Verse 44

 

Translation

 

Dear Krishna! When will I get to see your lotus-like face with Your rosy lips that are always lit up with soft smiles and are twice alluring due to the blissfully serene song of the flute, and Your restless half-open beautiful large eyes? .44.

 

rimati Râdhârâni is once again thinking of the look on Sri Krishna’s face when He had sent Her to the kunja with His eyes. Her mind was full of depression and ‘outsukya’. No matter what happens, a devotee never accepts anyone other than Sri Krishna, the Beloved of her heart. In Srimad-Bhâgavatam we find Sri Rukmini devi is saying –

 

“O Lotus-eyed One! If I cannot get Your mercy I shall die one hundred times by performing austerities, yet not accept anyone but You.” – [Srimad-Bhâgavatam 10.52.43]

 

Again in Râs-leelâ when Sri Krishna ignored the Gopis, they prayed, 

“O Krishna! Your laughing gaze and very sweet flute has aroused the fire of passion in our hearts. Please extinguish this fire with the flow of Your nectarine lips. Otherwise, Oh Friend, we will be scorched by the fire of viraha and die meditating on Your feet and thus present ourselves at Your feet in the next birth.”

                            – [Srimad-Bhâgavatam 10.29.35]

 

In this manner Sri Râdhârâni is lamenting in delirium and Sri Lilâshuk is echoing Her feelings.

 

Sri Râdhâ is saying – “O Krishna! I will never get to behold Your lotus-face in this life, I just hope I will get darshan in some other birth. Your lotus-face is always lit up with soft smiles. Your lips are rosy with Your colourful smile that destroys all sorrow and ignorance. The brilliance of Your soft smiles puts to shame the whiteness of a blooming kunda-flower!”

 

“jahan jahan heriye madhurima hâs,

tahan tahan kunda-kusum parakash.”

 

“Wherever the light of Your sweet smile falls, there from springs forth a kunda in bloom.” – [Govinda dâs]

 

The smile is not only brilliant; it also tastes sweeter than nectar.

 

“jahan lahu hâs sanchar, tanhi tanhi amiya bithar.”

 

“His soft smile scatters nectar wherever it touches.”

                                  – [Vidyâpati]

 

The brilliant rays of the smile light up His rosy lips. Srila Kavi Karnapur has written –

 

“sindura-sundaratara-adharam-indu-kunda-mandara-manda-hasita-dyuti-deepitangsham.”

 

Meaning – “His lips are more beautiful than sindoor and His smile is radiant like the moon, kunda and mandâr flowers.”

 

Srimati is saying that the sweet flow of venu-geet is perennial and it is doubly alluring because it is dripping with the joy of having sent me to the kunja. The sweet soft smile on His infinitely sweet lotus-face and the nectarine flow of venu-geet steal the heart and soul of the Vrajabâlâ.

 

“His eyes with rose-tipped corners are naturally troublesome. Moreover His glance is crooked. It went right through my bosom and cut asunder the thread of my patience.

 

Look my dear friend! He looks as if a lightning (golden yellow robe) is flashing across the water-laden clouds (His body). His soft smile fanned the flame of passion in my heart. The smoke arising from this fire clouds the intellect of any honourable woman and casts her away from the path of dharma. Above all He holds the flute to His lips and blows into it which ravages all sense of honour. Poet Ghana Shyâm dâs says – O Priceless One! (Râdhe!) Bring Him, O bring Him amidst Your heart.”

 

When His sportive eyes send me to the kunja they glisten and become half shut. Then how captivating they look! Sri Râdhâ is telling a sakhi during purva-râg –

 

“His complexion is brilliant like an emerald mirror. The Love-god is desirous of beholding every part of His body. I could not read the language of His rose-tipped eyes, all I could feel were the flower tipped arrows they shot at me.

 

Ei sakhi! Why did I have to meet Nanda-nandan? Now my home is appearing like a dark forest and the moonlight is scorching me.  The South wind has become unfavourable and I cannot bear the coolness of the moonlight. Lay me on a bed of lotus petals. Its scorpion-bite is the right punishment for a so-called honourable lady like me. My mind’s eye is transfixed on Krishna. All my self-control and shame have fled far from me. What is the use of retaining this lonely life? Poet Govinda dâs consoles – ‘You will surely meet Kânu.’”

 

Srimati is saying, I will die soon in Your viraha. But I nurse a strong hope of seeing Your face just once before I die. We read in Padyâvali –

                  

“O sakhi! If Yadupati doesn’t come, I don’t mind. If I die in His viraha, let it be, but a huge thunderbolt is striking in my heart because I am not able to behold His moon like face.” – [339]

 

 

The poet is praying in siddha-deha – When will I get to see Sri Krishna’s face coupled with Sri Râdhâ?

 

Sri Krishna’s lips are more ‘arun’ than ‘arun’

In the sâdhak–deha Sri Lilâshuk is an expert in drawing the picture of Sri Krishna’s beauty. He must have actually seen it; otherwise it is impossible to draw such a fine picture. His lips are very rosy and they are always radiant with serene smile. His smile is novel every moment by its beauty. Moreover sweet venu–geet is flowing from His lips. The waves of joy emanating from the flute are dashing back against those very lips. His eyes are large but now they are half-closed in pleasure! They have lit up His beautiful face with an inexpressible beauty. Sri Lilâshuk is saying – when will I get to see such a beautiful face?

 

(to be contd….)