Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 10 Chapter 13:23-33

Book 10: Thirteenth Chapter (First Half)

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 10: Chapter 13: Verses 23-33

(Thus) returning at dusk (from the forest in the form of the cowherd boys) according to His scheduled round of pastimes, and affording excessive delight by His winsome ways (to His mothers), Sri Krsna (the Spouse of Laksmi, the goddess of prosperity) was thereupon duly tended (by them), 0 protector of men, by rubbing and cleaning His person with fragrant unguents, bathing Him and painting His body (with sandal-paste and pigments of various kinds), decking Him with ornaments, protecting Him against the influence of evil spirits (by waving the tail of a cow over Him etc.); applying the sacred mark (Tilaka) on His forehead and feeding Him etc. Returning in (great) hurry from the forest to their pen, the cows (too) suckled each its grown-up calves with the overflowing milk of their udders, licking them (all over) again and again when they approached them on being called by their lowing sound. The motherly care of the cows and the cowherd women towards Sri Krsna (figuring as their young in the case of cows and as their son in the case of cowherd women) was entirely the same as before, excluding (of course) the measure of their love (which had now grown to an enormous degree).
The filial feeling of Sri Hari too (figuring as their calves or sons) towards them was just the same as before to the exclusion of attachment of the feeling of mineness (which was absent in the case of Sri Krsna). Day by day for a (whole) year indeed the creeper of affection of the inhabitants of Vraja for their own sons gradually grew to an immense degree as it did for Sri Krsna (in the past) and as it had never done before. Tending Himself in the form of calves through His own self in the form of their keepers, the aforesaid Sri Krsna (the Self of the universe) sported thus in the woods as well as in Vraja for a year as a keeper of calves. When (say) five or six nights were left to complete one year, Sri Krsna (the birthless Lord) entered the forest one day along with Balarama (His elder brother) while pasturing the calves. Grazing grass on the top of Mount Govardhana, the cows espied the (aforesaid) calves pasturing in the vicinity of Vraja far away from that summit.
Overpowered with love for the said calves on seeing them, and forgetting themselves, that herd of cows rushed headlong with (a series of) bellowing sounds, ignoring their keepers as well as the difficult path, milk flowing (from their udders all along) and looked like bipeds (on account of their galloping gait) with their necks slightly contracted at the hump and their heads and tails erect. Approaching the calves below (at the foot of Mount Govardhana), the cows, even though they had calved once more, suckled them with the milk of their udders, licking their limbs as though they would swallow them (with intense eagerness). Arriving there in great anger and shame over the futility of their attempt to restrain the cows and with a feeling of exertion caused by traversing the difficult path, the cowherds perceived their sons along with the calves. With their mind steeped in affection excited by their sight they found their anger gone. (Nay,) love having sprouted in them, they lifted the boys in their arms, embraced them and experienced supreme delight by smelling them on the crown (as a token of love).

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