Blissful Sports of the Lord - Bala Lila Madhuri

[Guest guest]

Namaste dear blessed souls.

 

I recall a hilarious 'pada' of 'Bala Lila Madhuri' composed

in 'Vraja Bhashaa' a few years ago by Sri Kripaluji Maharaj

for the singing and contemplative pleasure of the 'rasik devotees'.

I heard it for the first time from him along with his sweet

explanation in the summer of 2000.

 

I do not have each and every word of the six-lined pada but will give

in my translation a short summary of the delightful Lila of the Lord.

 

"kona duhAvai gayyA, kAnhA, tohe kona duhAvai gayyA..."

 

Lord Krishna performed many blissful pastimes in Vraja showering

continuous pleasure upon His surrendered souls, the extremely

fortunate pure devotees.

 

Sri Maharaj ji always makes it a point to stress on the unique Divine

attribute of Lord Krishna's 'bhakta vazya' aspect. Every exploit of

the Lord in Vraja is an act of His unlimited Grace.

 

Once the young Cowherd-Child, Bala Gopala desiring to do 'His seva',

loving service, to His Gopis, offered to milk their cows, as an act of

humble help. The Gopis were thrilled to have Him in their cow-pen and

get a glimpse of His irresistable beauty and charm while milking their

cows.

 

But one mischievous Gopi started teasing Bala Gopala at the

'milking lila' in this 'pada' of Sri Maharj ji.

 

She says with a circastic tone,

 

"O my dear sweet Kanhaia, (pet name for Lord Krishna)!

For heaven's sake, who would let you milk their cows?

Who could be stupid enough to give you that task of milking their

cows?

What actually you know about or have any experience in milking the

cows?

 

First of all Your complexion itself is so dark, and on top of it you

carry a black shawl on your shoulders. No wonder if the cows get so

scared of you and wouldn't even let you come close to them at all!

 

You are notorious for your mischief, always your mind and heart is

somewhere else as you're either planning to steal butter in some

Gopi's house or to break their pots or to flirt with some other Gopis

stealing their cloths, ornaments, hearts, etc.,. blush.gif

 

You are always seem to be lost in your wild thoughts as if you're

contemplating upon your Sweethearts (to bless their selfless Divine

Love practiced for many many lives with the 'fruit' of 'Prema daan').

 

So you cannot concentrate yourself fully on the task of milking the

cows since your mind is always wandering somewhere else.

 

Without much concentration, how can you possibly accomplish milking

the udder of the cow as the stream of milk is not properly directed

towards the mouth of the vessel to collect the milk?

The streams of milk are wasted on the ground or at some other place

due to the lack of proper aiming.

 

Another problem is even if you try to concentrate aiming the stream of

milk from the udder of the cow to fall nicely into the vessel, the job

is only half done! rolleyes.gif

 

Because with one hand you direct the milk squirting from the udder of

the cow into your own mouth and with the other hand you make the milk

stream from another teat fall into the milk holding vessel.

 

Thus only half of the milk is being collected by your funny process of

milking! And the other half is consumed by your blessed self! wink.gif

 

So which fool would let you milk their cows?"

 

Hearing these teasing remarks by the tough Gopi, Bala Gopala became

disappointed. He has descended on to the earthly abode from Divine

Goloka to enjoy the blissful pastimes of loving service to His pure

devotees.

 

Now this mischievous Gopi is ridiculing His performance of milking the

cows. His innocent facial expressions started to change showing the

signs of an impending crying spell. The Gopi immensely enjoyed this

exquisite tender charm and special change in the beauty of the young

Lord's baby face, who is about to cry helplessly!

 

In the concluding verse, the Poet-Saint cleverly changes the words of

the mischievous Gopi. Witnessing the Lord's situation and taking His

side, he tries to rescue Him refuting the Gopi's statement by twisting

her own words, smartly saying:

 

"ko 'na' duhA vai gayyA, kAnhA tohe ko 'na' duhAvai gayyA..."

 

Meaning here has completely changed as he separates 'na' from 'ko' -

 

"Who (which fool of course) would 'not' let you milk their cows?"

 

"You are such an adorable Sweetheart, and having the blessed vision of

Your Divineself milking their cows is a wonderful benediction.

Which fool can resist from having You at their cow-pen to

whole-heartedly enjoy Your Divine charm and the blissful exploit !"

 

Another Rasik Saint wrote in his literature:

 

"In the evening when Radhika hears that Krishna has gone

milking his cows, she is very eager to see that. She goes to a

beautiful garden on the bank of Pavana Sarovara. There she climbs a

watchtower together with her sakhis and manjaris. And they all stare

at Krishna, drinking his beauty through their eyes.

 

Radhika is astonished by Krishna's beauty and she is describing it to

her girlfriends. She is very carefully looking at different parts of

Krishna's body and all the ornaments, and praising them all.

 

Krishna is on his knees among his many many cows, he is milking one of

them, and the others are already eager to be touched by him. One cow's

belly touches slightly Krishna's turban making it almost fall off.

This makes Krishna's curly locks fall on his beautiful moonlike face.

His beautiful reddish lips are shining through his locks, and his eyes

are restlessly looking here and there."

 

, pyari_h <no_reply> wrote:

 

> karmANyanIhasya bhavo 'bhavasya te

> durgAzrayo 'thAribhayAt palAyanam |

> kAlAtmano yat pramadAyutAzrayaH

> svAtman rate khidyati dhIr vidAm iha ||

>

> SBh.P 3.4.16

>

> "O Lord! Your activities are without any material

> motives, and Your birth is still of the Birthless.

> Although You take the form of death itself,

> You flee into the fortress out of fear of Your enemies,

> and although You are satisfied in Your blissful Self,

> You take shelter of many pleasing youthful women

> - all these actions of Yours torment even the wise

> and the enlightened ones with doubts."

>

>

> Jaya Sri Radhey!