Fraternal Loving Affairs 343

behaved heinously in so many ways that he did not hesitate to attack
Krsna’s body, although Krsna was acting only as charioteer for
Arjuna. When Arjuna saw that Agvatthama was releasing various kinds
of arrows to hurt Krsna, he immediately stood in front of Krsna to
intercept all of them. At that time, although Arjuna was being
harmed by those arrows, he felt an ecstatic love for Krsna, and the
arrows appeared to him like showers of flowers.

There is another instance of ecstatic love for Krsna in friendship:
Once when a cowherd boy named Vrsabha was collecting flowers
from the forest to prepare a garland to be offered to Krsna, the sun
reached its zenith, and although the sunshine was scorching hot,
Vrsabha felt it as the moonshine. That is the way of rendering tran-
scendental loving service to the Lord: When devotees are put into
great difficulties—even like the Pandavas, as described above—they
feel all their miserable conditions as great facilities for serving the Lord.

Another instance of Arjuna’s friendship with Krsna is described
by Narada, who reminded Krsna, “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 em-
braced You.” This means that even though Arjuna was engaged in
learning about the military art, he had not forgotten Krsna for a
moment, and as soon as there was an opportunity to see Krsna, he
immediately embraced Him.

One servant of Krsna named Patri once addressed Him like this:
“My dear Lord, You protected the cowherd boys from the hunger of
the Aghasura demon, and You protected them from the poisonous
affects of the Kaliya 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 Aghasura, the poison of Lake Kaliya, and
the burning of the forest fire. So why should You not protect me
from the pangs of separation?” Another friend once told Krsna: “My
dear enemy of Kamsa, since You have left us, the heat of separation
has become extraordinary. And this heat is felt more severely when
we understand that in Bhandiravana You are being refreshed by the
waves of the cooling river known as Bhanittanaya [Radharani].’’ The
purport is that when Krsna was engaged with Radharani, the cowherd
