Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama
Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare
Please pardon me as I gush for a moment about how in love I am with this deity, Shree Raseshwari Radha Rani, located at the Radha Madhav Dham in Austin, Texas. It is the first time I have seen a deity of Radharani singularly, in her queenly, majestic aspect, indeed as Queen of Vrindavan. She looks so serene, so haughty, proud and beautiful. I am grateful to the wonderful Srimati Radharani page on Facebook for granting me my first darshan of this amazing deity. HARE KRISHNA!!!
71 The crest jewel of all beautiful girls is now manifest deep in Vrndavana forest, a girl who is the devotees’ cintamani jewel, a girl who is a jewel streaming the nectar of great bliss, a girl who with the slightest amorous signal from Her eyebrows bewilders He who is the jewel of Vraja.
72 Sri Radha, whose waves of sidelong glances gave birth to many millions of Kamadevas proudly standing with twanging archers’ bows, and who, in the first entrance of youth has become wonderful and glorious with limitless floods of the greatest sweetness, is our queen.
73 Brahma, Siva, and the demigods are not qualified to place on their heads even a single particle of dust from Radha’s feet. Even so, they who take shelter of the gopis in the course of time eventually attain Sri Radha, who is the great treasure of the nectar ocean of love. O destiny, I bow down before you.
74 Let the affectionate relatives stay far away. Let the friends and servants stay far away. How can anyone approach? In a forest grove King Vrsabhanu’s daughter now enjoys pastimes with Her passionate lover. Standing at the doorway, I, Her dear maidservant, will hear the tinkling of the ornaments at Her waist.
75 O Sri Radha, in my heart may I always see in meditation the softness of Your fair limbs, the sweetness of Your smile, the longness of the corners of Your eyes, the heaviness of Your breasts, the slenderness of Your waist, the slow grace of Your steps, the broadness of Your hips, the curve of Your eyebrows, the redness of Your bimba-fruit lips, and the coolness of the nectar in Your heart.
The Vedas describe Krishna in this way- He appears as a handsome youth with a glowing complexion the color of rain clouds. He plays a flute, attracting the hearts of all. His smile is enchanting, and He wears a peacock feather in His curly black hair and a flower garland around His neck. His eternal kingdom is known as Goloka, where it is said that every word is a song, every step a dance, and every moment new, fresh, and filled with spiritual bliss.
When Lord Kṛṣṇa was within this universe, Brahmā played a trick on Him in order to confirm that the cowherd boy inVṛndāvana was actually Kṛṣṇa Himself. By his mystic power, Brahmā stole all the cows, calves and cowherd friends of Kṛṣṇa and hid them. However, when he returned to see what Kṛṣṇa was doing alone, he saw that Kṛṣṇa was still playing with the same cows, calves and cowherd boys. In other words, by His Vaikuṇṭha potency, Lord Kṛṣṇa had expanded all the stolen cows, calves and friends. Indeed, Brahmā saw millions and billions of them, and he also saw millions and billions of tons of sugarcane and fruit, lotus flowers and horns. The cowherd boys were decorated with various clothes and ornaments, and no one could count their vast numbers. Indeed, Brahmā saw that each of the cowherd boys had become a four-handed Nārāyaṇa like the predominating Deity of each brahmāṇḍa, and he also saw that innumerable Brahmās were engaged in offering obeisances to the Lord. He saw that all of them were emanating from the body of Kṛṣṇa and, after a second, also entering into His body. LordBrahmā became struck with wonder and in his prayer admitted that although anyone and everyone could say that they knew about Kṛṣṇa, as far as he was concerned, he did not know anything about Him. “My dear Lord,” he said, “the potencies and opulences which You have exhibited just now are beyond the ability of my mind to understand.”
![śrī-bhagavān uvāca vetthedaṁ droṇa-putrasya brāhmam astraṁ pradarśitam naivāsau veda saṁhāraṁ prāṇa-bādha upasthite
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Know from Me that this is the act of the son of Droṇa. He has thrown the hymns of nuclear energy [brahmāstra], and he does not know how to retract the glare. He has helplessly done this, being afraid of imminent death.
PURPORT
The brahmāstra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combustibility, and so the brahmāstra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmāstra is a subtle type of weapon produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone by such science was cultivated in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler. A chanter of hymns knew how to apply the weapon as well as how to retract it. That was perfect knowledge. But the son of Droṇācārya, who made use of this subtle science, did not know how to retract. He applied it, being afraid of his imminent death, and thus the practice was not only improper but also irreligious. As the son of a brāhmaṇa, he should not have made so many mistakes, and for such gross negligence of duty he was to be punished by the Lord Himself.
na hy asyānyatamaṁ kiñcid astraṁ pratyavakarśanam jahy astra-teja unnaddham astra-jño hy astra-tejasā
TRANSLATION
O Arjuna, only another brahmāstra can counteract this weapon. Since you are expert in the military science, subdue this weapon’s glare with the power of your own weapon.
PURPORT
For the atomic bombs there is no counterweapon to neutralize the effects. But by subtle science the action of a brahmāstra can be counteracted, and those who were expert in the military science in those days could counteract the brahmāstra. The son of Droṇācārya did not know the art of counteracting the weapon, and therefore Arjuna was asked to counteract it by the power of his own weapon.
sūta uvāca śrutvā bhagavatā proktaṁ phālgunaḥ para-vīra-hā spṛṣṭvāpas taṁ parikramya brāhmaṁ brāhmāstraṁ sandadhe
TRANSLATION
Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī said: Hearing this from the Personality of Godhead, Arjuna touched water for purification, and after circumambulating Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, he cast his brahmāstra weapon to counteract the other one.
saṁhatyānyonyam ubhayos tejasī śara-saṁvṛte āvṛtya rodasī khaṁ ca vavṛdhāte ‘rka-vahnivat
TRANSLATION
When the rays of the two brahmāstras combined, a great circle of fire, like the disc of the sun, covered all outer space and the whole firmament of planets.
PURPORT
The heat created by the flash of a brahmāstra resembles the fire exhibited in the sun globe at the time of cosmic annihilation. The radiation of atomic energy is very insignificant in comparison to the heat produced by a brahmāstra. The atomic bomb explosion can at utmost blow up one globe, but the heat produced by the brahmāstra can destroy the whole cosmic situation. The comparison is therefore made to the heat at the time of annihilation.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m65gnsXZ7H1qg39ewo1_500.gif)
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
vetthedaṁ droṇa-putrasya
brāhmam astraṁ pradarśitam
naivāsau veda saṁhāraṁ
prāṇa-bādha upasthite
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Know from Me that this is the act of the son of Droṇa. He has thrown the hymns of nuclear energy [brahmāstra], and he does not know how to retract the glare. He has helplessly done this, being afraid of imminent death.
The brahmāstra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combustibility, and so the brahmāstra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmāstra is a subtle type of weapon produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone by such science was cultivated in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler. A chanter of hymns knew how to apply the weapon as well as how to retract it. That was perfect knowledge. But the son of Droṇācārya, who made use of this subtle science, did not know how to retract. He applied it, being afraid of his imminent death, and thus the practice was not only improper but also irreligious. As the son of a brāhmaṇa, he should not have made so many mistakes, and for such gross negligence of duty he was to be punished by the Lord Himself.
na hy asyānyatamaṁ kiñcid
astraṁ pratyavakarśanam
jahy astra-teja unnaddham
astra-jño hy astra-tejasā
O Arjuna, only another brahmāstra can counteract this weapon. Since you are expert in the military science, subdue this weapon’s glare with the power of your own weapon.
For the atomic bombs there is no counterweapon to neutralize the effects. But by subtle science the action of a brahmāstra can be counteracted, and those who were expert in the military science in those days could counteract the brahmāstra. The son of Droṇācārya did not know the art of counteracting the weapon, and therefore Arjuna was asked to counteract it by the power of his own weapon.
sūta uvāca
śrutvā bhagavatā proktaṁ
phālgunaḥ para-vīra-hā
spṛṣṭvāpas taṁ parikramya
brāhmaṁ brāhmāstraṁ sandadhe
Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī said: Hearing this from the Personality of Godhead, Arjuna touched water for purification, and after circumambulating Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, he cast his brahmāstra weapon to counteract the other one.
saṁhatyānyonyam ubhayos
tejasī śara-saṁvṛte
āvṛtya rodasī khaṁ ca
vavṛdhāte ‘rka-vahnivat
When the rays of the two brahmāstras combined, a great circle of fire, like the disc of the sun, covered all outer space and the whole firmament of planets.
The heat created by the flash of a brahmāstra resembles the fire exhibited in the sun globe at the time of cosmic annihilation. The radiation of atomic energy is very insignificant in comparison to the heat produced by a brahmāstra. The atomic bomb explosion can at utmost blow up one globe, but the heat produced by the brahmāstra can destroy the whole cosmic situation. The comparison is therefore made to the heat at the time of annihilation.
Krishna Stealing the Clothes of Cowherdesses,
illustration to the Bhagavata Purana, Tira-Sujanpur, early 18th century
