beautiful

The attitude of the Gopis is just like a mirror on which the reflection of Krishna's beauty develops at every moment. Both Krishna and the Gopis increase their transcendental beauty at every moment, and there is always transcendental competition between them. Nobody can appreciate the beauty of Krishna by proper discharge of his occupational duty, or by austerities, or by mystic Yoga, or by cultivation of knowledge, or by offering different kinds of prayer. Only those who are on the transcendental platform of love of God-who only out of love are engaged in devotional service-can appreciate the transcendental beauty of Krishna. Such beauty of Krishna is the essence of all opulences, and His characteristics in that connection are only appreciable in Goloka Vrindaban and not anywhere else. In the Form of Narayan the beauties of mercy, reputation, etc. are all established by Krishna. But His gentleness and magnanimity cannot be possible in Narayan. They are found only in Krishna.    (More...)

In the Third Canto, 2nd Chapter, 12th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Uddhava tells Vidura, "My dear sir, Krsna's form was most wonderful when He appeared on this planet and exhibited the potency of His internal energy. His wonderfully attractive form was present during His pastimes on this planet, and by His internal potency He exhibited His opulences, which are striking to everyone. His personal beauty was so great that there was no necessity for His wearing ornaments on His body. In fact, instead of the ornaments beautifying Krsna, Krsna's beauty enhanced the ornaments."    (More...)

Regarding the attractiveness of Krsna's bodily beauty and the sound vibration of His flute, in the Tenth Canto, 29th Chapter, 37th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the gopis address Krsna as follows: "Although our attitude towards You resembles loving affairs with a paramour, we cannot but wonder at how no woman can maintain her chastity upon hearing the vibration from Your flute. And not only women, but even stronghearted men are subject to falling down from their position at the sound of Your flute. In fact, we have seen that in Vrndavana even the cows, the deer, the birds, the trees-everyone-has been enchanted by the sweet vibration of Your flute and the fascinating beauty of Your person."    (More...)

In Rūpa Gosvami's Lalita-madhava, it is said: "One day Krsna happened to see the shadow of His beautiful form reflected on the jeweled foreground. Upon seeing this bodily reflection, He expressed His feelings: 'How wonderful it is that I have never seen such a beautiful form! Although it is My own form, still, like Radharani, I am trying to embrace this form and enjoy celestial bliss.' " This statement shows how Krsna and His shadow reflection are one and the same. There is no difference between Krsna and His shadow reflection, nor between Krsna and His picture. That is the transcendental position of Krsna.    (More...)

The above statements describe some of the wonderful reservoirs of pleasure within Krsna, as well as the transcendental qualities of His personality. The transcendental qualities of Krsna are compared to the ocean: no one can estimate the length and breadth of the ocean. But, as one can understand the ocean's contents simply by testing one drop of it, so these statements will give us some understanding of Krsna's transcendental position and qualities.    (More...)

In the Tenth Canto, 14th Chapter, 7th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lord Brahma says, "My dear Lord, the inconceivable qualities, beauties and activities which You have revealed by Your presence on this planet cannot be calculated by any material measurement. If one even tries to imagine that 'Krsna may be like this,' that is also impossible. The day may come when the material scientist, after many, many births or after many, many years, will be able to estimate the atomic constitution of the whole world, or he may be able to count the atomic fragments that permeate the sky, or he may even give an estimate of all the atoms within the universe, but still he will never be able to count the transcendental qualities in Your reservoir of transcendental bliss."    (More...)

Krsna used to put a vaijayanti garland around His neck. This vaijayanti garland is made of at least five differently colored flowers. The length of such a garland was always touching Krsna's knees or feet. Besides this garland of flowers, there were other kinds of flower garlands too-sometimes decorating His head, sometimes hanging around His neck and chest. Artistic painting with sandalwood pulp and colored sandalwood were also to be found on the body of Krsna.    (More...)

One gopi addressed her friend and began to praise the bodily features of Krsna. She praised His blackish complexion, the reddish color of chewing pan enhancing His beauty hundreds of times, the curling hair on His head, the kuhkum* red spots on His body and the tilaka on His forehead.    (More...)

His helmet, His earrings, His necklace, His four garments, the bangles on His head, the rings on His fingers, His ankle bells and His flute-these are the different features of Krsna's ornaments. Krsna, the enemy of Agha, always looked beautiful with His incomparable helmet, His earrings made of diamonds, His necklace of pearls, His bangles, embroidered garments and the beautiful rings on His fingers.    (More...)

Any comparison of the different parts of the Lord's body to different material objects cannot factually be a complete comparison. Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison. It is said that Krsna's face is as beautiful as the moon, His thighs are powerful, just like the trunks of elephants, His arms are just like two pillars, His palms are expanded like lotus flowers, His chest is just like a doorway, His hips are dens, and the middle of His body is a terrace.    (More...)

Sometimes the gopis would think about His soft nails, moving eyebrows and His teeth, which were catechu colored from chewing pan. One description was given by a gopi to her friend: "My dear friend, just see how the enemy of Agha has assumed such wonderful features! His brows are just like the brows of Cupid, and they are moving just as though they were dancing. The tips of His nails are so soft-it is as if they were dried bamboo leaves. His teeth are reddish, and so it appears that He has assumed a feature of anger. Under the circumstances, where is the chance for a young girl not to be attracted by such beautiful features and not to be afraid of becoming a victim to such beauty?"    (More...)

Krsna's attractive features are also described by Vrnda, the gopi after whom Vrndavana was named. She told Krsna: "My dear Madhava, Your newly-invented smile has so captivated the hearts of the gopis that they are simply unable to express themselves! As such, they have become bewildered and will not talk with others. All of these gopis have become so affected that it is as if they had offered three sprinkles of water upon their lives. In other words, they have given up all hope for their living condition." According to the Indian system, when a person is dead there is a sprinkling of water on the body. Thus, the statement of Vrnda shows that the gopis were so enchanted by the beauty of Krsna that because they could not express their minds, they decided to commit suicide.    (More...)

When Krsna arrived at the age of thirteen to fourteen years, His two arms and chest assumed an unspeakable beauty, and His whole form became simply enchanting. When Krsna attained thirteen years of age, His two arms were challenging the trunks of elephants, His rising chest was trying to come to peace talks with doors of jewels, and His two arms were minimizing the value of the bolts found on doors. Who can describe the wonderful beauty of these features of Krsna? The special beauty of Krsna's body was His mild smiling, His restless eyes and His world-enchanting songs. These are the special features of this age.    (More...)

There is a statement in this connection that Krsna, on arriving at this age, manifested such beautiful bodily features that His restless eyes became the playthings of Cupid, and His mild smile resembled the newly-grown lotus flower. The enchanting vibration of His songs became a great impediment to the young girls, who were supposed to remain chaste and faithful to their husbands.    (More...)

Lord Chaitanya very much relished all these verses from Srimad Bhagwatam which He explained to Sanatan. In particular He explained the verse from the Ninth Canto, Ninth Chapter, 24th [9.24.65] verse, as follows: "The Gopis used to relish the beauty of Krishna as a ceremony of perpetual enjoyment. They enjoyed the beautiful Face of Krishna, His beautiful Ears with earrings, His broad Forehead, and His Smile; and while enjoying the sight of Krishna's beauty they used to criticise the defect of the creator, Brahma, for the separation from their vision of Krishna by the momentary blinking of their eyelids."    (More...)

The Vedic hymn which is known as Kamagayatri describes the Face of Krishna as the king of all moons. In metaphorical language there are many different moons, and they are all one in Krishna-the moon of the mouth, the moon of the cheeks, the moon-spots of sandalwood pulp, the beauty moon of the fingertips of His hand, and the tip of His toes-in this way there are twenty-four and a half moons, and Krishna is the central figure of all these different kinds of moons.    (More...)

The devotee increasingly feels the absence of Krishna, because without Him one cannot drink the nectar of His beauty. When there is the transcendental sound of Krishna's flute, the devotee's anxiety to hear that flute penetrates the covering of this material world and enters into the Spiritual Sky, and the transcendental sound of the flute enters into the ears of the followers of the Gopis. The sound of Krishna's flute always resides within the ear of the Gopis, and increases their ecstasy. At the time when it is heard no other sound can enter into the ear, and in their family activities they are not able to reply properly because all these beautiful sounds are vibrating.    (More...)

"Eternity exists in Him," he said, "for it was never without Him. We cannot imagine His beginning. That is not possible, for He is adi-purusa, the primeval person, the first progenitor, the unmoved mover, the cause of all causes, the beginning, middle and end of all beings, the mighty God and everlasting Father of all. His greatness we cannot imagine, but we should not be concerned with this. The gopis, the cowherd girls of Vrndavana, do not recognize Him as such, as the almighty Godhead, but as a boy beloved by them. For them He is not Yahweh, whose name is unspoken, nor a burning bush, nor a voice from the mountain, nor a thunderbolt, nor the multi-handed Maha-Visnu, nor Narayana with all opulences, nor the great Allah, nor the triumphant Messiah, but a young boy named Krsna who simply tends the cows, plays His flute and dances. For the gopis there is no one more beautiful than He, nor anyone as merry, or, for that matter, as wise. Above all, He knows how to make them mad for Him. During the rasa dances He would disappear, and the gopis would wander about the forests of Vrndavana calling for Him. How little they cared about God! Being young country girls, they did not even think of God. Their thoughts were always with Krsna, their friend. Once, when they found Him in the woods waiting for Radharani, He played a trick on them by spouting two extra arms and appearing in His form as Lord Narayana. When the gopis approached Him, they offered their obeisances out of formality and then quickly excused themselves to run off and continue looking for Krsna. They saw Narayana, God, in the woods, but they were so eager to find Krsna that they simply passed Him by. The gopis were not great theologians or philosophers, though we understand that in their previous lives they were great sages, and they manifested themselves as cowherd girls in Vrndavana in order to relish a love relationship with Krsna. As gopis their one obsession was Krsna. Nor did they think of Him philosophically as the embodiment of all spiritual qualities. To them He was just Krsna, the boy with the lotus eyes, the friend whose flute charmed them, Krsna, their most dearly beloved. Their only reward for loving Him was that love itself and the anguish of separation, but separation was even more relishable than meeting, if such could be, for in separation they thought of Him constantly. Every object that met their gaze reminded them of Him. Their minds pondered His form and recalled His words. Upon hearing a flute they would swoon, and the sight of a peacock would make them mad with ecstasy. For Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who longed for Krsna as Radha, every stream and rivulet was the River Yamuna, and every flower and bee had a story to tell about Krsna. The animals somehow knew of Him secretly, but they would not divulge His whereabouts or their own knowledge of Him. Who can imagine the ecstasy of the gopis when Krsna left Vrndavana? Some even threw themselves under the wheels of His chariot, imploring Him not to leave for the city life of Mathura. In the absence of Krsna, the gopis constantly wept, wondering when He would return and discussing His activities amongst themselves. Lord Visnu was always being worshiped by demigods like Siva, Brahma, Indra, Candra and others, but when Krsna walked through the forests of Vrndavana, only the cowherd boys walked with Him. He took pleasure in calling the cows and in playing His flute and sometimes in running and wrestling with the cowherd boys. When He walked the banks of the Yamuna, He was always garlanded with many forest flowers, and His body was smeared with the pulp of sandalwood and tulasi leaves. The aroma surrounding Him attracted the bees, and they would hum about Him when He played His flute so that it seemed they were performing together. When His flute sounded in the woods, all the animals would stand still and even cease chewing grass to listen carefully. Even the fish and birds appeared stunned by the sounds. Sometimes Krsna was accompanied by Balarama, His elder brother, who appeared almost as attractive as Krsna Himself. After a day in the fields with the cows, Krsna would return home like the moon arising in the evening. Sometimes it would appear that He was a little fatigued from His vigorous day, but He would swagger into His home with a large stride, and all men, women and cows would immediately forget their hardships. After Krsna had left Vrndavana for Mathura, the cowherd girls would remember how He embraced them and talked with them, smiling sweetly, after the rasa dance in the forests of Vrndavana. Sometimes His face would be smeared with the dust raised by the hooves of the cows, and this made Him all the more attractive to them. What did they care for Narayana and all His jeweled opulence? They only thought of Krsna and His moving eyes and remembered His words and their sweet times with Him. The gopis wept throughout the night before He left, and they watched His chariot as long as possible until it faded from sight. They remained standing still like painted pictures, watching the dust of His chariot in the distance. Then they returned to their homes and simply thought of Him day and night. Of all the gopis, Radharani was most grief-stricken. Once She took a bumblebee to be Krsna's messenger and began to talk to it. She accused the bumblebee of being like his master Krsna, in that the bee's habit was to sit on a flower, take a little honey from it and immediately fly away to taste another flower. 'Krsna gives us the chance to taste the touch of His lips, and then He leaves us altogether,' Radharani lamented. Thus the gopis pined like school girls while Krsna was away from them. Now He is gone from us, or somehow we have lost Him, and it's our great tragedy that we cannot even remember or long for Him. If we cannot shed tears for Him, then we should shed tears because we cannot weep. Now we are suffering because we're trying to find some way to forget Him completely. We run from object to object to avoid Him, but eventually everything parts from us, and we are left with either the thought of Him or the thought of our own death. Yes, if we are left without a thought of Him, He comes for us as death. He Himself says that for those who have forgotten Him, He comes as death to take everything away. But even then we have the freedom to turn from Him, for that freedom He never denies us."    (More...)