190 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

in India, especially in those days, girls were married at a very early age.
There are even many instances of a girl giving birth to a child at the age of
twelve. Under the circumstances, all the gopis who wanted to have Krsna
as their husband were already married. At the same time, they continued
to hope that Krsna would be their husband. Their attitude toward Krsna
was that of paramour love. Therefore, the loving affairs of Krsna with the
gopis is called parakiya-rasa. A married man or a wife who desires another
wife or husband is called parakiya-rasa.

Actually, Krsna is the husband of everyone because He is the supreme
enjoyer. The gopis wanted Krsna to be their husband, but factually there
was no possibility of His marrying all the gopis. But because they had that
natural tendency to accept Krsna as their supreme husband, the relation-
ship between the gopis and Krsna is called parakiya-rasa. This parakiya-rasa
is ever-existent in Goloka Vrndavana in the spiritual sky where there is no
possibility of the inebriety which characterizes parakiya-rasa in the material
world. In the material world, parakiya-rasa is abominable, whereas in the
spiritual world it is present in the superexcellent relationship of Krsna and
the gopis. There are many other relationships with Krsna: master and
servant, friends and friend, parent and son, and lover and beloved. Out of
all these rasas, the parakiya-rasa is considered to be the topmost.

This material world is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world; it
is just like the reflection of a tree on the bank of a reservoir of water: the
topmost part of the tree is seen as the lowest part. Similarly, parakiya-rasa,
when pervertedly reflected in this material world, is abominable. When
people, therefore, imitate the rasa dance of Krsna with the gopis, they
simply enjoy the perverted, abominable reflection of the transcendental
parakiya-rasa. There is no possibility of enjoying this transcendental
parakiya-rasa within the material world. It is stated in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam that one should not imitate this parakiya-rasa even in dream
or imagination. Those who do so drink the most deadly poison.

When Krsna, the supreme enjoyer, desired to enjoy the company of the
gopis on that full moon night of the Sarat season, exactly at that very
moment, the moon, the lord of the stars, appeared in the sky, displaying
its most beautiful features. The full moon night of the Sarat season is the
most beautiful night in the year. In India there is a great monument called
Taj Mahal in Agra, a city in the Uttar Pradesh province, and the tomb is
made of first-class marble stone. During the night of the full moon of the
Sarat season, many foreigners go to see the beautiful reflections of the
moon on the tomb. Thus this full moon night is celebrated even today for
its beauty.
