Sri Aurobindo with his profound knowledge of spiritual truths as well as of human psychology observes about this incidence in the Bhagwat Purana as follows.
‘The seeker after divine knowledge finds in the description of Krishna stealing the robes of the Gopis one of the deepest parables of God’s ways with the soul, the devotee a perfect rendering in divine act of his heart’s mystic experiences, the prurient and the Puritan (two faces of one temperament) only a lustful story. Men bring what they have in themselves and see it reflected in the Scripture.
My lover took away my robe of sin and I let it fall, rejoicing; then he plucked at my robe of virtue, but I was ashamed and alarmed and prevented him. It was not till he wrested it from me by force that I saw how my soul had been hidden from me.’
Human beings see in others what they carry in themselves. This is especially true when they try to judge things that far surpasses their experience and understanding. It is for this reason that the ancient mystics expressed profound truths through symbols and parables. This is true of many Vedic images and stories. The Bhagwat Purana and the stories of Krishna are especially full of profound truths revealed in the garb of sweet stories. May be we can take up all the different stories some day.
But coming back to the story, robe is always associated with something that covers the truth of our being. The gopas and gopis are guardians of Light, the word comes from the root ‘go’ which means Light (associated words are gupt, guhya, guru, goloka, govardhan (increaser of light), goraksha (fosterer of light) and of course Gopal (one who nurtures Light). Light is of course one of the main attributes of the Divine. But to realise the Light of Truth within them (and us) we need to shed the dual attire of both virtue and vice and be before the Divine just as we are, free of shame and guilt, hiding nothing from Him. Then He reveals to us the truth of our own being hidden and covered by the fine or coarse robe of Nature.
But men who cannot see beyond dualities of virtue and vice, who mistake virtuosity with divinity can never understand this parable. Others who are rolling in the mud of lust see in it the prank of an adolescent. The interpretation reflects the limitations of the reader and not of the Rishis who wrote them.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
