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Krsna's beautiful features

Expressions researched:
"His arms are just like two pillars" |"His arms challenged pillars of the indranila jewel" |"His beautiful features" |"His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders" |"His chest is just like a doorway" |"His hips are dens" |"His palms are expanded like lotus flowers" |"His thighs are powerful" |"His thighs challenged beautiful bananas" |"Krsna's arms, legs and thighs became marked with three divisional lines" |"Krsna's beautiful features" |"Krsna's beauty enhanced the ornaments" |"Krsna's chest challenged a hill of marakata jewels" |"Krsna's face is as beautiful as the moon" |"Krsna's flute was there" |"Krsna's lotus feet" |"Krsna's ornaments" |"Krsna's smiling face" |"Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful" |"beautiful bodily features" |"bodily features of the Lord" |"the middle of His body is a terrace" |"the three lines of His waist challenged the waves of the River Yamuna"

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 9

SB 9.24.65, Translation and Purport:

Kṛṣṇa's face is decorated with ornaments, such as earrings resembling sharks. His ears are beautiful, His cheeks brilliant, and His smiling attractive to everyone. Whoever sees Lord Kṛṣṇa sees a festival. His face and body are fully satisfying for everyone to see, but the devotees are angry at the creator for the disturbance caused by the momentary blinking of their eyes.

As stated by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.3):

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

"Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." Unless one is qualified to understand Kṛṣṇa, one cannot appreciate the presence of Kṛṣṇa on earth. Among the Bhojas, Vṛṣṇis, Andhakas, Pāṇḍavas and many other kings intimately related with Kṛṣṇa, the intimate relationship between Kṛṣṇa and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana is especially to be noted. That relationship is described in this verse by the words nityotsavaṁ na tatṛpur dṛśibhiḥ pibantyaḥ. The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana especially, such as the cowherd boys, the cows, the calves, the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa's father and mother, were never fully satisfied, although they saw Kṛṣṇa's beautiful features constantly. Seeing Kṛṣṇa is described here as nitya-utsava, a daily festival. The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana saw Kṛṣṇa almost every moment, but when Kṛṣṇa left the village for the pasturing grounds, where He tended the cows and calves, the gopīs were very much afflicted because they saw Kṛṣṇa walking on the sand and thought that Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, which they dared not place on their breasts because they thought their breasts not soft enough, were being pierced by broken chips of stone. By even thinking of this, the gopīs were affected, and they cried at home. These gopīs, who were therefore the exalted friends of Kṛṣṇa, saw Kṛṣṇa constantly, but because their eyelids disturbed their vision of Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs condemned the creator, Lord Brahmā. Therefore the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, especially the beauty of His face, is described here. At the end of the Ninth Canto, in the Twenty-fourth Chapter, we find a hint of Kṛṣṇa's beauty. Now we are proceeding to the Tenth Canto, which is considered Kṛṣṇa's head. The entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavata Purāṇa is the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa's form, and the Tenth Canto is His face. This verse gives a hint of how beautiful His face is. Kṛṣṇa's smiling face, with His cheeks, His lips, the ornaments in His ears, His chewing of betel nuts—all this was minutely observed by the gopīs, who thus enjoyed transcendental bliss, so much so that they were never fully satisfied to see Kṛṣṇa's face, but instead condemned the creator of the body for making eyelids that obstructed their vision. The beauty of Kṛṣṇa's face was therefore much more appreciated by the gopīs than by His friends the cowherd boys or even by Yaśodā Mātā, who was also interested in decorating the face of Kṛṣṇa.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 21:

Any comparison of the different parts of the Lord's body to different material objects cannot factually be a complete comparison. Ordinary persons, who cannot understand how exalted are the bodily features of the Lord, are simply given a chance to understand by a material comparison. It is said that Kṛṣṇa's face is as beautiful as the moon, His thighs are powerful just like the trunks of elephants, His arms are just like two pillars, His palms are expanded like lotus flowers, His chest is just like a doorway, His hips are dens, and the middle of His body is a terrace.

Nectar of Devotion 22:

Kṛṣṇa's Exquisite Beauty

In the Third Canto, Second Chapter, verse 12, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 3.2.12), Uddhava tells Vidura, "My dear sir, Kṛṣṇa's form was most wonderful when He appeared on this planet and exhibited the potency of His internal energy. His wonderfully attractive form was present during His pastimes on this planet, and by His internal potency He exhibited His opulences, which are striking to everyone. His personal beauty was so great that there was no necessity for His wearing ornaments on His body. In fact, instead of the ornaments' beautifying Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's beauty enhanced the ornaments."

Regarding the attractiveness of Kṛṣṇa's bodily beauty and the sound vibration of His flute, in the Tenth Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 40, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 10.29.40), the gopīs address Kṛṣṇa as follows: "Although our attitude toward You resembles loving affairs with a paramour, we cannot but wonder at how no woman can maintain her chastity upon hearing the vibration from Your flute. And not only women, but even stronghearted men are subject to falling down from their position at the sound of Your flute. In fact, we have seen that in Vṛndāvana even the cows, the deer, the birds, the trees—everyone—has been enchanted by the sweet vibration of Your flute and the fascinating beauty of Your person."

In Rūpa Gosvāmī's Lalita-mādhava, it is said, "One day Kṛṣṇa happened to see the shadow of His beautiful form reflected on the jeweled foreground. Upon seeing this bodily reflection, He expressed His feelings: 'How wonderful it is that I have never seen such a beautiful form! Although it is My own form, still, like Rādhārāṇī, I am trying to embrace this form and enjoy celestial bliss.'" This statement shows how Kṛṣṇa and His shadow reflection are one and the same. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His shadow reflection, nor between Kṛṣṇa and His picture. That is the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa.

Nectar of Devotion 26:

In the kaiśora age, beginning from the eleventh year and continuing up to the end of the fifteenth year, Kṛṣṇa's arms, legs and thighs became marked with three divisional lines. At that time Kṛṣṇa's chest challenged a hill of marakata jewels, His arms challenged pillars of the indranīla jewel, the three lines of His waist challenged the waves of the River Yamunā, and His thighs challenged beautiful bananas. One gopī said, "With all these exquisite features of His body, Kṛṣṇa is too extraordinarily beautiful, and therefore I am always thinking of Him to protect me, because He is the killer of all demons."

Nectar of Devotion 26:

Kṛṣṇa's Apparel and Garlands

Generally, there are four kinds of garments on the body of Kṛṣṇa: His shirt, turban, belt and wearing garments. In Vṛndāvana, He used to put on reddish garments, with a golden shirt on His body and an orange-colored turban on His head. The different kinds of belts, combined with His enchanting smile, used to always increase the transcendental bliss of His associates. This dress of Kṛṣṇa is described as gorgeous. As a baby elephant is sometimes dressed in colorful clothing, so Kṛṣṇa's gorgeousness was manifested by decoration with such colorful clothing on the different parts of His body.

Ākalpa refers to the texture of Kṛṣṇa's hair, His nicely dressed body anointed with sandalwood pulp and decorated with flower garlands, His tilaka and His chewing pan. Kṛṣṇa was decorated constantly in this ākalpa process. Kṛṣṇa's hair was sometimes decorated with flowers placed on the middle of His head, or else it was reaching down to His back. In this way Kṛṣṇa dressed His hair differently at different times. As for the ointment on His body, the pulp of sandalwood generally appeared to be white, and when it was mixed with saffron dye it appeared to be yellow.

Kṛṣṇa used to put a vaijayantī garland around His neck. This vaijayantī garland is made of flowers of at least five different colors. Such a garland was always long enough to touch Kṛṣṇa's knees or feet. Besides this garland of flowers, there were other kinds of flower garlands too—sometimes decorating His head, sometimes hanging around His neck and chest. Artistic paintings with sandalwood pulp and colored sandalwood were also to be found on the body of Kṛṣṇa.

One gopī addressed her friend and began to praise the bodily features of Kṛṣṇa. She praised His blackish complexion, the reddish color of chewing pan enhancing His beauty hundreds of times, the curling hair on His head, the kuṁkum red spots on His body and the tilaka on His forehead.

His helmet, His earrings, His necklace, His four garments, the bangles on His head, the rings on His fingers, His ankle bells and His flute—these are the different features of Kṛṣṇa's ornaments. Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Agha, always looked beautiful with His incomparable helmet, His earrings made of diamonds, His necklace of pearls, His bangles, His embroidered garments and the beautiful rings on His fingers.

Kṛṣṇa is sometimes called vana-mālī. Vana means "forest," and mālī means "gardener," so vana-mālī refers to one who extensively uses flowers and garlands on different parts of His body. Kṛṣṇa was dressed like this not only in Vṛndāvana but also on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Seeing such colorful dress and the garlands of different flowers, some great sages prayed, "Lord Kṛṣṇa was going to the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra not to fight, but to grace all of the devotees with His presence."

Nectar of Devotion 42:

At the end of Kṛṣṇa's paugaṇḍa age, Kṛṣṇa's hair sometimes hangs down to His hips, and sometimes it becomes scattered. In this age His two shoulders become higher and broader, and His face is always decorated with marks of tilaka. When His beautiful hair scatters over His shoulders, it appears to be a goddess of fortune embracing Him, and this embracing is highly relished by His friends. Subala once addressed Him in this way: "My dear Keśava, Your round turban, the lotus flower in Your hand, the vertical marks of tilaka on Your forehead, Your kuṁkum-flavored musk and all of Your beautiful bodily features are defeating me today, although I am usually stronger than You or any of our friends. Since this is so, I do not know how these features of Your body can fail to defeat the pride of all the young girls of Vṛndāvana. When I am so defeated by this beauty, what chance is there for those who are naturally very simple and flexible?"

Nectar of Devotion 42:

The symptoms of the kaiśora age have already been described, and it is at this age that devotees generally most appreciate Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī is worshiped as Kiśora-kiśorī. Kṛṣṇa does not increase His age that although He is the oldest personality and has innumerable different forms, His original form is always youthful. In the pictures of Kṛṣṇa on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra we can see that He is youthful, although at that time He was old enough to have sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. The cowherd boyfriends of Kṛṣṇa once said, "Dear Kṛṣṇa, You need not decorate Your body with so many ornaments. Your transcendental features are themselves so beautiful that You do not require any ornamentation." At this age, whenever Kṛṣṇa begins to vibrate His flute early in the morning, all of His friends immediately get up from bed just to join Him in going to the pasturing grounds. One of the friends once said, "My dear cowherd friends, the sound of Kṛṣṇa's flute from above Govardhana Hill is telling us that we need not go to search Him out on the bank of the Yamunā."

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Los Angeles, August 15, 1972:

So some way or other, we should come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. Some way or other. Then we'll be purified. Kāmād bhayād dveṣyāt. Just like the gopīs... The gopīs came to Kṛṣṇa being captivated by His beautiful features. They were young girls, and Kṛṣṇa was so beautiful. So actually, they came to Kṛṣṇa being lusty, but Kṛṣṇa is so pure that they became first-class devotees. There is no comparison of their devotion. Because they loved Kṛṣṇa with heart and soul. That is the qualification. That is the qualification. They loved so much Kṛṣṇa that they didn't care for family, for reputation. When they were going at dead of night... Kṛṣṇa's flute was there, and they were all fleeing. Their father, their brother, their husband: "Where you are going? Where you are going in this dead of night?" They didn't care. They neglected their children, their family, everything: "We must go to Kṛṣṇa." So this is required. We must be very, very eager so that... And many gopīs who were forcibly stopped, going to Kṛṣṇa, they lost their life. Just see how much eager they are. So this eagerness is wanted. Then you can see God. Either you become lusty or a thief or a murderer or whatever it may be. Some way or other, if you develop this eagerness, that "I must see Kṛṣṇa," then Kṛṣṇa will be seen.

Page Title:Krsna's beautiful features
Compiler:Sahadeva
Created:06 of Dec, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=6, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:8