Vastraharan...

 We have all heard the story of the famous ‘vastraharan’ of the Gopis of Vrindavan. The mischievous Krishna, the culprit as usual, steals the clothes of the gopis and refuses to hand them back! While some marveled at the ‘Lila’ or Illusion of Krishna, some were quick to accuse him of being prudish with women and misbehaving with them. But did he indeed act disrespectful of women? Or is there another dimension to the entire story of Vastraharan?

Here’s one perspective on the story-

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The gopis of Vrindavan were splashing about in the river Yamuna and as usual their discussion had veered to their favorite – Krishna!

“Have you seen his beautiful eyes? See how they dance with mischief!” said one.

“Ah! How they sparkle!” said another excitedly, “and his lips are like the bud of the lotus, and when he smiles…. a thousand lotuses bloom in my heart,” she swooned and the others burst out laughing.

“I have made his favorite ladoos, dripping with pure ghee… just for him,” said yet another.

“I have strung together a beautiful garland of the finest and most fragrant roses for him,” said a dreamy eyed gopi.

“But I doubt that is any better than my garland of his favorite Parijata flowers,” smirked her friend.

“How cheap…is that all you brought for him?” said a pretty looking one, “I stitched him an expensive ‘pitambar’ robe made of the finest and the most expensive silks, and…” she said pausing for her friends to absorb the grand news and experience the pangs of jealousy, before dramatically adding, “…a necklace of the rarest gems.”

The other girls sighed at that, feeling saddened about not being able to afford the luxury of treating their Lord to such finery.

Their banter went on and on and they forgot all about the special ‘vrata’ they had intended to keep for Maa Katyayani.

Who could ever have enough of the Blue God?

A sweet laughter brought their animated talks to an end and recognizing the song in that laughter, they knew immediately who that could be. Expectant eyes looked around, dancing like thousand peacocks on a rainy day.

“Krishna!!!” they chorused in excitement as soon as they sighted him.  

“Aren’t you supposed to be hurrying up to offer your prayers to Maa Katyayani?” mocked Krishna perched on the branch right above them. “And here you are indulging in mindless gossip,” he chided them.

A collective sigh and a scream went out as they realized they had no clothes on.

“You are watching us bathe? How shameless!” they chorused, their faces turning the darkest shade of crimson. But deep inside their hearts, they were enjoying being watched by him as bathed naked in the river, each secretly wishing he had eyes just for her.

“Kaanha, do you know why we are offering our prayers today? So that, we may join you in holy union!” And they all burst out laughing again.

“So come out and pray then,” he teased back, “Let me see who offers the most sincere prayers.”

Suddenly one of them realized that the clothes that they had left on the banks of the river were gone.

“Kaanha did you steal our clothes?” she asked.

He waved out a couple of their clothes from the branch above. “Here they are. Come and get them,” he teased.

They pleaded and prayed, they begged and bowed, but he refused to budge. Finally, covering themselves with their bare hands they emerged out of the water one by one.

“Why did you make us do this Kaanha?” they cried in shame as he handed them back their clothes.

“You said you want to come to me, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Yes, Kaanha, but do you want us to come to you naked?” they were still wincing at the humiliation.

“You don’t respect women at all, do you?” asked one, all fiery and angry.

“How dare you do this to me?” said another, draping the saree around her slender body, her pride hurt at having had to come out of the water naked.

Krishna laughed.

“When the soul approaches the Supreme lord, it must be stripped of everything. It must be bereft of all that is not part of its inner-self, all that is just an external covering, the ego, the pride, the anger, the shame, the deceit, the ignorance, the pretense of goodness, and impurity of body, mind and soul. It must stand naked and alone, with nothing to save the life within itself. And only then will divinity come forth as its savior.” 

He paused and smiled. “The clothes were merely symbolic, my sweet Gopis.”

Tears welled up in their eyes as they thought of all the caustic words they had stung him with. Their egos shattered like a house of glass hit by a bolt of lightning. Their pride quelled, their anger vanished, the shame no longer haunted them, and all their ignorance seemed to have washed away.

“Forgive us Lord,” they prayed, bowing before him in reverence.

It took a simple vastraharan to make the Gopis realise that the Lord belonged to everyone, and he did not want anything except their faith in him. He did not want their offering, the perfumed flowers, the food, the jewels, or the expensive clothes. All he wanted was their love.