The Rāsa Dance: Introduction
189
bhagavān api . This means that although Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has no desire that needs to be fulfilled because He is always full with six opulences. Yet He wanted to enjoy the company of the  gopīs .  Bhagavān api  signifies that this is not like the ordinary dancing of young boys and young girls. The specific word used in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is  yogamāyām upāśritaḥ , which means that this dancing with the  gopīs  is on the platform of  yogamāyā , not  mahāmāyā . The dancing of young boys and girls within this material world is in the kingdom of  mahāmāyā , or the external energy. The  rāsa  dance of Kṛṣṇa with the  gopīs  is on the platform of  yogamāyā . The difference between the platform of  yogamāyā  and  mahāmāyā  is compared in the  Caitanya-caritāmṛta  to the difference between gold and iron. From the viewpoint of metallurgy, gold and iron are both metals, but the quality is completely different. Similarly, although the  rāsa  dance and Lord Kṛṣṇa's association with the  gopīs  appear like the ordinary mixing of young boys and girls, the quality is completely different. The difference is appreciated by great Vaiṣṇavas because they can understand the difference between love of Kṛṣṇa and lust.
On the  mahāmāyā  platform, dances take place on the basis of sense gratification. But when Kṛṣṇa called the  gopīs  by sounding His flute, the  gopīs  very hurriedly rushed towards the spot of  rāsa  dance with the transcendental desire of satisfying Kṛṣṇa. The author of  Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, has explained that lust means sense gratification, and love also means sense gratification—but for Kṛṣṇa. In other words, when activities are enacted on the platform of personal sense gratification, they are called material activities, but when they are enacted for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, then they are spiritual activities. On any platform of activities, the principle of sense gratification is there. But on the spiritual platform, sense gratification is for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, whereas on the material platform it is for the performer. For example, on the material platform, when a servant serves a master, he is not trying to satisfy the senses of the master, but rather his own senses. The servant would not serve the master if the payment stopped. That means that the servant engages himself in the service of the master just to satisfy his senses. On the spiritual platform, the servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead serves Kṛṣṇa without payment, and he continues his service in all conditions. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa consciousness and material consciousness.
It appears that Kṛṣṇa enjoyed the  rāsa  dance with the  gopīs  when He was eight years old. At that time, many of the  gopīs  were married, because