SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.21.15
nadyas tadā tad upadhārya mukunda-gītam
āvarta-laksita-manobhava-bhagna-vegāh
ālińgana-sthagitam ūrmi-bhujair murārer
grhnanti pāda-yugalam kamalopahārāh

nadyah — the rivers; tadā — then; tat — that; upadhārya — perceiving; mukunda — of Lord Krsna; gītam — the song of His flute; āvarta — by their whirlpools; laksita — manifest; manah-bhava — by their conjugal desire; bhagna — broken; vegāh — their currents; ālińgana — by their embrace; sthagitam — held stationary; ūrmi-bhujaih — by the arms of their waves; murāreh — of Lord Murāri; grhnanti — they seize; pāda-yugalam — the two lotus feet; kamala-upahārāh — carrying offerings of lotus flowers.

TRANSLATION

When the rivers hear the flute-song of Krsna, their minds begin to desire Him, and thus the flow of their currents is broken and their waters are agitated, moving around in whirlpools. Then with the arms of their waves the rivers embrace Murāri's lotus feet and, holding on to them, present offerings of lotus flowers.

JOURNAL:

There is a meditation I do that works well for me. I sit by a river and, as I watch it flow, I put music to its movements in my head. I like to do this after I have been chanting japa and I am "tired of it"; a relative phrase at best. Here is an excerpt from The Nectar of Devotion, page 173;

As far as His flute is concerned, it is said that the vibration of this wonderful instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Kåñëa was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world. There are three kinds of flutes used by Kåñëa. One is called veëu, one is called muralé, and the third is called vaàcé. Veëu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. Muralé 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 vaàçé flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Kåñëa used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Kåñëa has a longer vaàçé, which is called mahänandä, or sammohiné. When it is still longer it is called äkarñiëé. When it is even longer it is called änandiné. The änandiné flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vaàçulé. 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 sammohiné. When made of gold, it is called äkarñiëé.