Krishna_and_Gopis_on_the_Bank_of_River_Yamuna_1
Kṛṣṇa and Gopīs on the Bank of River Yamunā. Pahari Miniature painting from circa 1770 CE. National Museum in Delhi, India. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Saying that this Gītā is very low level, low standard, just for beginners, that means if there is nothing for higher, then that means it’s not fully sat. If something is sat, then it is sat. So then it is something that everybody can take part in. One may have preferences of things other, but one doesn’t reject, that’s the point. One may have some preferences, but one doesn’t reject.

Just like you have your friend, any activity is great, though you may have some activities you prefer better, some situations that you really relish being with them, but otherwise, you know, anything is good enough, it’s okay. That aspect is there, Prabhupāda brings that out. If we say, “Oh, we can only listen to advanced stuff,” then that’s fine as long as we’re already on that platform, then okay. But if we are actually on that platform, then we see it is Govinda who is speaking this.

I think when the gopīs come also, Kṛṣṇa just starts talking Dharma-śāstras, which is step below Gītā. I mean, the Mahābhārata is Dharma-śāstra, basically. You know, it is giving… It is not giving the rules, it is giving, it is showing the lifestyle of those, an example of those who follow Dharma. Yudhiṣṭhira is Dharmarāja, and all this is all going on. So when the gopīs show up, Kṛṣṇa starts talking Dharma-śāstras: “You know, you are married women, it is late, it is night, it is a forest, it is dangerous. So from all these different angles, you know, you shouldn’t be here. You should go home to your husbands and take care of your children, and the wife’s duty is being with the husband.” He just starts straight Dharma-śāstra. And then after all that, then “Okay, this is very nice, but you know, let’s get down to the rasa here.”

It is also part of the whole thing. And honest devotees will read that again and again, Kṛṣṇa speaking Dharma-śāstra here is, you know, goofing on the gopīs. But here, we are not gopīs, we are not at the rāsa dance. So now these things are important for us. So we should not goof around as gopīs. Otherwise, we will not attain that platform by which Kṛṣṇa will goof on the gopīs.

From Bhagavad-gītā Overview #22, 12 October 1998, Śrī Māyāpura Dhāma

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