Together We Are Timeless[IF-NC_ENTRY] For Round 5 , page 11 - Page 5

"I will do as you wish Radha", she bowed her head with an intriguing expression for Radha's inexplicable love, sending the touch of a tear as a gift to the Divine Prince!

The clouds cleared the sky after a light drizzle.

The chariot vanished from sight leaving behind a cloud of dust! Radha was left stranded there in her thoughts, unable to move, trying hard to assimilate the shock. After a while she started walking with that garland adorned her neck, to immerse herself in penance for her Krishna. With each stride, her mind became more clear, more resolute, as if the growing distance between them had now become an emotional chasm. Her aura, that inner light, was shining so radiantly at that evening time, nothing could diminish or overpower its dazzle. Not even the imprints of pain!!

Seasons fade in and out like soft lullabies; the transitions are slow but never faltering. Like mother earth herself, they turn only in one direction, always onward, never backward. As they wax and wane, the pace of life changes along with nature. Days had stretched into months, and months had stretched into years.

Epistle of a smile to a tear

The autumnal season arrived with regal ease and natural grace. The leaves were tumbling as giant confetti onto the sidewalks and to the verge again. The first leaves had tumbled to the soil rich with rain, and remained verdant, fluttering in the strengthening wind. Spring thought to itself, though I wish for that garland of reds and golds, I must be as patient as Radha who is waiting for her Krishna to adorn her life with colorful hues.

Radha now consoled herself with the thought that no matter how much happiness Krishna's wives had from him, but the pangs of separation were only her privilege. She accepted the truth that his smile was for his wives but his tears were only for her. This perception strengthened her sustenance. Her sacrifice made her divine, greater than even God himself!

But her mind was so much like the ocean, calm on the surface with many deep undercurrents, all of them invoking an assortment of emotions to torment her.

"How can I withstand and save myself from this tempest of love, Krishna? It is engulfing me like wildfire. Though it is an unbelievable truth, though I know you'll never come back, why isn't my heart accepting the truth? Whenever, a gust of zephyr quivers in the twigs, whenever the soft and lilting susurration of the leaves happens, I presume it is you! Your image was permanently etched in my eyes. I'm stilled in that world of loneliness! Though my eyes are wide open, I'm still wandering in that dream in which you are imprinted as my past. All of a sudden, a huge wave of love engulfs me from top to toe and recedes... dampening my dreaming eyes! How will I search for you with these moist eyes, Krishna?"

When the silence of the milieu together with the whispers of the ripples of the river were listening to Radha's anguished disquisitions, the biting cold of that night added pain to her heart, longing for Him. To possess what you do not possess, longing will reign deep in the heart.

Suddenly, the chortle of the girls broke the stillness of the night. She knew that they had arrived to listen to her words and to console her for a while before going back to their homes. Radha looked around and questioned the maidens, "Can you guess who my Krishna is?" Radha was in a trance, asking the maidens with half-closed eyes and replying herself said, "He is the vision of our eyes, the smile of our lips, the beat of our hearts, and he is the God of our prayers, ultimately the light of our lives!" The surrounded maidens were watching her limpid eyes which made all the stars to dim, her magical voice was entrancing their hearts as well! They were addicted to listening to Krishna's captivating tunes of the flute in the past, now they were looking forward to listening to Radha's enraptured feelings, her disclosures of the tantalizing nights she spent with Krishna on the same river bank! In between, they would ask some questions to remind her of their presence and as usual in her trance, sometimes she would talk with them animatedly but at times would slip into her thoughts of Him!

Radha continued, "Vandana ...did you hear that call? My Krishna is calling me in this stillness of the night! Please listen to his intoxicating voice, that voice must have bathed in the honey of love, traversing through the winter breeze, touching the threshold of my passion, moving through the quivering heart, listen... listen once again to that musical tune, my friends! My Krishna is calling me, have to go now, have to hurry, but ... but where to go? Where can I search for Him in this vast Universe?" Tears of despondency slowly cascaded down her cheeks! She was surrounded by a heap of garlands sent to her by her Krishna, all were afresh spreading sweet fragrance as if trying to calm her down! The garlands added beauty to that bucolic setting. She was sitting like a queen, waiting to see the seasons change in front of her eyes!

All of a sudden she chortled gleefully! Vaishnavi questioned her, "Are you mad Radha? He is marrying one after the other and sending you a garland every time to tease you, to increase your desolation, still, you are laughing?"

Radha looked at her, "Try to understand his quest Vaishnavi! He is searching for me in every girl who loved and married him. He's sending me a fresh garland every time he marries, which means, he is still searching for me in them, these garlands are carrying that message. Do you remember, he sent pink flowers when he married Rukmini? That signifies purity and happiness which he has seen in her, later he sent a purple garland symbolically when he married Satyabhama, which explains her beauty, passion, and courage! His every sentiment was expressed in one form or the other by these tender buds and blossoms! It was a sort of a romantic divertissement between us," she averred with a flash of a smile on her lips, a spark of love in those yearning eyes! "For me, love is an infinite stillness, a state of rootedness! For my Krishna, it's a never-ending quest! I can live in this stillness of love, but he'll take the world with him unto eternity in search of that love! They saw admiration in her lucid eyes!

The next moment, her eyes were heavy with unshed tears. It was painful to see her like this for all the maidens there. Neela embraced her to let the torrent of tears to soak through her pallu, she could feel her clenched fists and was in a dilemma whether to be mad at her or to give up hope all together! She could hear her stifled scream that suffocated with each breath, trying hard to hold on to her pride. She caressed Radha's head in an attempt to calm the silent war within her mind!

Under the canopy of luminous stars, a faint wind swept through the stillness of the rippling river and shattered the reflection of the moon. Radha started walking towards her house, carrying all her memories in her heart where her Krishna was waiting to woo her along with her longings! The dew drops under her feet were softly reiterating the past stories of their love on the heart of the earth to preserve those for future generations!

The rainy season renews rejuvenation in the lives of people after the scorching summer. Normally in Aryavarta, the Rain festival is followed by many other festivals that bring people together to enjoy the following seasons. With the receding rains, the sun started smiling feebly behind the mild fog that morning!

The previous day, Nand as the head of Brindavan, issued a note to his people to assemble at the bank of river Yamuna to celebrate the Rain Festival. For that, he arranged mammoth festivities and feast in the vast gardens near the river. Since morning, all the maidens were busy preparing food for the assembling crowds. Kids were pampered with sweetened milk with motherly love. The festivities offered a cornucopia of delectable to the villagers.

The morning dew spread its charm everywhere and adorned the surroundings with an aromatic tenderness! All the villagers who had congregated for the celebrations had finished the pooja and other religious rituals in the early morning itself. At late morning, they assembled at one place, sat on the elevated platform under a big tree, started making garlands with the colorful flowers. Some maidens adorned their hair with those chaplets and a few girls wrapped the flower leis on their tender wrists. Yashoda and the other elderly ladies were engaged in supervising the cooking. The nearby woods and paddy fields were watching the kids' playful squealing with delight. The grazing animals on the undulating meadows on one side and the sparkling stream of the river Yamuna on the other side, the luscious landscapes and the rolling mountains around, all created virtual heaven there!

Radha was singing a song in her velvety voice, imagining her Krishna with his flute accompaniment! Exuberance rooted itself there in happiness to lend a new meaning to that mellifluous romance!

Radha was singing, ''Whose manifestation is this love Krishna, isn't it invented by God with a commitment and adopted by humans with an intention! Why does the moonlight coyly drop the veil to hide us from human glares? This alluring love is like a wildfire, on which no one has any control! How strange! We tried to keep our meeting a secret, but it has been exposed to the world because of the tunes of your flute and the tinkling sounds of my anklets!! God knows what has happened, when I started from the house, I hid my face behind a full bloomed jasmine creeper as a veil thinking that the moonlight won't reveal my identity, but see, the arrogant honey bees pulled the floral veil to feast on the honey from the jasmine flowers! What to say, the moon too heckled at me while leaning towards a star cluster! On the banks of Yamuna, in perfect solitude and wilderness, we spent a few moments together with a blissful joy, this song is the outpouring of that joy Krishna!"

Nature was listening to the words of Radha in rapturous delight! This strong attraction, the interplay of the human and divine, and the profound mystery of love and its mysterious ways of luring two humans into a divine bond made it so surreal!

A nearby brook babbled gently trying not to disturb Radha's expressions of longing in a song form through her melodious voice.

On the riverside precinct, the peacocks were dancing in the garden, their iridescent blue-green plumage fanning out to reveal their mysteriously beautiful feathers and eyes that created a blissful atmosphere there! In the sprawling gardens, children were dancing while their parents watched them in the morning coolth. A group of young boys was busy in a game of role-playing. One of them had tied a golden yellow scarf around his head and tucked a peacock feather in it. He was the make-believe Krishna, sitting atop a large rock representing the intellectual giant of a boy. The other boys were standing near him pretending to be his subjects or his Pandavas.

The watching cowherd maidens were recollecting how their little Krishna performed various miracles to safeguard the people of Brindavan in his early years! Later the women watched the kids performing Krishna's Raas Leela dance, where every kid wanted to play Krishna's role to lead the dance from the front. They reminisced about their divine prankster Kanha, which brought a smile on the maidens' faces!

On the other side, some young girls were presenting a dance drama of 'Radha Madhav' written by a pandit.

First, a beautifully attired dancer entered the stage and scattered flowers from her hand onto the spectators! Then entered a group of girls, singing songs praising their Krishna:

"Our Krishna, the giver of salvation, the enemy of the demons, Victory to thee!

Ocean of compassion, Lord of Radha, wearer of Mayur Pankh, victory to thee!

With curly locks, with a charming smile, a player of flute, victory to thee!

The little son of Yashoda, stealer of clothes, lover of Gopikas, victory to thee!"

The dance drama started with an introductory word from the Sutradhar ---

The chorus entered with the words, "This isn't a story of once upon a time! It is the story of the birth of a beautiful dream, a magnificent display of spiritual love, and at the end, a beginning of an eternal longing! Her birth, youth, the association with Him and the separation from the normal world... all are real to us and we were witness to it, here is our Radha searching for her Krishna!" Then started the performance with soft background music...

The women in the audience were talking among themselves, "The thought of Krishna seduces the hearts of even hermits and saints, we are simple cowherd maidens, how can we escape from that seduction?" They were recollecting those Raas Leela nights while watching the theatrical entertainment!

The girls started enacting the song through gestures and then through dance! It started as a simple folk dance, later was transformed into a regular dramatic spectacle. The play started by depicting the separation of Radha from her Krishna and moved forward to their ultimate union culminating in a Raas dance...

The wondrous spectacle enamored one and all...when gopikas complained in the dance drama to Yashoda about the mischief of Krishna, at the bathing ghat, she argued that Krishna was just a child as yet, the young maidens glanced at Krishna and laughed secretly. "How can we describe the face of our Kanha when he hid the clothes of the gopikas? How can we describe the faces of the demure women who pleaded with Krishna to return their clothes and bangles??" The dancer Yashoda with mock anger left that place, while Maa Yashoda was watching that scene with amusement!

The girls started enacting the next scene where the girl who was playing Radha, entered the arena when the celestial melody of his flute lured her, acted as if she left boiling milk at home, came running, her anklets jingling, girdle bells tinkling, she soliloquizes her sentiments rebuking herself.

"Why hasn't my Krishna come to me?

I have decorated my garden with flowers,

Waiting to welcome Shyam with the stars and moon!

Want to make a floral path on which I wish to spread

All my dreams to give a soft touch to his feet!"

"Ahh. well sung, well danced, I would have also participated but my age has tired me," an elderly lady said to the maiden next to her. The dance drama was going on ... [ 2516 words]

The melodious tunes of the flute were soft and mesmerizing. When Krishna suddenly disappeared from the floral trove, they started searching for him in the surrounding shrubs and bowers! Unable to find him, they started behaving in a strange manner. They asked the trees, plants, and brooks in the garden whether they have seen their Krishna? Unable to get an answer from them, they asked each other about the whereabouts of Krishna!

"Vakula Malika, tell me again what our Krishna told you in the evening?"

"Tonight when the moon spreads his light and hugs all the floral creepers with his simmering rays, he asked me to come here for the Raas Leela."

"Whose footsteps are those, someone is running on the wet grass; check girls... check once!"

"Madhavi ... See that side, there ...there behind that bush...see, a cloud is roaming on the ground!"

Chorus continued, "Never heard about a cloud dancing on the ground in the Sarad Ritu full moon night! Are you daydreaming in midnight, maiden? Ha Ha Ha!"

Radha continued, "Krishna, please come to us with your enchanting tunes by pressing your lips on that flute with passion! See... all the peacocks are spreading their iridescent feathers and the peahens are drinking the tears of the dancing peacocks to procreate, please do come quickly to bring back the smiles on our faces."

Chorus said, " Are we not the peahens who have come running to see this wondrous dancer? Yes, we are ...yes we are!"

A maiden murmured dreamily, "Krishna, the moonlight is drenching the jasmine creeper there indicating there is love in the air in this cloudless night. Each bush and shrubbery is quivering with tender feelings with that delicate touch of that melody. From the distance, the trees were silhouetted against the deep velvety sky. See Krishna, how we are searching for you with tears in our eyes!! "

The night spread its eyes to far off places to search for Krishna, but alas, it was difficult for the dark night to search for him who is also dark in colour!

Many assumptions...oscillating thoughts were in Radha's mind, her yearning for him didn't allow her to stand at one place, she ran towards the river Yamuna and started recollecting his words and deeds. The agony in waiting gripped her.

When suddenly the rivers heard the resonating tunes of His flute, their conjugal feelings were aroused causing their flow to become disrupted and their agitated waters turned into whirlpools! The floral creepers nearby heard Krishna's flute and lost their balance in that awesomeness and fell on the ground.

Radha ran towards the melody in search of Krishna where every tree and bush was in full bloom. Every bower and arbor was eager to hide Krishna to tease his Radha!

Radha was asking the jasmine bush, "Have you seen my Krishna who knows how to mesmerize young hearts with his melodious tunes?"

The bush blushed a bit and said, "How do I know? I am busy teaching my buds how to bloom to adorn Krishna's Gale Ka Haar [ neck garland ] while preparing myself to rest on his chest!!"

Radha ran towards the Vakula tree and asked, "You are tall and large, can you see farther and tell me if you can see my Krishna anywhere?"

The Vakula tree had gone pink which reflected on its budding leaves and it whispered into her ear like a fragrant breeze, "See girl! I am yet to recover from his fond hug, what a naughty boy he is... hugged me gleefully and kissed on my trunk but said I am going to meet my Radha tonight!"

Radha then approached Yamuna River. She sat on its bank and asked the river, " You are the mother of this nature, please tell me, where is my Krishna?"

The river quivered through its wavelets and said, "What to say Radha? While passing through this place, he checked his smiling reflection in my flow to set the peacock feather on His head, I lost my heart to that young lad's smile, since then unknowingly running to nowhere to control my resonating vibrations!"

Radha was stranded there, still searching for her Krishna with her wide eyes open, thinking about him. Somehow time passed...After an interminable eon of timelessness, a mysterious flutter in her heart, caused her to awaken from the reverie. Radha lifted her head and listened.

What did she hear? What was that sound? A whisper? A humming? A lilting musical note? That familiar mellifluous voice!"Was it the sound of my Krishna's voice... calling me?"

Finally, her sleepless eyes looked down due to shyness because of his delicate touch on her shoulder from behind! She wished to express her anger, "But what shall I do? How shall I behave, till now I never have shown my anger to him? If I show my anger, will he try to pacify me?" Nonplussed, she did not know how to receive him. When he actually arrived, it was an occasion of rejoicing. The reverberation of that sound shook her world until the sound emerged as audible words. "Radha, I am here, within your heart. Why are you searching here and there for your Krishna? You have only to look within to find me."

Love came to her like a warm wave, completely unbidden, unsought. Bliss and happiness crashed the shores of her being like tidal waves that rocked her, and she delighted in the thought of his embrace.

She asked him coyly, "Krishna, tell me once, who has lent shyness to these pair of eyes which forgot to sleep now? I want to know, who is the reason for that glow on my cheeks? I am dedicating my joy of watching the first-morning ray to you, my smile while watching that moonlit night is also yours, all that is mine is yours now Krishna! Now I can see your love in the rainbow colors, please paint those colors on my dreams, I want to see you in all those beautiful hues! Now I know, there is not much difference between that blue cloud and this peacock feather, one is devotion and the other is adoration. They are inseparable like you and me!!"

Suddenly Radha came back to the normal world where everyone was watching the dance drama that afternoon.

"Radha, your eyes are reflecting a few memories of your Krishna, what are those recollections which made you feel shy all of a sudden?", asked Hari Chandana in a teasing tone.

Radha gripped her hand and said, "When his smile is reflecting in every flower and its fragrance here, then why do I have to search for him in my memories? If you want to know my thoughts at this moment, go and ask the swaying flowers for the touch of that honey bees in the floral trove!"

"We know Radha, the slipping smiles from your crimson lips are revealing many hidden stories you both wrote passionately on your hearts in the past!" Vakula smirked

"The smile is His gift and the lips are the mere tools to carry those messages! Why I have to live in the past whereas each and every moment of my life is brimming with his ruminations?" questioned Radha.

"Is there any future for your expectations, Radha? He married thousands of women and forgot you long back! Are you not a loser?" Vishnu Vandana probed.

"His presence in my heart is the only future this Radha carries with her throughout her life!" A sudden pause ...no words were exchanged but the pantomime of silence had conveyed the full import of a thousand words!!

The other women tried to stop Vandana from teasing Radha further.

Radha silenced the ladies by waving her hand and she glanced at Vandana from the corner of her eyes and said," Yes, our Krishna married many maidens because they loved him and asked him to love them back! He reciprocated the love in the case of his Ashtabharyas. He never married any maiden forcefully! He always fulfilled the prayers of his devotees, blessed with affection. If he accepts with one hand, he gifts with a thousand. His love and kindness are vast! He married many of them to protect them from the societal probe, for safeguarding the honor of those women who stayed as captives at Narakasur's palace. War treats women as property, but Krishna treated them as an honour of this universe!"

Radha sat there immersed in His thoughts. Her long black hair was flowing like a floating dark cloud. She wore no jewelry other than earrings, there was an unpretentious charm surrounding her.

Suddenly she smiled thoughtfully, " Winning over a woman with might is not a real victory, Vandana, by losing yourself in front of your girl, that is the only way to win in the world of love. That is what Krishna taught us when he was here with us."

After the performance, Yashoda invited all of them to the feast.

They all sat under the Peepal tree which gave a temporary respite to them from the midday sun! From a far off place, a bird droned. The river was flowing like a slice of mellow harmony, flowing like time, always onward, always towards its destiny like human lives.

Radha was sitting with Yashoda and watching the maidens in animated discussions among themselves! All of a sudden, Hari Chandana asked Radha, " Radha do you know what happened to Kuru Kulvadhu Draupadi? Born from a sacred fire, Draupadi seemed to be walking through the fire throughout her life. She was married off to the five Pandavas. She was anointed as queen, but very soon was put as a stake during a dice game and was lost. Unaware of all the happenings in the dice game, it was suddenly announced to Draupadi, that she had become a maid and now she had to follow the orders of her new master Duryodhan! He asked his brother Dussasan to drag her to the court and then ordered him to disrobe her in the presence of the elder royals, in front of her own husbands, in the full view of the people in the royal court. What a sin, what an indignity it was for a woman! How could all these Gods keep silent at this inhuman act?"

Gagan Sundari added, "When Mata Kunti had asked Arjun whatever he got as alms that day to share it with his brothers, she had unknowingly put Draupadi in a dilemma, consequently, she had to marry all the five Pandav princes. When she was silent for this proposal, then our Krishna convinced Draupadi to go with that proposal. Later, Sage Vyas and Narad Muni supported this decision! How could a woman be attached to multiple men in such a besmirched way, what a sin it was! One can imagine the psychological trauma that a young girl would face, at least initially, when she had to share her tender moments with five different men. But no one understood a woman's gentle feelings, the voice of women was always suppressed. See now, how she was insulted in that court! She expressed her anger and questioned the silence of those wise men!"

A woman with a curious frown asked, "Do you know Dhaatri? Our Krishna supported this marriage in everyone's presence. Did anyone hear it ever? A woman marrying five men? "

Radha heard her words on Krishna with a thoughtful silence and her question regarding his approval for Draupadi's much-debated marriage.

"Sundari, they are the rulers and rule makers, all are wise with Godly traces, who are we to question their decisions?" Vakula tried to explain that the issue wasn't an ordinary one!

"...but our Kanha is a path maker, always supports dharma. How he supported this?" another inquisitive maiden interrupted her.

The old man who wrote the dance drama 'Radha Madhav' and was sitting there silently till now, said with a stern voice, "Look, girls! What do you know about Puranas and past stories of humanity? Such marriages happened earlier too with the approval of the sages and royals, and I heard that many learned persons accepted it and both sides of the families consented to it. Who are we to criticize now, after all these years? There must be a wider concept behind that which must be beyond our perception, it is a well-conceptualized polity. And mind you, it doesn't have any discernible effect on the organized society."

"We know that you are a learned person, Kaka, we are not questioning the Vedic dharmas and Puranas, but we are asking whether anyone asked Draupadi what was her opinion prior to her marriage and what she felt after that insult in the Raj Sabha? Was there anyone to console her after that unspeakable disgrace? Why did they insult a woman in such a heinous manner and why every learned person there kept quiet? Only Krishna rushed to rescue her. In the end, Gandhari who shared her husband's debility and pain of blindness by tying her eyes with a piece of cloth, came running to rescue her Kulvadhu. Also, regarding her marriage too, we are wondering how our Krishna advised Raj Mata Kunti to accept and convinced King Drupad to move forward to accept that unique marriage," argued Vishnu Vandana.

As the conversation progressed, their interpolations moved more and more towards a woman and her freedom in those long discussions.

Madhavi mockingly questioned the maidens, " How many of us would love and be loved by Him when our Krishna was here with us! If that is acceptable, then why are we discussing a woman who ritualistically married the Pandava princes in front of the sages and seers?" She asked them to stop discussing the royal families' decisions!

Radha urged them to understand the issue by saying, "There is always a greater purpose to everything our Krishna does Chandana!"

Yashoda was listening to these words silently with a frown on her face. All of a sudden Vakula answered with a stern look "Are you questioning Krishna's decision now? Tell me, girl, how many times you left your husband and household chores behind and ran into the hands of Krishna to dance with him? Many times you left the river bank last, to spend more time with Krishna than us!! Isn't it true Sundari? That time you didn't remember these rules of conduct for a woman? "

Madhavi tried to divert the topic by asking Radha, "We heard that our Kanha has saved Draupadi's modesty and honor in the Kuru Sabha. After the dice game in which Pandavas lost everything, including their wife, which consequently lead to Panchali's disrobing in the royal court, in that crucial moment, we heard that she prayed for Krishna and he saved her from disgrace."

With a proud smile, Yashoda said, "Earlier you all were complaining against my Kanha for stealing your clothes [5000 words, 2nd Milestone] when you were bathing in the river, see, my son is a savior of a girl's honor, he is not a thief or anything, he is the protector!"

With a swirl of emotions, Radha stared at the maidens for a probing moment! After a brief pause, the luminosity of a smile dawned on her lips.

Continued on Page 8 for round 4 --