Krishna comes to Radha Kund
Verse
1
Krishna walks for a short while along the hidden path, and in eager
anticipation for Radhika's sanga-ananda, he arrives at Sri Radha Kund.
Verse 2
Aho! Radha Kund is breathtaking to behold! On its four banks, precious gemstone
steps lead to four jeweled ghats that beautify the water's edge.
Verse 3
Beside these ghats are gem vedis,
and above the stairways are jeweled mandaps
on either side with jeweled cottages behind them.
Verse 4
Between each mandap, an enchanting hindola hangs from the limbs of adjoining
desire trees.
Verse 5
The hindolas are well-decorated with flowers and fine cloth and suspended from
bakula, kadamba, champak and mango trees on the kunda's north, east, south and
west shores.
Verse 6
Between the south and the east side of Radha Kund is a jeweled bridge; the
water underneath merges with that of Shyama Kund.
Verse 7
Radha Kund has many shady trees and latas that bow down from the weight of
their fruits and flowers;
around their bases are jeweled mandaps. These mandaps
have stepts, and they are comfortable for sitting being cooling in the summer
and warm in the winter.
Verse 8
Each mandap is unique in size, shape and design. Some of them reach up to the
neck, or the chest, while others come to the navel, or remain knee-height only.
Some mandaps are eight- sided, seven-sided, six-sided or square, and others
round.
Verse 9
Owing to their glossy, gem finish, they appear like waves; hence, the birds
often collide into them by mistake in an effort to quench their thirst. Radha
and Krishna's sakhas and sakhis always enjoy sitting upon these seats.
Verse 10
Near every ghat are spring arbors with overhanging vines, vasanti-catushalas.
They are surrounded by numerous kunjas of betasa, keshara and ashoka trees.
Verse 11
Beyond these kunjas are banana patches with trees having cooling leaves and
stocks of ripe and unripe bananas.
Verse 12
Next, there are flowers gardens, and surrounding them are fruit orchards. In
the center of Radha Kund is a dazzling ratna mandir. This amazing mandir appears like a large lotus floating over the kunda, and it
belongs to Radha's younger sister, Sri Ananga Manjari.
Verse 13
Vrinda engages hundreds of vana devis and kunja dasis who pick fruits and
collect flowers for Radha Krishna's seva.
Verse 14
These and other seva paraphernalia are kept in jeweled cottages that surround
the kund in select locations.Such storage rooms are called shilpa shalas because here both Vrinda and
Radha's dasis display their talents in the sixty-four arts of Yugala-seva.
Shilpa shalas can also be found in the flower gardens and fruit orchards.