Verse 59

Translation

 His face is the best ornament – why does He need any other jewellery? Moreover, it has beautiful lips that radiate splendour all around. This mass of radiance has an erotic style, has so many artistic abilities that it is beyond the comprehension of the not-so-intelligent. This brilliance is amazing, very very amazing, extremely amazing!!! 59.

nce again Sri Lilâshuk had a sphurti of Sri Krishna’s sweet face. Srila Kavirâj Goswâmipâd says: In the previous verse, he had a sphurti of Sri Krishna’s beautiful feet, hands, arms and His face. Now He has a vision of Sri Krishna’s sweet face alone. His heart is flooded with this sweetness. When Sri Râdhâ remembered Sri Krishna’s sweet face, how She lamented! The poet has echoed Her feeling in this verse.

Sri Krishna’s sweet face is inexpressibly beautiful. It is the opinion of the majority that Sri Krishna’s face is the best ornament and He requires no other.

Srimad Bhâgavatam says –

‘bhushana-bhushana-angam’

Meaning – ‘Sri Krishna’s beauty itself is an ornament for His body.’

Ornaments are called so because they adorn and beautify someone’s body. Nevertheless, Sri Krishna’s body is an ornament for the ornaments He wears. This is to say, that, each part of His body is so gorgeous that it decorates the jewellery He wears on it, in stead of the jewellery increasing the beauty of that organ.

“O Pretty maiden! We brought a pile of gem-studded ornaments for beautiful Sri Krishna. However, they were not able to enhance His beauty even the slightest bit. Instead we discovered that the ornaments were beautified to a large extent when they came in contact with His body.”

                                                                     - [B.R.S. 2.1.339]

Although each part of His body is ‘an ornament for the ornament’, His beautiful face is the King. Sriman-Mahâprabhu has told Sri Sanâtan Goswâmi, in the mood of Srimati Râdhârâni –

“Dear sakhi, Sri Krishna’s face is the King of the moons. His body is like a throne. His moon like face is sitting majestically on this throne and reigning supreme (dazzling) amidst the assembly of moons.”

                   - [Sri Chaitanya-Charitâmrita.Madhya.21.87.]

Even His ministers are amazing!

“His large and wide eyes moving restlessly, intoxicated with love, are His ministers. His face is the place where Loveliness performs its pleasure-sports and it is a feast for the eyes. Govinda’s face is indeed blissful!”                                                                           

- [Sri Chaitanya-Charitâmrita.Madhya.21.190]

Most devotees agree that Sri Krishna’s blissful face is His only ornament – so why would He require anything else? You may say, ‘the radiance of His body will mingle with that emanating from the ornaments and thus this will give rise to a beautiful colour combination.’ To you, my dear readers, the poet has replied –

“dwi-tri-vishesha-kanti-lahari-vinyasa-dhanya-adharam.”

Meaning – “He is well-adorned by the few rays scattering from His blessed beautiful lips.” This means that His face is especially beautified by the white, pink and dark blue rays emanating from His smile, lips and cheeks respectively. The whiteness of His smile, redness of His lips and bluishness of His cheeks form a splendid colour combination, why does He need gold and jewels?

Once more, the poet experienced extreme sweetness and He got a sphurti of Sri Krishna as a mass of effulgence. He discovered that this effulgence had face, hands, legs etc. so he ascertained that these are the ornaments. He was astonished, so he said – this effulgence is strange! Again, he got a sphurti of the various parts of Sri Krishna’s body and said with amazement – who is that expert artist who has sculpted such beautiful and erotic sidelong glances, such passion-arousing eyebrows, smile, witty repartees, song of the flute and amorous movements – all are like ornaments! Aho this is very amazing! He got a sphurti of even more sweetness and exclaimed, Aho! This is more than just amazing! Why? It is because this erotic style is so majestic that it is beyond the intellectual power of the not-so-intelligent people, such as Brahmâ. The poet’s voice is choked, so instead of exclaiming ‘aho!’ he has uttered ‘ahaho!’

The form revealed to Sripâd Lilâshuk is that of Nava Kishor Sri Krishna with His infinitely sweet effulgence. It is beyond the power of speech to describe Him. Sri Lilâshuk tried to draw a picture of what He had seen, for the sake of his companions. But poor language! It belongs to the material world, how can it describe the Divine Being Who belongs to the realm of bhâv?

Suppose, by the mercy of Sri Bhagavân, after performing lots of bhajan, Sri Krishna reveals His sweet beauty to us. Overwhelmed with a surge of passion, even if we try to describe Him, we would not manage more than one or two sentences. We cannot capture even material beauty entirely in one canvas. We have to resort to comparisons – meaning that we compare the subject to some other object and thus try to express its beauty but our hearts are not satisfied. When such is the case with material subjects, then what to speak of Divine beauty and sweetness? In spite of being such a great poet, Sri Lilâshuk could not find the words to describe Sri Krishna’s body and face, and all he could do was to exclaim “chitran chitram-aho vichitram-ahaho chitra vichitram mahah”. Thus, he has expressed his extreme wonder on beholding that Divine beauty!!

In the 89^th verse too, while trying to describe Sri Krishna, he has only repeated ‘chitram’ (amazing), to express his feelings.

“chitran tade-tat-charânaravindan,

chitran tadetân-nayanâravinda,

chitran tadetad-vadanâravindan,

chitran tadetat-vapurasya chitram.”

The poet has expressed his tremendous wonder with just a small word ‘chitram’. This is what he felt when he had a vision of Sri Krishna. It is this sense of wonder that we call ‘ras’.

“rase sarosh-chamatkârah yam vinâ na raso rash”.

Meaning – “A sense of wonderment is the essence of ras, without which ‘ras’ can not be classified as ‘ras’.”                                                        

- [Kavi Karnapur]

Similarly, in the 92^nd verse, Sri Lilâshuk had a sphurti of Sri Krishna’s sweet body, sweet face, sweet smile and all he could do was to repeat ‘sweet’ and ‘sweet’.

“madhuram madhuram vapurasya vibhoh

madhuram madhuram vadanam madhuram,

madhugandhi mridu-smitam-etad-aho,

madhurammadhuram madhuram madhuram.”

There is no second opinion. It is definitely not as if the great poet Sri Lilâshuk had a limited treasury of vocabulary and so he could not describe Sri Krishna’s beauty! On the contrary, he has used magnificent words – words that are beyond the material world! Sri Krishna-Karnâmritam is a testimony to his wonderful talent. Had he wished, he could have used so many words to describe Sri Krishna’s beauty, but he realized that even if he used all the vocabulary of the world, it would still be impossible to describe what he was seeing in front of him – the height of the Ocean of beauty and sweetness – Sri Krishna! It is a

roaring, billowing delightful ocean and his heart has plunged into its depth. All words fall silent. Language becomes mute. Yet the surge of bhâv wants to emerge through words – but words are incapable of bearing the force of bhâv. Language is stupefied. He drowns in the forceful gush of bhâv. But bhâv has surged tremendously in the heart. It has to come out. Then language has no option but to present himself humbly to the emotional devotee. All he holds in his palms are just a few words of description. And these humble words appear as a huge rushing cascade on the heart and ears of the devout reader and help him to express his own bhâv. Bhâv lends little bit of his force to language. Even this little bit of force has a mega effect that is unlimited and infinite. So the emotional reader feels blessed just by reading ‘chitram’ and‘vichitram’.

Srila Bhatta Goswâmipâd says Sri Lilâshuk was constantly meditating on Sri Krishna Chandra in a very sweet mood. Therefore, he received a special vision of Sri Krishna’s lotus like face. He realized its beauty more and more. He was so full of wonder when he recited this verse and exclaimed – Aho! How amazing is this effulgence, how very amazing! What sort of effulgence? ‘Chitram’, meaning, ‘it is a combination of various colours’. This effulgence is not ‘nirgun’ (without any attribute), but ‘sagun’ (it has divine characteristics).

How is it that the Effulgence has a form?

The beauty of its eyes and lips are amazing! Again, he said, ‘ahaho vichitram’. This means His style of glancing and everything else about Him is amazing. The poet has interwoven the words ‘amazing’ and ‘very amazing’ to express how splendid Sri Krishna is. He is the paragon of supreme amazement! Next, the poet said that although all His features are splendid, everyone agrees that His face is especially beautiful. There is no need to exercise one’s artistic capabilities to make it look more beautiful – in short; He does not need tilak etc. The face is extremely radiant without a dot of make up.

How is His face?

‘dwi-tri-vishesha-kanti-lahari-vinyasa-dhanya-adharam’, meaning, “His beautiful lips are spreading two – three waves of radiance all around. ‘Two waves’ refer to His flute and smile. ‘Three waves’ indicate His glance, attractive eyebrows and witty repartees.

Again, how is His face?

 ‘Shringara-ghangi-mayam’ – overflowing with erotic expressions’. His beautiful face is full of erotic glances, flirting eyebrows, a slight smile playing on His lips, witty repartees, the song of the flute and passionate expressions – all His features are cause arousal. This is why the Mahâjans say –

 “His body is resplendent with heart-stealing beauty like that of the innermost whorl of the blue-lotus. His robes put to shame the brilliance of molten gold. His chest sports an attractive pearl necklace – Who is this youth overwhelming all creation with passion?” – [Padyâvali]

Srila Chaitanya dâs explains this verse in another manner. Sri Lilâshuk was amazed by Sri Krishna’s incredible effulgence and exclaimed – “Aho! Sri Krishna’s supreme brilliance is ‘chitram (amazing)! Earlier I have never seen so much splendour emanating from His body! How on earth did I get this incredible darshan? How amazing! How very amazing!” He is full of love, so much so that he is repeating his words. He is finding it unbelievable, so he said in wonder – “Ahaho! His face is sporting so many different artistic expressions! His erotic glance, speech and appearance are indeed extremely amazing! 59.

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