Second Sarga: Relishing the Morning Pastimes

Second Sarga: Relishing the Morning Pastimes.

From the lattice the sakhīs sent forth the fish of their eyes and let them roam deeply through the flood of the Couple's beauty. These friends would purchase even one particle of the splendor born from Their joy at the price of countless billions of lives. (1)

Viśākhā said, 'Friend, behold the beautiful Couple. Though without garments, They are lovely with hosts of soft rays; though without necklaces, They are supremely captivating; and, languid from love, They shine with Their own limbs bearing the marks of bodiless Cupid.' (2)

Through the force of play They give Cupid to one another, yet have lost Their armlets. Though without collyrium, They deeply color one another. Their lips have lost their red dye, revealing how unfathomable love upon the disordered bed has kept Them in its power. (3)

Then Lalitā said, 'Determine which of the Two gained victory in Cupid's battle. Both bear bitten lips, both had Their heads tossed by the grasping of Their hair, and both have breasts wounded by nails.' (4)

Under the guise of kuṅkuma from Her breasts, Rādhā placed the love within Her heart upon Acyuta's lotus feet. His locks, deeply reddened by the liquid lac from Her feet, bore that same brilliant love for Her feet upon His very head. (5)

Thus describing the Two softly for a time while remaining unseen by Them, the attendants greatly celebrated their own good fortune and plunged into a vast ocean of bliss. (6)

Encouraged by the delighted approval of the loving sakhīs, Rūpa Mañjarī blossomed with joy. She herself was especially expert in restoring the beautiful adornment of the two lovers at that moment. (7)

The lovers' bed and the youthful Couple shone in their shared disarray: betel stains, lac, collyrium, liquid kuṅkuma, networks of perspiration, and broken ornaments lay scattered here and there. (8)

One maid placed cushions behind Their backs, while another covered Them with a soft cloth. A third placed nectar-soft confections in Their mouths, dispelled Their dizziness, and made Their eyes open fully. (9)

When They worshiped each other's pair of moonlike faces with fully opened lotus eyes adorned by bee-like swarms of restless curls, Cupid immediately awakened and swiftly strung his bow. (10)

Did Cupid shake those two moons, bring Them together, and fasten Them with a single sharp arrow? Nourishing one another with streaming nectar, They were then bound for a moment by fierce, transverse ropes of darkness formed by Their mingled hair. (11)

At that very moment the sounds of the sakhīs' bracelets and waist bells outside providentially awakened the goddess Modesty. Entering the heart's inner chamber of the jewel among beloved women, she somehow released the Two from love's absorption. (12)

One maidservant smiled as she saw Rādhā helplessly trying with Her own hand to lift the loosened locks that had entangled Her necklace, nose ornament, and pair of earrings, and she spoke. (13)

Although You are dear to one another and filled with love, when these locks, ornaments, and other things saw You bind one another and wage Cupid's mighty battle, they too began forcibly fighting among themselves even though they all share a single body. (14)

Rādhā retorted, 'I know you all very well, so remain there and be quiet.' The expert maidservant nevertheless approached the lovely-faced Lady and served Her by untying those knots and performing the other needed tasks. (15)

With a cloth slightly moistened by flower water, one maid wiped away the betel color, collyrium, lac, and other pigments that had strayed from their proper places. Did she thereby turn the Couple's two faces into mirrors in which They could behold one another? (16)

One maid skillfully placed prepared betel in Their mouths. With a row of jeweled lamps she swiftly performed Their auspicious ārati, as though warding away all evil by offering hundreds of thousands of her own lives. (17)

One attendant showed Them a mirror, another brought ornaments and other articles for dressing Their bodies, and a third slowly fanned Them, gently removing the network of perspiration drops. (18)

Rādhā looked for a long while, smiling, at the bite upon Her lip and thought, 'Madhusūdana drank all the honey of My lotus face, yet He bit it as well.' She did not move the mirror from before Her. (19)

The nectar of My beauty, unlike anything in the three worlds, this limitless sweetness and this youth, have attained complete fulfillment only today, for My beloved has enjoyed them with the greatest delight. (20)

Thinking in this way for a moment, Rādhā, whose every sweetness had been drunk by His eyes, addressed Her lover. His lotus face was the playground of Her splendid sidelong glances, which shone intensely with the joy within Her heart. (21)

O playful libertine, pay attention! You have left My dress and ornaments in complete disarray. Before My companions come looking for Me at dawn, will You not quickly restore them? (22)

Prove Your cleverness by adorning Me, and propitiate Cupid, Your cherished deity. He dwells within the temple of Our minds, yet You have driven him outside by leaving all these marks upon Me. (23)

He replied, 'What You say is true. I shall worship the cherished god born from Your limbs as he manifests upon the altar of Your body, using ornaments, garments, fragrances, flowers, garlands, sandal paste, and the other offerings.' (24)

Then Kṛṣṇa slowly drew the comb that Bhānumatī had placed in His hand through Rādhā's shining locks. He was supremely expert at fashioning a braid interwoven with a garland of mālatī flowers. (25)

Holding a fresh artist's brush, that master of decoration painted a lovely design upon Her forehead with musk, sandal paste, and liquid kuṅkuma, all enriched by lines of loving color. (26)

He honored Her lovely ears with a pair of earrings made newly radiant by clusters of clove blossoms, and with fresh collyrium He darkened Her two lotus-like eyes. (27)

When He placed upon Her the necklace offered by Ruci Mañjarī, His beloved said with proud intoxication, 'Why do You not first recreate upon My breasts the bodice of sandal paste that You destroyed?' (28)

He told Her, 'Today I shall astonish Viśākhā and all Your friends, who are immensely proud of their artistry, with the wondrous pictures I will paint upon Your two breasts.' (29)

As Hari painted Her breasts with a brush, attended by Śrī Rūpa, Līlā, Rati, and the other mañjarīs intent upon supplying the articles and purpose of adornment, He became the target of each of Cupid's five arrows. (30)

When His hand trembled and His chest repeatedly rubbed away the curving line of the picture, I think that clever Kṛṣṇa was fanning the fire of Rādhā's desire, intent on burning the fuel of Her composure. (31)

Cupid at once used his vast powers to displace that entire arrangement of adornments. Erasing one mark, smearing another elsewhere, and breaking ornaments into pieces, he joyfully decorated both lovers with those very things. (32)

The sakhīs and maidservants longed for that sight, the embodied fulfillment of their eyes, to remain forever. But when they understood that dawn had arrived, they became helpless and distraught and cursed both the maker of daybreak and cruel fate. (33)

The sakhīs' restless gaze rejoiced from moment to moment while fixed upon the lattice, yet at once withered whenever it turned toward Indra's eastern quarter. Assuming the form of a trembling central jewel, that same gaze shone within the hearts of the community of practicing devotees. (34)

When the friends, whose affection knew no boundary, understood that the Couple's play had reached its limit and entered the chamber, timid Rādhā suddenly separated from Her beloved's chest and descended from the bed. (35)

With a contraction of Her brows Rādhā brought the maidservants over to Her side and sat upon a seat. Thirsting for the nectar of Her conversation with the sakhīs, Hari immediately pretended to remain asleep. (36)

She said, 'Friends, you are most blessed! By good fortune you have fulfilled your friendship splendidly today. How fortunate that, after making Me worthy to receive the gift of your sight once more, you have risen as though to purchase Me outright!' (37)

You impudent girls drove a respectable married woman from Her home at night, brought Her into the forest, forcibly delivered Her to a man who destroys the vows of chaste women, and then immediately disappeared! (38)

Only the accumulated merit of My former lives protected Me; apart from that merit I had no refuge at all. Even after spending the night beside this man, I did not suffer the destruction of My chastity. (39)

Because He spends so many nights awake, ceaselessly sporting with thousands of gopīs, the goddess Sleep dwelt in His eyes throughout this night and rendered Me an incomparable service. (40)

What woman does not know of Your celebrated chastity? And the revealed scriptures proclaim His celibacy. Therefore the blameless union of You two has served only to give the eyes of Your friends an extraordinary festival. (41)

To protect His vow of celibacy, He would not touch even the goddess Sleep. We therefore truly believe He never joined His body with Yours. Or rather, because He never touched Sleep, He spent the night in Cupid's company with You! (42)

As Lalitā spoke in this way, Viśākhā said, 'Friend, I understand everything. To attain a special perfection of happiness, the Dharma of these Two dissolved of its own accord at the sacred confluence of Their bodies, in Cupid's supreme sacrifice.' (43)

When Citrā asked, 'What exactly is that happiness? Please explain,' Viśākhā replied, 'The Dharma They cultivated, taking the forms of chastity and celibacy, matured here and has now brought Them into the most perfect union.' (44)

See how Rādhā shines: She bears the highest burden of renunciation, has risen into freedom beyond the qualities, removes all affliction, and possesses stainless and expansive vision. Truly, She has today attained perfect and infallible yoga with Acyuta. (45)

Kṛṣṇa too shines in yoga-nidrā, sheltered by the Māyā under His own control so that He may experience the bliss of being the complete Self. His beauty is adorned by a necklace of liberated pearls freed of its binding thread, and He has attained the highest perfection. (46)

Friend, look within the garment over Her heart. There the awareness of Her own bliss shines through a splendid crescent moon. From that light understand both Her freedom from renewed birth and the nail wound upon Her breast, as well as the pacification of Cupid's burning fever. (47)

Then Hari's clever effort to conceal His face was plainly overthrown. His body became motionless beneath a shower of perspiration and horripilation that would not be suppressed, while a budding smile broke open upon His face. (48)

He immediately sat up and, showing His chest to the sakhīs in great excitement, said, 'Ah! Look, an astonishing crescent line, the singular awareness of My own happiness, also rests here upon My heart.' (49)

Rādhā covered Her lowered face with Her cloth, then raised Her arched brows and said something. At the same time, touching His chest with Her lotus hand, She covered that mark. (50)

If Citrā and Indulekhā reside there upon Your heart, why should Lalitā and Viśākhā not be there too? Look! They accepted the nail marks You gave and returned their own marks to You threefold. (51)

The sakhīs said to Him, 'You slept throughout the whole night, so what woman could have decorated Your chest with her nails? This Lady is the sovereign of all chaste women and shines here protected solely by Her own merit.' (52)

Kṛṣṇa replied, 'Yes, She must indeed be chaste through the power of Her merit, for in today's mighty battle of Cupid this young and supposedly weak girl defeated even Me. Proud of victory, She tore My chest with Her nails.' (53)

When Her friends asked Him, 'What exactly did She do?' He at once forcibly bit their lips and scratched their breasts with His nails, declaring, 'Did your friend not do precisely this to Me?' (54)

Thus at dawn Vṛndā saw Madhusūdana in the grove intoxicated by the abundant honey of the faces of a row of fully blooming lotus-like maidens. Trembling, she plunged simultaneously into joy and fear. (55)

The beloved young women whose moonlike faces were opening had risen, while the night, stripped of moonlight, had set. 'Will Their play now be broken, or somehow remain unbroken?' Vṛndā pondered this uncertainty within her heart for a moment. (56)

As the surrounding darkness vanished little by little and the daylight steadily increased, Vṛndā's heartache grew in equal measure. Even the revealed scriptures do not understand the ways of Vraja. (57)

Finding no other device that could bring the Couple's playful enjoyment to an end at daybreak, Vṛndā compelled the monkey Kakkhaṭī to utter certain harsh and terrifying words. (58)

Kakkhaṭī cried, 'Kṛṣṇa, You are smearing these chaste women with disgrace, for You will not release them even at dawn. Jatilā is approaching here from Vraja and will very soon give You the fruit of that deed!' (59)

The moment they heard the three syllables Ja-ṭi-lā, all color left their faces. Suspicion rose from the ocean of their playful joy and, like Agastya drinking the sea, swallowed it in a single sip. (60)

'Alas, friends, what shall we do? How can we return home without being seen?' Speaking in this way, stumbling in their haste, they left the bower and entered the courtyard. (61)

The exceedingly brief night, mother of happiness, has passed. Alas, in its place this long night of doom named Jatilā has arrived, mother of an entire succession of sorrows, and is forcibly swallowing our ripening hopes. (62)

Some of the maidservants and sakhīs then reentered the Couple's pleasure chamber. They received Their used garlands and nectar-like betel remnants, brought ornaments and other articles, and joyfully exchanged these treasures among themselves. (63)

Even then a battle continued between the lovers' wish to relinquish bodily contact and Their wish to preserve it. When the first desire suffered a slight defeat, Kṛṣṇa's arm shone beautifully upon Rādhā's shoulder. (64)

'Has the coming of a rain cloud embraced by a vine of lightning descended from the sky and begun moving upon the earth?' Delighted by this thought, the peacocks cried out, and their calls made the frightened girls glance about in alarm. (65)

Each repeatedly cast one thirst-afflicted glance toward the beloved's face and another fearful glance toward every direction. Shining especially because one arm of each still embraced the other, They proceeded toward Vraja. (66)

The kingly moon had vanished, and darkness, their friend, fled after being punished by the bandit Dawn. Anxiously mistaking every distant, bare tree trunk for an old woman, the girls imagined that the whole world was filled with Jatilās. (67)

Did Cupid become despondent, thinking, 'Alas, at dawn even the sun, friend of the lotus, will torment this row of lotus-like women'? Distracted by their distress, he did not place another arrow upon his bow. (68)

At the boundary of Vraja, powerful Apprehension defeated the warrior of Their eagerness and, I think, forcibly removed from fair Rādhā's shoulder the treasure of Her beloved's embracing arm. (69)

When that same Apprehension sternly forbade the Two even from walking upon a single path, the helplessness in Their exchanged glances made the dearest friends walking before Them burst into tears. (70)

As the trembling pair of lovers prepared to place Their feet upon separate paths, the radiance of Their two moonlike faces was itself shaken and dimmed for a moment by even the faint dawn of Their approaching separation. (71)

Although each had become the worthy recipient of the jewel of the other's heart, They still languished. Then Love itself stood as the manifest guarantor that They would be united again. (72)

As Kṛṣṇa, parted from Rādhā, silently proceeded toward Vraja, an extraordinary young woman named Boundless Pain embraced Him and stopped Him. Drinking away His very understanding, she placed burning heat within His flood of tears. (73)

Feeling Her own body covered from toenails to hair with masses of wounds swelling from separation from Her beloved, Rādhā walked with stumbling steps. Supporting Herself upon the hand of a companion who lingered for Her sake, She spoke. (74)

Friends, why are you doing this senseless thing by taking Me, already ruined, back toward Vraja? Alas, you will again inflict upon Me the hostile torment of imprisonment in the pitch-dark blind well of My mother-in-law's house. (75)

Lalitā, only this moment you brought Me out of that house, and this very moment you are making Me enter it again. Today you have made entirely futile the temptation of immersing Me in the nectar-ocean of contact with Kṛṣṇa's body. (76)

Friend, I saw the blazing sun going toward the western mountain only a moment ago. Does that same sun already desire to climb the eastern mountain? Has tonight somehow become as nonexistent as a flower in the sky? (77)

Condemn My ears, condemn My tongue, and condemn My eyes! Tormented by the fever of an eternal burden of longing, they failed to drink even a particle of the nectar of His beautiful voice, exquisite flavor, and lovely form. (78)

Lalitā replied, 'Simple girl, union formerly taught You the path of nirveda, of casting aside convention; now separation teaches You the path of self-reproach. The first revealed the meaning of that path as Acyuta's nectar, while the other, alas, makes You experience it as bitter kālakūṭa poison.' (79)

So absorbed was Rādhā in the highest limit of anurāga that She could not understand even these instructive words of Her friend. Surrounded by the sakhīs and unseen by the people of Vraja, She entered Her home and lay upon Her own bed. (80)

Thus ends the Second Sarga, entitled 'Relishing the Morning Pastimes,' in the great poem Śrī Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta.