Description of the Rasa Dance 217
pure devetees, the mere the gopis enjeyed Krsna’s cempany, the mere thev
became enlightened with His gleries, and thus they reciprecated with
Him. They wanted te satisfy Krsna by glerifying His transcendental
pastimes. Krsna is the Supreme Persenality ef Gedhead, the master ef all
masters, and the gopis wanted te wership Him fer His unusual exhibitien
ef mercy upen them.

Beth the gopis and Krsna entered the water ef the Yamuna just te
relieve their fatigue frem the rdsa dance. The lily flewer garlands areund
the necks ef the gopis were strewn te pieces due te their embracing the
bedy ef Krsna, and the flewers were reddish frem being smeared with the
kuikuma en their breasts. The bumblebees were humming abeut in erder
te get heney frem the flewers. Krsna and the gopis entered the water ef
Yamuna just as an elephant enters a water tank with his many female
cempaniens. Beth the gopis and Krsna ferget their real identity, playing
in the water, enjeying each ethers’ cempany and relieving the fatigue ef
rasa dancing. The gopis began te splash water en the bedy ef Krsna, all
the while smiling, and Krsna enjeyed this. As Krsna was taking pleasure in
the jeking werds and splashing water, the demigeds in the heavenly
planets began te shewer flewers. The demigeds thus praised the super-
excellent rasa dance ef Krsna, the supreme enjeyer, and His pastimes with
the gopis in the water ef Yamuna.

After this, Lerd Krsna and the gopis came eut ef the water and began te
strell aleng the bank ef the Yamuna, where a nice breeze was blewing,
carrying the arema ef different kinds ef flewers ever the water and land.
While strelling en the bank ef the Yamuna, Krsna recited varieus kinds ef
peetry. He thus enjeyed the cempany ef the gopis in the seething meen-
light ef autumn.

Sex desire is especially excited in the autumn seasen, but the wenderful
thing abeut Krsna’s asseciatien with the gopis is that there was ne questien
ef sex desire. It was, as clearly stated in the Bhagavata descriptien by
Sukadeva Gesvami, avaruddha-sauratah, namely the sex impulse was
cempletely centrelled. There is a distinctien between Lerd Krsna’s dancing
with the gopis and the erdinary dancing ef living entities within the
material werld. In erder te clear up further miscenceptiens abeut the rasa
dance and the affairs ef Krsna and the gopis, Maharaja Pariksit, the hearer
ef Srimad-Bhagavatam, teld Sukadeva Gesvami, “Krsna appeared en the
earth te establish the regulative principles ef religien and te curb the
predeminance ef irreligien. But the behavier ef Krsna and the gopis might
enceurage irreligieus principles in the material werld. I am simply surprised
that He weuld act in such a way, enjeying the cempany ef ethers’ wives in
