Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 1.9.40
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesHonor the Gopīs’ Pure Loving Service
“Let my mind be fixed upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose motions and smiles of love attracted the damsels of Vrajadhāma [the gopīs]. The damsels imitated the characteristic movements of the Lord [after His disappearance from the rāsa dance].”
What the purport teaches
- The gopīs’ relationship with Kṛṣṇa is especially praiseworthy because of their purified loving service. His movements and loving smiles fully attracted their minds.
- Their oneness with the Lord is not the impersonalist’s sāyujya liberation. It is perfect loving ecstasy, in which the interests of the lover and the beloved become identical.
- The Lord is especially satisfied when His pure devotees are glorified. By remembering the gopīs, Bhīṣmadeva also prayed for their mercy at the last stage of his life.
Try this today
Offer a short prayer appreciating the gopīs’ pure loving service and asking for their mercy.
Ask yourself
How might your service change if you focused more on the Lord’s interests than your own?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.