Krishna-bhāvanāmṛta 5

Krishna pretending being shy Radha invites the Sakhis in a secluded place

The sakhis reply: "O Radhe! We're your intimate friends, why are you embarrassed to tell us?" But Krishna is silent (still pretending to be Radha).
So, believing that Radha is feeling uneasy, the sakhis all leave one by one, until only Lalita remains. But as they meet, outside the sakhis aren't disappointed. They consider: "If Radha doesn't want to tell us, that's all right, later we can hear about the entire matter from Lalita."

Meanwhile inside the grove, Krișna hugs Lalita tightly and starts kissing her. After that He takes off her blouse and dress and starts fondling her breasts. Being taken by surprise Lalita says, "Hey sakhi! What's going on?'

Imitating Radha's voice He replies, 'Hey you tender one! Since I am embarrassed to tell you what Krișna has done, I thought I would show you by my own actions! But Krishna gives up imitating Radha's voice, speaks in her own voice and becomes Lalita's lover. Aho! What extraordinary games of love - prema keli! While laughter and audacity are mixed in the encounter between Krișna and Lalita, their erotic pleasure reaches ever new heights of wonder!

After a while Krishna forms a pact with Lalita and she comes outside to address Vishakha, "Oh sakhi! If you're curious to know what happened, come quickly! You can be well informed, too!" But as Vishakha enters the nikuṅja mandir, Lalita closes the door, and Krishna enacts a similar drama! Thus Vishakha returns to induce Champakalata, who induces Chitra; then Chitra engages Tungavidya, and so on. 

Thereafter, as the sakhis notice their love-marks inflicted by Krishna, they feel embarrassed. But because everyone is equally marked, the sakhis are only partially jilted-for no one can tease the other. Meanwhile, in the other kuñja, Radha remains dressed like Krishna, as Nandimukhi, Kundalata and Vṛndā sit beside her. But when Lalita and the other sakhis return, Kundalata takes one look at their appearance, and exclaims,

 "Hey sakhis! Welcome, welcome! Hey chaste ones! Where have you been, and from where did you incur these interesting symptoms? I see that your eye-mascara is smeared, your hair is strewn, your lips are pale and there are marks on your breasts! Yet your keli-parayana Madhava is still seated here in meditation-so who has graced you with these amusing symptoms?" Nandimukhi changes the subject, saying: "Hey Lalite! Let's forget about the past-but what about Radha; what is her present situation? Does she still look like Krishna-and where is she?

Lalita answers: "Our sakhi Radha is in the nikuṅja mandir, and she still resembles Krishna; due to embarrassment she won't come out. But after thinking over the matter, she has privately told us a remedy:

"If Nandimukhi and Kundalata feelingly embrace me, my embarrassing features will change. Nandimukhi has a great wealth of tapasya, and Kundalata is the very image of chastity. So, their strong embrace will be the best medicine-and no other will suffice. The warmth of Nandi's great tapasya and Kunda's strong vow of chastity will break the mystic mantras' spell-and my disgusting lampata* appearance will disappear!"

Nandimukhi replies, "Hey Lalite! As you and the other sakhis are more chaste than millions of pious women; what potency could your embraces lack? So why should Radha need our help? I'll bet that you're mincing the truth."

Vrinda comments: "Hey Nandimukhi! These naive Vraja kishoris don't possess a pinch of tapasya, and their renowned chastity has been rendered imaginary (as a flower in the sky) by youthful Vrajendra-nandana!"

But Kundalata says, "Hey Vrinde! As you're the devi of this forest, you must know about its medicinal herbs. So why don't you quickly go and relieve Radha?" (the sakhis all smile) Then Lalita interrupts: "Why is everybody needlessly arguing? Here is Sri Krishna himself, sitting on this asana and observing silence. Why not ask him? After all, since he is the one who put Radha under a spell, he can surely cure her, too!"

Thus all of the sakhis surround Radha (who still pretends to be Krishna), and while pretending to be fooled, and feigning shyness, Lalita says, "Oh hey mantra-jña cudamani (king of the spell-casters)! As you've attained your desired siddhi, what's the need to remain silent? Please answer a question." But then Radha's meditation breaks, her eyes open and she looks about!

Feigning surprise, she gravely inquires: "Oh sakhis! Where did you go?" And with wandering eyes, Radha inquires further: "Hey sakhis! Where is your mischievous friend (Krishna), and who has dressed me like this?" After thus speaking, Radha brushes away the peacock feather crown from her head.Lalita exclaims, "Oh sakhi! You're our Radha! Hay! We've been unnecessarily shy before you! O hey! There's a fake Radha pretending to be Krishna in the kunja over there; she has bewildered us! But now we understand-she isn't Radha. Luckily we escaped unharmed!" (All of the sakhis pretend to be surprised)

Seeing their behavior, Vrinda smiles and says, "Hey sakhis! You'd better look more carefully-is this effulgent murti your priya sakhi, or your Priya-sakha?"
Nandimukhi jests: "Hey sakhis! Previously there were two Madhavas, now we're seeing two Radhas! So, Aho! We can understand that you've suffered a great difficulty, so we're feeling sorry."

Springing to the defence, Vishakha replies, "Radhe! The only difficulty we feel is from Nandimukhi baseless assertion! Hey tapasvi Nandi! Those who are disciplined never wish to see others suffer-for this is their dharma. So you must be desiring the appearance of Kali-yuga. Then the tapasya-performers will only cheat the people in the name of religion!"

Feeling relieved, the sakhis remove Radha's dark make-up along with Krishna's ornaments and re-dress her. But when Krishna swiftly returns; he is still imitating Radha's voice. Thus, while covering his face with a chador, arching his eyebrows, and feigning shyness just like Radha Krishna glances at Padma-mukhi Rai!Pointing to her, Krishna says, "Hey sakhis! This sly Nagara has dressed himself just like me... but I'm amazed to see that He's fooling all of you! Hey sakhis! Why are you sitting beside this clever magician? Come with me, and don't be naive! Hey blind ones! Do you want to remain the object of everyone's joking? Hey foolish ones! Come escape with me! If we can hind in some distant cave, that will be auspicious! Otherwise, you may all end up like me!"

Vrinda replies, "Oh sakhis! We're all witnessing Giridhari's strong display of maya! You've found one Radha -Yet still another comes to introduce herself. Hey innocent ones! I think you should believe the newly arrived Radha. So take her and flee to a cave for shelter-and reject this imitation Mohini Radha.

Then everyone laughs, even Vrindavan's kalpa latika Sri Radha laughs. The reason is that she finally fulfills her ambition-having pulled the wool over the sakhi's eyes, she has tricked them into performing Krishna's rati dharma! But Kundalata says, "Hey Lalite! Now I see- we have only one last recourse: Let Nandimukhi go and bring Paurnamasi, she can tell us who is the real Radha."
Lalita answers, "Oh sakhi Kundalate! Paurnamasi is the source of our troubles, so why would she tell us the truth? Rather, wouldn't she trap us within her maya even more? So let's just offer pranams to her from a distance!"

Thus, as the news of Krishna's rati keli with the sakhis accidentally slips from the sakhis' own mouths-Krishna, Radha, Vrinda, Nandimukhi and Kundalata all laugh and declare: "Oh Saraswati! Now you've directly appeared on the sakhis lips to disclose the truth. Oh devi! We offer you our pranama!"As the sakhis churn Vrindavan's prema sindhu, Krishna enjoys the nectar surfacing from its depths. Thus, Krishna's joking and the madhu from his delicate smile intoxicates all the gopis.