Thief of the Soul

This poem was inspired by the Gopis speaking to Krishna when they met for the Rasa Dance and Krishna disappeared like a thief after stealing their souls. But what really churned the ink were the many slokas in the Bhagavatam and other Bhakti literature that refer to Krishna as a thief. The reader will find few of them after this intro and in the footnotes.

So the conclusion that came to the heart is that the Lord in whatever form He manifests for His devotees, among the sublime qualities He always displays, there is the one of being a thief, since He enters His devotees mind and steals it. " 

SD 10.29.34 Comm. "O king of thieves! We did not come here with any other purpose than to recover the treasure that You stole from us. You have stolen our minds, but unlike other thieves You did not have to make any great endeavor. You did this simply by blowing on Your flute."

SD 10.29.35 Comm. "I [Krishna] have even stolen their minds, by depending on which their shyness, discretion and sense of religious duty and soberness were sustained."

SD 10.30.5  "That son of Nanda Maharaja has gone away after stealing our minds with His loving smiles and glances."

SD 1.12.11 "The Lord maintaining his reputation of being affectionate to his devotees, inconceivable in form, and also a thief, having destroyed the brahmastra disappeared" ..."

This sloka is part of the story of Parikshit when he was saved in the womb from the Brahmastra of Aswatthama by Krishna.  His mind was stolen since he could never forget that resplendent form of the Lord whom he saw in the womb and after that he searched for all his life.

"Krishna is very expert in stealing.  In Stava-mala Rupa Goswami has mentioned, that Krishna , who is very expert in stealing , entered into the heart of Radharani and stole it.  How? By putting Radharani into the fire of separation." Embankment of Separation

SBB 5.109 " [..] Krsna's beauty robbed the women of Vraja of their sobriety."

In the way the wind swiftly

steals the flower fragrances

and the coolness from the water,

in the way that honey

is stolen by the bee

from open gullible flowers,

Krishna stole our tongues

in long afternoons

of shameless talks,

           our minds He took away        (1)

with the crooked thieves

of His eyes,

by darting messages

and irresistible smiles,

our eyes were stolen

               from any other sight           (2) 

by the curls bounding His forehead

~ on the two sides,

and because of His clever jokes of love,

the alluring words and loving laughs,

and the timbre of His voice

in intimately talks

our ears were robbed,

and also our legs

in the moment that we ran

into this forest

after He stole our hands

from the house chores

by the captivating melodious notes

of His nocturnal flute songs;

along with our family bonds

   also our religiousness was robbed   (3)

when He took away our clothes

leaving our bodies stripped..

His playful thefts stirred

the desires in our hearts

and feelings of separation welled up

then also our life-air

was abducted.

He snatched our offering of love

our hearts were ransacked

His sweetness-armed hands

extorted our reserve
by the touch of his fingernails,

   ~ rapacious, 
      our shyness took away    

   and also our intelligence 

               by His embraces,            (4)

His lips laden 
with camphorated breath

plundered our attempts to resist

 after pulling up our chins
with His fingertips,
our all being was robbed  
by His limbs
along with our innermost
 dreams;

after stealing our souls
like a thief now He hides
in the velvety veils of the night,
with the loot of our secret desires
insatiable has carried away
also the splendor of Love ~
 Radha ....
after stealing
with longing glances sidewise   
the sulky "No"
from Her eyes.

1) "All activities of their [Gopis'] bodies, minds and speech are meant for Krishna's pleasure alone."  The Embankment of Separation pg.84

2) *SD 3.2.11 Comm. "The eyes of all people are situated in him.  He gave his form to men so that he could attract all their eyes, not to give them a spiritual benediction and then take it away like a thief."

3) SBB 5.109 " [..] Krsna's beauty robbed the women of Vraja of their sobriety."

 Sri Cauragraganya-purusastakam (ancient song by unknown vaisnava)
♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ "I offer my obeisances to that supreme thief, Lord Hari who is the best of all thieves, He steals the butter from the houses of the damsels of Vrajabhumi. He steals all the garments of the damsles of Vrajabhumi.  He is famous for His acts of stealing.." ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

4) SD 10.29.35 Comm. "I [Krishna] have even stolen their minds, by depending on which their shyness, discretion and sense of religious duty and soberness were sustained."

(*) SD indicates Srimad Bhagavatam with commentary by Visvanath C. Thakura.
      SBB = Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrita