Gopalacampu 1.16

Now begins the seventeenth chapter.

The Begging of the Beloveds under the Pretext of Flute Instruction

[1] Then, in the nocturnal assembly extraordinary as before, Madhukaṇṭha, filled with longing, spoke:

[2] Following previous events, after the slaying of Dhenuka, the longings of the beloved maidens, increasing every day like lotus buds, fostered Madhusūdana's desire, which was difficult to fathom through outward actions.

[3] And among them, especially for the foremost of all, Śrī Rādhikā; here, by way of illustration, Śrī Rādhā and Mādhava are described:

The desire to speak together, the longing to see, the yearning for union,
aversion to other people, apprehension rising at every moment—
these emotions arose simultaneously in the pair through that succession;
oh, even when staying far apart, the two beloveds possessed an identical longing!

Like two spotless mirrors ever turned toward one another,
the emotions of Rādhā and Mādhava reached each other's emotions.

Whenever swooning was seen again and again,
either in Rādhā or in Śrī Hari in secret,
each one's manifestation to the other, equal to attainment itself,
generally served to restore well-being.

[4] Thus, as that autumn—not very favorable because of being swept along by their excessive longing for him who was exceedingly hard to attain—was passed by them, Mārgaśīrṣa became the forefront of the path (mārga-śīrṣa) for their going to the houses of those who considered themselves their husbands.

[5] And when the mothers and fathers of the maidens—who had already personally disliked everyone other than Murajit for giving them, and had granted them to others only because of the fault of an evil dream, and on that very account were aggrieved and did not welcome the assembly of those relatives, and now were filled with dread at seeing their emaciation through extreme grief, and therefore hesitated in sending them away, and were afraid of the censure of worldly custom—were thus bewildered in mind, Pūrṇimā instructed them as follows:

[6] “Let you all remain neutral; we ourselves will persuade them, lead them to their respective homes, and carry out their respective rituals.”

[7] Then, perceiving the anger of those who considered themselves the bridegroom's party because they felt disregarded, she, who was revered even by deities, conciliated them with gentle words and made them accept her wish.

[8] But those blessed maidens would not consent to entering into the homes of those who considered themselves their bridegrooms, or to the impropriety of having their own garments tied to theirs.

[9] Then, making them believe through solemn oaths that attainment of the desired and averting of the undesired would occur even in those houses where it seemed impossible, holding them back from various intolerable resolutions, and setting them on the path of going, she concealed them along the way with her own māyā, substituted others resembling them there, and accomplished it all. And only afterward did she lodge them there. But they remained utterly terrified even there, because—

For the cowherd maidens, whose very bodies,
from not obtaining Kṛṣṇa, seemed like a prison,
would their paternal home bring any comfort?
If so, shame on their in-laws’ house—it was fire itself!

Even what was favorable became unfavorable when Kṛṣṇa was far away;
and what was already unfavorable to them was, plain to see, like a bed of chaff on fire.

Nevertheless, having settled them within their respective houses, when Paurṇamāsī was about to depart, and they again became agitated with hesitation, she instructed them thus in order to dispel their uncertainty: ‘Whenever you suspect that your propriety will be breached, then run away and remain [hidden]. But the resolution must be made by us alone through some stratagem, and sudden places of refuge must be arranged here and there.’

[11] Thus, when they had gone and were living there from the royal prison to their father's house, as if to an enemy's prison,

as great as the restraint became, so much did their longing also increase
in those women filled with love for Kṛṣṇa, merging into the wind of their sighs.
Although their desire to embrace Hari blazed brightly in their minds, still
they covered it with deliberations, as a row of fires is covered with heaps of good fuel.

And this is described with Śrī Rādhā as the foremost, as follows:

‘He whose delightful rays bear the luster of nectar, whose quality brings bewilderment everywhere at all times, whose heart is ever tender, who is the refuge for the cakorī birds that are the fine eyebrows [of the gopīs]—
alas, how could that Hari be abandoned by me, who am his very life? Ah,
righteousness, however, goes on the path of unrighteousness, obstructing [me] and destroying my pride!’
And Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s meditation was as follows:

‘Her mind fixed solely on me, her life-breath mine, Rādhā has fallen under another’s control.
Alas, remembering her, my consciousness will obscure my awareness.’

And then—
Remembering Rādhā thus, how many days, alas, did Kṛṣṇa wipe
his tender, impassioned eyes with his yellow garment!
And his intense agitation for a meeting:

‘How can a mind that transgresses dharma be revealed even to a dear friend?’
Reasoning thus with manifold arguments, Hari engaged his glance alone as a messenger.

This very thing will be spoken by them:

‘O lord of love! By your glance, which steals the beauty of the womb of the fine lotus newly born in an autumn lake, when you kill your unpaid handmaidens, O giver of boons, is that not murder in this world?’
For—
Elsewhere, the corner of Kṛṣṇa’s eye is considered by the virtuous to be the fruit of the scriptures;
but for these women, alas, that very glance was considered by them to be the tip of a blade.

And then—
Day and night, alas, there dwelt in the mind of Hari and in his Lakṣmīs
the blazing fire of love;
sprinkled at the two twilights with the ghee of the joy of gazing at one another,
it flared up like a collection of fires in the house of a twice-born possessing sacred fires.

And there—
As the beloved maidens assembled with the people to gaze upon the moon of Mādhava
as he entered the forest from the cowherd settlement and the cowherd settlement from the forest,
Rādhā shone forth among them like the full moon amidst the stars.

And there, in the morning departure to the forest—

Hari made feigned laughs, touching the hand of one standing beside him;
he cast a glance turned sideways with crooked affection, halfway and halfway;
he engaged in embraces and other playful acts among his circle of friends;
and even having gone far away, ah, he gave signals with his flute.

And this very thing will be spoken by them:
‘Your laughing, dear one, your loving glances,
your wandering about, which brings auspiciousness to meditation,
and the heart-touching confidences in secret—
these, O trickster, truly agitate our minds!’

Then, upon his return in the evening:

Or when he enters the cowherd settlement, he shows to their bee-like eyes his lotus face,
surrounded by curling locks and encircled by the pollen of the dust from the cows’ hooves,
facing them, like a trap fashioned by the god of love containing a binding noose to capture them.

And in this very way it will be spoken by them:

‘At the close of day, bearing your lotus face covered by dark locks
and stained with the dust raised by the cows, revealing it again and again,
you awaken passion in our minds, O hero!’
Thus day after day, increasing as if in mutual rivalry, their longings caused them to experience the agitation of intense torment born of spring.

As was described in reference to the twilight belonging to the day Pralamba was slain:
‘Supreme bliss arose for the cowherd maidens at the sight of Govinda,
without whom a single moment became like a hundred cosmic ages.’

And the import of this is:
The arising of joy in those maidens at the sight of Kṛṣṇa cannot be described in its true nature,
yet it has received some indication by serving as the ground for the manifestation of its effects:
just as in separation from him a fragment of time called a kalā undergoes the state of a hundred cosmic ages,
even so, in his company, even a hundred cosmic ages constantly appears like a kalā.

If in separation even a kalā became a hundred cosmic ages,
then we wonder at the count of their days and nights.

Thus, through the morning and evening sightings, the summer was somehow passed, and the arrival of thunderclouds that intoxicate the peacocks and make them call out took place. As follows:

When their circle of female friends, guessing their uncurbed, boundless longing,
blocked before them any incident connected with Hari,
then the rains arrived, surrounded by clouds accompanied by lightning,
and though of contrary appearance, alas, they produced all the more the flashing appearance of Kṛṣṇa.

"Surely the burning pain of these maidens impassioned for Hari
was born because of the summer;
it should cease in the rainy season"—such was the conclusion of their companions,
which turned out entirely the opposite way.

With their eyes' tears, these women—whose inner hearts had the dark cloud Kṛṣṇa flashing—
formed a second rainy season;
and so, crying out, birds like the plavas and others
who depend upon the rainy season for their livelihood, censured them.

During these rains, the tail-feathers of the peacocks
became a source of torment to them;
for some [of those feathers], facing upwards,
resembled the crescent-moon arrows of Smara.

Whatever the rainy season did here with its natural cooling properties
in order to bring peace to their minds,
they, alas, considered all of that to be hostile;
and after that, their companions doubted [their survival], thinking:
"Alas, this condition of taking a friend for an enemy has arisen; alas, alas, what is the design of fate?"

[24] And there, the thoughts of the minds of those who were confined to their homes were as follows:

"During the rains, playing at eating inside the hollow of a tree
which wards off the falling rain-waters, with his friends,
along with fruits such as dates and delicious tubers;
feasting upon those rocks beside the water with curd, pancakes, and the like;
and the calling of the cows from afar by the slayer of Agha—all tear our hearts to pieces."

And wherein,
When the dense clouds of the rainy season gathered and the sight of the unconquered one ceased,
these young beloveds of Hari in Vraja—who instantly brought joy to all people,
whose eyes were like wagtails, and who attained the feeling of Kṛṣṇa in their hearts with the splendor of their pure beauty—
became swallowed up in darkness.

[25] Here, their words of terror were:

"These clouds, with lightning bolts for teeth,
are always chewing up those who dwell upon the earth's surface;
and they roar with immense pride!"

[26] Ah, this wondrous course of love is marvelous! For even in such an occurrence, there is seen at times a vessel for the praises of Śrī Rādhā that touches upon favorability. [27] As, upon seeing it, her thought was:

"O lightning! Where on earth, what kind of penance,
and how much of it, ah, have you performed? Tell me that!
For, my friend, you have reached this cloud
that rivals Hari's chest, and you take your pleasure with him always!"

[28] And wherein, having spoken something through carelessness, out of bashfulness even before her friend, she made it appear otherwise:

"Ah, look: the lightning plays indeed,
clinging to the dense dark cloud!"
"Do you perhaps remember Hari's amorous dalliance?"
"No, no! This is just a description of the qualities of the season!"

And at times:
"At this time of the arrival of clouds, the wealth of our eyes has attained greenness."
"Do you long for Hari, Rādhā?"
"No, no! [I speak] of the hostile abundance of fresh grass!"

[29] Now, an indication of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's state:

That sweet, melodious dancing of the peacocks
which always gave supreme delight to him who wears a peacock-feather crown—
he paid no attention to it; let alone that,
even the peacock-feather upon his head was forgotten.

[30] Thus, when the rainy season had appropriately performed its impropriety and departed, autumn also arrived, as follows:

"Autumn will come, making everything clear
upon the earth and in the sky," so it was thought.
Alas, at its rising, each of them
held her own [mind] twice as turbid with anxieties.

She who burned previously just upon seeing the host of clouds accompanied by lightning,
that same Rādhā is now deeply afflicted even while not seeing them.

[31] And there, two verses inscribed with nail-writing upon two sprout-leaves were carried by the wind between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa to each other. They were as follows:

"Virtuous are the lightnings,
whose life is always with the clouds;
they are seen along with them,
and never seen without them."

"The moon has cast off its veil, the swan disports, and so does the blue lotus
in Vṛndāvana; alas, fie on fate! that [form] of his is not seen by her."
Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, constantly embracing with tears the leaf
received from each other by providence in this manner,
placed it inside a hollow golden locket,
and made it the central gem of their necklace.

[32] Here, the distress of the female companions as well:

In that autumn wherein the water, the night-blooming lotus, the day-blooming lotus, and the moon's light
swiftly attained, ah, the nature of blossoming,
the mind, the eyes, the face, and the luster of the teeth of these [maidens], on the other hand,
continually fell into gloom—how could this be borne by their companions?

[33] And here, it is described even by the wise:
"Embracing the breeze from the flowering forest, neither too cool nor too hot,
people cast away their torment, but not the cowherd maidens whose minds had been stolen by Kṛṣṇa."

Because:
That beauty, that dark complexion, that splendor,
that charm, and those playful dalliances—
which have the glory of nectar during bodily union with their beloved—
become deadly poison itself in separation.

And furthermore:
All people know the winds carrying the scent of Hari as the life-breath of the world;
but the women emaciated by separation from him call them 'fast-moving arrows.'

[34] Thus, even though longing reached its utmost limit, nevertheless not a single woman revealed it to any other. 'I will worship him even through unrighteousness'—just as they felt, so also Kṛṣṇa grieved there, having become utterly despondent about them.

[35] Kṛṣṇa, however, seeing no other means, practiced special melodies on his flute in order to inevitably evoke contemplation of him in those women who, though terrified by the cast of glances and the brandishing of sticks [by their elders], had not yet come under his sway. [36] Just as it will be said by them in various places, noticing this very thing: "having learned many kinds of flute-playing..."

[37] Then at first, his mind set on them, he paired with his elder brother and repeated the melodies of his flute. [38] And then, when herding the cows in another forest where emotions were deeply aroused, astonishing his companions who were beyond the reach of all minds, himself day by day joyfully displaying his mastery alongside his elder brother who had a multitude of exquisite virtues, he exhibited his instruction on the flute, [39] at that time, the manifestation of his form to them reached absolute fullness.

[40] And this was quite natural, for such is the very nature of the majesty of his love: that even from afar it makes its object its own. To explain:

Their presumption is understood through inference, / because the beloveds of Kṛṣṇa are veritable scholars of logic.

[41] There, however, those whose hearts were exceedingly anointed with affection dried up from his sorrow, but did not consider their own sorrow to be great.

[42] For instance, Rādhā's companions—Viśākhā, Lalitā, and similarly Anurādhā—and Candrāvalī's—Śaivyā, Padmā, and so on. Among them, ascertaining their devotion solely to themselves, they themselves affectionately disclosed their own innermost feelings. Even so, at first they described him veiled by his accompaniment by Rāma, with the syllables and words concealed.

[43] On that, there is a song, as follows:

The pair 'Rāma and Rāma's younger brother'— / expertly shines disguised as actors, and the pair sings with the host of friends. [refrain] / Their pure heads sprout with excellent young leaves of sweet mango trees, / causing great desire to race, like a sprout from the seed of the forest of fresh youth. ||b

Their hair is adorned with an array of gems marked by the desired rows of peacock feathers, / as if bearing a bit of cloud encircled by rows of stars following Indra's bow. ||c

They possess the wondrous beauty of a pair of ears adorned with ear-rings of fresh, blossoming blue lotus petals, / implanting greed in the bee, which wonders, 'What kind of vine is this?' ||d

Pleasing due to the charming skill of twirling a lotus against his lotus hand, / from which he delightfully showered drops of honey toward the swarms of bees. ||e

His body is the recipient of the tribute of the fragrance of a garland of garlands, its surroundings swarmed with bees; / his attire produces great curiosity, bearing a clamour of praises in the humming of bees. ||f

The white and black form, the black and yellow garment of him whose song this is— / if this pair comes to Gokula alongside the cows, then sin is surpassed. ||g|| Thus.

[44] Moreover, his entrance into the region near Gokula was the cause of everyone's absorption, because: / Oh, this is the fruit of those having eyes: that at the entrance of Vraja, / the pair of brothers is seen surrounded by friends together with the cows! / In that pair, the younger one's lotus face here, on it the radiance of the flute, / and the eye endowed with the art of somewhat deducing [their love] there!

[45] And right here it is implied:

At the time of coming home, companion of cows and friends, / as he sings along, sporting and captivating, / his eye, as if searching slightly, its pupil trembling with restlessness, / captivating, pierces through our mind! / Therefore: / She alone is born of a noble family, born of a family; her eyes are supreme, leading; / he who delights with the flute becomes her very own Madana, the disturber of minds!

[46] Thus, as their mutual longing for him was disclosed successively in sequence, displaying a slight succession of modesty, the slayer of Agha, knowing this even from afar through his wisdom regarding the differences in power of his charming art, and refining his flute instruction, which became supreme and evaluated as the highest of the high in turn, treated Saṅkarṣaṇa merely as a pretext; wherein, indeed, everyone simultaneously became smeared with enchantment.

[47] Whereupon even the goddesses of Vraja, apprehending the manifestation of their own emotion, made Saṅkarṣaṇa the pretext and described it, as follows:

Then, as the two brothers, bearing staff and rope, / practiced flute-instruction with the pretext of protecting the cows and the like, / sporting in various forests, / causing stillness in the mobile and motion in the immobile, / alas, there occurred a total reversal of natural qualities for embodied beings!

[48] And right here this is implied:

Indeed, as these two bring about a reversal of nature for all, / Kṛṣṇa will uproot our socio-religious duties at the root! / [49] Thus, seeing that everyone was simultaneously bewildered when both brothers sang together, the younger brother considered: [50] 'Ah, their bewilderment and attraction is very much desired by me, and especially that of the one named Rādhā. Therefore, becoming separate, I will endeavor toward instruction alone in such a way that just as the genus of living beings bears two or one of them suitably, so gradually the individual also will. And that will be possible by bringing forth the secret of the notes and the like that are intensely desired only by them.'

[51] Thus, considering this, in order to test and reflect upon it, he gradually brought under his control the lower living beings that were increasingly beyond control; even so, his beloveds attained merely agitation of the heart.

[52] There, just as his singing toward the cows was first heard, so it was described, as follows:

Hari's mouth showers nectar under the guise of the sound of the flute; / the bovine species drinks it with the tongue-like pair of ears, / whereupon the other tongue, stunned, abandoned its own domain; / 'Is this this? Is this not this? What is this like? Or what?'

[53] Here also this is implied:

Although upon hearing the flute the cows and we
have reached an identical state, still, surely, a difference shines forth:
They straightway behold his moon-like face at every step;
we do not know in which age the sighting of him will occur. ||47

[54] Then, on another day, directing himself to another lesson, even the forest creatures were assembled and enchanted, as follows:

That flute of Kaṃsa's enemy is known as a bird-snare;
by its proclamation the beasts and birds go to destruction. ||48

[55] That too was set forth by them, as follows:

Vṛndāvana spreads the glory of the earth, for here in person
glorious Kṛṣṇa sports, displaying the splendor of his lotus feet;
at the playing of his flute, the peacocks take up dancing and all the forest creatures
become spectators, so that it has perpetually become an arena of performance. ||49

[56] And here this was implied:

Let be the thought that we have no power here to attain the merit of Vṛndāvana,
since peacocks and the like appear worthy of our veneration through the rising of merit at every step;
we are manifestly the lowliest servants of householders here, and so quite contemptible even to servants;
they freely gaze upon him, while we do not attain even the slightest semblance of him. ||50

[57] Then, on another day, the does too, separated from them, were affected in like manner. And that was described by them as before:

O friend, it is a wonder that the herd of wives of the black buck, accompanied by their mates,
though foolish by birth, surpassing even you, maintained such longing!
Hearing the sweet tone of the flute, their running toward Hari, their amazement at his beauty,
and their worship of him out of radiant affection, and that too with side-glances! ||51

[58] This also was implied:

By birth we are women, most respected by those of great virtues,
and our husbands are those through whom the land of Vraja has attained affection and proper conduct;
the does are not like this, yet they went to him together with their mates; alas,
shame on us, unfortunate ones! We do not bear even an equality with them. ||52

[59] On another day, however, the birds in particular were brought to such a state, and regarding that it was said by them:

The birds in this forest are declared to be sages,
and we firmly believe that Kṛṣṇa is their teacher;
otherwise, seated all around under a vow of silence,
they would never listen to whatever he has sung. ||53

[60] But here this was implied with despair:

Since he is a sage and they are sages stationed on all sides,
therefore you ought not to direct any graceful longing toward him. ||54

[61] Then, on another day, the celestial women too were affected in like manner; regarding that, their description is as follows:

When the hosts of aerial chariots were drawn all around by the virtue of his flute's high singing,
the celestial women, having attained the art that bewilders with beauty and playful grace, fell into bewilderment,
wherein they did not know whether this was previously heard or seen nearby,
or whether their hair and garments had slipped down or not, mostly so. ||55

[62] And here this was implied:

Alas, when even the goddesses easily attained this condition,
then who are we, the wretched maidens of his land of Vraja? ||56

[63] Thus having rendered sentient beings devoid of consciousness in this manner, he began to make even insentient beings act as if they were sentient. For, held within steadfast bounds, they were manifestly difficult to attract even after transcending their insentience.

[64] There, the conduct of the rivers was contemplated by them thus:

Upon hearing the sounding of the flute, the rivers became motionless and bewildered,
their intense water surging with blossoming floods, tinkling with the songs of swans and other birds;
having reached a state beyond their bounds, running from afar to the enemy of Mura,
they held his pair of feet with lotus-bracelets on arms agitated by waves. ||57

[65] And here this was implied:

If the rivers, devoted wives to their lord the ocean, have cast aside their bounds, Hari! Hari!
and running swiftly unite with him, alas, then who are we, the wretched ones?!
Yet they act freely, having amassed merit; in us there is not even the slightest
equality with them; therefore, turning away—either in happiness or in sorrow—is proper. ||58

[66] And on another day, the description of the cloud was as follows:

The cloud is Murāri's friend, not merely because of beauty
from resemblance to him, but also because of continuously returning benefit:
he invigorates him with the mallāra melody born of the flute,
and this [cloud] soothes the heat upon him with its shadows. ||59

[67] And here is the implication:

O, look! Even the insentient mass of clouds, though standing above all,
serves him with shadows and its own waters out of love moving within;
alas, while we, who consider ourselves to live with our breath depending solely on his shelter,
are counted as living without serving him; shame on our lives! ||60

[68] Ah, even the class of mountains, though composed of stone, experiences bliss in this way, as follows:

Glorious Mount Govardhana here is manifestly the best of Śrī Hari's servants on all sides,
since, when Kṛṣṇa climbed upon it with Rāma to play the flute,
it, through shoots and other markers resembling involuntary bodily transformations born of the touch of his lotus feet,
and through liquefactions of all its limbs, served for a long time that wealth of his companions and followers. ||61

Let be the state of bristling hair and the like of Mount Govardhana; hear this other
wonder: if there is no belief, let it indeed be seen on this mountain and on the other,
which, bearing smoothness on all sides, attained the name Cikvaṇa here from the flute-song,
where at every step the footprint of Kṛṣṇa and his chief [companions] stands arisen as witness. ||62
[69] And here this was implied:

Although the desire to attain the position of the great is audacity, / yet if following in their footsteps shines forth, it is something seen [in practice].

Thus, bringing about the thought in them of that which is not so, perceiving the power of their state of divine madness, with an agitated heart and out of compassion, Madhukaṇṭha, his throat choked with emotion for a moment, his face covered with his garment, and all his distress surrendered to his grief, wept profusely and recited an uncomposed verse about Śrī Rādhā:

"Alas, great indeed is the flute’s merit, since, though not a woman, / it robs the cowherd women’s property and their modesty, constantly drinking his lower lip and tormenting them! / Out of satiety, as if vomiting from its resonance, these rivers burst into blossom, / while even the varieties of trees born of the mountains, its kin, shed tears of joy through their saps!"

And this is hinted:

"I pray for the body of a bamboo reed, and not for the body of a bride born of noble family; for in the former Kṛṣṇa, / delighting with much passion, becomes attached with a thirsting heart, whereas elsewhere he is hard to attain. / If, in the state of being a flute, his mind were to forget itself under the influence of subduing the conscious portions [of being], / he might recognize: 'This is she, turned into wood, consumed by separation from me!'"

Then, this was reflected upon in the mind:

"O flute, you kiss his cheek framed by earrings, and you too behold his face; / O garland, you repeatedly embrace limb after limb! / That is only fitting, for you have transcended all injunctions; but we, clearly, / alas, are cheated of our desired object by the wretched scruples of those bound by various social rules!

Ah, the flowers, the pearls, and even the diamonds do not leave Hari's chest; / who then are we, women overcome by passion, in comparison? / If this dark youth did not consort with another, / then I would not grieve; / but alas, free from hesitation, he embraces his companion— / how am I to bear this?"

So far, while the playing of his flute was filled with a passion that touched the core of the heart, a certain excitement arose, making all of Vraja helpless and causing an obstacle. But that will be introduced in the morning. Folding his hands, he spoke again:

"O Rādhā, no one knows this beloved of yours, / whose exertion is on your account, abiding within his exertion."

Thus, when the story had achieved its conclusion, everyone retired to their respective dwellings.

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter, named “Begging the Beloved Under the Pretext of Flute-Lessons”, in the holy Gopālacampū. ||17