Site menuChapter 31: The Songs of the Gopîs in Separation
(1)
The gopîs said: 'By Your birth
is the land of Vraja more and more glorious and does the goddess of
fortune reside there perpetually; indeed o Beloved, may You be seen in
all directions, You for whom Your devotees sustain their life airs in
search of You. (2) Not being
here, o Finest of Grace, do You, with the beauty of Your glance - which
excels the exquisite beauty of the heart of the lotus that so perfectly
grew in the pond of autumn - kill us, the maidservants who gave
themselves to You without expecting anything in return, o Lord of Love;
isn't that murder? (3) Time and
again, o Greatest Personality, have we by You been protected from all
the fearsome: from perishing by the water [of Kâliya, 10.16], from the demon [Agha, 10.12], from the rains, the storm and thunderbolts
[of Indra, 10.25] and from
the bull and the son of Maya [the incidents with Arishthâsura and
Vyomâsura which S'uka discusses later]. (4) O Friend, indeed are You who arose in the
dynasty of Your devotees [the Sâtvatas] not the son of the gopî
[Yas'odâ]; Your Lordship art the seer, the inner
consciousness of all embodied beings, o You who appeared on the request
of Brahmâ [thus called Vikhanasâ, 'the one who digs up',
see 3.8: 16 and 10.14] who was
praying for the protection of the universe. (5)
You who took the hand of the goddess, o best of the Vrishnis, brought
fearlessness to those who in the fear of their material existence
approached Your feet; please, o Lover fulfilling the desires, place
Your lotuslike hand on our heads. (6)
O Destroyer of the suffering of the inhabitants of Vraja, o Hero of the
women who by His own smile defeats the false smiles of the people,
please accept, o Friend, us, Your eternal maidservants; please show
Your beautiful lotus face. (7)
You who of the embodied surrendered to You remove the sins, who is
after the grazers, who art the abode of the goddess, who placed His
feet on the hoods of the serpent, please put Your lotus feet on our
breasts and banish the lust in our hearts. (8)
O You with Your lotus eyes, of Your sweet charming voice and words so
attractive to the intelligent, are these maidservants, o Hero, losing
their minds; please restore us to life with the nectar of Your lips. (9) Your sweet talks as described by the great
thinkers do, driving away all sins, bring the wretched back to life and
give, charged with spiritual power, upon being heard the spiritual
benefit; o how beneficent are the persons who with song spread those
talks all over the world [*].
(10)
We are happy to meditate Your affectionate
smiles of divine love, Your glances and pastimes, but the conversations
in secret, which go to the heart, o deceiver, disturb our minds! (11) When You leave Vraja to herd the animals, o
Master, are we pained, feeling uncomfortable within, o Lover, thinking
of the husks, grasses and sprouting plants sharp to Your feet that are
more beautiful, o Master, than a lotus. (12)
At the end of the day showing Your bluish black locks and lotus face
covered thick with dust, do You time and again bring Cupid to our
minds, o Hero. (13) Fulfilling
the desires of those who bow down, being worshiped by the one born on
the lotus [Brahmâ], being the ornament of the earth and the
object proper to meditate upon in times of distress, are the lotus feet
giving the highest satisfaction; so please o Lover, o Remover of the
Anxiety, place Your feet upon our breasts. (14)
By the vibrations of Your flute increases the happiness of love and is
the grief destroyed; abundantly kissed [by You] are the attachments to
other persons forgotten - please, o hero, distribute to us the nectar
of Your lips! (15) When You go
to the forest during the day becomes to those who do not see Your
curling locks of hair and Your beautiful face, a single moment like an
eon; and how foolish is, to the ones who were granted the vision, he
[Brahmâ] who created the eyelids! (16)
Completely neglecting our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and
other relatives sought we Your presence o Acyuta, You who know the
reasons for our movements; o cheater, how could You abandon the women
bewildered by the clear sound of Your flute in the night! (17) Privately chatting finding the lust rising
in our hearts, seeing Your smiling face and loving glances and Your
broad chest that is the abode of the goddess, have our minds, madly
craving, over and over been bewildered by You. (18) Your so tender lotus feet we place, o love,
gently on our breasts afraid that the forest You roam might be rough to
them; we, who consider Your Lordship our very life, are with our minds
fluttering concerned for them not to suffer any harm from small pebbles
and so.'
