Among
the groups of different friends of Krishna, some are well known from various
scriptures, and some are well known by popular tradition.
There
are three divisions among Krishna’s friends.
1 -
Some are eternally in friendship with Krishna,
2 -
Some are elevated demigods,
3 -
Some are perfected devotees.
In all
of these groups there are some who by nature are fixed in Krishna‘s service and
are always engaged in giving counsel.
- Some of them are very fond of joking and naturally cause Krishna to smile by their words.
- Some of them are by nature very simple, and by their simplicity they please Lord Krishna.
- Some of them create wonderful situations by their activities, apparently against Krishna.
- Some of them are very talkative, always arguing with Krishna and creating a debating atmosphere.
- Some of them are very gentle and give pleasure to Krishna by their sweet words.
All of
these friends are very intimate with Krishna, and they show expertise in their
different activities, their aim always being to please Krishna. Krishna played
with His intimate friends sometimes by fighting or wrestling with their arms,
sometimes by playing ball and sometimes by playing chess. Sometimes they carried
one another on their shoulders, and sometimes they exhibited their expertness
at whirling logs. And the cowherd friends used to please Krishna by sitting
together with Him on couches or on swings, by lying together on their beds, by
joking together and by swimming in the pool.
All
these activities are called anubhava. (Experience)
Whenever
all the friends would assemble in the company of Krishna, they would
immediately engage in all these functions, especially in dancing together. Regarding
their wrestling, one friend once asked Krishna, “My dear friend, O killer of
the Agha demon, you are very proudly wandering among your friends and trying to
exhibit your arms which are very strong. Is it that you are envious of me?
I know that You cannot defeat me in wrestling, and I also know that You were sitting idly for a long time because You were hopeless of defeating me.” All the friends were very daring and would risk any difficulty, because they were confident that Krishna would help them to be victorious in all adventures. They used to sit together and advise one another what to do, sometimes inducing one another to be engaged in welfare work, sometimes they would offer betel nuts to one another, decorate one another’s faces with tilakam or smear pulp of candana on one another’s bodies.
Sometimes,
for the sake of amusement, they used to decorate their faces in strange ways. Another
business of the friends was that each of them wanted to defeat Krishna. Sometimes
they used to snatch His clothing or snatch away the flowers from His hands. Sometimes
one would try to induce another to decorate his body for him, and failing this,
they were always ready to fight, challenging one another to combat in
wrestling. These were some of the general activities of Krishna and His
friends.”
Confidential
Friends
“The
more confidential friends are called priya-sakhas and are almost Krishna’s age.
Because of their very confidential friendship, their behaviour is only on the
basis of pure friendship. The behavior of other friends is on the ground of
paternal love or servitude, but the basic principle of the confidential friends
is simply friendship on an equal level.
Some confidential friends are as follows:
Sridama,
Sudama or Kushela, Dama, Vasudama, Kinkini, Stoka-Krishna, Amsu, Bhadrasena, Vilasi,
Pundarika, Vitanka, Kalavinka, Uttavar
By
their various activities in different pastimes, all of these friends used to
give transcendental pleasure to Krishna. The behavior of these confidential
friends is described by a friend of Radharani who told her,
“My
dear graceful Radharani, your intimate friend Krishna is also served by His
intimate boyfriends. Some of them cut jokes with Him in mild voices and please
Him very much by this. For example, Krishna had one brahmana friend whose name
was Madhumangala.
This
boy would joke by playing the part of a greedy brahmana. Whenever the friends
ate, he would eat more than all others, especially laddus, of which he was very
fond. Then after eating more laddus than anyone else, Madhumangala would still
not be satisfied, and he would say to Krishna.
“If
You give me one more laddu, then I shall be pleased to give You my blessings so
that Your friend Radharani will be very much pleased with You.”
The brahmanas are supposed to give blessings to the vaisyas (farming and merchant caste), and Krishna presented Himself as the son of Maharaja Nanda, a vaisya so, the brahmana boy was right in giving blessings to Krishna. Thus, Krishna was very pleased by His friend’s blessings, and He would supply him with more and more laddus.
Sometimes
a confidential friend would come before Krishna and embrace Him with great
affection and love. Another friend would then come up from the rear and cover
Krishna’s eyes with his hands. Krishna would always feel very happy by such
dealings with His confidential friends.”
The
leader of these confidential friends is Sridama, who is also known as
Pithamardaka. Sridama has a handsome dark complexion. He wears yellow garments
and a necklace of jewels. He is a splendid youth sixteen years old. He is a
great reservoir of the nectar of innumerable transcendental pastimes, and He is
Lord Krishna’s dearest friend. His father is Maharaj Vrsabhanu and His mother
is the chaste Kirtida-devi. Srimati Radharani and Ananga-manjari are his two
younger sisters.
Sudama’s
handsome complexion is somewhat fair. He is decorated with jewelled ornaments
and wears blue garments. His father’s name is Matuka and His mother is
Rocana-devi. He is very young and fond of playing many kinds of games.
Madhumangala
has a slightly dark complexion, an expert comedian who always plays the
buffoon, Sri Madhumangala is the constant companion of Lord Krishna. He wears
yellow garments and a garlands of forest flowers. His father is the saintly
Sandipani Muni, his mother the chaste Sumukhi devi, his sister is
Nandimukhi-devi and his parental grandmother is Paurnamasi-devi.
Bhadrasena
is the general who leads Krishna’s childhood friends in military pastimes.
StokaKrishna is very appropriately named, for he is just like a small (stoka) Krishna. Another of Krishna’s confidential friends are Priyaskara.
These
confidential friends (priya-sakha) delights Lord Krishna with their
enthusiastic and jubilant wrestling, stick-fighting and other sports.
Intimate
Friends
“There
are other friends who are still more confidential. They are called priya-narma,
or intimate friends. Counted among the priya-narma friends are Subala, Arjuna,
Gandharva, Vasanta and Ujjvala. There was talk among the friends of Radharani,
the gobis, about these most intimate friends.
One
gopi addressed Radharani thus:
“My
dear Krishna [delicate one], just see how Subala is whispering your message
into Krishna’s ear, how he is delivering the confidential letter of Syama-dasi
silently into Krishna’s hand, how he is delivering the betel nuts prepared by
Palika into Krishna’s mouth, and how he is decorating Krishna with the garland
prepared by Taraka.
Did
you know, my dear friend, that all these most intimate friends of Krishna are
always engaged in His service in this way?” Out of the many intimate
priya-narmas, Subala and Ujjvala are considered to be the most prominent.
The
description of Ujjvala, another intimate friend, is given as follows.
Ujjvala always wears some garment of orange colour, and the movements of his eyes are always very restless. He likes to decorate himself with all kinds of flowers, his bodily hue is almost like Krishna‘s, and on his neck there is always a necklace of pearls. He is always very dear to Krishna. Let us all worship Ujjvala, the most intimate friend of Krishna!
About
the confidential service of Ujjvala, this statement is to be found, addressed
by Radharani to one of Her friends:
“My
dear friend, it is impossible for Me to keep My prestige! I wanted to avoid
talking to Krishna anymore, but just see! there again is His friend Ujjvala,
coming to me with his canvassing work.
His entreaties
are so powerful that it is very difficult for a gobi to resist her love for
Krishna, even though she may be very bashful, devoted to her family duties and
most faithful to her husband.”
The
following is a statement by Ujjvala, showing his jubilant nature:
“My
dear Krishna, O killer of Aghasura, You have extended Your loving affairs so
much that You can be compared to the great ocean, which is without limitations.
At the same time, the young girls of the world, who are all searching after the
perfect lover, have become just like rivers running into this ocean. Under the
circumstances, all these rivers of young girls may try to divert their courses
to some other place, but at the end they must come unto You.”
Ujjvala
has a splendid reddish complexion. His garments are decorated with star
patterns and he is decorated with pearls and flowers. His father is named
Sagara and his mother is the chaste Veni-devi. He is thirteen years old and
full of youthful lustre. Splendid Ujjvala appears like the personified ruler of
all transcendental mellows, and Lord Krishna, the crest jewel of playful boys,
is submissive to this dear friend.
Subala
has a fair complexion. He wears handsome blue garments and he is decorated with
many kinds of jewels and flowers He is twelve-and-a-half years old and He glows
with youthful lustre. Although he is Krishna‘s friend, he is immersed in
serving Krishna in many different ways. He is expert at arranging the meeting
of the divine couple. He is charming and full of transcendental love for Them.
He is cheerful and full of good qualities. He is very dear to Krishna.
Arjuna’s
glistening complexion is the color of a red lotus flower. His garments are the
colour of moonlight and He is decorated with many kinds of jewels. His father
is Sudaksina, his mother Bhadra-devi, and his elder brother Vasudama. He is
always plunged in transcendental love for the divine couple. He is
fourteen-and-a half and full of the lustre of youth. He wears a garland of
forest flowers and many other kinds of flower-ornaments. (This Arjuna is not
Pandava Arjuna)
Handsome
Gandharva has a complexion the color of moonlight. He wears red garments and
many different ornaments. He is twelve years old and full of youthful lustre.
He is decorated with many kinds of flowers. His mother is the saintly
Mitra-devi and his father the great soul Vinoka. He is very playful and very
dear to Sri Krishna.
Vasanta
has a splendid fair complexion. His garments glitter like the moon and he is
decorated with various jewels. He is eleven years old. He is decorated with
many different flower garlands. His mother is the saintly Saradi-devi and his
father is the great soul Pingala.
Puspanka, Hasanka, Kokila, Sanandana and Vidagdha are also among the most important of Krishna’s intimate friends. Krishna keeps no secrets from these intimate friends. Among them, Puspanka and Hasanka are the leaders of those fond of joking.
Kokila
is fair-complexioned and very handsome. He wears blue garments and is decorated
with many kinds of jewels. He is eleven years and four months of age. His
father is named Puskara and his mother is the famous Medha-devi.
Handsome
Sanandana has a fair complexion. He wears blue garments and is decorated with
many different ornaments. He is fourteen years old. He wears garlands of
flowers. His father is Arunaksa and his mother is Mallika-devi. Handsome
Sanandana is very happy to have the friendship of Lord Krishna. He is like the
splendid monarch of all transcendental mellows.
Vidagdha
has a splendid complexion the color of a yellow campaka flower. He wears blue
garments and a necklace of pearls. He is fourteen years old and full of
youthful luster. His father is named Matuka and his mother is Rocana-devi. His
elder brother is Sudama and his sister is Susila-devi. He is very dear to Sri
Krishna. He is full of transcendental love for the divine couple.
Included
with his well-wishing friends are Krishna‘s cousins, Subhadra, Kundala, Dandi
and Mandala, Sunandana, Nandi, Anandi.
Subhadra
has a splendid dark complexion. He wears yellow garments and various ornaments.
Subhadra’s father is Upananda, and his mother the chaste and faithful
Tula-devi. Kundalata-devi will become his wife.
Older
Well-wishing Friends
Also
included among the well-wishing friends are
Subhadra, Mandalibhadra, Bhadravardhana, Gobhata, Yaksendra, Bhata, Bhadranga, Virabhadra, Mahaguna, Kulavira, Mahabhima, Divyasakti, Suraprabha, Ranasthira and others.
These
well-wishing friends are older than Krishna and they try to protect Him from
any danger. Krishna’s parents love their son very dearly. They consider Him
many millions of times more important than their own life’s breath. Very
frightened that the demon Kamsa would harm their son, they engaged these
well-wishing friends to protect Him.
The leader
of these well-wishing friends is a boy named Vijayaksa, whose mother,
Ambika-devi, was Krishna’s nurse. Ambika-devi worshiped goddess Parvati and
performed great austerities to get a powerful son who could protect Krishna.
Ordinary
Friends
Visala,
Vrsabha, Ojasvi, Devaprastha, Varuthapa, Mandara, Kusumapida, Manibandhakara, Mandara,
Candana, Kunda, Kalindi, Kulika and many others are included in the group of
Krishna’s ordinary friends. These friends are younger than Krishna and are
always eager to serve Him.
Namasivayam.C
The above article is extracted from ISKCON and written based on my understanding. For my original thoughts on Lord Krishna please visit
https://thethoughtsofkrishna.blogspot.com
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