Radha Krishna - Chapter 31: The Songs of the Gopîs in Separation

(1) The gopîs said: 'By Your birth is the land of Vraja more and more glorious and does the goddess of fortune reside there perpetually; indeed o Beloved, may You be seen in all directions, You for whom Your devotees sustain their life airs in search of You. (2) Not being here, o Finest of Grace, do You, with the beauty of Your glance - which excels the exquisite beauty of the heart of the lotus that so perfectly grew in the pond of autumn - kill us, the maidservants who gave themselves to You without expecting anything in return, o Lord of Love; isn't that murder? (3) Time and again, o Greatest Personality, have we by You been protected from all the fearsome: from perishing by the water [of Kâliya, 10.16], from the demon [Agha, 10.12], from the rains, the storm and thunderbolts [of Indra, 10.25] and from the bull and the son of Maya [the incidents with Arishthâsura and Vyomâsura which S'uka discusses later]. (4) O Friend, indeed are You who arose in the dynasty of Your devotees [the Sâtvatas] not the son of the gopî [Yas'odâ]; Your Lordship art the seer, the inner consciousness of all embodied beings, o You who appeared on the request of Brahmâ [thus called Vikhanasâ, 'the one who digs up', see 3.8: 16 and 10.14] who was praying for the protection of the universe. (5) You who took the hand of the goddess, o best of the Vrishnis, brought fearlessness to those who in the fear of their material existence approached Your feet; please, o Lover fulfilling the desires, place Your lotuslike hand on our heads. (6) O Destroyer of the suffering of the inhabitants of Vraja, o Hero of the women who by His own smile defeats the false smiles of the people, please accept, o Friend, us, Your eternal maidservants; please show Your beautiful lotus face. (7) You who of the embodied surrendered to You remove the sins, who is after the grazers, who art the abode of the goddess, who placed His feet on the hoods of the serpent, please put Your lotus feet on our breasts and banish the lust in our hearts. (8) O You with Your lotus eyes, of Your sweet charming voice and words so attractive to the intelligent, are these maidservants, o Hero, losing their minds; please restore us to life with the nectar of Your lips. (9) Your sweet talks as described by the great thinkers do, driving away all sins, bring the wretched back to life and give, charged with spiritual power, upon being heard the spiritual benefit; o how beneficent are the persons who with song spread those talks all over the world [*].

(10) We are happy to meditate Your affectionate smiles of divine love, Your glances and pastimes, but the conversations in secret, which go to the heart, o deceiver, disturb our minds! (11) When You leave Vraja to herd the animals, o Master, are we pained, feeling uncomfortable within, o Lover, thinking of the husks, grasses and sprouting plants sharp to Your feet that are more beautiful, o Master, than a lotus. (12) At the end of the day showing Your bluish black locks and lotus face covered thick with dust, do You time and again bring Cupid to our minds, o Hero. (13) Fulfilling the desires of those who bow down, being worshiped by the one born on the lotus [Brahmâ], being the ornament of the earth and the object proper to meditate upon in times of distress, are the lotus feet giving the highest satisfaction; so please o Lover, o Remover of the Anxiety, place Your feet upon our breasts. (14) By the vibrations of Your flute increases the happiness of love and is the grief destroyed; abundantly kissed [by You] are the attachments to other persons forgotten - please, o hero, distribute to us the nectar of Your lips! (15) When You go to the forest during the day becomes to those who do not see Your curling locks of hair and Your beautiful face, a single moment like an eon; and how foolish is, to the ones who were granted the vision, he [Brahmâ] who created the eyelids! (16) Completely neglecting our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and other relatives sought we Your presence o Acyuta, You who know the reasons for our movements; o cheater, how could You abandon the women bewildered by the clear sound of Your flute in the night! (17) Privately chatting finding the lust rising in our hearts, seeing Your smiling face and loving glances and Your broad chest that is the abode of the goddess, have our minds, madly craving, over and over been bewildered by You. (18) Your so tender lotus feet we place, o love, gently on our breasts afraid that the forest You roam might be rough to them; we, who consider Your Lordship our very life, are with our minds fluttering concerned for them not to suffer any harm from small pebbles and so.'