'Shri Krishna Karnamarita:' Twenty-eighth Shloka

Text 28
astoka-smita-bharam ayatayataksham
nihshesha-stana-mriditam vrajanganabhih  | 
nihsima-stabakita-nila-kanti-dharam
drishyasam tribhuvana-sundaram mahas te  ||28||

 

Simple Meaning:

Ineffably Beautiful Lord Krishna Smiling with Slanting Eyes

O Shyam Sunder! When will I behold Your brilliant body, which is ineffably beautiful in all the three bhuvanas. Radiant with unrestrained laughter and endowed with long wide eyes, tightly embraced by clusters of Vraja's  milkmaids; from which a  bluish effulgence decorated with bunches of flowers, gushes forth.

The Rasa-laden Commentary:

Love of the Gopis is the Zenith of Spiritual Awareness

Shri Bilav Mangal ji Maharaj is ardently longing to catch a glimpse of Krishna but in which form. Should one have such a desire but actually it does not have the stench of mundane lust. Love of the gopis is said to be the zenith of spiritual awareness, the purest emotion a soul may have for its divine source. It is the sweet romantic dalliance of lovely Krishna with His transcendental beloveds.

Krishna's Eyes Blooming with a Radiant Smile

astoka-smita-bharam ayatayataksham:  The One whose wide eyes are fully blooming and laden with unrestrained laughter. How is this smile?  The impassioned gopis have repeatedly give an account of this enchanting smile...they have adulated it daily in a new way and hence they are forever remembering it, every moment, every second.

 'The Ras Panchadhyayi'

In the 38^th shloka of the first chapter of 'Ras Panchadhyayi' the gopis of Vraja say, ' O jewel amongs males! We are being enflamed by the ardent passion emanating from you beautiful glance immersed in a smile.Grant us the boon of serving you. The gopis are indeed the servitors of love. Well, Bilavmangal ji wants to glimpse Krishna laden with a radiant smile, looking at us with blossoming eyes.

How can words possibly draw a picture of pointed eyes laden with the rasa of laughter? There is a  gyration in every limb of His, this distinctive trait of blue-hued ocean of madhurya is so apt.Ah! Which of them should we observe and be smitten by which one?

Lord Krishna Embracing a Cluster of Gopis

nihshesha-stana-mriditam vrajanganabhih: Bound by the embrace of those clusters of gopis...tightly tying them in the noose of His own arms, simultaneously. Constrained in the strong firm embrace how do those beloveds of Vraja sing the glories of that blue-hued Krishna. By decking Him with bunches of flowers. But these flowers have not been plucked from trees.These flower clusters marked on His blue-hued body are the signs of dallying romantictally. Due to tightly hugging Vraja gopis to His heart, the tender dark body of Krishna is being marked by those love signs. However much youthful, tenderly soft He may be but He is a male after all...rather a jewel amongst males. Both His lotus hands and wide chest assist in this episode of love.

Shri Jayadeva Goswami

Shri Jayadeva has said that Krishna successfully concludes His own youthfullness and that of His beloveds. Hence the sweet tale of that success is marked on His chest. And that too not just a bit but limitless, having no bounds.

Gopis Steeped the in Love of Krishna

One does not know which fortunate maidens are steeped in the love-laden waves of This infinite blue ocean. And surpisingly its account keeps getting drawn on the tender wide chest of  blue-hued Krishna. It must be also getting traced on the bosoms of Vraja beauties but Shri Bilav Mangal ji thought it was not proper for him to want to catch a glimpse of it. Only the darling son of Nanda, the supreme lover Krishna, has the right to see those marks and flash a teasing smile while adulating those embarrased maidens of Vraja.

 Lord Krishna is  Most Beautiful in the Three Bhuvanas

Shri Bilav Mangal ji longs to relish the madurya or sweetness of Krishna's form which is ineffably beautiful in the three bhuvanas. Slanting eyes blossoming with a bright smile, bound by the amorous embrace of the Vraja maidens, flower clusters marked on that wide chest because of that tight embrace; this blue-hued effulgence wearing the marks of dallying, and most beautiful amongst the three cosmological regions...May that capricious youth adorned with a blue lustre, manifest in front of our eyes...what a desirable longing is this.