Krishna dances with the Gopis (cowherd girls) in a circle, with each Gopi believing Krishna is dancing only with her. This depicts the spiritual experience of individual souls feeling a unique connection to the divine. The poem Gitagovindam by Jayadeva celebrates Krishna and his romantic relationships, but also serves as an allegory for the longing of the human soul for union with the divine. Depictions of Krishna and Radha range from the spiritual to the erotic, depending on the perspective and interpretation of the viewer.

3. Krishna with Gopis. Krishna clones, a believable illusion, dance with
the Gopis. Notice the gods and goddesses send a downpour of flowers
and eulogies from their aerial cars.
In another depiction of Krishna and the Gopis:
The third and the most divine sport of Krishna is his moonlight
dance on the sand-banks of the Jumna in the company of the damsels
of Brindavana. The inspired poet Lllasuka, describing this dance, says
that " there, in the circle of dancers (filled with love for Krishna) was
seen between damsel and damsel a Madhava (Krishna) and between
Madhava and Madhava a damsel; and in the centre of the group again,
was the son of Devaki playing upon his flute," thereby indicating in
poetic language the mystic significance of the dance.
All this pervasive, infectious and endemic passion is raging all around
Krishna with fire and heat of passion reaching the sun and yet He is
far from the literal portrait.

4. Krishna with Radha and Gopi (Gita Govinda Series) HJ04 exoticindia.com
View from the West:
Sir John Woodroffe says in Tantra part II, page 306, "He appears separately to
each of the innumerable groups of innumerable herdswomen, though He is Himself
one without a second; proficient in the amorous acts of women and yet free of all
sensuality; a youth victorious in war with passion, and yet immersed in the midst

5. of waves of passion; restless and mad in His play as Brahman, though incarnated
by way of play as a man; making Himself out to be adulterous to His own wives in
order to delude unhappy Jivas devoid of Sadhana....
Gitagovindam consists of a series of lyrics intended to be sung and
resembles in some ways the poetry of European troubadours. Here is another
view: In India, the most intense of these periods is the overpowering heat that
occurs just before the rainy season. Then, as countless poets and painters showed
(including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Sufis), the woman is overwhelmed by raw
passion as she feels the loss of her absent lover, who may be God. This theme turns
out to be quite appropriate for portraying the mood of the Song of Songs of
King Solomon in the Bible. The focus of the Indian poems, and their
accompanying paintings, is on the emotions of the woman, and the interpretive
tradition for the most part has channeled this imagery into spiritual love. In the
artistic realization of this book, the seasonal cycle of twelve months and the Indian
environment have no further relevance. Instead, the setting is timeless....
In Jayadeva's Gitagovinda, Sanskrit poetry reaches its greatest perfection, marrying
sound and content beyond what is possible in European languages. Jayadeva was
one of five great poets adorning the court of the last Hindu ruler in Bengal,
Maharaja Laksmanasena (1175-1200), and the poem celebrates Krishna as lord of
herdsmen and his wives. It was sung every year for centuries at his place of birth,
and gave rise to many versions and commentaries.
The poem is in twelve parts, each a complex interweaving of hymn, narrative and
song. The songs express the feelings of the characters, and are closely
choreographed. Some idea of the structure can be gained by looking at Part One,
which first sets the scene and follows with a three-verse invocation setting out the
claims of Jayadeva and his fellow poets. Then appears the first of the
24 prabandhas (songs): an eleven-verse hymn to the ten incarnations of Vishnu,
which ends with a summary of Vishnu's accomplishments. Then appears the
second prabandha: again a hymn honouring Vishnu's incarnations. A following
stanza asks for Krishna's blessing. The third song tells how Rádhá's friend spoke to
her in the spring, and continues with eight stanzas describing Krishna dancing with
the cowherdesses (cow-girls according to the west). The next stanza again
mentions what Rádha's friend heard. The fourth song describes the women
flocking to Krishna. Two stanzas of recitation follow, and the canto ends with
Rádhá submitting to Krishna.
Lines end with syllable repetitions (yamakas) and repeated words in a continually
varying pattern. The texture is equally varied, both simple constructions and long
compounds. Despite its singing quality, the metre is complicated by classical
Sanskrit measures being interwoven with measures allowing substitution of a long
syllable by two short, and vice versa. {1}

6. In an earlier number of Westwind it was explained that Jayadeva, in putting into
song the old Hindu story of Govinda and Radha, gave the tale a double
meaning. On the one hand, it is pretty idyl of love, temptation, repentance and
final forgiveness; on the other it is a "parable of human passion," showing the
struggles of the soul in the guise of Krishna, the god who is at once human and
divine, in its efforts to get pastthe nearer though imperfect beauties of earth and
attain to the divine beauty of Heaven impersonated in the heroine, Radha. In
this the final installment of the poem, or operetta, the penitent Krishna comes
seeking forgiveness and is finally successful. End view from West.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
Jayadeva, the Sanskrit poet, wrote Gitagovindam and was born of Bhojadeva
and Ramadevi in Kendubilva/Kenduvilva by river Ajaya in Orissa, India in the
12th century. He was married to Padmavati and served as the court poet of the
king of Utkal. Before his marriage, he was a wandering Sadhu who in the true
spirit of Avadhuta (Avadhuta) would not stay in one place more than a night or two
so that he would not develop an attachment to place, people or objects. Padmavati's
father somehow made him accept married life and gave her in marriage to
Jayadeva. A dancer in her own right even before her marriage Padmavati
interpreted the composition by her dance.
Bengal's claim of Jayadeva as its native son is questioned by learned pundits.
Gitagovindam is erotic religious poetry written in Sanskrit about Radha and
Krishna and their love affair, which is an allegory for loving and pining of the
human soul for the Great Soul. It is poetry cum drama sung (and acted) by Krishna,
Radha and Radha's maid with interspersing of narrative. The poem spread far and
wide in India and quickly became part of the devotional repertoire in the temples.
The Rajputs and others painted the poem on canvas, which captured ambience,
dalliance, and spirit in living color in such ways that interpretation was colored by
the devotional or prurient bent of the mind of the beholder. Many of the paintings
are small enough to be held in the hands, which establishes intimacy between the
painter, the painting and the viewer.

7. Radha and Krishna
The temple of Jagannath is an old Buddhistic temple. We took this and others over
and re-Hinduised them. We shall have to do many things like that yet. That is
Jagannath, and there was not one Brahmin there then.-The Complete Works of Swami
Vivekananda Volume 3 [ Page : 264 ]
THE SAGES OF INDIA
Ramanuja visited Jagannatha temple in Puri and established Vaishnava ritual
(Pancharatra system) against protests from Saiva priests. The worship ritual at the
temple before Ramanuja was a hodgepodge and free for all with participants such
as Buddhists, Saktas, Saivites... Ramanuja let the old rituals stay in place and
introduced the proper rituals for Jagannatha. The ruler at that time was a third (?)
generation Chodagangadeva, an ardent devotee of Siva and whose grandfather
started the building of the temple of Jagannātha. Raamaanuja was able to convert
him from Parama Mahesvara to Parama Vishnava, Supreme Siva devotee to
supreme Vishnu devotee. Gitagovindam became a permanent institution in the
worship of Lord Jagannatha (Jagan Naatha).

8. Some of the paintings depict a series of actions which when viewed in quick
succession appear like motion picture. One such depiction is role reversal frame by
frame of Krishna and Radha; the erstwhile Krishna now playing Radha remains
dark blue with female accouterment and vice versa for Radha.
The sect, Radha Krishna cult, is known for worship of the pair in conjugal
mode. It is one among the many other devotional modes and relationships with
god: parent-child, master-servant, master-slave, son, child, friend, spouse and the
rest. Historians observe, Gitagovindam sprouted and grew in the midst of
oppressive undergrowth of Buddhism supported by the ruling kings in 12th
century.
Krishna Lilas are open for interpretations which reflect the prurience of the
reader or the pure spiritual development of the aspirant.
Cowherd Ayanaghosha's married daughter Radha's consortium with Krishna is a
case in point. His Rasalilas with Gopis ends in dance and sexual union with them
all at the same time, when he makes many clones of himself as necessary for such
acts. The explanation given is that all the submitting females represent the human
race collectively and individually seeking to merge with Krishna, the Soul of the
universe. Such merger is spiritual bliss: becoming one with the Supreme Soul.
What bliss is anybody's guess; one has to be in bliss to know it; it needs a human
reference point, which is the bliss of sexual intercourse. It is the physical bliss that
gives an idea of the immensity of spiritual bliss, which is probably a zillion times
more intense.

9. Rasalila
Krishna Lila praises Krishna's many acts, plays, miracles. He is the Supreme
Actor; the universe is his stage. He presents himself in three bends of his body
(Tribhanga) with the head to one side, the hips to the oppositeand the limbs in
line with the head. He is as beautiful as the dark nimbus clouds, though his
Sattvic Guna is colorless. He incarnated on the earth as the son of Nanda to
destroy its burden. (Vasudeva and Devaki are His birth parents; Nanda and
Yasodha are His adoptive parents.) He is Brahman and SatChitAnanda. He
wears a Māla of Gunja seeds (garland made of abrus precatorius
seeds). Krishna (Nârâyana) has six attributes: Jnaana, Sakti, Bala, Tejas,
Virya, and Aisvarya - Supreme knowledge, Supreme (creative) power,
Supreme strength, Supreme luster / luminescence / splendor, Supreme valor,
Sovereignty (and opulence). Krishna is all those and more: 1: Supreme
2: Material and efficient cause of the universe 3: He is present both inside and
outside in the sentient and the insentient 4: The supreme controller of all 5: He
offers refuge 6: He is omnipotent 7: He is all compassion 8: He is the Friend
in need; 9: He never lets down His devotees 10: He is endowed with kalyana
gunas - auspicious attributes 11: He is the Ultimate who can meet the devotee's
ardent desire to attain liberation.