Shard Purnima

Many moons ago, during Treta Yug, Lord Krushna played raas with the maidens of Vraj during the Shard full moon.  Gods and sages witnessed this wonderful dance of ParaBhrama playing with souls.  After centuries of being separated from the source, the souls retuned, and the joy of that union was called Raas. 

Like the revolution of planets around the Sun, or electrons around the nucleus of an atom, or seasons around time, or lives around desires, or knowledge around wisdom, or life & death around eternity, the dance of the Lord with the souls of the universe is eternal and wonderfully complex.  Even the great and wise can not understand or express it fully.

When reciting the ShriMaad Bahgvatam (SMB), Shri Shukacharyaji explained some of the joy of this lila to king Pariksheeta. 

Invited by a divine call, souls that were ready for the final union with ParaBhrama came to Him in the midst of Vraj as gopies.  Testing for the final time, the Lord asked if they had come to escape some danger, or, if they come out of curiosity !  Indeed, either way, they should return.  The souls, having left everything behind, were unwilling to leave the Lord and stated their final resolve to either be one with the Lord, or die there and than !  Faced with such determination, the Lord played raas with the gopies whose punya karmas had been burnt away by their meeting with the Lord, and paapa karmas had been burnt away by their austerities to get here. 

After many lives, many austerities and much wisdom, had the souls of the great and good incarnated as gopies to play this maha raas with the Lord of the Universe !  Only those who were sufficiently empowered with knowledge and wisdom were able to see or understand this great lila of souls and super-soul dancing, merging, emerging and enjoying the one-ness and separation ! 

The lilas that followed were wonderful.
Much has been written on it and much more has been said on it.

Here are 3 links by Shyam das, translating from Subodhiniji
http://www.geocities.com/pushti_marg/rasa-23.htm

http://www.geocities.com/pushti_marg/rasa-26.htm

http://www.geocities.com/pushti_marg/rasa-28.htm

here is one article by me encompassing the five chapters of Raas in (SMB)
http://www.geocities.com/pushti_marg/rasa.htm

The Maha Raas is an eternal lila.  The five chapters in SMB are a glimpse of the eternal lila.  King Parisksheet’s sense and sensibilities curtailed any fuller description, as Shukacharyaji did not wish to confuse the king, so close to death.  There was time yet, and much ground had to be covered, Shukacharyaji felt the king would need greater time to understand the fullness of the lila.

The wise have said that we are all part of Maha Raas !  The Lord’s lila, His universe, and the plays within it are the Raas.  We have forgotten why and where we are in the great scheme of things, and hence we can not enjoy the universal lila of Lord.

On this wonderful day of Maha Raas, let us do our own sadhans – whatever they may be – to get closer to the Lord, so that one day, we too can enjoy the great Maha Raas, and understand where we are in the great scheme of the Lord’s lila !!  Once we understand, we will enjoy the rasa of the Raas fully !![/b]