I’ll give one example of Madhurya Bhava (the intimate mood of Divine love). Shree Maharaj Ji has written many pads (couplets) of Madhurya Bhav, but I like this one.
A Gopi who heard a lot about Shyamsundar’s beauty, pastimes, attributes, etc., was listening to all the maidens of Braj talking about Shree Krishna. They admired the beauty of Shree Krishna, and they remembered the bewitching smile of Shree Krishna.
She was thinking, “What happened to all of them? Why are they talking so much about the son of Nanda? He is only an ordinary human being like us! He is also a gwala (cowherd). Why are they admiring Him so much?”
She was talking to her intimate friend. The intimate friend said,
“Yes, but I heard that His beauty is very magical. So, if you want to protect yourself, it’s better you don’t go near Him.”
The Gopi said, “Why would I go? I have no relationship with Him. Why would I go?”
“No, suppose He meets you somewhere. Then don’t meet Him!”
“No, no, why would I meet anyone who I see anywhere?”
“But I am giving you one more clue that don’t look at Him. If you see Him by the way, suppose you are going somewhere and He is coming from the other direction on the street, you may see Him by chance, but be careful! Don’t look into His eyes!”
Why? Because the Brajwasis (residents of Braj) say:
श्याम बड़ो छलिया बची रहियो गोरी।
जो कान्हा तोये मारग रोके।
ए घूंगशा नीचे किये रहियो गोरी।Shyam bado chhaliya bachi rahiyo gori.
Jo kaaha toye maarag roke.
Ae ghoongsha neeche kiye rahiyo gori.
You have to pull your veil tightly. If you see Him by chance, pull it tightly over your face!
“Do not look into His eyes!”
जो गोरी तेरो घूंघट खोले ।
ए नैना नीचे किये रहियो गोरी ।Jo gori tero ghoonghta khole,
Ae naina neeche kiye rahiyo gori.
“But I heard that He is very naughty! Sometimes He removes the veil as well!”
“If you want to keep yourself safe, then don’t look at Him. If He removes your veil, then keep your eyes lowered. Don’t look toward His face!”
She said, “Okay, I will keep these things in my mind.”
So, she used to go to Yamuna Ji every day to bathe, and she had to fetch water from there as well. Once, she was going to Yamuna Ji, and she took a bath. After that, by chance, she saw that Shree Krishna was also there. So, she looked at Him and thought,
“Everybody says that He is extremely beautiful. Probably they are very weak in character. They get very easily fascinated by someone’s beauty. But my character is very strong. Still, I will keep whatever my friend said to me in mind!”
So, what did she do? She tried to look at Him.
“At least I should see once why they are so enchanted by the beauty of Shree Krishna!”
But she thought, “I should not look toward Him.”
So, she kept that in mind. Then, when she came back from Yamuna, she said to her friend,
“Everything was ruined today! All the plans are ruined!”
“What happened?”
“I was trying to protect myself for a long time, but today something went very wrong!”
“What?”
“He cast a magic spell on me too!”
