Lover of the gopis

Expressions researched:
lover of the Gopis |"lover of the damsels of Vrajabhumi" |"lover of the damsels of Vrndavana"

SB Canto 2

SB 2.4.14, Purport: There are two sides of the transcendental manifestations of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. For the pure devotees He is the constant companion, as in the case of His becoming one of the family members of the Yadu dynasty, or His becoming the friend of Arjuna, or His becoming the associate neighbor of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, as the son of Nanda-Yaśodā, the friend of Sudāmā, Śrīdāmā and Madhumaṅgala, or the lover of the damsels of Vrajabhūmi, etc. That is part of His personal features. And by His impersonal feature He expands the rays of the brahmajyoti, which is limitless and all-pervasive. Part of this all-pervasive brahmajyoti, which is compared to the sun rays, is covered by the darkness of the mahat-tattva, and this insignificant part is known as the material world. In this material world there are innumerable universes like the one we can experience, and in each of them there are hundreds of thousands of planets like the one we are inhabiting. The mundaners are more or less captivated by the unlimited expansion of the rays of the Lord, but the devotees are concerned more with His personal form, from which everything is emanating (janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]). As the sun rays are concentrated in the sun disc, the brahmajyoti is concentrated in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the topmost spiritual planet in the spiritual sky. The immeasurable spiritual sky is full of spiritual planets, named Vaikuṇṭhas, far beyond the material sky.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.16.24, Purport: Lord Kṛṣṇa was never reduced in His position by becoming a cowherd boy or by offering respect to Sudāmā Brāhmaṇa or His other devotees like Nanda Mahārāja, Vasudeva, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and the Pāṇḍavas' mother, Kuntī. Everyone knew that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, yet His behavior was exemplary. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]; His form is completely spiritual, full of bliss and knowledge, and it is eternal. Because the living entities are His parts and parcels, originally they also belong to the same quality of eternal form as the Lord, but when they come in contact with māyā, the material potency, due to their forgetfulness their existential constitution is covered. We should try to understand the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa in this spirit, as the Kumāras pray to Him. He is eternally a cowherd boy at Vṛndāvana, He is eternally the leader of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, and He is eternally the opulent prince of Dvārakā and the lover of the damsels of Vṛndāvana; all His appearances are meaningful because they show His real characteristics to the conditioned souls, who have forgotten their relationship with the Supreme Lord. He does everything for their benefit. The force exhibited in the Battle of Kurukṣetra by the desire of Kṛṣṇa and through the agency of Arjuna was also necessary because when people become too irreligious, force is required. Nonviolence in this respect is rascaldom.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.19, Purport: Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas perceive the ultimate objective in Vedic hymns composed of eighteen transcendental letters that adore Kṛṣṇa as Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopījana-vallabha. Madana-mohana is He who charms Cupid, the god of love, Govinda is He who pleases the senses and the cows, and Gopījana-vallabha is the transcendental lover of the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa Himself is called Madana-mohana, Govinda, Gopījana-vallabha and countless other names as He plays in His different pastimes with His devotees.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 24.285, Purport: Regarding the variety of personalities known as Bhagavān, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the Personality of Godhead known as Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that His expansions are also called the Personality of Godhead. In other words, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the origin of all other Personalities of Godhead. Speculative philosophers and mystic yogīs also meditate upon the form of Kṛṣṇa, but this form is not the form of the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a Bhagavān is but a partial representation of the Lord’s full potency. Nonetheless, He also has to be understood to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To clarify this matter, one should simply understand that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana, the friend of the cowherd boys and lover of the gopīs, is actually the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is attained by spontaneous love. Although His expansions are also called the Supreme Personality of Godhead, They are attained only by the execution of regulative devotional service.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 14: “Because You are the original person, You are described in the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad, as well as in the Brahma-saṁhitā, as govindam ādi-puruṣam. Govinda is the original person, the cause of all causes. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated that You are the source of the Brahman effulgence. No one should conclude that Your body is like an ordinary material body. Your body is akṣara, indestructible. The material body is always full of threefold miseries, but Your body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha: [Bs. 5.1] full of bliss, knowledge and eternality. You are also nirañjana because Your pastimes, as the little son of mother Yaśodā or the lover of the gopīs, are never contaminated by the material qualities. And although You exhibited Yourself as so many cowherd boys and calves, Your transcendental potency was not reduced. You are always complete. As it is described in the Vedic literature, even if the complete is taken away from the complete—the Supreme Absolute Truth—it remains the complete Supreme Absolute Truth. And although many expansions from the complete are visible, the complete is one without a second. Since all Your pastimes are spiritual, there is no possibility of their being contaminated by the material modes of nature. When You place Yourself as subordinate to Your father and mother, Nanda and Yaśodā, You are not reduced in Your potency; this is an expression of Your loving attitude toward Your devotees. There is no second identity to compete with You. A person with a poor fund of knowledge concludes that Your appearance and pastimes are simply material designations. You are transcendental to both nescience and knowledge, as it is confirmed in the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad. You are the original amṛta (indestructible nectar of immortality). As confirmed in the Vedas, amṛtaṁ śāśvataṁ brahma. Brahman is the eternal, the supreme origin of everything, who has no birth or death.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

janma karma (ca) me divyam

evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti kaunteya

[Bg. 4.9]

Kṛṣṇa is explaining how one can very easily enter into the spiritual world, or the kingdom of God. The simple formula is that anyone who understands the appearance, disappearance, activities of the Lord as divyam, transcendental, with perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth... Simply by this understanding one can immediately enter into the spiritual kingdom.

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971: You can take. All right.

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, April 1, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

Lecture on BG 7.16 -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Montreal, August 3, 1968:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 26, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

Lecture on SB 1.5.11 -- New Vrindaban, June 10, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.5.12-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 11, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.5.15 -- New Vrindaban, June 19, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.8.18-19 -- Bombay, April 9, 1971:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 1.8.31 -- Los Angeles, April 23, 1973: This system is still current in India, when the child too much disturbing, he is bound up in a place. That is very common system. So Yaśodā Mother adopted it. Sā māṁ vimohayati. So that is the scene appreciated by pure devotees, that how much greatness is there in the Supreme Person that He is playing exactly a perfect child. When He's playing like a child, He plays perfectly. When He plays a husband (with) 16,000 wives, He was playing perfectly as husband. When He was playing as lover of the gopīs, He was playing perfectly. When He was friend of the cowherd boys, He was playing perfectly.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 3, 1967:

...gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi

rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devi

praṇamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]

General Lectures

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopīka-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Lecture on Manipur Dancing -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopīkā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

Kṛṣṇa is gopīka-kānta. Rādhā-kānta. That is Kṛṣṇa's real identification. He is gopīka-kānta, and He is Rādhā-kānta. This relationship with Kṛṣṇa and gopīs, that is the highest perfectional realization of the Absolute Truth.

Speech -- Vrndavana, April 20, 1975:

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]