For the love of buttermilk...

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

This is by Mukunda Datta Das, and was posted to another list:

 

It's well known that Krishna is quite fond of butter, milk, yogurt,

etc. He is even willing to dance for it, at the beck and call of simple

village women, just like an ordinary child. This has been described in an

old Braj poem as follows:

 

sesa ganesa dinesa mahesa suresa hu jAhi nirantara gAvai

jAhi anAdi ananta akhaNDa acheda abheda subeda batAvai |

nArada se suka vyAsa raTai paci hAre ta-U puni pAra na pAvai

tAhi ahIra kI chauhariyA chachiyA-bhari chAcha pai nAca nacAvai ||

 

"He whom Shesha-naga, Ganapati, Shiva, Surya, and Indra constantly

glorify, He whom the best of the Vedas describe as 'beginningless,'

'unlimited,' 'unbroken,' 'impenetrable,' and 'nondual,' He whose glories

are sung by Narada, Shukadeva, and Vyasa, but whose furthest extent

remains beyond even them--that very Personality of Godhead, these

daughters of the cowherds can force to dance in hopes of a spoonful of

buttermilk!"

 

Perhaps this song was composed on the basis on the following verse

from the Shrimad Bhagavatam (10.11.7):

 

gopIbhiH stobhito 'nRtyad

bhagavAn bAlavat kvacit |

udgAyati kvacin mugdhas

tad-vazo dAru-yantravat || 7 ||

 

"The gopis would say, 'If You dance, my dear Krsna, then I shall give You

half a sweetmeat.' By saying these words or by clapping their hands, all

the gopis encouraged Krsna in different ways. At such times, although He

was the supremely powerful Personality of Godhead, He would smile and

dance according to their desire, as if He were a wooden doll in their

hands. Sometimes He would sing very loudly, at their bidding. In this way,

Krsna came completely under the control of the gopis."

 

It is pure love that Krishna is so attached to, though of course

buttermilk (like other auspicious offerings) may be the tangible

manifestation of such love. He becomes completely controlled by it

(tad-vazaH), and even forgets His own identity. There are many places

throughout Shrila Prabhupada's books in which this principle is reiterated

in various ways (cf. Bhagavatam, 1.8.31). Similarly, in Shrila Rupa

Gosvami's anthology Padyavali (133), the same idea is found in the

following beautiful verse:

 

kvAnanaM kva nayanaM kva nAsikA

kva zrutiH kva ca zikheti dezitaH |

tatra tatra nihitAGguli-dalo

ballavI-kulam anandayat prabhuH || 133 ||

 

"'Where's your face? Where are your eyes? Where's your nose? Where

are your ears? Where is your shikha?' Instructed in this way by the

cowherd ladies, the Lord put His lotus finger wherever they told Him to,

and He thus delighted them."

 

Krishna is unlimitedly greedy for this pure love; we all know from the

Shvetashvataropanishad (6.8) and other sources that He factually has

nothing to do except revel in it perpetually. The Mundaka (3.2.3) and

Kathopanishad (1.2.23) repeatedly remind us that we cannot enter into

these truths except through His Divine grace. But even if just we try to

consider just what such love means to Krishna, and how much He is both

attracted and attached to the diverse manifestations of His inexhaustible

pleasure potency, we can benefit so much!

 

[gtam]

Krishna is attached to true love.

Whether one's expression of this true love

1) is in the parental bhava where one thinks that Lord krishna is a infant.

2) is in the friendship bhava where one thinks of him as the best friend

3) is in the consort bhava where one thinks of him as the best lover

4) is in the neutral bhava where one venerates the Lord as the spiritual guide

 

and several such bhavas in all of them krishna definetely resiprocates to true love.Wherever , whenever and in whomever he senses true love he reveals himself to them in the desired bhava making it wonderful for the person in that particular bhava.

This we have seen again and again hence all our doubts,uncertainities are all temporary illusions.

 

Wishing to be always in true love with krishna.