CC
Antya lila 17.49 “Only the most
fortunate ears can hear these four nectarean sounds – Krishna’s words, the
tinkling of His ankle bells and bangles, His voice and the vibration of His
flute. If one does not hear these sounds, his ears are as useless as small
conchshells with holes.”
kṛṣṇaṁ smaran
janaṁ cāsya preṣṭhaṁ nija-samīhitam
tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā
tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā
Bhakti
Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.294 - Kṛṣṇaṁ smaran is the first injunction: “think of Krishna.” Next, janam
cāsya: “In thinking of Krishna, also think of his people.”
My Lord, please
give this unworthy person Your darshan through the nectarean sounds of Your words, the tinkling
of Your ankle bells and bangles, Your voice and the sweet sound of Your flute,
and make me worthy of remembering You and Your eternal associates.
I am unworthy and not qualified
to see You with these eyes,
my heart tormented not
by thirst, cannot even cry
in separation from You,
nor swoons
into waters mirroring
the rain clouds, (1)
nor is anxious
like an animal of Vraja at night (2)
when you leave the forest
along with the sunlight.
Yet this pretender
might use the other senses,
if You allow, to remember ….
let me hear, perhaps,Your bells
where the butter jars hang,
and of the love Yasoda sings
while churning or boiling the milk;
let me smell the camphor from
your breath
meandering out of your flute,
while I wander about
on these day dream plains,
where at dawn resounds
the tinkling of bangles
from all corners of the valley;
let me hear the sound
of your bugle,
waking everyone around
to join You into the forest, (3)
and traversing the secret pathways,
I wish to come to that place
patterned by the Gopis' toes
and to overhear from the dust
Your loving words; (4)
then enwrapped by dusk
I will take off at a run,
letting my heart in a state of agitation
transport me to that forest
amidst whose trees,
I can hear perhaps
your voice calling
the cows one by one,
or that single melodious fluted note
that attracts and stuns
movable and immovable beings;
let me walk into this dream
as the cows and calves
stir up the dust that covers your skin,
and fantasizing - I'll roll - so rapt,
as if I was just behind
the cruel wheels of Your chariot
where stones and wood
melted into rills of tears. (5)
This longing to see You
swells up
tears of smarana,
dripping
in a hoof-print on the soil of Vraja
from my soaked heart
as if it is hanging
from a sentient tree
like an ecstatic parrot.
NOTES
1.
NVM p.44 "Once in Pramodana the Gopis went to fetch water in a lake -Krishna
Kunda-.
The reflection of dark clouds in the water sparked in the Gopis
such intense feelings for Krishna that they fainted."
2. SBB III 6.77 “The forest animals were miserable because
now they had to part from Him, Unable to go anywhere without Him, they
simply stood at the entrance of the village, ready to spend the entire night
there in the hope of seeing their Lord again the next morning.”
3.
SB 10.21.1 "O King one day Krishna decided to take His breakfast as a picnic
in the forest. Having risen early in the morning, He blew His bugle made
of horn and woke all the cowherd boys and calves with its beautiful sound. Then
Krishna and the boys, keeping their respective groups of calves before them,
proceeded from Vrajabhumi to the forest.”
4. NVM
pg.312 "In
Umrao in Vraja there is a holy spot where this pastime is remembered, when the
Gopis ran to see Krishna and taken by shyness started to draw in the dust with
their toes. "
"And with those same blessings one can aspire to overhear
Krishna's affectionate words to the gopis [even today]."
5.
Bhakti Ratnakara Ch.5 p.144 "What can I say?
Only those who saw the scene can understand. All the damsels of Vraja
came running to see Krishna with tears flowing like rivers from their
eyes. Seeing that scene even wood and stone melted. No one could
describe this even with millions of mouths."
