Krishna, it’s You who are lovable and who we want to hear from, not from a lousy chanter in this world. You play with Balarama, tossing balls and playing flutes. You play with Radhika in private caves at Govardhana, attended by the manjaris. You play by expanding Yourself into hundreds of Krishnas to be beside each gopi. Your day-long play ends, and You come home at night with the dust from the cows’ hooves powdered on Your body. You are received and protected by Nanda and Yasoda. Please let me drink in these narrations. Please give me harer nama, the nectar drink for a starved and dry soul.
(_Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name_)
JAPA POEM
I describe some of Krishna’s
pastimes in Vrindavana
which a devotee must
delight in.
They are all sac-cid-ananda,
eternal, full of knowledge, and
bliss, with no tinge
of material. He is the
complete Controller
of all the universes in the
material and spiritual
worlds, but He prefers
to play as an innocent
cowherd boy in
relationships of
friendship, child, and conjugal lover.
“Please give me harer nama,
the nectar drink
for a starved and dry soul.”