In Sanskrit, Gopi word is coined as two syllables. “Go” means the Upanishads, meaning scriptures. Upanishads are the ras of God, the ras that is form of God himself. You need to be a woman to get that close to God, to enjoy this kind of ras (nectar).
Then the second syllable is “pi”. This “pi” pronounce as “pea”, that means to drink. Since Gopis are Shruti rupa, Veda rupa, Rushi rupa and Deva rupa, they were very knowledgeable and were able to understand the form of Krishna described in Upanishads. They have taken the nectar of Shree Krishna and this way the ras (nectar) was taken into their hearts. The only way to drink this ras.
Sri Ramakrishna has said that the devotion of the gopis was the devotion of love, constant unmixed and unflinching. They loved Krishna more than anyone else and proved as the examples of the bhakthiyoga which Krishna was going to preach in the battlefield in his discourse of the Bhagavad Gita, ‘mayyeva mana Adhathsva mayi buddhim nivesaya,’ by thinking of him alone all the time. Swami Vivekananda said that raasa leela is the acme of the religion of love, to which individuality vanishes and there is communion.
Even Parikshit raised the doubt that how could these women who thought about Krishna only as their lover attain the divine communion with him. Suka pointed out that the single pointed concentration on the Lord in whatever capacity is enough to attain Him. Krishna himself clarifies this doubt in Srimad Bhagavatham by saying that the desire of those, who approach him to satisfy the baser instincts, become like roasted seeds which never shoot up again,(Bh.10-22-28) In the 11th skandha Krishna remarks that the gopis attained that state which even the yogis find difficult to reach by their sheer love.(Bh.11-12-13). Swami Vivekananda has said that to understand the love of gopis it is first essential to make yourself pure as it could not be understood with impure minds. It is to be remembered that the one who told the story was Suka who was a self-realised master and those who gathered to hear him were the sages who have renounced the world.
Lord Krishna tells Uddhava about Gopis-
tha navidhan mayyanushangabaddhadhiyah, svamathmanam adhasthathedham yatha samadhou munayo abdhithoye, nadhyah pravishta iva namarupe (Bh.11.12)
With their thoughts firmly fixed on Me they were not aware of their body or what was far or near, just like sages in samadhi or the rivers losing their name and form on merging with the sea.
Gopis are Guru of all vaishavas, jnani, yogi & bhaktas. Make Gopi your Guru to attain Him.
[courtesy Google]
