Description of the Rāsa Dance
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prohibited for  brahmacārīs , and what to speak of a  brahmacārī  like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. But because the circumstances of the  rāsa  dance were very suspect, Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired for clarification from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī immediately replied that transgressions of religious principles by the supreme controller testify to His great power. For example, fire can consume any abominable thing; that is the manifestation of the supremacy of fire. Similarly, the sun can absorb water from a urinal or from stool, and the sun is not polluted; rather, due to the influence of sunshine, the polluted, contaminated place becomes disinfected and sterilized.
One may also argue that since Kṛṣṇa is the supreme authority, His activities should be followed. In answer to this question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī has very clearly said that  īśvarāṇām , or the supreme controller, may sometimes violate His instructions, but this is only possible for the controller Himself, not for the followers. Unusual and uncommon activities by the controller can never be imitated. Śukadeva Gosvāmī warned that the conditioned followers, who are not actually in control, should never even imagine imitating the uncommon activities of the controller. A Māyāvādī philosopher may falsely claim to be God or Kṛṣṇa, but he cannot actually act like Kṛṣṇa. He can persuade his followers to falsely imitate  rāsa  dance, but he is unable to lift Govardhana Hill. We have many experiences in the past of Māyāvādī rascals deluding their followers by posing themselves as Kṛṣṇa in order to enjoy  rāsa-līlā . In many instances they were checked by the government, arrested and punished. In Orissa, Thākur Bhaktivinode also punished a so-called incarnation of Viṣṇu, who was imitating  rāsa-līlā  with young girls. There were many complaints against him. At that time, Bhaktivinode Thākur was magistrate, and the government deputed him to deal with that rascal, and he punished him very severely. The  rāsa-līlā  dance cannot be imitated by anyone. Śukadeva Gosvāmī warns that one should not even think of imitating it. He specifically mentions that if, out of foolishness, one tries to imitate Kṛṣṇa's  rāsa  dance, he will be killed, just like a person who wants to imitate Lord Śiva's drinking of an ocean of poison. Lord Śiva drank an ocean of poison and kept it within his throat. The poison made his throat turn blue; and therefore Lord Śiva is called Nīlakaṇṭa. But if any ordinary person tries to imitate Lord Śiva by drinking poison or smoking  gañja , he is sure to be vanquished and will die within a very short time. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dealing with the  gopīs  was under special circumstances.
Most of the  gopīs  in their previous lives were great sages, expert in the studies of the  Vedas , and when Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as Lord Rāmacandra,