The Rāsa Dance: Introduction
191
When the full moon rose in the east, it tinged everything with a reddish color. With the rising of the moon, the whole sky appeared smeared by red  kuṅkuma . When a husband long separated from his wife returns home, he decorates the face of his wife with red  kuṅkuma . This long-expected moonrise of the  śarat  season was thus smearing the eastern sky.
The appearance of the moon increased Krṣṇa's desire to dance with the  gopīs . The forests were filled with fragrant flowers. The atmosphere was cooling and festive. When Lord Krṣṇa began to blow His flute, the  gopīs  all over Vṛndāvana became enchanted. Their attraction to the vibration of the flute increased a thousand times due to the rising full moon, the red horizon, the calm and cool atmosphere, and the blossoming flowers. All these  gopīs  were by nature very much attracted to Krṣṇa's beauty, and when they heard the vibration of His flute, they became apparently lustful to satisfy the senses of Krṣṇa.
Immediately upon hearing the vibration of the flute, they all left their respective engagements and proceeded to the spot where Krṣṇa was standing. While they ran very swiftly, all their carrings swung back and forth. They all rushed toward the place known as Vaṅśīvaṭa. Some of them were engaged in milking cows, but they left their milking business half finished and immediately went to Krṣṇa. One of them had just collected milk and put it in a milk pan on the oven to boil, but she did not care whether the milk overboiled and spilled—she immediately left to go see Krṣṇa. Some of them were breast feeding their small babies, and some were engaged in distributing food to the members of their families, but they left all such engagements and immediately rushed towards the spot where Krṣṇa was playing His flute. Some were engaged in serving their husbands, and some were themselves engaged in eating, but neither caring to serve their husbands nor eat, they immediately left. Some of them wanted to decorate their faces with cosmetic ointments and to dress themselves very nicely before going to Krṣṇa, but unfortunately they could not finish their cosmetic decorations nor put on their dresses in the right way because of their anxiety to meet Krṣṇa immediately. Their faces were decorated hurriedly and were haphazardly finished; some even put the lower part of their dresses on the upper part of their bodies and the upper part on the lower part.
While all the  gopīs  were hurriedly leaving their respective places, their husbands, brothers and fathers were all struck with wonder to know where they were going. Being young girls, they were protected either by husbands, elderly brothers or fathers. All their guardians forbade them to go to Krṣṇa, but they disregarded them. When a person becomes attracted by