The six major gopī-gītās (songs of the gopīs) in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (Canto 10). These are considered the heart of Vraja-bhakti theology, as they reveal the innermost moods of the vraja-gopīs towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

---

The Six Gītās of the Gopīs in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

---

1. Venu-gītā (Song of the Flute)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.21

Context

• Kṛṣṇa is tending cows with Balarāma and friends, playing His flute.
• The gopīs, watching from afar, are overcome with ecstatic love.

Theme

• They describe how everything in Vṛndāvana responds to Kṛṣṇa’s flute—rivers stop flowing, deer stand still, birds become silent, even cows forget to chew grass.
• They especially envy the flute, which directly touches Kṛṣṇa’s lips.

Rasa

• Pūrva-rāga (first awakening of love).
• Expresses the early stage of divine longing, sweetly mixed with jealousy.

Gauḍīya Teaching

• Kṛṣṇa’s flute symbolizes His call to the jīva.
• The soul, enchanted, abandons worldly duties and begins the path of rāgānugā-bhakti.

---

2. Prāṇaya-gītā (Song of Affection)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.29 (sometimes linked with 10.29.31–41)

Context

• Kṛṣṇa plays His flute at night, calling the gopīs to the rāsa-sthalī (Yamunā bank, Śarad Pūrṇimā).
• The gopīs leave their homes and meet Him secretly.

Theme

• When Kṛṣṇa tests them, saying they should return home to husbands and families, they respond with words of prāṇaya (deep affectionate love).
• They declare that serving Him is their only dharma.

Rasa

• Viśuddha-prāṇaya (pure affectionate intimacy).
• Shows how the gopīs’ love transcends social dharma and shines as parā-bhakti.

Gauḍīya Teaching

• The gopīs’ insistence demonstrates that spiritual love surpasses varṇāśrama duties.
• For Gauḍīyas, this is the foundation of rāgānugā-bhakti: Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure above all else.

---

3. Gopī-gītā (Song of the Gopīs)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.31

Context

• During rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa disappears to remove the gopīs’ pride.
• In separation, they gather together and sing in agony of love.

Theme

• They plead for His return, praising His beauty, smile, and touch.
• Every verse drips with vipralambha-bhāva (love in separation).

Rasa

• Height of mādhurya-rasa in separation.
• Ujjvala-rasa shines—intense longing, tears, burning of heart.

Gauḍīya Teaching

• Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself relished Gopī-gītā in Gambhīrā.
• It is a model for devotees: intense separation intensifies union.

---

4. Yugala-gītā (Song of the Divine Couple)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.35

Context

• The gopīs describe the wanderings of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma through Vṛndāvana, accompanied by cowherd boys.

Theme

• They imagine the happiness of rivers, trees, and animals when touched by the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute.
• The gopīs feel themselves deprived, while nature enjoys His presence.

Rasa

• Viraha-milana-bhāva (union in separation).
• The gopīs console themselves by remembering Kṛṣṇa’s movements with vivid poetic imagery.

Gauḍīya Teaching

• This gītā reflects the stage where devotees transform pain of separation into remembrance.
• Teaches that even separation sustains the flame of devotion.

---

5. Viraha-gītā (Song of Separation)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.39

Context

• Akrūra comes to take Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to Mathurā.
• The gopīs see the chariot leaving and are devastated.

Theme

• They express heart-wrenching grief, asking: “How will we live without seeing Your face?”
• They accuse fate, and even Kṛṣṇa, for abandoning them.

Rasa

• Vipralambha at its peak.
• Love becomes sharp like fire, consuming the heart.

Gauḍīya Teaching

• Separation (viraha) is not destruction but the highest intensification of prema.
• The gopīs’ condition reveals that pure devotion tolerates no absence of Kṛṣṇa.

---

6. Bhramara-gītā (Song to the Bumblebee)

Reference: Bhāgavatam 10.47

Context

• After Kṛṣṇa goes to Mathurā, Uddhava comes to console the gopīs.
• Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, in the height of mahābhāva, speaks to a bumblebee, mistaking it as Kṛṣṇa’s messenger.

Theme

• She speaks alternately with sarcasm, anger, love, despair, and surrender.
• Criticizes Kṛṣṇa as unfaithful, yet cannot stop glorifying Him.

Rasa

• The climax of mādanākhya-mahābhāva (the highest ecstasy of Rādhā).
• Shows divyonmāda (divine madness).

Gauḍīya Teaching

• This is considered the crest-jewel of bhakti-śāstra.
• Reveals the inconceivable paradox of prema: even in complaint, the gopīs only glorify Kṛṣṇa.
• Mahāprabhu Himself relished Bhramara-gītā in Puri.

---

Conclusion

• These six gītās together trace the full arc of divine love:
  • Venu-gītā → awakening of attraction.
  • Prāṇaya-gītā → firm declaration of love.
  • Gopī-gītā → agony in separation.
  • Yugala-gītā → remembrance in absence.
  • Viraha-gītā → lament of complete loss.
  • Bhramara-gītā → the zenith of Rādhā’s mahābhāva.
• For Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, these gītās are not poetry but windows into the eternal līlā, meant to be heard and sung with humility, gradually awakening one’s own longing for service to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

---