The poet who is in the bhâv of a sakhi said: The face of this lustrous God is so beautiful with its so-sweet smile. His eyes are so large! His hairstyle with its intoxicated1 peacock feathers is so captivating! O Sakhi! The peacocks of Sri Vrindâvan are inebriated with good fortune. When Sri Krishna enters the pastures of Vrindâvan to graze the cattle, the peacocks see their feathers atop His crown and consider themselves most fortunate! They fan out their feathers and dance all around Him. Govinda too balances Himself on His hands and dances sweetly like them. Seeing Him dancing, they dance more jubilantly, thus shedding their feathers. Shyâmsundar thinks, they are so happy with my dance that they are offering me these feathers as reward. So He reverently and joyously picks them up and adorns His head with them. The peacocks are indeed fortunate!
Sometimes the peacocks behold Sri Krishna’s fresh cloud-like splendour, get intoxicated with love and start dancing attractively. The feathers that are shed due to this inebriated love, adorn Sri Krishna’s curly locks. Hence, the Gopis too get intoxicated with love when they behold His crown.
‘mada-shikhi’ means intoxicated feathers. It expresses the how much the peacocks are under the influence of His love and how their feathers bounce in jubilation.
(to be continued)
1 Since the peacock-feathers dance like inebriated person