344 The Nectar of Devotion

boys headed by Subala were feeling great separation, and that was
unbearable for them.

Another friend addressed Krsna thus: ‘My dear Krsna, O killer of
Aghasura, when You left Vrndavana to kill King Kamsa in Mathura,
all the cowherd boys became bereft of their four bhitas [the ele-
ments of earth, water, fire and space]. And the fifth bhita, the air,
was flowing very rapidly within their nostrils.” When Krsna went to
Mathura to kill King Kamsa, all the cowherd boys became so af-
flicted by the separation that they almost died. When a person is dead
it is said that he has given up the five elements, known as bhittas, as
the body again mixes with the five elements from which it was pre-
pared. In this case, although the four elements of earth, water, fire
and ether were already gone, the remaining element, air, was still very
prominent and was blowing through their nostrils furiously. In other
words, after Krsna left Vrndavana, they were always anxious about
what would happen in His fight with King Karhsa.

Another friend once informed Krsna, “When one of Your friends
was feeling much separation from You, there were tears covering his
lotus eyes, so the black drones of sleep became discouraged from
entering his eyes and left that place.” When there is a lotus flower,
the black drones fly into it to collect honey. The eyes of Krsna’s
friend are compared to the lotus flower, and because they were
full of tears the black drones of sleep could not collect honey from
his lotus eyes and therefore left the place. In other words, because he
was too much afflicted, his eyes were full of tears, and he could not
sleep. This is an example of staying up at night because of separation
from Krsna.

An example of helplessness is described in the following statement:
“Due to Krsna’s departure from Vrndavana to Mathura, Krsna’s dear-
est cowherd boys felt as mentally light as possible. They were like
fragments of cotton, lighter than the air, and were all floating in the
air without any shelter.” In other words, the minds of the cowherd
boys became almost vacant on account of Krsna’s separation, and
they are compared with fragments of cotton floating in the air with-
out any shelter. An example of impatience was also shown by the
cowherd boys when Krsna went to Mathura. Out of the sorrow of
