CHAPTER FORTY-TWO<\/p>\n
Fraternal Loving Affairs<\/p>\n
K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s age, His beauty, His bugle, His flute, His conch shell and His pleasing attitude all provoke love in friendship for Him. His exceptional joking abilities, exhibited sometimes by His pretending to be a royal prince or even the Supreme Personality of Godhead also give impetus to devotees developing love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a in friendship.<\/p>\n
Learned scholars have divided K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s age into three periods: the age up through five years is called kaum\u0101ra, the age from the sixth through the tenth year is called pauga\u1e47\u1e0da, and the age from the eleventh through the fifteenth year is called kai\u015bora. While K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is spending His days as a cowherd boy, He is in the kaum\u0101ra and pauga\u1e47\u1e0da ages. In the kai\u015bora age, when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a appeared in Gokula, He acted as a cowherd boy, and then, when He was sixteen, He went to Mathur\u0101 to kill Ka\u1e41sa.<\/p>\n
The kaum\u0101ra age is just suitable for reciprocating the love of a child with mother Ya\u015bod\u0101. In the Tenth Canto, thirteenth chapter, verse 11 of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b tells King Par\u012bk\u1e63it, \u201cMy dear King, although Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the supreme enjoyer and the beneficiary of all kinds of sacrificial ceremonies, He still used to eat with His cowherd boyfriends. This is because at that time He accepted the pastimes of an ordinary boy, keeping His flute under His arm and His bugle on the right side in His belt, along with His cane. In His left hand He would hold a lump of rice paste with yogurt, and in His fingers would be p\u012blu, the king of fruits. When He would thus sit among His friends, it would appear that He was the whorl of a lotus flower and that the friends surrounding Him were petals. As they thus enjoyed joking among themselves, the denizens of heaven would become struck with wonder and would only stare at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age can be further divided into three periods \u2013 namely, the beginning, middle and end. In the beginning of the pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age there is a very nice reddish luster on His lips, His abdomen is very thin, and on His neck are circles like those on a conch shell. Sometimes, some outside visitors would return to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana to see K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and, upon seeing Him again, would exclaim, \u201cMy dear Mukunda, Your beauty is gradually increasing, just like the leaf on a banyan tree! My dear lotus-eyed one, Your neck is gradually manifesting circles like those of the conch shell. And in the shining moonlight Your teeth and cheeks are competing with the padmar\u0101ga jewels in their beautiful arrangement. I am sure that Your beautiful bodily development is now giving much pleasure to Your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this age K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was garlanded with various kinds of flowers. He used to put on a silk dress, colored with various kinds of dye. Such beautiful decorations are considered cosmetics for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a would wear this dress when He used to go into the forest to tend the cows. Sometimes He would wrestle there with His different friends, and sometimes they would dance all together in the forest. These are some of the specific activities of the pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age.<\/p>\n
The cowherd friends of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a were so happy in His company that they expressed their transcendental feelings within themselves thus: \u201cDear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, You are always busy tending the cows that are scattered all over beautiful V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. You have a beautiful garland, a small conch shell, a peacock feather on Your turban, yellow-colored silk cloth, decorations of kar\u1e47ik\u0101ra flowers on Your ears and a mallik\u0101 flower garland on Your chest. Appearing so beautiful, when You pretend, just like an actor, to be fighting with us, You give us unlimited transcendental bliss.\u201d<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is more grown up, in the middle age of pauga\u1e47\u1e0da, His nails become finely sharp, and His chubby cheeks become lustrous and round. On the two sides of His waist above His belt there are three distinct lines of folded skin called tri-val\u012b.<\/p>\n
The cowherd boyfriends of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a felt very proud of their association with Him. At that time the tip of His nose defeated the beauty of sesame flowers, the luster of His cheeks defeated the glow of pearls, and the two sides of His body were exquisitely beautiful. In this age K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a wore a silk dress that glittered like lightning, His head was decorated with a silk turban covered with gold lace, and in His hand He carried a stick about fifty-six inches long.* Seeing this exquisitely beautiful dress of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, one devotee addressed his friend in this manner: \u201cMy dear friend, just look at K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a! See how He is carrying in His hand a stick which is bound up and down with golden rings, how His turban with golden lace is showing such a beautiful luster and how His dress is giving His friends the highest transcendental pleasure!\u201d<\/p>\n
* The specific pastime in this period took place in the forest known as Bh\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u012bra-vana. This Bh\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u012bra-vana, along with eleven other vanas, or forests, is still existing in the V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana area, and devotees who circumambulate the whole area of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana can know the beauty of these forests even today.<\/p>\n
At the end of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s hair sometimes hangs down to His hips, and sometimes it becomes scattered. In this age His two shoulders become higher and broader, and His face is always decorated with marks of tilaka. When His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders, it appears to be a goddess of fortune embracing Him, and this embracing is highly relished by His friends. Subala once addressed Him in this way: \u201cMy dear Ke\u015bava, Your round turban, the lotus flower in Your hand, the vertical marks of tilaka on Your forehead, Your ku\u1e45kuma-flavored musk and all of Your beautiful bodily features are defeating me today, although I am usually stronger than You or any of our friends. Since this is so, I do not know how these features of Your body can fail to defeat the pride of all the young girls of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. When I am so defeated by this beauty, what chance is there for those who are naturally very simple and flexible?\u201d<\/p>\n
At this age K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gop\u012bs, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a thus: \u201cMy dear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, You are very cunning. You can understand the thoughts of others; therefore I am whispering within Your ear that all of these five gop\u012bs, who are most beautiful, have been attracted by Your dress. And I believe that Cupid has entrusted them with the responsibility of conquering You.\u201d In other words, the beauty of the gop\u012bs was capable of conquering K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, although K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the conqueror of all universes.<\/p>\n
The symptoms of the kai\u015bora age have already been described, and it is at this age that devotees generally most appreciate K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a with R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b is worshiped as Ki\u015bora-ki\u015bor\u012b. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a does not increase His age beyond this form of kai\u015bora, and it is confirmed in the Brahma-sa\u1e41hit\u0101 that although He is the oldest personality and has innumerable different forms, His original form is always youthful. In the pictures of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a on the Battlefield of Kuruk\u1e63etra we can see that He is youthful, although at that time He was old enough to have sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. The cowherd boyfriends of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a once said, \u201cDear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, You need not decorate Your body with so many ornaments. Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful that You do not require any ornamentation.\u201d At this age, whenever K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a begins to vibrate His flute early in the morning, all of His friends immediately get up from bed just to join Him in going to the pasturing grounds. One of the friends once said, \u201cMy dear cowherd friends, the sound of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s flute from above Govardhana Hill is telling us that we need not go to search Him out on the bank of the Yamun\u0101.\u201d<\/p>\n
P\u0101rvat\u012b, the wife of Lord \u015aiva, told her husband, \u201cMy dear Pa\u00f1camukha [five-faced], just look at the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas! After hearing the sound of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s conch shell, known as P\u0101\u00f1cajanya, they have regained their strength and are just like lions.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this age, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a once dressed Himself up exactly like R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b just to create fun among His friends. He put on golden earrings, and because He was blackish, He smeared the pulp of ku\u1e45kuma all over His body in order to become as fair as She. By seeing this dress, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s friend Subala became very astonished.<\/p>\n
K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a played with His intimate friends sometimes by fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball and sometimes by playing chess. Sometimes they carried one another on their shoulders, and sometimes they exhibited their expertness at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a by sitting together with Him on couches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by joking together and by swimming in the pool. All these activities are called anubh\u0101va. Whenever all the friends would assemble in the company of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, they would immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding their wrestling, one friend once asked K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, \u201cMy dear friend, O killer of the Agha demon, You are very proudly wandering among Your friends trying to exhibit Your arms as very strong. Is it that You are envious of me? I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me.\u201d<\/p>\n
All the friends were very daring and would risk any difficulty, because they were confident that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a would help them to be victorious in all adventures. They used to sit together and advise one another what to do, sometimes inducing one another to be engaged in welfare work. Sometimes they would offer betel nuts to one another, decorate one another\u2019s faces with tilaka or smear pulp of candana on one another\u2019s bodies. Sometimes, for the sake of amusement, they used to decorate their faces in strange ways. Another business of the friends was that each of them wanted to defeat K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Sometimes they used to snatch His clothing or snatch away the flowers from His hands. Sometimes one would try to induce another to decorate his body for him, and failing this, they were always ready to fight, challenging one another to combat in wrestling. These were some of the general activities of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and His friends.<\/p>\n
Another important pastime of the friends of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was that they served as messengers to and from the gop\u012bs; they introduced the gop\u012bs to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and canvassed for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. When the gop\u012bs were in disagreement with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, these friends would support K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s side in His presence \u2013 but when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was not present, they would support the side of the gop\u012bs. In this way, sometimes supporting one side, sometimes the other, they would talk very privately, with much whispering in the ears, although none of the business was very serious.<\/p>\n
The servants of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a were sometimes engaged in collecting flowers, decorating His body with valuable ornaments and trinkets, dancing before Him, singing, helping Him herd the cows, massaging His body, preparing flower garlands and sometimes fanning His body. These were some of the primary duties of the servants of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. The friends and servants of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a were combined together in serving Him, and all of their activities are known as anubh\u0101va.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a came out from the Yamun\u0101 after chastising the K\u0101liya-n\u0101ga, \u015ar\u012bd\u0101m\u0101 wanted to embrace Him first, but he could not raise his arms because of his great feeling of respect.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a used to play on His flute, the vibration appeared just like the roaring of clouds in the sky during the constellation of Sv\u0101t\u012b. According to Vedic astronomical calculation, if there is rain during the constellation of the Sv\u0101t\u012b star, any rain falling on the sea will produce pearls, and rain falling on a serpent will produce jewels. Similarly, when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s flute roared like a thundercloud under the Sv\u0101t\u012b constellation, the resulting perspiration on \u015ar\u012bd\u0101m\u0101\u2019s body appeared to be just like pearls.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Subala were embracing one another, \u015ar\u012bmat\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b became a little envious, and hiding Her hot temperament She said, \u201cMy dear Subala, you are very fortunate because even in the presence of superiors you and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a have no hesitation in putting your arms on each other\u2019s shoulders. I think it must be admitted that in your previous lives you have succeeded in many kinds of austerities.\u201d The idea is that although R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b was accustomed to putting Her arms on K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s shoulders, it was not possible for Her to do such a thing in the presence of Her superiors, whereas Subala could do so freely. R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b therefore praised his good fortune.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a entered the lake of K\u0101liya, His intimate friends became so perturbed that their bodily colors faded and they all produced horrible gurgling sounds. At that time all of them fell down on the ground as if unconscious. Similarly, when there was a forest fire, all of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s friends neglected their own protection and surrounded K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a on all sides to protect Him from the flames. This behavior of the friends toward K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is described by thoughtful poets as vyabhic\u0101r\u012b. In vyabhic\u0101r\u012b ecstatic love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a there is sometimes madness, dexterity, fear, laziness, jubilation, pride, dizziness, meditation, disease, forgetfulness and humbleness. These are some of the common symptoms in the stage of vyabhic\u0101r\u012b ecstatic love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
When there are dealings between K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and His friends that are completely devoid of any feelings of respect and they all treat one another on an equal level, such ecstatic love in friendship is called sth\u0101y\u012b. When one is situated in this confidential friendly relationship with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, one shows symptoms of love such as attraction, affection, affinity and attachment. An example of sth\u0101y\u012b was exhibited when Arjuna told Akr\u016bra, \u201cMy dear son of G\u0101ndin\u012b, please ask K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a when I shall be able to embrace Him in my arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
When there is full knowledge of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s superiority and yet in dealings with Him on friendly terms respectfulness is completely absent, that stage is called affection. There is one brilliant example of this affection. When the demigods, headed by Lord \u015aiva, were offering respectful prayers to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, describing the glorious opulences of the Lord, Arjuna* stood before Him with his hand on His shoulders and brushed the dust from His peacock feather.<\/p>\n
* This Arjuna, living in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, is different from the friend of the same name to whom Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 was spoken.<\/p>\n
When the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas were banished by Duryodhana and forced to live incognito in the forest, no one could trace out where they were staying. At that time, the great sage N\u0101rada met Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and said, \u201cMy dear Mukunda, although You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all-powerful person, by making friendship with You the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas have become bereft of their legitimate right to the kingdom of the world \u2013 and, moreover, they are now living in the forest incognito. Sometimes they must work as ordinary laborers in someone else\u2019s house. These symptoms appear to be very inauspicious materially, but the beauty is that the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas have not lost their faith and love for You in spite of all these tribulations. In fact, they are always thinking of You and chanting Your name in ecstatic friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another example of acute affection for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is given in the Tenth Canto, fifteenth chapter, verse 18 of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam. In the pasturing ground K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a felt a little tired and wanted to take rest, so He lay down on the ground. At that time, many cowherd boys assembled there and with great affection began to sing suitable songs so that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a would rest very nicely.<\/p>\n
There is a nice example of the friendship between K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kuruk\u1e63etra. When the fighting was going on, A\u015bvatth\u0101m\u0101, the son of Dro\u1e47\u0101c\u0101rya, unceremoniously attacked K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, although according to the prevailing rules of chivalry one\u2019s chariot driver should never be attacked by the enemy. A\u015bvatth\u0101m\u0101 behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s body, although K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was acting only as charioteer for Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that A\u015bvatth\u0101m\u0101 was releasing various kinds of arrows to hurt K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, he immediately stood in front of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a to intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being harmed by those arrows, he felt an ecstatic love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and the arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers.<\/p>\n
There is another instance of ecstatic love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a in friendship. Once when a cowherd boy named V\u1e5b\u1e63abha was collecting flowers from the forest to prepare a garland to be offered to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the sun reached its zenith, and although the sunshine was scorching hot, V\u1e5b\u1e63abha felt it to be like the moonshine. That is the way of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord; when devotees are put into great difficulties \u2013 even like the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas, as described above \u2013 they feel all their miserable conditions to be great facilities for serving the Lord.<\/p>\n
Another instance of Arjuna\u2019s friendship with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was described by N\u0101rada, who reminded K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, \u201cWhen Arjuna was learning the art of shooting arrows, he could not see You for so many days. But when You arrived there he stopped all His activities and immediately embraced You.\u201d This means that even though Arjuna was engaged in learning about the military art, he had not forgotten K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a for a moment, and as soon as there was an opportunity to see K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, Arjuna immediately embraced Him.<\/p>\n
One servant of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a named Patr\u012b once addressed Him like this: \u201cMy dear Lord, You protected the cowherd boys from the hunger of the Agh\u0101sura demon, and You protected them from the poisonous effects of the K\u0101liya snake. And You also saved them from the fierce forest fire. But I am suffering from Your separation, which is more severe than the hunger of Agh\u0101sura, the poison of Lake K\u0101liya and the burning of the forest fire. So why should You not protect me from the pangs of separation?\u201d Another friend once told K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, \u201cMy dear enemy of Ka\u1e41sa, since You have left us, the heat of separation has become extraordinary. And this heat is felt more severely when we understand that in Bh\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u012bra-vana You are being refreshed by the waves of the cooling river known as Bh\u0101nu-tanay\u0101 [R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b].\u201d The purport is that when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was engaged with R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b, the cowherd boys headed by Subala were feeling great separation, and that was unbearable for them.<\/p>\n
Another friend addressed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a thus: \u201cMy dear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, O killer of Agh\u0101sura, when You left V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana to kill King Ka\u1e41sa in Mathur\u0101, all the cowherd boys became bereft of their four bh\u016btas [the elements earth, water, fire and space]. And the fifth bh\u016bta, the air, was flowing very rapidly within their nostrils.\u201d When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a went to Mathur\u0101 to kill King Ka\u1e41sa, all the cowherd boys became so afflicted by the separation that they almost died. When a person is dead it is said that he has given up the five elements, known as bh\u016btas, as the body again mixes with the five elements from which it was prepared. In this case, although the four elements earth, water, fire and ether were already gone, the remaining element, air, was still very prominent and was blowing through their nostrils furiously. In other words, after K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a left V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, the cowherd boys were always anxious about what would happen in His fight with King Ka\u1e41sa.<\/p>\n
Another friend once informed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, \u201cWhen one of Your friends was feeling much separation from You, there were tears covering his lotus eyes, and so the black drones of sleep became discouraged from entering his eyes and left that place.\u201d When there is a lotus flower, the black drones fly into it to collect honey. The eyes of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s friend are compared to the lotus flower, and because they were full of tears the black drones of sleep could not collect honey from his lotus eyes and therefore left the place. In other words, because he was too much afflicted, his eyes were full of tears and he could not sleep. This is an example of staying up at night because of separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
An example of helplessness is described in the following statement: \u201cDue to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s departure from V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana to Mathur\u0101, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s dearest cowherd boys felt as mentally light as possible. They were like fragments of cotton, lighter than the air, and were all floating in the air without any shelter.\u201d In other words, the minds of the cowherd boys became almost vacant on account of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s separation. An example of impatience was also shown by the cowherd boys when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a went to Mathur\u0101. Out of the sorrow of separation, all these boys forgot to take care of their cowherding and tried to forget all the melodious songs they used to sing in the pasturing ground. At last they had no desire to live anymore, being separated from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
An example of stillness was described by a friend of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s who informed Him in Mathur\u0101 that all the cowherd boys had become just like leafless trees on the tops of hills. They appeared almost naked, being skinny and frail, and did not carry any fruits or flowers. He informed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a that all the cowherd boys residing in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana were as still as the trees at the tops of hills. Sometimes they felt diseased from their separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and being so greatly disappointed, they were aimlessly wandering on the banks of the Yamun\u0101.<\/p>\n
There is also an example of madness caused by separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was absent from V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, all the cowherd boys became bewildered, and having given up all kinds of activities, they appeared to be mad and forgot all their regular business. They were sometimes lying down on the ground, sometimes rolling in the dust, sometimes laughing and sometimes running very swiftly. All of these symptoms gave them the appearance of madmen. One friend of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s criticized Him by saying, \u201cMy dear Lord, You have become the king of Mathur\u0101 after killing Ka\u1e41sa, and that is very good news for us. But in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana all the residents have become blind from their continuous crying over Your absence. They are full only of anxieties and are not cheered at all by Your becoming the king of Mathur\u0101.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes there were also signs of death caused by separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Once K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was told, \u201cMy dear enemy of Ka\u1e41sa, because of their separation from You, the cowherd boys are suffering too much and they are now lying down in the valleys, breathing only slightly. In order to sympathize with the boys\u2019 regrettable condition, even the forest friends, the deer, are shedding tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Mathur\u0101-kha\u1e47\u1e0da chapter of the Skanda Pur\u0101\u1e47a, there is a description of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Balar\u0101ma surrounded by all the cowherd boys, always engaged in taking care of the cows and calves. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was met by Arjuna at a potter\u2019s shop in the city of Drupada-nagara, because of the similarity of their bodily features they made intimate friendship. This is an instance of friendship caused by the attraction of similar bodies.<\/p>\n
In the Tenth Canto of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, seventy-first chapter, verse 27, it is stated that when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a arrived in the city of Indraprastha, Bh\u012bma was so overwhelmed with joy that with tears in his eyes and a smiling face he immediately embraced his maternal cousin. Following him were his young brothers Nakula and Sahadeva, along with Arjuna, and they all became so overwhelmed at seeing K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a that with full satisfaction they embraced the Lord, who is known as Acyuta (the infallible). There is a similar statement about the cowherd boys of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was on the Battlefield of Kuruk\u1e63etra, all the cowherd boys came to see Him wearing jeweled earrings in their ears. Becoming so greatly overjoyed, they extended their arms and embraced K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as their old friend. These are instances of full satisfaction in friendship with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
In the Tenth Canto, twelfth chapter, verse 12 of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, it is stated that even after undergoing severe penances and austerities and performing the yogic principles, the great mystic yog\u012bs can hardly become eligible to achieve the dust of the lotus feet of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, but the same Personality of Godhead, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, is easily available to the vision of the residents of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. This means there is no comparison to the great fortune of these devotees. The friendly relationship of the cowherd boys with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is a particular type of spiritual ecstasy almost similar to the ecstasy of conjugal love. This ecstasy of loving affairs between the cowherd boys and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is very difficult to explain. Great expert devotees like R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b express their astonishment at the inconceivable feelings which are in K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and His cowherd boyfriends.<\/p>\n
This particular type of ecstatic love shared between K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and His confidential friends further develops into parental love, and on from there it may develop into conjugal love, the most exalted humor, or mellow, of ecstatic love between Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and His devotees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO Fraternal Loving Affairs K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s age, His beauty, His bugle, His flute, His conch shell and His pleasing attitude all provoke love in friendship for Him. His exceptional joking abilities, exhibited sometimes by His pretending … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 03:08:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}