Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.33.37
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesYoga-māyā Protects the Gopīs’ Love
“The cowherd men, bewildered by Kṛṣṇa’s illusory potency, thought their wives had remained home at their sides. Thus they did not harbor any jealous feelings against Him.”
What the purport teaches
- The cowherd men thought their wives remained beside them and felt no jealousy toward Kṛṣṇa. The purport explains that Māyā supplied doubles in their place.
- Because the gopīs loved Kṛṣṇa exclusively, Yoga-māyā always protected their relationship with Him. They are the Lord's internal energy and can never belong to another living being.
- Kṛṣṇa arranged their apparent marriages to create the excitement of parakīya-rasa, love between a married woman and her paramour. These pastimes are absolutely pure, and saintly persons have long relished them as supreme spiritual events.
Try this today
Write one sentence summarizing why the purport describes these pastimes as absolutely pure.
Ask yourself
How does understanding the gopīs as the Lord's internal energy help me view their love as spiritual?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.