The Lord's Lotus Feet and Toe Nails - Part 5

Date: 2018-10-29 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

We have been meditating on the various beauty aspects of the feet nails and toenails of the Lord. This is concluding part of the offering titled "The Lotus feet and Toe Nails of the Lord".

Beautify the Lord’s lotus feet: One way to beautify the feet and legs is to beautify the feet and toe nails. Toe nail and foot nail design is a separate field in itself where the nail experts come up with a variety of designs for decorating the toe nails and feet nails and there are even season specific designs for various seasons such as Christmas, Republic day, Summer and Spring designs. The nail experts paint the toe nails and foot nails with Christmas tree, national flag, flowers, Mickey mouse, animals, rainbow and various other themes. People express their love for animals, flowers by making those designs in their toe nail. There are separate kits for nail art designs and there are heavy charges for making these designs on the toe and feet nails. And in fashion parades, the models are asked to walk on the ramp to decide on who is the best model and in those events, they decorate their feet and toe nails with these designs and come with bare foot to show their nail beauty and enhance the beauty of the feet. And the nail polish making companies advertise on their products using these fashion parades.

Now what about the Supreme Lord who possess beautiful and transcendental nails? The Lord's lotus feet are sought by the eternal Vedas, the great sages, yogis and pure devotees. The scriptures tell that the Lord's lotus feet are beautified by His nails. We see that in the that ordered Akrura to go to and bring Lord Krishna and to . While travelling to Vrindavan, Akrura was very much excited to meet the Lord and on His way, he meditated on the Lord's beauty and especially on His lotus feet which included His nails. When he met the Lord in Vrindavana, the Lord revealed His beauty in all splendor in the same way Akrura meditated on the Lord. He revealed the beauty of His lotus feet beautified by the nails and it is stated in purana (5.17.21) as follows:

savilaasasmitaadhaaram / bibhraanam mukhapankajam jungaraktanakham padybhaam / dharanyaam supratishtam

Akrura saw the Lord’s beautiful lotus like face and mouth with a pleasing smile; His lotus feet stationed on the ground beautified by the raised and reddish nails.

Also while Akrura brought Krishna and Balarama to Mathura from Vrindavan, Akrura halted the chariot at the bank of the Yamuna so Krsna and Balarama could perform a ritual of purification and drink some water. After the two Lords had gotten back into the chariot, Akrura took Their permission to bathe in the Yamuna. As he recited Vedic mantras, he was startled to see the two Lords standing in the water. Akrura came out of the river and returned to the chariot — where he saw the Lords still sitting. Then he returned to the water to find out if the two figures he had seen there were real or not. There in the water, Akrura saw the beautiful four armed form of Lord reclining on the thousand hooded Ananta sesha. The Lord revealed the beauty of every limb of His form in the same way Akrura meditated when he came to Vrindavana. And the Lord once again revealed the beauty of His toe nails which beautified His lotus feet as explained in the Bhagavata Purana as follows:

SB 10.39.50 tuṅga-gulphāruṇa-nakha vrāta-dīdhitibhir vṛtam navāṅguly-aṅguṣṭha-dalair vilasat-pāda-paṅkajam His raised ankles reflected the brilliant effulgence emanating from the nails on His petal like toes, which beautified His lotus feet.

And devotees are always attracted to the Lord's lotus feet and innumerable slokas are written in glorifying His lotus feet. The nails of the feet and toe of the Lord enhance this meditation of devotees by enhancing the beauty of the Lord's lotus feet.

Srila Prabhupada installed the deities of Radha Krishna, Sita Rama and Lakshmi Narasimha all over the world where people can come and meditate on the Lord's lotus feet beautified by His nails. And by doing so on a regular basis, one can get attraction to the Lord's lotus feet and develop pure love of Godhead thereby attaining perfection of our existence.

I pray at the lotus feet of our beloved Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord so that I get some attraction to the beautiful lotus feet and toe nails of the Lord.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai.