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It is autumn in Vrindavan. 
The waters are pure and abundant from the recent rains. 
The fragrance of the lotus flowers mingles with the wind. 
Shri Krishna, the immortal One 
Enters the forest havens with 
His cows and cowlads. (Bhagavat 10/18/1)

Here in the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavata we find an eloquent description of the Svaminis’, the blessed dairy maids of Vrindavan. Their affinity for and attraction to Krishna is revealed by the way they describe Vrindavan as well as what they describe therein.

To awaken their divine attachment
Hari entered Vrindavan playing His flute.
The Svaminis sang about the song of His flute. 
Whoever is attracted to His attributes
Ends up attached to Him.

Before there is attachment, however, love must arise and only Hari can cause this awakening. The Svaminis’ awakening occurred after their experiences of renunciation, knowledge, yoga, austerity and devotion.

The Svamini’s renunciation did not embrace any negations of the world. It was spontaneous and totally derived from their unflinching love and devotion to Shri Krishna. It was through their all-encompassing love that any other attachments were naturally shed without a trace of resentment.

Next came knowledge. Knowledge for these blessed women of Braja appeared when they had the intuitive and direct experience of Shri Krishna’s lila form.

The next realization was of Yoga. For the Gopis, Yoga was not a meditative exercise, but a one pointed yoking of their hearts and minds directly to Shri Krishna. It was not based upon any practice, but upon Krishna.

Their "tapa" or austerities were perfected when they experienced Shri Krishna’s separation. Separation for the blessed residents of Vrindavan is a result of their direct contact with Brahman.

Separation is Krishna in the heart. 
Union is Krishna in the world.

Union and Separation are the two sides of the single petal of Love.

The lila-process that Shri Krishna initiated with the second call of His flute culminated with the Svamini’s entrance into Bhakti, devotion to Shri Krishna. Upon achieving that devotional realization, they naturally renounced all other pursuits including even the desire for liberation or enlightenment.

What was there to be liberated from?
Krishna became everything. 
What enlightenment could be chased after 
When the Lord of enlightenment was chasing after them!

This five-fold realization was attained through their careful absorption of the message that was carried through the song of Shri Krishna’s flute. Only after having fully imbibed its essence were the Svaminis able to sing His praises. Since these five insights were not present when they first heard the call of His flute, at that time they were unable to truly glorify Him.

Hari is beyond time. He is Purushottam, God Himself and in this song of the flute He performs thirteen types of lilas that the Svamini’s sing of. This wonderful awakening of the appropriate lila mood of attachment could only be accomplished by Krishna Himself.

He is also Purushottama, the Highest One and is beyond the realm of time. The thirteen voices that tell of His amazing tale reveal His transcendence of time. The number thirteen conveys this transcendental state. The mundane day is split into two twelve hour periods and the number thirteen transcends twelve and shows that His lila is not governed by the laws of time.

He is not only beyond time, but is unlike any other man. This is also demonstrated by the number thirteen for man is considered to be of twelve limbs and Krishna surpasses all limitations of the twelve-limbed being by accepting the thirteen types of Svaminis revealed in this song.

The glories of autumn were sung of previously. Now to continue that lila Shri Krishna enters the forests of Vrindavan. The monsoon has passed, the autumn season has arrived and the lakes and ponds are filled with fresh water. Krishna is associating, as He always does, with the blessed women of Braja, the Svaminis.

They are His divine powers, 
His "shaktis".
They abide in the glades of Vrindavan 
for His sheer enjoyment.

Shri Krishna is the ultimate hero and pleases all of the Svaminis. He never loses His appetite for love. The Svaminis who sport with Him are His "shaktis"; they are His female powers, Vrindavan Devis. To enter the spirit of Vrindavan , they must never be considered as mundane women, but as beings whose positions are rich in enlightenment.

Their love is to be emulated.

Krishna’s cowlad friends who join Him in the forest to herd the cows are not only His companions, but His bhakta devotees. They have comprehended truth and can now follow God. These friends of Shri Krishna are spiritually qualified to have the darshan of Vrindavan.

In order for Shri Krishna’s "shaktis" , the Svaminis, to have amorous exchange with Shri Krishna, the environment must be free of fear or concern. Any contrary condition would conflict with Shri Krishna’s plan for bhava, the perfect devotional mood. For nectar to appear, the surroundings must be supportive.

Krishna’s friends not only witness the lila, 
They are also the protective deities of Vrindavan.
Their presence ensures the perfection of the lila
So nothing contrary to the ideal mood can infiltrate.

The Svamini’s fearless dalliance with Shri Krishna occurs on the lands and in the waters of Vrindavan. For this auspicious occasion, the earth is made fragrant by gentle cool breezes that have passed over blooming lotuses. The lotus petals are in water, yet they remain dry. They are engaged in lila-service and are like the sage’s mind: they remain in the world, yet are focused upon Brahman. The Svaminis’ exchanges with Shri Krishna are staged around the clear autumn waters that have collected in the various tanks and lakes in Vrindavan. Krishna is fond of His water lilas in the Yamuna river.

The reason for all these pleasantries is for the Play of Love which requires a comfortable setting. To this end, Shri Krishna makes the necessary arrangements.

Gentle, cool and fragrant breezes
Promote the divine erotic mood.

To sport in the waters, the lakes and ponds must be clear and just the right temperature.The Vrindavan autumn naturally affords all of these requirements. The season is perfect for Krishna-lila.

Observe the multi-level entrance into Vrindavan. In the outer forests Krishna herds His cows who are also privy to the nature of His lila. He is escorted by the cowlads who sing the praises of the Immortal Hari. Just beyond those havens, unseen to all but His most intimate associates, are the secluded lila-bowers. There He frolics with the Svaminis, abashing the beauty of countless loves.

The blessed woman of Braja sing about the effects of Shri Krishna’s flute from the privacy of their homes. They speak of the intimacy of the lila-bower and explain to us what happens there. But at present, the emphasis is upon the attributes of the celestial forest. We are being primed. The description of Vrindavan’s pure waters and blooming lotuses enlightens us to the true nature of Vrindavan.

The singers of this song behold Shri Krishna 
As He enters the blissful, fragrant forest.
They understand lila-activity and see His entrance,
Knowing it is into the eternal abode called Vrindavan.

Shri Krishna is the Lord of sweetness. 
With brother Balaram and cowlad friends
He plays His flute and herds the cows 
Through the Vrindavan forests
That plays host to lakes, 
The Yamuna river and gentle hills.

The glades there are enjoyed 
By flocks of birds and swarms of black bees,
All intoxicated by the rows of blossoming 
Trees and vines. (Bhagavat 18/10/2)

Krishna enters this magical forest and awakens the divinities who reside there. He accomplishes this through the call of His flute. He has opened the gates of love and the blessed women of Braja who are swept away in a current of bhava, play with Hari. This takes place very close to their homes. The lakes of Braja, the Yamuna river and the adjoining hillsides are all abodes of lila-dalliance.

Krishna is the Lord of Spring, 
The supreme season of love. 
Hari is comprised of nectar, 
His bhava supports the conjugal exchange.

He is ready and prepares others. Hari is Love’s personified form. The Svaminis nourish that love and inspire it to arise. Shri Krishna is the basis of their lila-mood and the Svaminis’ bhava for Krishna is Krishna Himself.

The Svaminis bhava is not based upon some vague memory. It continually evolves from their ecstatic beings that are joined with Krishna. For those elevated bhaktas, Hari is blissful. His form is comprised of Brahman’s intimate gesture. All portions of His body, including every hair and even the slightest movement, express the perfection of His own bliss.

Shri Krishna is the Lord of Spring. He is Love’s most divine manifestation. He awakens that state in the divinities of Braja through the call of His flute. Even the trees and vines are completely taken with Hari’s expressions and now reflect the joy of the Svaminis.

They bloom with blissful consciousness!

Krishna appears to be a herder of cows. His power of action enters His cowlads and enables them to herd cows through the realm of Vrindavan. Krishna’s power of knowledge manifests in His brother Balaram. Balaram is the protector of the lila. Without knowledge of Balaram’s spiritual form, the unmanifested Akshara Brahman, lila would have no foundation. He removes obstructions to lila by killing demons that appear like mayic curtains prohibiting the blessed ones from lila entrance.

This is a description of lila. 
Teachings of this nature are used 
To visualize and develop bhava,
The Devotional Experience.

Shri Krishna sets everything in place and then on the pretext of going to the forest with His cows and friends, He meets with the Svaminis for uninhibited lila.

What is profound does not appear before all.
This lila is not openly revealed
Because ras only flourishes in concealment.

Most men and women see young Krishna going to the forest to herd while another profound lila continues with the Gopis in the deeper bowers. The majority see Krishna as Gopal, the one who takes care of the cows, but Gopal is also the nourisher of the senses.

The Svaminis are intimate with Gopal. 
And experience Him through every door of perception.

Krishna honors their realization through lila. As Gopal, the nourisher of divine senses, He daily proceeds to the intimate glades where He delights the blessed ones as the Lord of Love. For the protection of lila, He conceals Himself from the unqualified ones.

Krishna awakens the amorous mood. It is exalted because it contains the moods of peace, friendship, servitude, parental affection and intimate passion. He awakens Vrindavan with the call of His flute. His conjugal exchange as the Srutis say is:

Always joined and replete 
With enlightened knowledge and action.

Without the maturing of the powers of knowledge and action, the lila-mood could never arise. Krishna is truly, "All knowing and all powerful". When He manifests as Vedas, His two aspects of knowledge and action are apparent. Vrindavan shines with the presence of these dual powers in personified form.

It is spring, the king of seasons.
Perfect and all-containing.

Hari appears in Vrindavan with His retinue of agreeable weather and blossoming trees and vines. Spring is also the lord of love and escorts all that is necessary for the mood of spiritual passion to arise. He welcomes the qualified to enter the love- games.

Shri Krishna’s lila endures with vitality on the Govardhan Hill, by the Yamuna river and in the lakes and ponds around Vrindavan. Birds and bees are intoxicated by rows of blossoming trees and vines. All these things ignite the lila-mood and promote perception of the blissful swarthy-colored Brahman. Peacocks, parrots, swans and other birds engage in diverse lila-seva around the hills and waters of Braja.

The call of Shri Krishna’s flute 
Kindles in those women 
Who live around the hills and waters of Braja 
The spiritual conjugal mood. 
The forest awakens with
Profuse Krishna bhava.

The flute arouses love, but not perception of Krishna’s form. This will happen later. For now, the call promotes love and attachment in the depths of the Svamini’s beings. Those who sing the song of Krishna’s flute are sitting in their homes. They have fallen under the spell of desire for Krishna. Now they will sing of their bhava in the company of others of similar initiation.

The blessed women of Braja 
Heard Shri Krishna’s flute.
It created a surge of desire in them. 
Some of them who were not directly before Krishna 
Began to sing of His praises 
In the company of other Svaminis. (Bhagavat 10/18/3)

The call of the flute spiritually awakens the Svaminis and creates a desire to make dalliance with Shri Krishna. Under the spell of that great longing, they speak and sing of Shri Krishna in the company of others who are also addicted to lila.

Shri Krishna never does anything without a specific plan. He sounds the flute for the explicit purpose of arousing within the Svaminis a desire to sport with Him. The song of the flute is divine and through its call Shri Krishna is able to enter their hearts. The blessed women of the village, as well as the women of the forest, are no longer interested in listening to anything else; not even to the words of the righteous scriptures.

The song is spiritual, otherwise how could the Gopis, who are in their homes and out of the normal hearing range of anyone playing a flute in a distant forest, hear?

The melody creates spontaneous praise 
That flows from their hearts with great intensity.

Their love for the Beloved was already firmly established and the call made it arise into their world. They could hear it because they were spiritually qualified. The Blessed Lord allowed them eligibility and now they experience His call as non-different from His form.

There are others who are nearby but cannot hear. 
Lila is replete with purpose and Krishna 
Awakens only those whose time has come. 
Others simply will not respond to His calling.

This all occurs because of the unique constitution of Krishna’s scheme. The Director carefully stages the parts. For the love plays to begin, there has to be an awakening, an arousal within those who are prepared. Souls with no lila-inclination remain unmoved. If the unqualified who lack the necessary spiritual preparations, suddenly became enamored with Krishna’s call, their participation would be spiritually unbalanced. Divine experiences are always timely. Krishna’s call penetrates the ready hearts of the Svaminis.

It is a Lila-Invitation.

His melody creates a stir throughout the forest and awakens all the gods. The intensity of the amorous mood that surges within the Svamini’s souls

Is Overwhelming.

Unable to contain the force of Hari’s flow of love, many of the Gopis have become senseless. The ones Krishna graced can contain the call of the flute within their hearts. They receive and praise Him in the company of other Svaminis who are also consciously attached to Him.

Because desires are not obstructed
They can clearly remember 
Krishna’s various expressions.

They recollect Krishna and discern His divine form through all of their senses. The other unconscious Svaminis will first have to overcome the swell of desire and then fathom a way to contain His blissful form. This will all be accomplished when Shri Krishna appears before them:

Krishna is adorned and establishes in the Svaminis 
The power and knowledge necessary to contain Him. 
Then He will become dependent on them.

In this amazing process He awards them the capacity to embrace both union and separation. In union He is seen in one place and in separation, everywhere. Until that capacity arises many of the Svaminis will remain bewildered.

Now, the speaker of the Shrimad Bhagavata, Shri Sukadeva will tell King Parikshit about the Svaminis’ enlightenment. King Parikshit is sitting at the feet of the sage Sukadeva. The King has only two more days to live. Within that time he needs to attain liberation. Receiving teachings from Sukadevaji is the king’s only possibility.

King Parikshit’s life had changed entirely when he arrived one hot summer day at an ashram and requested a glass of water from a meditating sage. The holy man, completely absorbed in meditation, did not hear the king’s request. The king, not realizing the sage’s spiritual accomplishments, falsely sensed that the sage was ignoring him. Feeling slighted, the king threw a dead snake around the sage and angrily left the ashram.

When the sage’s son returned to the hermitage and found his father with a dead snake around his neck, he immediately knew what the king had done. He took revenge by putting a curse on King Parikshit: he would die of a snake bite in seven days. Meanwhile, the king realizing his folly and that he was cursed, renounced everything and set his mind on attaining liberation.

After seeking the counsel of many holy men, Shri Sukadeva appeared before the King. Shri Sukadeva, a being who was liberated from birth, offered the ultimate teaching; for the remaining seven days the king should listen to the Shrimad Bhagavatam. The sage assured him that upon its completion, he would attain liberation. The king had been sitting in one posture, without drinking or eating for five days. Shri Sukadeva begins to explain Shri Krishna’s flute playing and the effects it had upon Vrindavan.