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Veṇu-śikṣāmiṣa-preyasī-bhikṣā
Playing the Flute and Calling the Gopīs
1. Then, as before, at the glorious evening assembly, eager Madhukaṇṭha said: After Kṛṣṇa had killed Dhenukāsura, Kṛṣṇa’s activities attracted the gopīs, As a lotus bud grows day after day and begins to blossom, so the gopīs longing to attain Kṛṣṇa grew day after day. Because Rādhā is most exalted of all the gopīs, Her name is linked with Lord Kṛṣṇa’s name, and They are called together by the words Rādhā-Mādhava.
2. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa yearned to meet, gaze at each other, and embrace. Some people opposed these desires and struggled to thwart them. Still, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa were overcome with passionaate love for each other. Although They lived far away from each other, They had fallen deeply in love.
3. Fallen in love, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa were like two glistening mirrors. They were reflected in each other’s thoughts..
4. Again and again They secretly gazed at each other. When Kṛṣṇa saw Rādhā He was filled with bliss. When Rādhā saw Kṛṣṇa She was filled with bliss.
5. The teenage gopīs yearned to attain Kṛṣṇa, but He was difficult to attain. Then autumn passed. The month of Mārgaśirṣa (November-December came, and the young gopīs went to their husbands’ houses.
6. Agitated at heart, Parṇamāsī said that the mothers and fathers of the teenage gopīs were not at all happy to give their daughters to husbands other than Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, that action filled them with sorrow. Fearing the censure of others for departing from religious customs, and concealing the true wishes of their hearts, with eyes withered with sorrow, they gave their daughters to husbands other than Kṛṣṇa.
7. To the gopīs’mothers and fathers Paurṇamāsī said, “You are allaloof and indifferent, but but we must follow our religious duties and return these girls to the homes of their husbands.”
8. Honoring the gopīs parents, who had become angry, thinking themselves dishonored, Paurṇamāsī, who was glorious like a goddess, accepted the parents’ wishes.
9. The glorious teenage gopīs were thus sent to the homes of the men who thought themselves their husbands. Their faces covered by the edge of their garments, the girls were honored with great respect.
10. Believing Paurṇamāsī’spromise to them, the teenage gopīs were confident they would attain what they desired and would be protected from what they did not desire. Steady in their determination, the gopīs traveled on the pathways. With her own potency Paurṇamāsī covered them, protected them, concealed their true exalted identities, and brought success to their endeavors. Afterwards she situated them in their homes. In this way the gopīs were situated in their so-called husbands’ homes.
11. Because they could not associate with Kṛṣṇa, the teenage gopīs considered their own bodies to be like prison cells. How could these gopīs attain happiness in their parents homes? These gopīs cursed the homes of their mothers-in-laws. Those homes they considered to be like blazing fires.
12. Because Kṛṣṇa was far away, these gopīs felt all pleasant things to be horrible. Anything unpleasant was to them like being thrown into a pit of snakes.
13. When the gopīs were settled in their new homes, Paurṇamāsī visited them. To dispel their doubts and made them steady, she taught them, “When you think it is right to break the rules of ordinary propriety, you should without doubt flee from your homes. You should be rapt in a trance meditation, and, at the appropriate times you should be willing to flee from your homes.”
14. Having gone from their parents’ homes to live in the homes of their mothers-in-law, the gopīs felt they had left the palaces of kings to reside in the homes of their enemies.
15. When they were thwarted, their desire increased. The gopīs who had fallen in love with Kṛṣṇa sighed with sighs that seemed to have become a single gentle breeze.
16. Like flames from the best of kindling, the desire to embrace Kṛṣṇa burned in their hearts. Carefully they concealed those flames.
17. That Śrī Rādhā is the best of the gopīs is described in these words: How can I, who live only for His sake, ever abandon Kṛṣṇa, whose splendor eclipses the nectarlight moon, whose glories make the devotees always stunned with ecstatic love, whose heart always melts with compassion, who has become the moonlike goal of a host of cakorīlike girls with graceful eyebrows? After blocking My honor, the code of religion itself now walks on the pathway of sin.
18. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s thoughts are given in these words: Alas, Rādhā, who is the only object of My thoughts and who is My very life, is under the control of another. When it thinks of this, My heart faints unconscious.
19. On how many days did Kṛṣṇa, rapt in thinking of Rādhā, wipe the tears from His reddish eyes?
20. Kṛṣṇa’s yearning to meet with Rādhā is described in these words: Thinking, “How is it thoughts that jump over the code of religion have now become My dearest friend?”, Kṛṣṇa sent His splendid glance with a message for Rādhā.
21. The teenage gopīs will later say (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.31.2): “My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are the life and soul even of the lotus flower that grows on the water of lakes made transparent by the clear rains of autumn. Although the lotus flowers are so beautiful, without Your glance they fade away. Similarly, without You, we are also dying.”*
22. The great devotees think Kṛṣṇa’s sidelong glance on them is the final result of following the scriptures. Aha! The teenage gopīs thought Kṛṣṇa’s sidelong glance on them was like the attack of a weapon.
23. Day and night flames of love for Kṛṣṇa burned in the teenage gopīs’ hearts. The sight of Kṛṣṇa at morning and sunset brought happiness that was like ghee being poured on that fire, ghee that doubled the flames.
24. When He departed Vraja for the forest and when He returned from the forest to Vraja, Kṛṣṇa, glorious like the moon, exchanged glances with Vraja’s people. At those times Rādhā became glorious like the star Anurādhā shining on a full-moon night among Kṛṣṇa’s assembled gopī-beloveds.
25. Kṛṣṇa’s departure for the forest in the morning is described in these words: Holding their hands, Kṛṣṇa pretends to joke with His gopa friends while He casts half-half crooked amorous glances at the teenage gopīs. He playfully hugs His gopa friends. Aha! With the music of His flute He sends secret messages to the gopīs.
26. The teenage gopīs will later say (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.31.10): ”Your smiles, Your sweet loving glances, the intimate pastimes and confidential talks we enjoyed with You—all these are auspicious to meditate upon, and they touch our hearts. But at the same time, O deceiver, they very much agitate our minds.”***
27. Kṛṣṇa’s return from the forest at sunset is described in these words: When Kṛṣṇa returns to Vraja, the gopīs lovingly gaze at the lotus flower of His face, which is encricled by the black bees of His curly hair and covered by dust raised by the cows’ hooves. When the black bees of the gopīs eyes send glances to meet the lotus flower of Kṛṣṇa’s face, the gopīs at once find themselves caught in the trap Kāmadeva has set for them.
28. The gopīs will later say (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.31.12): “O Kṛṣṇa, when You return from the pasturing ground with the animals, we see Your face covered by Your curly hair and dusted by the hoof-dust of the cows. We see Your mildly smiling face, and our desire to enjoy You increases.”*
29. Day after day Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs competed in this game of mutual glances. Day after day the gopīs’ longing to associate with Kṛṣṇa increased more and more. When springtime arrived the gopīs very passionately yearned to associate with Kṛṣṇa.
30. The following words describe the gopīs’condition on the sunset of the day the demon Pralamba was killeed (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.19.16): ”The young gopīs took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda come home, since for them even a moment without His association seemed like a hundred ages.”***.
31. The meaning of these words is explained in the following verse: How can anyone have the power to describe the bliss the gopīs felt when they saw Kṛṣṇa? It is possible only to understand a slight part of that bliss. In Kṛṣṇa’s absence the gopīs felt every moment to be like a hundred yugas. In the same way, in Kṛṣṇa’s presence a hundred yugas becomes for them like a single glistening moment.
32. If, separated from Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs felt every moment like a hundred yugas, then we fear to try to know how they measured their days and nights.
33. When the summer, with its dawns that looked like red roses finally somehow came to an end, multitudes of thundering monsoon clouds delighted the peacocks.
34. Filled with passionate longings, the gopīs were always rapt in talking of Kṛṣṇa. Then splendid monsoon clouds and lightning brought a great darkness.
35. From summer was born hot weather that was uncomfortable for the teenage gopīs who had fallen in lovge with Kṛṣṇa. “With the coming of the monsoon season this hot weather will end,” the gopīs decided. They decided that the weather would certainly change.
36. Meanwhile the gopīs made a second monsoon with the tears from their eyes. The dark monsoon cloud of Kṛṣṇa appeared in their hearts, and the flooding rains of their tears mocked the ordinary monsoon outside.
37. To the gopīs who passionately longed for Kṛṣṇa’s association, the peacocks’ extended tails glistened like Kāmadeva’s half-moon arrows.
38. Because they bring coolness and many other benefits, the monsoon rains pacified the the gopīs’ hearts. Still, the gopīs were contrary. They hated and feared the monsoon rains. Ah! The friend was considered an enemy! Ah! Ah! Why does destiny move in that way?
39. The gopīs locked up in their homes when they tried to go to Kṛṣṇa thought in their hearts, “Kṛṣṇa, who, as it rains and rains during the monsoon season plays with His gopa friends amongs the tree-roots, dates, and fruits, who, sitting on a rock at the water’s edge, enjoys pastimes of eating yogurt and other foods for lunch, and who calls the cows from far away, has broken our hearts.”
40. During the terrible monsoon season, when their ability to see Kṛṣṇa became stopped, Kṛṣṇa’s gopī beloveds, who delighted everyone, whose eyes were graceful and playful like khaṣjana birds, and who in their hearts had attained a great glory of pure love for Kṛṣṇa, were now plunged in the great darkness of despair.
41. The gopīs spoke these fearful words: “The clouds proudly thunder. With lightning-bolt teeth they chew up the ground.”
42. Ah! How surprising are the many ways of love! This seemingly unfavorable situation of separation from Kṛṣṇa became favorable, for it nourished the love the gopīs, who all praise Śrī Rādhā, felt for Kṛṣṇa.
43. Watching the monsoon rains, Rādhā thought: ”O lightning flash, how many austerities did you perform in the past? Please tell that to Me. O friend, you must have performed many austerities, for you always enjoy pastimes with the monsoon cloud, who so closely resembles Kṛṣṇa’s glorious chest.”
44. Talking to a gopī-friend, Rādhā accidentally revealed Her heart and then tried to pretend She meant something different than what She actually said. That is seen in the following conversation:
Rādhā: Aha! Look! Embracing the dark monsoon cloud, the restless lightning flash enjoys many pastimes.
Gopī-friend: Do You remember Your amorous pastimes with Kṛṣṇa?
Rādhā: No! No! I am describing the monsoon season.
45. Here is another like conversation:
Rādhā: When the monsoon clouds come, then a great opulence of green (hari) grassy meadows fills the eyes.
Gopī-friend: O Rādhā, do You long after Hari?
Rādhā: No! No! Kṛṣṇa hates the glory of the green grasses.
46. The sweetnessof the peacocks’ graceful dancing always delights peacock-fether-crowned Kṛṣṇa. The peacock does not ask why Kṛṣṇa has now forgotten to wear His peacock-fether-crown.
Translator’s note: Overcome with feelings of separation from Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa now neglects His appearance, paying no attention to graceful garments and ornaments.
47. When the unfavorable monsoon season departed, the Autumn came. This is described in the following words: The gopīs thought, ”Autumn will come now. Now the skies will be clear.” Still, the gopīs hearts did not become clear. Their hearts became twice as dark with passionate love for Kṛṣṇa.
48. Nolonger seeing the rainclouds and lightning that She saw before, Rādhā was tormented by flames of sorrow.
Translator’s note: The dark rainclouds and yellow lightning reminded Rādhā of Kṛṣṇa’s dark form and yellow garments and thus brought Her some solace. No longer seeing the things that reminded Her of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā became sorrowful.
49. With their fingernails Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa each wrote a stanza on a new leaf. The breeze carried Rādhā’s stanza to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s stanza to Rādhā.
50. Rādhā’s stanza was: ”The lightning flashes, who consider the monsoon clouds their very life, must have performed many pious deeds i their past lives, for they are always seen with their beloved clouds and their are never seen without them.”
51. Kṛṣṇa’s stanza was: ”In Vṛndāvana the glistening moon has now come out from behind the clouds, and a swan now plays with a blue lotus. Alas! Destiny is cruel, for I do not see My beloved anywhere.”
52. By destiny, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa obtained each other’s stanzas. Again and again They embraced the stanzas. They wept. The each made the stanza a jewel ornament pressed against Their desolate golden hearts.
53. In autumn the waters, lilies, lotuses, and moonlight all quickly blossom with glory. But the gopīs’ hearts, eyes, faces, and glistening teeth all become darkened with passionate love for Kṛṣṇa. How can the gopīs tolerate this terrible situation?
54. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.45): ”When there are ample blooming flowers in the gardens of the forest, the fresh aropmatic breeze gives a great relief to the person who has suffered during the summer and rainy seasons. Unfortunately, such breezes could not give any relief to the gopīs because opf their herarts’ dedication to Kṛṣṇa. People in general might have taken pleasure in that nice autumn breeze, but the gopīs, not being embraced by Kṛṣṇa, were not very satisfied.”*
55. Kṛṣṇa’s handsomeness, dark splendor, sweetness, and flood of nectar pastimes all seemed like deadly poison to Kṛṣṇa’s gopī-beloveds now unable to touch His body.
56. Everyone knows the breeze that carries the fragrance of Kṛṣṇa’s body is the very life of all the worlds. However, the emaciated gopīs suffering in separation from Kṛṣṇa considered that breeze to be like a shower of swiftly flying arrows.
57. Although their longings to associate with Kṛṣṇa had attained the highest summit of intensity, the gopīs did not reveal them to anyone. The gopīs all affirmed, ”I would never do anything to break the rules of religion.” Kṛṣṇa also affirmed the same thing. Torn by attraction to Kṛṣṇa and by hesitation also, the gopīs were tormented.
58. Seeing no other way to conquer the gopīs, who were all afraid of the arrows of His flirting glances, Kṛṣṇa began to play His flute.
59. Hearing Kṛṣṇa play the flute, the gopīs said (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.35.14): ”Kṛṣṇa knows how to play the flute. He composes His own songs, and to sing them He puts His flute to His mouth. When He plays, either in the morning or in the evening, all the demigods like Lord Śiva, Brahmā, Indra, and Candra bow their heads and listen with great attention. Although they are very learned and expert, they cannot understand the musical arrangements of Kṛṣṇa’s flute. They simply listen attentively and try to understand, but become bewildered and nothing more.”*
60. At first Kṛṣṇa and His elder brother, Balarāma, again and again played graceful duets on Their flutes.
61. As He took care of the cows in the splendid forest, with His many glorious qualities Kṛṣṇa filled His gopa friends with wonder. Accompanied by His elder brother, day after day He practiced playing the flute, displaying His supreme skill. At this time the full glory of His form became manifested before the teenage gopīs.
62. In this way Kṛṣṇa manifested the glory of His form to the far-away gopīs. The natural glory of the gopīs’ love for Kṛṣṇa then became manifested.
63. From hearing the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, the gopīs could infer the existence of all His other virtues. In this way it is seen that Kṛṣṇa’s gopī-beloveds were actually great philosophers learned in logic and inference.
64. Separated from Kṛṣṇa, and their hearts anointed with the oil of love for Him, the suffering gopīs became dry and withered. But nowe that autumn had come, the gopīs were not as sorrowful as they had been before.
65. Rādhā’s friends included Lalitā, Viśākhā, and others. Candrāvalī’s friends included Śaibyā, Padmā, and others. They declared their the friendhsip in their hearts. Also, although only in a concealed way, and carefully mentioning Balarāma also, they began to talk about Kṛṣṇa.
66. The gopīs sang the following song.
A Song
rāmo rāmānuja iti yugalam
kṛta-naṭa-veśatayā paṭu rājati gāyati sakhi-gaṇa-yugalam
As Their friends sing, Balarāma and His younger brother Kṛṣṇa expertly dance.
sarasa-rasālaja-pallava-tallaja-pallavitāmala-śīrṣam
nava-yauvana-vana-bījāṅkuram iva dhārayad atanu-cikīrṣam
Their splendid heads are crowned with beautiful mango flowers. Their amorous desires are like a new sprout rising from a seed in the forest of Their fresh youthfulness.
vāṢchita-piṢchāvali-parilāṢchita-maṇi-nicayāṢcita-keśam
dadhad iva hari-dhanur-anugata-tārāvali-valitāmbuda-leśam
Decorated with many beautiful jewels and peacock feathers, Their hair is like small dark clouds with stars and rainbows.
valayita-nava dalad-utpala-karṇika-karṇa-yugādbhuta-śobham
latikā kāsāv iti vismaya-kṛti-madhukṛti-vinihita-lobham
Their wonderfully beautiful curling ears are like the whorls of newly blossomed lotus flowers. When the bumblebees see these flower-ears, They become filled with desire to drink their honey. They become struck with wonder and say: ”What vine has borne these flowers?”
hasta-kamalam abhi kamala-vighūrṇana-ramaṇa-kalā-ramaṇīyam
madhupa-gaṇaṁ prati madhu-kaṇa-varṣaṇam akṛta yataḥ kamanīyam
Their reddish hands are handsome, gracefully moving lotus flowers that shower drops of nectar on the bumblebees.
mālā-mālā-parimala-vali-vali-vapur-ali-valita-sadeśam
ali-jhaṅkṛti-nuti-kolāhala-vaha-bahula-kutūhala-veśam
Attracted by the sweet fragrance of Their flower garlands, the buzzing bees offer a great tumult of jubilant prayers.
sitam asitaṁ vapur asitaṁ pītaṁ vasanaṁ yasya ca gītam
tad idaṁ yadi gokulam anu gokulam ayati tadāgham atītam
Their glorious forms are light and dark and Their splendid garments are also light and dark. If They follow the surabhi cows into Gokula Village, then all our sufferings will end.
67. For the purpose of causing the people there to fall in love with Him, Kṛṣṇa stayed in the area around Gokula.
68. Surrounded by Their friends and cows, the two brothers, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, are now seen in the land of Vraja. They are the best object of vision for all beings that have eyes. Their faces are like gracweful lotus flowers. Their flute-music is splendid. Their eyes are filled with restless glances.
69. This is seen in the following words of A gopī: O gopī-friend, when playful Kṛṣṇa returns to Vraja with His friends and cows, He casts glances at us from the corners of His eyes. Those arrow-glances have now wounded our hearts.”
70. In the eyes, the most glorious eyes, of a girl, a supremely saintly and respectable girl, stands the flute-player Kāmadeva-Kṛṣṇa, who is indeed Kāmadeva Himself.
71. Kṛṣṇa made the gopīs gradually aspire more and more to attain His association. Gradually He dispelledf their shyness. Although He was already the master of all arts, He had His brother Balarāma teach Him how to play the flute. The moment He was taught, Kṛṣṇa produced the most enchanting melodies on His flute.
72. Fearful that they may accidentally reveal their love for Kṛṣṇa, the goddesslike vraja-gopīs said of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma: ”Carrying ropes and sticks, playing in the forest, protecting the cows, and enjoying other like pastimes, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma play Their flutes. Their flute melodies make moving beings stunned and motionless and and unmoving beings filled with restless activitiy. The two brothers have reversed the natures of the living beings.”
73. The gopīs also said:”Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma change the nature of every living being. Kṛṣṇa especially has uprooted the nature of us gopīs.”
74. As Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma played enchanting melodies on Their flutes, Kṛṣṇa thought, ”Aha! I have enchanted and attracted the gopīs. Especially I have attracted the gopī named Rādhā. The living entities take birth in various species of life. Gradually I teach them the spiritual truth. Eventually, when they yearn to hear them, I will play my flute melodies so their hearts can hear.”
75. Kṛṣṇa thought in this way. Then He wished to test the responses of the different living entities. First He brought the lower living beings under His spell. Then, one by one, He brought the higher beings under His spell. Finally He made the gopīs’ hearts wild with bliss.
76. The cows’ response when for the first time they hear Kṛṣṇa’s flute melodies is described in these words: Pretending to be the music of a flute placed to Kṛṣṇa’s mouth, a shower of nectar falls.With the toongues of their ears, the cows drink that shower of nectar. Their actuual tongues are stunned. They have stopped eating grass. Their opnly thought is, ”What is that? What is that? What is that? What is that?”
77. The gopīs said: ”By hearing the melodies of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, we gopīs attain a condition like that of the cows when they hear Kṛṣṇa’s flute. Still, there is a difference between us and the cows. The cows respond by gazing in Kṛṣṇa’s moonlike face at every moment. We gopīs cannot gaze at Kṛṣṇa’s face in that way. In what yuga will we be able to always gaze at His face?”
78. By playing melodies on His flute, Kṛṣṇa enchants and attracts the various forest creatures. It si said: When Kṛṣṇa plays His flute the birds and beasts of the forest are all enchanted.
79. The gopīs said: ”The fame of Vrndavana forst is spread over the entire earth. Placing on it ther glory of the touch of His lotus feet, Kṛṣṇa enjoys pastimes in Vrndavana. Hearing the music of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, the peacocks and other forest creatures assemble together and dance. Indeed, they have transformed Vrndavana forest into a great dancing arena.”
80. The gopīs also said:”We gppīs have no power to describe the sacred glory of Vrndavana forest. The peacocks and other creatures who reside in Vrndavana forest, creatures who perform great pious deeds at every moment, are worthy of being worshiped by us gopīs. We gopīs are only householders living in our houses. We do not live in Vrndavana forest. We are very wretched. Of what good are we? The forest creatures can gaze at Kṛṣṇa as much as they like, but us gopīs cannot even gaze on His shadow.”
81. On another day the does leave their mates and run to Kṛṣṇa. As was the previous verse, this verse is spoken by a gopī: ”O gopī-friend, how wonderful this is! Hearing the sweet music of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, the does have become enchanted. Abandoning their stag mates, they run to Kṛṣṇa. With sidelong glances they lovingly worship Kṛṣṇa.”
82. The gopīs also said: ”By birth we are women. Many virtuous people honor us will all respect. Our husbands are famous in Vraja for their sincere affection for Kṛṣṇa. These does are not like us at all. Accompanied by their husbands, they freely approach Kṛṣṇa. Fie on us impious gopīs! In no way are we as fortunate as these does.”
83. Seeing some birds attracted by Kṛṣṇa’s flute-music, the gopīs said: ”We think the birds in this forest must be great sages and Kṛṣṇa must be their guru. If this were not so, then why would this birds silently listen as Kṛṣṇa plays on His flute?”
84. In the following wrods the gopīs describe these birds as sannyāsīs: ”Kṛṣṇa is a great sage in the center, and the birds around Him on all sides are also great sages. These bird-sages have no material desires.”
85. On another day some demigoddesses become attracted by the music of Kṛṣṇa’s flute. The gopīs describe them in these words: ”As they flew nearby in their airplanes, the goddesses wwere attracted by the music of Kṛṣṇa’s flute.Gazing at the splendid charming handsomeness of Kṛṣṇa’s form, they were all encghanted. Never had they seen or heard of anyone handsome like Him. As they gazed at Him, their braids and all else became dishevelled and undone. Were any of them not attracted?”
86. Of these demigoddesses the gopīs also said: These demigoddesses were completely enchanted by Kṛṣṇa’s flute-music. Who are we poor souls, that we are so fortunate as to have taken birth as girls in Kṛṣṇa’s land of Vraja?”
87. Kṛṣṇa’s flute music makes the unconsious beings and the beings whose consciousness is worthless attain full spiritual consciousness. These powerless beings then jump over their previous unsconscious state and being to move and walk.
88. In this verse the gopīs describe the activities of the rivers when they hear Kṛṣṇa’s flute-music: ”Hearing Kṛṣṇa’s flute-music, the rivers become stunned. With blossoming currents and the jangling warbling of swans and other birds, the wild with bliss waves approach Kṛṣṇa. With the arms and hands of their waves they place a circle of lotus flowers at Kṛṣṇa’s feet.”
89. Of the rivers the gopīs also said:”Ah! Ah! If, abandoning their courses, the rivers, who are all the ocean’s wives, swiftly flow and meet Kṛṣṇa, then what are we poor gopīs in comparison to them? They must have performed many pious deeds. We are not their equal in the slightest way. That is why it is right that we give up our bodies and and thus renounce the happinesses and distresses of this world.”
90. On another day the gopīs describe the clouds with these words: ”The raincloud is Kṛṣṇa’s friend. This si so not only because they have the same dark splendor, but also because they are alike in many other ways and also because they always help each other. Thus when Kṛṣṇa plays mallāra-rāga melodies on His flute, the clouds come and shade Him from the burning sunlight.”
91. The gopīs also say:”Aha! Look! Even though it is very cool, and even though stays above all else, wuth great love in its heart the raincloud carefully serves Kṛṣṇa with its shade and its nectar rains. Fie on us wretched gopīs very proud of taking shelterof Kṛṣṇa alone and keeping Him alone in our life’s breath! We are wretched because, even without serving Kṛṣṇa we somehow remain alive in this world.”
92. Aha! Even though it is made of rocks, and even though it has taken birth as a hill, Govardhana is filled with bliss.This the gopīs affirm in the following words: ”Glorious Govardhana Hill is the best of Kṛṣṇa’s servants. Kṛṣṇa and Balarama climb it to play theior frlutes on its summit. With the touch of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma’s lotus feet, Govardhana feels bliss and manifests many symptoms of ecstasy beginning weith the standing erect of the blades of grass that are the hairs on its body. Its entire body it offers in the service of Kṛṣṇa’s friends and cows.”
93. ”I have heard that the grass on its slopes are Govardhana Hill’s bodily hairs standing erect in ecstasy. If you do not believe that, then look for yourself. Hearing the music of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, Govardhana Hill glistens with ecstatic love. Kṛṣṇa’s footprints decorate Govardhana Hill. Certainly they bear witness to Govardhana Hill’s glory.”
94. The gopīs also said:”If one boldly yearns to follow the path of the great souls, one should look and see that path is splendidly manifest on the slopes of Govardhana Hill.”
95. Thinking of the gopīs, Madhukaṇṭha was overcome. His heart was agitated. He spoke broken words in a c choked voice. He covered his face with his garment. Filled with sorrow, he wept. Then he repeated the following mysterious words spoken by Radha:
96. ”This flute must have performed many pious deeds in its past lives, for even though he is male, he shamelessly drinks the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips, nectar that is the gopīs’ property, and as it drinks, the flute loudly sings. When it is satisfied that it has drunk enough, the flute vomits out a host of noisily flowing rivers of nectar, rivers of nectar that make the trees bloom with many flowers and weep with blissful tears of dripping honey.”
97. Rādhā also said: ”I pray that I may attain the body of a flute. I do not pray to attain the body of a saintly teenage girl. As a flute I will thirstily enjoy many blissful rare pastimes of drinking the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lips. If, as a flute, I become an inanimate object, a being without life or consciousness, then at least I will be free of the sorrowes I feel separated from Kṛṣṇa.”
98. Rādhā also said: ”O shark of Kṛṣṇa’s earrings, you always kiss Kṛṣṇa’s cheeks. O flute, you always lick Kṛṣṇa’slips. O flower-garland, you always embrace Kṛṣṇa’s body. You are all fortunate. Destiny is kind to you. Alas! I am not fortunate. Destiny is not kind to Me. That is why I yearn to attain good fortune like yours.”
99. Rādhā also said:”The necklaces of pearls, diamonds, asnd jasmine flowers never leave Kṛṣṇa’s chest. What are we in comparison to these fortunate beings. Alas, we are only girls overcome with Kāmadeva’s desires.”
100. Rādhā again said: ”If dark Kṛṣṇa does not give His association to others, then I will not burn in flames of sorrow. Alas! How can I bear to watch while Kṛṣṇa fearlessly hugs His gopa friends?”
101. In this way Kṛṣṇa’s flute-music conquered all the people of Vraja and made them all fall in love with Kṛṣṇa. In this way I have described the pastimes of early morning. Folding his palms, Madhukaṇṭha again said: O Rādhā, no one can understand the desires in Your beloved Kṛṣṇa’s heart.
102. The evening’s narration was thus concluded. Everyone returned to their homes.