The Gopis of Vraja as the Model of Love
Narada points to the cowherd women of Vrindavan, whose selfless love for Krishna is the supreme example of bhakti.
In Sutra 21, Narada cites the highest example: 'Yatha vraja-gopikanam' — 'As in the case of the gopis of Vraja.' The cowherd women of Vrindavan loved Krishna with such pure, spontaneous, and selfless intensity that they became the eternal model of para bhakti. They forgot themselves, their families, and social propriety in the overwhelming pull of love, seeking nothing but the joy of the Beloved. Their love was free of ulterior motive, an end in itself. Narada lifts up this gopi-prema as the gold standard against which all devotion is measured — a love so complete that the lover disappears entirely into the act of loving.
As in the case of the gopis of Vraja.
The gopis' love became the central paradigm of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, where their madhurya-bhava (the mood of the beloved) is held to be the highest of all devotional relationships with God.
Narada Bhakti Sutras
Written about in
- What is bhakti? Narada's definition of devotion
Rather than argue further, he points at the cowherd women of Vrindavan and their love for Krishna. The example carries the definition on from where analysis stops.
- What the Narada Bhakti Sutras say about loneliness
Narada's one named model of perfect love, in Sutra 21, is the gopis of Vraja — women whose beloved had gone. The gold standard here is drawn from people who did not have the one they loved.