Priti Pravrt Samarambhe

At the outset of the abundant flow of love (prema), the gopis, absorbed in emotion, became maddened by singing the qualities of Krsna; they were beloved of Hari.

Agitated by the song of Sri Krsna's flute, they worshiped the great goddess Yogamaya in Vraja, desiring to attain Krsna.

For those whose desire for service to Krsna is exceedingly strong, nothing at all need be concealed from themselves or from anyone else.

Teaching just this, Lord Krsna, taking away their garments, beheld their minds uncovered -- the flawless abode of loving attachment (rati).

The Lord of the universe begged food from the brahmanas performing sacrifice, but the brahmanas, being proud of their caste status, did not give any.

Those brahmanas devoted to Vedic disputation, absorbed in fruitive work and speculative knowledge, ever bound to ritual injunctions -- how could they truly be devoted to Krsna?

But their wives, coming then into Sri Krsna's presence in the forest, offered themselves completely to Krsna, the Supreme Soul.

By this the truth was shown: in the wealth of love for Sri Krsna, all living beings are seen equally -- the notion of caste or birth is no factor.

The division of humanity into social orders is only a social convention; one who abandons the duties of varna and asrama for Krsna's sake incurs no fault.

Forbidding the sacrificial festival meant for Indra, who represents fruitive action, Hari protected Gokula from his flooding rains.

By this the truth was made known: for one who has attained love of Krsna, there is no fear whatsoever, even of universal destruction, from having set aside prescribed duties.

For those whom Krsna delivers, there is no destroyer at all; the power of ritual injunctions has no hold over them -- where then is bondage for devotees?

In the delightful matter of trust and faith there is, as it were, a river of flowing consciousness; sporting there, Hari rescued his drowning father from it.

Hari showed Vaikuntha, his own abode, to the cowherds; indeed, opulence is eternally inherent in the truth of Krsna.

For the eternally perfected souls who were his followers, the Beloved performed the rasa dance, which reveals the truth of divine love.

Increasing supreme longing by disappearing and causing separation, Hari mercifully danced once more in the circle of rasa with the gopis.

Just as in the material universe the circling planets, together with the sun, move in their orbits by the attraction of the pole star,

so too in the spiritual realm the jivas eternally revolve by the force of Krsna's attraction, with Sri Krsna remaining at the center.

In this great rasa-dance pastime, Krsna alone is the enjoyer; all the others present are female, standing in the relation of the enjoyed.

There, in the midst of the rasa dance, the supremely worshipable Hladini, who speaks only of Krsna, is Radhika herself, surrounded by her sakhis in her many moods.

At the close of the great rasa-dance pastime, water sport naturally follows in the Yamuna, whose waters, for the devoted, are themselves made of liquid consciousness.

Nanda, once seized by a serpent, was freed by Krsna and thereby liberated; and long before, the extremely unruly Sankhacuda, proud of his own fame, was slain.

Krsna, the enemy of Kamsa, wishing to go to Mathura, slew the demon Kesi, who had taken the form of a horse and was mad with the pride of his kingdom.

Akrura, who arranged the passage for the enemies plotting Krsna's death, brought Hari to Mathura; and Hari, after slaying the wrestlers, struck down Kamsa along with his younger brother.

When the atheist Kamsa was gone, Krsna made his own father, Ugrasena, the independent ruler and protector of the kingdom.

Kamsa's two widowed wives went to their father, sheltered in Magadha, and, absorbed in the rites of mourning, informed him of their widowhood.

Hearing this, the king of Magadha, surrounded by his own armies, waged seventeen great battles in the city of Mathura.

He too was crushed by Hari; then, in the eighteenth battle, Krsna secured Mathura and departed for his own city of Dvaraka.

While residing in Mathura, Krsna took shelter at the hermitage of his guru, studied all the scriptures there, and then restored his guru's son to life.

For Krsna, who is self-perfect, knowledge of him is never something to be achieved; only in human minds does the realization of him unfold by gradual stages.

Even the attachment of the lustful for Krsna is attachment mixed with impurity; that same attachment, by gradual stages, becomes here a love that is perfectly pure.

In the love of Kubja, this same auspicious truth was shown; and Uddhava went to Gokula to be properly instructed in the mood of Vraja.

The Pandavas are remembered as friends of righteousness, the Kauravas as its opposite; Krsna therefore became the Pandavas' kinsman and the protector of their lineage.

The Lord sent Akrura as his messenger to Hastinapura, for the welfare of righteousness, desiring to save the sinful.