LOVE under the TAMARIND TREE

In my search for the pastimes of Krishna in Vraja where He manifests His golden form as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the pastime at Imli Tal is a shining gem.

This is in short :

When Shri Radha disappeared from the midst of the rasa dance, Krishna was searching for Her with intense feelings of separation. This mood of separation increased Their anticipation for meeting, and thus very much increased Their intensity of love.Krishna, in this mood of separation sat down under this Tamarind Tree or Imli Tal and became so completely absorbed in the thoughts of Shrimati Radharani and chanting Her name, that His body assumed the color of Shrimati Radharani.

Nava Vraja Mahima "For a moment Radha and Krshna gazed into each other's faces, and then, in the same way that the moon sinks into the ocean, They submerged Themselves in the waves of each other's ambrosial beauty." pg 363

"God is engaged in enjoying with His eternal consort, Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. This Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī is enchanting Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is enchanting Rādhārāṇī. [...] In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that when Kṛṣṇa comes before Rādhārāṇī, She becomes so much engladdened by seeing the beauty of Kṛṣṇa that She becomes more beautiful, and as soon as Rādhārāṇī becomes beautiful, Kṛṣṇa becomes engladdened and He becomes more beautiful. So unlimitedly there is competition of becoming more beautiful, duhe lage hurai (?). That is the state. Competition. Because in the spiritual world everything is unlimited. So unlimitedly both of them becoming beautiful and both of them enjoying unlimitedly."Srila Prabhupada - Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban

Under the spell of the lunar light

Shyam took a beam

to adorn Radha's face,

but saw it brighter than the Moon!

as Her eyes like Chakora birds

flew on the rays

drinking the moonlight of His face.

Radha slipped a berry in His mouth

with grace

and hesitant fingertips ~

how much redder now were His lips!

'cause Krishna, sipping

the red lotus of Her eyes,

was instantly drowned 

by the sweetness of Her love

and fell spellbound.

Closing His eyes

tuned a note on His flute

to attract Her mind,

but when surprised to find

       Her behind His eyelid    (1)

a shiver ran up His skin,

and enraptured He screamed

Radhe, Radhe,

under that Tamarind tree,

under the stars in the sky,

on the river of Their Love,

He sat and cried,

and drifted into ecstasy

in an unknown shoreless sea,

lost His mind in Her heart,

and became the Moon,

golden glowing

with Her love mood.

1) Gopala Campu 17.3 “Whenever Radha or Krishna fainted in private, they had an internal vision of their lover, equivalent to actual presence, for bringing auspicious results.”

IMLI Tal mentioned in Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya Lila Ch. 18.76-78

"The tamarind tree named Teṅtulī-talā was very old, having been there since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. Beneath the tree was a very shiny platform.

Since the River Yamunā flowed near Teṅtulī-talā, a very cool breeze blew there. While there, the Lord saw the beauty of Vṛndāvana and the water of the River Yamunā.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to sit beneath the old tamarind tree and chant the holy name of the Lord. At noon He would return to Akrūra-tīrtha to take lunch."

WATERS OF MOONLIGHT

Excerpted from PILI Pokhara pastime story

"And then She [Radha] began to wash her hands and the waters turned golden and the waves spread out in all directions, hitting the banks and rippling back – forming a beautiful pattern of evolving rasa. And as the waters turned – from Her hands – that golden luster begin expanding toward the far shores of the kund.

Her friends were just watching with intent – the different levels of love that appeared to be rising like the ocean tide within their hearts and expressing themselves on Her facial expression; they were just enchanted watching their friend wash Her hands. And She just kept washing." 

This poem is part of the poetry born from my search of the pastimes in Vraja when Krishna manifests His form as Gauranga Mahaprabhu (see also in this blog "Love under the Tamarind Tree").

(PILI POKHARA -Full story link http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16631)

WATERS OF MOONLIGHT

The Princess of swans 

glided from the shore

with grace

and the waters returned

the beauty of Her image,

imperceptibly she paused, 

amazed

and absorbed,

with a lost-in-love gaze,

washed her hands

and her thoughts drifted away,

liquefied - spread out

in circular waves,

her mind so immersed in love,

let an amber intoxicating wake

 ooze from her palms,

tinting with gold the surface

mirroring her amorous heart,

and in this way erased

the blue sky from that lake;

She, with fairy steps, went away

and the waters remained dyed

with molten gold moon rays.

The Blue Swan,

object of that love,

came to the golden pond,

with His fingers grazed

the splendor of the moon,

struck by a quiver

of marvelous love

He stood dazed

peering at His image

in those waters

of golden glaze,

and then He knew

the spell was Her mood

and felt Himself

to be the be-all and the end-all

of that fluid love,

so thrilled by its taste

He immersed His hand

His arm and, more amazed,

went in up to His neck,

then taken by a rapture so intense

felt a longing

to call aloud to Himself;

Emerging from the lake

His blue sapphire luster lost, 
 now golden

He walked away

chanting His own name.