-Krishna’s childhood friends, the Gopikas, etc. start scolding Akroora left, right and center. They vent out all their frustration on poor Akroora, who was at the forefront of everything! He suddenly became the “villain” in all of Gokula people’s hearts, for the sole reason that he’s taking Bhagawan Bala-Krishna away from them!
However, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna convinces all of them by saying that He would have to leave because it was the order of the king, and that, He had no other option but to obey the king’s instruction. He assures the Gokula people that He would certainly come back to all of them once the order of Kamsa is executed. As He said thus, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna gets on to the chariot and is driven away by Akroora towards Mathura. The entire Gokula village is dejected! Everybody had tears in their eyes and were unable to control their hard feelings. The Gopikas were devastated beyond words! They wanted to be alongside Bhagawan for their entire lifetime, but all of a sudden, Bhagawan left all of them alone, to fend for themselves! The entire village sank into despair.
It was interesting to note even in yesterday’s episode that Bhagawan Bala-Krishna assured the Gokula village that He would come back to them at some point in time, but He never did that even once after this day. However, the Gokula people got impinged on to Bhagawan’s heart forever! Wherever Bhagawan Krishna went after this day, He carried all His Gokula people along with Him. He was emotionally mixed with Gokula, although He was not physically present amongst them. This shows clearly how Bhagawan Bala-Krishna gave practical lessons on “Detachment” to the Gokula people, even before He spoke at length about it in His Bhagawad Gita much later! The message is very clear – “Getting attached to even the physical form of Bhagawan or the Guru will itself pull us down in our spiritual progress!” We might wonder how is this possible? Why shouldn’t we get attached even towards Bhagawan’s beautiful physical form? Isn’t it only wrong that we do not get attached to worldly affairs? The answer is very simple – We’ve to internalize Bhagawan within us. If we do so, even the physical form of Bhagawan in front of us wouldn’t matter! This is the highest lesson in spirituality that Bhagawan Krishna is trying to teach the Gokula people, and in turn, all of us as well!
As days progressed, whenever He’s free, Bhagawan Krishna thinks of Gokula and the people and sheds tears of love and compassion. Once, Uddhava, Bhagawan Krishna’s minister at Dwaaraka spotted Bhagawan in tears and asked Him for the reason. Bhagawan kept silent and didn’t answer Uddhava at that moment. However, He explained to Uddhava how He was so dear to the people of Gokula and how they’re missing His divine presence a lot. At that point, Uddhava didn’t understand the significance of what Bhagawan was explaining to HIm. Later on, after many years, Bhagawan Krishna once sent Uddhava to Gokula to check out on the people as to whether they still remember Him or not. Uddhava was also damn sure that the people would have forgotten Bhagawan Krishna by now! He thus goes and enquires to the Gopikas that whether they remember Him or not! To His dismay, the moment the Gopikas heard the name of “Krishna”, all of them jumped up immediately with immense joy and eagerly asked about Him to Uddhava! As Uddhava mentioned to them that Bhagawan Krishna is now the king of Dwaaraka, the Gopikas were immensely happy! They shed tears of joy and appreciated Uddhava’s words that Bhagawan still remembers all of them intact, and that this was what they were longing to hear. Although they didn’t see Bhagawan physically, they were so happy because they had internalized Bhagawan within them and they spent every moment of their time only with Bhagawan Krishna! Upon seeing this reaction from the Gopikas, Uddhava really understood what the Gopikas mean to Bhagawan Krishna!
So for today, let us understand these important lessons of “Detachment from Bhagawan’s physical form” and “Internalizing Bhagawan within us”, through this event of Bhagawan Bala-Krishna leaving Gokula forever. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 