Rādhe Rādhe & daṇḍavat praṇāṁ!
I had one important point lingering in mind since long. I wish to share my thoughts…
Giving up life in Krishna-Bhakti
Out of all the demigods, Krishna is famous for giving fruits of devotion after real long time! But then, what He gives is a large/enchanting/satisfying enough to the worshiper! In Bhagavat gita He has defined the happiness in mode of goodness too, as:
yat tad agre viṣam iva
pariṇāme ‘mṛtopamam
tat sukhaḿ sāttvikaḿ proktam
ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam [BG 18.37]
[ Happiness in the mode of goodness is that which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization.]
Often the devotees, when frustrated with their efforts in devotion and service rendered unto Krishna’s lotus feet, having not yet attained any fruit, tend to give up their life for Him! Of course, we may think this is due to losing faith and just out of frustration, but that’s not generally possible, since after so much service, establishment of nishtha in the heart of the devotee is just a natural consequence . So they try giving up their vital life force for Him as a last resort, be it one reason or the other!
This has been the culmination point in even the mightiest of tapasyās—many great tapasvīs (including the demoniac ones & devotees) have pleased their cherished deities in this manner! The demigods too get pleased “how nice is my devotee—ready to give even his/her life for me!” & fulfill their desires.
When Krishna’s devotees do this thing, then Krishna too doesn’t have a choice! Alālnāth had to comply with the death-threatening child’s desire & show the leela of partaking pāyasam! Krishna had to marry & have 16,108 queens on the ground that they all were ready to give up their lives for Him.
But do we see anything such in Vraja? In māna-līlā, Krishna lastly resorts to this “trick”, but does any devotee do so anywhere? Why? Krishna even left Vraja & went out in his sudṛiḍha-pravās & yet no gopī ever warned Him that she’d commit suicide if He goes! Imagine, what an anartha would have happened if He had to stop ! The gopi alone would be held responsible for the destruction of the three worlds by the tejasvī-asuras of those times (aside failing curse of Śhrīdāma). A true lover never becomes an obstacle on beloved’s path! Whatever Krishna does by Himself, has its own maryādā-full reasons! If a devotee tries to stop Him by giving warnings like this, then truly, what sort of “love” is that? In no way the sevā-bliss s/he would derive after serving Him in this manner would be “truly selfless”! It is selfless as seen with devotee’s POV but selfish as seen from rest of the world, including Krishna!
Gopis too do control Krishna (& indeed Krishna needs to be ‘controlled’ in order to be served properly)! But not by this sort of force—but by force of (selfless) LOVE! Their internal sweet bhāvs of sevā desires attract Him to such an extent that He flies amongst them like a honey bee.
Devotees have proved that love can go beyond self-sacrifice! During Bharat-vilāp, when Bharat Maharaj was ready to even give up his life for (vanavāsī) Ramchandra, if He’d desire so, then Janak-ji (in meeting at Chitrakoot) said him, “To give up life is easy, but to accept elder brother’s order (& thereby, ‘die in separation’ is difficult &) glorious much more!” There’s no doubt he suffered a 14-year pain greater than he’d have got by just giving up prāṇa!
There are two ways of attaining Him: One is by tapasyā/devotion asking for Him (from Himself) & other is directly attracting Him everyday like gopis! Almost any devotee knows the difference of where He’s served more & more sweetly! Sanātan-gosvāmī says to attain Nanda-Nandan is easy but to attain a deep ārtī for Him like gopIs is rare!
I don’t seem to be so rasik-ally eligible to do so but in this context, one can compare the two famous love-letters to Krishna & see where love goes deeper & higher. These are perhaps the highest examples of attempts to control Krishna by both ways:
Letter from Rukmini to Krishna at Dwāraka (from Śhrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.52.37-43):
O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Krishna.
O Mukunda, You are equal only to Yourself in lineage, character, beauty, knowledge, youthfulness, wealth and influence. O lion among men, You delight the minds of all mankind. What aristocratic, sober-minded and marriageable girl of a good family would not choose You as her husband when the proper time has come?
Therefore, my dear Lord, I have chosen You as my husband, and I surrender myself to You. Please come swiftly, O almighty one, and make me Your wife. My dear lotus-eyed Lord, let Sh’ish’upâla never touch the hero’s portion like a jackal stealing the property of a lion.
If I have sufficiently worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead by pious works, sacrifices, charity, rituals and vows, and also by worshiping the demigods, brâhmanas and gurus, then may Gadâgraja come and take my hand, and not Damaghosha’s son or anyone else.
O unconquerable one, tomorrow when my marriage ceremony is about to begin, You should arrive unseen in Vidarbha and surround Yourself with the leaders of Your army. Then crush the forces of Caidya and Magadhendra and marry me in the Râkshasa style, winning me with Your valor.
Since I will be staying within the inner chambers of the palace, You may wonder, “How can I carry you away without killing some of your relatives?” But I shall tell You a way: On the day before the marriage there is a grand procession to honor the royal family’s deity, and in this procession the new bride goes outside the city to visit Goddess Girijâ.
O lotus-eyed one, great souls like Lord Sh’iva hanker to bathe in the dust of Your lotus feet and thereby destroy their ignorance. If I cannot obtain Your mercy, I shall simply give up my vital force, which will has become weak from the severe penances I will perform. Then, after hundreds of lifetimes of endeavor, I may obtain Your mercy.
And other is Haṁsadūta!
One can read & compare the difference in nectar, degree of selflessness & attraction by love in both these cases!