Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s3.14

c8.s3.14

¹ Viśvanātha Cakravartin adds (*Kiraṇa*, p. 34): *kiyantyaḥ gokule svīyā api pitṛādi-śaṅkayā parakīyā eva*. Jīva Gosvāmin deals in some detail with this question of the relation of the Gopīs to Kṛṣṇa in his *Prīti-sandarbha* (pp. 676-686, 936), for which see below, chap. v. It is differentiated from ordinary sexual relation (*prākṛta kāma*) and characterised as pure love (*śuddha-preman*), and the distinction of Svīyā and Parakīyā is said to be possible only in Prakaṭa Līlā (*vastutaḥ parama-svīyā api prakaṭa-līlāyām parakīyamānāḥ śrī-vrajadevyah*, p. 936). In his *Śrīkṛṣṇa-sandarbha* (ed. Prangopala Gosvami, Nadiya 1925, pp. 547f), Jīva offers the mystical-philosophical explanation that the Gopīs, as well as Kṛṣṇa's wives in Mathurā and Dvārakā, are really his Svarūpa-śaktis. The Parakīyā-bhāva of the Gopīs is not a reality but a mere semblance (Abhāsa) which, occurring only during the Prakaṭa Vṛndāvana-līlā, is short-lived.