Krishna Katha

SB 2.2.37 "Those who drink the sweet pastimes of the Lord and his devotees held in the cups of their ears clean their hearts of all contamination and attain the lotus feet of the Lord for service."

SBMM 20.59 "O great hero, kindly allow us to drink the nectar of Your lotus lips This nectar increases one's love for You, destroys one's lamentation, is constantly relished by Your enchanting flute, and it transforms the living entities' material attachments."

This poem was inspired by the following excerpt from a commentary of Srimad B. Narayana Goswami Maharaja where he explains about the adharamrita or the nectar from Krishna's lips.

"The deer and cuckoos are indeed fortunate, but the most fortunate are the gopis, who can directly taste Krishna's original adharamrita.  The deer and the cuckoos cannot relish this adharamrta directly, but they can listen to Krishna's flute-song.  And there are others, who can hear about Krishna's pastimes.  They hear that Krsna is playing His flute and that all human beings, animals, birds and other creatures in Vrindavana are hearing His flute-song. As a result of listening to narrations of His pastimes, these persons, too, develop the ambition to hear His flute." Gopi Gita commentary by Srimad B. Narayana Goswami Maharaja.

So there are three levels of devotees relishing the nectar of Krishna's lips. The Gopis are those who can directly taste it. There are the other associates in Vraja, the cuckoos, the deer, the creepers etc who can taste that nectar when flows from His flute, when they hear his voice, his laughs, his singing.  Then there are those devotees who hear the nectar through Krishna Katha, the narrations of Krishna's pastimes from the lips of the Vaisnavas saints.  Therefore Krishna Katha is as powerful as hearing the flute of Krishna, to this end follow some verses from the sacred scriptures : -

SBMM 11.57 "O King, therefore great sages give up all kinds of rules and regulations and take pleasure discussing the topics of Krshna while situated on the platform of transcendence."

SBB vol.II 3.124 "Honor the Bhagavatam and other scriptures that tell of this devotional service.  Hear from them regularly about the Lord's pastimes.  For when those narrations enter the holes of your ears and you relish them with love, they will swiftly award you the Lord's abode."

SB 10.7.1-2 "O Lord!  Hearing about Krsna full of all qualities, destroyer of suffering and attractor of the senses, who, through his appearance causes pleasure to the ears and great attraction to the mind, destroys all interest in other topics and all thirst for material enjoyment.  Hearing about Krsna produces Prema for the attractive Lord and friendship with the devotees.  Please speak of the Lord's pastimes if you think I am qualified."

Sarartha Darsini 33.36 "When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him."

"HEARING is SEEING".

If you,

full of love,

have walked

within the intimacy of the forest,

under the bowers of Vraja,

under the lunar light,

you must certainly have tasted

the fragrance of Krishna's breath,

that same caramelized sweetness

condensed around His lips,

also dripping from His flute

as an irresistible melody 

inviting you ~

and if you've ran to meet him

enraptured by His song

in the nights of Spring or Autumn,

and sang the sighs

of your heart

to the starry sky,

and finally danced

the festival of love,

then the nectar of His lips

has unveiled all the secrets of love,

their juicy flavour of berries and betel nuts

and the aroma of camphor

in His whispers of love

that your ears drank

to quench the thirst of your swan-like heart.

If you are one

of the peacocks or the honeybees

dancing around Him,

or one of the parrots

singing at the eternally dawning sun

to wake Him,

or if you are one amidst the cuckoos

responding to His honeyed cooing calls

in the forest,

or a deer licking His feet,

or a creeper touched by His toes

while He dances in the mandala of love,

or if you are a fruit, a twig or a leaf

grazed by His fingertips,

surely then you must have relished

the ambrosia of those lips

as a flute-song,

as the raga of the autumn,

as the melodies at dusk,

as His voice tones,

as His herding calls,

as the soulful notes,

and  the blossoming raga

when He loiters alone

causing the six seasons

of Vraja.

And if, by your good fortune

your path has crossed

with that of saints' compassion,

You too must have received

this fluid nectar of His pastimes

on the thirsty tongue of your ears,

so that in your heart

is flourishing the desire

to hear His voice, His words of love,

His  flute song, His herding calls,

and that by licking this dense nectar,

a river of songs

will gush from your lips

    as if they were touched by His.    (1)

Sri Suka-sari-stava Txt 89 "Those who see Lord Krishna's lips, which are more handsome than the bimba fruit. lose all attraction for anything else.  Playing beautiful melodies on a flute aromatic with the nectar of His lips, Krishna enchants everyone heart."

SD 1.10.28 "O friend!  The wives of Krishna who drink the nectar of his lips constantly must have certainly worshipped him by austerities, bathin in sacred places and sacrifices in previous lives to attain their present status.  But the women of Vraja whose minds were completely absorbed in that nectar fainted in bliss simply because of remembering it."