Canto Ten - Chapter 90

Śrī Śuka said: The Lord of Śrī dwelt happily in His own city of Dvārakā, which abounded in every prosperity and was graced by the foremost Vṛṣṇis.

Upon the palace roofs, women in splendid dress, radiant with fresh youth, played with balls and other toys, gleaming like flashes of lightning.

Its roads were always crowded with rutting elephants streaming ichor, finely adorned warriors and horses, and chariots brilliant with gold.

The city was rich in gardens and pleasure groves. Rows of flowering trees resounded on every side with bees drinking their nectar and with singing birds.

The one beloved of sixteen thousand wives enjoyed with them, assuming a distinct, wondrous form in each of their magnificent palaces.

The pure waters of the lakes were perfumed by pollen from fully blossomed blue lotuses, white water lilies, night-blooming lilies, and lotuses, while flocks of birds called out around them.

The greatly exalted Lord entered those lakes and sported in their waters. His limbs were stained with the kuṅkuma from the women's breasts, and they embraced Him.

Gandharvas sang His praise while joyfully playing mṛdaṅgas, paṇavas, ānakas, and vīṇās, together with professional bards, chroniclers, and panegyrists.

The laughing queens sprayed Acyuta with water syringes, and He sprayed them in return, sporting like the king of the Yakṣas among Yakṣī companions.

Their soaked garments revealed their thighs and breasts, and flowers fell from their loosened, abundant braids as they sprayed Him. Feigning a wish to seize their beloved's syringe, they embraced Him, their shining faces blossoming with awakened love and playful pride.

Kṛṣṇa's garland was smeared with the kuṅkuma from their breasts, and the vigor of play loosened His mass of curls. Spraying the young women and being sprayed again and again, He delighted like a lordly elephant surrounded by she-elephants.

Kṛṣṇa and His wives gave their play ornaments and garments to the actors, dancers, singers, and instrumentalists who earned their livelihood through performance.

As Kṛṣṇa sported in this way, He stole the women's minds with His gait, conversation, glances, smiles, jokes, playful contests, and embraces.

Thinking only of lotus-eyed Mukunda, they became stunned and spoke like women overcome by divine madness. Listen as I repeat their words.

Friend kurarī, while the world sleeps at night and its Lord rests with His awareness concealed, you remain awake and lament. Has your heart, like ours, been deeply pierced by the generous, playful glance and smile of the lotus-eyed Lord?

Poor cakravākī, at night you close your eyes, unable to see your mate, and cry so pitifully. Have you, like us, entered servitude to Acyuta? Or do you long to wear in your braid the garland honored by His feet?

O ocean, you constantly thunder and never obtain sleep, remaining ever wakeful. Has Mukunda stolen the marks of your very self, leaving you in the same inescapable condition that has overtaken us?

Moon, a powerful wasting illness has seized you. So diminished, you cannot dispel darkness with your own rays. Have you, like us, forgotten Mukunda's words, and do you therefore appear speechless and unable to express yourself?

O Malaya breeze, what displeasing act have we committed against you? You awaken desire in our hearts, which Govinda's sidelong glance has already pierced.

Glorious cloud, surely you are dear to the lord of the Yadus. Like us, you are bound by love and meditate upon Him who bears Śrīvatsa. Your variegated heart trembles with intense longing, and remembering Him again and again you release streams of tears. Association with Him brings such pain.

Cuckoo with the lovely throat, your voice revives the dead as you utter notes resembling our beloved's speech. Tell me, what may I do today to please you?

Noble-minded mountain, you neither move nor speak, for you are contemplating something momentous. Do you, like us, long to bear upon your breasts the feet of Vasudeva's son?

Alas, the rivers, wives of the ocean, have become emaciated, their lakes drying up and their lotus beauty now lost because their beloved husband gives them no favor. So too are we, our hearts plundered and our bodies greatly wasted because we have not received a loving glance from the Lord of Madhu.

Swan, welcome! Come sit and drink some milk. Dear one, tell us news of Śauri. We recognize you as His messenger. Is Ajita well? Does that fickle friend remember what He once told us? Why should we serve Him? Tell Him to come here without Śrī, for that giver of desire is always devoted to her alone.

Śrī Śuka said: By sustaining such absorption in Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the masters of yoga, Mādhava's queens attained the supreme destination.

Even when merely heard about, He whose glories are sung in exalted songs forcibly attracts women's minds. How much more does He attract those who behold Him?

Those queens lovingly served the teacher of the universe by massaging His feet and performing other services, regarding Him as their husband. Who could describe the austerities that brought them such a result?

Thus the refuge of the saints observed the dharma proclaimed in the Vedas and repeatedly demonstrated that household life can be the seat of dharma, prosperity, and regulated desire.

Kṛṣṇa, who perfectly upheld the supreme duties of householders, had sixteen thousand one hundred queens.

Among those jewels of women, O King, eight headed by Rukmiṇī have already been named, together with their sons in order.

The infallibly potent Lord Kṛṣṇa begot ten sons in each of His many wives.

Among those sons of unbounded valor were eighteen greatly renowned mahārathas. Hear their names from me.

They were Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Dīptimān, Bhānu, Sāmba, Madhu, Bṛhadbhānu, Citrabhānu, Vṛka, and Aruṇa;

Puṣkara, Vedabāhu, Śrutadeva, Sunandana, Citrabāhu, Virūpa, Kavi, and Nyagrodha.

Among all these sons of the enemy of Madhu, O lord of kings, Rukmiṇī's son Pradyumna was foremost, equal to his father.

That mighty chariot warrior married Rukmī's daughter. From her was born Aniruddha, whose strength matched that of ten thousand elephants.

Aniruddha, the daughter's son of Rukmī, then married Rukmī's granddaughter. Their son was Vajra, who alone remained after the destruction caused by the clubs.

Vajra's son was Pratibāhu, whose son was Subāhu. Subāhu's son was Śāntasena, and Śāntasena's son was Śatasena.

No one born in this dynasty was poor, had few children, lived briefly, lacked strength, or was hostile toward brāhmaṇas.

O King, even in tens of thousands of years one could not count the men born in the Yadu dynasty whose deeds became renowned.

It is heard that thirty-eight million eight hundred thousand teachers instructed the young princes of the Yadu family.

Who could count the great-hearted Yādavas, when King Āhuka alone was attended by ten thousand times a hundred thousand men?

The exceedingly fierce sons of Diti who had been killed in wars between gods and demons took birth among human beings and arrogantly oppressed the populace.

To subdue them, Hari directed the gods to descend into the dynasty of Yadu. O King, they appeared in one hundred and one clans.

Lord Hari became their supreme authority through His sovereignty, and all the Yādavas who followed Him flourished.

Whether lying down, sitting, walking, conversing, playing, bathing, or engaged in other activities, the Vṛṣṇis, their minds fixed on Kṛṣṇa, were unaware even of their own bodies.

O King, Kṛṣṇa made the Gaṅgā, born as the water that washed His feet, secondary as a holy place. Both enemies and loved ones attained forms like His. Śrī remained devoted to Ajita, though others strive to obtain her. His name, whether heard or spoken, destroys all inauspiciousness, and He established the religious order of His lineage. It is therefore no wonder that Kṛṣṇa, whose weapon is the wheel of time, removed the earth's burden.

All glory to Him who dwells within all beings, who is said to have taken birth from Devakī, and who is attended by the foremost Yadus. With His own arms He drives away adharma and destroys the sufferings of all moving and unmoving beings, while the beauty of His smiling face ever increases the divine love of the women of Vraja and Dvārakā.

The Supreme assumed a playful form to protect His own path and performed deeds suited to that appearance, deeds of the foremost Yadu that destroy the bondage of karma. One who desires to follow His feet should hear them.

By continually hearing, chanting, and contemplating Mukunda's glorious accounts, a mortal's devotion steadily grows, and he reaches that abode where the irresistible force of death has no power. Seeking that very end, even kings abandoned their realms and went from village life to the forest.