Fraternal Loving Affairs 345
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 pas-
turing ground. At last they had no desire to live anymore, being sepa-
rated from Krsna.

An example of stillness was described by a friend of Krsna, who
informed Him in Mathura 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
Krsna that all the cowherd boys residing in Vrndavana were as still as
the trees at the tops of hills. Sometimes they felt diseased from their
separation from Krsna, and being so greatly disappointed, they were
aimlessly wandering on the banks of the Yamuna.

There is also an example of madness caused by separation from
Krsna. When Krsna was absent from Vrndavana, 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
Krsna’s criticized Him by saying, “My dear Lord, You have become
the King of Mathura after killing Kamsa, and that is very good news
for us. But at Vrndavana 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
Mathura.”

Sometimes there were also signs of death caused by separation
from Krsna. Once Krsna was told: “My dear enemy of Kamsa, be-
cause 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 Mathura-khanda chapter of the Skanda Purana, there is a
description of Krsna and Balarama, surrounded by all the cowherd
boys, always engaged in taking care of the cows and calves. When
Krsna 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
