A beautiful description of sights and sounds of the season of pleasure.
jaya radhe, jaya krsna, jaya vrndavana
sri govinda, gopinatha, madana-mohana
syama-kunda, radha-kunda, giri-govardhana
kalindi jamuna jaya, jaya mahavana
All glories to Radha and Krsna and the divine forest of Vrndavana! All glories to the three presiding Deities of Vrndavana-Sri Govinda, Gopinatha, and Madana-mohana! All glories to Syama-kunda and Radha-kunda, Govardhana Hill , and the Yamuna River (Kalindi)! All glories to the great forest known as Mahavana, where Knna and Balarama displayed Their childhood pastimes!
In order to attract the fallen conditioned souls to return to the spiritual world, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna personally descends to the earth and reveals before the world His most attractive transcendental loving pastimes. When the Lord descends, He brings with Him His own transcendental abode, along with His most confidential friends, servants, and associates, who assist Him in performing His innumerable pastimes.
Before Lord Krsna's descent 5,000 years ago, He had manifested on the earthly plane His own transcendental abode, Sri Gokula Vrndavana. This transcendental abode, also known as dhama, is non-different from Lord's abode in the spiritual world and is never considered to be a part of this material world. When Lord Krsna's transcendental pastimes on earth are completed and the Lord returns to the spiritual world, He leaves behind His transcendental abode so that His devotees on earth can go and take shelter there. The transcendental forest of Vrndavana exists beyond the reaches of time. Yet time here is divided into six sections to display the six seasons. Though resembling their material counterparts, the six seasons of Vrndavana are completely transcendental since they nourish the spiritual bliss of Krsna's pastimes. The six seasons are
1. The Joy of Monsoon
2. The Pleasure of Autumn
3. The Satisfaction of Winter
4. The Happiness of Dewy season.
5. The Beauty of Spring.
6. The Auspicious season of Summer.
Srila Prabhupada, in the year 1961 received an invitation to attend a world conference, The Conference for Cultivating the Human Spirit, to be held in Japan. Srila Prabhupada considered deeply how he could best present the timeless teachings of Srimad Bhagavatam to the Oriental people, (Oriental people are very fond of hearing descriptions of nature). He chose to present the spiritual philosophy from the chapter of "Description of Autumn in Vrndavana" from Srimad Bhagavatam. For each seasonal phenomenon, a parallel teaching was given.
The Autumn Season The splendorous season of autumn is characterized by deep lakes of blue water filled with red lotus flowers that look like the lotus feet of Visnu being caressed by the loving lotus hands of Laksmi Brimming with water, these lakes are as clean as the sinless heart of a devotee a spiring for love of Godhead. As Narayana is beautiful by the presence of joyful Goddess of fortune, similarly, the autumn lakes are beautified by the presence of cakravaka birds and blossoming lotuses. There are also flowers that resemble the lotus but are of a different class called kumuda. When th e sun rises, all the flowers but the kumuda blossom beautifully. Smilarly, lotus like men take pleasure in the advent of a responsible king, but men who are like the kumuda do n ot like the existence of a king. Men who want to flourish in the guise of servants of the people do not want a good leader as the head of the state. They are like the kumuda flowers, which do not ta ke pleasure in sunrise. The word "ku" mean bad and "muda," means pleasure. Person s who want to ex ploit the administrative power for th eir own self interest do not like the presence of a good leader.
Groups of lazy swans (hamsa ) sport fr eely in the lakes. Gliding along the water, they resembl e liberated souls ( paramhamsas) swimming in ocean of spiritual bliss. Because of cessat ion of the storms of desire and lust, which are products of modes of ignorance and passion, a self realised soul experiences true satisfaction.
The autumn moon shines b rilliantly among the beautiful glinting stars just like Krsna , the cynosure of all eyes, shines in the family of Yadus. The Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, appeared in the family of Yadus, since then the Yadu dynasty has been luminous like the moon in autumn. The appearance of Godhead in some particular family does n ot mean that He is limited by obligations to do so.
When the mud (kardama) dries up this season becomes blissful with the sight of the faces of many brown calves (k a pilas ). Similarly when Kardama Muni renounced his home, Devahuti took pleasure in seeing the face of her son Kapila. This drying up resembles the gradual disappearance of the false sense of affinity and ego. As a sadhaka continues to practise this path of Krsna consciousness, he can experience in his life a gradual disappearance of the false ego that I am the body and every thing in relation to it is mine'.
Small ponds of water accumulated during the rainy season, gradually dry in the autumn. The little creatures playing in those pools do not understand that their days are now numbered and will end very soon. Thus they are like foolish men, who not caring for the nearing day of their death, become absorbed in so called enjoyment of family life. An intelligent person however is one who prepares himself for the inevitable death.
Krsna finds great happiness in the juncture of the rainy and autumn season. Moving with a delightful gait, Krsna pleases all the residents of Vraja with His darsana as He takes the cows out to pasture. The favourite of Vrndavana pours His mercy on everyone. As a result, the Vrajavasis feels great satisfaction seeing Krsna strolling along playing with His friends. Picking up twigs, wild flowers, mineral dyes and other gifts of nature, the cowherd boys decorate their beloved friend while walking along the path. Krsna and Balarama along with cowherd friends greatly enjoy in Vrndavana forest in this season. Thus the bride in the form of autumn season dresses and ornaments herself to completely satisfy and worship Krsna
Based on: Krsna , the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Light of the Bhagavata by Srila Prabhupada; Colour Guide to Govardhana by Raja Sekhar Dasa; and Ananda Vrndavana Campu published by His Holiness Mahanidhi Swami Maharaja.