Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Nectar of Devotion

Krishna's pauganda age can be further divided into three periods — namely the beginning, middle and end. In the beginning of the pauganda age there is a very nice reddish luster on His lips, His abdomen is very thin, and on His neck are circles like those on a conchshell. Sometimes, some outside visitors would return to Vrindāvana to see Krishna and, upon seeing Him again, would exclaim, "My dear Mukunda, Your beauty is gradually increasing, just like the leaf on a banyan tree! My dear lotus-eyed one, Your neck is gradually manifesting circles like those of the conchshell. And in the shining moonlight Your teeth and cheeks are competing with the padmarāga jewels in their beautiful arrangement. I am sure that Your beautiful bodily development is now giving much pleasure to Your friends."

At this age Krishna was garlanded with various kinds of flowers. He used to put on a silk dress, colored with various kinds of dye. Such beautiful decorations are considered cosmetics for Krishna. Krishna would wear this dress when He used to go into the forest to tend the cows. Sometimes He would wrestle there with His different friends, and sometimes they would dance all together in the forest. These are some of the specific activities of the pauganda age.

The cowherd friends of Krishna were so happy in His company that they expressed their transcendental feelings within themselves thus: "Dear Krishna, You are always busy tending the cows which are scattered all over beautiful Vrindāvana. You have a beautiful garland, a small conchshell, a peacock feather on Your turban, yellow-colored silk cloth, decorations of karnikāra flowers on Your ears and a mallikā flower garland on Your chest. Appearing so beautiful, when You pretend, just like an actor, to be fighting with us, You give us unlimited transcendental bliss."

When Krishna is more grown up, in the middle age of pauganda, His nails become finely sharp, and His chubby cheeks become lustrous and round. On the two sides of His waist above His belt there are three distinct lines of folded skin, called trivalī.

The cowherd boyfriends of Krishna felt very proud of their association with Him. At that time the tip of His nose defeated the beauty of sesame flowers, the luster of His cheeks defeated the glow of pearls, and the two sides of His body were exquisitely beautiful. In this age Krishna wore a silk dress that glittered like lightning, His head was decorated with a silk turban covered with gold lace, and in His hand He carried a stick about fifty-six inches long.* Seeing this exquisitely beautiful dress of Krishna, one devotee addressed his friend in this manner: "My dear friend, just look at Krishna! See how He is carrying in His hand a stick which is bound up and down with golden rings, how His turban with golden lace is showing such a beautiful luster, and how His dress is giving His friends the highest transcendental pleasure!"

At the end of Krishna's pauganda age, Krishna's hair sometimes hangs down to His hips, and sometimes it becomes scattered. In this age His two shoulders become higher and broader, and His face is always decorated with marks of tilaka. When His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders, it appears to be a goddess of fortune embracing Him, and this embracing is highly relished by His friends. Subala once addressed Him in this way: "My dear Keśava, Your round turban, the lotus flower in Your hand, the vertical marks of tilaka on Your forehead, Your kumkum-flavored musk and all of Your beautiful bodily features are defeating me today, although I am usually stronger than You or any of our friends. Since this is so, I do not know how these features of Your body can fail to defeat the pride of all the young girls of Vrindāvana. When I am so defeated by this beauty, what chance is there for those who are naturally very simple and flexible?"

At this age Krishna took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopīs, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Krishna thus: "My dear Krishna, You are very cunning. You can understand the thoughts of others; therefore I am whispering within Your ear that all of these five gopīs, who are most beautiful, have been attracted by Your dress. And I believe that Cupid has entrusted them with the responsibility of conquering You." In other words, the beauty of the gopīs was capable of conquering Krishna, although Krishna is the conqueror of all universes.

The symptoms of the kaiśora age have already been described, and it is at this age that devotees generally most appreciate Krishna. Krishna with Rādhārānī is worshiped as Kiśora-kiśorī. Krishna does not increase His age that although He is the oldest personality and has innumerable different forms, His original form is always youthful. In the pictures of Krishna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra we can see that He is youthful, although at that time He was old enough to have sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. The cowherd boyfriends of Krishna once said, "Dear Krishna, You need not decorate Your body with so many ornaments. Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful that You do not require any ornamentation." At this age, whenever Krishna begins to vibrate His flute early in the morning, all of His friends immediately get up from bed just to join Him in going to the pasturing grounds. One of the friends once said, "My dear cowherd friends, the sound of Krishna's flute from above Govardhana Hill is telling us that we need not go to search Him out on the bank of the Yamunā."

Pārvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva, told her husband, "My dear Pañcamukha [five-faced], just look at the Pāndavas! After hearing the sound of Krishna's conchshell, known as Pāñcajanya, they have regained their strength and are just like lions."

At this age, Krishna once dressed Himself up exactly like Rādhārānī, just to create fun among His friends. He put on golden earrings, and because He was blackish, He smeared the pulp of kumkum all over His body in order to become as fair as She. By seeing this dress, Krishna's friend Subala became very astonished.

Krishna played with His intimate friends sometimes by fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball and sometimes by playing chess. Sometimes they carried one another on their shoulders, and sometimes they exhibited their expertness at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please Krishna by sitting together with Him on couches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by joking together and by swimming in the pool. All these activities are called anubhāva. Whenever all the friends would assemble in the company of Krishna, they would immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding their wrestling, one friend once asked Krishna, "My dear friend, O killer of the Agha demon, You are very proudly wandering among Your friends trying to exhibit Your arms as very strong. Is it that You are envious of me? I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me."

All the friends were very daring and would risk any difficulty, because they were confident that Krishna would help them to be victorious in all adventures. They used to sit together and advise one another what to do, sometimes inducing one another to be engaged in welfare work. Sometimes they would offer betel nuts to one another, decorate one another's faces with tilaka or smear pulp of candana on one another's bodies. Sometimes, for the sake of amusement, they used to decorate their faces in strange ways. Another business of the friends was that each of them wanted to defeat Krishna. Sometimes they used to snatch His clothing or snatch away the flowers from His hands. Sometimes one would try to induce another to decorate his body for him, and failing this, they were always ready to fight, challenging one another to combat in wrestling. These were some of the general activities of Krishna and His friends.

Another important pastime of the friends of Krishna was that they served as messengers to and from the gopīs; they introduced the gopīs to Krishna and canvassed for Krishna. When the gopīs were in disagreement with Krishna, these friends would support Krishna's side in His presence — but when Krishna was not present, they would support the side of the gopīs. In this way, sometimes supporting one side, sometimes the other, they would talk very privately, with much whispering in the ears, although none of the business was very serious.

The servants of Krishna were sometimes engaged in collecting flowers, decorating His body with valuable ornaments and trinkets, dancing before Him, singing, helping Him herd the cows, massaging His body, preparing flower garlands and sometimes fanning His body. These were some of the primary duties of the servants of Krishna. The friends and servants of Krishna were combined together in serving Him, and all of their activities are known as anubhāva.

When Krishna came out from the Yamunā after chastising the Kāliya-nāga, Śrīdāmā wanted to embrace Him first, but he could not raise his arms because of his great feeling of respect.

When Krishna used to play on His flute, the vibration appeared just like the roaring of clouds in the sky during the constellation of Svātī. According to Vedic astronomical calculation, if there is rain during the constellation of the Svātī star, any rain falling on the sea will produce pearls, and rain falling on a serpent will produce jewels. Similarly, when Krishna's flute roared like a thundercloud under the Svātī constellation, the resulting perspiration on Śrīdāmā's body appeared to be just like pearls.

When Krishna and Subala were embracing one another, Śrīmatī Rādhārānī became a little envious, and hiding Her hot temperament She said, "My dear Subala, you are very fortunate because even in the presence of superiors you and Krishna have no hesitation in putting your arms on each other's shoulders. I think it must be admitted that in your previous lives you have succeeded in many kinds of austerities." The idea is that although Rādhārānī was accustomed to putting Her arms on Krishna's shoulders, it was not possible for Her to do such a thing in the presence of Her superiors, whereas Subala could do so freely. Rādhārānī therefore praised his good fortune.

When Krishna entered the lake of Kāliya, His intimate friends became so perturbed that their bodily colors faded, and they all produced horrible gurgling sounds. At that time all of them fell down on the ground as if unconscious. Similarly, when there was a forest fire, all of Krishna's friends neglected their own protection and surrounded Krishna on all sides to protect Him from the flames. This behavior of the friends toward Krishna is described by thoughtful poets as vyabhicārī. In vyabhicārī ecstatic love for Krishna there is sometimes madness, dexterity, fear, laziness, jubilation, pride, dizziness, meditation, disease, forgetfulness and humbleness. These are some of the common symptoms in the stage of vyabhicārī ecstatic love for Krishna.

When there are dealings between Krishna and His friends which are completely devoid of any feelings of respect and they all treat one another on an equal level, such ecstatic love in friendship is called sthāyī. When one is situated in this confidential friendly relationship with Krishna, one shows symptoms of love such as attraction, affection, affinity and attachment. An example of sthāyī was exhibited when Arjuna told Akrūra, "My dear son of Gāndinī, please ask Krishna when I shall be able to embrace Him in my arms."

When there is full knowledge of Krishna's superiority and yet in dealings with Him on friendly terms respectfulness is completely absent, that stage is called affection. There is one brilliant example of this affection. When the demigods, headed by Lord Śiva, were offering respectful prayers to Krishna, describing the glorious opulences of the Lord, Arjuna stood before Him with his hand on His shoulders and brushed the dust from His peacock feather.

When the Pāndavas were banished by Duryodhana and forced to live incognito in the forest, no one could trace out where they were staying. At that time, the great sage Nārada met Lord Krishna and said, "My dear Mukunda, although You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all-powerful person, by making friendship with You the Pāndavas have become bereft of their legitimate right to the kingdom of the world — and, moreover, they are now living in the forest incognito. Sometimes they must work as ordinary laborers in someone else's house. These symptoms appear to be very inauspicious materially, but the beauty is that the Pāndavas have not lost their faith and love for You, in spite of all these tribulations. In fact, they are always thinking of You and chanting Your name in ecstatic friendship."

Another example of acute affection for Krishna is given in the Tenth Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 18, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the pasturing ground Krishna felt a little tired and wanted to take rest, so He lay down on the ground. At that time, many cowherd boys assembled there and with great affection began to sing suitable songs so that Krishna would rest very nicely.

There is a nice example of the friendship between Krishna and Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. When the fighting was going on, Aśvatthāmā, the son of Dronācārya, unceremoniously attacked Krishna, although according to the prevailing rules of chivalry one's chariot driver should never be attacked by the enemy. Aśvatthāmā behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack Krishna's body, although Krishna was acting only as charioteer for Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that Aśvatthāmā was releasing various kinds of arrows to hurt Krishna, he immediately stood in front of Krishna to intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being harmed by those arrows, he felt an ecstatic love for Krishna, and the arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers.

There is another instance of ecstatic love for Krishna in friendship. Once when a cowherd boy named Vrishabha was collecting flowers from the forest to prepare a garland to be offered to Krishna, the sun reached its zenith, and although the sunshine was scorching hot, Vrishabha felt it to be like the moonshine. That is the way of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord; when devotees are put into great difficulties — even like the Pāndavas, as described above — they feel all their miserable conditions to be great facilities for serving the Lord.

Another instance of Arjuna's friendship with Krishna was described by Nārada, who reminded Krishna, "When Arjuna was learning the art of shooting arrows, he could not see You for so many days. But when You arrived there, he stopped all His activities and immediately embraced You." This means that even though Arjuna was engaged in learning about the military art, he had not forgotten Krishna for a moment, and as soon as there was an opportunity to see Krishna, Arjuna immediately embraced Him.

One servant of Krishna named Patrī once addressed Him like this: "My dear Lord, You protected the cowherd boys from the hunger of the Aghāsura demon, and You protected them from the poisonous effects of the Kāliya snake. And You also saved them from the fierce forest fire. But I am suffering from Your separation, which is more severe than the hunger of Aghāsura, the poison of Lake Kāliya and the burning of the forest fire. So why should You not protect me from the pangs of separation?" Another friend once told Krishna, "My dear enemy of Kamsa, since You have left us, the heat of separation has become extraordinary. And this heat is felt more severely when we understand that in Bhāndīravana You are being refreshed by the waves of the cooling river known as Bhānu-tanayā [Rādhārānī]." The purport is that when Krishna was engaged with Rādhārānī, the cowherd boys headed by Subala were feeling great separation, and that was unbearable for them.

Another friend addressed Krishna thus: "My dear Krishna, O killer of Aghāsura, when You left Vrindāvana to kill King Kamsa in Mathurā, all the cowherd boys became bereft of their four bhūtas [the elements earth, water, fire and space]. And the fifth bhūta, the air, was flowing very rapidly within their nostrils." When Krishna went to Mathurā to kill King Kamsa, all the cowherd boys became so afflicted by the separation that they almost died. When a person is dead it is said that he has given up the five elements, known as bhūtas, as the body again mixes with the five elements from which it was prepared. In this case, although the four elements earth, water, fire and ether were already gone, the remaining element, air, was still very prominent and was blowing through their nostrils furiously. In other words, after Krishna left Vrindāvana, the cowherd boys were always anxious about what would happen in His fight with King Kamsa.

Another friend once informed Krishna, "When one of Your friends was feeling much separation from You, there were tears covering his lotus eyes, and so the black drones of sleep became discouraged from entering his eyes and left that place." When there is a lotus flower, the black drones fly into it to collect honey. The eyes of Krishna's friend are compared to the lotus flower, and because they were full of tears the black drones of sleep could not collect honey from his lotus eyes and therefore left the place. In other words, because he was too much afflicted, his eyes were full of tears, and he could not sleep. This is an example of staying up at night because of separation from Krishna.

An example of helplessness is described in the following statement: "Due to Krishna's departure from Vrindāvana to Mathurā, Krishna's dearest cowherd boys felt as mentally light as possible. They were like fragments of cotton, lighter than the air, and were all floating in the air without any shelter." In other words, the minds of the cowherd boys became almost vacant on account of Krishna's separation. An example of impatience was also shown by the cowherd boys when Krishna went to Mathurā. Out of the sorrow of separation, all these boys forgot to take care of their cowherding and tried to forget all the melodious songs they used to sing in the pasturing ground. At last they had no desire to live anymore, being separated from Krishna.

An example of stillness was described by a friend of Krishna's who informed Him in Mathurā that all the cowherd boys had become just like leafless trees on the tops of hills. They appeared almost naked, being skinny and frail, and did not carry any fruits or flowers. He informed Krishna that all the cowherd boys residing in Vrindāvana were as still as the trees at the tops of hills. Sometimes they felt diseased from their separation from Krishna, and being so greatly disappointed, they were aimlessly wandering on the banks of the Yamunā.

There is also an example of madness caused by separation from Krishna. When Krishna was absent from Vrindāvana, all the cowherd boys became bewildered, and having given up all kinds of activities, they appeared to be mad and forgot all their regular business. They were sometimes lying down on the ground, sometimes rolling in the dust, sometimes laughing and sometimes running very swiftly. All of these symptoms gave them the appearance of madmen. One friend of Krishna's criticized Him by saying, "My dear Lord, You have become the King of Mathurā after killing Kamsa, and that is very good news for us. But at Vrindāvana all the residents have become blind from their continuous crying over Your absence. They are full only of anxieties and are not cheered at all by Your becoming the King of Mathurā."

Sometimes there were also signs of death caused by separation from Krishna. Once Krishna was told, "My dear enemy of Kamsa, because of their separation from You, the cowherd boys are suffering too much, and they are now lying down in the valleys, breathing only slightly. In order to sympathize with the boys' regrettable condition, even the forest friends, the deer, are shedding tears."

In the Mathurā-khanda chapter of the Skanda Purāna, there is a description of Krishna and Balarāma, surrounded by all the cowherd boys, always engaged in taking care of the cows and calves. When Krishna was met by Arjuna at a potter's shop in the city of Drupada-nagara, because of the similarity of their bodily features they made intimate friendship. This is an instance of friendship caused by the attraction of similar bodies.

In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventy-first Chapter, verse 27, it is stated that when Krishna arrived in the city of Indraprastha, Bhīma was so overwhelmed with joy that with tears in his eyes and a smiling face he immediately embraced his maternal cousin. Following him were his young brothers Nakula and Sahadeva, along with Arjuna, and they all became so overwhelmed at seeing Krishna that with full satisfaction they embraced the Lord, who is known as Acyuta (the infallible). There is a similar statement about the cowherd boys of Vrindāvana. When Krishna was on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra, all the cowherd boys came to see Him, wearing jeweled earrings in their ears. Becoming so greatly overjoyed, they extended their arms and embraced Krishna as their old friend. These are instances of full satisfaction in friendship with Krishna.

In the Tenth Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 12, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is stated that even after undergoing severe penances and austerities and performing the yogic principles, the great mystic yogīs can hardly become eligible to achieve the dust of the lotus feet of Krishna, but the same personality of Godhead, Krishna, is easily available to the vision of the residents of Vrindāvana. This means there is no comparison to the great fortune of these devotees. The friendly relationship of the cowherd boys with Krishna is a particular type of spiritual ecstasy almost similar to the ecstasy of conjugal love. This ecstasy of loving affairs between the cowherd boys and Krishna is very difficult to explain. Great expert devotees like Rūpa Gosvāmī express their astonishment at the inconceivable feelings which are in Krishna and His cowherd boyfriends.

This particular type of ecstatic love shared between Krishna and His confidential friends further develops into parental love, and on from there it may develop into conjugal love, the most exalted humor, or mellow, of ecstatic love between Lord Krishna and His devotees.

<<< >>>

Copyright ©r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness