Thoughts

 Dear Reader, 

I say ' dear reader'  but I doubt anyone still  reads this blog.  Its been many years since I've posted on here anyway.  This blog has become like the many other blogs that I used to frequent ,  mostly on Krishna , which have all been inactive since long. Life must have come in the way and all of us lost the old innocence and the time . I don't know if this will just be a stray post , a lot has changed in my life and it will only get busier. But in the midst of all that , there are times like this ,  where Krishna and my old self , crosses my mind.  And for a short interlude,  I'm transported to a different time & self. 

For Ages to Come...

There is this book I love, on Krishna's life..from his childhood till after he leaves Earth..It ends with Krishna speaking these beautiful lines to Garga Muni ( a saint ) who is pondering the fact that there will never be anyone else like him to walk this earth ...someone who will continue to capture hearts for ages to come.

Translated from Malayalam..

Acharya, I haven't gone anywhere
You can see me in the eyes of the innocent
My smile in the cool rays of the full moon
My voice as the clear notes of truth
I shall continue to be here...

My Escape

Krishna. 

I miss you. I really do. 

 I wish you were really here , I know that sounds childish but still..:/ 

I've lost that feeling , that way I felt about you before... Please, please , I want it back. 

Please dont take that away from me, it's the only crutch I have in this world, in the midst of the chaos , and the mad rush for success. I'll  try my best to play my part well , and you know that  I'll continue to search for love and happiness , and meaning here .. and when I fail ,  again and again..;  when  the familiar shades of darkness starts reaching for me.. I want my escape , Krishna . 

I want You. 

Strangers from Distant Lands..

Old  letter #1 

Dear  Krishna, 

As I think of you now, how many others would be thinking of you , in different parts of the world.. I wonder who that person in some lone island was , who Googled your name.  Or that woman in Ireland, who went  walking  across the moors , and came home to make you a garland of wild flowers. 

Closer home,  I wonder  what DP, or ILWK or LUEN would be doing now..Strangers all, yet we all share a common relationship with you . And we all claim that you are ours , and  you are an expert in making us believe so  too ..( I don't know why I felt so,  way back when I wrote this . He does that maybe once in a blue moon ) . 

It feels strange though , when people think that all this is about religion; when they ask   ' Oh, you are quite religious , then?'  . They couldn't be more wrong . 

You , dearest Madhava , are our father, brother , friend , lover, master, guide, protector, son..playing a different role according to how your devotee sees you.

For me, Krishna.. Well, I cannot think of my life without you . 

Yours forever, 

Lost Gopi 

A Loving Reminder

Hey guys,

So, this really sweet thing happened last  month  , and I wanted to share it with everyone here.

It was just another long , tiring day . I got back home from work , and was in a particularly depressing mood.  I feel so depressed most of the time nowadays, I feel so empty and drained of energy .. I know, it's so cliched,  but its a cycle I cant seem to break  -  Being ok , then something ..or rather , the lack of something , in my life ( not talking of  material stuff here) will trigger my descend into these really bleak thoughts.

Okay, so that evening , I  just wanted to lie down and sleep. I sat on my bed , declared that I dont feel like making dinner, and took out my phone.  Everything felt so pointless , I googled ''I miss Krishna" and few other things on a similar note , and then  browsed some blogs on him , old ones .  I do this sometimes , but the last I thought of him was a month or two back . 

That's when my husband ( lets call him  'N' )   said  -  ''Hey, looks like there is some function going on in the Club house , lets go check it out.  Maybe there's food. " . I replied dully "Okay".   The club house is like a party hall in our apartment . 

I left our apartment reluctantly and stepped out into the cold night. We reached the hall , only a few people where inside., whatever the function was , had gotten over . There were some  deities decked up on an altar on the stage , with lamps placed in front of them  . We didn't care much though, we hurried over to where they were still giving out prasad . 

Suddenly, one lady  standing beside me asked If i had offered dia to bhagwan . 'Um,  no' , I said. She said it would be nice if we did that before eating the prasad , and took N and me to the altar. I picked up a lamp , and placed it in front of the deity and looked up to the smiling face of Krishna ! Yes, the deities were of Radha Krishna , beautifully dressed up in flower garlands.  I was amazed. I noticed there was a guy from ISKCON standing  next to me and asked him what was special about today . He said that it was related to the  Kartik month celebrations .

 The month of Kartik is considered auspicious by Krishna devotees, and one of the sweetest pastimes of baby Krishna took place in this month - the one where he gets tied up by his mother  for stealing butter .   I  love that pastime ! 

Krishna lets himself be bound by Yashoda , after she surrenders to him indirectly , saying  - " I'm tired of this , Krishna. What miracle is this? I have tried and tried to tie you up with all this rope, but still cant get it around your tiny waist! Now, you do whatever you like ..I give up " . Krishna here agrees to be bound and defeated by our love for him .  

Before , during this month  , I used  to offer lighted lamps to the Tulsi plant ( Tulsi devi) and ask  for devotion to Krishna always. Tulsi devi is a great devotee and extremely dear to Krishna .  I had completely forgotten about it now though .  I told him so , and he said "Well , this is Krishna reminding you ",  and smiled .   I just said ''Yeah " and laughed.  I was filled with so much of love for  him !! Our darling little baby reminding me that it was his favorite month , and that he wasn't getting any attention from me :) 

 I remember reading about something similar in Drainpiper's blog too - Krishna never forgets us, even if we forget him. 

N was pleasantly surprised too , I had just been complaining to him of how I missed Krishna. Anyway, the little charmer had turned my mood around . We sat down , and started eating the prasad. The ISKCON guy we were talking to, came and sat next to us after a while. We started chatting about stuff, where we were from ..our work .. about his coming into ISKCON etc. 

He asked N if he knew the pastime associated with this month. He said no. He asked if N would like to hear about it. N said okay , as he didn't want to sound rude. And my husband doesn't really care about all this,  his beliefs are more atheistic.  I couldn't help smiling ( actually wanted to laugh out loud) . I mean, it was funny . The guy started describing the pastime in great detail and there N was, pretending to be interested and laughing at the right moments in the story. . Lol. Now, I enjoy listening to anyone talk about Krishna with love , so had a pretty nice time just sitting there, listening. 

On the way back home , N teasingly told me that if it wasn't for him, all this wouldn't have happened. So the real credit for cheering me up goes to him, Krishna was taking false credit.  :P hehehee..

Once we reached, I rushed to the small pooja room in  my house, and hugged Krishna.  I love this baby  so damn much!  He made me feel that he cared about me , and wanted to cheer me up . It could all be a perfectly normal coincidence now , but I'd like to think it was him , my Krishna ,  the one constant in my life .. in whom I can take comfort in  , even during my darkest days. 

Janmashtami

Our baby's birthday is here again :)

This time it was in  my flat , away from home. Usually I make him a Tulsi garland , sing a few kirtans to him , ..and stay up till 12 , watching the Janmashtami programs from Mathura etc live on TV .

This time though, I had just gotten a tulsi plant from my neighbour, and it was pretty small , so I could just offer him one leaf.. Anyway I made rice pudding for him.

And there was homemade butter ..it felt so good to offer butter to the makhan chor.

And in this pic, it looks as though  he is having our butter , instead of the one in the painting.,  :))

Ageless Bond

As I write this, I feel an incredible sense of peace and happiness.  Yeah, I'm in one of my moments of enlightenment, as I'd like to call it ...uhh..Im just being dramatic :)   But its a feeling I cant explain..like I feel connected  to the Universe..I suddenly feel full of purpose and usually say things like "Oh ! I'm so grateful..feel so happy/blessed " etc..This inevitably causes anyone whos near me to go " Why? You okay? What are you so happy about ?' And I say " Everything!!.." and  give some weird explanation..Then I'm left alone for a while..lol. This just happened now, .. my husband was that unfortunate soul.

Anyway..what made me feel like this now , was this one poem .   I had posted it earlier on this blog, Unending Love , by Ravindranath Tagore.  Just a while back, I was googling old videos of Krishna, that I used to watch before..long back , when my thoughts were almost always consumed by him. Now..it seems like a distant memory, almost like from another life. 

Now, my life and priorities are so very different from what they were a few years back.  I'm married now, I'm almost sure I have grown up a little..actually a lot. I think of things in a different way now  ..have different life goals etc. Krishna is just a fleeting thought, a sweet memory from my girlhood..

But, it doesnt take much for me to go back . The things that remind me of him , just makes me realise how much I crave that ecstatic happiness that Id felt a lot of times before. .

How transient all my worries, concerns are..It makes me see the bigger picture. Every. Single. Time.

And most importantly it makes me realise that I have only this one life to live!.. And so many things I want to be...to do...to live in a way that would make my life on Earth fulfilling. ..( And my version of ''fulfilling' is pretty high end..and not to say, idealistic to an extent) 

And for that Krishna gently reminds me , that I need to be in the present. To believe that all that had happened, and is happening is somehow unfolding the future that I want for myself..

So, I came across this song again..so profound,  it brought me to tears.  Just listen to this woman sing it. We can interpret it in many ways, but I always relate it to Krishna..like this song was about our relationship..and the many loves (or  many different relationships ) we go through in  our many lifetimes on Earth.   And how every relationship is just a reflection of our original love/relationship with Krishna..

Queen Kunti's Prayers

Love this video. 

Peace. 

Update

It's been a while. I was about to make a post on Krishna .  But then,  I  have  been wanting to write about my life and thoughts as well,  for a long time now.  Why?  I don't know,   no one reads my blog anyway ,  plus I hardly post anything.  But I want to,  just like that.

Hmm,  I don't know where to start.  So many things have changed in my life,  and I feel a little overwhelmed.  I  think it's because there's so much of conflict now - between who I am and how I wish to live my life and..how far removed from all that my life seems right now.  To top that,  I'm an INFJ and it's not really helping,  while dealing with everything and everyone.

INFJ is one among the 16 different  personality types,  created by Myers-Briggs based on the theory proposed by psychologist  Carl Jung.  There's a lot of info on the net about all that. I happened to take the Myers-Briggs test online one day,  and I got infj.  It was as though someone was describing me perfectly.  True to the T. 

Yes,  some might say that it has no scientific basis,  but I have felt  it to be quite logical and true to an extent. And so have a lot of people.

The feeling you get when you finally feel validated for being you. . It's like Omg! That is so me! All that they are saying.. And there are others just like me out there..  :)  I'm not weird! Yep,  it was an epic moment.. Lol.

Point is,   it helps you understand yourself a little more.  Not just yourself,  but how different people with different personality types see the world,  react to life etc.  You find these connections with people in your life,  and you become a little less judgemental of them.

But,  we are  human beings after all  and it would be stupid to define ourselves based on just a 4 letter word.  No,  I don't let it define me ,  but it makes me accept myself more and be  less hard on  myself sometimes.  And most importantly to not go overboard with my expectations of myself and life ,  which is still really hard for me.. As krishna says do your part and leave the rest to him .  That  isn't that easy.  I really need to balance out my life.  Hopefully writing it all down will help me stay grounded :)

Hmm,  So next few posts are going to be of no interest to anyone except me.. And btw, in case you're wondering Krishna has been a typical jerk of late.  No surprises there. :)  Or maybe this is how it's supposed to be,  according to his grand cosmic plan, ;) 

Anyways..  I'll just trust the Universe,  and keep working on things that I can improve on.. and accept the things I can't change.  

God! ,  this was a cliché post :) 

Edit: Being an INFJ isnt a bad thing, nor is it oh so special . I'm not sure if this post made it seem like that. I like being like that, but its tough sometimes . More on INFJs later. Cheers!

Happy Janmashtami !

Our darling little Krishna is born! .. In the words of my fiance, its the  ' love of my life's ' birthday..!

So, .. this time too I made him a Tulsi garland, or thats what its supposed to be .  Whatever , I know he likes it.  And I had brought peacock earrings for myself a while back , but it made me look like a new age hippie .  And my mom and brother was like..Yeah..Okay.. Hmm, So., I thought of gifting them to Krishna , he needed new ones to put in his hair anyway .

This time my grandmom and me sat up watching the celebrations on TV , in Mathura, Dwaraka and Isckon . And my fiancé had to wait till after Krishna was born , for me to call him .

Its funny ,  he once  asked me  - If me and Krishna were hanging from a cliff, who would you save.. Duh, Isnt the answer obvious, lol?

Soo.. Happy Bdayy Dear Babyy.. We all loove you so much. You are the Love of our Lives.. # Cue  Dramatic Music. . 

Questions to Krishna

Written on a particularly romantic/ fake poetic mood.. :)

Krishna ,  What colour are your eyes? Are they the deep sapphire blue of the Ocean’s mysterious depths or the emerald green of the Northern Lights in the Alaskan night sky . They must be dark and sparkling like the cool, dark diamonds deep inside the Earth’s core . Or are they cool and grey..or iridescent , like the colours of the Universe?

What language do you speak, Krishna? Sanskrit?..or some ancient language of the Gods..? Madhava, Love needs no language , I know that , .. Still I wonder how your voice would sound like..? And your laugh, how would that be like..Hey, by the way , do you have dimples?

Krishna , I have heard so much about you , yet I cant help wanting to hear more about you , talk about you, write to you and think of you..

Just as the pages on this book are not enough to write about you, this one life here on Earth is not enough to love you. ( Excuse the cheesiness – I had run out of pages on my Diary) . 

Sweet Child O' Mine

So this song by Guns N' Roses , it once made me think of Krishna. I edited out the she/her to he/him..


He's got a smile that it seems to me 
Reminds me of childhood memories 
Where everything 
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky 

Now and then when I see his face 
He takes me away to that special place 
And if I stare too long 
I'll probably break down and cry 

Oh, oh, oh, oh 
Sweet child o' mine 
Oh, oh, oh, oh 
Sweet love of mine 

He's got eyes of the bluest skies 
As if they thought of rain 
I hate to look into those eyes 
And see an ounce of pain 

His hair reminds me of a warm safe place 
Where as a child I'd hide 
And pray for the thunder 
And the rain 
To quietly pass me by 

Oh, oh, oh, oh 
Sweet child o' mine 
Oh, oh, oh, oh 
Sweet love of mine 

........

....

Where do we go 
Where do we go now 
Where do we go 
Where do we go 
Where do we go 
Where do we go now 

....

Sweet child 
Sweet love o' mine

Theres Something About Krishna..!

Old post again,..

You Know You’re Obsessed With Krishna If:

1)      You find yourself writing this..duh!

2)      Your face lights up when someone talks about him or mentions his name.

3)      You cant wipe that smile off your face when you’re talking about dear Hari ( which is not often, but still) and you hate it when you cant express yourself about him the way you meant to.

4)      You smile when some actor plays Krishna on TV , and even if theyre horrible at it , you still want to watch it now and then..And you laugh indulgently when they say some joke or talk and act like Krishna.. coz you don’t see the actor, you see Krishna.

5)      You get annoyed at him for making you act like a silly in love school girl .

6)      When something goes wrong in your life, it is becoz of your own stupid decisions or other peoples, because all of us are after all flawed human beings.. or maybe it is just Karma, or destiny .

But, when something makes you happy , it is invariably Krishna’s doing -  even if he had nothing to do with it – you just want to think he cares to make you happy too.

7)      You smile at your monitor like a crazy person because your wallpaper is of handsome Madhava looking into your eyes.  And you hope no one saw your smile, coz that would just be weird.

8)      You wish you could express your love by dancing for Krishna , but you don’t know how to.  I find dancing is a way of expressing your joy..Krishna fills us with so much happiness, you feel like dancing about him, for him and because of him. You did learn the steps to ‘’ Krishnam Kalaya Sakhi Sundaram ''.. ( a song I danced to for him) and danced for him.. But Hari smiled so much ( he must have been amused and laughed so hard) .. that you stopped :)

9)      You wish your voice was sweeter when you sing to him, and if only you could express your love in beautiful words to him.. Its hard to speak to him sometimes, yet some times I bore him for hours .

Oh , and then you realize he’s Antaryami after all , and who needs words anyway .

10)   You see him everywhere.. or at least look for his presence.. wherever there is love, and beauty and joy..in creation , a mother with her young child , in lovers , in the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the  moon - you see him , and you feel him around.. Our Krishna! :)

Gopis' Love for Krishna

This little episode in Krishna's childhood   showcases how the Gopis of Vrindavan were totally immersed in  Krishna . 

The Gopis' were always so lost in thoughts of Krishna . In the mornings , they would walk through the lanes of Vraja , with the buttermilk pitchers on their heads, calling out - " Who wants to buy my Krishna?..Come , ye all, come have a taste of my sweet Krishna..?  " Of course, what they meant to say was  " Who wants to buy my buttermilk?" . No wonder, Krishna loved each Gopi so much.. Sigh.. 

Kanna, please let me be your Gopi too..

Tulsi Grove

#3

Krishna,  I was worrying a little at my dying Tulsi plants. There was nothing I could do as the soil was bad, so I replanted them. But my hopes of eventually creating a mini Tulsi Van ( a small grove of Tulsi plants) has grown dim.

When Sri Radha sought Pournamasi Devi’s advice on how to win Krishna’s heart, she advised her to please Sri Tulsi Devi , as Tulsi is very dear to Krishna . So, me thought of doing the same. Yet, all is not lost, I am happy to find tiny Tulsi plants growing on my dad’s pots on the terrace. And that too healthy ones. Maybe , Tulsi Devi .. dearest Vrinda gopi..wanted to say "Its alright, you don’t have to make a Tulsi van, I’ll grow anyways..coz I'm still pleased with you? " Hmm.. I don’t know, .. Pollination? ..never heard of it lol.

Bye for now Krishnaa..

* I used to pray to Tulsi devi thus - 

   Tulsi Pranama Mantra

   Vrindayai Tulsi Deviyai
   Priyayi Keshavasya cha
   Krishna Bhakti Prade Devi
   Satyavatyai namoh namaha 

   -  Hey Vrinde, Tulsi Devi, dearest of Keshava, the one who gives loving devotion towards Krishna for all, Hey Satyavati..I bow before you. * 

From My Old Diary ...

So.. Its been a while . I have such a lot going on in my life right now .  I really want to blog about all that as well ,  because I think it would be nice.. like maybe 20 years from now , I’d like to look back on my thoughts, views, hopes , the people that were a part of my life ,  things happening.. Hmm, maybe later though .

So now I’m just going to randomly post a few ‘letters’ to Krishna,  from my ooold diary , where I used to write down my thoughts about him , about 2 years back. It might seem rather juvenile , lol, but here goes ..

#1   When I got my  Idol of Krishna ..

Krishna, its been a while since this realization dawned on me regarding how much of a ‘’bhakt” , as I claim to be , I really am.

You have always been there for those who love you, you yourself make arrangements for us to increase our devotion to you, if we even take just the slightest step towards you.. Why? Because you love us too! Kanna, they say that if we take one step towards you, you take a hundred steps towards us ..

So, there I was, wishing I had an idol of you so that I could have your beautiful form to behold always..so that I could worship my Krishna even more. And you heard my wistful prayers I think . I went searching for you at that shop in Trichy, but you in Bronze was too expensive .. and heavy too, lol. But what a sight greeted me at the Emporium , a dozen blue Krishna statues, right at the entrance! But, I didn’t pick one, for reasons that are stupid , and  selfish . Yet you gave me a second chance . My uncle was going to Guruvayur, and Ammamma ( my grandmom) told him about my wish . Kanna , I really didn’t want you to make this a big deal, I felt a bit silly , becoz now others may start to wonder why I have suddenly gotten it in my head to want a Krishna idol .  Can you be more subtle, Krishna( *angry face at him*)I mean, what next, they’d think I was trying to be like Meerabai .. I am not! Think of that,  Kanna, me  walking the streets , with your idol in my arms, singing and dancing..haha.. Krishna, don’t get me wrong.. I just don’t want others to think whatever it is..They just won’t get it, Madhava. And you can’t blame them. I mean, this is the 21^st century, not the 15^th. 

Yes, you put me in this world in the wrong century!

So, I was caught between being a little mad at you, at the same time a little happy too.. coz this means you heard my wish, right? Maybe you were making this happen? ( More like coincidence..I know, but it’s still nice to think like that :) )  But alas, my ‘’fall from grace” it was to be..

When my uncle asked me what kind of Krishna I wanted, and whether a slightly small one would be fin, what did I do? I had my doubts. I wanted my Krishna to be beautiful, and just the right size. I couldn’t decide if a small one would make me happy, I didn’t want to be disappointed when I finally got you. Result -> I didn’t get you.

There. Can I be more selfish? The reason I wanted you was so that I could please you more, not myself.. not my senses!  How can I even go about wondering if you’d be exactly as I desired or not? If I truly loved you, would I have done that? I was trying to capture your enchanting face in my ‘’never got it’’ idol..how can your face not be as I wanted…(God knows, I imagine you in a thousand different ways ) , when I set my eyes, filled with love , on you?  My claims just proved to be false; I placed more importance on me than you. Dearest Madhava, please remove such stupid thoughts from my mind, I hope one day I would be worthy of You.

Krishna, the Gopis prayed to you to place your lotus feet upon their body and rid their mind of all feelings of false pride and selfish desire. Hari, this unworthy girl requests you to do the same. Make me pure in thought, so that I’ll love you more each passing day of my life.  . Yours, X .

# 2 Dear Krishna,

It has been a while since I wrote to you here ( ie,  my diary) , but quite a lot has happened. The much awaited Guruvayur trip has come and gone . Now it is back to work, debugging etc.. So, I finally got you here, Krishna , in my home..as my sweet Krishna idol. Everyone here totally thinks you look amazingly sweet and beautiful ..that you look like Guruvayurappan himself , you know, like there is this specially adorable something about you.... Kahi lag na jaaye tujhe, Duniya ki poore nazar.. :) Yes, I love you too!

I love the fact that everyone else at my home thinks/ talks about you a little more now, as compared to earlier. And now its no secret that Krishna holds my heart  and Krishna,  I don’t ever want it back .  Kind of cheesy, I know , lol.

Okay , apart from that, work is getting to be really tiring. Hari, please solve that Mahasiva’s ( a client from work) issue tomorrow , or help me . I am sick of trying to get his taxes tallied, and trying to solve  the " Mystery of the Missing Documents ". And Indofil’s and Endurance's issue are pending too.. Why do I get such kind of issues? Hmm..

On a different note, I happened to come across this blog  of a devotee , in some remote location in the world . Krishna, I love it when someone far removed from here , ie India, someone in the Finnish countryside, is your devotee . Wow,,people like that are really inspiring in many ways . So Krishna, thanks for everything you continue to do for me and everything I have . As for these slight ‘ troubles’  in life ( read..Mahasiva’s unsolvable? Issue , etc ..) well , I’ll deal with that. Soo.. bye for now..Love you!

I'd love to wake up like this

This happened a few months back. The early hours of a Wednesday morning. I was sleeping , this wasn't even close to the time I'd normally wake up.   I get up around 7.00 . Something jolted me to consciousness. I was sleepily wondering what, when I heard it . People were calling out Krishna's names..! I could hear their voices coming closer . 'Govinda' ..Gopal ..Bolo'..and the Hare Krishna chants! All traces of sleep left me, and I jumped out of bed . At first I thought it was some Pooja in my neighbours house, and spent a few minutes staring out my window. Thats when the voices got closer . I dashed out my room , across the hall and hurriedly tried to unlock the door to the sit-out. I could hear my brother (in the room across the hall) asking my mom..'Huh? What in the world is that?' Well, by the time I managed to open the door, they had gone past my house. 

Turns out they were people from some Ashram near somewhere. Kind of like the Hare Krishnas ,  I think.  I've only just heard about them and all  .  It was great waking up to Krishnas names like that. My mom was amused at all this. She was like  'Usually you don't wake up even after we calling you a hundred times . But you hear the word 'Krishna ', and you jump out of bed..Silly/Crazy girl..' My brother gave me a resigned look and went back to bed. 

I wouldn't mind waking up like this everyday though :)

Hare Krishna!

'Unending Love' ~ Rabindranath Tagore

I love most of the poems by Rabindranath Tagore. I absolutely , love this one (translated from the original Bengali version by William Radice )

Unending Love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,

That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,

Its ancient tale of being apart or together.

As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,

Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:

You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.

At the heart of time, love of one for another.

We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same

Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-

Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you

The love of all man’s days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –

And the songs of every poet past and forever.

Reminds us of who? ;)

Gopi Gita

Here is one rendering I love. It is not the full version though. The translation is available on the  video too. 

Krishna Is...

( Written on a day when I first heard the Gopi Gita)

Krishna,

The 'Gopi Gita' or the 'Song of the Gopis ' so beautifully portrays the feelings of the Gopis when You left them during the Maharaas. I can only imagine what your beloved gopis went through..when you later left Vrindavan for good, never to return .Your childhood at Vraja had come to an end. Krishna, the part of your life that will , in the times to come , be remembered lovingly was coming to an end .

When I first read about you leaving Braja, in this book someone gifted to my mom 'Krishnayanam', I cried my eyes out. I was around eight or nine , yet i felt so sad . If someone, who has only an image of 'Krishna' , carried across thousands of years, sung,made into serials and writtten upon..be so affected by Krishna's departuure ( as described in a book)..then what would have been the condition of the Brajwasis?

They knew Kanha since he was born. Yashoda's darling son was part of their lives in ways inseparable and unknown even to them.  They were losing their son, friend, lover..for Krishna was all that and more to them . I love the Gopi Geet. But some parts of it are especially sweet..- Like when the gopis remember how Krishna had saved them from Kaliya, from the demons and protected them. Why? Because here we see how the gopis loved Krishna- They knew him since he was a little child. Loved him with that affection that you feel for someone whom you've known your entire life so far, someone who makes your day, whom you can tease, talk about anything with,,with no inhibitions at all. He was an integral part of each Brajwasis' life, not just of the Gopis' . 

But Krishna had to fulfill the purpose of his avataar on Earth. His childhood lilas in Brindavan had to end., to be immortalised forever..the sweetest chapter in Krishna's life had to be closed. 

Imagine, if Krishna hadn't left Vraja, all those other roles he played wouldn't be there for us. If he had not spoken the Bhagvad Gita to Arjuna, what would people in this age  have, to hold on to? For, their link with Krishna is his words. Yes, Krishna's words. Words that urge you to fight for what is right, to shed your weakness, words that give happiness and comfort and timeless wisdom..his promises to those who would love him after he left Earth. 

So, if our Krishna did not leave his childhood home, there would be no Gita, no Draupadi to surrender to Krishna, no Sudama - he would not be someone who lived a full  life. Someone whom everyone can relate or look up to. 

My dad , for instance , is all for the wisdom in the Gita.  He considers Krishna as ..I really don't know..as God? ..as a great soul who spoke words to live by. His childhood and other aspects we love so much, doesn't interest him much. Whenever I see him poring over the Gita, or writing something down..etc. Or, when we go to temples and places like that, and i see all these people selling devotional stuff.. a shop selling idols of Krishna..an old man selling flower garlands for him. These lines always come to my mind ~ 

~ The scholars immeresed in all their pursuits,
And the merchants immersed , in making money,
No matter who, they all are singing,
Govinda Damodar Madhaveti~ 
( parts from an English version of 'Govind Damodar Madhaveti') 

Okay, the whole of that kirtan is about how every one,  in one way or another remembers Krishna.
Krishna, I really don't know what I meant to write here..but just this - 

Thank You , for You, Krishnaa :)

~And as the Gopis finished singing the Gopi Geet, Krishna appeared before them ... :)

Love,
Lost Gopi