SB 1.10 - The Lord honored

While the Lord was departing from Hastināpura, different types of instruments all sounded together to show Him honor. Out of a loving desire to see the Lord, the royal ladies got up on top of the palace and showered flowers upon Him. These ladies did not come out but out of shyness went up to on the top of the palace. There was restricted mixing of women and men. The beauty of any person is due to the presence of the spiritual spark within the body, for no one is attracted to a dead body. Because we are in ignorance, Vedic civilization allows very restricted mixing of women and men, and shyness is a check to the unrestricted mixing. This is what the royal ladies followed.

At that time Arjuna took up an umbrella which had a handle of jewels and was embroidered with lace and pearls. Uddhava and Sātyaki fanned the Lord and the Lord, seated on scattered flowers, commanded them along the road. The benedictions being paid to Kṛṣṇa were neither befitting nor unbefitting because they were all for the Absolute (nirguṇasya), who was now playing the part of a human being (guṇa-ātmanaḥ). They were fitting in the sense that the Lord was playing the part of a human being but they were also unfitting because He is absolute and has nothing to do with material affairs. The Lord is full of transcendental qualities and there are no contradictions in Him. He is worshiped as a thief (mākhana-cora) and also as the Supreme Lord. For one without material qualities, blessings such as ‘Be happy’ are inappropriate. From the point of view of sweetness, the same blessings are appropriate for the Lord who has spiritual qualities such as being controlled by the devotee’s prema and being devoted to the brāhmaṇas. Since Kṛṣṇa is both the viṣaya (object) and āśraya (shelter) of dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya rasa, He is actually filled with spiritual qualities of happiness and distress arising from meeting and separating from His devotees. Thus the benedictions applied to the Absolute person lose all contradictions and become transcendental.