1) Always dancing and chanting Krishna’s holy names, in oceans of endless bliss,
free from envy, they’re loved and worshiped by all souls, the holy, crude, and distressed.
Blessed by Caitanya, they deliver to the world the mercy that He bestowed.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
2) Scrutinizing the scriptures expertly, they prove eternal reality.
Everyone in the three worlds offers praise to them while sheltering at their feet.
They serve Rādhā and Krishna’s lotus feet in bliss and love’s astonishing moods.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
3) They know Gaurāṅga’s qualities and narrate them with great fulfillment and faith.
They pour Govinda-nectar on conditioned souls, who cleanse distress as they bathe.
Liberation alone can’t match the seas of bliss they bring to all fallen souls.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
4) Quickly leaving aristocratic social roles they had adopted before,
they donned loincloths and tattered quilts as simple clothes and cared for comfort no more.
Then they swam in the ocean of the gopis’ love, absorbed in its ebbs and flows.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
5) Vrindāvan, where the peacocks, cuckoos, swans, and cranes forever move through the air,
sheltered them under splendid trees with jeweled roots that grow abundantly there.
Day and night they served Rādhā Krishna in delight and shared life’s ultimate goal.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
6) Constantly, they would sing the holy name and bow, their time consumed in that way,
overcoming the urge to eat, sleep, and enjoy that fills up most of our days.
Thoughts of Rādhā and Krishna’s sweet and blissful ways enchanted these humble souls.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
7) They appeared to be mad, absorbed in love of God, with symptoms of ecstasy.
On the banks of the Yamuna or Rādhā Kund, or at the Vaḿśī-vaṭ tree,
they sang praises of Krishna’s qualities with joy, no matter where they might go.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
8) Shouting, “Rādhā, O Queen of Vraja! Lalitā! O Nanda’s mischievous son!
Where are You? In the trees along Kālindī’s shore? Or over on Govardhan?”
Quite distressed with the pangs of separation’s love they cried aloud as they roamed.
Vande rūpa sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva gopālakau
Translation by Kalakantha das ACBSP
