Stimulation for Ecstatic Love
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as gorgeous. As a baby elephant is sometimes dressed in colorful clothing, so Krṣṇa’s gorgeousness was manifested by decoration with such colorful clothing on the different parts of His body.
Ākalpa  refers to the texture of Krṣṇa's hair, His nicely dressed body annointed with sandalwood pulp and decorated with flower garlands, His  tilaka , and His chewing  pan . Krṣṇa was decorated constantly in this  ākalpa  process. Krṣṇa's hair was sometimes decorated with flowers placed on the middle of His head, or else reaching down to His back. In this way Krṣṇa dressed His hair differently at different times. As for the ointment on His body, the pulp of sandalwood generally appeared to be white, and when it was mixed with saffron dye it appeared to be yellow.
Krṣṇa used to put a  vaijayantī  garland around His neck. This  vaijayantī  garland is made of at least five differently colored flowers. The length of such a garland was always touching Krṣṇa’s knees or feet. Besides this garland of flowers, there were other kinds of flower garlands too—sometimes decorating His head, sometimes hanging around His neck and chest. Artistic painting with sandalwood pulp and colored sandalwood were also to be found on the body of Krṣṇa.
One  gopī  addressed her friend and began to praise the bodily features of Kṛṣṇa. She praised His blackish complexion, the reddish color of chewing  pan  enhancing His beauty hundreds of times, the curling hair on His head, the  kuṅkum*  red spots on His body and the  tilaka  on His forehead.
His helmet, His earrings, His necklace, His four garments, the bangles on His head, the rings on His fingers, His ankle bells and His flute—these are the different features of Kṛṣṇa’s ornaments. Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Agha, always looked beautiful with His incomparable helmet, His earrings made of diamonds, His necklace of pearls, His bangles, embroidered garments and the beautiful rings on His fingers.
Krşna is sometimes called  vanamālī .  Vana  means forest and  mālī  means gardener, so  vanamālī  refers to one who extensively uses flow-
*  Kunkum  is a sweetly-flavored reddish powder which is thrown on the bodies of worshipable persons.