TEXT 137
anya dehe na paiye rasa-vilasa
ataeva 'nayam' sloka kahe veda-vyasa
SYNONYMS
anya dehein a body other than those of the gopis; nanot; paiyeone gets; rasa-vilasathe pastimes of the rasa dance; ataevatherefore; nayambeginning with the word nayam; slokathe Sanskrit verse; kahesays; veda-vyasaDvaipayana Vedavyasa.
TRANSLATION
"Vyasadeva, the supreme authority on Vedic literature, composed the verse beginning 'nayam sukhapo bhagavan' because no one can enter into the rasa-lila dance in any body other than that of a gopi."
PURPORT
This verse confirms a verse of the Bhagavad-gita (9.25):
yanti deva-vrata devan
pitrn yanti pitr-vratah
bhutani yanti bhutejya
yanti mad-yajino 'pi mam
"[Lord Krsna said:] 'Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors go the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me.' "
In the material world, every conditioned soul changes his material body again and again, but when the spirit soul is purified of all material coverings, there is no longer a chance of his accepting a material body. Such a soul then remains in his original, spiritual identity, a state that is possible to achieve only by understanding Krsna in truth through the practice of Krsna consciousness. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita (4.9),
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna
"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."
Only when one regains his original spiritual body can he enter into the spiritual kingdom. As far as the rasa-lila pastimes of the Lord are concerned, it is futile for one who is within the material world to attempt to imitate the Lord's dances.. One has to attain a spiritual body like that of a gopi to enter into the pastimes of the rasa-lila. In the nayam sukhapo verse, the devotees are referred to as bhaktimat, that is, fully engaged in devotional service and devoid of material contamination. One cannot enter into Krsna's rasa-lila dance simply by artificially imitating it or artificially thinking oneself a sakhi and dressing up like one. Krsna's rasa-lila dance is completely spiritual. It has nothing to do with material contamination; therefore no one can enter into this pastime by artificial, material means. That is the instruction of the nayam sukhapo verse, and it must be strictly understood.

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