When Krishna disappeared so suddenly, the gopis felt great sorrow at losing sight of him, like a group of female elephants who have lost their mate. Confusion and longing filled the air as they searched for him, their hearts heavy with the absence of their beloved.
As the cowherd women remembered Krishna, their hearts were overwhelmed by his movements and loving smiles, his playful glances and enchanting talks, and by the many other pastimes he would enjoy with them. Frantically searching for Krishna, their love escalated to unprecedented heights. In their fervor, they transcended mere physical presence and found Krishna within themselves. With each passing moment, they began to embody Krishna's essence, mirroring his every grace and charm.
The maidens were so absorbed in thoughts of their beloved Krishna, their bodies imitated his way of moving and smiling, his way of beholding them, His speech and his other distinctive features. Deeply immersed in thinking of him and maddened by remembering his pastimes, they declared to one another, "Mai Krishna hu !"
"Mai hi Krishna hu !"
They smiled as he would smile, glanced boldly as he would and spoke as he would. The gopis were completely absorbed in the existence of Krishna and mad with love at their sudden separation from him, and thus their dedication to him attained absolute perfection.
Singing loudly of Krishna, they searched for him throughout the Vrindavan, forest like a band of madwomen.
They asked the trees, "O Ashvath vriksh, kya tumne Krishna ko dekha ? Woh Nand ka putra, jo humare hridayo par raj karta hai ?"
"O Ashok aur Champak ke vriksho, kya tumne Balram ke anuj ko dekha jo streeyo ka ahankar chur karta hai ?" They asked.
As soon as the gopis saw that a particular tree would not answer them, they impatiently left it and rushed off to another to make further inquiries. The maidens, seeing the jasmine vines humbly bowed down, assuming that these plants must have seen Krishna and were therefore showing humility in their ecstasy.
"O Malti, O Mallika, O Yuthika ! Kya Krishna tumhare pushpo ko sparsh kar iss disha mei gaye hai ?"
The maidens thought that since Krishna had to be somewhere on the earth, the earth herself must know his whereabouts.
"O Maa Dharti, aapne kaunsa tap Kiya hai jisse aapko Krishna ke kamal-charan ke sparsh praapt huye ? Batayiye na, kaha hai Krishna ?"
The Gopis were losing their sanity, overwhelmed by ecstatic love and agonizing longing. They asked trees, they asked flowers, they tried asking the clueless deers. When they saw a crooked tree, they assumed that it must have bowed before Krishna, hence they tried to follow that path but to no avail. Distraught from searching for Krishna, they began to act out his various pastimes, fully absorbed in thoughts of him.
The Gopis imitated how he liberated putana, how he kicked Shakatasur, how he killed Trinavart. Some acted like Krishna and Balram, in the midst of several others. Others acted out the killing of Vatasur, Bakasur and Aghasur.
One gopi perfectly imitated how Krishna would call the cows who had wandered far away, how he would play his flute and how he would engage in various sports, the others congratulated her with exclamations, "Adbhut ! Adbhut !"
Another gopi, her mind fixed on Krishna, walked about with her arm resting on the shoulder of a friend and declared, "Mai hu Krishna !"
"Varsha se bhayebhit na ho, mai tum sabhi ki raksha karunga !" Said one gopi raising her shawl over her head, acting as if she was lifting Govardhan.
Others enacted his chachastisement of Kaliya and him saving the cowherd boys from forest fires.
While the Gopis were thus imitating Krishna’s pastimes and asking Vrindavan's creepers and trees where Krishna might be, they happened to see his footprints in a corner of the forest.
"Shyam ke pad-chinh ! Dekho !"
The marks of a flag, disc, lotus, thunderbolt, elephant goad, barleycorn and so forth on these footprints clearly distinguish them as belonging to Krishna. The Gopis began following Krishna’s path, as shown by his footprints, but then they saw that these prints were thoroughly intermixed with those of his dearmost consort.
"Yeh toh kisi gopi ke pad chinh hai. Woh awashya Krishna ke sang iss raatri ka anand le rahi hogi. Isne awashya Krishna ko pujne mei koi kami nahi chhodi."
"Yeh toh... Yeh toh humari swamini ke pad-chinh hai.... Radha ke padchinh hai !" Lalita said joyously as she recognised the footprints of Radha, by their 19 auspicious marks.
Although the Ashtsakhis of Radha were ecstatic that Krishna took her with him. The rest of the Gopis were upset that she alone was chosen, by their lord to be taken to a secluded place. As they followed the path, they saw her footprints were no more while his footprints were pressed more deeply into the ground. It was obvious that the grass and sprouts were hurting the tender soles of her feet, and so the lover lifted up his beloved.
At some distance, they again saw the footprint of Radha, around it were some flowers. Here he has left the impression of only the front part of his feet, showing that he was standing on his toes to reach the flowers above.
"Dekho toh, woh Krishna apni vadhu ko awashya yaha utaar ke, uske kesho ki sajja pushpo se kar raha hoga." Some said, there was clear signs of them sitting together, and him putting a flower crown on her hair.
As the Gopis wandered about, their minds completely bewildered, they pointed out various signs of Krishna’s pastimes. And suddenly they caught the sight of Radha, a steady stream of tears flowed from the restless eyes just as ambrosia streams from the moon after being bitten by Rahu’s dreadful fangs.
"O Krishna, mujhse bhul huyi. Kshama kardo." She wept miserably, her lotus eyes glancing in all directions, scattering the rain of her tears like water-drops from lotus flowers broken off their stems
Her cheek, buried in her reddish palm, resembled a crescent moon in the twilight sky. The Ashtsakhis rushed towards her, while the rest of the Gopis exchanged puzzled glances. She was supposed to be with Krishna, happy and content, now why was she crying here alone ? They wondered.
"Kya huya Kishori ?" Lalita asked, cupping Radha's moon-like face.
Trembling with grief, Radha said, "K-Krishna sabka tyaag kar mujhe akele yaha leke aaye toh... Toh mujhe bhi swayam par ahankar ho gaya- uske karan maine Krishna se kaha ki woh jaha jaaye, mujhe utha ke le chale... woh adrishya ho gaya. Usne mera bhi tyaag kar diya-" She choked on her words.
Her condition was so critical that she was wallowing in the utter despair that heralds death. It was as if life was about to leave her body. She called out, "O Krishna ! O Nath ! O Swami ! Mujhe apne darshan do ! Iss daasi ko darshan do nath !"
Vishakha helped her stand up, "Chaliye swamini, hum sab saath mei Krishna ko dhundhenge."
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A/N
Krishna leaving Radha Rani also, when she gets proud, shows that he doesn't discriminate. He is extremely impartial.
Also those who say Radha Rani didn't exist because she's not mentioned in Bhagwatam, see this shlok when Gopis say Krishna took a special Gopi alone in the forest -
इमान्यधिकमग्नानि पदानि वहतो वधूम् ।
गोप्य: पश्यत कृष्णस्य भाराक्रान्तस्य कामिन: ।
अत्रावरोपिता कान्ता पुष्पहेतोर्महात्मना ॥ ३१ ॥
Notice the word 'वधूम्' that means bride. Now tell me which Gopi is considered Krishna's bride ? 👁️👁️
Thoda dimaag lagaya Karo, imagination badhao 👁️👁️