Fourteenth Sarga: Midday Pastimes

Fourteenth Sarga

A bee, drawn by the fragrance of the sakhīs' faces, tried to descend upon those face-lotuses but was driven away by them. Finding the lotus of Rādhā's face, it became intoxicated by Her fragrance and circled all around Her with a loud hum. (1)

They cast sidelong glances and threatened the bee with waves of jingling bracelets, striking at it with lotus hands that trembled in fright. Yet even when driven off it would not withdraw from greed. Śrī Rādhikā therefore slipped away and hid beside Śrī Hari, covering Her lotus face with the edge of His upper cloth. (2)

When the restless bee had gone to the lotus grove, the sakhīs told Her, 'Friend, do not be afraid. We have stopped that humming rogue. Eager for a row of lotuses, the honey-drinker has gone away.' (3)

The exalted opulence of Her love enriched Her, blessed Her, overwhelmed Her, and finally blinded Her. Thus blinded, She could no longer perceive Her beloved even though He stood directly before Her. (4)

Meanwhile Kṛṣṇa, who understood the signs, motioned for the sakhīs to remain silent. Astonished by Rādhā's expressions of love, they took His side in the play. (5)

Bewildered by prema-vaicittya, the beloved imagined that Her lover had gone to another woman. She therefore approached Dhaniṣṭhā and spoke angrily. (6)

'Dhaniṣṭhe, where is that shameless actor, the dancer paired with a deceitful actress? Friend, your own beloved went to gather flowers for you. O deceiver, he has now gone to Padmālī. If he brings her here, even her beauty will be defeated by the radiance of your face.' (7)

'You are not at fault here. I alone am foolish. Although I heard that the rogue had gone deep into the forest with Śaibyā, I trusted the words of you, his false messenger, and came to his side.' (8)

'This Dhaniṣṭhā, whom We regarded as equal to Our own heart, has deceived Us. He laughs at Us and sports with that woman in My beloved forest, and now this spectacle has entered Our very sight. What does one who lives long in this world not eventually have to see?' (9)

'How can this be endured? Somewhere in a kuñja beside My beloved lake he hid Padmālī, then secretly brought Us here. Alas, that deceitful-minded one showed himself for only a moment, began a meaningless conversation, abandoned Us, and returned to her.' (10)

Lalitā said, 'Friend, I have witnessed his shamelessness again and again, but in your innocence you do not recognize it. Come, let us return to our own home.' (11)

Speaking thus, Lalitā took Her by the hand and turned Her toward home. But Rādhā, frightened by separation from Him and filled with helpless pain and longing, said to her. (12)

'My contrary heart refuses to accept the faults it has actually seen, imagines virtues that do not exist, and still longs to see him exactly as he is. What am I to do?' (13)

Lalitā replied, 'The vigorous vine of desire born within a woman should never be allowed to grow outwardly for others to see, any more than the tender shoots of sixty-day rice should be exposed.' Rādhikā then answered Her sakhī. (14)

'Abandon this useless discourse on feminine conduct that pierces My ears! My life is leaving, My heart is breaking, and My body reels. Let My pride perish; let dignity, modesty, and composure all depart. Friend, I bow to you. Ah, quickly show Me the beloved of My heart!' (15)

Lalitā said, 'Your innocence is extraordinary. That shameless king lusts after many women, and such incomparable fickleness has never been seen in any woman. Seeing your simplicity, alas, he will deceive you even more. Your behavior has already ruined us here; will you now kill us altogether?' (16)

Rādhā said, 'What greater deception than this remains, by which that rogue could torment Us?' As She spoke, She saw Her beloved approaching before Her while embracing some cherished woman. (17)

Seeing from behind the woman embraced by Her beloved, facing Rādhā and mirroring Her every movement, Rādhā concluded that she was Padmā's friend. Overcome by shame and jealousy, She turned away and trembled. (18)

Rādhikā looked reproachfully upon that woman, who seemed to be acting coquettishly. Kundalatā, prompted by a glance from Kṛṣṇa, then addressed Her. (19)

'You came here intensely eager to see Your beloved, and he has arrived equally eager for You. Go meet him at once. Why have You suddenly turned away in anger?' (20)

Rādhā replied, 'O rogue, do you not see that woman upon Hari's chest? You brought Me from home specifically to show her to Me!' (21)

Kṛṣṇa said, 'She is not the woman You imagine. Some solitary forest goddess came here and approached Me. Saying, "I am Rādhā's sakhī," she forcibly embraced Me and remains here.' (22)

'By her mystic art she embraced and kissed Me, then fastened her back so firmly against My chest that I cannot remove her, however I try, and she herself cannot get free.' (23)

'Though I have pleaded with her, this exceedingly lustful woman will not release Me. Restrain Your sakhī, for she is tormenting Me by force.' (24)

Hearing this, Lalitā, who stood close beside Rādhā, lowered Her face. Kṛṣṇa and all the companions laughed, and Kundavallī addressed Her. (25)

'Your eye is not fixed upon Your beloved at all. You see Your own reflection and take it for another woman; everywhere You suspect Candrāvalī's party. How astonishing is this dance called Your love!' (26)

Vṛndā then said, 'O sources of Vraja's auspiciousness, behold before You this broad and beautiful festival stage for the spring pastimes, splendidly decorated with colorful fragrant pigments.' (27)

'It is furnished with broad-mouthed golden pitchers and jewel-studded water-spraying devices, filled separately and in mixtures with liquid pastes of aguru, saffron, musk, camphor, and fine sandalwood.' (28)

'There are balls of vermilion, camphor, and flowers; flower bows and bundles of flower arrows; and golden vessels filled with tāmbūla, garlands, flower-water, and sandalwood paste.' (29)

'Rows of golden trays are filled with soft wax tubes that can be blown through the breath and are packed with pastes and heaps of powdered camphor, saffron, musk, aguru, and sandalwood.' (30)

The beautiful young women mounted the platform and formed one side, while the beloved of Śrī formed the other. Taking up the various water-spraying devices and other implements, they sported with one another in the fullness of love. (31)

Wearing light white garments, Their mouths filled with lovely tāmbūla, the divine Couple became engineers of Love's battle by wielding water devices. Together with showers of Kandarpa's sharp arrows in the form of darting sidelong glances, They joyfully released streams of water from Their syringes at one another. (32)

Their drenched, exceedingly fine garments revealed the sweet nectar flowing from the beauty of Their limbs. Those streams flooded the banks of Their beloved's lotus eyes and mind, while the sakhīs' own eyes were likewise saturated and satisfied by them. (33)

One cheek of each girl swelled slightly with chewed tāmbūla; damp curls surrounded foreheads gleaming with perspiration. Their loosened hair shed its rows of flowers, while wavering locks played over their shoulders and the lovely upper portions of their breasts. (34)

They filled the ends of their garments with many fragrant powders and secured them firmly within their waist-belts. Singing delightful joking songs that kindled Kandarpa, they remained alert to protect themselves from Kṛṣṇa's showers. (35)

Śrī Rādhikā and the others cast many kinds of fragrant garment powders, balls made of flowers and other substances, and soft tubes. With love they drenched their beloved in fragrant water released from their syringes. (36)

Śrī Hari bore a flower bow and a row of flower arrows hanging from His shoulder, His flute secured in His peerless sash, a jeweled water syringe in His hand, and the end of His splendid sash secretly filled with fragrant powder. Spraying the young women with scented streams released from His device, He sported splendidly. (37)

A single stream emerging from His water device became a hundred and then a thousand streams while traveling through the air. As it neared its descent it became a hundred thousand, and when it struck its targets, astonishingly, it became ten million streams. (38)

The soft wax tubes packed with fragrant powder, hurled by the girls or by Him, burst from the force of the throw and fell upon the ground, while the small balls hidden within them continued onward to strike their targets. (39)

Drops of perspiration shone amid networks of saffron spots upon the girls' bodies, creating the illusion of clusters of bees asleep within the flowers of rows of golden vines. (40)

Śrī Rādhikā was the first to spray Him. The body of Baka's enemy, covered by networks of pure saffron-water droplets from Her fine-perforated syringe, shone like the sky filled with hundreds of newly risen moons. (41)

The coverings of the hurled tubes broke away, and balls of camphor, nāgaja powder, and flower pollen adhered to the girls' limbs and garments. Mixed with fragrant water, they became paste and gave their bodies a beautifully mottled radiance. (42)

At first the scattered fragrant powders of many colors spread over earth and sky and through every cardinal and intermediate direction. Then showers of scented water severed their bases, and the powders formed a magnificent variegated canopy overhead. (43)

His beloved quarreled with Him in feigned anger when His hand touched Her under the pretext of applying fragrant paste. While they argued, another restless-eyed girl quietly approached and sprayed her lover with scented water released from a small syringe. (44)

One girl after another approached Hari from every side and scattered excellent fragrant powders over His body. He caught each of them against His chest, reddened her face with those powders, and drank from her mouth. (45)

Rādhā repeatedly threw fragrant powders, but the chest of Baka's enemy restrained Her. The surrounding circle of sakhīs suddenly became like a curtain, and behind that screen His cherished desire also attained fulfillment. (46)

The girls' sharp sidelong glances, expert in the incantations of wit, became bodiless Love's arrows and pierced Kṛṣṇa in His vital places, leaving Him overwhelmed by desire. With counterweapons of slightly smiling, swiftly flying side-glances, He continually turned those arrows back and pierced the girls, leaving them equally agitated. (47)

Upon the earth He appeared as a cloud in human form, while the radiant girls surrounding Him were flashes of lightning that constantly drenched Him with torrents of fragrant water. As He in turn showered them, the reservoirs of Vṛndā's and the others' eyes joyfully drank the nectar of the scene. (48)

Sporting with the girls in this way, Hari reached the lotus-shaped swing platform. Smiling, He enlisted Vṛndā and Kundalatā through signals of His eyes, stole the water syringe from His beloved's lotus hand, and mounted the lotus swing; She forcibly snatched away His flute. (49)

Laughing, Kundavallī said, 'Fair-faced Rādhe, return to Him that procuress, the flute; do not touch her. And You, Mādhava, quickly return the water syringe, which is a woman's property, to Her.' At her words, They began to make the exchange. (50)

Offering the syringe with His left hand and receiving the flute She returned with His right, Hari used the exchange as a pretext to hold both of Her lotus hands within His own. (51)

Vṛndā and Kundavallī steadied the swing from below while Hari forcibly seated His beloved upon it, although She resisted Him. (52)

When Acyuta and His beloved sat in the center of the swing, Their delighted sakhīs sang loudly. Some stood behind and others in front, and together they began to set the swing in motion. (53)

When the sakhīs suddenly pushed the swing into powerful motion, the restless-eyed young woman was tossed upward. She embraced Her beloved and clung to Him. (54)

As the swing moved violently, Their loosened hair became intertwined, Their two pairs of swinging earrings joined, and Their moving belts and clusters of ornaments tangled together. Their two fading garlands and excellent moving bracelets were likewise suddenly bound fast to one another. (55)

As the swing became extremely unsteady, restless-eyed Rādhā signaled to the sakhīs, asking for their help. They understood Her gestures. (56)

They saw their sovereign Lady upon the wildly moving swing, greatly agitated and helpless from its force, yet blessed by attaining Her heart's desire and inwardly longing for Her own sakhīs' service. Understanding Her repeated signals, they climbed onto the splendid swing. (57)

Lalitā and Viśākhā brought prepared tāmbūla; Campakalatā and Citrā carried fans; and Śrī Tuṅgavidyā and Indulekhā brought a pair of golden water sprinklers. (58)

Raṅgadevī and Sudevī eagerly and joyfully took fragrant pastes and scented powders. Filled with love, they quickly mounted the swing. (59)

Serving their beloved Couple with those various articles and guided by signals from Their eyes, Lalitā and the others took their places in succession upon the eastern and remaining petals of the lotus swing and shone beautifully. (60)

A wonder then occurred: although Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa sat in front, every sakhī simultaneously saw the Couple turned directly toward her. (61)

When Vṛndā, Kundalatā, and the others again pushed the swing into extremely rapid motion, another supreme wonder occurred. (62)

Through the appearance of His many reflections, Hari stood beside each sakhī positioned upon the surrounding petals and was suddenly embraced by them all. Śrī Rādhā and the other girls beheld the sight. (63)

If, above the uncovered disk of the sun, a host of new rainclouds beautifully encircled by flashing lightning had been continuously whirled here and there by a mighty storm, poets might then have found a comparison for Agha's enemy upon that swing. (64)

At a signal from Rādhā's eyes, Agha's enemy drew Lalitā close. He placed His right arm around her neck and His other arm upon His beloved's shoulder, shining between Them like a cloud between two flashes of lightning. (65)

Kundalatā said, 'Sakhīs, behold the moving zodiac before us! Between the stars Rādhā and Anurādhā, this full moon has risen.' (66)

In the same way Mādhava successively drew Viśākhā and the others to Him, embraced each upon His right side, and enjoyed the happiness of the swing. (67)

Śrī Rādhā then descended from the swing. Assisted by Viśākhā, Lalitā, and the others in pairs, She pushed the swing and delighted Her beloved. (68)

Then Lalitā and the others descended. At Rādhā's signals, they stood below and, through force and playful tricks, successively made Kāñcanavallikā and the other sakhīs mount the swing. (69)

In successive pairs the girls filled Govinda's two sides. Rādhikā and the others sang joyfully as they swung Him together with each pair. (70)

Laughing, Lalitā came close to Rādhā's ear and then mounted the swing, where she arranged the sakhīs into many circles. (71)

When Lalitā stood at the beloved's left side and the sakhīs drove the swing forward, another wonder appeared: Hari was simultaneously present between every pair of girls. (72)

If a tāpiñcha tree had sprung from a flying golden mountain and its body had been completely encircled by a blossoming golden vine, surrounded in turn by circles of tāpiñcha trees joined with golden plantains, then such a vision might have attained some likeness to Śauri upon the swing. (73)

Then, at Viśākhā's signals, the two friendly parties led by Lalitā joyfully mounted. Whirling Rādhā and Acyuta high through the air, they swiftly drove the swing. (74)

Seeing the agitated Rādhikā tightly embrace Her beloved while the sakhīs smiled, Kṛṣṇa held Her, laughed, and descended from the swing. (75)

May this swing pastime triumph eternally in splendid Vṛndāvana! Kṛṣṇa is a dark cloud whose body is surrounded by cowherd girls like flashes of lightning. He removes the thirst of the eye-reservoirs of Kundalatā, Vṛndā, and the others, and drenches the universe with streams upon streams of the nectar of His play. (76)

Kṛṣṇa then sat with the girls upon the cool, shaded terrace for drinking flower wine and enjoyed the happiness of rest. (77)

The lotus-eyed gopīs sat in a circle beginning at Śrī Kṛṣṇa's two sides and extending around before Him. Wearing His ornaments and yellow garment, He shone among them like a sapphire set within a golden necklace studded with rows of jewels. (78)

The sakhīs placed splendid five-plumed flower fans in their excellent lotus hands and joyfully fanned their beloved, who sat there beside His own beloved, utterly fatigued from play yet surpassing Love himself in beauty. (79)

When the Couple and Their companions had recovered from fatigue through the sakhīs' massaging of Their lotus feet, fanning, and other services, Vṛndā brought a cup filled with flower wine and placed it before Them. (80)

As the beautiful Rādhā and Baka's enemy gazed, a wondrous pair of lotuses suddenly appeared above the cup: one golden lotus and one blue, each shining with dancing khañjana birds in the guise of Their eyes. (81)

Rādhikā's greedy pair of eye-bees instantly fell upon the blue lotus and, finding it filled with the honey of abundant radiance, could not rise again. Acyuta's eyes likewise became trapped within the golden lotus. (82)

Their beauty became honey, Their faces became cups, and the flower wine became a mirror. Their two eyes became excellent bees, all Their senses became eyes, Their other limbs became motionless, and Their horripilated hearts became maddened by Love. Thus every element transformed into another and brought the act of drinking to supreme perfection. (83)

Kundalatā said, 'O lotus-faced Couple, You have already drunk this honey with Your own eyes. Now drink with Your taste-knowing tongues this wine perfumed by the lotus faces and lotus eyes of You both.' (84)

Kṛṣṇa took the cup and brought it near His beloved's lotus face, saying, 'Drink.' Shyly turning Her face aside, She nevertheless accepted it from His hand with Her own. (85)

Covering Her face with the edge of Her garment, the nectar-faced Rādhā smelled the flower wine once, perfumed it by touching it with Her own lips, and placed it back into Her beloved's hand. (86)

Her beloved eagerly drank the lovely honey produced by the trees and vines of His beloved forest, made exquisitely fragrant by the touch of His beloved's lips, further flavored by the jokes of His dear sakhīs, and offered by His beloved Herself. (87)

Enriched by the qualities of His beloved and perfumed by Her beloved's lips, the wine was then placed by Him upon His beloved's palm. Covering Her face with Her garment, She also drank it. (88)

Vṛndā, together with her companions and Kundavallī, respectfully filled cups with wine mixed with the nectarean remnants from the Couple's mouths and joyfully placed them before the sakhīs. (89)

When the cups had been placed before the sakhīs, Kṛṣṇa manifested simultaneously at the right side of every girl through His wondrous power. Though He appeared brilliantly, no one noticed all His forms. (90)

Each sakhī saw only that her beloved had come beside her alone and was both giving her honey to drink and drinking with her. (91)

Their faces shone with fully blossomed lotus eyes whose reddened corners rolled from the intoxication of flower wine. Their fragrance delighted and invited the bees, and the tender shoots of their lips curved beneath the moonlight of their smiles. (92)

The beautiful girls' faces became cups filled with the abundant wine of beauty, sweetness, and charm, fit to be tasted by Kṛṣṇa's eyes and tongue. After drinking deeply of the flower wine, He drank from those face-cups to satisfy His remaining thirst. (93)

The doe-eyed girls, joined in Love's contest, had minds maddened by drinking cup after cup. When their lotus faces themselves became drinking vessels, Hari's lip attained the privilege of becoming the cup from which they drank. (94)

Vṛndā and her companions then offered many varieties of flower wine with diverse accompanying delicacies before the Lord and Lady of Vṛndāvana and before the sakhīs. (95)

As they drank one variety after another and gave one another drink, the sweetness of their drinking acted for a long time like an intoxicating wine upon the eyes of Vṛndā and the others. (96)

During their unceasing drinking of honey, the sweet lips of their lovers became the accompanying delicacy; during their constant drinking of lips, the honey became the delicacy. Maddened by both Love and wine, the thirsty couples could no longer distinguish which was the drink and which the accompaniment. (97)

Those beautiful women became overwhelmed by the intoxication of Love arising with spring's arrival, by the intoxication born from drinking flower wine, and by the intoxication produced by Mādhava's touch. (98)

Their slipping garments and ornaments, their inability to control their limbs, their sudden loud laughter without cause, their answers before questions were asked, their rambling speech, and their impulsive gifts of jewels all revealed the cowherd girls' inner intoxication from drinking wine. (99)

After earlier love play, the beloved had caused disorder in the girls' movement, garments, hair, and speech. By producing those same symptoms in them now, intoxication from honey-wine assisted in increasing the pleasure of Mura's enemy. (100)

The three cups they drank produced clinging speech, staggering steps, loosened hair and garments, reddened eye-corners, fragrant mouths, rolling eyes, bold joking words, wandering glances, and audacity in every act. These transformations of the beautiful girls greatly delighted their beloved. (101)

The intense passion for Kṛṣṇa hidden within the hearts of Vraja's lotus-eyed women by their natural feminine modesty could not withstand the tumult of wine's intoxication. It emerged and made its dwelling outwardly in their lotus eyes. (102)

One young adolescent girl drank the fresh honey-wine. Her eyes wandering from rising intoxication, she became utterly overwhelmed and babbled. (103)

'La-la-la-Lalite! L-l-look at Rādhā and Acyuta! Th-they are whirling together with y-y-your circles! The f-f-forest and the e-e-earth are turning with Them, but ah, how is the s-s-sky hanging still?' (104)

The fragrance spreading from Kṛṣṇa's face drew the bees, and that face surpassed a blossoming lotus. Drinking the excellent wine of His beloveds' lips along with the flower wine fully awakened the intoxication of Kandarpa within Him and made Him exceedingly restless. (105)

His eyes, which surpassed fully blossomed red lotuses stirred by the breeze and filled with restless bees, rolled with intoxication. Boldly Kṛṣṇa sported among the swaying young women like a thirsty bee among beds of lotuses. (105-106)

Driven by intoxication, the divine Couple were inwardly moved both by the desire for amorous play and by the desire to sleep, and two sakhīs attended Them accordingly. The remaining circle of sakhīs was overcome solely by the wish to sleep. (107)

Kundalatā understood the divine Couple's hidden longing for play born of intoxication. At her prompting, two lotus-eyed sakhīs went to gather clusters of aśoka flowers for Their ear ornaments. (108)

The beloved, Her eyes completely filled with drowsy rolling, was attended by a line of sakhīs intent upon service. She lay down upon a bed of flowers within the splendid bower called Nikuñja-kuñja and fell asleep. (108-109)

The sakhīs too desired sleep. Their lotus faces opened in yawns made especially fragrant by excellent perfumes, their garments slipped from their bodies, their eyes rolled, and their feet stumbled as they went here and there. (110)

They entered bowers whose interiors were colored by the dust of lotus pollen gathered along with leaves for preparing beds. Within lay heaps of beds made from folded lotus petals, fresh shoots, and flowers, charming with the humming of restless bees. (111)

The bowers were decorated with strings of guñjā berries and clusters of flowers and beautified by vessels of tāmbūla, perfume, and water. The lotus-faced sakhīs, their eyes like intoxicated khañjana birds, entered separate bowers and each fell asleep. (111-112)

Thus ends the Fourteenth Sarga, following the midday pastimes, in Govinda-līlāmṛta, a poem manifested through the association of Śrī Jīva and splendid with Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa. It was composed by Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa as the fruit of service to Śrī Rūpa, the honeybee at Śrī Caitanya's lotus feet. (Colophon 14)