Twentieth Sarga: Evening Pastimes

In the evening I remember Rādhā, who sends many foods through Her friend for Her lover and whose heart rejoices when that friend brings back the remnants of Her Lord's meal. I also remember Her and the moon of Vraja, who bathes well, dresses beautifully, is pampered by His mother at home, goes to the cowshed, completes the milking of the cows, returns home, and eats again. (1)

The queen of Vraja then entered the house. She sent her two sons to the bathing platform, engaged servants to attend Them, and spoke to Dhaniṣṭhā, who stood nearby. (2)

'Daughter, go to Rādhā. Ask Her now to send the delicious dumplings and laḍḍus She made to please Kṛṣṇa's taste. They are auspicious, and by eating them my two sons will enjoy long lives.' (3)

Dhaniṣṭhā went to Rādhikā and, on the queen of Vraja's order, requested those foods, although Rādhā Herself was already eager to send them. (4)

Just then Mālatī, a friend sent by Vṛndā, arrived and disclosed that the appointed meeting bower would be the place named Śrī Govinda-sthala. (5)

Śrī Rādhikā placed the different foods separately into excellent new clay vessels and covered their mouths with cloth. (6)

She set those vessels inside a broad, painted wooden chest. She placed a sprig of tulasī with musk upon the food and covered the chest with white cloth; (7)

then She placed prepared betel rolls inside and entrusted everything to Dhaniṣṭhā, who had learned the appointed meeting bower. (7-8 form one sentence.) (8)

Dhaniṣṭhā brought the chest with Mālatī and presented it to the queen of Vraja. Yaśodā had them transfer the foods separately into serving vessels. (9)

She placed portions of those excellent gifts and of the foods prepared in her own home upon leaf plates and first gave them to the young brāhmaṇas to offer to Nārāyaṇa. (10)

The servants washed the boys' limbs, massaged Them with oil, kneaded and scrubbed Their bodies, bathed and dried Them, helped Them rise, and offered Them clean new garments; (11)

then they arranged Their hair and adorned Them with tilaka, ointments, garlands, and ornaments. Thus served, Kṛṣṇa and His companions sat upon seats to eat. (11-12 form one sentence.) (12)

Mother Yaśodā served them in order, first giving coconuts, sweet drinks, rasālā, and many varieties of fruit; (13)

then Pīyūṣa-granthi, Karpūra-keli, Amṛta-keli, other dumplings, laḍḍus, and foods prepared in ghee. (13-14 form one sentence.) (14)

They laughed and made one another laugh at Madhumaṅgala's jokes. After happily eating, drinking, and rinsing Their mouths, They rested briefly upon couches. (15)

The servants attended Them with betel, fans, and other services. When Their friends had gathered, They returned to the cowshed for the milking. (16)

Dhaniṣṭhā discreetly sent all the remnants of His meal to Śrī Rādhā through her friend Guṇamālā. (17)

Rādhā and the circle of Her friends tasted those remnants and ascended the moon pavilion. Watching Kṛṣṇa's playful milking of the cows, they rejoiced greatly. (18)

Sometimes in summer, while returning along the road, Kṛṣṇa and His friends petition His mother and go together to bathe in the Yamunā or in some lake. On those occasions the delighted servants follow, carrying the many foods provided by His mother along with bathing articles, ornaments, clothes, and other necessities. (19)

After bathing there, dressing beautifully, eating, drinking, and dispelling Their fatigue, they return by that road to the cowshed for the milking. (20)

On such evenings Rādhā too goes with Her friends on the pretext of bathing. Downstream, She bathes in water that has touched Kṛṣṇa's body; (21)

and She secretly gives food for Kṛṣṇa to Kundavallī. After eating the remnants Kundavallī brings back, Rādhā watches Him and then returns home. (21-22 form one sentence.) (22)

Servants followed Him carrying pitchers, betel containers, fans, milking tethers, ropes, staffs, and other articles in their hands. (23)

He saw His father seated upon a cot with many rows of milk pots before him, directing the cowherd men and servants in their respective duties while keeping his gaze fixed upon the road by which his son would come; (24)

the cows calling with thirsty cries of 'Hambā!' to their calves, their ears and faces raised and their eager eyes fixed upon the path, their movement checked by heavy udders as streams of milk flowed forth, some already milked, some waiting, and others being milked; (25)

the milkers eagerly calling each cow again and again by name with 'hī hī,' then calling every calf by its mother's name, repeatedly milking the cows and filling rows of pots while their eyes remained fixed upon the road for Him; (26)

the attendants eager to see Him, carrying heavy loads of milk, taking full pots to the house and bringing empty ones back before the cowherd king; (27)

and the finest bulls, tearing the ground repeatedly with horns and hooves, filling the sky with deep and high cries, charging and fighting one another for the company of the cows. (28)

Hari also delighted in watching the young bullocks repeatedly engage one another in playful, head-to-head combat. (24-29 form one sentence.) (29)

After informing His father, Kṛṣṇa went to milk the cows. They happily gathered around Him, and He soothed them with affectionate words. (30)

Hari delighted the cows by stroking and scratching them with His beautiful hands. He milked some, had others milked, and let the respective calves drink from them. (31)

The calves drank until their bellies were full and became completely satisfied. The cowherd men milked as much as they desired and stopped, yet astonishingly the fullness of milk in the cows' udders did not diminish. (32)

The cows had offered their eyes and hearts to Kṛṣṇa's lotus face, and milk flowed spontaneously from their udders. The cowherds collected it in pots held beneath their teats and carried it before the lord of Vraja. (33)

Together with Balarāma, Hari had the cowherds place the calves, now fondled by their mothers, inside the calf shed. He settled the cows in their proper places and approached the king of Vraja. (34)

The king of Vraja sent the milk home with trustworthy attendants and stationed servants at the cowshed gates. Then he returned to his residence with his two sons and the groups of their friends. (35)

After washing their feet, they beheld the evening ārati offered to Viṣṇu in the śālagrāma stone by the young brāhmaṇa who performed the worship. (36)

When the members of the assembly had taken their seats, the queen of Vraja sent many kinds of delicacies made with ghee and sugarcane, fruits, (37)

garlands, fragrances, betel rolls, and the other remnants offered to the Lord of Lakṣmī. The king of Vraja happily distributed them all to everyone. (37-38 form one sentence.) (38)

After sharing affectionate conversation for a while, the family friends went home. They were scarcely able to give up the sight of Kṛṣṇa, for they had placed their senses and very lives in Him. (39)

The king regularly invited Subhadra and his other nephews to dine with Kṛṣṇa, and on certain occasions he invited his own brothers as well. (40)

On that day he invited them all and sent word through Madhumaṅgala to the mistress of his house, instructing her to prepare their meal. (41)

The queen of Vraja then summoned her co-sisters Tuṅgī, Pīvarī, and Kuvalā, together with their respective daughters-in-law, daughters, and other family members. (42)

Summoned there by Madhumaṅgala at the queen's request, the men washed their feet and sat down to dine with the king of Vraja in their midst. (43)

Nanda's elder brothers sat to his right, his younger brothers to his left, and his two sons before him. Subhadra and the other cousins sat to Hari's left, and the young brāhmaṇas sat to Balarāma's right. (44)

Tuṅgī, Subhadra's mother and an expert in family etiquette, was asked by the queen of Vraja to serve. Assisted by Rohiṇī, she served the foods in order to the brāhmaṇa boys, her husband, his brothers, and their sons. (45)

Upon low stands before them she placed dishes heaped with very soft, pure, fragrant rice, golden from a bathing of ghee, accompanied by bowls of many different vegetable preparations. (46)

As they ate, she successively served the remaining many varieties of preparations embodying the six tastes, along with wheat halavā, sweet rice, splendid dumplings, cakes, and soft roṭikās held in fine separate vessels. (47)

Rohiṇī knew which preparation each diner favored, and at the queen of Vraja's signal she repeatedly served the appropriate dish to each one. (48)

The queen of the king of Vraja continually served them, in order, thick milk, śikhariṇī, churned buttermilk, rasālā, excellent ṣāḍava, dense yogurt, many kinds of pickles, and the fine juice of ripe mangoes. (49)

All the mothers yearned to feed them completely, revealing their loving insistence subtly through heart, speech, and eyes, while the fathers expressed it openly. Their hearts melted with affection and their bodies grew moist with tears. Urged by hundreds of such entreaties, Kṛṣṇa and the others ate again and again although already satisfied, and their delight knew no limit. (50)

At the evening meal two features differed from breakfast: Madhumaṅgala's joking was more restrained, and the mothers concealed their insistence. (51)

Compared with breakfast, Kṛṣṇa and His companions had less freedom at this meal to talk, laugh together, and engage in other play, and their mothers had less freedom to pamper them. Even so, dining with their father and the other elders multiplied the boys' happiness a hundredfold, while seeing their happiness multiplied the mother's joy ten millionfold. (52)

They attained the exceptional joy of communal dining born from the satisfaction of all five senses: the splendor of the smile upon Vraja's moonlike face, drops of nectar from His speech, waves of incense mingled with His fragrance, breezes from His palm-leaf fan, and sweet foods bathed in the nectar of His beautiful evening presence. (53)

After eating, drinking, and rinsing their mouths, they rested upon couches while groups of servants attended them with excellent betel, fans, and other services. The father rested upon the raised platform with his own companions, and the son upon the rooftop pavilion with His friends. (54)

The moonlight of Kṛṣṇa's face spread from the eastern mountain of the rooftop. Turning Her face toward it through the latticework of Her own pavilion, the sovereign of Her circle drank it again and again and nourished Her two beautiful cātaka-like eyes without impediment. The longing of those blessed with true good fortune always bears fruit everywhere. (55)

From afar, through the open window, Kṛṣṇa drank the stream of beauty-nectar flowing from Her lotus face and nourished His two thirsty bee-like eyes. Indeed, intense longing is the cause by which great souls attain their desired fruit. (56)

The queen of Vraja then firmly desired to feed Tulasī and her friends. Dhaniṣṭhā told her, 'Tulasī will neither eat food nor even drink water before Rādhikā does, or without Her.' (57)

Pleased to hear of this loving custom, Yaśodā said, 'Quickly send rice and its accompanying dishes with these two for Rādhā and the circle of Her friends.' (58)

Dhaniṣṭhā then secretly placed the rice and side dishes left by Hari inside the chest and gave it to Tulasī, openly adding the other food that Balarāma's mother had provided. (59)

The queen of Vraja first fed the maidservants, servants, and cowherd attendants. Then she dined with her co-sisters, together with their daughters-in-law and daughters. (60)

After Tulasī departed with the food, Dhaniṣṭhā secretly told Subala the appointed pastime bower and gave him betel rolls. (61)

When Tulasī arrived, she showed all the food to her friend. Merely experiencing its fragrance and color first satisfied the noses and eyes of all the girls. (62)

Rūpa Mañjarī carried the food with Tulasī into the dining room and arranged it in separate vessels for Rādhā and Her circle of friends. (63)

Jaṭilā then summoned Viśākhā and said, 'My son has eaten and gone to sleep in the cowshed. Call my daughter-in-law to eat.' (64)

Viśākhā replied, 'She is asleep in the other house, tired from walking through the forest. She will eat there, so please give me Her meal.' Jaṭilā gave her rice and the accompanying dishes. (65)

Delighted, Viśākhā brought the food and placed it in the dining room. She approached Śrī Rādhā and happily reported what had happened. (66)

Rādhā then came with the rows of Her friends and sat down to eat upon the dining terrace, which shone with pitchers, seats, and other arrangements. Eagerly She approached the remnants eaten by Her beloved like a royal swan approaching nectar. (67)

Lalitā sat at Her left and Viśākhā at Her right, while the other rows of friends took their appropriate places before Her and at Her sides. (68)

With Tulasī, Rūpa Mañjarī lovingly served them the food in order, like Mohinī distributing nectar to the gods. (69)

The food had been sent by loving devotees, left from Śrī Hari's meal, sweetened by the honey of His lips, and touched by His hand. It was desired by Rādhā's entire circle and blessed by Her glance. Though limited in quantity, it became inexhaustible as it was distributed. (70)

Rādhikā and Her friends ate Kṛṣṇa's remnants and delighted beyond measure. Like royal swans they took the fine lotus fibers left from their lover's mouthful; like does, clusters of tender shoots; like bees, glorious nectar; and like cakorī birds, the moon's ambrosia. (71)

After rinsing their mouths, they relished betel chewed by Kṛṣṇa. Fully satisfied and attended by maidservants, they rested upon couches. (72)

Tulasī and Rūpa Mañjarī joyfully sent the remnants of the rice and its various accompanying dishes to Vṛndā through Mālatī. (73)

Then, after feeding the other friends and maidservants, the two of them ate the remnants of their mistress together with their delighted companions. (74)

At the beginning of their meal they quarreled playfully for a moment, each trying to serve the other her favorite preparations and other delicacies. (75)

After eating and rinsing their mouths, they came to Rādhā's feet. Eating the betel She had chewed, they resumed their service to Her. (76)

All glory to the pure moonlight of Gokula's moonlike Lord's evening pastimes! It melts the jeweled essence of nectar within the hearts of Vraja's residents, greatly expands their ocean of joy, and makes the multitude of blue lotuses formed by their eyes blossom fully. (77)

Thus the Twentieth Sarga, filled with the evening pastimes, reaches completion in the poem Govinda-līlāmṛta, which shines through Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, arose from the association of Śrī Jīva, was composed by Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa, was bestowed as the fruit of serving Śrī Rūpa, and belongs to the honeybee at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya. (Colophon)