Fraternal Loving Affairs
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behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack Kṛṣṇa’s body, although Kṛṣṇa was acting only as charioteer for Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that Aśvatthāmā was releasing various kinds of arrows to hurt Kṛṣṇa, he immediately stood in front of Kṛṣṇa to intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being harmed by those arrows, he felt an ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, and the arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers.
There is another instance of ecstatic love for Krṣṇa in friendship: Once when a cowherd boy named Vrṣabha was collecting flowers from the forest to prepare a garland to be offered to Krṣṇa, the sun reached its zenith, and although the sunshine was scorching hot, Vrṣabha felt it as the moonshine. That is the way of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord: When devotees are put into great difficulties—even like the Pāṇḍavas, as described above—they feel all their miserable conditions as great facilities for serving the Lord.
Another instance of Arjuna’s friendship with Kṛṣṇa is described by Nārada, who reminded Kṛṣṇa, “When Arjuna was learning the art of shooting arrows, he could not see You for so many days. But when You arrived there, he stopped all His activities and immediately embraced You.” This means that even though Arjuna was engaged in learning about the military art, he had not forgotten Kṛṣṇa for a moment, and as soon as there was an opportunity to see Kṛṣṇa, he immediately embraced Him.
One servant of Kṛṣṇa named Patrī once addressed Him like this: “My dear Lord, You protected the cowherd boys from the hunger of the Aghāsura demon, and You protected them from the poisonous affects of the Kāliya snake. And You also saved them from the fierce forest fire. But I am suffering from Your separation, which is more severe than the hunger of Aghāsura, the poison of Lake Kāliya, and the burning of the forest fire. So why should You not protect me from the pangs of separation?” Another friend once told Kṛṣṇa: “My dear enemy of Kaṁsa, since You have left us, the heat of separation has become extraordinary. And this heat is felt more severely when we understand that in Bhāṇḍīravana You are being refreshed by the waves of the cooling river known as Bhānūtanayā [Rādhārāṇī].” The purport is that when Kṛṣṇa was engaged with Rādhārāṇī, the cowherd