GOPI'S LOVE(true love of a devotee) 2 minutes read

 

Many people are mistaken in their belief that thel love between Krishna and the Gopi's was of an ordinary nature on the physical level. This was not so. Their love was on the higher spiritual level. When the Gopi’s merely thought of Him, they were lost in Him and were raised to such a state of ecstasy that, for the time being, they forgot their bodies and their surroundings. All worldlyinclinations, desires and thoughts were drowned in that ecstasy. The physical pains and attachments to the nearest kith and kin were all obliterated.

Once it so happened that a Gopi asked her daughter in- law to light the lamp in the house, getting fire from a neighboring house. In those days, there were no electric lights or even match-boxes. Fire was made by striking flint or rubbing two pieces of wood against each other. The daughter-in-law went with a cotton wick soaked in oil to light it from the lamp at the neighbor’s house. She placed the wick on the fire when, just at that moment, somebody said, "Krishna is at the door." Her eyes turned towards the door and she beheld Krishna standing there. She was so struck by the sight of Krishna that she stood gazing at Him, oblivious of time and the fact that her hand was holding the wick over the fire. The wick having taken fire was burning. The flame was licking her fingers, but she was not aware of it. She did not feel the pain, for she was unconscious of her body. The mother-in law, finding after a long wait that her daughter-in law did not come, went to see what the matter was. She saw her looking at Krishna, entranced and enchanted by His presence, although her fingers were burning. That was the love of Gopi's for Krishna, their Adored One . Their love was of the purest and the holiest type. Devotees reach this climax of love when they are utterly absorbed in God - their heart's Beloved.