Debt of Love

CC Antya Lila 7.43 "The conjugal love of the gopīs is the most exalted devotional service, surpassing all other methods of bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna is obliged to say, 'My dear gopīs, I cannot repay you. Indeed, I am always indebted to you."

Prema-vilas - Ch 7. Text 126-127  by Srila Nityananda Das

"Feeling separation from Me, Radha and the gopis have given up Their lives.  Now I shall also give up My life for her.  You will see me in that condition, O Lokanath."

Excerpted from Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu Issue No134

"With that prema they [gopis] have given up everything. [...] By their love, Krishna's promise was broken. His pormise is -'As someone approaches me I reciprocate accordingly' {Bg 4.11} Krishna never becomes indebted, He always repays his debts. But this promise of his was broken by the gopis, because the gopis do not want anything, how will he repay them?

[...] {Bhag. 10.32.22} "I have become completely indebted to you. I cannot pay you back, because you don't want anything. What shall I do?"

To pay back his debt he became Gaura, assuming the mood of Radharani is crying and feeling acute pangs of separation from Krishna. This is Gaura. [...] As Radharani is crying, crying, crying and drowning herself in this unfathomable ocean of separation, similarly Gaura is burning himself with the fire of separations from Krishna."

SBB Vol. I 6.51 "Sometimes at night He says this and that in His sleep.  Sometimes, in a most sweet voice, He utters names as if calling His cows.  Sometimes He calls His girlfriends ...."

CC Adi 17.247 "One day the Lord, in the ecstasy of the gopis, was sitting in His house.  Very morose in separation, He was calling "Gopi! Gopi!"

 “Gopi, Gopi”

He cries in His dreams

now dressed up like a king,

raving and sweating

in a golden bed,

craving for groves

and a bed of petals instead.

And He calls and weeps

seeming insane in His sleep,

so His Queens looking on ask

Who’s love is this for?

After a long pause

softly He tells

about the Gopis,

and Radha,

now barely alive,

in a kunj in Vraja,

holding on to His words

from the day that He left,

because He had promised

that He would come back.

As the ocean

returns the objects

snatched and sunk

by its waves,

love returns to His heart,

memories soaked

in amorous Moonlight

so the thought of the gopis

never leaves His mind,

nor Radha, His beloved

wearing the phases of the Moon,

loving Him with colored moods.

When in the dead of the night

they had come,

under the stars,

on the scented sand,

sitting on the river bank

              singing of their love,                 ⁽¹⁾

had run to Him

giving up

affections and relatives,

social customs and beliefs.

Now their love is in Him ⁽²⁾

and He is overwhelmed

how to reciprocate

the love they have

and the tears they shed?

He has kingdoms,

gold, even worlds to give away,

but no treasure

that he owns could ever repay

the debt of their love.

“Gopi, Gopi”

He calls in the streets,

having reappeared

with a golden skin

now in Navadvip,

the vermilion of love

washed away by His tears,

has dyed saffron His dress

and He wanders as if obsessed,

swept away

in the unknown ocean,

of  total selfless love,

stolen from the heart

of His beloved; ⁽³⁾

now He has giving up

His curls, His bells and His pearls,

His dear ones and friends,

to become a beggar,

to repay His debt,

tears incessantly gliding down

His cheeks,

sweetly carrying

Krishna's name

to His lips.

1)Sarartha Darsini 30.43-44  "Their minds absorbed in thoughts of Him, They conversed about Him, acted out His pastimes and felt themselves filled with His presence.  They completely forgot about their homes as they loudly sang the glories of Krsna's transcendental qualities."

"The gopis again came to the bank of the Kalindi.  meditating on Krsna and eagerly hoping He would come, they sat down together to sing of Him."

2) BG 9.29  "[...] Yet those who, with an offering of love, offer their love to me -

they are in me and I am also in them." - The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song

3) Sri Garga Samhita 6.17-38 "Sri Radha's love for Lord Krishna has no rival and no equal in this world.  It is the greatest love."