His flute

When several such ecstatic symptoms are visible, the condition is called blazing. For example, some of Krsna's friends told Him, "My dear friend, as soon as I heard the sound of Your flute from within the forest, my hands became almost motionless and my eyes became full of tears. So much so, in fact, that I could not recognize Your peacock feather. My thighs became almost completely stunned so that I could not move even an inch. Therefore, my dear friend, I must acknowledge the wonderful vibration of Your transcendental flute."    (More...)

In the Brahma Samhita there is a nice description of the flute of Krishna. The purport of the description is thus: "When Krishna began to play on His flute, the sound vibration entered into the ear of Brahma as the Vedic Mantra, OM. This OM is composed of three letters: A, U, and M, or a description of our relationship with the Supreme Lord. It describes our activities to achieve the highest perfection of love, and the actual position of the loving condition in the spiritual platform. When the sound vibration of Krishna's flute became expressed through the mouth of Brahma, it became Gayatri. Therefore, being influenced by the sound vibration of the flute of Krishna, Brahma, the supreme creature and first living entity of this material world, was initiated as a Brahmin.    (More...)

In the Vidagdha-madhava there is the following statement: "When Krsna was playing on His flute, Baladeva very anxiously declared, 'Just see how, after hearing the transcendental sound of Krsna's flute, Indra the King of heaven is crying in his heavenly kingdom! And from his teardrops falling on the ground, Vrndavana appears to have become a celestial residence for the demigods.' "    (More...)

Krsna used a buffalo horn as a bugling instrument. This instrument was always highly polished and circled with gold bands, and on the middle there was a hole. Regarding these instruments, there is a metaphorical statement about a gopi named Taravali. It is said that Taravali became bitten by the most venomous snake of Krsna's flute. Then, in order to neutralize the poisonous effect, she drank the milk produced by the buffalo horn in the hand of Krsna. But instead of decreasing the poisonous effect, it increased it a thousand times. The gopi was thus put into the most miserable poisoned condition.    (More...)

There is a proverb in Sanskrit which says, "Disappointment gives rise to the greatest satisfaction." In other words, when one's sentiment or ambition becomes too great and is not fulfilled until after seemingly hopeless tribulation, that is taken as the greatest satisfaction. Once the cowherd boys in Vrndavana were vainly searching after Krsna for a long time, and for that reason their faces became blackened, and their complexions appeared faded. Just then they could hear on the hill a faint vibration from Krsna's flute. Immediately all of them became very much engladdened. This is an instance of satisfaction in the midst of disappointment.    (More...)

As far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages, and Krsna was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.    (More...)

There are three kinds of flutes used by Krsna. One is called venu, one is called murali, and the third is called vamsi. Venu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. Murali is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute. This kind of flute produces a very enchanting sound. The vamsi flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Krsna used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Krsna has a longer vamsi, which is called mahananda, or sanmohini. When it is still longer it is called akarsini. When it is even longer it is called anandini. The anandini flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vamsuli. These flutes were sometimes bedecked with jewels. Sometimes they were made of marble and sometimes of hollow bamboo. When the flute is made of jewels it is called sanmohini. When made of gold, it is called akarsini.    (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...)

There is another instance of this. A messenger from Krsna came to Srimati Radharani while She was sleeping, and Radharani immediately awakened. Similarly, when Krsna began to blow on His flute in the night, all of the gopis, the beautiful daughters of the cowherd men, immediately got up from their sleep. There is a very beautiful comparison made in this connection: "The lotus flower is sometimes surrounded by white swans, and sometimes it is surrounded by black wasps who are collecting its honey. When there is a thundering in the sky, the swans go away, but the black wasps stay to enjoy the lotus flowers." The gopis' sleeping condition is compared to the white swans, and the sound of Krsna's flute is compared to a black wasp. When Krsna's flute sounded, the white swans, which represent the sleeping condition of the gopis, were immediately vanquished, and the black wasp sound of the flute began to enjoy the lotus flower of the gopis' beauty.    (More...)

In the Tenth Canto, 35th Chapter, 8th verse of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the gopis tell Mother Yasoda, "When your son plays on His flute, Lord Siva, Lord Brahma and Indra-although they are supposed to be the greatest learned scholars and personalities-all become bewildered. Although they are all very great personalities, by hearing the sound of Krsna's flute they humbly bow down and become grave from studying the sound vibrated."    (More...)

In his book Vidagdha-madhava, Sri Rūpa Gosvami thus describes the vibration of Krsna's flute: "The sound vibration created by the flute of Krsna wonderfully stopped Lord Siva from playing his ḍinḍima drum, and the same flute has caused great sages like the four Kumaras to become disturbed in their meditation. It has caused Lord Brahma, who was sitting on the lotus flower for the creative function, to become astonished. And Anantadeva, who was calmly holding all the planets on his hood, was moving in this way and that due to the transcendental vibration from Krsna's flute, which penetrated through the covering of this universe and reached to the spiritual sky."    (More...)