Monday, May 31, 2010

Chapter 41: Emotions Surging in Shri Radha-Krishna's Madhuri (Sweetness)

Krishna's irresistible attractiveness is as mysterious as it is compelling. Revered Bobo was absorbed in the dark god's flirtatious glances,curled locks and ineffable beauty cascading from the redness of His lips. She roamed in the groves and pastures of Vrindavan and was focused on the auspiciously cool lotus feet of the blue-hued god today.

Bobo Sang the Glories of Krishna's Lotus Feet

In a trance she sang,“Oh how tender, beautiful, captivating and mischievous are these feet. The auspicious lotus feet steal the sweetness and fragrance of hundreds of lotus clusters. The task of getting rid of worldly sorrows does not burden these holy feet. All the diseases and griefs of the mundane are destroyed by taking the name, reflecting and meditating on these pair of feet.The worst agony is being detached from them because of our karmas and is dispelled when one takes refuge in them."

How are these cool pair of feet, adorned with the fragrance of lotus clusters? Braj cowherdesses have fully relished their tenderness while others have sensed only a fragment of it.These feet have triumphed over the buds of kalpataru (one of the fabulous trees of Krishna's paradise that grants all wishes). And have looted the lotus forests as well.Being adorned with saffron is one of their distinctive qualities while the lotus clusters do not have this good fortune.

Lotuses Are Compared to Krishna's Feet

How can lotuses be compared to Krishna's feet. Just by being a shade of the lotus feet's loving tenderness the entire species were declared supreme among flowers.Whiffs of wind took a fragment of their fragrance and hid it in these lotus forests. Above all lotus flowers are rooted while the handsome god's lotus feet are considered the essence of all living beings.Dispelling the apathy of devotees, they make them spiritually conscious by bringing them close.


Krishna's Lotus Feet Take Cows for Grazing

Singing their glories during the emptiness of separation, Braj milkmaids raved that goddess Lakshmi resides in these lotus feet as take the soft-eyed cows for grazing. While propitiating these holy feet the forlorn maidens affirmed that they can relieve us of the pathos of longing. Other lotuses further inflame the anguish of separation.

The forests of Vrinda (forest area near Gokul where Krishna spent his childhood) have been marked with the capricious feet of Brajendra Kumar.

Tinkling Anklets on Dark-hued Krishna's Feet

The tinkling manjiras or anklets tug at our heart strings in the wilds of Braja, moving us with a delicious anguish. Adorned with saffron are Krishna's feet but first lets us make a prayer and pay homage to them.

These lyrical pair of feet are marked by the musky spots of Shri Lakshmi's bosom and strut around affectedly. The wilds of Vrinda abound with their spirited antics. When Krishna, the teasing paramour fixes a tryst with His consort Radhika and His beloveds, the dalliances are marked by His spirited feet.

Goddess Lakshmi

How did goddess Lakshmimi arrive in the idyllic pastures of Vrindavan?She is constantly pressing the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu (who is regarded as the preserver of the world during each period of its existence) in Vaikunth. It has been heard that She did penance in Billav Van for acquiring the gopikas' good fortune when she came to Braja. Lakshmi is none other than all the young girls of Braj while our beautiful Radhika Rani is their supreme deity.

This idyllic Vrindavan is famed the world over due to the majesty of Krishna's lotus feet. Positing them on their bosoms, the Braj beauties make use of them as they wish. And that is precisely why a love lorn maiden, finding Krishna after He had vanished, kept His lotus feet on her inflamed heart.

The cowherdesses secretly pour love on them while these capricious feet are fickle. Krishna's attentions like those of any other god are all encompassing and He flits from one gopi to another like a black bee.

Gopis Are Drawn to Krishna's Side

After the emptiness of Krishna's absence, the gopis casting off societal constraints move in a delicious anguish to His side. But this elusive and insistent paramour is construed as the ardent but often faithless lover of the love-struck soul. Krishna whom we seek is the most human of gods and is subject to all the foibles and fickleness of love which add despair to the delights of love. He roams as much as He returns and is not shy like the Braj beauties.


Lovingly Tender Blue-hued Feet of Krishna

Truly the lovingly tender blue-hued feet of Krishna are worth meditating upon. Soon after, worldly sorrows vanish. And if any realm exists it abounds with the spirited antics of these feet, where grief has no entry.The intertwining roles of godly love and human love can not be separated as the symbiosis of the searcher and the sought becomes a quickening relationship.

The lotus feet are worth questing for. Come let us go and have a look at their enchanting dalliance as they roam in the wilds of Braj.Oh this fragrance exuding in the narrow lane! Look at the Yamuna banks marked by the dark god's footprints. Well sakhis let us advance towards that nikunja shrine. What is this scent exuding from those creepers?Why is the earth thrilled by budding shoots.

Actually our Supreme Lover is busy dallying with His beloved. He has sensed our arrival. Are you listening to the sweet sound of His tinkling anklets? And soon after keeping the flute on His lips, and breathing into this breath of love, He is calling out to us.

Shri Radha is Drawn by Krishna's Body Fragrance

Following His footsteps and drawn by His body fragrance, Radha Rani is steeped in some nectarine sweetness.Come let us join the herd of Braj beauties and follow these footsteps into the nikunja, the sandy banks, market places, wells, forest wilds and bhavan where the spirited pair of feet are making merry.

Braj beauties searching for Him, stash these feet in the heart (where Krishna is ultimately found). I propitiate these holy feet of my favoured deity, Krishna, which grant fruition and are my very essence and soul.

Bhavas (love flowing towards the Lord) cascading from these lotus feet inflames our desire for union with the handsome Krishna. Moreover the spring breeze adds charm to the scene. Braj beauties can not resist the dark god's secret or sudden love out of their worlds of longing. 



Gopi Bhava

Steeped in the gopi bhava of sweet love and total commitment to Krishna, Bobo reached the heights of elation and ecstasy.

The Black Cuckoo

These days of spring abound with fragrantly delightful nights, swaying creepers, cry of the black cuckoo, chirping birds, open blue sky with the radiant moon and pastures of Braj decked with blooming flowers. Probably there could be a firm connection between the joys and abundance of spring and the Supreme Lover's dalliance with Radhika and the milkmaids of Braj.

Their roving eyes are focused on the blue-hued god. The young maidens are adulating Krishna and longing for a dalliance with the Supreme Lover. The ardent god like a capricious bee is drawn by the sweet beauty of these milkmaids as His lips quiver, eyes are flirtatious and limbs yearn for a dalliance.Whispering softly and tugging their hearts this Supreme Lover got busy and a charming amorous frolic began.
Krishna's Colours Shri Radha's Red Lips 

And yes a holi played with eyes-this lovable phaag or love play bursts forth now.The flirtatious god took out the gulal from His waistband and coloured the red lips of Priyaji... How tenderly teasing and mischievously spontaneous is this dark god.The milkmaids urged Priyaji to bathe Krishna in colour but the teasing paramour's eyes held Her spellbound and She kept holding on to the gulal. On the sakhis egging Her again Radha poured the attar on His head.No constraint impeded the young god's intense passion.

The bodily lustre spilling through His soaked yellow garments and the vanamala clinging to his broad chest were irresistibly attractive!The sakhis were enthralled by that...joyous abandon.

One does not know how much time passed. Soon after the enthused dalliance was controlled maybe due to fatigue. They made merry for some time and the Rasik Shekhar sang melodious songs which flowed in the bucolic groves.Midnight was about to get over and the sakhis got up to leave. Probably they had sensed that Radha-Krishna were desirous to engage in their most intimate transcendental exchange.

Enraptured on glimpsing Krishna and steeped in these bhavas, Bobo reached the heights of elation and ecstasy, a state of great good fortune.

The enthused exultation of spring gave Bobo respite and the merriment of holi impassioned her further. She yearned for the constant closeness of Priyaji and saw Her sweetly enraptured form.Delighted Bobo picked those pearls and stored them as deposits in her writings.  
 

Shri Radha, Live & Soul of the Sakhis

“ Vrasbhanu Nandini, Shri Radhika is seen as the deity, the life and soul of the sakhis. Some of them love Radha and Krishna equally while for other sakhis their entire focus is Radha.Their love for Radha stands supreme and they work accordingly. And she loves them more than Herself. So much so that the magnanimous Radhika lets them willful Krishna's desire for a loving relationship in a variety of ways.

Shri Radha's Lotus Feet Served by Snehadhika Sakhis

The lotus feet of Kishoriji are served by the Braj beauties' capricious eyes.These cowherdesses are not just inspired by the dasya bhava.Though servitude comes spontaneously in Radha snehadhika sakhis,. They are the Kirti Kumari's sakhis who are extremely dear to Her. Their primary concern over and above their own self interest, is Radhika's pleasure.Several times they act against her wishes and even if Radharani insists such a sakhi will not go to Krishna. This is perceived in a peculiar desire to only assist in the loving affairs of Radha and Krishna, rather than trying to develop their own relationship with Krishna Himself. Apart from Priyaji's joy they have no self interest, since the sakhis are Her kayavyuhas or replications .

Like capricious bees their eyes long to relish the lotus feet of their Svamini, immersed in various sorts of seva.They deck the beloved Radhika for taking Her to the hungry Supreme Lover, and at times summoning Krishna they take Him to the ardently longing Kishori for fixing a tryst. They are constantly humming close to the lotus feet-chatting spiritedly and at times spellbound they relish the amorous frolics of Priya-Priyatam. Blessed are these cowherdesses and extremely blessed are these pair of feet served by the beauties of Braj.

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