Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
According to the Bhakti-ratnakara, the enchanting lake known as Chandra Sarovara is located within the forest of Parasauli which is also known as ‘Vasanta-sukhada’, meaning ‘the forest giving joy in spring-time’. During the vasanta-rasa-lila, after having spent the whole night ecstatically dancing with the gopis, Krishna, while still wearing His special rasa-lila dress, came here to Chandra Sarovara in order to rest on the banks of sacred lake. The gopis also came here and began massaging Krishna’s limbs and also fanned Him in order to relieve His fatigue.
It is said that this lake is also very dear to the moon-god Chandra, because at this place he witnessed the Vasanta-rasa-lila pastime between Radha and Krishna. Due to experiencing transcendental ecstasy after witnessing the rasa-dance, the moon-god Chandra became momentarily stunned and while ceasing all external movement remained completely stationary in the night sky. (The astronomical explanation for the moon to remain stationary in the night sky is known as Lunar standstill. Every 18.6 years, the angle between the moon’s orbit and earth’s equator reaches a maximum of 28°36′, the sum of earth’s equatorial tilt (23°27′) and the moon’s orbital inclination (5°09′) to the ecliptic. This is called major lunar standstill. Around this time, the Moon’s declination will vary from -28°36′ to +28°36′). Thus it appears that on that occasion, the Lunar standstill perfectly coincided with the rasa-dance at Parasauli, allowing the moon-god a unique vision of Krishna’s transcendental pastimes.
Chandravali, who is sometimes called Chandramukhi, the gopi with the moon-like face, is considered second only to Radharani in attracting Krishna’s love and attention, and just like the moon-god, Chandravali also has a very special relationship with this lake. It is said that just as Radha-kunda is very dear to Radharani, so Chandra-sarovara is very dear to Chandravali. This celebrated lake is famous all over Vraja because of the spring-time rasa-lila that took place here. Even Lord Balarama became stunned when He witnessed the extraordinary rasa-lila at Chandra-sarovara as He stood on the top of Govardhana Hill. The place from where Lord Balarama saw the Vasanta-rasa-lila is known as Doka Dauji. The word ‘doka’ is a corrupted form of the word ‘dekna’ which means to ‘look’, or to ‘see’.
Chandra-sarovara is the site of many other wonderful pastimes where Krishna and the gopis would regularly meet and engage in singing, dancing, playing sports, as well as drinking the beverage known as varuni, or honey-liquor. The honey drinking pastimes known as madhupan-lila were very popular, not only with Krishna and Balarama, but with the gopis and the cowherd boys as well. The word ‘madhu’ means ‘honey’ and ‘pan’ means to ‘drink’.
On the banks of this lake, Krishna often engaged in decorating Radharani by applying mascara and other cosmetics on Radha’s moonlike face and decorating Her transcendental limbs with gem-encrusted ornaments and golden jewelry. Krishna would also comb Radha’s long black hair into braids and then decorate Her braids with sweet smelling forest flowers. There is a shrine here on the banks at Chandra-sarovara known as the Shringara Mandira that commemorates this particular pastime. The word ‘shringara’ means ‘dressing’, or ‘decorating with ornaments’. Surrounding this lake are a number of other shrines including the bhajana kutir and samadhi of the blind Vaishnava saint named Sura Dasa, who composed two well-known poetry books: Sura-sagar and Sura-padavali. There is also the baithaka, or sitting place of Vallabha Bhatta and his son Vitthalanath. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami appointed Vitthalanatha as the head priest of Madhavendra Puri’s famous Deity named Gopala Raya (Gopala Natha) that was later moved to Nathadwara in Rajasthan and became known as Shri Nathaji. Shriman Vallabha Bhatta met Lord Chaitanya a number of times at Puri and also at Prayag where he had his residence; he later moved to Mathura with his sons and eventually founded the Vallabhacharya sampradaya.
