Conch or Flute: Krishna’s Gita and Krishna’s Raas

मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु |
मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे || 65||

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣhyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ‘si me

Thinking of Me, being devoted to Me, worshiping Me and leaning towards (or bowing to) Me, you will surely come to Me. I promise you this because you are dear to Me. 

~ Bhagavad Gita 18.65

Everyone knows a different Krishna. Not because He keeps changing. But because each one can only understand Him according to their own capacity. This is no doubt encouraged by His own multidimensional nature and personality and His willingness to oblige and appear in whichever way is needed or desired.

Sakhya and Gopi Bhaav

Today is Mokshada Ekadashi and Gita Jayanti because it was the day Sri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The Krishna that Arjuna knew was family (cousin, to be precise), a dear friend, a fearless warrior, the wisest statesman, an acknowledged divine being and Lord of Dwarka, Dwarkadish. It was through Krishna’s Mathura years that their friendship really blossomed as each inspired great trust and love in the other. Arjuna had a very deep level of, what is called in bhakti, sakhya bhava or relating to God as the dearest friend. It is this deep bond of friendship that moved Krishna to take on the role of Arjuna’s charioteer for the Mahabharata war. God taking a place at the devotee’s feet in the chariot, proving his unconditional support and love.

The gopis of Vrindavan knew Krishna very differently. He was their instant Beloved. They were not concerned with any of his accomplishments, extraordinary qualities or divine majesties. They simply loved him and reveled in directing every emotion they had – anger, love, frustration, longing – towards him. Their love is the purest love ever experienced in human form; not even Krishna’s later wives have been granted the same status as the gopis. Only the gopis of Braj enter Krishna’s raas, not even his wives in Dwarka.

Conch or Flute

The speaking of the Gita is preceded by the sound of Krishna’s conch, the raas is preceded by the sound of His flute. In both cases, it is Krishna’s call. A call to attention or a call to love.

So what was the state of those receiving these calls?

Arjuna, one could say, was following the path of bhakti. A man of great action and power, yet living in surrender to Krishna’s Will. He trusted Krishna’s judgment over his own. There was deep love, loyalty, trust, devotion and respect. When asked to choose between a Krishna who refused to lift a weapon in the war and Krishna’s army, the formidable Narayani sena, he still chose Krishna. For someone walking such a path of bhakti, Krishna Himself gives the jnana to His devotee as He did to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.

But those who heard the flute call were walking a different path. The gopis, though they appear to be uneducated village maidens, were actually reincarnated Brahma-rishis, yogis, siddhas and in some cases, the Vedic verses themselves (shruti-rupa). It is said that many of the rishis who had glimpsed Rama as he had wandered through the forest during his exile, were so overcome by the beauty of his form, that they wanted to be reborn as women so that they could fully express their love – Rama promised them that he would come again as Krishna to fulfil their heart’s desire. So the gopis who heard Krishna’s flute were already awakened to their own nature (svarupa). For them, love and bhakti arose out of their jnana, their Awareness. This is why Krishna once told his cousin, the great jnani Uddhav to go and learn something from those village gopis whom he considers to be ignorant fools; and Uddhav was rightly humbled to receive the lesson of unconditional love from the gopis.

Gita and Raas

When the soul finds itself at war with parts of its own self, when the battlefield of the mind is calling for engagement and the soul finds itself slipping into identification, Krishna sounds His conch and speaks the Gita. He is not scared for you because of the bloody battle ahead, but because you are forgetting your true Self. He speaks to remind and call you back to your wisdom and freedom. He wants you to understand dharma and to be situated in moksha. Arjuna-Krishna are Nara-Narayan that reincarnate through time to give this lesson to humans.

The flute though, is calling for raas. The soul hears the call of the Beloved. The rivers rush towards the expanse of the ocean, their natural unbecoming. And to their delight, the soul finds that the Paramatman is not just a vast, Silent expanse, but He responds fully to their love.

Nara-Narayan or soul-Beloved, conch or flute, the most important is to listen for the call.