Gopala (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"Gopal" |"Gopala"

Notes from the compiler: This is for the name Gopal when referring to Krsna

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.2.36, Purport:

The Lord is also known as Giridhārī or Girivara-dhārī. Because Kṛṣṇa, for the sake of His devotees, lifted Govardhana Hill, the devotees appreciate the Lord's inconceivable strength; but nondevotees, in spite of directly perceiving the Lord's inconceivable strength and power, regard the Lord's activities as fictitious. This is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee. Nondevotees cannot give any nomenclature for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet the Lord is known as Śyāmasundara and Giridhārī. Similarly, the Lord is known as Devakī-nandana and Yaśodā-nandana because He accepted the role of son for mother Devakī and mother Yaśodā, and He is known as Gopāla because He enjoyed the sport of maintaining the cows and calves. Therefore, although He has no mundane name, He is addressed by devotees as Devakī-nandana, Yaśodā-nandana, Gopāla and Śyāmasundara. These are all transcendental names that only devotees can appreciate and nondevotees cannot.

SB 10.8.15, Translation and Purport:

For this son of yours there are many forms and names according to His transcendental qualities and activities. These are known to me, but people in general do not understand them.

Bahūni: the Lord has many names. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca. As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33), the Lord is one, but He has many forms and many names. It was not that because Gargamuni gave the child the name Kṛṣṇa, that was His only name. He has other names, such as Bhaktavatsala, Giridhārī, Govinda and Gopāla. If we analyze the nirukti, or semantic derivation, of the word "Kṛṣṇa," we find that na signifies that He stops the repetition of birth and death, and kṛṣ means sattārtha, or "existence." (Kṛṣṇa is the whole of existence.) Also, kṛṣ means "attraction," and na means ānanda, or "bliss." Kṛṣṇa is known as Mukunda because He wants to give everyone spiritual, eternal, blissful life. Unfortunately, because of the living entity's little independence, the living entity wants to "deprogram" the program of Kṛṣṇa. This is the material disease. Nonetheless, because Kṛṣṇa wants to give transcendental bliss to the living entities, He appears in various forms. Therefore He is called Kṛṣṇa. Because Gargamuni was an astrologer, he knew what others did not know. Yet Kṛṣṇa has so many names that even Gargamuni did not know them all. It is to be concluded that Kṛṣṇa, according to His transcendental activities, has many names and many forms.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 17.122, Translation:

(All the devotees sang this popular song along with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.) "Haraye namaḥ, kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ/ gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana."

CC Adi 17.123, Translation and Purport:

When the saṅkīrtana movement thus started, no one in Navadvīpa could hear any sound other than the words "Hari! Hari!" and the beating of the mṛdaṅga and clashing of hand bells.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness now has its world center in Navadvīpa, Māyāpur. The managers of this center should see that twenty-four hours a day there is chanting of the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, with the addition of haraye namaḥ, kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ, for this song was a favorite of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's. But all such saṅkīrtana must be preceded by the chanting of the holy names of the five tattvas—śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. We are already accustomed to chant these two mantras—śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda and Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Now, after these, the other two lines—namely haraye namaḥ, kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ/ gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana—should be added, especially in Māyāpur. Chanting of these six lines should go on so perfectly well that no one there hears any vibration other than the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. That will make the center spiritually all-perfect.