Monday, April 14, 2014 (Los Angeles time)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014 (Mayapur time)

Sri Balarama rasayatra

Books : KRSNA, The Supreme Personality of Godhead – 1970 Edition :  Volume 1 : KB 1-21 / The Gopis Attracted by the Flute :

Books : KRSNA, The Supreme Personality of Godhead – 1970 Edition :  Volume 1 : KB 1-21 / The Gopis Attracted by the Flute Kṛṣṇa was very expert in playing the flute, and the gopīs were captivated by the sound vibration, which was not only attractive  to them, but to all living creatures who heard it. One of the gopīs told her friends, “The highest perfection of the eyes is to see Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma entering the forest and playing Their flutes and tending the cows with Their friends.”

Persons who are constantly engaged in the transcendental meditation of seeing Kṛṣṇa, internally and externally, by thinking of Him playing the flute and entering the Vṛndāvana forest, have really attained the perfection of samādhi. Samādhi (trance) means absorption of all the activities of the senses on a particular object, and the gopīs indicate that the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are the perfection of all meditation and samādhi. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that anyone who is always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa is the topmost of all yogīs.

Another gopī expressed her opinion that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, while tending the cows, appeared just like actors going to play on a dramatic stage. Kṛṣṇa was dressed in glowing garments of yellow, Balarāma in blue, and They held new twigs of mango tree, peacock feathers, and  bunches of flowers in Their hands. Dressed with garlands of lotus  flowers, They were sometimes singing very sweetly among Their friends.  One gopī told her friend, “How is it Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are looking so beautiful?” Another gopī  said, “My dear friend, we cannot even think of His bamboo flute–what  sort of pious activities did it execute so that it is now enjoying the  nectar of the lips of Kṛṣṇa?” Kṛṣṇa sometimes kisses the gopīs; therefore the transcendental nectar of His lips is available only to  them, and His lips are considered their property. Therefore the gopīs asked: “How is it possible that the flute, which is nothing but a  bamboo rod, is always engaged in enjoying the nectar from Kṛṣṇa’s lips?  Because the flute is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord, the  mother and the father of the flute must be happy.”

The scorching heat of the autumn sunshine was  sometimes intolerable, and therefore the clouds in the sky appeared in  sympathy above Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and  Their boy friends while They engaged in blowing Their flutes. The clouds served as a soothing umbrella over Their heads just to make friendship  with Kṛṣṇa. The wanton aborigine girls also became fully satisfied when  they smeared their faces and breasts with the dust of Vṛndāvana, which  was reddish from the touch of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. The aborigine girls  had very full breasts, and they were also very lusty, but when their  lovers felt their breasts, they were not very satisfied. When they came  out into the midst of the forest, they saw that while Kṛṣṇa was walking, some of the leaves and creepers of Vṛndāvana turned reddish from the kuṅkuma powder which fell from His lotus feet. His lotus feet were held by the gopīs on their breasts, which were also smeared with kuṅkuma powder, but when Kṛṣṇa travelled in the Vṛndāvana forest with Balarāma and His boy friends, the reddish powder fell on the ground of the  Vṛndāvana forest. So the lusty aborigine girls, while looking toward  Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, saw the reddish kuṅkuma on the ground  and immediately took it and smeared it over their faces and breasts. In  this way they became fully satisfied, although they were not satisfied  when their lovers touched their breasts. All material lusty desires can  be immediately satisfied if one comes in contact with Kṛṣṇa  consciousness