WHEN KRISHNA LEFT ....

When Shyamasundar left Vraja, when Gourasundar left Gaudadesh there has been a parallelism in the feelings of the devotees.  They all fell in a ocean of separation.  These two poems were written together to expose the similarity of the moods, to unveil the continuity of the Lord's pastimes and to taste the same emotions upon his departure....  before and after.  I invite the readers to the secret of love tears in two distant, profanely different places. There is a trail of tears between Vraja and Navadvipa....
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Separation

Inspired by Uttara-Campu 1.1.45 : " Ah! What misfortune! What are you thinking? Why are you breathing heavily? Why are you looking at the path? Why are you looking at the face of your friend? Why are tears falling on your breast?  Why are you fainting? Why are you uttering the word Krishna quietly to your friend constantly?  Why are your hairs standing on end?  Why are you trembling ?"

When Shyamasundar left ...

With restless eyes,
relentless and unchecked,

staring down the road

coming into Vraja,

in this apnea of the heart
breath comes not with memories;

if this moment was the instant

fulfilling Your promise

to see You back,

whispers would turn into cries of

‘Krishna’ ‘Krishna’ ‘Krishna’.

Now Your name is an inaudible

shiver of the skin;

In the trees, in the clouds,

in the blue lotuses, in the Moon,

searching for You

with hectic heartbeats,

with watery blurred sight,

and in the eyes of other Sakhi’s;

The groves, the river, 

the hill, the forest,

the bowers

are oases of You

in this desert of separation,

where the sands 

treasured Your footprints;

The honeybees may return to fly
one day ~
but now their limbs are soaked

in oceans of tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Gourasundar left....

CC Madhya Lila 3.191 "After thus instructing the devotees, the Lord asked their permission to go to Jagannātha Purī. He assured them that at intervals He would come there and meet them again and again."

"Call my name

I will return" 

Once again ~

falling to the ground,

^{same tears, same pains,}

but no wheels to hold onto,

nor Akrura to blame, 

for Lord Gourasundara is gone.

There will be no heralds of His promise, ⁽¹⁾

neither the clatter of a chariot 

to hope for,

but His eyes will carry

the same tears

that filled the kund of Vraja. ⁽²⁾

Sweet were His words

"You always call Krishna Krishna"

not quietly, but with loud cries,

from Sri Pulina to the ocean ⁽*⁾

where the Moon will rise 

from now on.

Call Hari, lamenting heart,

stunned was Vraja

by the dust of Shyam's wheels,

stunned by His parting embraces

are the devotees of Navadvip,

the untold fear of Nanda Baba, ⁽³⁾ 

has come true ~

Once again.

1-Uddhava, Narada and Balarama the messengers of Krishna to Vraja.

2-Prem Sarovara lila

3-Gopala Campu Ch 32.97 “But he did not offer himself [Nanda Baba] because it seems he still feared  Krishna may leave again”.

SRI PULINA*

[...] Saying this, Nityananda happily went south to Paradanga in Sri Pulina. Here he showed the place where Sri Rasa Mandala and Dhira-samira of Vraja were located, He said :

"O Jiva, this is Vrndavana. One can see the Vrndavana pastimes here".

Upon hearing the word 'Vrindavan' Jiva began trembling and tears flowed from his eyes.

The Lord continued : "Gouranga brought His devotees here, and they performed kirtan describing the rasa-lila. The place of the rasa-lila in Vrndavana is situated here on the bank of the Ganges. The rasa-lila pastimes with the gopis, which are eternally enacted here, are sometimes seen by fortunate persons."

[...] In Vrndavana, Dhira-samira is situated on the bank of the Yamuna and here it lies on the bank of the Ganges. Actually what you see, however, is not the bank of the Ganges, but that of the Yamuna, which is on the western side of the Ganges. As this beautiful Pulina lies on the bank of the Yamuna, Visvambara therefore calls this place Vrndavana.

You should know that all the pastime places of Vrndavana are situated within this place. Make no distinction between Vrndavana and Navadvipa, nor between Gouranga and Krsna."-

excerpted from Sri Navadvipa-dhama Mahatmya byBhaktivinoda Thakur