The flute of Lord Krishnas and Gopis

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"My dear gopis, what auspicious activities must the flute have performed to enjoy the nectar of Krishna's lips independently and leave only a taste for the gopis for whom that nectar is actually meant. [CC. Antya. 16.140]

"'Although the nectar of Krishn's lips is the absolute property of the gopis, the flute, which is just an insignificant stick, is forcibly drinking that nectar and loudly inviting the gopis to come drink it also. Just imagine the strength of the flute's austerities and good fortune. Even great devotees drink the nectar of Krishna's lips after the flute has done so. [CC. Antya. 16.144]

"This flute is utterly unfit because it is merely a dead bamboo stick. Moreover, it belongs to the male sex. Yet this flute is always drinking the nectar of Krishna's lips, which surpasses nectarean sweetness of every description. Only in hope of that nectar do the gopis continue to live. [CC. Antya. 16.144] 

"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.' [CC. Antya. 16.125]

"Thereupon, the flute said angrily to Me, 'Give up Your shame, fear and religion and come drink the lips of Krishna. On that condition, I shall give up my attachment for them. If You do not give up Your shame and fear, however, I shall continuously drink the nectar of Krishna's lips. I am slightly fearful because You also have the right to drink that nectar, but as for the others, I consider them like straw.' [CC. Antya. 16.126]

Sri Radha adressing the flute: "Oh flute you have blessed Me by giving Me the emptiness in your heart, your lightness, the dryness of your body , and your eloquence in constantly chanting the holy name of Krsna, the king of Vraja. WHY DO YOU NOT GIVE ME THE NECTAR OF KRSNA'S LIPS, which you drink, turn into song , and shamelessly use to enchant the entire world and bring it under your control. " 

"The nectar of Krishna's lips, combined with the vibration of His flute, attracts all the people of the three worlds. However, if we gopis remain patient out of respect for religious principles, the flute then criticizes us. [CC. Antya. 16.127]

"This flute is nothing but a dry stick of bamboo, but it becomes our master and insults us in so many ways that it forces us into a predicament. What can we do but tolerate it? The mother of a thief cannot cry loudly for justice when the thief is punished. Therefore we simply remain silent. [CC. Antya. 16.129]

"That is the policy of these lips. Just consider the other injustices. Everything that touches those lips-including food, drink or betel-becomes just like nectar. It is then called krsna-phela, or remnants left by Krishna. [CC. Antya. 16.130]

"Even after much prayer, the demigods themselves cannot obtain even a small portion of the remnants of such food. Just imagine the pride of those remnants! Only a person who has acted piously for many, many births and has thus become a devotee can obtain the remnants of such food. [CC. Antya. 16.131]

 Caitanya-Caritamrita, Antya-Lila, Chapter 16, Text 122-131

"My dear lover," He said, "let Me describe some of the characteristics of Your transcendental lips. They agitate the mind and body of everyone, they increase lusty desires for enjoyment, they destroy the burden of material happiness and lamentation, and they make one forget all material tastes. The whole world falls under their control. They vanquish shame, religion and patience, especially in women. Indeed, they inspire madness in the minds of all women. Your lips increase the greed of the tongue and thus attract it. Considering all this, we see that the activities of Your transcendental lips are always perplexing. [CC. Antya. 16.122-123]

"My dear Krishna, since You are a male, it is not very extraordinary that the attraction of Your lips can disturb the minds of women. I am ashamed to say this, but Your lips sometimes attract even Your flute, which is also considered a male. It likes to drink the nectar of Your lips, and thus it also forgets all other tastes. [CC. Antya. 16.123]

"Aside from conscious living beings, even unconscious matter is sometimes made conscious by Your lips. Therefore, Your lips are great magicians. Paradoxically, although Your flute is nothing but dry wood, Your lips make it drink their nectar. They create a mind and senses in the dry wooden flute and give it transcendental bliss. [CC. Antya. 16.124]

"The nectar of Your lips and vibration of Your flute join together to loosen our belts and induce us to give up shame and religion, even before our superiors. As if catching us by our hair, they forcibly take us away and surrender us unto You to become Your maidservants. Hearing of these incidents, people laugh at us. We have thus become completely subordinate to the flute. [CC. Antya. 16.128]

The fortunate position of Krishna's flute.

"My dear gopis, what auspicious activities must the flute have performed to enjoy the

nectar of Krishna's lips independently and leave only a taste for the gopis for whom that nectar is actually meant. The forefathers of the flute, the bamboo trees, shed tears of pleasure. His mother, the river, on whose bank the bamboo was born, feels jubilation, and therefore her blooming lotus flowers are standing like hair on her body." [CC. Antya. 16.140]

"Some gopis said to other gopis, 'Just see the astonishing pastimes of Krishna, the son of Vrajendra! He will certainly marry all the gopis of Vrindavana. Therefore, the gopis know for certain that the nectar of Krishna's lips is their own property and cannot be enjoyed by anyone else.' [CC. Antya. 16.142]

"My dear gopis, fully consider how many pious activities this flute performed in his past life. We do not know what places of pilgrimage he visited, what austerities he performed or what perfect mantra he chanted. [CC. Antya. 16.143]

"The gopis considered, 'The flute is completely unfit for his position. We want to know what kind of austerities the flute executed, so that we may also perform the same austerities. Although the flute is unfit, he is drinking the nectar of Krishna's lips. Seeing this, we qualified gopis are dying of unhappiness. Therefore, we must consider the austerities the flute underwent in his past life." [CC. Antya. 16.149]

'My dear Lord Krishna, where is that woman within the three worlds who cannot be captivated by the rhythms of the sweet songs coming from Your wonderful flute? Who cannot fall down from the path of chastity in this way? Your beauty is the most sublime within the three worlds. Upon seeing Your beauty, even cows, birds, animals and trees in the forest are stunned in jubilation.' [CC. Antya. 17.31]

O dear lover, the gopis said, please answer just one question. Who among all the youthful women within this universe is not attracted by the sound of Your flute? [CC. Antya. 17.34]

" When You play Your flute, it acts like a messenger in the form of a yogini perfect in the art of chanting mantras. This messenger enchants all the women in the universe and attracts them to You. Then she increases their great anxiety and induces them to give up the regulative principle of obeying superiors. Finally, she forcibly brings them to You to surrender in amorous love. [CC. Antya. 17.35]

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"The vibration of Your flute, accompanied by Your glance, which pierces us forcibly with the arrows of lust, induces us to ignore the regulative principles of religious life. Thus we become excited by lusty desires and come to You, giving up all shame and fear. But now You are angry with us. You are finding fault with our violating religious principles and leaving our homes and husbands. And as You instruct us about religious principles, we become helpless. [CC. Antya. 17.36]

"The transcendental vibration of Krishna's flute disturbs the hearts of women all over the world, even if they hear it only once. Thus their fastened belts become loose, and these women become the unpaid maidservants of Krishna. Indeed, they run toward Krishna exactly like madwomen. [CC. Antya. 17.46]

The Gopis Glorify the Song of Krishna’s Flute

My dear gopis, what auspicious activities must the flute have performed to enjoy the nectar of Krishna’s lips independently and leave only a taste for us gopis, for whom that nectar is actually meant! The forefathers of the flute, the bamboo trees, shed tears of pleasure. His mother, the river on whose bank the bamboo was born, feels jubilation, and therefore her blooming lotus flowers are standing like hair on her body. [SB. 10.21.9]

So this flute playing of Krsna is very special, it is explained that Krsna has different flutes and he also plays different melodies for different purposes. There is 3 kinds of flutes that Krsna uses.

1) Venu
2) Vamsi
3) Murali

There are 8 different tunes that Krsna plays

1) Demigods like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva's meditation is broken and they forget everything in astonishment and Lord Anantadeva sways His head like in hypnosis.
2) Second tune makes the Yamuna flow backwards
3) Third tune makes the moon stop moving
4) Fourth tune makes the cows run to Krsna and get stunned listening to the flute
5) The 5th note attracts the gopis and make them come running to him
6) 6th Tune makes the stones melt and creates autumn season
7) 7th note manifests all seasons
8) 8th Note is meant exclusively for Srimati Radharani, it takes Her name and calls for Her, and She comes running to Him putting Her cloth wrong and mascara also.

Nectar of Devotion Chapter 26: "As far as Krishna's flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Krsna was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.

There are three kinds of flutes used by Krsna.

1) One is called venu,
2) one is called murali,
3) and the third is called vamsi.

Venu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling.

Murali is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute. This kind of flute produces a very enchanting sound.

The vamsi flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Krsna used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Krsna uses the Venu flute to attract to Gopis, like Venum kvanantam from the Brahma Samhita.

Krsna has a longer vamsi, which is called mahananda, or sammohini. When it is still longer it is called akarsini. When it is even longer it is called anandini. The anandini flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vamsuli.

These flutes were sometimes bedecked with jewels. Sometimes they were made of marble and sometimes of hollow bamboo. When the flute is made of jewels it is called sammohini. When made of gold, it is called akarsini.

The low, deep sound of His long murali flute will call out, "Radhe. . . Radhe. . ."-the very name of my own worshipable Queen! Startled with wonder by hearing such a sound, this maidservant will jump up in great haste with an extremely anxious heart, not knowing what to do next. [Gita-mala, Song 5 Text 4]

Krishna's flute named Sarala makes a low, soft tone like the sound of a softly singing cuckoo.Krishna is very fond of playing this flute in the ragas gaudi and garjari. Krishna has another flute named Mahananda, which is like a fishook that captures the fish of Srimati Radharani's heart and mind. Another flute, which has six holes is known as Madanajhankriti.

The Glories of Krishna’s Flute
From Brihad-Bhagavatamrita
Part Two, Chapter Five, Text 140-149

140. "Aho! Just as Sri Krishna is the most extraordinary of all incarnations, in the same way

His flute, which like the most supremely beloved object always rests in His lotus hand, is extraordinary. My tongue is incapable of even touching its glories."

141. "Still, by His mercy and according to my capacity, I will describe the glories of the flute, so listen carefully."

142. "Because that enchanting bamboo flute has touched Sri Krishna's bimba-fruit lips, its vibration can accomplish things that He could not with His own lotus mouth or through the words of the Upanisads, Vedas, Puraras and other Sriptures."

143. "Upon hearing that vibration, the demigods and perfected souls who were travelling in their airplanes with their wives all fainted in ecstatic love, and Indra, Sri Shiva and Sri Brahma became mystified and forgot their knowledge of brahma (transcendental substance) - in other words, this doubt arose in them: 'Is that which we meditate on brahma, or is this flute melody brahma?'"

144. "Upon hearing that vibration, the great sages' samadhi was broken and symptoms of ecstatic love manifested on their bodies. That flute melody even interrupted the orbit of the moon and other planets, which are eternally travelling on the wheel of time."

145. "How can I describe the good fortune of the cowherd men? In their thoughts and behaviour they were always indifferent to their bodies and everything related to their bodies, they had offered their very souls to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna, they were devoid of any worldly or other-worldly desires, and solely because their wives were very dear to Krishna, they even offered pranama to their wives."

146. "The sons of those gopas always accompanied Sri Krishna like His shadow. When, desiring to see the splendour of the forest, Sri Krishna would go away from them for even one minute, then not seeing Him they would become extremely distraught. And quickly running to Him, they would receive great satisfaction from touching Him."

147. "Hearing the vibration of the flute, the supremely exalted Sri Radha and vraja-gopis, who to meet with Sri Krishna had abandoned their husbands, sons, religious principles, and shyness, attained mahabhava in such a way that becoming spellbound in the simultaneously sweet and poisonous thoughts of Him, they completely forgot their own selves and became motionless like pillars."

148. "Please hear more of the astonishing wonders of that flute melody. When the cows, calves, bulls, deer, the birds who reside in trees, the birds and other living entities who reside in the water, the trees, rivers, clouds and other entities who are devoid of intelligence heard the vibration of the flute, they all abandoned their respective natures."

149. "Upon hearing the melody of the flute, moving living entities became motionless and motionless entities like stone melted and began to move. In other words, the conscious became as if matter, and matter became as if conscious. Plunged into a great ocean of prema-rasa, they all exhibited symptoms of ecstatic love."