Nineteenth Sarga: Relishing the Rāsa Pastime

Nineteenth Sarga: Relishing the Rāsa Pastime

'That great offender with the flower bow has gained authority within Your forest. Alas, as Your tender-limbed companions search for You, he threatens them with his arrows, Beloved. (1)

When Rādhā said, 'Therefore You must protect them,' Acyuta replied, 'Be reassured, for you are bathed in incomparable nectar of affection. Whoever merely seeks Me here, I seek in return and place within My heart. This is My unbroken vow. I shall mark those girls with excellent arrows.' (2)

After Hari went elsewhere, certain instructed attendants arranged Rādhā's garments and ornaments upon Her limbs just as before. They made a fresh flower bed appear used by Kṛṣṇa so that Lalitā and the others would see the moon-faced girl as a heroine dressed and waiting for Her lover. (3)

The companions with crooked brows arrived, and Rādhā acted out despondency before them: 'My beloved has not come. What use, then, are My life, this body, or its ornaments?' (4)

Seeing the companions approach to rebuke Her while hiding their smiles, the slender girl slightly moved the vines of Her brows and said, 'Alas, what hardship! What caused these wounds upon your bimba lips and breasts? While searching for a serpent, which excellent cave did you enter?' (5)

'Beautiful-faced girl, let it pass that you keep your serpent under control and send him to bite the people. Your fame for this is already known throughout Vraja, so do not laugh again. If I explain even one of your deeds, the goddess of modesty herself will not appear to stop my speech.' (6)

Just as Lalitā spoke in this way, Kṛṣṇa entered the center of the assembly and said, 'Friends, I shall tell you the wonderful and exceedingly charming account of what she did today.' (7)

'As soon as she arrived, she openly begged Me: Dearest, give Me the embrace of Your body and let Me take the nectar of Your lip without dispute. The fire of desire burns within My heart, so extinguish it properly. Merely hearing this, I fell into an even deeper ocean of astonishment. (8)

'She forcibly submerged patience and modesty in the Yamunā's dense mud, embraced Me in great joy, and brought Me onto the bed. After she conquered Me in an expansive amorous battle, I was expelled from this grove and therefore took shelter of all of you.' She covered Her face with the edge of Her veil. (9)

'Lalitā, He speaks falsely. Ask your friend about this beneath an oath to the Sun.' Thus respectfully questioned, Lalitā replied, 'In my bewilderment I do not know even what I said while addressing a tamāla tree.' (10)

As the companions' faces became bees immersed in laughter, Kṛṣṇa said, 'Her private request is nothing astonishing. We have not forgotten the words she spoke in this assembly: Sprinkle Our limbs with the full nectar of Your lip.' (11)

'If I could obtain that flute and play it here, I would make you all mad, draw you near, and bring you together. Then, before you, I too would compose speeches whose words and characters conformed to each of your individual natures.' (12)

When His own beloved made this proposal, Kṛṣṇa at once said, 'So be it,' and gave Her His flute. He then went elsewhere with the companions, eager to arrange the amusement. (13)

Moon-faced Rādhā dressed as Hari, placed the flute upon Her lip, and played sweetly. Hari assumed the form of a woman and approached in delight, surrounded by Lalitā and the other companions. (14)

'Women of noble families whose splendor is renowned throughout the world, explain why you have hurried here so quickly. Wandering respectfully at night through every direction and intermediate quarter, show at least a little fear, helpless girls! (15)

'Go back to the settlement. Do not remain here, for a woman's proper duty is to serve her husband. Or have you come seeking flowers within your hearts? That desire can be fulfilled in your own gardens.' (16)

As soon as Rādhā spoke these words, the girls, now bearing hostility toward their own faces, traced the ground with their jeweled nails and replied with tears shining in their eyes: 'Dearest embodiment of rasa, do not speak to us this way. Ocean of love, You should accept us, for we have followed You. (17)

'Our bodies are tormented by the burning fire of Love, and we wish to cool them with showers of immortal rasa from the moon of Your face. Do not cut down the hope You cultivated within us for so long by first watering it with the sound of Your flute and now striking it with these sharp words.' (18)

Then Rādhā revealed the sweetness of a smile upon Her lotus face and at once cast off Her pretense of dejection. Assuming His own nature, Her beloved delighted with Her through a woman's dress, speech, glances, and moods. (19)

Again and again the companions plunged eagerly into an ocean of wonder as they watched Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, possessed by contrariness and restlessness, display the arts of Love's battle. Even when their dearest friend embraced them, did they not make their own bodies instruments of the play? Standing at a distance, Vṛndā considered her birth blessed as her eyes flooded with tears. (20)

While the companions watched, Rādhā privately took Her beloved away, vanished from that place, and shone while sporting with Him in a secluded spot. The others sorrowfully questioned rows of aśvattha, nīpa, and other trees about Them. Though they searched everywhere with their eyes surrendered to the task, they found only distress. (21)

Moving from forest to forest, She adorned Her beloved with wondrous garlands and ornaments. Then, saying, 'I cannot walk. Where shall I go?' She suddenly abandoned Him and disappeared. (22)

Wet the earth again and again with His tears, Mādhava cried 'Alas! Alas!' over His own plight. Surrounded once more by Lalitā and the others, He lamented in an exceedingly loud voice. (23)

'Beloved, I did not delight You properly when We met here. Your lotus feet are tender, while My heart is hard. I placed them there only very slowly. May the shoots of grass not hurt them now.' (24)

Then She swiftly returned with a smiling face, like lightning wearing yellow cloth beside a dark rain cloud. By mutually offering their respective radiance, did Their bodies and garments form a beautiful friendship? (25)

At once one companion took Her hand, another Her lotus foot, and a third placed Her arm upon her own horripilating shoulder. When Her beloved moved His eyebrow in a graceful signal, Rādhā savored it and opened Her eyes wide. (26)

Vṛndā approached and said, 'Lotus-eyed Rādhā, You have conquered Your beloved by making Him wander in confusion. Kṛṣṇa, Your difficult-to-attain emotion arose, and by it You too have been embraced by the great goddess of victory.' (27)

After requesting the flute from Rādhā, Vṛndā placed it in Mukunda's hand. At once the playful Lord enacted another wonder, exclaiming, 'Alas, I am Kṛṣṇa, not Rādhā!' (28)

The lightning and the cloud, who had showered streams of joy upon one another through the exchange of their colors and moods, resumed Their respective forms. Seated together, They were served by the goddess of the forest. (29)

Though without life, night gives life; though newly alive, she possesses a body with nine gates and enchants all. Quickly bringing the middle watch under her control, she delights the three worlds with the very essence at her center, through love. (30)

When Hari said, 'Companion, understand My riddle,' Rādhā replied, 'Your flute is a procuress, for You give her the bribe of wine from Your lip.' (31)

'She sings Your fame in deep attachment and enters swoons while bearing the beauty of a shining series of virtues and musical notes. Though she lives in the village, she is expert in bodiless Love's rasas. Reservoir of affection, tell us the answer to this riddle.' (32)

'Rādhā, she who envies My flute, conquers Me with her multitude of arts, and delights Me while bearing sweetness is a vīṇā like You, with well-rounded, full gourd breasts, resounding elsewhere through rasa.' (33)

Then Śrī Lalitā, Viśākhā, Citrā, and the others, intent upon victory, spoke their own riddles. By describing their companion through clever turns of speech before the assembly, they delighted Him. (34)

'Though young, they are exceedingly old. They bear both bondage and liberation. Though pure, they are abodes of darkness, and though straight by nature they are crooked. Tell us what they are.' (35)

'I am Kṛṣṇa, giver of liberation even to those bound to every action. When passion arises in them, I honor those slender hairs, parted and released from their knots.' (36)

'Adorned with sacred ash, she wanders everywhere. She is exceedingly learned in revealing the true meaning of sound. She is a yoginī whose vision contains every mood of the universe. Beloved, you are fortunate if you can understand her.' (37)

'For the fulfillment of bodiless Love's happiness, she compassionately taught Me again and again the radiant knowledge of the self. On her order I renounced every action and entered the forest. I praise that guru, hoping to attain a bliss like that of My beloved.' (38)

'He is always the means to liberation, possesses a thoroughly disciplined form, loves purity, bestows beauty, and bears the burden of deep attachment. Though You describe this fortunate figure here, Acyuta, by Your own command of rasa bring her to blessed fulfillment.' (39)

'Why stop after merely describing her? Alas, a connoisseur should not leave her without an embrace. Friends, bring this eager lover and constantly unite him with the yearning lip of his beloved.' (40)

'Crooked girls, display your wanton devotion to bodiless Love and bear the weight of the fame openly proclaimed by your own libertine!' With the sharp saws of Her fiercely bending brows, the girl threatened Her companions. (41)

'Chaste girl, do not become so harsh in anger. I shall now describe you through a riddle. If, with exceptional intelligence, you protect your own art and answer Me, you will defeat Me.' (42)

'With one syllable it denotes beauty, with two the celestial beings, with three the colors, and with four the heavenly tree you desire. With five it is something fit for the ears and dear to all your companions. (43)

When Her beloved said, 'Tell Me that word,' the beloved girl lowered Her lotus face. Unable to restrain Her smile, Her brows bending, the subtle-minded Rādhā answered Him indirectly. (44)

'Answer the path of My questions in order, each with one charming reply formed by the syllable you obtain. First make your dear friend Padmā pronounce the beneficial word that results, and then go to her.' (45)

'What does a householder desire? What does a young man seek? What is a charming instrument, and what is perceived by the ear? What do your companions hide themselves to hear? Tell Me without dispute.' (46)

When Mukunda pronounced the first answer, 'the wish-fulfilling tree,' the jewel among young women smiled, filled with the nectar of exceptional skill, while Her companions immediately increased Her pride. (47)

Through the guise of these excellent questions, She made even Padmā pronounce that very word here. Thus unconquered even by Kṛṣṇa's intelligence, You are indeed immeasurable. (48)

Having said this, wise Vṛndā served Kṛṣṇa, who bore an eager thirst for rasa, with many garlands, fragrances, betel, and divine ornaments. Understanding His desire, she then offered a further prayer. (49)

Upon the Yamunā's bank, incomparable artisans, the winds, fashioned a beautiful wonder from grains of sand as soft as cotton. Fine rows of waves made water and land appear equal, producing in the people an illusion of alternating dark and white radiance. (50)

Does this vast river of camphor bear within its center another stream made of liquid musk? Or has their boundless fame, praised throughout the three worlds by their own song, dance, and music, respectfully embraced this bank? (51)

'Come, come, Beloved! Let Us sport here!' The master of arts took Her lotus hand, entered the center of the sandbank, and expanded His noble pastimes in the joy of the circular dance. (52)

'Look at this great wonder! Who washed silver with clouds and fashioned this brilliantly radiant ground for the complete fulfillment of our many Rāsa pastimes, we who are intensely eager and spotless in heart?' (53)

Did the Creator strain every quality of sweetness through a cloth until it became white, quickly sprinkle this sandbank with the result, and thereby spread the radiance of his own artistry throughout the world? (54)

Did the dense residue left after that straining become the moon when cast into the sky, while its scattered particles attained the form of hundreds of thousands of stars, Rādhā? (55)

As He described the bank in this way, the groups of loving girls placed their beloved before them. Linking the circles of their arm-vines with one another, they stood for a moment in a formation of extraordinary beauty. (56)

Did a single vast and wondrous golden lotus arise within a lake filled with the rasa of Cupid's fame, its center sweet and dark blue, praised by rows of honeybees formed from the eyes of celestial women? (57)

Or did the earth herself bear upon her forehead for a great festival, anointed with sandalwood and moonlight, a tamāla design traced in musk and encircled by rows of saffron pictures? (58)

Did these golden girls upon this fresh, beautiful camphor bank lovingly address the dark tamāla crowned with peacock feathers, asking him some intimate question? (59)

Or did a tender rain cloud leave the sky and shine in this golden region, embraced by the rays of the autumn sun, while a garland of lightning gleamed at its center? (60)

Then the crown of connoisseurs touched four microtones with the ṣaḍja note, ornamented the ascending and descending movements with graceful transitions, and sang the Kedāra rāga with the refrain, 'teneti, teneti.' (61)

Its boundless sweetness rendered even the celestial women traveling in their aerial cars helpless with the fever of Love. Cupid himself, though accompanied by his wife, became deeply deluded, afflicted by the blows of his own mighty arrows of desire. (62)

Then, joining the song borne upon the throats of Lalitā and the others, the ocean of every wondrous sportive art stood between the two foremost beloved girls, placed His arms upon their shoulders, and began the dance with His own swift vigor. (63)

The deities of instruments, rāgas, notes, melodic swoons, microtones, scales, movements, hand gestures, rhythms, and all their individual arts seemed to arise bodily and gather there in excitement, each performing its own function. (64)

As fresh sounds arose at every moment from vīṇās and mṛdaṅgas, the destroyer of Agha and the young women enacted dance movements never before heard or seen. 'Thai, tata thaiyā, tā, tata thaiyā, dṛmiki dṛmiki, tṛki tṛki tṛki tṛki thā!' Thus sweet lotus faces produced ever-rising waves of rhythm. (65)

With the bee-like music of bracelets, waist bells, and other ornaments sounding 'jhaṇaditi, jhaṇaditi,' the golden vines entered waves of sweetness like tender, spotless flowers freshly blossomed in rasa. (66)

Had these goddesses of beauty emerged from the ocean of splendor, born from the force of Cupid's churning? Through dancing skill unknown to the Creator and the world, they revealed the full reach of their own glory. (67)

The circle shone not through lightning and clouds, nor through golden jewels, nor through campaka flowers and blue lotuses, but through rasas tinged with saffron and intoxication. It became Cupid's own garland for whispered recitation. (68)

As hand gestures revealed distinct meanings and the dance advanced through successive rhythms and movements, embraces, the grasping of breasts, and kisses arose. Through these, the dancers separated from their individual seats within the circle of Rāsa. (69)

'Beautiful girl, Your face is the home of all loveliness, and the play of Your sidelong glances resides there. Within those glances all the arts of Love have attained an incomparable beauty.' (70)

'Beloved, the moon who received the rise of Your face now bears only the infamy of a deer-shaped stain. Or, unable to tolerate the people's ridicule, did that foolish twice-born moon swallow poison?' (71)

Thus the destroyer of Agha sang to His beloved through the notes sa, ri, ga, ma, and pa. Did the clever girl not answer with songs equal to each of His? Whatever word in His song ended in direct address, She eagerly sang again with its final sound placed first. (72)

Casting aside the circular formation, the playful Lord said, 'Now let each woman dance alone in a wondrous way.' Lalitā agreed and first displayed her skill, dancing boldly to 'dhiddhī drāṁ drāṁ drāṁ kuṭu tṛkithe.' (73)

In this way the beloved Lord and His beloved savored, one by one, the skill in dance of Viśākhā and every other companion. Repeatedly nodding Their heads in appreciation, They made each dancer's artistry fruitful. (74)

Then all the companions assumed the role of the assembly while some sang exceedingly sweetly. Amid the vigorous resonance of bound instruments, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa performed an incomparable dance. (75)

'Tattā dhiddhī tati kaṭa ghṛghi tat, tat tadhiddhī tatikaṭa ghṛghi tat!' The rhythmic syllables danced after the pair of lotus faces and were as sweet as nectar to the ears. (76)

They grasped each other's lotus hands, raised Their arms, and made Their jeweled ornaments flash. The restless brilliance of Their earrings took on the burden of bathing the moons of Their faces in moonlight. (77)

Leaning Their bodies upon hands held together, They were propelled with such speed that They whirled like a single jeweled wheel fashioned upon Cupid's potter's wheel. Their two braids left Their backs and circled outside Them, shining as a splendid dark-blue rim. (78)

Near the close of the rhythm, They released Their interlocked fingers and danced apart and together through many variations, ascending difficult paths of movement. At the conclusion Hari placed His right lotus hand upon His beloved's chest, as though touching Her breast through that final note, but She stopped Him. (79)

One companion fanned Them, another corrected ornaments displaced in the dance, another anointed Their limbs with sandalwood and camphor essence, and one offered a betel roll to each mouth. (80)

How could those who came later forcibly lick that Rāsa with their own tongues when even those present at the time, whose eyes had attained fulfillment, were unable to swallow it? If Love, its master, declares some clever person to be His vessel, even that person's understanding is stolen by its sweetness and he cannot describe it. (81)

Yet Their incomparable power and mercy, shining through the moon of Śuka's face, illuminated the world and revealed the path. Only by that grace does one who possesses eyes attain the sacred realm. (82)

Thus ends the Nineteenth Sarga, entitled 'Relishing the Rāsa Pastime,' in the great poem Śrī Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta.