217 The Nectar of Devotion

When Krsna arrived at the age of thirteen to fourteen years, His
two arms and chest assumed an unspeakable beauty, and His whole
form became simply enchanting. When Krsna attained thirteen years
of age, His two arms were challenging the trunks of elephants, His
rising chest was trying to come to peace talks with doors of jewels,
and His two arms were minimizing the value of the bolts found on
doors. Who can describe the wonderful beauty of these features of
Krsna? The special beauty of Krsna’s body was His mild smiling, His
restless eyes and His world-enchanting songs. These are the special
features of this age.

There is a statement in this connection that Krsna, on arriving at
this age, manifested such beautiful bodily features that His restless
eyes became the playthings of Cupid, and His mild smile resembled
the newly-grown lotus flower. The enchanting vibration of His songs
became a great impediment to the young girls, who were supposed to
remain chaste and faithful to their husbands.

At this age Krsna enjoyed the rdasa-lila, exhibiting His power of
joking with the cowherd girls and enjoying their company in the
bushes of the gardens by the bank of the Yamuna.

In this connection there is the following statement: “Throughout
the whole tract of land known as Vrndavana there were the foot-
prints of Krsna and the gopis, and in some places peacock feathers
were strewn about. In some places there were nice beddings in the
bushes of the Vrndavana gardens, and in some places there were piles
of dust due to the group-dancing of Govinda and the gopis.” These
are some of the features which are due to the different pastimes in-
vented by Sri Krsna in the place known as Vrndavana.

There is the following statement by one gopi, describing Krsna’s
attractive feature during this age: “My dear friend, just see how all of
a sudden in the sky of Krsna there is a powerful rising sun and how
this rising sun is minimizing the rays of our chastity moon. Our at-
traction for Krsna is so intense that it is drying up the lotus flower of
our discrimination, and we are losing our senses in deciding whether
we shall continue as chaste women or be victimized by the beauty of
Krsna. My dear friend, I think that we have lost all hope of life!”

In the kaisora age, beginning from the eleventh year and con-
