The Gopīs as the Ideal Devotees
The Gopīs (gopa-strī — cowherd women) of Vṛndāvana are held in the Bhāgavata Purāṇam as the supreme exemplars of devotion. They loved Kṛṣṇa with complete abandon — abandoning their homes, their families' expectations, their social standing, even their sense of personal virtue — all for one moment with Kṛṣṇa.
The Rāsa-pañcādhyāya (five chapters on the Rāsa dance, Bhāgavatam 10.29–33) is the most celebrated description of this devotion — the Gopīs running to Kṛṣṇa in the night when they hear his flute, heedless of all other obligation.
Theological Meaning
In Sri Vaishnava interpretation, the Gopīs represent the pure jīvātman freed from all ego-assertion:
- Their love is ananya — for Kṛṣṇa alone, no other purpose
- Their love asks nothing of Kṛṣṇa — they seek his joy, not their own enjoyment of him
- Their love survives even Kṛṣṇa's apparent neglect and departure
Kṛṣṇa himself says to them (Bhāgavatam 10.32): "I cannot repay your love even with all the time in Brahma's life" — acknowledging that their devotion transcends any transaction.
Bhāgavatam in Āzhvār Context
The Āzhvārs, composing in the nāyikā bhāva (feminine devotional stance), echo the Gopī experience. Nammāzhvār's experience of separation from Emperumān mirrors the Gopīs' viraha (separation-anguish) after Kṛṣṇa left for Mathurā.