Some things which give impetus or stimulation to ecstatic love of KášášŁáša are His transcendental qualities, His uncommon activities, His smiling features, His apparel and garlands, His flute, His buffalo horn, His leg bells, His conchshell, His footprints, His places of pastimes (such as VášndÄvana), His favorite plant (tulasÄŤ), His devotee and the periodical occasions for remembering Him. One such occasion for remembrance is EkÄdaĹÄŤ, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.
KášášŁáša's Transcendental Qualities, His Uncommon Activities and His SmileAs far as KášášŁáša's transcendental qualities are concerned, they can be divided into three groups: qualities pertaining to His transcendental body, qualities pertaining to His transcendental speech and qualities pertaining to His transcendental mind.
KášášŁáša's age, His transcendental bodily features, His beauty and His mildness are qualities pertaining to His body. There is no difference between KášášŁáša and His body, and therefore the transcendental features pertaining to His body are the same as KášášŁáša Himself. But because these qualities stimulate the devotee's ecstatic love, they have been analyzed as separate causes of that love. To be attracted by the qualities of KášášŁáša means to be attracted by KášášŁáša Himself, because there is no real distinction between KášášŁáša and His qualities. KášášŁáša's name is also KášášŁáša. KášášŁáša's fame is also KášášŁáša. KášášŁáša's entourage is also KášášŁáša. KášášŁáša and everything related with KášášŁáša which gives stimulation to love of KášášŁáša are all KášášŁáša, but for our understanding these items may be considered separately.
KášášŁáša is the reservoir of all transcendental pleasure. Therefore, the impetuses to love of KášášŁáša, although seemingly different, are not actually distinct from KášášŁáša Himself. In the technical Sanskrit terms, such qualities as KášášŁáša's name and fame are accepted both as reservoirs of and as stimulation for love of KášášŁáša.
KášášŁáša's age is considered in three periods: from His appearance day to the end of His fifth year is called kaumÄra, from the beginning of the sixth year up to the end of the tenth year is called paugaášá¸a, and from the eleventh to the end of the fifteenth year is called kaiĹora. After the beginning of the sixteenth year, KášášŁáša is called a yauvana, or a youth, and this continues with no change.
As far as KášášŁáša's transcendental pastimes are concerned, they are mostly executed during the kaumÄra, paugaášá¸a and kaiĹora periods. His affectionate pastimes with His parents are executed during His kaumÄra age. His friendship with the cowherd boys is exhibited during the paugaášá¸a period. And His friendship with the gopÄŤs is exhibited during the age of kaiĹora. KášášŁáša's pastimes at VášndÄvana are finished by the end of His fifteenth year, and then He is transferred to MathurÄ and DvÄrakÄ, where all other pastimes are performed.
ĹrÄŤla RĹŤpa GosvÄmÄŤ gives us a vivid description of KášášŁáša as the reservoir of all pleasure in his Bhakti-rasÄmášta-sindhu. Here are some parts of that description.
KášášŁáša's kaiĹora age may be divided into three parts. In the beginning of His kaiĹora ageâthat is, at the beginning of His eleventh yearâthe luster of His body becomes so bright that it becomes an impetus for ecstatic love. Similarly, there are reddish borders around His eyes, and a growth of soft hairs on His body. In describing this early stage of His kaiĹora age, KundalatÄ, one of the residents of VášndÄvana, said to her friend, "My dear friend, I have just seen an extraordinary beauty appearing in the person of KášášŁáša. His blackish bodily hue appears just like the indranÄŤla jewel. There are reddish signs on His eyes, and small soft hairs are coming out on His body. The appearance of these symptoms has made Him extraordinarily beautiful."
In this connection, in the Tenth Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 5, of ĹrÄŤmad-BhÄgavatam, Ĺukadeva GosvÄmÄŤ tells King ParÄŤkᚣit, "My dear King, I shall try to describe how the minds of the gopÄŤs became absorbed in thought of KášášŁáša. The gopÄŤs would meditate on KášášŁáša's dressing Himself just like a dancing actor and entering the forest of VášndÄvana, marking the ground with His footprints. They meditated on KášášŁáša's having a helmet with a peacock feather and wearing earrings on His ears and yellow-gold colored garments covered with jewels and pearls. They also meditated on KášášŁáša's blowing His flute and on all the cowherd boys' singing of the glories of the Lord." That is the description of the meditation which the gopÄŤs used to perform.
Sometimes the gopÄŤs would think about His soft nails, His moving eyebrows and His teeth, which were catechu-colored from chewing pan. One description was given by a gopÄŤ to her friend: "My dear friend, just see how the enemy of Agha has assumed such wonderful features! His brows are just like the brows of Cupid, and they are moving just as though they were dancing. The tips of His nails are so softâit is as if they were dried bamboo leaves. His teeth are reddish, and so it appears that He has assumed a feature of anger. Under the circumstances, where is the chance for a young girl not to be attracted by such beautiful features and not to be afraid of becoming a victim to such beauty?"
KášášŁáša's attractive features are also described by VášndÄ, the gopÄŤ after whom VášndÄvana was named. She told KášášŁáša, "My dear MÄdhava, Your newly invented smile has so captivated the hearts of the gopÄŤs that they are simply unable to express themselves! As such, they have become bewildered and will not talk with others. All of these gopÄŤs have become so affected that it is as if they had offered three sprinkles of water upon their lives. In other words, they have given up all hope for their living condition." According to the Indian system, when a person is dead there is a sprinkling of water on the body. Thus, the statement of VášndÄ shows that the gopÄŤs were so enchanted by the beauty of KášášŁáša that because they could not express their minds, they had decided to commit suicide.
When KášášŁáša 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 KášášŁáša attained thirteen years of age, His two thighs 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 KášášŁáša? The special beauty of KášášŁáša'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 KášášŁáša, 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 KášášŁáša enjoyed the rÄsa-lÄŤlÄ, exhibiting His power of joking with the cowherd girls and enjoying their company in the bushes of the gardens by the bank of the YamunÄ.
In this connection there is the following statement: "Throughout the whole tract of land known as VášndÄvana there were the footprints of KášášŁáša and the gopÄŤs, and in some places peacock feathers were strewn about. In some places there were nice beddings in the bushes of the VášndÄvana gardens, and in some places there were piles of dust due to the group-dancing of Govinda and the gopÄŤs." These are some of the features which are due to the different pastimes invented by ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša in the place known as VášndÄvana.
There is the following statement by one gopÄŤ, describing KášášŁáša's attractive feature during this age: "My dear friend, just see how all of a sudden in the sky of KášášŁáša there is a powerful rising sun and how this rising sun is minimizing the rays of our chastity moon. Our attraction for KášášŁáša 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 KášášŁáša. My dear friend, I think that we have lost all hope of life!"
In the kaiĹora age, beginning from the eleventh year and continuing up to the end of the fifteenth year, KášášŁáša's arms, legs and thighs became marked with three divisional lines. At that time KášášŁáša's chest challenged a hill of marakata jewels, His arms challenged pillars of the indranÄŤla jewel, the three lines of His waist challenged the waves of the River YamunÄ, and His thighs challenged beautiful bananas. One gopÄŤ said, "With all these exquisite features of His body, KášášŁáša is too extraordinarily beautiful, and therefore I am always thinking of Him to protect me, because He is the killer of all demons."
The idea expressed in this statement is that the gopÄŤs were comparing their attraction for KášášŁáša to an attack by demons; and to counteract their attraction for the beauty of KášášŁáša, they were also turning to KášášŁáša hopefully, because He is the killer of all kinds of demons. In other words, they were perplexed, because on one hand they were attracted by the beauty of KášášŁáša, and on the other they needed KášášŁáša to drive away the demon of such attraction.
This kaiĹora age can be translated as adolescence. At the end of this period all the gopÄŤs said, "KášášŁáša is the killer of the attraction of Cupid, and as such He disturbs the patience of all newly married girls. KášášŁáša's bodily features have become so exquisiteâit is as if they were all manifesting an artistic sense of the highest sort. His dancing eyes have dimmed the brilliance of the most expert dancer, and so there is no longer any comparison to the beauty of KášášŁáša." Learned scholars therefore describe the features of His body at this time as nava-yauvana, newly invented youthfulness. At this stage of KášášŁáša's bodily features, the conjugal love affairs with the gopÄŤs and similar pastimes become very prominent.
There are six features of conjugal love affairs, called peacemaking, picking a quarrel, going to meet one's lover, sitting together, separation and support. Lord KášášŁáša expanded an empire of these six features, of which He was the ruling prince. Somewhere He was picking quarrels with the young girls, somewhere He was scratching them with the nails of parrots, somewhere He was busy going to visit the gopÄŤs, and somewhere He was negotiating through cowherd friends to take shelter of the gopÄŤs.
Some of the gopÄŤs addressed Him thus: "Dear KášášŁáša, because of Your adolescent age, You have just become the spiritual master of these young girls, and You are teaching them to whisper among themselves. You are teaching them to offer solemn prayers, as well as training them to cheat their husbands and to join You in the gardens at night, without caring for the instructions of their superiors. You are enthusing them by the vibration of Your enchanting flute; and, as their teacher, You are teaching them all the intricacies of loving affairs."
It is said that even when KášášŁáša was a boy of five He manifested such youthful energies, but learned scholars do not explain them because of the absence of suitable age. KášášŁáša was beautiful because every part of His body was perfectly arranged without any defect. Such perfect bodily features of KášášŁáša are described as follows: "My dear enemy of Kaášsa, Your broad eyes, Your rising chest, Your two pillarlike arms and the thin middle portion of Your body are always enchanting to every lotus-eyed beautiful girl." The ornaments on the body of KášášŁáša were not actually enhancing His beauty, but just the reverseâthe ornaments were beautified by KášášŁáša.
A person is called mild when he cannot even bear the touch of the most soft thing. It is described that every part of KášášŁáša's body was so soft that even at the touch of newly grown leaves, the color of the touched part of His skin would change. At this kaiĹora age, KášášŁáša's endeavors were always bent toward arranging the rÄsa dance, as well as toward killing the demons in the forest of VášndÄvana. While KášášŁáša was engaged in enjoyment with the boys and girls within the forest of VášndÄvana, Kaášsa used to send his associates to kill KášášŁáša, and KášášŁáša would show His prowess by killing them.
KášášŁáša's Apparel and GarlandsGenerally, there are four kinds of garments on the body of KášášŁáša: His shirt, turban, belt and wearing garments. In VášndÄvana, He used to put on reddish garments, with a golden shirt on His body and an orange-colored turban on His head. The different kinds of belts, combined with His enchanting smile, used to always increase the transcendental bliss of His associates. This dress of KášášŁáša is described as gorgeous. As a baby elephant is sometimes dressed in colorful clothing, so KášášŁáša's gorgeousness was manifested by decoration with such colorful clothing on the different parts of His body.
Äkalpa refers to the texture of KášášŁáša's hair, His nicely dressed body anointed with sandalwood pulp and decorated with flower garlands, His tilaka and His chewing pan. KášášŁáša was decorated constantly in this Äkalpa process. KášášŁáša's hair was sometimes decorated with flowers placed on the middle of His head, or else it was reaching down to His back. In this way KášášŁáša dressed His hair differently at different times. As for the ointment on His body, the pulp of sandalwood generally appeared to be white, and when it was mixed with saffron dye it appeared to be yellow.
KášášŁáša used to put a vaijayantÄŤ garland around His neck. This vaijayantÄŤ garland is made of flowers of at least five different colors. Such a garland was always long enough to touch KášášŁáša's knees or feet. Besides this garland of flowers, there were other kinds of flower garlands tooâsometimes decorating His head, sometimes hanging around His neck and chest. Artistic paintings with sandalwood pulp and colored sandalwood were also to be found on the body of KášášŁáša.
One gopÄŤ addressed her friend and began to praise the bodily features of KášášŁáša. She praised His blackish complexion, the reddish color of chewing pan enhancing His beauty hundreds of times, the curling hair on His head, the kuáš kuma red spots on His body and the tilaka on His forehead.
His helmet, His earrings, His necklace, His four garments, the bangles on His head, the rings on His fingers, His ankle bells and His fluteâthese are the different features of KášášŁáša's ornaments. KášášŁáša, the enemy of Agha, always looked beautiful with His incomparable helmet, His earrings made of diamonds, His necklace of pearls, His bangles, His embroidered garments and the beautiful rings on His fingers.
KášášŁáša is sometimes called vana-mÄlÄŤ. Vana means "forest," and mÄlÄŤ means "gardener," so vana-mÄlÄŤ refers to one who extensively uses flowers and garlands on different parts of His body. KášášŁáša was dressed like this not only in VášndÄvana but also on the Battlefield of Kurukᚣetra. Seeing such colorful dress and the garlands of different flowers, some great sages prayed, "Lord KášášŁáša was going to the Battlefield of Kurukᚣetra not to fight, but to grace all of the devotees with His presence."
KášášŁáša's FluteAs far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. KášášŁáša was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.
There are three kinds of flutes used by KášášŁáša. One is called veášu, one is called muralÄŤ, and the third is called vaášĹÄŤ. Veášu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. MuralÄŤ is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute. This kind of flute produces a very enchanting sound. The vaášĹÄŤ flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. KášášŁáša used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. KášášŁáša has a longer vaášĹÄŤ, which is called mahÄnandÄ, or sammohinÄŤ. When it is still longer it is called ÄkarᚣiášÄŤ. When it is even longer it is called ÄnandinÄŤ. The ÄnandinÄŤ flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vaášĹulÄŤ. These flutes were sometimes bedecked with jewels. Sometimes they were made of marble and sometimes of hollow bamboo. When the flute is made of jewels it is called sammohinÄŤ. When made of gold, it is called ÄkarᚣiášÄŤ.
KášášŁáša's Buffalo HornKášášŁáša used a buffalo horn as a bugling instrument. This instrument was always highly polished and circled with gold bands, and on the middle there was a hole. Regarding these instruments, there is a metaphorical statement about a gopÄŤ named TÄrÄvalÄŤ. It is said that TÄrÄvalÄŤ was bitten by the most venomous snake of KášášŁáša's flute. Then, in order to neutralize the poisonous effect, she drank the milk produced by the buffalo horn in the hand of KášášŁáša. But instead of decreasing the poisonous effect, it increased it a thousand times. The gopÄŤ was thus put into the most miserable poisoned condition.
The Attraction of KášášŁáša's Leg BellsA certain gopÄŤ once stated to her friend, "My dear friend, when I heard the sound of the leg bells of ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša, I immediately started to go out of the house to see Him. But most regrettably, my superiors were present just before me at that time, and I could not go out."
KášášŁáša's ConchshellKášášŁáša's conchshell is known as PÄĂącajanya. This PÄĂącajanya conch is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ. KášášŁáša sounded it before the Battle of Kurukᚣetra. It is said that when Lord KášášŁáša blows on His transcendental conchshell, the wives of the demons become subject to abortions, and the wives of the demigods become blessed with all auspiciousness. In this way, the sound of KášášŁáša's conchshell used to vibrate and circulate all over the world.
KášášŁáša's FootprintsIt is stated in ĹrÄŤmad-BhÄgavatam that when AkrĹŤra, who drove KášášŁáša from VášndÄvana to MathurÄ, saw the footprints of KášášŁáša on the land of VášndÄvana, his ecstatic love for KášášŁáša increased so much that the hairs on his body stood up. His eyes became overflooded with tears, and in such ecstasy he jumped out of the chariot and fell down on the ground and began to chant, "How wonderful this is! How wonderful this is!"
Similar feelings were expressed by the gopÄŤs when they were going to the bank of the YamunÄ and saw KášášŁáša's footprints in the dust. When KášášŁáša walked on the ground of VášndÄvana, the marks of His sole (flag, thunderbolt, fish, a rod for controlling elephants, and a lotus flower) would be imprinted upon the dust of the land. The gopÄŤs became overwhelmed simply at seeing those marks on the ground.
KášášŁáša's Places of PastimesOne devotee has exclaimed, "Oh, I have not as yet visited the wonderful places where the pastimes of the Lord were performed. But simply by hearing the name of MathurÄ I have become overwhelmed with joy!"
KášášŁáša's Favorite Plant: TulasÄŤLord KášášŁáša is very fond of tulasÄŤ leaves and buds. Because tulasÄŤ buds are usually offered up to the lotus feet of KášášŁáša, a devotee once prayed to the tulasÄŤ buds to give him some information about the lotus feet of the Lord. The devotee expected that the tulasÄŤ buds would know something about the glories of Lord ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša's lotus feet.
KášášŁáša's DevoteesOne may sometimes become overwhelmed with joy by seeing a devotee of the Lord. When Dhruva MahÄrÄja saw two associates of NÄrÄyaáša approaching him, he immediately stood up out of sincere respect and devotion and remained before them with folded hands; but because of his ecstatic love, he could hardly offer them a proper reception.
There is a statement by a gopÄŤ who addressed Subala, a friend of KášášŁáša: "My dear Subala, I know that KášášŁáša is your friend and that you always enjoy smiling and joking with Him. The other day I saw you both standing together. You were keeping your hand upon KášášŁáša's shoulder, and both of you were joyfully smiling. When I saw the two of you standing like that in the distance, my eyes at once became overflooded with tears."
Special Days for Remembering KášášŁášaThere are many statements about the festive days in connection with KášášŁáša's different activities. One of these festive days is JanmÄᚣášamÄŤ, the day of KášášŁáša's birth. This JanmÄᚣášamÄŤ day is the most opulent festival day for the devotees, and it is still observed with great pomp in every Hindu house in India. Sometimes even the devotees of other religious groups take advantage of this auspicious day and enjoy the performance of the ceremony of JanmÄᚣášamÄŤ. Ecstatic love for KášášŁáša is also aroused on the days of EkÄdaĹÄŤ, which are other festive days in connection with KášášŁáša.