Chitra Gopi
Who is Chitra (Gopi) Sakhi?
Sankari Kor- pay your tax or else. is the spot where Krishna would stop the gopis to steal their yogurt. Srimati Radharani and Her Friends Capture Krishna Srimati Radharani’s family residence is in the town of Varsana upon a hill which has four peaks. Sankari Kor is a narrow, rocky pass running through a ravine between two of these peaks, In the company of her gopi friends, Srimati Radharani enjoyed pastimes throughout Varsana, and here is one story about Sankari Kor that is told by the local people who live there. |
|
The young girls of Varsana were expert at making their way through the rocky Sankari Kor pass without pilling a drop from the pots of milk, curds and yoghurt that they carried on their heads. One day, desiring to have some fun, Krishna climbed up on a high outcrop of rocks above Sankari Kor and waited quietly until a group of gopis were making their way through the narrow pass. then without warning He began throwing stones at the clay pots on their heads! |
 |
The treacherous pass offered little shelter from this surprise ambush, and suddenly a loud “crack” reverberated across the ravine as one of the stones hit a pot atop of one poor gopi’s head! Much to the delight and amusement of Krishna, streams of creamy, fresh yoghurt poured down all over that unfortunate gopi as her friends looked on in great horror! The gopis went straight to see Srimati Radharani to inform Her of what had taken place. She immediately devised a clever plan to get even. First Srimati Radharani instructed a small group of Her friends that they should make their way through Sankari Kor with pots on their heads as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile all the rest of the girls hid behind some trees. Sure enough, just as the gopis carrying pots made their way through the rugged ravine, Krishna once again appeared, But as He raised the first stone above His head, all the girls jumped out from behind the trees and captured Him! Then the girls dressed Krishna up as a young gopi-girl, and forced Him to make His way through Sankari Kor balancing a pot of yoghurt on His own head! Meanwhile, the gopis armed themselves with stones at appropriated places along the route. That apprehensive young “girl” had no chance of avoiding “Her” inevitable fate! The pot above His head was smashed by the gopis stones, and thick, fresh yoghurt came streaming down all over Him, The victorious gopis laughed to see their fugitive completely covered from head to foot in yoghurt. In order to acknowledge defeat at the hands of His “captors” Krishna was brought before Srimati Radharani. All He could do was to offer His obeisances and touch Her feet, for yet again He had been humbled by Her extraordinary prowess! |
|
She is from Chiksauli...
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Chitra Sakhi
Citra is the fourth of the varistha gopis. Her beautiful saffron complexion resembles the color of kumkuma, and her garments are the color of crystal. She is 26 days older than Srimati Radharani, being 14 years, 7 months and 14 days of age. Her father is Catura, the paternal uncle of Suryamitra. Her mother is Carcika-devi and her husband is Pithara. She is an adhika-mrdvinayika, and her home is in Chiksauli.
In gaura-lila she appears as Sri Govindananda.
She and Sri Krsna are very affectionate toward each other, and she is very devoted to her seva of bringing cloves and garlands. She is especially expert in the lover's quarrel between Radha and Krsna (the third of the six definitions of the word abhisarana). When Lord Madhava is full of bliss, she becomes satisfied.
Citra-devi can read between the lines of books and letters written in many different languages, perceiving the hidden intentions of the author. She is a skilled gourmet and can understand the tastes of various foods made with honey, milk, and other ingredients simply by glancing at them. She can nicely make various kinds of nectarean beverages. (There are also eight other gopi maidservants, headed by Rasalika-devi, who are expert at making various nectarean beverages.)
Citra-devi is expert in playing music on pots filled with varying degrees of water. She is learned in the literature describing astronomy and astrology, and she is well versed in the theoretical and practical activities of protecting domestic animals. She is especially expert at gardening. There are other gopis who mostly collect transcendental herbs and medicinal creepers from the forest and do not collect flowers or anything else. Citra-devi is the leader of these gopis. The chief gopis in Sri Citra’s yutha are Rasalika, Tilakini, Saurasen, Sugandhika, Vamani, Vamanayana, Nagari and Nagavallika.
Replies
Very nectarean! Thank you ! Haribol!
Thank you both then! :)
~ We should constantly sing the names of Hari,
With more humility than a dried grass,
With more tolerance than a tree,
And with a mind without false prestige.~
The humility is the key and the secret. I had to realize it myself. The situation with me in the beginning was just as you described in your comment - I found myself in gopi's suite close to Krsna, in the first row. By the arrangements of His Time and Mercy, He kindly asked to me to go the end of the row instead of wanting to be in the first row. Now I am learning the basics and the humble attitude in service and I am feeling much more blissfuly than previously. Haribol!
Basu Gopal gave this address to me, so he has brought the nectar. I am sharing it with you. I thought you might drop by!
There are several nice small books describing the gopis in my small collection, i shall dig some out over the next while also.
(the demi-urge:)
Chitra Nakshatra: To be born with emphasis on chitra nakshatra is to be deeply engrossed in trying to find the meaning behind the secret functionings of the universe. Chitras main task is to see through the many veils of illusion in the universe, it is akin to vishnu reclining on his serpent bed, who holds the realization that the universe is a constant unfolding of his dream state.
Chitra contains the star Spica, called "the star of prosperity" by the ancients.
Chitra types do well with learning tantric pricipals, and fulfilling physical desires becomes something to work through on the path to higher thought. The mind must be free of all desires before liberation can occur. Chitra's usually struggle and unfortunately often become either completely repressed sexually or completely over-sexed. Neither of these extremes are healthy or balanced to the body-mind-spirit, and Chitra needs a balance in this department in order to work through strong subconscious urges that can tear a weaker psyche to emotional bits.
Chitra is ruled by Mars, and due to it's passionate, highly sexed nature, is ruled by the female tiger:
Chitra is related to prajapati, the ancient sky father god, one who creates the many levels of reality and illusion. Many believe it was this prajapati that evolved into the form of "lord of the creatures" known as 'shiva' that is seen so readily seen. This would make sense as chitra, with it's desire control and the tiger symbology can all be seen here:
(it is common knowledge to shaivites that the mat shiva meditates on is a tiger skin, symbolizing human passions finally mastered, thus leading to great mental liberation.)
How chitra creates is interesting enough... The symbol of chitra is two fold, the diamond and the pearl: The diamond is the symbol of the trials and tribulations the mind must go through in order to be hardened enough to cut through the maya (illusion) of cosmic play (everyday "reality"; a little like the matrix, eh?) Thus, the chitra must come to terms with every aspect of the rough stone of the mind, chipping away at the impurities as they come along, until finally, the focus of the one-mind is strong enough to realize what can be the most enlightening and simultaneous frightening thing... the ultimate reality, the self. This is the meaning of the diamond.
Chitra is the sign most closely associated with magic, and must learn to balance delicate mental principals, working through a web of sometimes conflicting web of knowledge and symbols, learning to manifest things through the astral side of existence. It deals in a world of mental weight and preconception, with an urge to clarify and discover infinite potentiality with a mind tempered by deep wisdom.
The Pearl is the other symbol of this nakshatra, it again, indicates several aspects of this star which the ancients held in deep reverence for it's mysticism... As discussed earlier, chitra is a extremely creative nakshatra, but where does it's creativity come from? Most philosophies agree that the urge to create comes from an unconscious feeling of incompleteness, or dissatisfaction with the present situation. This is akin to the lesson of the pearl, in which it is such a beautiful creation, but actually is formed from the irritation of the oyster. What starts out as the woe of the oyster, eventually becomes a beautiful creation. It is found then, that most people with heavy chitra affiliation find their most creative moments come from their most troubled times. At their lowest hour, they receive a spark of divine inspiration, and take it to a higher level. Also, one will note that most chitras, as well as their creations themselves will contain more than a touch of melancholy, as more advanced chitra types (realizing their own inner workings) will often times force themselves to the extremes of (often unpleasant) emotional entrenchment, in order to find that grain of sand. Chitra's suffering then, in turn, becomes their ultimate beauty.