Fraternal Loving Affairs
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separation, all these boys forgot to take care of their cowherding and tried to forget all the melodious songs they used to sing in the pasturing ground. At last they had no desire to live anymore, being separated from Krsna.
An example of stillness was described by a friend of Krṣṇa, who informed Him in Mathurā that all the cowherd boys had become just like leafless trees on the tops of hills. They appeared almost naked, skinny and frail, and did not carry any fruits or flowers. He informed Krṣṇa that all the cowherd boys residing in Vrṇdāvana were as still as the trees at the tops of hills. Sometimes they felt diseased from their separation from Krṣṇa, and being so greatly disappointed, they were aimlessly wandering on the banks of the Yamunā.
There is also an example of madness caused by separation from Krṣṇa. When Krṣṇa was absent from Vrṇdāvana, all the cowherd boys became bewildered, and having given up all kinds of activities, they appeared to be mad and forgot all their regular business. They were sometimes lying down on the ground, sometimes rolling in the dust, sometimes laughing and sometimes running very swiftly. All of these symptoms gave them the appearance of madmen. One friend of Krṣṇa’s criticized Him by saying, “My dear Lord, You have become the King of Mathurā after killing Kamsa, and that is very good news for us. But at Vrṇdāvana all the residents have become blind from their continuous crying over Your absence. They are full only of anxieties and are not cheered at all by Your becoming the King of Mathurā.”
Sometimes there were also signs of death caused by separation from Krṣṇa. Once Krṣṇa was told: “My dear enemy of Kaṁsa, because of their separation from You, the cowherd boys are suffering too much, and they are now lying down in the valleys, breathing only slightly. In order to sympathize with the boys’ regrettable condition, even the forest friends, the deer, are shedding tears.”
In the  Mathurā-khaṇḍa  chapter of the  Skanda Purāṇa , there is a description of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, surrounded by all the cowherd boys, always engaged in taking care of the cows and calves. When Kṛṣṇa was met by Arjuna at a potter's shop in the city of Drupa-danagara, because of the similarity of their bodily features they made