Those who worship Parama Puruśa with single-minded devotion, with their undivided attention discarding all other mundane thoughts, and, bringing about a smooth softness in their mental flow, move towards Parama Puruśa, are called gopiis or devotees. No one can depict these types of devotees, because the inner devotion of their tender ideation is embedded in the deepest recesses of their hearts. It is completely internal, a matter of their psychic world. It is also difficult to give proper expression to the thoughts of these gopiis, who are specially endowed with this unique devotion and ideation. This sort of gopiibhava, the ideation of a gopii, may be attained as the result of spiritual practices and merit from the performance of virtuous deeds for lives together. While imbibing this ideation of a gopii bit by bit as the result of prolonged meditation and merit, one can gradually elevate oneself to the highest state of devotion. It may also happen that within a very short period, even within an hour or two, this gopiibháva may be aroused as the result of exclusive absorption in Parama Puruśa. So one can become a gopii as a result of prolonged practice, or even within a very short period. This ideation is never confined within the limits of time. When a person moves towards Parama Puruśa with tender ideation, full of smoothness, full of sweet peace, he or she is called a gopii (samyaung maśrńito shánto).

Even while remaining in this exalted state, sometimes it happens that the mind of the devotee runs after materiality for a short while. Consequently in the blissful flow of the devotee’s mind some blemish or distortion takes place. For instance, a poor person at the sight of the vast wealth of a rich man, may be tempted to think, “If I had that much wealth, I could have rendered greater service to the society, and to Parama Puruśa.” Or when seeing an eloquent person, one may think, “If I had the same power of oratory, then I could also praise the glories of Parama Puruśa with my sublime force of expression.” Although a person has sufficient knowledge to do some work yet such a person may think inwardly, “Had I greater scholarship, then I could have preached about the Supreme with greater logic and artistry.” These desires for the acquisition of more material wealth, for more scholarship and eloquence, are certainly distortions of the smooth flow of a devotee’s mind. Perhaps there is no defect regarding one’s goal, but the defect lies in the psychic movement in the world of ideation; because one must work according to the capacity which Parama Puruśa has already bestowed – this is what Parama Puruśa expects us to do. Parama Puruśa knows best which person should be given what amount of power; thus if we think that it would have been better if we had possessed more wealth, more eloquence, more scholarship – these ideas are not consistent with ideation of a gopii.

Genuine devotees should always remember that they should serve Parama Puruśa to the best of their capacity, with whatever power they have already been given by Parama Puruśa.

Now, wealth or eloquence or scholarship – these are all concerned with the world of colour. When human beings think of money, then the crude colour of money brings impurity in the mind ; similarly oratory or scholarship brings another type of impurity in the mind, and thus the smooth flow of the mind becomes impaired. In the scriptures it is said of Parama Puruśa, raso vae sah; that is, “Parama Puruśa is an unbroken flow of bliss.” If there is not a hundred percent smooth flow of mind, then it will not be possible for the mind to maintain parallelism with His continuous flow of bliss. One who is a real gopii is always aware of this. What does a gopii do? He or she will say to Parama Puruśa, “Oh Lord, let all my impurities, all my defects remain, but remove my weakness for scholarship, for oratory or material wealth – because if I want anything other than you, I am grievously mistaken. For my wrong desire, for my deviation from my path – for this temporary distortion that arose in my mind when I sought to attain something in this colourful mundane world – I admit my fault. I surrender my mental colour to merge with your colour. I want to rise above the world of colour, I want to be colourless. I want to rid myself of my defective dependence on the world of colour, due to the distorted thoughts in my mind.”

Thus a devotee will have to make vigorous efforts to rise above the realm of colour. The fundamental significance of the spring festival is this. The spring festival is not a festival of Bengal ; it was observed in north India where it was known as Holi. The people of northern India sought to regain the vibrant liveliness of spring after throwing off the dullness of winter. Winter is a symbol of inertness or dullness, whereas spring represents irresistible life force, the expression of enormous dynamism. Human beings welcome the advent of spring by burning the effigy of Holi which symbolises the static inertness of winter. The same festival is known as Pháguya in Bihar. About 550 years ago, Caetanya Mahaprabhu once went to Brindaban. There he observed how the people of the north were celebrating the Holi festival. After he returned to Bengal, he introduced the Dol festival of Lord Krśńa, based on the inner significance of the Holi festival.

The Dol festival is also a spring festival, but in northern India it is known as Holi, in Bihar Phaguyá and in Bengal it is known as the Dol festival of Lord Krśńa. The festival in northern India is essentially a social festival, but in Bengal it is a spiritual celebration, because the spring festival represents the psychology of a spiritual aspirant, the ideation of a gopii.