Chapter 4: A Rhetorical Question

      A Rhetorical Question

In the lap of nature, in Vrindavan with its cluster of forests and meadows surrounded by the revered river Yamuna, the incarnated Almighty mingled with the people of Vrindavan, as a cowherd boy. While he made friends and played with the other boys like any normal kid, he exhibited his supernatural personality by showing his prowess, weaving magic, making miracles, neutralizing the evil forces and mitigating the hardships of his surroundings to strengthen their belief that he is a God-sent child. He saved the villagers from many threats from the devils and from nature's fury many a time.  He always came to their rescue and helped to ameliorate their living standards.  

He mesmerized everyone in the village through his captivating charm. The purest form of divine love displayed by this divine child has opened  the rarest path towards pure love, hitherto unknown to the world! 

This wonder kid showered the nectar of divine love on his subjects, just as the clouds rained the nectar of life, for the earthly beings. After all, both love and water are elixirs of life!

 His name and fame spread across all kingdoms and many people from far off places came to seek the darshan of little Krishna!

While he blessed everyone with his all-understanding charming smile, he was always longing to meet Radha. From the moment Radha saw Krishna 8 years ago, there had not been a single day when she had not waited for him to meet, to talk, to play with her aficionado of love. With every breath she had, she had taken his name!

Radha and Krishna's encounters as a preacher and child, their conversation with an undercurrent of love, has always been a learning session for both. She taught him the paths of the earthly world, and he taught her the philosophy of divine love!

One day, the little Krishna went running to Radha's house and embraced her from behind, as she was churning curd to get butter saying, ' Radha...Radha Rani, I am hungry, give me milk!' 

'You haven't visited me since morning, so I asked Vakula what my Krishna is doing now. She told me that you were having milk?' 

'Why Radha, why I am still hungry?' An innocent boy's inquisitive question!

 "Mother's milk is for your sustenance... to get energy from your origin, for which you yearn throughout your life! But this hunger is different Krishna, this is for the energy to give new life to the world, which is the main purpose of your being here.  Wait, today since morning the black cow is not allowing me to milk it, maybe it is waiting for you, let me try now!'   -                        

 She moved towards the cowshed to get some fresh milk for him. When she was milking the cow, another question from him ---

Radha ...Radha, what a wonder, see, the black cow is giving white milk!... how is it possible!'

She smiled at him affectionately and handed him the silver glass with frothy fresh milk. While having the milk, the kid looked at her, repeated the question with his eyes ! -- 

'Krishna, all mothers, however, they may appear, are pure at heart and would like to energize their kids with their breast milk which is always white. Cows are mothers too... they produce milk in excess not only to energize their calves but the needy humanity as well. So we should respect the cows and worship them.'  

'I will Radha! From now onwards cows are my best friends, but ...!' a question in his eyes!                                                                                                                 

'It all depends on the nature of a person little Krishna, don't go by the colour and superficial beauty.  See, how you recognised the evil intention behind that beautiful lady's motherly gesture, she visited you as a wet nurse.. how could you recognize that Putana's evil intention of killing you?"

"Don't know Radha, when I looked into her eyes, I sensed some malice in her heart . That's why I absorbed all the evil from her to safeguard the motherly instinct in this world! Such  a bad intention from a woman is not good for this world Radha, a woman  has to give life to mankind, she has no right to kill, it is against the lifecycle!"

She wiped his lips gently with her pallu and said--'  but remember, whenever you cross the path of a not so beautiful woman, look into her soul, there you will find eternal love. Try to see deep into the soul of a woman, you'll find many treasures there. She is always selfless. Furthermore, she gives everything to the world without any expectation. That is the real beauty.  You are just a kid, but in the future, you are going to eliminate the difference between the visible world's concepts and the invisible love and  will define the perennial association of those with each other.'

Still, he was in his inquisitive mode, sitting beside her and turning her face towards him with his tender hands, he asked her ...

"Radha ...Radha, Why not the colour of milk and honey same, both are so tasty?"
'Krishna, is the colour of your  soft cheeks and cherry lips  the same?' She chuckled at the astonishment on his face !'
'Radha, is the never-ending sky the most beautiful, or the love emanating from your eyes ?'

'Your smile is most beautiful than anything else in this world Krishna  !'

'Why Radha? Why this confusion for me, it is  night or the day, he questioned her while blinking playfully!
 With a fond smile Radha said - 'first tell me, are you the moon or the sun, Krishna? You possess all the qualities of the entire galaxy! If you close your eyes, it will be a night for us, whenever you open your eyes, it is a bright day for all of us, the mere mortals! In between your blinks, we dream about our lives and will slip into illusion that, that is the reality of this world.'

'Why are the clouds swaying so nearer to my face  and what is that lightning in the sky?'

'Those  are not clouds my dear kid, those are the curls of your black hair swaying on your face to kiss it ... that is not the lightning, the entire Nature is expressing its glee for your presence !'

'Radha, I want to adorn stars as  flowers in your hair !'

'I adorned myself with your love,  the most beautiful thing in this world! See the bees are surrounding me, imagining me wearing multicolored flowers!' Krishna was astonished for the glow which is flowing from her eyes into his heart!

'What is this feeling in my heart Radha - is this  hard snow or an outpouring rain ?'

It is nothing but the coolness of your looks and the love you are showering  over the entire universe !'

'I am in eternal love, want to hug the entire universe Radha !' a teasing smile on that kid's face!

'I know your mischief Krishna, by hugging me you will feel the presence of universal love of a woman's heart !'

'Why are the colorful petals of blossoms floating and dancing in the surrounding breeze, Radha? ' 

'In the ripening of love, they lost their existence, they  wanted to merge into one with the Almighty, started their air-borne journey to merge with Him!'

                    ************* 

They both were sitting on the river bank nearer the bamboo bushes. A peacock was pecking at a small piece of bamboo while gleefully dancing at the sight of clouds on the Western horizon. Radha decorated Krishna's hair with a peacock feather.  She picked up that bird-pecked bamboo stem with many holes on it, watched at it, then she handed it to Krishna to play.

'Who hurt this tender stem and made so many wounds  Radha?'

'Give a kiss to that aching heart to soothe its pain Krishna, that is what you always do to us when we feel sorrow to leave you and feel depressed to stay away from you !'

 He touched its wounds with his tender lips, all of a sudden a  universal melody started flowing itself through those wounds!

'Krishna! See how it was waiting for you to propitiate its heart, to touch your lips to get solace !'

 Radha sat there listening that universal melody with enchantment, a symphony emerged from that melody!

A sudden question from Radha, --'is this a pain of a woman or a lover's whispers or a musical tune? What is making this mere stem to sing like this  Krishna ?'--- The question itself explained the answer to us and the meaning was emerging from the musical symphony.
"It is the love which flows from your lips through these holes which plunge the world in a trance, your music score gives this world a special metaphysical touch Krishna"

He stood there in a tri-bent(Tribhanga)posture, immersed in playing music, and the entire nature started dancing and playing with the melody flowing from His flute.

 As he started playing his Bansuri , the maidens from Vrindavan came running to the river bank. Just like the moon smiles at his own image in the water, so did Krishna smile in the hearts of all the maidens there! The breeze was blowing gently. Krishna played the divine melody which resembled Raga Madhuvanthi. That lilting melody was spreading a gentle fragrance of love, depicting Sringara rasa, expressing the love of God towards His beloved! The happiness was boundless...all over the universe! The entire universe was drenching in the nectar of music emanating from that low mellifluous  Raga. A song of prayer transformed into' poetry of desire there in that moonlit night. The waters of Yamuna provided the chorus with its gyrating waves lashing the shore.                   

To be continued ...

Viswasruti2020-10-01 13:15:32

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