Sri Krishna Janmastami…

I am that very same person, and it is very pleasant here, having dressed and decorated Radha Damodara beneath a willow-kunja by the bank of the Yamuna…The breezes bear the very same cooling aroma of blossoming flowers and the bees kiss the flowers here in the very same way as they do there…

The birds are enchanted by the radiance of Radha Damodara, who appear like a second sun chased by an ominous rain-cloud, and those birds also sing here just as they do there…

I sit before Their dark-fair forms and chant the same mantras, sing the same songs, and read the same books as I would there…

And it will be the same from now until midnight: same ceremonies, same abhiseka, same arati, same celebration…

But still I will not feel the same as I would there, by the foot of Giriraja, on the bank of Radha-kunda, serving Radhe Syama, singing Their names…

My dear friend, you ask “Why?”

Because my heart is not here, it is there, having long ago become one with Vraja, melted into it s waters, powdered into it s dust…

Therefore, although it is all very pleasant here, my mind and body are restless: they yearn to again be united with my heart; they long to be lost in the unparalleled beauty of a divine couple who are always intoxicated by dancing to the singing of their own names…

That is my desire…