The Glories of Krsna's Flute

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The Glories of Krsna's Flute

Third-gender devotees especially relish hearing the pastimes of Lord Krsna’s venu or flute. In the spiritual world, all objects—both animate and inanimate—are fully conscious and possess personified forms. Thus, verses describing Krsna’s flute as male are not merely allegorical. In the Bhagavata Purana, the gopis exclaim among themselves as follows:

 

My dear gopis, what auspicious activities must the flute have performed to enjoy the nectar of Krsna’s lips independently and leave only a taste for us gopis, for whom that nectar is actually meant!
(Srimad Bhagavatam 10.21.9)

This verse is beautifully elaborated upon in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta wherein Lord Gauranga, in the mood of Srimati Radharani, recites the following verses:

 

My dear Krsna, since You are a male, it is not very extraordinary that the attraction of Your lips can disturb the minds of women. But I am ashamed to say that Your impudent lips sometimes attract even Your flute, which is also considered male. It likes to drink the nectar of Your lips, and thus it also forgets all other tastes.

That flute is a very cunning male who drinks again and again the taste of another male’s lips. It advertises its qualities and says to the gopis, "O gopis, if you are so proud of being women, come forward and enjoy your property—the nectar of the lips of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta 3.16.123,125)

In Srila Narayana Maharaja’s rendition of the Venu-gita, a similarly beautiful elaboration of the above Srimad Bhagavatam verse can be found. Therein the gopis exclaim:

 

How is it that this venu always tastes the rasa of Krsna’s lips? Just see how Vrajendra-nandana Sri Krsna loves him. Sometimes He holds him in His hands, sometimes He kisses him, sometimes He keeps him tucked under His arm, sometimes in the folds of His waistband, and sometimes He sprinkles him with the nectar of His lips. O sakhi! If anyone in this entire Vrndavana is fortunate, it is surely this venu. By giving us birth as gopis, the Creator has deprived us of all our fortune. Alas! Why couldn’t we have taken birth as the venu?

Krsna’s adharamrta [the nectar of His lips] is our property only, but this venu is drinking all the nectar and snatching our share as well! Of this there is no doubt. Sakhi! Just see the evils of this venu—even after stealing someone else’s wealth, he is not even the least bit embarrassed or afraid. He is shamelessly tasting our wealth right before our very eyes, and with his deceptively sweet melody he even has the nerve to tease us by announcing, “Just see, O gopis! I have taken your wealth of Krsna’s adharamrta, and unrestrained, I am drinking the full rasa right in front of you! What can you do about it?”
(Venu-gita, pp. 49-51)

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The Importance of Hearing Krsna’s Pastimes

The importance of hearing about Krsna’s pastimes and loving exchanges from pure devotees cannot be underestimated. In The Nectar of Devotion Srila Prabhupada states:

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended this process of hearing as a means of self-realization in the present age of Kali. In this age it is very difficult to follow thoroughly the regulative principles and studies of the Vedas which were formerly recommended. However, if one gives aural reception to the sound vibrated by great devotees and acaryas, that alone will give him relief from all material contamination…Unless one finds a superior engagement, he will not be able to give up his inferior engagement. In the material world everyone is engaged in the illusory activities of the inferior energy, but when one is given the opportunity to relish the activities of the superior energy performed by Krsna, then he forgets all his lesser pleasures. (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 90)

In the Second Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Maharaja Pariksit also explains that the pastimes and activities of Lord Krsna are medicine for the conditioned souls. If they simply hear about Krsna, they become relieved of the material disease. They are addicted to material enjoyment and are accustomed to reading sex literature, but by hearing these transcendental pastimes of Krsna with the gopis, they will be relieved of material contamination.
(Krsna book, Vol. I, p. 320)

 

Attraction For Krsna in a Particular Relationship

There are five primary rasas or relationships with Krsna, and a devotee can be naturally attracted to any particular one. It is not that devotees will only be attracted to conjugal or madhurya-rasa. They may also be primarily attracted to Krsna’s pastimes in fraternal affection or sakhya-rasa, or in the paternal affection of vatsalya-rasa. Such attraction has nothing to do with one’s material body, as explained by Srila Prabhupada in The Nectar of Devotion:

The development of conjugal love for Krsna is not manifested in women only. The material body has nothing to do with spiritual loving affairs. A woman may develop an attitude for becoming a friend of Krsna, and, similarly, a man may develop the feature of becoming a gopi in Vrndavana…We should note carefully that this conjugal love for Krsna, either as a gopi or as a queen, is not limited to women only. Even men can develop such sentiments, as was evidenced by the sages of Dandakaranya…Devotees who are attracted to Krsna as parents or as friends should follow in the footsteps of Nanda Maharaja or Subala, respectively. Nanda Maharaja is the foster father of Krsna, and out of all of the friends of Krsna, Subala is the most intimate in Vrajabhumi.
(The Nectar of Devotion, pp. 128-129)

Krsna is all-attractive, and He can reciprocate with everyone according to their relationship with Him. A person who affects the mind of everyone is called “predominating,” and this is counted as one of the traits of Krsna in The Nectar of Devotion. Therein it is also stated:

When Krsna, the reservoir of all mellows, was present in the arena of Kamsa, He appeared differently to the different persons who were related to Him in different mellows. It is stated in Bhagavad Gita that He appears to every person according to one’s relationship with Him.
(The Nectar of Devotion, p. 201)