Sweetest Description of Janmastami-lila (12th Aug'2001)

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Sweetest Description of Janmastami-lila (12th Aug'2001)

from Ananda Vrindavana Champu by Srila Kavi Karnapura

Translated by Bhanu Swami & Subhaga Swami

Published by Mahanidhi Swami

 

Now we will discuss the truth about the transcendental birthplace of

Bhagavan and the appearance of Lord Sri Krsna. Once upon a time, Bhumi, the

predominating deity of the earth, felt overburdened by different demons

posing as members of the royal order. Feeling aggrieved upon seeing her

miserable condition, the lotus-born Brahma appealed to Ksirodakasayi Visnu,

the maintainer of the universe, saying, "Please deliver Goddess Bhumi who is

feeling greatly distressed by these demoniac kings. Only You can remove this

terrible influence from the earth."

 

The time for an appearance of the Lord coincided with two internal desires

of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. First the Lord desired to descend on

earth to increase the fortune of Yasoda and Nanda. Also at that time Krsna

wanted to relish the sweet mellow of smgara rasa (paramour love) while

enacting His worldly pastimes. For these two reasons the Lord appeared

within the material creation on Bhuloka, (earth planet), along with His

parents, friends, and other eternal associates.

 

Another distinction of Lord Krsna's earthly pastimes is that when the

eternally liberated gopis such as Srimati Radharani, Candravali, and others

appeared, the Srutis personified also appeared in the homes of other gopis,

because they had previously cultivated the desire to serve Sri Krsna as

Vraja gopis. The Dandakaranya sages, upon seeing the svakiya bhava (the

sweet conjugal relationship) of Lord Ramacandra and Sitadevi, desired to

have the same relationship with their Lord Madana Gopala. Upon attaining

perfection in their sadhana they achieved the fortunate position of

appearing as gopis in Vrndavana. Yogamaya, Lord Krsna's pastime potency who

possesses unlimited abilities, appeared invisibly in Gokula to arrange this,

and perform other difficult tasks on behalf of the Lord.

 

Sri Nanda, Yasoda, and others appeared in Brhadvana (Mahavana) before the

Lord. The gopas, gopis, and other eternally liberated associates appeared

after the Lord. Then those who had attained perfection by sadhana, namely

the sruti-caris and muni-caris, took birth in Vrndavana.

 

Learning of Krsna's imminent appearance, the earth personified, feeling like

a wife happily greeting her husband after a long separation, immersed in

unlimited joy. At the time of Krsna's birth the general mass of people

tasted the inner bliss that devotees forever relish. Auspicious signs

abounded everywhere. As Visnu's conchshell Pancajanya opens in a clockwise

fashion, similarly, auspicious sacrificial fires glowed in all directions.

Pure gentle breezes brought a refreshing coolness like devotees who

satisfy and sanctify everyone with their calm, sweet, and affectionate

behavior.

 

The whole atmosphere became as completely purified as the heart of a

devotee. The devotees once again found peace and prosperity in worshiping

the lotus feet of Lord Hari. Fruits filled the jubilant trees. But the

envious demons exhibited various inauspicious signs of degradation such as

rapidly aging bodies and symptoms of imminent death. The desire vines of the

celestial denizens seemed to be hanging in the air as if eager to produce

fruits. At that time all the directions became felt as pure and joyful as

the mind of a devotee who has received the mercy of Lord Hari. Just as gems,

mantras, or medicines can a remove a poisonous disease from the body of a

man, the advent of the Lord relieved the world from the contamination of

material existence and the sinful effect of the demons. Happiness gradually

replaced the distress in everyone's hearts.

 

The bodies of all creatures manifested extraordinary beauty and youthful

vitality. Men felt extremely joyful and displayed virtuous qualities.

Throughout the world people behaved cordially and interacted amicably.

Happiness twinkled in everyone's eye. At the end of Dvapara-yuga, which

completely destroys faults and doubts, an auspicious, favorable,

obstacle-free time appeared on the eighth day of the waning moon in Bhadra

month. Just at that sweet moment the Rohini Naksatra, along with the good

qualities of the moon and an auspicious conjunction of stars called Ayusman,

appeared in the sky to give shelter to gentle persons.

 

As the living entity comes out from the womb of his mother and the moon

appears on the lap of the eastern direction, Yogesvara Sri Krsna, the

personification of complete bliss, appeared amidst great festivities. As the

moon appears in the lap of the eastern direction, which is like a beautiful

bride, Krsna manifested the wonderful pastime of His appearance out of His

love and compassion for the conditioned souls.

 

Due to austerities performed in previous lives, Vasudeva and Devaki received

the opportunity to momentarily relish parental affection for Lord Sri Krsna

when He appeared before them in His form as Vasudeva. Thereafter in fear of

Kamsa, Vasudeva brought Vasudeva Krsna to Gokula. There the Supreme Lord

appeared as Govinda before Nanda and Yasoda, His eternal parents who have

been smothering Him with the sweetest form of parental love since time

immemorial. The four symbols of Visnu (sankha, cakra, gada, padmd) adorned

His hands and feet. The flute, flower garland, and kaustubha mani, although

present within Him, had not yet manifested.

 

In fear of cruel Kamsa, Vasudeva decided to transfer all his wives except

Devaki to Gokula. He sent Rohini to the house of Vrajaraja Nanda. By the

sweet will of the Lord, Yogamaya arranged for the seventh child of Devaki

(Balarama) to enter the womb of Rohini. As a result, Balarama appeared in

the home of Vrajaraja Nanda before the birth of Krsna.

 

Lord Hari, who is bliss personified, appeared in the home of Nanda Maharaja,

the king of Vrndavana for three reasons: to engage the self satisfied sages

in devotional service, to please the devotees by performing sweet

transcendental pastimes, and to relieve the earth's burden caused by the

demons. At the time of His majestic birth Krsna employed His inconceivable

powers to appear in a body of eternity, bliss and knowledge. Everyone in the

maternity room swelled with joy upon seeing the Lord's exquisite

transcendental form that looked like a creeper of beauty.

 

Mother Yasoda resembled a lake of spiritual ecstasy in which a brilliant

blue lotus of personified bliss had appeared. Neither the wind nor the bees

relished the fragrance of that blue lotus. That unborn lotus was never

touched by the waves of the modes of nature. Even Lord Brahma could not see

it, what to speak of ordinary men.

 

After Yasoda and her family members fell asleep in the maternity room, Hari

cried beautifully like a newborn baby. His crying sounded like the

maha-vakya omkara announcing the auspicious arrival of His pastimes. Omkara

is a transcendental vibration that had previously emanated from the mouth of

Lord Brahma. When the ladies of Vrndavana heard the sweet sound of Krsna's

crying, they woke up and ran to see the Lord. With the mellow of their

matchless overflowing affection they anointed His body.

 

The natural fragrance of Krsna's body smelled just like musk. After the

ladies bathed Krsna hi sweet ambrosia, He looked cleansed and beautiful.

Then they smeared His body with fragrant sandalwood pulp. The presiding

deity of the house sent a campaka flower resembling the flame of a lamp into

the maternity room to worship that ornament of the three worlds. With the

strength of His little arms, delicate as the tender leaves of a tree, Krsna

made all the lamps in the maternity room look like a garland of lotus flower

buds.

 

The ladies of Vrndavana saw baby Krsna like a blossoming flower made of the

best of blue sapphires, or like a newly unfurled leaf of a tamala tree.

Krsna looked like a fresh rain cloud decorated with the musk tilaka of the

goddess of fortune of the three worlds. The ointment of the greatest

auspiciousness lined His eyes. His presence filled the maternity room with

good fortune. Although a mere baby, Krsna had a head full of curly hair. To

hide the unique signs on His hands (goad, fish, conch etc.) the Lord folded

His delicate petal-like fingers into His lotus palm. At that time Krsna laid

on His back with His eyes closed.

 

Mother Yasoda awoke amidst the joyous chattering of the elderly gopis.

Leaning over the bed she admired her gorgeous son. But upon noticing her own

reflection on Krsna's body, she imagined it another woman. Thinking that a

witch had assumed her form to kidnap Krsna, Yasoda became bewildered and

yelled, "Get out of here! You go away!" Spontaneously she cried out to

Nrsimhadeva to protect her precious son. Beholding Krsna's tender face,

Yasoda showered tears of affection that looked like an offering of a pearl

necklace.

 

Yasoda saw Krsna's body as a mound of dark blue musk, softer than the butter

churned from the milk ocean. Overflowing with nectar, His charming body

appeared like the foam of milk, but being dark blue in color it seemed the

foam was full of musk juice. Admiring the supremely delicate form of her

son, Yasoda worried about His safety and feared the touch of her body might

hurt his tender body.

 

As she leaned over the bed Yasoda bathed Krsna with the milk dripping from

her breasts. The elderly gopis instructed Yasoda how to caress the baby in

her lap, and affectionately push the nipple of her breast into Krsna's mouth

to feed Him. Due to Yasoda's intense love, personified bliss flowed from her

breasts as steady streams of milk. When milk sometimes spilled out of

Krsna's bimba fruit red lips onto His cheeks, Mother Yasoda would wipe His

face with the edge of her cloth. After feeding her son, Yasoda gazed

affectionately at Him in wonder.

 

She saw her child's body as made of dazzling blue sapphires. His mouth

resembled a red bimba fruit and His hands and feet looked like exquisite

rubies. Krsna's nails shone like precious gems. In this way, Yasoda thought

her child was completely made of jewels. Then she perceived that His

naturally reddish lips looked like bandhuka flowers, His hands and feet

resembled Java flowers, His nails looked like maJlika flowers. Yasoda then

thought, "Krsna's whole body seems to be made of blue lotus flowers. He does

not appear to be mine." After thus deliberating within herself Yasoda became

stunned in amazement.

 

The beautiful, soft curly hairs on the right side of Krsna's chest resembled

the tender stems of a lotus. Seeing the mark of Srivatsa on His chest,

Yasoda thought it was breast milk that had previously spilled out of His

mouth. She tried unsuccessfully to remove these 'milk stains' with the edge

of her cloth. Struck with wonder, Yasoda thought this must be the sign of a

great personality. Observing the sign of Laksmi (a small golden line) on the

left side of Krsna's chest, Yasoda thought a small yellow bird had made a

nest amidst the leaves of a tamala tree. Could this be a streak of lightning

resting on a rain cloud, or could it be the golden streaks marking a black

gold-testing stone? Krsna's delicate, leaf-like hands and feet, glowing pink

like the rising sun, looked like clusters of lotus flowers floating in the

Yamuna.

 

Sometimes Yasoda saw the curly, dark blue locks of baby Krsna as a

swarm of bumblebees surrounding His face. Intoxicated from drinking too much

honey nectar, the bees just hovered in the sky. His thick, beautiful blue

hair appeared like the dark night. The two lotus eyes of Krsna looked like a

pair of blue lotus buds. His cheeks resembled two huge bubbles floating in a

lake of liquefied blue sapphires. Krsna's attractive ears looked like a pair

of fresh unfurled leaves growing on a blue creeper.

 

The tip of Krsna's dark nose appeared like the sprout of a tree, and His

nostrils looked like bubbles in the Yamuna River, the daughter of the sun

god. His lips resembled a pair of red Java flower buds. Krsna's chin rivaled

a pair of ripe, redjambu fruits. Seeing the extraordinary beauty of her son

fulfilled the purpose of her eyes and submerged Yasoda in an ocean of bliss.

The elderly Vrajavasi ladies addressed Vrajaraja Nanda, "O most fortunate

one, you fathered a son!" Previously Nanda Maharaja had felt deeply

aggrieved over his long-standing inability to obtain a son. His heart was

like a small lake that had completely dried up during a long hot summer. But

when Nanda Maharaja heard of his son's birth he felt as if the dry lake of

his heart had been blessed with a sudden downpour of nectar. The gentle

sound of Krsna's voice removed all his grief and lamentation. Now he bathed

in the rains of bliss, swam in the ocean of nectar, and felt embraced by the

joyful stream of the celestial Ganges.

 

Eager to see his son, Nanda's body thrilled with astonishment and waves of

ecstasy as he stood outside the maternity room. Because he had accumulated

heaps of pious activities, it appeared that the King of Vrndavana was now

shaking hands with the personification of pious deeds. Anxiously standing in

the background, Yogamaya induced Nanda Maharaja to enter the maternity room.

He rushed in to see his son, the personified seed of condensed bliss. It

seemed that all the auspiciousness of the three worlds now resided within

Krsna, the original cause of everything. Nanda saw his son as a perfectly

charming person. The kajala around Krsna's eyes looked like lines on a black

creeper of beauty. As the very embodiment of Nanda's good fortune, Sri Krsna

bloomed like a beautiful flower in a garden of desire trees.

 

The aparajita flower is compared to the body of the Queen of Vrndavana. Her

son is like the representative of the Upanisads that are compared to the

fruit of the desire creepers. By seeing his glorious son Nanda felt that he

had attained happiness, perfection, and the fulfillment of all his desires.

Meeting that embodiment of bliss overwhelmed Nanda with immeasurable

satisfaction. He stood motionless, stunned; his hair stood erect and tears

flowed from his eyes. He appeared like a person carved in stone or a figure

drawn in a painting. For some time Nanda Maharaja remained in this

semi-conscious state like a sleeping man about to awaken.

 

Upananda, Sunanda, and other relatives felt extremely joyful while observing

the best ofbrahmanas perform the rites of purification for Krsna's birth. To

insure his son's welfare Nanda Maharaja donated newborn calves to each and

every brahmana, thus turning their homes into abodes of surabhi cows. These

cows had gold and silver plated horns and hooves, and jeweled necklaces

adorning their necks. In addition, Vrajapati Nanda filled the courtyards of

their homes with hills of gold, jewels, and sesame seeds. While Nanda

distributed charity, the kamadhenus, touch- stones, and desire-trees lost

their power to produce valuable items. Even the jewel-producing oceans lost

their stock of jewels, and the goddess of fortune, the abode of lotuses, had

but one lotus in her hand. The auspicious news of Krsna's wonderful

appearance spread in all directions by word of mouth. Delight danced in the

hearts of Nanda, his brothers Upananda and Sunanda, and all the other gopas.

The gopas brought many varieties of delicious dairy products such as milk,

yogurt, butter, wet cheese, and hard cheese in jewel-studded pots. The pots

were tied to the ends of bamboo poles with jute straps and carried on their

shoulders. Bedecked with many precious jeweled ornaments, the gopas appeared

very handsome. They dressed in beautiful yellow cloth defeating the

brilliance of lightning, and held staffs topped with gold and jewels in

their lotus hands. As a great ocean spreads its waves in all directions, the

birth of Krsna filled the Vrajavasis with unbounded bliss. The gopas and

gopis enjoyed a grand festival by happily eating and by splashing each

other's bodies with a mixture of yogurt, butter, milk, and condensed milk.

The society girls visiting Nanda Maharaja's house experienced more happiness

than they had ever felt since their birth. Their minds saturated with joy

and satisfaction. Hearing the delightful description of Krsna's birth

carried away the chariots of their minds and made them abandon all other

duties. They became possessed with the desire to see Krsna.

 

Sparkling rubies hung from the necklaces adorning the society girls. Their

diamond-studded armlets shown more beautifully than drops of crystal clear

water. Their jewel inlaid golden bangles boasted unparalleled elegance. For

this unique festival they took out some highly ornamental waist-belts from

their jewel boxes and tied them around their hips. The sweet jingling of the

waist-bells resting on their broad hips enhanced the beauty of these society

girls. They attracted the minds of everyone with their bulky golden anklets,

loosened hair braids, and graceful gait, which resembled the smooth gliding

of swans. Their minds entered a state of enchantment as they gazed upon the

captivating beauty of Krsna's transcendental body. To worship Krsna they

brought golden trays full of auspicious articles such as fruits, flowers,

yogurt, durva grass, uncooked rice, and jewel bedecked lamps. They covered

the offering plates with splendid yellow silk cloth and held them in their

soft lotus hands. Their jeweled ankle-bells vibrated pleasantly as they

walked.

 

Beholding the astounding beauty of the delicate baby, the society girls

considered the purpose of their eyes fulfilled. They perceived Krsna's

perfect birth to be like the appearance of the leaves of an important herbal

medicine. Krsna resembled a blue lotus floating hi the lake of His parent's

affection. After bestowing their blessings for Krsna's prosperity, they

worshiped Krsna with fresh flowers and a constant shower of loving glances.

With great enthusiasm the society girls glorified Vrajesvari Yasoda since

she had attained the essence of all good fortune by having Krsna as her son.

Leaving the maternity room, the society girls entered the assembly hall of

Nanda Maharaja's palace. Their faces looked exceedingly beautiful as they

sung melodious songs, which resembled the soft sweet humming of bees moving

amidst a cluster of lotus flowers. All the guests bathed in a nectar shower

produced by these soothing sounds. Overwhelmed with love, they filled then-

lotus palms with fragrant oil, turmeric paste, and fresh butter and started

smearing each other's faces and bodies. They looked very attractive with

then* smiling faces and glittering white teeth.

 

Then: red lips seemed more beautiful than red bandhuka flowers. This

incredible display of elegance smashed the pride of the goddess of fortune

of the three worlds. Carried away with joy over Krsna's birth, they

fearlessly threw cheese balls, butter, and yogurt at each other. One could

mistake the white balls of cheese for hailstones, solidified moonlight, or

white mud from the floor of the milk ocean. Then they showered each other

with buttermilk, aromatic oils, and water mixed with turmeric.

 

Cymbals, damru drums, bherries, and big drums vibrated auspicious sounds hi

specific melodies. A celestial concert of precise poetical meters, proper

rhythms, and metrical compositions suddenly manifested there. The musical

ensemble inspired the society girls to sing and dance in mirth and

merriment. Though not good singers, by the will of the Lord they sang with

great virtuoso. Then" wonderful songs filled Nanda Maharaja's heart with

joy. The combined vibrations of brahmanas' chanting Vedic hymns, the

recitation of Purank lore, and the panegyrists' prayers transformed the

ethers into sabda brahman,

 

The joy of Krsna's birth celebration taxed the drains of Nanda's capital

city as they swelled to the brim with milk, yogurt, and other auspicious

liquids. Soon rivers of this nectar flooded the streets of the town and

permeated the entire atmosphere with a sweet fragrance. Disguising

themselves as birds, the demigods descended to Vrajapura to happily drink

the flood of nectar. The Vrajavasis decorated their cows with gold and

jeweled ornaments. Then in great excitement they smeared them with oil,

fresh butter, and turmeric paste. Beholding Krsna in their hearts, these

fortunate cows looked like the essence of the earth's auspicious-ness. The

whole world resounded with their jubilant bellowing. Absorbed in the ecstasy

of Krsna's birth, they forgot about eating and drinking.

 

The festival drowned the gopis in an ocean of joy. After offering oil,

vermilion, garlands, and utensils in charity to all the assembled gopis,

Rohini, the wife of Vasudeva, asked them to bless Krsna, Upon completion of

the sacrifice, Upananda and the other relatives felt constant happiness

while taking their baths. Keeping the King of Vrndavana in the front,

Nanda's relatives offered opulent cloth, jeweled ornaments, tambula,

garlands, and sandalwood pulp to the guests. Then they humbly requested all

in attendance to bless that wonderfully auspicious boy who had just appeared

in Vrndavana.