View source for At this age Krsna took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopis, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Krsna thus

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{{terms|"At this age Kṛṣṇa took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopīs, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Kṛṣṇa thus"}}
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{{compiler|MahaprabhuCaitanya}}
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[[Category:At This Time]]
[[Category:Krsna's Pleasure]]
[[Category:Krsna's Pauganda Age]]
[[Category:Whispering]]
[[Category:Ear]]
[[Category:Krsna's Friends]]
[[Category:Subject]]
[[Category:Krsna's Talking]]
[[Category:Beauty]]
[[Category:Gopis]]
[[Category:Before]]
[[Category:Subala]]
[[Category:Once]]
[[Category:People Addressing Krsna]]
[[Category:Thus]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 42 - Fraternal Loving Affairs]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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At this age Kṛṣṇa took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopīs, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Kṛṣṇa thus: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are very cunning. You can understand the thoughts of others; therefore I am whispering within Your ear that all these five gopīs, who are most beautiful, have been attracted by Your dress. And I believe that Cupid has entrusted them with the responsibility of conquering You.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 42 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 42]]
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The cowherd boy friends of Kṛṣṇa felt very proud of their association with Him. At that time the tip of His nose defeated the beauty of the sesame flowers, the luster of His cheeks defeated the glow of pearls, and the two sides of His body were exquisitely beautiful. In this age Kṛṣṇa wore a silk dress that glittered like lightning, His head was decorated with a silk turban covered with gold lace, and in His hand He carried a stick about fifty-six inches long.* Seeing this exquisitely beautiful dress of Kṛṣṇa, one devotee addressed his friend in this manner: "My dear friend, just look at Kṛṣṇa! See how He is carrying in His hand a stick which is bound up and down with golden rings, how His turban with golden lace is showing such a beautiful luster, and how His dress is giving his friends the highest transcendental pleasure!"

* The specific pastimes in this period took place in the forest known as Bhāṇḍīravan. This Bhāṇḍīravana, along with eleven other vanas, or forests, is still existing in the Vṛndāvana area, and devotees who circumambulate the whole areaof Vṛndāvana can know the beauty of these forests even today.

At the end of Kṛṣṇa's paugaṇḍa age, Kṛṣṇa's hair sometimes hangs down to His hips, and sometimes it becomes scattered. In this age His two shoulders become higher and broader, and His face is always decorated with marks of tilaka. When His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders, it appears to be a goddess of fortune embracing Him, and this embracing is highly relished by His friends. Subala once addressed Him in this way: "My dear Keśava, Your round turban, the lotus flower in Your hand, the vertical marks of tilaka on Your forehead, Your kuṅkum-flavored musk and all of Your beautiful bodily features are defeating me today, although I am usually stronger than You or any of our friends. Since this is so, I do not know how these features of Your body can fail to defeat the pride of all the young girls of Vṛndāvana. When I am so defeated by this beauty, what chance is there for those who are naturally very simple and flexible?"

At this age Kṛṣṇa took pleasure in whispering into the ears of His friends, and the subject of His talks was the beauty of the gopīs, who were just tarrying before them. Subala once addressed Kṛṣṇa thus: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are very cunning. You can understand the thoughts of others; therefore I am whispering within Your ear that all these five gopīs, who are most beautiful, have been attracted by Your dress. And I believe that Cupid has entrusted them with the responsibility of conquering You." In other words, the beauty of the gopīs was capable of conquering Kṛṣṇa, although Kṛṣṇa is the conqueror of all universes.

The symptoms of the kaiśora age are already described, and it is at this age that devotees generally most appreciate Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī is worshiped as Kiśora-kiśorī. Kṛṣṇa does not increase His age beyond this form of kaiśora, and it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that although He is the oldest personality and has innumerable different forms, His original form is always youthful. In the pictures of Kṛṣṇa on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra we can see that He is youthful, although at that time He was old enough to have sons, grandsons, and great grandsons. The cowherd boy friends of Kṛṣṇa once said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You need not decorate Your body with so many ornaments. Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful that You do not require any ornamentation." At this age, whenever Kṛṣṇa begins to vibrate His flute early in the morning, all of His friends immediately get up from bed just to join Him in going to the pasturing grounds. One of the friends once said, "My dear cowherd friends, the sound of Kṛṣṇa's flute from above Govardhan Hill is telling us that we need not go to search Him out on the bank of the Yamunā."

Pārvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva, told her husband: "My dear Pañcamukha (five-faced), just look at the Pāṇḍavas! After hearing the sound of Kṛṣṇa's conchshell known as Pāñcajanya, they have regained their strength and are just like lions."

At this age, Kṛṣṇa once dressed Himself up exactly like Rādhārāṇī, just to create fun among His friends. He put on golden earrings; and because He was blackish, He smeared the pulp of kuṅkum all over His body in order to become as fair as She. By seeing this dress, Kṛṣṇa's friend Subala became very astonished.

Kṛṣṇa sometimes played with His intimate friends by engaging in fighting or wrestling with their arms, sometimes by playing ball, sometimes by playing chess, sometimes by carrying one another on the shoulders, and sometimes by exhibiting their expertness at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please Kṛṣṇa by sitting together with Him on coaches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by joking together and by swimming in the pool. All these activities are called anubhāva. Whenever all the friends would assemble in the company of Kṛṣṇa, they would immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding their wrestling, one friend once asked Kṛṣṇa, "My dear friend, O killer of the Agha demon, You are very proudly wandering among Your friends trying to exhibit Your arms as very strong. Is it that You are envious of me? I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me."

All the friends were very daring and would risk any difficulty, because they were confident that Kṛṣṇa would help them to be victorious in all adventures. They used to sit together and advise one another what to do, sometimes inducing one another to be engaged in welfare work. Sometimes they would offer betel nuts to one another, decorate one another's faces with tilaka or smear pulp of candana on one another's bodies. Sometimes, for the sake of amusement, they used to decorate their faces in strange ways. Another business of the friends was that each of them wanted to defeat Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes they used to snatch His clothing or snatch away the flowers from His hands. Sometimes one would try to induce another to decorate his body for him, and failing this, they were always ready to fight, challenging one another to combat in wrestling. These were some of the general activities of Kṛṣṇa and His friends.

Another important pastime of the friends of Kṛṣṇa was that they served as messengers to and from the gopīs; they introduced the gopīs to Kṛṣṇa and canvassed for Kṛṣṇa. When the gopīs were in disagreement with Kṛṣṇa, these friends would support Kṛṣṇa's side in His presence—but when Kṛṣṇa was not present, they would support the side of the gopīs. In this way, sometimes supporting one side, sometimes the other, they would talk very privately, with much whispering in the ears, although none of the business was very serious.

The servants of Kṛṣṇa were sometimes engaged in collecting flowers, decorating His body with valuable ornaments and trinkets, dancing before Him, singing, helping Him herd the cows, massaging His body, preparing flower garlands and sometimes fanning His body. These were some of the primary duties of the servants of Kṛṣṇa. The friends and servants of Kṛṣṇa were combined together in serving Him, and all of their activities are known as anubhāva.
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