Skandha 1 - Yajur Veda Australasia - Resources

50 11-12. Spiritual aspirants who have their evil tendencies effaced by holy contact never stopreciting the Lord's excellences having listened to them but once. How then can the sons ofPāṇḍu stand separation from the very Lord with whom they have been living in utmostintimacy-always seeing him, touching him, conversing with him and sleeping with him! 13.Bound as they were to Kṛṣṇa with cords of love, their thoughts were directed to him andtheir eyes fixed unwinking on him, while they moved here and there about him. 14. Theroyal kinswomen, whose intense sorrow at his departure brought tears into their eyes,somehow restrained its flow, thinking that such an inauspicious sign like weeping shouldnot occur while Sri Kṛṣṇa was starting home. 15. Soft-sounding drums, kettle-drums,conchs, vinas, flutes, pipes, trumpets, bells, high-sounding battle drums and a host of suchother musical and percussion instruments now sounded, announcing his departure. 16. Thewomen of the Kurus, in their eagerness to see him, stood on the terraces of buildings andbegan to shower flowers on Kṛṣṇa, along with their wondering smiles and looks mingledwith love and shyness. 17. Arjuna held over his beloved friend the white imperial umbrelladecorated with pearl garlands and having a diamondstudded handle. 18. Uddhava andSatyaki waved beautiful bunches of Chowri hair from both the sides of the Lord, whoamidst all this and the shower of flowers falling from above, shone in the streets throughwhich he passed. 19. Again and again were heard the words of blessing pronounced byBrāhmaṇas-May you be happy or may you be long-lived-words inappropriate to theAbsolute, but appropriate to him incarnate as man.The Hymn of the City Women (20-26)20. The ladies of Hastinapura, the capital of the Kurus, whose minds were powerfullyattracted to Kṛṣṇa, began to chat as follows among themselves in sweet tone:–21. It is certain that he, Sri Kṛṣṇa, is that eternal and supreme Being who existed alone aspure Spirit without differentiation, when all beings and material evolutes were in a state ofdissolution in Him before creation and in the cosmic night succeeding dissolution when allpowers of Nature were asleep in Him.22. He, the revealer of Vedas, afterwards assumed His Prakriti or inherent Power, whichcauses selfforgetfulness to the Jīvas and which creates name and form in the nameless andthe formless Ātman.23. This Kṛṣṇa is the goal which sages, who are masters of their senses and vital breaths,seek and realise with minds purified by the intensity of their God-love. There is nothingexcept such devotion that can purify the mind.24. O companions! It is Kṛṣṇa only who is discussed and glorified by the insightful scholarsin the Vedas, and in the esoteric works called the Tantras. The substance of their teachingis that He, the one Lord, creates, preserves and dissolves as a sport with Himself, but is notin any way affected by these playful actions.25. When the rulers of the earth become slaves of dark passions, and begin to live onunrighteousness, then in every age this Sri Kṛṣṇa comes to protect the worlds, assumingforms of pure Sattva and manifesting such excellences as truth, righteousness, mercy, andlasting fame in the world.26. Glorious indeed is the line of Yadu! Glorious too is the Madhu forest of Vraja! For,these have been sanctified by Kṛṣṇa, the first by His birth in it, and the next by theimpression of his feet on its surface, as he walked about there!