Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 17

Then Śrī Kṛṣṇa expressed his sweet boyish nature to Mother Yaśodā and sat up, stretched his limbs and yawned. His moonlike face seemed to be worshiped by the splendor of his teeth. He left his bed and offered prayers at the feet of Paurṇamāsī and his mother. By Yaśodā’s order, the servant boys sat Kṛṣṇa on a jeweled seat and washed his face and so on. When they finished, Kṛṣṇa’s mother dried his limbs with the border of her dress. Then the boys bound up his disheveled hair, painted protective tilaka made of gorocanā(1) on his forehead and adorned him with necklaces, garlands and a jeweled turban. At that time, Baladeva stood beside Kṛṣṇa while Yaśodā offered a camphor lamp to them. Then Rohiṇī, Ambā, Kilimbā and others began to sing about Kṛṣṇa’s youthful charm. After that, Yaśodā Mā  fed Kṛṣṇa and his friends some butter and sugar-candy. Then Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma went with their sakhas to the cowshed to milk the cows. As they left for the cowshed, Kṛṣṇa’s astonishing ocean of sweetness began to swell. After seeing him from their palaces, the vraja-sundarīs became infatuated and began to worship that god of love with their lotus eyes. Baṭu Madhumaṅgala started cracking jokes that made Kṛṣṇa and the sakhas laugh. Like this, they all entered the cowshed. When the cows saw Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva, they melted in motherly affection and streams of milk began to spontaneously flow from their teats. Kṛṣṇa made the cows feel most blissful by calling their names and scratching their bodies; then he began to milk them.

In this way, Śyāmalā and Madhurikā caused Śrīmatī and her sakhīs to taste the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. When the two girls left, Śrīmatī began to feel separation from her sweetheart and became bewildered. A moment seemed like a yuga to her. Still, Śrīmatī’s dāsīs meticulously helped her complete her morning duties. After placing Śrīmatī on her toothbrushing platform, one kiṅkarī began to slowly pour water from a golden pot into Śrīmatī’s lotus hands. She rinsed her mouth and washed her face. Then a dāsī placed a soft mango-leaf cup containing fragrant powder in her hand. Śrīmatī cleaned her teeth with the powder and their luster was boundless. Another dāsī then placed a bow-shaped, golden tongue-scraper in Śrīmatī’s hand. Holding its two ends with the thumbs and forefingers of her soft lotus hands, she began to clean her tongue. While doing so, her head, eyes and so on began to shake slightly and locks of hair fell over her face. Recollecting some confidential pastime, the sakhīs began to laugh. When Śrīmatī saw this, she also smiled sweetly. She again rinsed her mouth and face, after which some dāsī dried her hands and face with a fine cloth and then showed her a jeweled mirror. Śrīmatī thought of Kṛṣṇa’s joy-giving face and again washed her own with the nectar of a smile. After Śrīmatī had gone to the toilet and so on, a sādhaka-dāsī sat her on a golden bench and washed her lotus hands and feet with fragrant clay and scented water and then dried them with a soft cloth. Śrīmatī was missing Kṛṣṇa so to distract her the sakhīs brought some of her pet birds for her to enjoy. As Śrī Rādhā marveled at the sporting of the cocks and other birds her viraha-rasa gradually disappeared and she began to have fun with her sakhīs.

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1. A bright yellow pigment secreted from a cow’s kidney