Many times, you have all the knowledge, but then you lose it. It just slips. That is where “Gopala” plays a role. Pala means protector in Sanskrit. The word protector comes from palan. Palan means to protect. And go means knowledge. From gnoti-have you heard the word gnostic? In Greek, it is “gnostic”. In Sanskrit, it is gnan or go. So Gopala means protector of knowledge. You have to play the role of Gopala.
Right now, I am giving you knowledge. I am playing the role of Govinda. Govinda means giver-giver of knowledge.
Narayana is the spirit that lives in your system-your nervous system. The word nervous comes from the root Nara. Nara is Sanskrit; nar is English. Narayana means the one who is housed in the nervous system, the consciousness that manifests as human beings and in all animals. Wherever there is a nervous system, there is Narayana. Narayana is not somewhere up there. It is everywhere.
Narayana lives in a place called Vaikuntha. Kuntha means some lack, something missing. Vaikuntha means where there is no lack at all-where everything is blissful. Whenever you feel blissful, you don’t feel lack. They cannot exist together. Vaikuntha is completion, celebration.
Kailasa means where there is only celebration. There is a beautiful story. In Vaikuntha, everyone looks the same-doorkeeper, waiter, server, cook-everyone looks like Narayana. In Kailasa, everyone is different: spirits, ghosts, bhuta, preta, animals, all sorts of beings. It is like entering a haunted house in Disneyland!
Vaikuntha indicates one field of consciousness-rich, full, blissful, playful. Kailasa indicates pure joy. Shiva is the silent, infinite consciousness, and the infinite contains infinite variety. That is the universe-innumerable forms, all different, yet held in one space. That space is Shiva.
To realise that space, you need a lot of energy. Like an atom bomb-the subtler you go, the more powerful. If a tiny piece of matter can release so much energy, imagine going subtler than that; imagine the field of Shiva-how immense that power is.
Every day when you do sadhana, meditation, you are protecting the knowledge – you are a Gopala. If you don’t, then you are no Gopala. You have been singing “Govinda, Govinda, Gopala”, not knowing what it means. But never mind-even if you know or don’t know, the intellect is only a tiny part.
Be a Gopala to your own wisdom. Protect the knowledge within through daily sadhana; for when the mind rests in bliss, you discover that Narayana is not above you, but alive in you, and Vaikuntha is a state of completeness within.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
