Sakshi-gopala

By Krishna's Mercy

"Sakshi-gopala" is a collection of essays describing bhakti-yoga, the science of self-realization, and Krishna consciousness based off select verses from sacred Vedic texts like Bhagavad-gita, Ramayana, Chaitanya Charitamrita, and others.  Estimated length of 264 pages.

 

"The Lord heard the story of Sakshi-gopala with great pleasure because He wanted to impress upon the atheists that the worshipable Deities in the temples approved by the great acharyas are not idols, as alleged by men with a poor fund of knowledge." (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, Introduction)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Krishna's Mercy
• Release date: Nov 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223331889

Book preview

Krishna's Mercy

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Sakshi-gopala

Daily articles from October 2011

Copyright Krishna’s Mercy 2023

www.krishnasmercy.com

Contents

Look At This

Doubling Down

Sharing Gold

Dancing To Their Wish

Dussehra 2011

Creating Gods

From Snake to Swan

Sakshi-gopala

Won Over

Sum of Its Parts

Auspicious Invocation

Knowledge Means Power

Mahatma

I’m Ready For More

As I Understand It

Tinkling of Bells

On Second Thought

Say Krishna

Then Show Me

Always In Yoga

Unparalleled

Enjoying More

Good Day To Be Alive

Simple Living

Diwali 2011

Govardhana Puja 2011

Associated Risks

Endless Cash Flow

Tilaka

Ancient Parenting Guide

Purifying Through Presence

Look At This

Sometimes mother Yashoda and her gopi friends would tell Krishna, ‘Bring this article’ or ‘Bring that article.’ Sometimes they would order Him to bring a wooden plank, wooden shoes or a wooden measuring pot, and Krishna, when thus ordered by the mothers, would try to bring them. Sometimes, however, as if unable to raise these things, He would touch them and stand there. Just to invite the pleasure of His relatives, He would strike His body with His arms to show that He had sufficient strength. (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.11.8)

Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is worshiped in so many different ways, as there is both direct and indirect worship. When the conditioned soul is deluded by ignorance of his constitutional position, the meaning of life, his place relative to other living entities and objects, and how the repeating cycle of creation and destruction operates, indirect worship will take place. The vile hatred shown towards the religiously inclined, the vehement denial of the existence of God, the dogmatic insistence couched in the shelter of scientific evidence relating to evolution, and even the willful neglect of adherence to religious principles are all examples of indirect worship. Krishna, or God, is the supreme father, so how can anyone not be interacting with part of His creation at every second? In direct worship, however, the transcendental tastes are present; hence the pleasure that everyone seeks at every second of their existence is found at the highest level. Shri Krishna is intimately aware of these tastes and how they can be produced. Therefore, for the sincerest souls He takes the impetus to create as many unique situations as possible where the transcendental taste can be relished through personal interaction.

Can there be impersonal interaction with God? Yes, and it is another type of indirect worship. There is an intermediary stage where one understands that they are not capable of creating a sun, maintaining inconceivably large land masses and holding them in the air, and controlling the weather, but at the same time they don’t know who actually does maintain these things. Therefore at best they can worship an impersonal feature of the Lord, a sort of light of Truth. This method of worship is still superior to the indirect worship that takes place with those who completely deny the existence of a creator. Big bangs destroy; they don’t create. No one can take a series of chemicals and create life or even have a species evolve. Such theories are based only on outward perception, seeing visible outcomes and then trying to explain them with the paltry knowledgebase available to the human being.

How can we make this assertion with confidence? Just imagine if we could absorb every single experience belonging to every single person who ever existed into our brain. Would we then have perfect knowledge? We can find the answer from our own personal experience. How many people do we see that are much older than we are and yet they don’t have anything intelligent to share with us? They make mistake after mistake, find perpetual misery and angst, all the while not progressing towards any favorable condition. People older than us have had more experiences, i.e. they have fed more information into the computer that is the brain. But more information doesn’t always mean that the mind will know how to process what it is collecting. Through intoxication, gambling, meat eating, illicit sex and the feverish pursuit to secure sense gratification, the mind casts aside good judgment in favor of animal instincts. The human being may look down on the animals for their lack of intelligence, but when the same behavior is followed by the seemingly more intelligent human, the deficiency is ignored.

Even if we could collect knowledge of every experience, we’d have no way of creating something like the sun. It is just there. We know some of its properties, but we have no idea how to create it. Since we can’t even create a miniature version of the sun, what do we really know about the universe? Mind you, to create a replica of the sun, you’d have to make an object that remains in place, gives off heat and light, and does not require any maintenance whatsoever. This means that this miniature sun cannot have an external fuel source. This paradoxical combination of properties is impossible to create, yet man somehow thinks he can control the weather or evolve the species.

The mental pursuits to try to supplant God’s authority are also a type of indirect worship. To better understand how this operates, let’s say that we had young children and they constantly played with the toys that we bought them. After playing and playing, they might generate their own theories as to where the toys came from and how to find happiness in their environment. There is no direct worship of the parents, who are the suppliers in this case, but the playing field still could never be created without the intervention of the superior entities, the parents. Just through their play the children perform some type of worship of their superiors, but there is no transcendental taste; there is no personal interaction.

The behavior of atheists and those who ignore God’s influence is similar to the children in this regard. If you take a young child to the store and they see that you pay for a specific item by swiping your credit card, the child may think that this is how to pay for things. Just take out your card and swipe. What that transaction actually represents is not accounted for. That the credit card company will send a bill later on asking for the amount of the purchased item to be paid is unknown to the child. Even if the parent pays with cash, the child has no concept of what it took to earn that money, where it came from.

Similarly, the scientists going off of simple sense perception and the documented perceptions and theories of others have no idea where matter comes from and what its purpose is. Rather, they look only at the results and then try to manipulate them for their own benefit. Sadly, if they simply changed the beneficiary of their activity, they could find true happiness. The person who grants us these objects does not do so to punish. If everything around us is used for His favor, eternal felicity can be found. Moreover, the proper knowledgebase will be uncovered as well.

There are often debates as to what constitutes intelligence, i.e. how do we tell if someone is smart. There is really no need for any disagreement in this area, as the proper assessment is very easy to make. An intelligent person is one who can best use their knowledge to further their specific purpose. If one person knows a lot about quantum physics and the laws of mathematics, what does their knowledge gain them if their aim in life is to raise children and have a happy family life? Their intelligence may get them a good job which provides a high salary, but if they don’t know how to properly treat their family members and how to oversee their dependents, how smart can they really be?

In this respect, the most intelligent person is one who can use whatever they have around them to further life’s ultimate mission, that of becoming God conscious. Instead of creating theories denying the existence of God, if we simply do something sincerely in the right direction and show the Lord what we have done, the benefits are real and last beyond the present lifetime. A beloved child is one who interacts with their parents, almost annoying them in a sense. Dad, look at this. I made this today. Mom, do you remember yesterday when I did that? Dad, green is my favorite color. Mom, look, I finished all my food.

These are seemingly meaningless accomplishments and statements, but to the parents they provide tremendous pleasure. They warm the heart. The direct worship is there, as the interaction is genuine, with not even a hint of a desire to deny the authority of the parents. Direct interaction with God involves similar statements, except that we tell the Lord how much we have remembered Him. This is best done by regularly chanting, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. We also show to the Lord that we have given up sinful behavior, that we try to think about Him as much as we can. These aren’t much in terms of accomplishments, but if the effort is sincere, the pleasure derived by the reservoir of pleasure is unmatched.

Since He knows His creation and the tendencies of its inhabitants very well, when Krishna chooses to personally interact with the purest devotees, He assumes roles that He knows will evoke tremendous pleasure all around. This was quite evident during His childhood in Vrindavana. Can God have a childhood? Can the person who is unborn, undying and formless ever appear anywhere? God is formless, but not in the way that we’d think. He has spiritual attributes, features which aren’t limited in the way that ours are. Krishna has hands that He can use to accept food offerings. Krishna’s ears can hear everything in this world, even though we can’t visibly see His ears. If He chooses, Krishna can come to earth in a seemingly human form and delight the purest souls, who have no desire for material attachment or temporary gains.

When He appeared on earth some five thousand years ago, Krishna spent His childhood years in Vrindavana. Mother Yashoda, who was actually Krishna’s foster mother, derived tremendous pleasure from having Krishna as her son. Sometimes she would ask Krishna to bring this item or that, to carry wooden shoes or a wooden measuring pot. With children, the simplest tasks can be performed with the greatest eagerness. The parents love to see this enthusiasm, as the most menial task performed with love gives them delight. The same God who is unattainable by mystic yoga, study of Vedanta, and steep penances and austerities was being asked to carry trivial items by Mother Yashoda. One can only imagine how happy she must have felt.

Sometimes Krishna would not be able to lift these items. Rather than reveal His apparent weakness, Krishna would just stand by the item and pound His chest, to show that He did have enough strength. Who in Vrindavana could ever be unhappy with Mother Yashoda’s darling around to please their eyes? Krishna would hatch elaborate plots with His friends to steal the butter supply safely hidden away in the neighbors’ homes. The cowherd women, the gopis, would complain to Mother Yashoda, but then they would ask her not to punish Krishna. This means that they really liked the attention Krishna gave them. They liked seeing His beautiful, sweet smiling face, His divine vision that chases away any hint of pride that could ever exist in anyone.

The cowherd women of Vrindavana were the most intelligent because they used whatever knowledge they had to interact with Krishna. Even though they didn’t know Krishna’s divinity, they got to directly worship the Supreme Lord. Not only did they derive pleasure from Shyamasundara’s association, but Krishna manipulated events in just the right way so that He could take great pleasure too. Whoever keeps that sweet vision of Krishna bringing objects to Mother Yashoda regularly in their mind will never have to repeat the cycle of birth and death again. Reincarnation is meant for those choosing indirect worship. The devotees following bhakti-yoga, devotional service, have their eyes well up with tears when they think of Shri Krishna’s kind mercy and His love for the inhabitants of Vrindavana.

In Closing:

God is worshiped in some way by everyone,

Either direct or indirect, service there is some.

Honor material nature to connect,

With Lord’s inferior energy, from Him does it reflect.

But theories in the world can never God touch,

He is the smartest, knowledge He has much.

The wise relish the transcendental taste,

Comes from chanting and seeing God’s face.

This was practice of Yashoda the mother,

Loved her son Krishna like no other.

Would order the Lord items to bring,

Make Him dance from songs they would sing.

It is that wonderful boy that we adore,

Brings us taste of direct worship we crave more and more.

Doubling Down

The monkey became numb for a second, stricken as he was with sadness over not having found, after such a long time, Sita, the wife of Rama – the lord of men and the best among those who can speak. (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 5.27)

sītāmapaśyan manujeśvarasya |

rāmasya patnīm vadatām varasya |

babhūva duḥkhābhihataścirasya |

plavaṅgamo manda ivācirasya ||

It’s strange to think that even Shri Hanuman, one of the most celebrated worshipable figures in the world, gets down on himself every now and then. If the hero Hanuman, who is full of courage, valor, strength, perseverance, fortitude, clarity of vision, and complete knowledge, can feel sadness over not achieving his objectives in a reasonable amount of time, what then to speak of others? Hanuman’s exalted stature shows that the key to advancing in consciousness is not necessarily to turn into a stoic robot, a person who completely lacks emotion and sits around like a stone. The trees already have this ability, and their duration of life is far longer than ours. They don’t require magic pills or ninety day diets to maintain their health; by nature’s grace they are allowed to remain in the same position for many, many years. The benefit of the human form of life is to be able to hear about wonderful people like Hanuman, honor them, and then learn from their example. How Hanuman handles his temporary dejection is what counts most. Based on the success he would see in his most difficult mission, it is to be understood that even his sadness is beneficial, as it strengthens his resolve.

Why did Hanuman need to be strong? What was he ever sad about? Ravana, the king of the Rakshasas living in Lanka many thousands of years ago, had taken away a beautiful princess through a backhanded plot and brought her back to his kingdom. The princess named Sita Devi was already married at the time, but if kings would have a fair fight, sometimes the control over the princesses would change hands. Sita’s husband, however, was the greatest bow warrior the world had ever seen. He had previously dispatched 14,000 members of Ravana’s army to the abode of Yamaraja, the god of death. Living peacefully in the forest of Dandaka, Lord Rama, an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, did not bother anyone. He, His wife Sita, and His younger brother Lakshmana lived an austere lifestyle and were waiting for fourteen years to pass so that they could return to Rama’s kingdom of Ayodhya.

Ravana was so desperate to have Sita that he cast aside proper protocol. He avoided confrontation with Rama because he knew he would lose. Setting up a ruse that temporarily lured Rama and Lakshmana away from the group’s camp, Ravana swooped in wearing a disguise and then forcibly took Sita with him. When Rama returned to see that Sita was missing, He immediately fell into grief. How can God lament? In the Vedic tradition, the shudras are known especially for being easily prone to lamentation. And what do they despair over? Anything relating to the body, the temporary covering of the spiritual spark, the essence of life, is the cause of distress. In this respect the proclivity towards lamentation isn’t exclusive to a specific class determined on quality or work; sadness attacks any flawed consciousness. Lamenting over losses in gambling, sports, stocks, or other areas not related to the plight of the soul is not very intelligent. Even lamenting over death, which is nothing more than the changing of bodies for the soul, indicates a lack of intelligence.

Lord Rama, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, surely knew the differences between matter and spirit and how only the less intelligent lament over things not worthy of attention. When His father, Maharaja Dasharatha, had ordered Him to leave the kingdom on the eve of His would-be coronation, Rama did not bat an eye. When He was further instructed to renounce ties to the kingdom and assume the garb of an ascetic, Rama was more concerned about ensuring that His father’s word was honored. Rama proved Himself to be atmarama, or self-satisfied, on many occasions.

It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krishna... (Lord Chaitanya, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 20.108)

Was His lamentation over Sita’s abduction a sign of weakness? Was Rama too attached to His wife, a person whose association is only temporary after all? Those things that we know to be detrimental, along with the forces of temporary change, such as time, space, matter, attachment, anger, greed, lust, envy, pride, etc., are actually only harmful when they keep one away from their constitutional position. As Lord Chaitanya so nicely states, the living entity’s original form is that of a devotee of Krishna, which is another name for God. When this position is understood, every activity and event in life can be properly assessed. God is the object of all virtue, piety and systems of practice. Therefore He is not affected by any temporary ups and downs or changes in time. He is the very person whose association is lost when the effects of the material world take hold of the living entity’s consciousness.

Rama’s love for Sita cannot be duplicated. How then could He not lament over her absence? Love should mean something. The bond Sita and Rama share transcends the temporary world and its influence. Sita and Rama reside eternally in the spiritual sky, so their link is never broken. Acting out dramatic roles on earth for the benefit of others, Sita and Rama sometimes were not together, but their thoughts never deviated from each other’s interests.

If Rama had lamented to the point that He gave up on finding Sita, then it would have set a bad example for others. Instead, He used His outward display of grief to forge ahead and work tirelessly towards rescuing His wife. This determination was also passed on to those who came to help Him, the Vanaras residing in the Kishkindha forest. Hanuman was their most capable warrior, and he also happened to be the most devoted to Rama. Upon first meeting the Lord and Lakshmana, Hanuman knew that they were something special. He wasn’t after self-realization or self-aggrandizement; he just knew that Rama was the person he would spend the rest of his life trying to please. That is the recessed desire of every living being anyway, and with Hanuman it took over his entire existence. The devotee is surcharged with the motivation to please God, as this is the source of their pleasure as well.

From Rama’s qualities, Hanuman could tell that the Lord was worthy of worship. Since Hanuman is keenly intelligent, he doesn’t get fooled by material opulence, word jugglery, or shows of magic that are rooted in mystic yoga. Hanuman can invoke any of the famous yogic siddhis, or perfections. He can become larger than the largest and smaller than the smallest, yet he never for a second thinks himself to be God. He knows that Bhagavan is the Supreme Personality, who possesses the attributes of beauty, wealth, strength, fame, renunciation and wisdom to the fullest degree and at the same time.

Being able to properly identify Rama and His qualities, Hanuman took the mission of finding Sita very seriously. He was tasked with finding her and then returning the information of her location to Rama. The Lord would then march to wherever she was and take on her captor. Hanuman made it into Lanka, but he did not find Sita right away. Roaming the streets in the dark of night in a clandestine form, Hanuman saw so many different things, including beautiful women. They were dressed nicely and enjoying with their husbands, the Rakshasas. Yet he did not see Sita. After searching for so long, he momentarily became dejected.

Hanuman was directly engaged in God’s service, so how could he fall prey to lamentation? Shouldn’t he have been enthused at every second knowing that the Lord would help him in his search? The point to remember is that life’s influences that affect the non-devotee negatively don’t suddenly vanish once a person takes to devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. By regularly chanting, "Hare Krishna Hare