Live Like a Monk

A few temples and communities conduct a “Live Like a Monk Challenge.” People come for fifteen days and experience a rigorous yet blissful spiritual program. They rise early in the morning, attend the beautiful maṅgala-ārati, dance enthusiastically in kīrtana, chop vegetables in the kitchen, perform practical services for Kṛṣṇa, hear Kṛṣṇa-kathā, and spend their days in the association of devotees.

For many participants, the experience is transformative. After spending just a couple of weeks in such an environment, they begin to feel, “Yes, I would like to be a part of this community.”

Actually, following the external aspects of monastic life is not as difficult as it may first appear. Getting up early is easier when everyone around us is getting up early. Performing service becomes natural when devotees are serving together. Following a regulated schedule is not so difficult when the entire environment supports it.

Yet there remains one thing that cannot be created simply by changing our surroundings. One may learn to wake up early, attend every program, and perform every service, but cultivating genuine love for Kṛṣṇa is another matter altogether.

What If We Had a “Be a Gopī Challenge”?

This led me to an interesting thought today.

We hear devotees speak about rādhā-dāsyam, gopī-bhāva, and mañjarī-bhāva. These are the highest aspirations spoken of within our Gauḍīya tradition.

Then what if, instead of a “Live Like a Monk Challenge,” we organized a “Be a Gopī Challenge”? After all, Mahaprabhu has regarded the worship following the footsteps of gopis as the topmost !

The more I thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. In fact, we run into a problem before the challenge even begins.

We Cannot Even Begin (INTENSITY)

A monk’s day begins early in the morning.

A gopī’s day begins the previous night.

The gopīs do not spend their nights peacefully sleeping. They spend them dancing with Kṛṣṇa in the rāsa-līlā.

Most of us struggle to stay awake through a single late-night program – A few devotees do jagarana, or they remain awake whole night during ekadasis. And it is extremely difficult.

So practically speaking, we cannot even begin a “Be a Gopī Challenge.” We fail before the challenge starts!

Can We at Least Follow Their Activities? (ABSORPTION)

Still, let us continue the exercise.

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes the daily absorption of the gopīs:

yā dohane ‘vahanane mathanopalepa
preṅkheṅkhanārbha-ruditokṣaṇa-mārjanādau
gāyanti cainam anurakta-dhiyo ‘śru-kaṇṭhyo
dhanyā vraja-striya urukrama-citta-yānāḥ

“The ladies of Vraja are the most fortunate of women because, with their minds fully attached to Kṛṣṇa and their throats always choked with tears, they constantly sing about Him while milking the cows, winnowing grain, churning butter, gathering cow dung for fuel, riding on swings, taking care of their crying babies, sprinkling the ground with water, cleaning their houses, and so on.” SB 10.44.15

Immediately another difficulty appears.

How many of us know how to milk cows? I don’t think many ladies know this. Even most men do not! What to speak of churning butter, gathering cow dung, or engaging in the many traditional activities of Vraja?

We may eventually learn these things. With some training, we can milk cows, churn butter, or become comfortable picking up cow dung. We may even imitate some of the external features of Vraja life.

But that is not the point.

The Bhāgavatam is not glorifying the residents of Vraja for their skill or expertise in performing household duties. It is glorifying the fact that while engaged in those ordinary activities, their minds were completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. As they remembered Him, their voices choked with emotion and tears flowed from their eyes.

Learning the external activities may not be so difficult. Developing that kind of absorption in Kṛṣṇa is the real challenge. That is something we cannot imitate.

What About Mahāprabhu’s Associates?

Perhaps someone may say, “Then let us follow the examples of Mahāprabhu’s associates.” Because they actually were gopis and manjaris descended from the spiritual world to enact pastimes with Lord Caitanya !! So, following them is tantamount to following the gopis!

But that does not make things easier.

Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.2.295 states, seva sadhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi – The advanced devotee who is inclined to spontaneous loving service should follow the activities of a particular associate of Kṛṣṇa’s in Vṛndāvana. He should execute service externally as a regulative devotee as well as internally from his self-realized position.

If we are expected to follow the sādhaka-deha of the siddhas, then that too is impossible at our level, because the renunciation and devotion shown by these great ācāryas is far beyond ordinary capacity.

Consider Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, who survived on buttermilk; Sanātana Gosvāmī, who gave up even his shawl, his last possession, to please Mahaprabhu; Rupa and Sanatana, who would barely sleep, but utilize their entire time fully absorbed in serving Krishna; Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, who remained in ecstasy for six hours upon seeing a peacock feather; Sri Ramananda Raya who personally bathed young girls, touched them and applied oils to them with his own hands, yet remained calm and passionless. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu certified that it was possible only for Ramananda Raya Likewise, throughout the night in Śrīvāsa Aṅgana, devotees would sing and dance, turning it into a rasa-sthalī.

The more we examine the lives of such exalted personalities, the more we realize how far we are from their platform. Such standards are beyond our present level of comprehension, let alone imitation.

Then What Is Our Hope?

At this point, the entire challenge appears impossible. Yet our ācāryas have not left us without hope.

In fact, when we think of someone who truly fulfilled this challenge, one personality immediately comes to mind – Śrīla Prabhupāda.

The gopīs never left Vṛndāvana because separation from Kṛṣṇa was unbearable for them. Yet Śrīla Prabhupāda left Vṛndāvana and crossed the ocean at an advanced age. Not because he loved Vṛndāvana or Kṛṣṇa less.

But because he loved the instruction of his spiritual master so deeply.

The MV Jaladuta, the ‘Messenger of the Waters’, carried a far greater messenger across the seas. Śrīla Prabhupāda came as a Viṣṇudūta, crossing the waters of the world so that we might avoid an encounter with the Yamadūtas.

He carried the treasure of Vraja to every corner of the world. He brought the holy name, the teachings of Mahāprabhu, and the love of the residents of Vṛndāvana to people who had never even heard the name Kṛṣṇa.

His entire life revolved around fulfilling the instruction of his spiritual master.

For us, following the instructions of our previous ācāryas and our spiritual masters and serving the mission they have entrusted to us is something tangible and practical.

The Real Challenge

Perhaps this is the real “Be a Gopī Challenge.”

Neither trying to imitate the external activities of the gopīs. Nor prematurely imagining exalted spiritual identities.

Rather, following faithfully in the footsteps of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the previous ācāryas, rising each day with a desire to serve, chanting sincerely, hearing attentively, serving enthusiastically and organizing our lives around the instructions of guru and Gaurāṅga.

The gopīs’ lives revolved entirely around Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s life revolved entirely around the instruction of his guru. And perhaps our challenge is to make our lives revolve around their instructions.

If we can do that sincerely, then maybe, in some small way, we have begun the real “Be a Gopī Challenge.”