Bamboo Forest
Prabhupāda: The two words, vaṁśaṁ kuroḥ . . . vaṁśa means dynasty of the Kurus. Another word, vaṁśa-davāgni. Vaṁśa means bamboo. So this dynasty is like bamboo. One bamboo, automatically many bamboos grow side by side. So this dynasty also grows like that. One man, one woman, united, they beget children. They beget children. In this way, dynasty expands. So the expansion of dynasty and the bamboo growing, practically the same thing. Bamboo, they are also living entities, and another thing is davāgni, forest fire, davāgni. The bamboos, when they collide by air, there is heat. Electricity is generated, and the fire takes place. That is the cause of forest fire. Nobody goes to set fire in the forest. Nowadays, of course, in your country they are doing like that. But generally, the forest fire takes place by this collision of the bamboos.
So this world is like that. Therefore we sing, saṁsāra-dāvāgni. Saṁsāra-dāvā .
(730617 – Lecture SB 01.10.02 – Mayapur)
(SB 1.10.2 purport)
Kṛṣṇa’s Flute
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. Kṛṣṇa was thus challenging Cupid by advertising His transcendental glories all over the world.
There are three kinds of flutes used by Kṛṣṇa. One is called veṇu, one is called muralī, and the third is called vaṁśī. Veṇu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling. Muralī 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 vaṁśī flute is about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body. Kṛṣṇa used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Kṛṣṇa has a longer vaṁśī, which is called mahānandā, or sammohinī. When it is still longer it is called ākarṣiṇī. When it is even longer it is called ānandinī. The ānandinī flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vaṁśulī. 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 sammohinī. When made of gold, it is called ākarṣiṇī.
(NOD 26)
Another gopī said, “My dear friends, we cannot even think of His bamboo flute—what sort of pious activities did it execute so that it is now enjoying the nectar of the lips of Kṛṣṇa, which is actually the property of us gopīs?” Kṛṣṇa sometimes kisses the gopīs; therefore the transcendental nectar of His lips is available only to them. So the gopīs asked, “How is it possible that the flute, which is nothing but a bamboo rod, is always engaged in enjoying the nectar from Kṛṣṇa ‘s lips? Because the flute is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord, the mother and the father of the flute must be happy.”
The lakes and the rivers are considered to be the mothers of the trees because the trees live simply by drinking water. So the waters of the lakes and rivers of Vṛndāvana were in a happy mood, full of blooming lotus flowers, because the waters were thinking, “How is it that our son, the bamboo rod, is enjoying the nectar of Kṛṣṇa ‘s lips?” The bamboo trees standing by the banks of the rivers and the lakes were also happy to see their descendant so engaged in the service of the Lord, just as persons who are advanced in transcendental knowledge take pleasure in seeing their descendants engage in the service of the Lord. The trees were overwhelmed with joy and were incessantly yielding honey, which flowed from the beehives hanging on their branches.
(Krsna Book 21)
‘My dear friend, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are passing through the forest leading Their cows with Their cowherd boyfriends. They both carry ropes with which, at the time of milking, They bind the rear legs of the cows. When They play on Their flutes, all moving living entities are stunned, and nonmoving living entities experience ecstatic jubilation by Their sweet music. All these things are certainly very wonderful.’
(CC Madhya 24.207)
