The Call of the Flute (Venu Gita) An Old and Rare Book

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"I was One and decided to become many" (Upanisad)

I belong, along with you, to the many. The One's relationship to the many, especially mine, has brought me to His Flute's Call. It is about the ways the One relates to His many. It specifically deals with the exhibitions of Shri Krishna, the All- Attractive and True One. His Flute's Call is about all the ways He affects His chosen many.

I have always identified with expressive insights that align with personal experience. They are milestones along the path of devotion and indicate positions on the way to a destination within a circular pilgrimage. These teachings address my individual spiritual interests and with the help of Shri Vallabhacharya's followers and lineage-holders, I undertook the translation and interpretation of this text.

I believe the reward is the means as well as the fruit, a perfect process, but I still distinguish the different tastes. I believe in Brahman, that All Beings can balance contradictions and that He is Personal and everywhere. He breaks the overused "All is One" mold with His joyous expansion.

The Svaminis, the main speakers of this text are simple dairy- maids. They are also called Gopis and have been chosen to be Krishna-Affected. They are the gurus of Devotion and can even affect Him. When Krishna sees his Beloved Radha's moon-like face, an ocean of bliss swells within Him. The nectar overflows into Vrindavan, the lila land, God's Playground, the location of this song.

I look for those special places where the One and the many intermingle and manifest lila. Lila is intense, yet effortless. It is delightful and sublime, ever-increasing in bliss, instructive, yet playful. In lila, solids become fluid and time is uninterrupted. Lila makes trees feel, water conscious, and deer appear with knowledge-laced eyes. Lila is replete with perfect response and lila is a collection of ras, the nectar experience. Even today, the Vrindavan area, the site of His Flute's Call is distinguished because of its lila connections.

Krishna is full of ras, its personified form. Everything He does and wears produces one delightful ras after another. When His ras is assimilated there is an experience of bhava, a devotional state of Bliss-Being. Beings blessed with bhava I emulate with humility. They are thrilled and always In Love. The most Brilliant Lovers are the Svaminis; the Gopis are the bhava-gurus, they adore God. What they say in His Flute's Call is important to us now.

I have bathed in the Yamuna river and walked the Vrindavan region looking for their bhava. It is a good occupation. I approach bhava as an American-born translator and long-time India pilgrim. The text I present here, the Venu Gita, is found in the Shrimad Bhagavat. It arises, jewel-like, in the eighteenth chapter of the tenth canto, Shri Krishna's very heart. It depicts a magical portion of His lila, His ever-increasing joyful play, His Flute's Call.

I have also used Shri Vallabhacharya's commentary on the lila, the Shri Subodhini, a highly insightful text that brings forth not only beautiful intelligence, but the lila-psychology of the Svaminis, the recipients of the Call. From the Shri Subodhini text, I have combined the meanings of the Sanskrit words along with their bhavas, their devotional states and significants. Shri Vallabhacharya's Subodhiniji is an exposition of Shri