Gita Govinda 1.6

1.6.1

atha tāṃ gantum aśaktāṃ ciram anuraktāṃ latā-gṛhe dṛṣṭvā |
tac-caritaṃ govinde manasija-mande sakhī prāha ||

Then, seeing her, who had long loved him, unable to go to the bower of vines,
the confidante reported her condition to Govinda, who was languid with mind-born love:

But seeing that, for all her loving will,
The flower-soft feet of Radha had not power
To leave their place and go, she sped again--
That maiden--and to Krishna's eager ears
Told how it fared with his sweet mistress there.

1.6.1.p1

|| prabandhaḥ 12 ||

|| Lyric Composition 12

(What follows is to the Music GONDAKIRÎ and the Mode RUPAKA.)

1.6.1.p2

guṇakarī-rāgena rūpaka-tālena gīyate |

Sung in the melodic mode Guṇakarī and the rhythmic meter Rūpaka.

1.6.2

paśyati diśi diśi rahasi bhavantam |
tad-adhara-madhura-madhūni pibantam ||

In secret she sees you in every direction,
drinking the sweet nectar of her lips.

Krishna! 'tis thou must come, (she sang)
Ever she waits thee in heavenly bower;
The lotus seeks not the wandering bee,
The bee must find the flower.

All the wood over her deep eyes roam,
Marvelling sore where tarries the bee,
Who leaves such lips of nectar unsought
As those that blossom for thee.

1.6.2.p1

nātha hare sīdati rādhā vāsa-gṛhe || dhru. ||

O Lord, O Hari, Rādhā pines away in her dwelling of longing. || Refrain

1.6.3

tvad-abhisaraṇa-rabhasena valantī |
patati padāni kiyantī calantī ||

Rushing out in her eagerness to go meet you,
she takes a few steps and falls down.

Her steps would fail if she tried to come,
Would falter and fail, with yearning weak;
At the first of the road they would falter and pause,
And the way is strange to seek.

1.6.4

vihita-viśada-bisa-kiśalaya-valayā |
jīvati param iha tava rati-kalayā ||

Wearing bracelets made of white lotus-fibers and tender sprouts,
she lives here solely by the art of your amorous pleasure.

Find her where she is sitting, then,
With lotus-blossom on ankle and arm
Wearing thine emblems, and musing of nought
But the meeting to be--glad, warm.

1.6.5

muhur avalokita-maṇḍana-līlā |
madhu-ripur aham iti bhāvana-śīlā ||

Repeatedly inspecting her play of ornaments,
she is possessed by the fancy: “I am the foe of Madhu.”

Find her where she is sitting, then,
With lotus-blossom on ankle and arm
Wearing thine emblems, and musing of nought
But the meeting to be--glad, warm.

1.6.6

tvaritam upaiti na katham abhisāram |
harir iti vadati sakhīm anuvāram ||

“Why does Hari not come swiftly to the amorous rendezvous?”
so she repeatedly asks her confidante.

To be--"but wherefore tarrieth he?"
"What can stay or delay him?--go!
See if the soul of Krishna comes,"
Ten times she sayeth to me so;

1.6.7

śliṣyati cumbati jala-dhara-kalpam |
harir upagata iti timiram analpam ||

Thinking Hari has arrived, she embraces and kisses
the deep darkness, resembling a raincloud.

Ten times lost in a languorous swoon,
"Now he cometh--he cometh," she cries;
And a love-look lightens her eyes in the gloom,
And the darkness is sweet with her sighs.

1.6.8

bhavati vilambini vigalita-lajjā |
vilapati roditi vāsaka-sajjā ||

When you delay, her modesty falling away,
dressed for union, she laments and weeps.

Till, watching in vain, she glideth again
Under the shade of the whispering leaves;
With a heart too full of its love at last
To heed how her bosom heaves.

Ten times lost in a languorous swoon,
"Now he cometh--he cometh," she cries;
And a love-look lightens her eyes in the gloom,
And the darkness is sweet with her sighs.

1.6.9

śrī-jayadeva-kaver idam uditam |
rasika-janaṃ tanutām atimuditam ||

May this utterance of the poet Śrī Jayadeva
bring immense joy to discerning lovers.

Shall not these fair verses swell
The number of the wise who dwell
In the realm of Kama's bliss?
Jayadeva prayeth this,
Jayadev, the bard of Love,
Servant of the Gods above.

1.6.10

vipula-pulaka-pāliḥ sphīta-sīt-kāram antar-janita-jaḍimam-kāku-vyākulaṃ vyāharantī |
tava kitava vidhāyāmanda-kandarpa-cintāṃ rasa-jala-nidhi-magnā dhyāna-lagnā mṛgakṣī ||

Her hair standing intensely on end, her deep hissing sighs uttering words faltering with inner numbness,
immersed in an ocean of aesthetic flavor, fixing her meditation on you after intense longing inspired by Kandarpa, O rogue, the doe-eyed woman remains absorbed.

For all so strong in Heaven itself
Is Love, that Radha sits drooping there,
Her beautiful bosoms panting with thought,
And the braids drawn back from her ear.

And--angel albeit--her rich lips breathe
Sighs, if sighs were ever so sweet;
And--if spirits can tremble--she trembles now
From forehead to jewelled feet.

And her voice of music sinks to a sob,
And her eyes, like eyes of a mated roe,
Are tender with looks of yielded love,
With dreams dreamed long ago;

Long--long ago, but soon to grow truth,
To end, and be waking and certain and true;
Of which dear surety murmur her lips,
As the lips of sleepers do:

1.6.11

aṅgeṣv ābharaṇaṃ karoti bahuśaḥ patre'pi sañcāriṇī prāptaṃ tvāṃ pariśaṅkate vitanute śayyāṃ ciraṃ dhyāyati |
ity ākalpa-vikalpa-talpa-racanā-saṅkalpa-līlā-śata-vyāsaktāpi vinā tvayā vara-tanur naiṣā niśāṃ neṣyati ||

She puts ornaments on her limbs again and again; at the stirring of a single leaf she suspects you have arrived;
she spreads the couch; she meditates for a long time;
thus engrossed in a hundred fancies of dressing, doubting, preparing the bed, and longing, without you this slender-limbed woman cannot survive the night.

And, dreaming, she loosens her girdle-pearls,
And opens her arms to the empty air,
Then starts, if a leaf of the champâk falls,
Sighing, "O leaf! Is he there?"

1.6.12

kiṃ viśrāmyasi kṛṣṇa-bhogi-bhavane bhāṇḍīra-bhūmī-ruhi bhrātar yāsi na dṛṣṭi-gocaram itaḥ sānanda-nandāspadam |
rādhāyā vacanaṃ tad adhvaga-mukhān nandāntike gopato govindasya jayanti sāyam atithi-prāśastya-garbhā giraḥ ||

“Why do you rest, O traveler, in the Bhāṇḍīra tree, an abode of black serpents? Do you not see the joyful home of Nanda from here?”—
hearing these words of Rādhā from the mouth of a traveler and concealing them before Nanda,
victorious are Govinda’s evening words concealing praise of hospitality to guests.

Why dost thou linger in this dull spot,
Haunted by serpents and evil for thee?
Why not hasten to Nanda's House?
It is plain, if thine eyes could see.

May these words of high endeavour--
Full of grace and gentle favour--
Find out those whose hearts can feel
What the message did reveal,
Words that Radha's messenger
Unto Krishna took from her,
Slowly guiding him to come
Through the forest to his home,
Guiding him to find the road
Which led--though long--to Love's abode.

1.6.12.p1

iti śrī-gīta-govinde'bhisārikā-varṇane dhanya-vaikuṇṭho nāma
ṣaṣṭhaḥ sargaḥ
||6||

Thus ends the sixth sarga, entitled “Blessed Vaikuṇṭha,” in the description of the woman going to meet her lover, in the illustrious Gītagovinda.
|| 6

(Here ends that Sarga of the Gîta Govinda entitled DHRISHTAVAIKUNTO.)

1.6.12.p3

saptamaḥ sargaḥ
nāgara-nārāyaṇaḥ

Seventh Sarga:
Nārāyaṇa the Clever Lover

SARGA THE SEVENTH.