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Unscrupulous people go at once to the Tenth Canto, especially to the five chapters which describe the Lord's rasa dance. However, this portion of Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most confidential part of that great literature. Unless one is thoroughly accomplished in the transcendental knowledge of the Lord, he is sure to misunderstand the Lord's worshipable transcendental pastimes in the rasa dance and the Lord's love affairs with the gopis. This subject matter is highly spiritual and technical, and only liberated personalities who have gradually attained the stage of paramahamsa can transcendentally relish the worshipable rasa dance. (More...) Sometimes we go to hear or see rasa-lila. But unless we are advanced in spiritual consciousness, this hearing of or seeing some rasa-lila, sometimes it brings us down. If one is actually seeing rasa-lila, the result will be hrd-roga-kamam apahinoty acirena dhirah. This is the injunction in the Srimad Bhagavatam. If one has actually heard from a realized person about vikriditam idam vraja-vadhubhir visnoh, Visnu and vraja-vadhu, the gopis, vikrtam, their lila, their pastime Sraddhanvita anusrnuyad atha varnayed yah. One who is actually advanced in spiritual consciousness, sraddhanvita, anusrnuyat, and hears from the realized personanu, anu means parampara, not from ordinary person, professional reciter, but from a realized personthe result will be hrd-roga-kamam apahinoti. Then the, our natural lusty desires will disappear. That is the result. But in spite of disappearing our, this lusty desire, if we increase our lusty desire, that means we are spoiling our life. Therefore it is forbidden that neophyte students, they should not indulge in these affairs of rasa-lila. You should be very careful. People are very much accustomed to see rasa-lila in Vrndavana. Maybe they are advanced, but the test is whether he has given up his lusty desire. That is the test. If he has given up, then, after seeing rasa-lila, he should not have returned to home. My Guru Maharaja used to say, "Do not go to Vrndavana with return ticket." So therefore it is very confidential. There are ten cantos in Bhagavatam. Nine cantos are devoted to understand Krsna, nine cantos. Then tenth canto begins. Then Krsna's birth and pastimes are mentioned there. So we should not jump over the tenth canto all of a sudden. People are very much anxious to jump over the tenth canto. No. Tenth canto is the mukharavinda. It is the face of Krsna, smiling. But Krsna worship begins from the lotus feet of Krsna. Nobody offers flowers and tulasi on the face of Krsna. They offer on the feet. That is the beginning, the first and second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, two lotus feet. So we have to go by and by. And when we are actually experienced devotional servant, then you try to understand the tenth canto. This is the way. Otherwise there may be fall down, as this Ajamila fell down. He was neophyte, and as soon as he saw the sudra and sudrani embracing, he became victmized. (More...) Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 23, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. Regarding your four questions, I am replying them one by one. But these things should not be asked until you have first of all asked them to the GBC men. Whatever they say you should accept, but if they cannot satisfy you, then you may ask. But I have answered these questions many times, why you are not learning these things? (More...) (1) So far your question about the Gopis, in the beginning there is no such question. In the beginning we have to follow the principles of devotional service rigidly, like chanting 16 rounds, regularly following the instructions of the Spiritual Master, which includes study, temple worship, sankirtana, like that. And the more one become perfect at following these principles, the more his relationship with Krishna becomes manifest. Following in the footsteps of Gopis comes in the perfectional stage. First you come to the perfectional stage, then you talk of Gopis. Going to girls and making them pregnant, then talking of Gopis, that is going on, that is nonsense. Without coming to the perfectional stage, if anyone tries to understand the Gopis he becomes a sahajiya. Gopis are not ordinary women, they are all expansions of Krishna's pleasure potency. So when we understand Krishna, then we shall understand Gopis. We can simply follow foot prints of Gopi how they loved Krsna. (More...) The message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was to give the same message as Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita: "surrender to Krishna''. The pastimes of Radha-Krishna relationship are confidential and are not for the distribution to the ordinary public. Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to discuss with Svarupa Damodara, Ramananda Ray, Sikhi Mahiti, but not publicly. Ordinarily he was chanting the Hare Krishna mantra with ordinary devotees at the Jagannatha temple. So I think you should not discuss Radha-Krishna pranyayavikritih openly among ordinary conditional souls. (More...) In order to learn how Krsna's pleasure can be obtained, we must read the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in which Krsna's pleasure potency is displayed in His pastimes with Radharani and the damsels of Vraja. Unfortunately, unintelligent people turn at once to the sports of Krsna in the Dasama-skandha, the Tenth Canto. Krsna's embracing Radharani or His dancing with the cowherd girls in the rasa dance are generally not understood by ordinary men because they consider these pastimes in the light of mundane lust. They incorrectly think that Krsna is like themselves and that He embraces the gopis just as an ordinary man embraces a young girl. Some people thus become interested in Krsna because they think that His religion allows indulgence in sex. This is not krsna-bhakti, love of Krsna, but prakrta-sahajiya-materialistic lust. (More...) After enjoying love affairs with Kṛṣṇa by dancing, embracing and kissing, the gopīs would sometimes become very tired, and Kṛṣṇa, out of His causeless mercy and compassion, would smear their faces with His lotus hands. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto, 33rd Chapter, 20th verse it is said that after enjoying love affairs with Krsna by dancing, embracing and kissing, the gopis would sometimes become very tired, and Krsna, out of His causeless mercy and compassion, would smear their faces with His lotus hands. This is an example of fatigue caused by laboring in the rasa dance. (More...) Although I have many fascinating pastimes, whenever I think of the rāsa-līlā, which I perform with the gopīs, I become eager to have it again. In the Brhad-Vamana Purana, the Lord says, "Although I have many fascinating pastimes, whenever I think of the rasa-lila, which I perform with the gopis, I become eager to have it again." (More...) One devotee has said, "I know about Narayana, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and I also know about many other incarnations of the Lord. Certainly all the pastimes of such incarnations are exciting to my mind, but still, the pastimes of the rasa-lila performed by Lord Krsna Himself are wonderfully increasing my transcendental pleasure." (More...) In the Tenth Canto, 31st Chapter, 15th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the gopis lament: "My dear Krsna, during the daytime when You go out into the forest of Vrndavana with Your cows, we consider one moment to be twelve years, and it is very difficult for us to pass the time. And again when You come back at the end of the day, by seeing Your beautiful face we are so much attracted that we are unable to stop looking upon You constantly. At these times, when there is occasional blinking of our eyelids, we condemn the creator, Lord Brahma, as a dunce, because he does not know how to make perfect eyes!" In other words, the gopis were disturbed by the blinking of their eyes because for the moment that their eyes were closed they could not see Krsna. This means that the gopis' love for Krsna was so great and ecstatic that they were disturbed by even His momentary absence. And when they saw Krsna, they were also disturbed. This is a paradox. (More...) One gopi, expressing herself to Krsna, says: "When we meet You at night, we consider the duration of night to be very small. And why speak of only this night? Even if we had a night of Brahma we would consider it a very short time!" We get an idea of Brahma's day from the following statement of the Bhagavad-gita (8.17): "By human calculation, a thousand yuga cycles taken together is Brahma's one day. And such also is the duration of his night." The gopis said that even if they could have that duration of night, it would still not be sufficient for their meeting with Krsna. (More...) At this age Kṛṣṇa enjoyed the rāsa-līlā, exhibiting His power of joking with the cowherd girls and enjoying their company in the bushes of the gardens by the bank of the Yamunā. There is a statement in this connection that Krsna, on arriving at this age, manifested such beautiful bodily features that His restless eyes became the playthings of Cupid, and His mild smile resembled the newly-grown lotus flower. The enchanting vibration of His songs became a great impediment to the young girls, who were supposed to remain chaste and faithful to their husbands. (More...) At this age Krsna enjoyed the rasa-lila, exhibiting His power of joking with the cowherd girls and enjoying their company in the bushes of the gardens by the bank of the Yamuna. (More...) In this connection there is the following statement: "Throughout the whole tract of land known as Vrndavana there were the footprints of Krsna and the gopis, and in some places peacock feathers were strewn about. In some places there were nice beddings in the bushes of the Vrndavana gardens, and in some places there were piles of dust due to the group-dancing of Govinda and the gopis." These are some of the features which are due to the different pastimes invented by Sri Krsna in the place known as Vrndavana. (More...) There is the following statement by one gopi, describing Krsna's attractive feature during this age: "My dear friend, just see how all of a sudden in the sky of Krsna there is a powerful rising sun and how this rising sun is minimizing the rays of our chastity moon. Our attraction for Krsna is so intense that it is drying up the lotus flower of our discrimination, and we are losing our senses in deciding whether we shall continue as chaste women or be victimized by the beauty of Krsna. My dear friend, I think that we have lost all hope of life!" (More...) In the kaisora age, beginning from the eleventh year and continuing up to the end of the fifteenth year, Krsna's arms, legs and thighs became marked with three divisional lines. At that time Krsna's chest challenged a hill of marakata jewels. His arms challenged the pillars of the indranila jewel, the three lines of His waist challenged the waves of the River Yamuna, and His thighs challenged beautiful bananas. One gopi said, "With all these exquisite features of His body, Krsna is too extraordinarily beautiful, and therefore I am always thinking of Him to protect me because He is the killer of all demons." (More...) The idea expressed in this statement is that the gopis were comparing their attraction for Krsna to an attack by demons; and to counteract their attraction for the beauty of Krsna, they were also turning to Krsna hopefully, because He is the killer of all kinds of demons. In other words they were perplexed, because on one hand they were attracted by the beauty of Krsna, and on the other they needed Krsna to drive away the demon of such attraction. (More...) This kaisora age can be translated as adolescence. At the end of this period all the gopis said, "Krsna is the killer of the attraction of Cupid, and as such He disturbs the patience of all newly-married girls. Krsna's bodily features have become so exquisite-it is as if they are all manifesting an artistic sense of the highest sort. His dancing eyes have dimmed the brilliance of the most expert dancer, and so there is no longer any comparison to the beauty of Krsna." Learned scholars therefore describe the features of His body at this time as nava-yauvana, newly-invented youthfulness. At this stage of Krsna's bodily features, the conjugal love affairs with the gopis and similar pastimes become very prominent. (More...) There are six features of conjugal love affairs, called peacemaking, picking a quarrel, going to meet one's lover, sitting together, separation and support. Lord Krsna expanded an empire of these six features, of which He was the ruling prince. Somewhere He was picking quarrels with the young girls, somewhere He was scratching them with the nails of parrots, somewhere He was busy going to visit the gopis, and somewhere He was negotiating through cowherd friends to take shelter of the gopis. (More...) Some of the gopis addressed Him thusly: "My dear Krsna, because of Your adolescent age, You have just become the spiritual master of these young girls, and You are teaching them to whisper among themselves. You are teaching them to offer solemn prayers, as well as training them to cheat their husbands and to join You in the gardens at night, without caring for the instructions of their superiors. You are enthusing them by the vibration of Your enchanting flute; and, as their teacher, You are teaching them all the intricacies of loving affairs." (More...) He began to narrate very impudently about His previous night's pastimes with Rādhārāṇī. While He was speaking in that way, Rādhārāṇī became very embarrassed. A person is called dhira-lalita if he is naturally very funny, always in full youthfulness, expert in joking, and free from all anxieties. Such a dhira-lalita personality is generally found to be domesticated and very submissive to his lover. This dhira-lalita trait in the personality of Krsna is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam where Yajnapatni, the wife of one of the brahmanas who were performing sacrifices in Vrndavana tells her friends: "One day Srimati Radharani, accompanied by Her associates, was taking rest in Her garden, and at that time Lord Sri Krsna arrived in that assembly. After sitting down, He began to narrate very impudently about His previous night's pastimes with Radharani. While He was speaking in that way, Radharani became very embarrassed. She was feeling ashamed and was absorbed in thought, and Krsna took the opportunity to mark Her breasts with different kinds of tilaka. Krsna proved Himself to be very expert in that art." In this way Krsna, as dhira-lalita, was enjoying His youthful proclivities in the company of the gopis. (More...) Kṛṣṇa asked them to go back to their husbands and homes. The gopīs apparently became very angry and began to talk to Kṛṣṇa with faltering voices. In the Tenth Canto, 29th Chapter, 27th verse, another example of faltering of the voice was exhibited by the gopis when they came to Krsna, desiring to dance with Him. Krsna asked them to go back to their husbands and homes. The gopis apparently became very angry and began to talk to Krsna with faltering voices. (More...) My dear Kṛṣṇa, when You disappeared from the arena of the rāsa dance, our most dear friend, Rādhārāṇī, immediately fell on the ground and lost consciousness. One of the gopis informed Krsna, "My dear Krsna, when You disappeared from the arena of the rasa dance, our most dear friend, Radharani, immediately fell on the ground and lost consciousness. But after this, when I offered Her some of Your chewed betel nut remnants, She immediately returned to consciousness with jubilant symptoms in Her body." This is an instance of alertness caused by tasting. (More...) My dear Kṛṣṇa, You have been very much obliging in serving the form of our Śrī Rādhārāṇī, and now You have left all the other gopīs to search for Her. Please allow me to inquire how You want Her to treat You. Once during the rasa dance, when Radharani left the arena, and Krsna went to seek Her out, one of the dear friends of Radharani addressed Krsna thusly: "My dear Krsna, You have been very much obliging in serving the form of our Sri Radharani, and now You have left all the other gopis to search for Her. Please allow me to inquire how You want Her to treat You." This is an instance of feeling pride on account of exquisite beauty. (More...) We cannot but wonder at how no woman can maintain her chastity upon hearing the vibration from Your flute. And not only women, but even stronghearted men are subject to falling down from their position at the sound of Your flute. Regarding the attractiveness of Krsna's bodily beauty and the sound vibration of His flute, in the Tenth Canto, 29th Chapter, 37th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the gopis address Krsna as follows: "Although our attitude towards You resembles loving affairs with a paramour, we cannot but wonder at how no woman can maintain her chastity upon hearing the vibration from Your flute. And not only women, but even stronghearted men are subject to falling down from their position at the sound of Your flute. In fact, we have seen that in Vrndavana even the cows, the deer, the birds, the trees-everyone-has been enchanted by the sweet vibration of Your flute and the fascinating beauty of Your person." (More...) When all the gopīs came out of their homes to meet Kṛṣṇa in the Vṛndāvana forest, Kṛṣṇa refused to accept them and asked them to go home, giving them some moral instruction. There is another statement in the Tenth Canto, 31st Chapter, 16th verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam. When all the gopis came out of their homes to meet Krsna in the Vrndavana forest, Krsna refused to accept them and asked them to go home, giving them some moral instruction. At that time the gopis began to speak as follows: "My dear Krsna, there is extreme distress in being out of Your presence, and there is extreme happiness simply in seeing You. Therefore we have all left our husbands, relatives, brothers and friends and have simply come to You, being captivated by the sound of Your transcendental flute. O infallible one, You had better know what is the reason for our coming here. In plain words, we are here simply because we have been captivated by the sweet sound of Your flute. We are all beautiful girls, and You are so foolish that You are rejecting our association. We do not know anyone, other than Yourself, who would miss this opportunity to associate with young girls in the dead of night!" This is another instance of indirect insults used against Krsna in ecstatic love. 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