The Rasa Dance: Introduction 189

bhagavan api. This means that although Krsna 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 gopis. Bhagavan api signifies that this is not like the ordinary dancing
of young boys and young girls. The specific word used in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam is yogamayam upasritah, which means that this dancing with
the gopis is on the platform of yogamaya, not mahamaya. The dancing of
young boys and girls within this material world is in the kingdom of
mahamaya, or the external energy. The rasa dance of Krsna with the gopis
is on the platform of yogamaya. The difference between the platform of
yogamaya and mahamaya is compared in the Caitanya-caritamrta 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 rasa dance and Lord Krsna’s association with the
gopis appear like the ordinary mixing of young boys and girls, the
quality is completely different. The difference is appreciated by great
Vaisnavas because they can understand the difference between love of
Krsna and lust.

On the mahamaya platform, dances take place on the basis of sense
gratification. But when Krsna called the gopis by sounding His flute, the
gopis very hurriedly rushed towards the spot of rasa dance with the
transcendental desire of satisfying Krsna. The author of Caitanya-
caritamrta, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, has explained that lust means
sense gratification, and love also means sense gratification—but for Krsna.
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 Krsna, 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, Krsna, whereas on the material platform it is for the per-
former. 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 Krsna without payment, and he
continues his service in all conditions. That is the difference between
Krsna consciousness and material consciousness.

It appears that Krsna enjoyed the rasa dance with the gopis when He
was eight years old. At that time, many of the gopis were married, because
