The Story of the Gopis who were Sages in their previous life time
All the sages in the Dandakaranya forest were worshipers of Lord Gopala. To attain the rasa dance they always meditated on Lord Krishna. I have explained this pastime in “Groups of Gopis”.
In the Garga Samhita, Sri Narada Muni explains the story of the gopis that had been sages, a sacred story that removes all sins and increases one’s love for Lord Krishna.
In East Bengal, there lived a noble-hearted, learned, and wealthy gopa named Mangala. He was the master of nine-hundred-thousand cows.
He had five thousand wives. One day all his wealth was destroyed by fate.
Some of his cows were stolen by thieves and the rest were forcibly taken by the king. Now a pauper, Mangala was filled with sorrow.
The sages of Dandakaranya, who by Lord Ramachandra’s blessing were destined to become gopis, became the daughters of Mangala.
When he saw his many daughters, Mangala-gopa became filled with sorrow. Miserable in his poverty and tormented by headaches and diseases, Mangala spoke.
Sri Mangala said: “What shall I do? Where shall I go? Who will take away my sufferings? Now I have no wealth, no opulence, no dynasty, and no strength. How will my daughters marry if I have no wealth? If even the next meal is uncertain, where is the hope to gain wealth? Now that I am suddenly poor, how will I make my daughters happy by marrying them to wealthy and powerful kings?”
As Mangala was thinking in this way, a gopa from Mathura district came to his home.
From an elderly pilgrim named Jaya, who was the wisest of the wise, Mangala had heard of the fabulous wealth of King Nanda.
After some thought, the pauper Mangala sent his beautiful-eyed daughters to King Nanda’s circle.
In King Nanda’s home the girls, now decorated with jewels, milked the cows in the barns.
Gazing at handsome Sri Krishna, and remembering their previous birth, the girls daily worshiped the Yamuna to attain Krishna.
One day the large-eyed and dark-complexioned goddess Yamuna appeared before them and offered to give them a benediction.
They said, “May Sri Krishna, the son of Vraja’s king, become our husband.” Yamuna replied, “So be it,” and suddenly disappeared.
Later, in the month of Kartika, in the rasa-dance circle, Lord Krishna enjoyed with them as King Indra enjoys with many heavenly girls.