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----- bhagap275.html
Bear any feeling constantly towards Hari, whether it be a
feeling of love, anger, fear, affection, kinship or devotion and you
become full of Him. Do not wonder at this. For Krishna is the Lord
of all Lords of Yoga. All (even the lowest life forms) attain Mukti
from him. When the women of Vraja drew near, Krishna addressed
them thus:
"Welcome, ye great ones! What good can I do for you? Is it
all safe in Vraja? Tell me the object of your coming here. The
night is fearful and dangerous animals are treading round. Go back
to Vraja. This is not a place for women. You have got your
mothers, fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands. They are seeking you.
Do not cause pain to your friends. What more, you have now seen
this forest adorned with flowers and illumined by the tender rays of
the full moon, where the trees and their tender branches, gently moved
by the breeze from the Yamuna, stand in all their beauty. Now go
back, O virtuous girls, speedily to your homes and look after your
husbands. The calves and your children are weeping. Go and let
them have their drink. Or if you have come here, forced by your
love for me, it Is only meet and proper, for all people have their love
for me. Devotion to husband is the one great religion for women.
They are to seek the well being of their friends and to bring up
their children. The husband may be wicked, old, diseased or poor.
But those who wish for higher Lokas should not give up their hus-
bands. The connection with one not the husband is disreputable
and unbecoming. You may bear love to me in other ways than by
such a near approach. Therefore go back to your houses."
The Gopis were struck dumb for a time. They became over-
come with sorrow. They had given up every thing for the sake of
Krishna and they could ill bear to hear these unkind words. At
last they broke forth: "O Lord, it is not for Thee to utter these
unkind words. We have given up all objects and sought Thy feet.
O Thou difficult to be reached, do not forsake us but please think of
us, even as the First Purusha thinks of those that seek Moksha.
Thou speakest, O love, of our duties to husbands, sons, and friends
as if thou xvert a religious teacher, but thou art thyself the goal of
those religious injunctions. So let them rest in thee. Thou art the
greatest friend of all beings, for thou art verily their own self. What
do they care for husbands or sons, sources of misery as they are, who
are attached to thee, the constant source of happiness?
Therefore do thou show favor to us and permit us to serve
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