Glimpses of Graceful Govinda

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Mangalacarana (Obeisances to Om Virnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya

Artottara-sata His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

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Falling like a stick, I bow before

the holy, gentle, graceful lotus feet

of Srila Prabhupada, who walked the street

of many a mleccha-city to implore

the fallen people of this world to place

within their hearts the gift of Krsna's grace.

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Mangalacarana

(Obeisances to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu)

.

Falling like a stick, I bow before

the holy, gentle, graceful lotus feet

of Sri Krsna Caitanya, who in a street

of Navadvipa danced and with a roar

of "Krsna! Krsna!" gave a priceless gift

to the lost souls in this dark world adrift.

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First Glimpse

The Awakening of Lord Krsna

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1. With a thousand rays, the dawning sun

begins to rise

in Vraja's skies.

The glistening moon and stars are gone.

The darkness now flees far away.

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2. On Nanda's palace fashioned bright

of rubies, pearls

and graceful curls

and filagree windows, smiling, light

and joyful infant sunbeams play.

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3. Light enters a room of jewel designs.

Fast in a deep

and blissful sleep,

smiling Krsna soft reclines

on a jewel bed at the start of day.

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4. His lotus-petal limbs now rest

on the soft bed.

His glorious head

is on a pillow placed. His chest

now gently moves with His sweet breath.

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5. Forest flowers still adorn

Him. Ah, His flute

of jewels, mute,

now rests at His side. The morn-

ing light caresses His grace of youth.

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6. Yasoda, Paurnamasi, and

Madhumangala step

through the door. They stop

before Krsna. Now they stand

before Him. Sleep His eyes still seals.

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7. "Your friends all wait. So do the cows.

Awake, awake,

Ah, break, please break,

please break this spell of sleeping now,"

Sri Krsna hears these soft appeals.

.

8. Ah! Krsna hears. Now with a slight,

graceful, and sweet

motion His feet

and arms and head He turns. The light

of morning glistens on His limbs.

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9. Through the window sunbeams stream

and gently land

on Krsna's hand,

arm, face, and chest. He floats in dream.

in pleasant sleep still Krsna swims.

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10. With lotus hand Yasoda strokes

His graceful form

like monsoon storm

clouds dark, the form of the king of jokes,

of the thief that stole the gopis' hearts.

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11. "Give up Your sleeping now, O prize

of mine. Please place

Your lotus face

before our joyful worshiping eyes."

Yasoda says with grace and art.

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12. Many words now come. Now while

Yasoda speaks,

Krsna awakes.

At her He glances with a smile,

and then again His eyes are shut.

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13. Sri Krsna glistens in the touch

of reddish dawn.

He gives a yawn.

His limbs He gently tries to stretch.

With open eyes He looks about.

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14. Now Krsna of jasmine-vine brows,

falls to the floor

and humbly before

His mother's lotus feet now bows,

respectful Krsna the loving son.

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15. He bows to Paurnamasi's two

soft lotus feet.

His words are sweet,

"I offer My respect to you",

Lotus-limbed Krsna's day has begun.

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Second Glimpse

Milking the Surabhi Cows

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1. A glistening yellow garment tied

about His waist,

A gentle smile upon His wide

soft eyes now bright with joy,

a milk-pail placed

within His hand, and many a boy

close at his side, Sri Krsna walks,

His ears now filled with jokes and talks.

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2. A burst of laughter dances now

among the friends.

Many a blossoming flower-vine brow

gracefully arches with smiles and wonder.

Every boy bends

over with waves of laughter. A thunder

and rainfall of laughter rings. It soaks

every heart in a gopa-boys' monsoon of jokes.

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3. Sri Krsna, Rama and the boys come

to the barn that's the white,

black, gray, brown, and red cows' stately glorious home.

"Ganga! Yamuna! Hamsi! Bhramari!

Dhavala!", bright

eyed Krsna calls. "Campa! Godavari!"

"Dhumra! Kamala! Rambha! Karini!

Tungi! Savali! Kalindi! Harini!"

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4. Lifting their necks, the cows all gaze

with love-filled eyes

on slender Krsna of graceful ways.

With hugs, massages, and gentle arts,

He satisfies

the surabhi cows' smiling saintly hearts.

The cows of graceful horns and hooves

are tied to Krsna with bonds of love.

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5. From their mothers' bulging spouts

the calves now sip

the white sweet milk that they draw out.

A flowing stream now Krsna makes

silently slip

past His two gentle lotus hands. Now a lake

of sweet white foamy milk slowly grows

in the glistening bucket at His feet below.

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Third Glimpse

Decorating Sri Krsna

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1. Kumuda, Subandha, Premakanda

Payoda, Dhama, Raktaka,

Patri, Karpura, Patraka,

Saranga, Sugandha, and Makaranda

serve Lord Krsna in many ways.

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2. They massage Him now with fragrant oil

They wash His dark and graceful limbs.

They dry Him with a cloth. With a comb

of jewels they carefully uncoil

His glistening hair in disarray.

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3. With glistening yellow garments now

they gird His graceful lion's waist.

On His curling ears are placed

jewel earrings. On His brow

tilaka is drawn with fragrant scents.

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4. On His feet now anklets rest.

Armlets now His arms enclose.

Bracelets on His wrists repose.

A jewel necklace presses His chest.

The servants adorn Him with ornaments.

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Fourth Glimpse

Decorating Sri Radha

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1. Radha sits on a jewel chair

in a morning-sunlight-filled palace room.

Smiling Lalita_ carefully combs

Radha's fragrant black curly hair.

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2. Radha's hair she braids with flowers.

Bracelets she places on Radha's wrists

and a jewel-belt on Radha's waist

and a finger-ring like nectar showers.

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3. Visakha now with art and grace

draws with many ornate lines

of musk and sandal sweet designs

on Radha's smiling moonlike face.

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4. She gives Radha a necklace of red and blue jewels.

On Sri Radha's feet jewel anklets she ties.

With black lines she decorates Sri Radha's eyes,

eyes like glistening dark nectar pools.

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Fifth Glimpse

The Poet of the Cooks

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1. The morning sun shines through the trees.

Sweet lotus' fragrance fills the breeze.

The cuckoos sing,

and forests ring

with sounds of playful humming bees.

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2. On the pathway lotus-eyed

Radha walks, and at Her side

are graceful friends.

As the sun ascends,

now through the flowering woods they glide.

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3. The glorious teenage traveler

now quickly walks. She playfully rests her

lotus hand

with jewel band

on a gentle friend's shoulder.

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4. Graceful Radha wears a cloak.

Her stream of clever words invoke

a stream of laughter.

Aha! One after

another the girls all smile and joke.

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5. With smiling eyes in charming bloom

now the laughing girls all come

to the glistening sapphire

ornate door

of Krsnacandra's palace home.

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6. The slender gopi visitor

with humble smiles falls to the floor.

Yasoda's sweet

soft lotus feet

graceful Radha bows before.

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7. With love Yasoda smiles. Now quick

she moves at once to pick

up in her arms

the girl with charms

so sweet, now fallen like a stick.

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8. Bowing and greeting, the beautiful

girls all laugh and smile. Now all

is joyful, bright

with jewel lights.

Now all is like a festival.

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9. Into the kitchen they quickly go.

How well, how well these girls all know,

know from start

to end the art,

the sweet sweet art of cooking, O.

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10. For smiling Krsna's sweet breakfast

the girls cook a delicious feast

with many tastes

sweetly graced,

tastes in the three worlds unsurpassed.

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11. Each girl always thinks now of

Sri Krsna. Each is deep in love

with Him, the prize

they keep in eyes

and heart. He's all they wish or have.

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12. Radha cooks and cooks. Now over

a pot of squash She puts the cover.

With hand precise

She adds the spice.

All Her thoughts are of Her lover.

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13. She cooks vegetables with pepper

and spices, and She makes sweet nectar.

She makes a stream,

sweet like a dream,

of flowing yogurt mixed with sugar.

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14. Kara, bilva and patola fruit

She fries in ghee. With alu root

and poet's care,

now smiling, fair

Sri Radha makes kurmanda sweet.

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15. With graceful skill Sri Radha makes

buttermilk and mung-dal cakes,

and ccoked plantains

like nectar rains,

and fruit-juice sweet like nectar lakes.

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16. She fries many a tasty flower,

and cooks vegetables sweet and sour,

and tumbi squash

like a sweet splash

of nectar or a nectar shower.

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17. Ah, what sweetness She achieves

with shredded bitter nalita leaves,

a surging flow

of sweetness no

one quite in mind or heart believes.

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18. Placing pans upon the heat.

She makes bitter, sour, and sweet

and spice-graced foods

that flowing floods

of sweetest nectar do defeat.

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19. Ah, what a great variety

of sweet delicious foods does She

with skill and care

and love prepare

Her lover's joyful smile to see.

Sixth Glimpse

Lord Krsna's Breakfast

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1. The fragrant smoke of incense drifts

in curling figures in the air

of Nanda's glistening breakfast-room.

From filigree windows a breeze now lifts

the fragrance, ah, of mango, pear,

and many foods sweet like perfume.

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2. "Krsna! Krsna! Hurry! All

Your friends have come! Rama and Subala wait

for You! Ah! Sridama, Madhu and

Vasanta are already here! Must I call

You again and again and again? Don't be late!"

Yasoda grasps His lotus hand.

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3. Gently grasping His mother's soft

hand, Krsna steps amidst the boys.

A shower of greeting, calling, and cheers

of "Krsna! Krsna!" rises aloft

and falls on each head. Sweet waves of joys

splash on each laughing gopa boy's ears.

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4. His limbs like lotus flowers growing

in a glistening nectar lake,

and His graceful playful joking words

like lotus flowers' fragrance blowing

in the breeze, Sri Krsna comes to take

His breakfast now of fruit and curds.

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5. Sri Balarama at His side,

Sri Krsna sits. His smiling face

is like a moon of flooding bliss.

His lotus eyes are opened wide.

His gestures move with waves of grace.

Each friend is like Sri Krsna is.

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6. Smiling Rohini serves the feast.

With smiling blossoming lotus eyes,

Sri Krsna happily tastes and eats

so many foods. With joy increased

and then again increased, the prize

He tastes, the prize of graceful sweets.

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7. The boys all eat. Now from across

the room, a smiling boy exclaims

a wish for a golden laddu. Snatch-

ing one from His plate, with a graceful toss,

Krsna sends one through the air. Like in a game,

the friend gets it with an expert catch.

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8. A blissful chaos of joking reigns.

From one and then another side ring

echoes of thundering laughter and the play

of persistent nectar monsoon rains

of jokes from laughing boys relishing

breakfast from many a golden tray.

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Seventh Glimpse

Lord Krsna Departs for the Forest. Pastimes

With the Cowherd Boys.

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1. At His parents' feet Sri Krsna humbly bows.

They pick Him up. They hug Him tight.

They soak Him now with loving tears.

They gaze into their dear, dear, dear

son's smiling, playful, large bright

eyes. Surrounded now by lowing cows

and boys with joking talks,

Sri Krsna walks

the forest path among the flowering trees.

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2. His body like a saphire, tilaka marks

upon His moonlike face, a sweet,

short bamboo flute so deftly placed

within the cloth about His waist,

with soft and dancing feet

Sri Krsnacandra moves beneath the dark

green branches gently stirred

by cooing birds

and fragrant flowers that attract black bees.

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3. The forest path leads to an opening

splendid, green,and fragrant, thick

with blooming flowers and bursting buds.

From bamboo flutes the boys make floods

of nectar music quick

with clear, sweet, cheerful, glorious notes now sing

with playful waves of sound.

Tapping the ground,

Laughing Krsna and His friends now dance.

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4. Gathering among the forest leaves and flowers,

Sri Krsna's friends begin a tournament

of graceful, glistening puns and jests.

The warriors boys begin the test

with bright poetic ornaments.

Now their glittering satires show their powers.

Now the boys with lotus-eyes,

in jesting wise,

contend, their jokes like arrow, sword, and lance.

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5. In the forest a game is played. The ball,

a bright and sweet round fruit, is tossed

into the air. A gopa catches

it. Another quickly snatches

it and runs. Who now has lost

or won? Into whose hands do prizes fall?

In the parasol of skiesŠthe bright ball flies.

Rapt in the game, Sri Krsna laughs and laughs.

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6. The laughing boys and surabhi cows now climb

a gentle slope. The surabhi cows

all stop. With smiling eyes they chew

the new green grass. The clear bright blue

sky glistens from above them. Now

is fragrant-flower-filled springtime.

Standing, peaceful, happy, and still,

on Govardhana Hill,

Sri Krsna watches and leans upon His staff.

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7. Surrounded by His friends under the shade

of a great flowering tree, its root

His seat, Sri Krsna tastes the rice

with yogurt, sugar, and slices

of sweet delicious fruit,

and many other foods all now displayed

there. Krsna enjoys His lunch,

as a crowning bunch

of leaves and fragrant flowers adorns His hair.

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8. In the shade of a tree on Vraja's green hillside

tired Krsna takes a nap.

His limbs are graceful. His smile is sweet.

His two soft and glorious feet

rest in a gopa's lap.

Lotus-limbed, lotus-smile, lotus-eyed

Sri Krsna tastes deep, deep,

deep nectar sleep,

as a gopa massages His feet with gentle care.

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Eighth Glimpse

Prayers of the Forest Animals

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1. "Gently nectar melodies

with drums and softly singing lute

and cymbals and sweet-sounding flute

float by kalpa-vakra trees.

In a forest, by a stream

of nectar waves within a jewel

paved courtyard, on a flower-filled hill

softly breathing with a flower breeze,

Sri Krsna and the gopis dance

in the moonlit midnight hour.

Let us praise Them," now the king

of parrot poets gently sings.

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2. "In the forest of flowering trees

dark Krsna with bright lotus eyes

smiling catches by surprise

Vraja's teenage girls. `King Kama decrees

that every teenage girl who walks

upon this forest-flower path

must bow to Him, or face His wrath.

O girls of smiles and joking talks,

O girls of lotus eyes and limbs,

O girls of graceful steps, why, why

do you all rashly now defy

his words?' Sri Krsna teases. Hymns

within our throats, we try to please

him with our prayers," say all the bees.

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3. "O a pleasant springtime day,

where a flower lattice covers

the forest glade, the teenage lovers

Radha and Krsna joke and play.

As the dappled sunlight plays

upon Their graceful, graceful forms,

They are trapped in each other's charms.

Into each other's eyes They gaze.

Happily pass the nights and days.

Together They sip from a nectar cup.

Together They happily climb now up

a flowering hill. Praise Them! Praise

Them! Praise Them!" Thus the blossoming

white jasmine flowers together sing.

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4. Sri Krsna sits where the flower vines grow.

He places the bamboo flute to His lips.

His fingers over the openings slip.

His nectar breath begins to blow.

Now a playful, wave-filled, flooding,

dancing, laughing, sighing, slow

river of nectar begins to flow.

Now a sweetly fragrant, budding

vine of graceful melodies

bursts into bloom. Now waves of notes

dive, rise, and swim, and play, and float.

We worship them." Thus in the trees,

on branches, gathered in a ring,

the cooing cuckoo singers sing.

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5. "In this forest place are pressed

the marks of Krsna's delicate, sweet,

graceful, blossoming lotus feet.

These footmarks go up to the crest

of lofty Govardhana Hill.

They enter and exit the yawning caves.

They playfully go to the water's waves.

Here turning and turning they lightly fill

the circle of dancing. Here they caress

the forest path. Sometimes they mingle

with other's footmarks. Sometimes single

they stand. May Krsna's footmarks bless

us." Bowing their antlers, the forest deer

respectfully repeat this prayer.

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6. "The sky and land are bright. A bath

of the great moon's sweet, cooling, white,

auspicious, nectarean light

washes now the water's path.

Radha and Krsna ride in a boat.

A glittering mosaic of waves

the wonderful watery courtyard paves.

The jewel vessel gently floats.

A gopi now, with graceful style

breathes sweet melodies into a flute.

Another gopi strikes the lute.

Radha and Krsna happily smile.

Before Their feet my head bows down."

Thus revently sings the swimming swan.

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Ninth Glimpse

A Rasa Dance

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1. In Vraja a graceful, pleasant autumn day

comes to its end. Sri Krsnacandra sits

under a fragrant-flower-filled tree to play

many sweet melodies on His favorite

gistening long jewel-flute. Into the moonlit

evening's rural , silent atmosphere

comes a long, slow stream of music with infinite

grace that flows

from Krsna's slow

sweet nectar breath. With soft, poetic, clear

words the melody says to the beautiful teenage gopis' ears:

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2. We have run over forests and rivers and valleys and hills.

We have run with our hearts and our breath beating fast. We have flown

here to bring you this news: Now graceful Krsna fills

a flute with His nectar breath. On an ornate throne

of flowers He sits. Now tone after nectar tone

of sweet music cascade from His glistening flute. None

is handsome like Him. He sits in a place overgrown

with blossoming

flowers. He sings

songs with His flute. He smiles. He loves you. Shun

your house and your kin. He is splendid with bliss. Run to him! Run!

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3. Hearing this message, the gopis in the grip

of cruel-hearted husbands and of stern-

eyed elders plan how they may somehow slip

from out their houses. They feel flames now burn

and touch and lick them from all sides. They yearn

to touch Sri Krsna's feet. Is destiny

their enemy? Unseen by others, they spurn

their homes. Now,

under the boughs

of the forest, following the melody

into the darkened, flower-filled woods, the gopis flee.

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4. The girls pursue the nectar melody

as it dances in that glistening night.

The arching branches' flowering canopy

stands above. Now in the white moonlight

graceful Krsna stands before their sight.

They gaze at Him like yogis in a trance.

His teasing words are playful. He invites

the gopis all

with a blissful

restless sidelong lotus-flower glance.

Smiling, with them He enters the circle of the dance.

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5. The gopi musicians gather in a place

and play a glorious dancing serenade

upon the flute and lute and drum. With grace

they play a flooding, surging, sweet cascade

of melodies that fill the forest glade.

In the moonlit circle bright with pearls

red rubies and blue sapphires inlaid,

with playful, fleet,

and graceful feet

step Krsna and, with flower-braided curls,

Gokulapura's dancing, lotuslike teenage girls.

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6.All around handsome Krsna gather the slender,

lotus-eyed gopis. The dancing melodies climb.

The dancing circle is filled with colorful splendor.

The jewel anklets, belts, and bracelets chime.

The drums and cymbals lift the music's time.

The gopi singers float the mystic chants.

Now every heart is filled with sweet, sublime,

flooding, endless,

nectarean bliss.

Placing on Krsnacandra every glance,

The graceful teenage gopis in the circle dance.

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7. Radha and Krsna dance within the center

of the circle by gopis beautified</