COME BACK TO VRAJA!

CC Madhya Lila 1.76 [Radharani said] - “My dear friend, now I have met My very old and dear friend Kṛṣṇa on this field of Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and now We are meeting together. It is very pleasant, but still I would like to go to the bank of the Yamunā beneath the trees of the forest there. I wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the fifth note within that forest of Vṛndāvana.”

It was during a solar eclipse that Radha and the Gopis got to meet Krishna again, after long days of separation since He had left Vrindavana on Akrura's chariot to Mathura.  But now in front of their eyes they do not have the cowherd boy, covered of dust, wearing a headband and flowers amidst His curls. 

So, His turban appears to their eyes even more big and glitzy, all studded with gems, but eclipsing the image of that bluish boy, Who has stolen their hearts in the groves of Vraja and had accompanied their dreams and secret thoughts every day of their life.  

Even though the joy of seeing Him again is in no way reduced, this meeting, compared to the feeling of their rendez-vous  in Vraja, is missing some flavours. Radha and the Gopis resolute that it is because they are away from Vrindavana.  So, with the ropes of their love they put Krishna on the chariot of their hearts and pull it toward Vraja .... this is the churning emotion that moves the devotees around world during Jagannath Ratha Yatra.

Caitanya Caritamrta ML 1.82  [The Gopis thought ] "Dear Lord, if Your lotus feet again come to our home in Vrndavana, our desires will be fulfilled." - 

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In these days of eclipsed sun rays

has also the Moon lost its radiance?

Your moonlike face  

beneath this grandiose turban

full of gems    
seems shaded.

Where is the moonlight of our desires

and the flute tormenting our minds,

the mineral colors, the dust, the perspiration

that adorned the blue luster of Your skin,

the pearls and feathers swaying in the wind,

the blue flowers graciously embracing your face,

the You, that ocean in which our eyes used to bathe?

.... It is only there, under the bowers,

loitering on the sands of the Yamuna

and  always within the hearts,

of Your women in Gokula.

Now dressed in silvery veils,

recalling the stars

of the nights in Vraja,

with raised arms

to attract Your smiling glance

we’ll move in circling steps

to remind You of our dance

by the riverbank,

we'll move along on the way to Vraja

singing and waving our hands,

pulling the ropes of our Prem

to draw You back,

with trembling  skin,

with anticipation,

 of the sweetest moment

to see You,
coming down the large road

entering Vraja
at dusk,
like so many times before.

But now ~ 

nothing will ever be the same

since You might leave again.