Srimad Bhagavatam

Then the Lord personally entered the city accompanied by elderly relatives and brāhmaṇas, who all praised the glories of the Lord. The brāhmaṇas were not flatterers of the kings, but the kings were actually glorified by their actions, and the kings were sincerely still more encouraged in pious acts by such brāhmaṇas in a dignified way. Lord Kṛṣṇa is worthy of all glories, and the praying brāhmaṇas and others were glorified themselves by chanting the glories of the Lord.

When Lord Kṛṣṇa passed over the public roads, all the ladies went up to the roofs of their palaces to have a look at Him, which they considered the greatest festival. Even now during the Janmāṣṭamī festival, the ladies of India throng up in greatest number at the temples, where His form is worshipped. The transcendental form installed in a temple is not different from the Lord personally. The material senses cannot perceive the spiritual nature of the Lord, and so the Lord accepts the arcā-vigraha, which though made of material elements, has no material contamination. The Lord being kaivalya (one alone), there is no matter in Him.

The inhabitants of Dvārakā regularly saw the Lord yet they were never satiated. The law of satiation acts materially but not in the spiritual realm. Acyuta’s body is the source of everything and the reservoir of all beauties beyond our experience. One will not be satiated seeing His form because there are always manifestations of newer and newer beauties. The Lord’s chest is the shelter of Lakṣmī, His moonlike face is the drinking vessel for the eyes, His arms are the shelter of the demigods like Indra, who become fearless of the demons and live comfortably, and His lotus feet are the shelter of the bee-like devotees.

There are those who are seeking after the favor of the goddess of fortune. For them the Vedas give information that the Lord is served by thousands and thousands of goddesses of fortune, who can be seen when we are attracted by the bodily features of the Lord. The artists who are overtaken by the beautiful creation can see the beautiful face of the Lord for complete satisfaction. The face of the Lord is the embodiment of beauty. What they call beautiful nature is but His smile, and what they call the sweet songs of the birds are but specimens of the whispering voice of the Lord. The essence of everything is the Supreme Lord: He is called sāram. And those who sing and talk about Him are called the sāraṅgas, the pure devotees. They are like the bees who are always after the honey present in the lotus feet of the Lord. The devotees are satisfied with being placed at the lotus feet of the Lord and have no ambition to see His all beautiful face or aspire for the protection of the strong arms of the Lord.

As the Lord passed along the public road, His head was protected from the sun by an umbrella. White feathered fans moved in semicircles, and showers of flowers fell upon the road. Kṛṣṇa appeared to be a cloud with the sun, moon, rainbow and lightning. The umbrella was like the sun, and the waving of the cāmaras were like two moons. The showers of flowers were like stars. The flower garland was like two rainbows. His yellow cloth was like lightning. It was astonishing that the sun and two moons simultaneously shine on a cloud with the stars, two rainbows and stationary lightning. This is how the Lord appeared by His inconceivable potency.

The queens seeing the Lord first gave up their seats to embrace the Lord, using the body. They then noticed an obstacle in the form of their bashfulness. They therefore gave up their minds and embraced Him with their souls. Seeing their beloved, suddenly they fainted out of bliss of prema arising from the desire to touch Him, because in fainting as with deep sleep and loss of consciousness, there is no obstruction of the mind. In the absence of the husband, a wife should not decorate her body nor take part in any social functions and should not go to other houses. The queens rose along with these vratas they were observing. Though it was improper for them to be seen by their husband in a state of vrata (like not being decorated), because they could not suddenly give up those vratas, they rose along with their vratas. Seeing them in an unkempt state because of separation, Kṛṣṇa became more affectionate to them.

The queens embraced Kṛṣṇa with their eyes filled with desire. Having Him enter within their eyes, they embraced Him with their subtle body in the innermost recesses of their hearts. They also sent their sons to embrace Him which was as good as they personally embracing Him. But seeing their clever husband understood what they were doing, they became embarrassed, and though they stopped the tears flowing in their eyes, some tears flowed anyway beyond their control.

Although Kṛṣṇa was constantly by their sides as well as exclusively alone, His feet appeared to them to be newer and newer. If Lakṣmī who is fickle in nature, finds those feet ever fresh, then what to speak of anyone else being able to give them up. In the material realm the big empires and the powerful kings are all liquidated gradually by time. But in the spiritual world, the Lord is served by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune but still the association of the Lord is inspiringly new that they cannot quit the Lord even for a moment.

In order to express the unimpeded nature of His love for the queens, another type of activity lacking that excitement is described. Just as wind produces fire by rubbing the bamboos together and then destroys them by burning, the Lord without weapons, by creating enmity between kings, destroyed them by having them kill each other.

With their pure, beautiful smiles and bashful glances indicating deep prema directed towards Kṛṣṇa, the queens defeated Cupid. The whole universe is moving being agitated by the Cupid’s arrow. Those who are on the path of salvation are advised by scriptural instruction to become free from material attraction. Cupid’s influence is exerted even amongst the ugliest forms. Lord Śiva, who is considered to be very tolerant, was also struck by Cupid’s arrow because he became mad after the Mohinī incarnation of the Lord. The same Cupid was captivated by the dealings of the queens of Dvārakā. Cupid first considered that the queens were glancing at Kṛṣṇa without even being struck by his arrows. Then he became struck with wonder on seeing Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness. The material Cupid who had come to bewilder Kṛṣṇa, himself became bewildered and threw down his bow. In the presence of the queens’ bashful glances Cupid felt he had no use of his bow and arrows. Though they were the best of women, they could not disturb the senses of Kṛṣṇa with their smiles and glances endowed with deception to bring Him under control.

However, if those glances were endowed with prema, then they could disturb His senses. Because the queens did possess the proper type of love, their glances and smiles were certainly endowed with prema. Others who did not have such prema are described as having deception and they could not disturb Kṛṣṇa. Though the Lord is under the control of His wives, He is still beyond prakṛti and the guṇas because He is under the control of prema, which is a function of the cit-śakti. The glances and smiles of the queens are composed of prema and so the pastimes of love that arise from that love are all spiritual. It is therefore impossible to say that the Lord has enjoyment of material sense objects. For others who do not have prema, it is impossible for them to control the Lord and so His sense cannot at all be disturbed by deception.

One cannot say that the queens are material if sometimes their love filled glances do not bring Kṛṣṇa under control because all the queens belong to the cit-śakti. Nor should one say that the Lord is controlled by the general cit-śakti arising from His svarūpa. He is actually controlled by prema alone which is a special function of the cit-śakti.