"God has so arranged life that the world is the soul's husband; Krishna its divine paramour. We owe a debt of service to the world and are bound to it by a law, a compelling opinion, and a common experience of pain and pleasure, but our heart's worship and our free and secret joy are for our Lover." 

[Sri Aurobindo - Bhakti - Thoughts and Aphorisms ]

MEWAR, CIRCA 1720- Inscribed in Nagari, ''Geet Govind ro patra 175...", at the top and later inscribed, "Sakal bhuvan jamar tarun ne vahati na sareer jamatikarunen. Krishna awaits Radha in a bower, and sends a message through her sakhi or confidante, who is then shown conversing with the lovelorn Radha. Three metaphoric images represent the cycle of life - a figure in a celestial boat, representing the heavens, a couple conversing, representing the earth and image of the wife of Kaliyamardan, the snake demon, represents the netherworld.

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Jayadeva, the author of the Gita Govinda, stands to the left in this work, singing his long poem. Dressed in the pure white dress of a Pahari singer, he holds a double-gourd stringed instrument called a vina. The verses on the back of the painting tell us:

His musical skill, his meditation on Vishnu,
His vision of reality in the erotic mood,
His graceful play in these poems,
All show that the master-poet Jayadeva's soul is in perfect
tune with Krishna

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''To commit adultery with God is the perfect experience for which the world was created.''

[Sri Aurobindo - Bhakti - Thoughts and Aphorisms ]

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481) The seeker after divine knowledge finds in the description of Krishna stealing the robes of the Gopis one of the deepest parables of God's ways with the soul, the devotee a perfect rendering in divine act of his heart's mystic experiences, the prurient & the Puritan (two faces of one temperament) only a lustful story. Men bring what they have in themselves and see it reflected in the Scripture.

482) My lover took away my robe of sin and I let it fall, rejoicing; then he plucked at my robe of virtue, but I was ashamed and alarmed and prevented him. It was not till he wrested it from me by force that I saw how my soul had been hidden from me.

[Sri Aurobindo - Bhakti - Thoughts and Aphorisms ]