Sri Surata-kathamrta

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Sri Surata-kathamrta

 

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura

 

O Radha and Krsna!  O fresh youths of Vrndavana!  You are reclining on the

throne  of flowers,  Your bodies covered with drops of perspiration from the

fatigue of Your pastimes just as a leaf is covered with drops of water. Your

eyes partially open, You are conversing. When will I serve You by moving the

fan made of the stems of creepers?

Krsna:  O My beloved, although even the greatest miser will sometimes give

in charity, You nevertheless refuse to let Me drink the nectar of Your lips,

even though I repetedly beg for it. Is this not very wonderful?

I am Your most earnest student. Please teach Me the science of tasting the

nectar of Your lips.  Do not think Your instructions will go in vain. On the

contrary, they will grow increasingly sweet if You imprt them to Me.

O My beloved,  I consider You My teacher, and I always meditate on You and

carry  You  within  My heart.  Although You are learned in  the  science  of

amorous love, You refuse to teach it to Me. Why do You so adamantly refuse?

Radharani:  I  know how expert You are at weaving a spell to uproot  pious

girls' chastity. Why are You showing off in this way?

By My fate this enimical so-called gopi-friend has placed Me in Your hand.

Pleased with Your good-fortune,  You are now puffed up with pride. This does

not at all fsurprise Me.

This  teasing  of  pious and chaste young girls is Your  natural  youthful

proclivity. You are famous for this.

Krsna: Please do not think I am speaking anything irreligious. I am simply

repeating  the moral codes of Cupid's kingdom.  These codes are outlined  in

the scripture recorded by Vatsyayana Muni. By following them one attains all

happiness and auspiciousness.

If You have no faith in My words,  then just consult Bharata Muni's Natya-

sastra,  and You will see that I speak the truth.  Bharata Muni's sastra  is

the best of books. Who will consider any other scripture superior to it?

By contact with the lightning flash, the dark cloud considers that His own

glory  is  increased.  By contct with the dark cloud,  the  lightning  flash

considers that Her glory is increased.

Radharani: Even though the chaste young fawns of Vraja have heard that You

are  like  a lion residing in Govardhana Hill's caves,  they still  approach

You. Who can blame You for pouncing on them?

If  You  ask why we come to Govardhana Hill in the first  place,  I  shall

explain that we must come here to gather flowers for the worship of the sun-

god. How can we avoid our religious duty to bring Him flowers?

Krsna: Although I am the supreme monarch of Vrndavana forest, You have not

even  once addressed Me in that way,  and indeed,  I think You do  not  even

accept  My sovereignty here.  You are very proud of Your worship of the sun-

god,  but  for  Myself  it is hard for Me to take these  small  things  very

seriously.

Proud  of the mountain of Your breasts,  Your friends do not  consider  My

strength  very  seriously.  Even though I lifted Govardhan Hill with My  own

hand, they think I do not have the power to touch You.

Radharani: You can see that My breasts are like delicate fresh lotus buds.

If You press You hard sapphire chest against them,  You will crush them  and

cause Me great pain.

Why should I embrace You? If I embrace You then I must touch the Kaustubha

jewel  which decorated Your chest.  This jewel is both fickle and insincere,

but  I am a simple,  honest,  pious girl.  This jewel and I are a  very  bad

match.  Why shoud I consent to associate with this rascal jewel?  This jewel

may please You because You both share the same fickle nature,  but it is not

very pleasing to Me.

Krsna:  O  beloved,  because  in the past Your cruel  breasts  mercilessly

struck  this  jewel  and  caused him great pain,  he  has  fled  and  sought

protection  on  My  chest.   He  restlessly  moves  about,  not  because  of

fickleness, but out of fear of Your hard breasts.

Radharani: Whatever strength My breasts possess rests exclusively in their

ability  to tolerate the fierce attacks of Your sharpened nails.  Otherwise,

how is it possible for My delicate breasts to be proud of their strength?

Krsna:  Struck  by  the sharpened goads of My  fingernails,  the  elephant

foreheads of Your breasts have become maddened. O beloved, just see how they

angrily  strike  Me with hundreds of times My feeble strength and  cause  Me

great pain.

Radharani: O delicate mad elephant who roams in Vrndavana's forest, do not

touch  Me hard lotus bud breasts.  They will certainly cause great  pain  to

ŠYour tender hand.

Krsna: The lotus buds of Your breasts bring Me great happiness. O beloved,

if  the peerless moons of My fingernails shine over them,  do they not  make

Your lotus bud breasts appear very beutiful?

Radharani:  Is  it not so that Your great anger and sharp fingernails  are

simply a show You present to delight the girls of Vraja?

Krsna:  Although  Your body is as soft as a flower,  Your breasts are very

hard.  The wepons which are My fingernails are eager to expertly attach  and

soften those hard breasts.

Radharani: O libertine intoxicated by amorous desires, You are causing Me,

a chaste,  pious girl,  such distress that My necklace has become broken, My

belt has slipped from My waist, and My braids have become undone.

Krsna: Because Your jewelled necklace is so large, it has naturally broken

by  it's own heavy weight.  Because Your waist is so slender,  Your belt has

naturally fallen to the ground,  because Your hair is so curly,  Your braids

have  naturally  become undone.  Do not ask Your gopi friends  to  fix  Your

fnecklace,  refasten Your belt, and re-tie Your braids. It is not proper for

them to do this.  I am Your beloved.  I shall fix Your necklace,  belt,  and

braids.

Radharani:  Although  You  easily  lifted Govardhana  Hill,  the  king  of

mountainss,  You  were  so  inconsiderate  that You did  not  prevent  these

necklace slipping from My breasts. How is this a sign of Your love for Me?

Buttressed by this firm jewelled belt, My slender waist is able to hold up

the  great weight of the two mountains which are My  breasts.  Without  this

belt how will I be able to carry this weight?

Entwined abot each other, these two braids have become lovers. This is not

an  absurd statement.  It is the truth.  You are such a rascal that You have

needlessly separated these two lovers.

Krsna:  Do not worry that now Your belt has fallen and Your heavy  breasts

will be without support. I, the lifter of Govardhana Hill, shall support the

two mountains of Your breasts with the strength of My two lotus hands.  What

is the need of belt?

You may say that Your braids are lovers entwined in an embrace,  but I say

that if these lovers do not serve You, then their love is useless.

Releasd  from braids,  Your hair has become like camara fan moving in the

breeze.  By fanning Your perspiring body it now serves You in a way it could

not have done in it's former bondage.

Radharani:  My  gopi-friend  spent  a long time  carefully  drawing  these

artistic tilaka pictures on My forehead, and now in a single moment You have

recklessly smudged them all.

Krsna:  My dear smiling girl,  it is not My fault that Our foreheads  have

met.  The  crescent moon drawn on Your forehead has fallen in love with  the

glistening  half-moon of My forehead.  Placing herself before him,  she gave

all her heart to him.

Radharani:  Your two quick,  arrogant, fickle-minded shark-shaped earrings

are  now harrassing the delicate dark-complexioned lady shark drawn in  musk

on My cheeks.

Krsna:  My  dear beautiful girl,  although drowning in the nectar  of  Yor

words,  My ears have become twice as thirsty.  In order to drink this nectar

they have sproted these two sharks You call My earrings.

Radharani: I can see that You are the crown jewel of all lovers, and every

limb  of Your body is filled with ardent desire.  Your lips,  reddened  with

passion,  are  now  ornamented themselves with the black mascara  around  My

eyes.

Krsna:  The  mascara of Your eyes is like a black bumble-bee which  enters

the bandhuka flower of My lips to drink the honey there. My lips brings only

transcendental pleasure to Your eyes. Why do You push them away?

Radharani:  With  great respect I offer My obeisances to these  delightful

joking words.  Please tell Me: What demigod do You secretly worship that You

have become so expert at these playful amorous jokes?

Krsna: Every day I go to a small cottage in a secluded grove and worship a

peerlessly beautiful, nectarlike deity.

Radharani:  I  think  that  by worshipping this deity You have  become  as

handsome  as  He,  and  this has made You very proud.  You  have  been  very

succesful at polluting the pious lotuslike girls of Vraja.  Indeed what girl

who  comes within Your glance is able to resist You and remain  faithful  to

her husband?

Krsna:  My dear friend, as I uncover Your exquisitely beautiful limbs they

shrink  from Me and dive into the ocean of bashfulness.  I shall now  rescue

them from that ocean and bring them onto the dry land of My glance.

Radharani:  This kaustubha gem,  the friend of Your impudent eyes,  is now

Šilluminating  My limbs,  and bringing them from the waters of modesty to the

 

dry land of the touch of Your body.

Krsna:  Fleeing from My thirsty eyes,  Your powerful breasts have defeated

their enemy, the Kaustubha gem, and invaded the country of My heart.

Radharani:  Although  My  breasts are generally considered very  hard  and

firm, Your chest is the superlative of hardness. It is very appropriate that

these two compatible friend meet, for they share the same qualities.

Krsna:  Even  though You have made alliance with My chest and consider  My

eyes an enemy,  still, the beauty of Your face brings great delight to those

eyes.

Radharani:  If You wish You may enjoy in this way,  for I am a weak  woman

and I have no power to restrain You.  Still,  I am a pious chaste girl.  How

can I tolerate these shameless ardent glances?

Krsna:  My dear moon-faced girl,  if You perform pastimes in the palace of

My chest,  the cakora birds of My eyes will not be able to find You,  and if

somehow or other they see You through a window, they will simply burn in the

fires of separation.

Radharani:  I  am  simply a young girl,  and I cannot break free from  the

strong ropes of Your arms.  O crest jewel of debauchees, Your eyes are about

to cast Me into the ocean of shame.

Krsna:  Although earnestly wishin to learn from My eyes,  Your eyes are so

proud that they refuse to accept the inferior position of students, and thus

do not approach their proper teacher.

Radharani:  Think of Me as You like,  but please do not look on Me in this

way. Shyness is a most important virtue for a chaste young girl.

Krsna:  My dear friend,  You are the crow-jewel of all modest young girls.

Now  You  are finally speaking the truth.  Your words are confirmed  by  the

Vatsyayana-tantra  which clearly states that modesty is the  primary  virtue

for a pious girl.

Radharani:  I  think Your eyes are so pure and saintly that they can teach

the  principles of religion even to Arundhati,  the most pious girl  in  the

world.

Krsna:  O Radha,  why do You not say:  The bumble-bees of Krsna's eyes may

now  drink to their heart's content the honey of the doubly beautiful  lotus

flower of My face?

Radharani:  Although  they  would like to swim in the wonderful  nectarean

lake  of Your bodily beuty,  the saphara fishes of My eyes are  afraid  that

they may become caught when You throw the net of Your sidelong glance.

Krsna:  The  tinkling sounds of Your ankle-bells proclaim the festival  of

King Cupid.  Hearing this proclamation, these bumble-bee poets have hastened

to this place in order to sing Your glories.

Radharani:  I  can personally see that You are more handsome than hundreds

of  cupids,  and  I can hear these bumble-bees proclaiming  everywhere  Your

amorous conquest of hundreds of beautiful gopis.

Krsna:  Your tinkling ankle-bells are like a great trumpet announcing  the

religious   ceremony  of  cupid.   This  ftruimpet's  music  has  completely

demolished the pride of the beautiful girls in the heavenly planets.

Radharani:  Maddened by the sharp bliss of these pastimes, I have lost all

control over My thoughts and I can no longer glorify You with elegant words.

You  still  have command over Your wit,  and therefore  You  can  repeatedly

glorify  these ankle-bells,  the only ornaments You have not yet taken  from

Me.

Krsna:  This  description  is certainly very accurate.  Now that You  have

become  maddened  with the intense bliss of  cupid's  festival,  You  should

present an offering to him.  I think You should devotedly offer him all Your

clothing.

Radharani:  You  have  become  the  guru of us young girls  and  You  have

initiated  us  as Your faithful disciples.  You have taught us  the  mantras

glorifying  Your  worshippable  deity  cupid,  and You  have  taught  us  to

surrender everything to him.

Krsna:  When  he recieves this offering the connoiseur cupid  will  become

very  pleased  with You,  and he will gratefully remain always  within  Your

heart.  He  will  accept the gift of the two golden jewellry boxes  of  Your

breasts  as  the  most  valued treasure.  He will make that  gift  the  most

important thing in his life.

Radharani:  If Your cupid values My breasts as You say,  then why are  You

violently ripping My splendid pearl-decorated musk-anointed bodice with Your

hard hands?

Krsna:  What  fault  have  I  done?  If,  while opening a  gold  chest  of

auspicious jewels the lid becomes stuck and one uses his fingernails to  pry

the box open, is there any fault on his part?

Š Radharani:  The  owner  has filled this chest with twice as  many  jewels,

covered it with cloth, and very carfully hidden it.

Krsna: Now that I have opened the two cupid's jewelry boxes which are Your

breasts, please turn them upside down and fill the treasury-room of My heart

with these large jewels.

Radharani:  Beause  women are weak,  the creator Brahma gave them the name

abala (weak).  How shall we weak women get the power to turn our jewelry box

breasts upside down and deliver their contents to You?

Krsna: How many jewels of bliss have I not already taken with My hand from

the jewelry boxes of Your breasts?  Although I have taken them,  My heart is

still unfilled.  My dear Radha,  I require that You personally give them  to

Me.

Radharani:  Although hundreds and millions of Vraja's beautiful girls, who

are  all vastly learned scholars in erotic science,  have given their hearts

to You,  still You cannot escape this amorous poverty in Your heart. This is

certainly very wonderful.

Krsna: None of these beautiful young girls has been able to enter My heart

and extinguish these blazing flames of desire. You are the only one powerful

enough to enter there and rescue Me from this distress.  I know that You can

not only enter, but remain there eternally.

Radharani:  Just  take  up  Your flute and play on it  the  names  of  the

beautiful damsels in Indraloka. They will instantly rush here to please You.

This is easy for You to accomplish.

Krsna:  Although  crowned with flowers from the Nandanandana gardens,  the

beautiful  girls of Indraloka are ashamed to come near Your lotus  toenails,

for they know there is no comparison between themselves and You.

Radharani:  This  line  of hairs is actually an angry  female  black-snake

emerging from the beautiful snake-hole of My navel.  Why are You so eager to

place Your hand near this poisonous snake?

Krsna:  My hand moves over Your body just to play with this hair-snake. As

My hand moves over Your limbs, why do the hairs rise up in resistance?

Radharani:  Although the great soldiers of My various limbs at first tried

to  fight  with You they were quickly bewildered and  defeated.  How  is  it

possible,  then for these small hairs to fight with You, who have become mad

with victory in this amorous struggle?

Krsna:  Your hair-soleders encourage You to resist Me. They are now saying

to  you:  Although we are very weak and thin,  even we actively stand up  in

resistance.

Radharani:  My  dear  debauchee,  how will My bodily hairs  tolerate  Your

continued  hypocrisy?  On  the  one hand You seem to give pleasure  to  this

amorous  girl,  and on the other hand You mercilessly torture her  with  the

beauty of Your body.

Krsna:  O  Radha,  O expert archer of cupid,  let Us now embrace,  and the

meeting  of Our bodies will crush the enemy soliders which are the hairs  of

Your body.

Radharani:  The  creepers  of  My  limbs now shower  a  great  monsoon  of

perspiration, My beautiful flower-ornaments are all broken, and this flower-

couch is disarrayed.

Krsna:  On  the pretext of making You perspire Cupid is raining nectar  on

the creeper of Your body.  O My beloved,  at every moment he showers the two

glittering, raised lotus buds of Your breasts.

Radharani: I am simply an amorous girl shark swimming in the ocean of Your

youthful handsomeness.  How will I ever find the shore of that ocean. Please

let  Us  stop  this  talk.  Let Us simply  enjoy  amorous  pastimes  without

interruption.

Krsna:  Our deep sighs have become hurricane winds bringing tidal waves to

the  nectarean stream of Our pastimes.  Our minds have become like  maddened

elephants repeatedly splashing and playing in the overflowing waters of that

stream.

Radharani:  I  can clearly see the elephant of Your mind sporting in  that

nectr stream,  but why do You say that My mind also sports there?  I do  not

understand Your intention. Please explain.

Krsna:  Our minds are both earnestly engaged in the service of cupid,  the

best of the demigods. In this way they have become one.

Radharani:  O My Lord, I can now understand that because You are the great

cupid Himself,  You have now forcibly merged both My body and mind into Your

own existance.

Krsna:  Cupid  is very pleased by Your offering everything to him.  On the

pretext  of  placing drops of perspiration on Your  brow,  he  rewards  You,

decorating You with his own pearls.

Radharani:  Your  moving locks of hair have become wet by forcibly  taking

Šcupid's  pearls  from  My  forehead.  Afterwards  these  theives  say  among

 

themselves:  It  is  by cupid's mercy that we are so fortunate to  get  this

treasure.

Krsna:  After  attaining a drop of chewed betel-nut by My kiss,  Your eyes

glistened  with pride.  After attaining a drop of chewed betel-nut  by  Your

kiss, My cheeks smiled with delight.

Radharani:  My  Lord,  You  are  fond  of  tasting  the  nectar  of  these

transcendental  mellows  by speaking in this way.  These pastimes  of  Yours

exactly  follow  the descriptions of the kama-sastra.  You are the  original

author of the kama-sastra.  I therefore offer My respectful obeisances  unto

You.

Krsna:  By showering fragrent nectar, the moon of Your face has caused the

lotus  flower  of My face to bloom with happiness.  This is  certainly  very

wonderful.(lotus flower does not bloom in the middle of the night).

Radharani:  Although at first,  on the pretext of placing a drop of chewed

betel-nut  on  My chin,  You decorated Me with an infant sapphire,  after  a

while  You  reclaimed  that gift with a kiss of Your  lips.  How  many  such

improprieties on Your part have I patiently borne?

Krsna:  Because My lips have offended You in this way,  You angrily punish

them with the wepon of Your teeth. Because My lips bear so much love for You

they consider this chastizement to be Your great mercy upon them.

Radharani:  Do My teeth not know the glories of Your lips?  When the young

gopis see what I have done I become filled with shame.

Krsna:  pitting limb against limb You bravely fought Me in cupid's  battle

arena.  Just  see  the strength of Your arms.  O My beloved I grant You  the

benediction  that Your transcendental virtues shall be always  glorified  by

Your exalted gopi friends.

Radharani:  These  strong embraces of Your snake-rope arms have  exhausted

Me. Sighing, I find that I have no strength to continue these pastimes.

Krsna:  Now  We can both percieve the deity cupid directly present  before

Us.  Both  of Our minds have become filled with peerless bliss,  and in this

condition I think We have attained sayukya-mukti, both of Us becoming united

in our joint service to cupid.

Radharani:  O learned dancing-master, it is by Your instruction that these

limbs  have  become  expert at cupid's dance.  Please do  not  abandon  Your

student at this crucial moment.

Krsna:  Cupid's  great  monsoon  clouds have brought  a  fierce  hurriance

pouring  on  Our limbs.  These sighs are merely Our  bodies'  expression  of

cupid's final victory over them.

At  that time the four fishes of Their eyes became peaceful.  Struck  with

wonder  at  the  sweetness of Their pastimes,  the Divine Couple  could  not

remember anything else.

Fatigued  by these pastimes the Divine Couple then took rest on a  bed  of

lotus  petals  in  a pleasant cottage sprinkled with a fragrent  mixture  of

water, sandalwood, usira, and camphor.

Seeing  my two masters,  the charmingly fragrent Divine Couple,  sigh  and

fall  deeply asleep in each others arms,  this insignificant person  becomes

drowned in an ocean of bliss.

These one hundred sataka verses named Surata-kathamrta are filled with the

blissful  pastimes of the Divine Couple.  One who relishes these  verses  is

able,  by  Their mercy to directly percieve Their pastimes,  as if his  eyes

were placed against the window in Their forest-cottage.

In the form of a manjari this person may enter the cottage and gaze at the

forms  of the sleeping Youthful Divine Couple.  She may remove her  tinkling

ankle-bells and other ornaments so as not to awaken Them.

Accompanied by the frightened,  trembling gopis,  this manjari,  unable to

leave,  may gaze at the Divine Couple and fan Their perspiring bodies with a

palm-leaf.

Without the great good-fortune of residing at this Radha-kunda,  how shall

I fulfill my difficult to attain wish to directly serve the Divine Couple?

By churning Srila Rupa Gosvami's wonderfully confidential Suratastakam,  I

have  been able to write these 100 verses.  I pray that those devotees whose

hearts are filled with love for the Divine Couple may relish these verses.

This book, Surata-kathamrta, was written in the year 1678 during the month

of Jyaistha (may-june),  when the sun traversed the constellation Taurus.  I

pray  that this book may arise like a moon within the sky of the  devotees's

hearts.

 

Translation by H.G. Kusakratha Prabhu