Gopala Tapani Upanishad 3u1p2u

Gopala Tapani Upanishad: 8/11/2015: Verse 1: Om namah. I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Krishna, whose form is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss, who is the rescuer from distress, who is understood by Vedanta, who is the supreme spiritual master, and who is the witness in everyone's heart. This is also called Mangalacarana verse as it is the first verse. It is like a modern preface that exists before the book begins. Mangalacarana invokes auspiciousness. Usually Mangalacarana contains more than 1 verse. It has three parts as below: Namaskara verse offers obeisances. Vasthu nirdesha verse essence of scripture. Ashirvada verse offering blessings to the readers. A text will have the following parts: Visaya (subject), sambhanda (relationship), prayojana (goal to aspire) and adhikar (persons qualified to enter the mysteries of the scripture) Visaya is Krsna in this scripture. Sambandha is relation with Krsna. The name of this upanisad that sheds light (tapani) on Gopal. Prayojana is the goal that we can attain by studying and applying this scripture. There is something called phala stuti. The verse that explains the fruit by reading the scripture. But Gopala Tapani doesn’t has any phala stuti. That makes it very special as there is pure love or suddha bhakti without any expectation. Love for Love sake makes this scripture very special. That Adhikara for this verse is the acaryas who make the commentaries and explanation for this verse. The motivation for adhikara is pure devotion and no intention of any material desires or even liberation. No liberation as many scriptures has liberation as phala stuti while this scripture has no such phala stuti. This verse is not spoken by anyone like Brahma, Durvasa etc. This verse is spoken by Sruti Devi who is the personification of vedas. She herself says Om Namah! This means we shud have respectful attitude towards the scripture. The first verse points that only Krsna is worthy to take refuge of. Any other refuge we think will save us is an illusion. Sanyasis have three sticks tied. It means they have surrendered, body, mind and soul to the Lord. In Mayavada sampradaya they have only one stick as they believe in impersonalism merging. In Vaishnava sampradaya we have three sticks. Sat feature describes how Krsna is not limited in Time and space. We also have sat feature. We are infinitesimal while Krsna is infinite. Acintyabedhabedha Tattva: inconceivable one and different. Krsna doesn’t forcefully act to be wonderful. He is naturally wonderful. Behind the Parama Purusa, there is Parama Prakrita (Krsna looks very beautiful while He is with Srimati Radha Rani). LC is mercy personified as He is the combo of both Krsna and Radha.

Krsna is the subject of Vedanta.

Verse 2: We must get the mantra only from our Guru Maharaj who is in the line of disciplic sucession. Kumaras were known as Jnani Bhaktas. Later they became devotees by smelling the Tulasi leaf at the Lotus Feet of Lord Narayana. We must meditate on the personalities of Sri Brahma Kumaras and Sukhadeva Goswami. Practical Application: In order to enter to the pastimes of Radha and Krsna, we must practice devotional service with utmost seriousness and sense control.