Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 23

As they approached Śrī Nandīśvara, Śrīmatī had a sweet memory of the joy of seeing Kṛṣṇa. Her body became numb and her gait slowed. In an attempt to hide her condition from her sakhīs, she said, “Friend! I cannot walk quickly any more; there are sharp pebbles on the path.” Kundalatā joked, “Is there a pebble stuck in your foot or is it in your mind?” Another sakhī said, “There is a black pebble stuck in her mind.” Kundalatā pointed and said, “Look there! Your beloved Kṛṣṇa, embraced by the garland of his dark complexion, is standing by the village gate. His body is bent in three places, unable to bear the weight of his sweetness. The bees are excited by the fragrance of the forest garland round his neck. It seems his beautiful, restless eyes are teaching the earrings that touch his soft cheeks how to dance. The yellow luster of his cloth, blown by the vernal breeze, mingles with the natural blue luster of his body like in Prayāga, the meeting place of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, thus fulfilling with a stream of charm all the desires of the adolescent girls wishing to bathe there. Sakhī Rādhā! Look! Your enchanting lover has placed his left arm on the shoulder of his dear friend Subala. Under the guise of twirling a līlā-kamala(1) in his right hand, he spins the minds of the beautiful girls.” Śrīmatī felt dazed as she drank in Kundalatā’s word-nectar and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beauty-nectar through the chalices of her ears and eyes. Then Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful aroma spread to her nostrils and brought her back to external consciousness. Intense waves of love for Kṛṣṇa surged through Śrīmatī’s heart. Adorned with goosebumps, tears, trembling and other ecstatic symptoms, she said, “Sakhī! Is there no other path for entering the village of the king of Vraja? I cannot go this way!” In response, clever Lalitā said, “O dear friend! You must face this debauchee because I see that out of fear your creeper-like limbs are covered with goosebumps and tears are falling from your lotus-like eyes. Why are you afraid? You have been ordered by your elders to go on this path, so by obeying them all of your faults will be removed. Let’s go, friend! We will enter Nandālaya by this path.” Mentally admiring Lalitā’s intelligence, Śrīmatī began to proceed slowly on the path. Under the guise of pulling on her veil, she stimulated Śyāmasundara by showing him her face and other limbs and at the same time got a glimpse of Śyāma’s sweetness for herself. The treasure of each one’s meditation was now directly visible. Śrī Kṛṣṇa began to relish the incomparable beauty of Śrīmatī’s form with unblinking eyes and insatiable desire. Śrīmatī also was overwhelmed as she gazed with unblinking eyes at the world-enchanting sweet form of her beloved. The joy of seeing each other caused an endless stream of sweetness to gush from the limbs of both. The minnow-like eyes of the sakhīs and mañjarīs began to swim happily in that stream of sweet nectar.

Śrīmatī was delighted to see Kṛṣṇa; the power of love caused sāttvika-bhāvas like numbness, lethargy and so on to appear in her limbs and her gait slowed even more. Then, to change Śrīmatī’s mental state, Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī began to describe the beauty of Nandīśvara Hill. “Sakhī Rādhā! Look there. Nandīśvara Hill is thirty-two miles high, sixteen miles long and four miles wide. It’s huge! Beautiful six-season-forests grow there, with mango, jackfruit, arjuna, betel-nut, coconut and other trees encircled by lovely mādhavī, mālatī, navamallikā(2) and other flowering creepers. The forests are filled with the soft warbling of cuckoos and other birds and the sweet humming of bees. There are beautiful white, red, blue and yellow stones lying all about. Waterfalls flow from the peak of the hill in colors matching those of the stones. Like the white Sarasvatī, the red Alakānandā, the blue Yamunā and the yellow Gaṅgā, the waterfalls spread their beauty and fill countless delightful lakes like Pāvana-Sarovara, Yaśodā-Kuṇḍa and others. Behold Nandīśvara Giri, adorned with white, blue, red and yellow lotuses, water-lilies and so on. It teems with herons, storks and other birds and is surrounded by large ponds and lakes filled with clear water and multicolored waves.” Tuṅgavidyā’s words put Śrī Rādhā into a different mood, so she and her sakhīs admired the hill’s beauty and then entered the village. It is surrounded on four sides by a golden wall inlaid with various kinds of gemstones. On the four sides there are four gates decorated with arches, binding cords, strings of pearls, flags and banners. The multicolored flags and banners are being stirred by the Malaya breeze as though beckoning to all travelers, inviting them to accept the hospitality of Nanda’s joyful home. On the eastern side stands a large lion gate with a diamond-studded golden door. On each side of that sits a large lion made of white marble, with a white mane and eyes of ruby or sapphire. The lion gate has five stories. On the first story, talented singers awaken Śrī Kṛṣṇa with songs of his qualities. Dancers perform on the second story as an orchestra plays on the third. On the fourth story a golden clock chimes according to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. Golden pots and flapping victory flags beautify the fifth story. Nanda’s palace is sublime and is surrounded by seven other beautiful palaces. The home of Urjanya Rājā is on the north side, Parjanya’s is on the south and Rājanya’s is on the east. These three are brothers; Nanda and his four brothers are the sons of Parjanya Mahārāja. To the south of Parjanya Mahārāja’s home are the homes of Sananda and Nandana. The homes of Upānanda and Abhinanda lie to the north of Urjanya Mahārāja’s. Śrī Nanda Mahārāja’s home is between them. An incomparably elegant royal court lies in the southern part of the palace. A walkway extends from the estate’s northern gate to its southern gate. The palace has forty-two rooms in two sections on the eastern side and two sections on the western, plus seven in the middle, making a total of forty-nine rooms.

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1. A lotus flower held in the hand as a plaything (Monier-Williams)

2. Helicopter flower and two kinds of jasmine