Text 28] Departure of Lord Krsna for Dvaraka 545

vraja-strivah—the damsels of Vrajabhiimi; sammu-muhuh—often fainted;
vat-asavah—expecting to be favored in that way.

TRANSLATION

O friends, just think of His wives whose hands He has accepted. How
they must have undergone vows, baths, fire sacrifice and perfect worship
of the Lord of the universe to constantly relish now the nectar from His
lips [by kissing]. The damsels of Vrajabhimi would often faint by just
expecting such favors.

PURPORT

Religious rites prescribed in the scriptures are meant to purify the
mundane qualities of the conditioned souls to enable them to become
gradually promoted to the stage of rendering transcendental service unto
the Supreme Lord. Attainment of this stage of pure spiritual life is the
highest perfection, and this stage is called svaripa, or the factual identity
of the living being. Liberation means to renovate this stage of svariipa. In
that perfect stage of svariipa, the living being is established in five phases
of loving service, one of which is the stage of madhurya-rasa, or the
humor of conjugal love. The Lord is always perfect in Himself, and thus
He has no hankering for Himself. He, however, becomes a master, a friend,
a son or a husband to fulfill the intense love of the devotee concerned.
Herein two classes of devotees of the Lord are mentioned in the stage of
conjugal love. One is svakiya, and the other is parakiya. Both of them are
in conjugal love with the Personality of Godhead Krsna. The queens at
Dvaraka were svakiya, or duly married wives, but the damsels of the Vraja
were young friends of the Lord while He was unmarried. The Lord stayed
at Vrndavana till the age of sixteen, and His friendly relations with the
neighboring girls were in terms of parakiya. These girls, as well as the
queens, underwent severe penances by taking vows, bathing and offering
sacrifice in the fire, as prescribed in the scriptures. The rites, as they are,
are not an end in themselves, nor are fruitive action, culture of knowledge
or perfection in mystic powers ends in themselves. They are all means to
attain to the highest stage of svariipa to render constitutional transcendental
service to the Lord. Each and every living being has his individual position
in either of the above-mentioned five different kinds of reciprocating means
with the Lord, and in one’s pure spiritual form of svaripa the relation
