With great affection, the gopi mothers warned their daughters, “Your young bodies are as delicate as flowering creepers, therefore, you cannot endure painful austerities. How will you be able to suppress the bliss you are feeling within, and suddenly show the determination needed to perform such difficult activities? Since you will not be able to do it, you should not attempt to undergo this vow of worship. We have never seen you do such a thing before.”
Such discouraging words merely increased the gopis’ determination. The mothers then inquired from their daughters, “O young girls! Who is the devata whom you are worshiping? Is it Uma, Umapati, Madhava, Kamala, or Brahma? What type of puja are you doing? Is wealth required? Who is the acharya directing the chanting of the Vedic mantras? Think about these carefully and tell us.”
To stop any further discussion of the subject, which might reveal their hidden intentions to attain Krsna, the unmarried gopis thought about their mothers’ words and answered with modesty, “If any living entity puts his determined faith in any devata, then that devata will surely fulfill his desires. Therefore, we will satisfy our desires by increasing our worship of goddess Katyayani. We have employed our minds to serve as the best of acharyas. His orders will determine our future and bring us to our goal. While waking or sleeping, our mental acharya is chanting a mantra to help us fulfill our purpose.”
Being discouraged by their mothers’ words from performing the Katyayanivrata, the gopis felt temporarily despondent. Nevertheless, when the first day of the Hemanta season arrived, waves of blissful rasa agitated the ocean of their hearts. With great enthusiasm, they collected havisyanna and the other articles to execute the Katyayani vrata.
The bodies of the gopis revealed a distinct type of beauty while undergoing the hardship of the vrata. Since they no longer chewed tambula, the natural luster of their lips glowed prominently. Though their skin turned somewhat pale and hardened without their daily oil massages, their bodies glistened like fresh asoka leaves washed by the rain. Since they no longer applied oil to their hair, it became dull and dry like the minds of the destitute. From eating only once a day their bodies became very thin and lost their natural effulgence. Though they still wore gems and jeweled necklaces, their bodies looked as lackluster as the second phase of the dark moon. Seeing the intensity of their penance and their emaciated condition, all the Vrajavasis were astonished and felt pity for their young daughters.
The burning desire to attain Krsna within the minds of the gopis, interrupted their sleep, and forced them to wake up in the middle of the night. Although insufficient sleep reddened their eyes, they washed their faces, discarded their white sleeping dresses, and put on auspicious pink clothes. While throwing off the lethargy of sleep, they joyfully considered, “Following the scriptural injunctions, let us take an early morning bath in the Yamuna.”
Every morning the gopis would meet according to the secret agreements they had made the night before. Welcoming each other with respectful words, they embraced and exchanged great love. With their impeccable qualities and graceful lotus stem- like arms the gopīs looked like an attractive cluster of lotuses walking down the path. Alone they felt shy and hesitant to approach Kṛṣņa, but as a group they shone with the pride and power of a dazzling cascade of light.
Spreading their radiant effulgence in all directions, the gopīs appeared like a garland of lightning bolts moving on the earth. Every day, before sunrise, these lovely young ladies went to the Yamuna while singing loudly about the qualities of Lord Hari who is forever praised by heavenly gods like Brahma. Full of rhythm and precise intonations, their voices blended harmoniously with the soft sweet notes of their vīnas. A sweet smell emanated from their mouths as the gopis engaged in kirtana. Captivated by that fragrance, swarms of bees flew excitedly toward their lotus faces hoping to drink the nectar. When the gopis blinked their eyes in fear of the buzzing bees, the beauty of their faces greatly increased.
The chiming sounds of their bangles conquered the chirping of love-maddened sparrows. Just as the hot sunshine does not wilt the lotus flowers, the faces of the gopis remained fresh and attractive, even though they constantly burned with the desire to meet Krsna. The maidservants of the gopis followed behind them carrying the finest ingredients for devi-puja which they had collected according to strict rules.
Thus the Vrajakumaris, brimming with affection, ignored the restrictions imposed by their elders and proceeded to the bank of the Yamuna. Although Yamuna Devi is the daughter of the Sun-god, who removes all darkness and afflictions, she herself is filled with streams of darkness. With the eyes of her swirling waves, Yamuna Devi could directly perceive the faith of the young women who desired Nandasuta as their husband.
Seeing the agitation caused by their blossoming prema, Yamuna Devi wanted to embrace the gopis with the playful hands of her waves. Yamuna respectfully said, “O sakhis! Come, come!” Then she made a ‘jhat! jhat!’ sound with her waves in response to the delicate ‘jhat! jhat!’ sound of the gopis’ ankle bells, as they quickly ran down the forest path. Understanding the desire of the young girls, Yamuna Devi offered her respects and tenderly looked at the gopis from the corners of her lotus flower eyes.
The rays of the rising sun instigated pleasure pastimes among the pairs of reunited cakravaka birds who had been separated the night before. Water birds chirped gaily while flying overhead. Upon arriving at the Yamuna, the impatient Vrajakumaris immediately threw off their woolen shawls. Covered by thin white cotton bathing outfits, the blissful bodies of the gopis looked more beautiful than a stream of falling snow. The gopīs shivered and softly sighed due to the chilly morning air. The quivering of their leaf bud-like lips revealed the splendor of their pearly white teeth.
The gopis smiled gently and giggled upon noticing their friends feeling the same way. Reacting to the biting cold, the gopis made a comic scene by slapping their arms and crossing their legs in various contorted postures. Commencing their vrata, the Vrajakumaris offered obeisances to Kalindi before bathing. Climbing down the bank, they slowly entered the water. Ignoring the cold, they followed all the prescribed rules and completed their bath. Then they joyfully ran back up the banks of the Yamuna. After coming out of the Yamuna the gopis felt elated over courageously tolerating the painful cold water.
The water dripping from the garments on the limbs of the young, beautiful, doe-eye gopis with pretty smiles, fell onto the earth. It seemed that their bodies wept golden tears after being tortured by the cold black waters of the Yamuna. The water birds that had spent their youth among the blooming lotus flowers in the Yamuna saw these drops as the wonderful essence of nectarean beauty. The shimmering light emanating from their golden bodies made the gopīs look like blissful embodiments of the goddess of fortune. The water previously caught in their hair now poured out rapidly. It appeared as if the gopis cried out of fear.
As they gracefully dried themselves with small towels, the gopis looked very beautiful. After removing the water from their bodies, the gopis compassionately gave up their enmity toward the cold water. While drying and arranging their hair, it seemed that they were showing affection to their weeping hair. The tender Vrajakumaris had achieved a unique position due to their sweet beauty and refulgent golden complexions.
After bathing and drying their creeper-like bodies, the gopis looked even more beautiful as they filled their lotus mouths with the sweet name of Krsna. Even Lakshmi Devi could not surpass their fortune. While dressing in fresh clothes, they thoroughly immersed their minds in remembrance of Krsna. The borders of their dresses were ornamented with attractive lacing of gold and silver threads. After tying up their hair, the gopis, who are expert in various arts, proceeded to a special place on the bank of the Yamuna. They occasionally sighed from the cold while carrying the puja paraphernalia that they had painstakingly gathered. The sweet fragrance of their breath attracted swarms of bees. But the gopis felt nervous and twitched their eyebrows because they could not tolerate the cold wind generated by the wings of those bees. Feeling compassionate, Surya Deva gradually dispelled their chill by caressing them with his gentle warm rays. Thus, Surya Deva showed more affection to the gopis than to his own daughter Yamuna Devi.
Adapted from Ananda Vrindavan Campu by Srila Kavi Karnapura, translated by Bhanu Swami and Subhag Swami