Gopala Tapani Upanishad:

8/11/2015:
Verse 1: Om namah. I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Krishna, whose form is
eternal and full of knowledge and bliss, who is the rescuer from distress, who is
understood by Vedanta, who is the supreme spiritual master, and who is the witness
in everyone's heart.
This is also called Mangalacarana verse as it is the first verse. It is like a modern
preface that exists before the book begins. Mangalacarana invokes auspiciousness.
Usually Mangalacarana contains more than 1 verse. It has three parts as below:
Namaskara verse offers obeisances. Vasthu nirdesha verse essence of scripture.
Ashirvada verse offering blessings to the readers.
A text will have the following parts:
Visaya (subject), sambhanda (relationship), prayojana (goal to aspire) and adhikar
(persons qualified to enter the mysteries of the scripture)
Visaya is Krsna in this scripture. Sambandha is relation with Krsna. The name of this
upanisad that sheds light (tapani) on Gopal. Prayojana is the goal that we can attain
by studying and applying this scripture. There is something called phala stuti. The
verse that explains the fruit by reading the scripture. But Gopala Tapani doesnt has
any phala stuti. That makes it very special as there is pure love or suddha bhakti
without any expectation. Love for Love sake makes this scripture very special. That
Adhikara for this verse is the acaryas who make the commentaries and explanation
for this verse. The motivation for adhikara is pure devotion and no intention of any
material desires or even liberation. No liberation as many scriptures has liberation
as phala stuti while this scripture has no such phala stuti.
This verse is not spoken by anyone like Brahma, Durvasa etc. This verse is spoken
by Sruti Devi who is the personification of vedas. She herself says Om Namah! This
means we shud have respectful attitude towards the scripture. The first verse points
that only Krsna is worthy to take refuge of. Any other refuge we think will save us is
an illusion.
Sanyasis have three sticks tied. It means they have surrendered, body, mind and
soul to the Lord. In Mayavada sampradaya they have only one stick as they believe
in impersonalism merging. In Vaishnava sampradaya we have three sticks.
Sat feature describes how Krsna is not limited in Time and space. We also have sat
feature. We are infinitesimal while Krsna is infinite.
Acintyabedhabedha Tattva: inconceivable one and different.
Krsna doesnt forcefully act to be wonderful. He is naturally wonderful. Behind the
Parama Purusa, there is Parama Prakrita (Krsna looks very beautiful while He is with
Srimati Radha Rani). LC is mercy personified as He is the combo of both Krsna and
Radha.

Krsna is the subject of Vedanta.

Verse 2: We must get the mantra only from our Guru Maharaj who is in the line of
disciplic sucession. Kumaras were known as Jnani Bhaktas. Later they became
devotees by smelling the Tulasi leaf at the Lotus Feet of Lord Narayana. We must
meditate on the personalities of Sri Brahma Kumaras and Sukhadeva Goswami.
Practical Application: In order to enter to the pastimes of Radha and Krsna, we must
practice devotional service with utmost seriousness and sense control.