Devanagari
नूनं व्रतस्नानहुतादिनेश्वर:
समर्चितो ह्यस्य गृहीतपाणिभि: ।
पिबन्ति या: सख्यधरामृतं मुहु-
र्व्रजस्त्रिय: सम्मुमुहुर्यदाशया: ॥ २८ ॥
Verse text
nūnaṁ vrata-snāna-hutādineśvaraḥ
samarcito hy asya gṛhīta-pāṇibhiḥ
pibanti yāḥ sakhy adharāmṛtaṁ muhur
vraja-striyaḥ sammumuhur yad-āśayāḥ
Synonyms
nūnam
—
certainly in the previous birth
;
vrata
—
vow
;
snāna
—
bath
;
huta
—
sacrifice in the fire
;
ādinā
—
by all these
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
samarcitaḥ
—
perfectly worshiped
;
hi
—
certainly
;
asya
—
His
;
gṛhīta
—
pāṇibhiḥ — by the married wives
;
pibanti
—
relishes
;
yāḥ
—
those who
;
sakhi
—
O friend
;
adhara
—
amṛtam — the nectar from His lips
;
muhuḥ
—
again and again
;
vraja
—
striyaḥ — the damsels of Vrajabhūmi
;
sammumuhuḥ
—
often fainted
;
yat
—
āśayāḥ — expecting to be favored in that way .
Translation
O friends, just think of His wives, whose hands He has accepted. How they must have undergone vows, baths, fire sacrifices and perfect worship of the Lord of the universe to constantly relish now the nectar from His lips [by kissing]. The damsels of Vrajabhūmi would often faint just by expecting such favors.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O friend! The wives of Kṛṣṇa who drink the nectar of his lips constantly must have certainly worshipped him by austerities, bathing in sacred places and sacrifices in previous lives to attain their present status. But the women of Vraja whose minds were completely absorbed in that nectar fainted in bliss simply because of remembering it.
Purport
Religious rites prescribed in the scriptures are meant to purify the mundane qualities of the conditioned souls to enable them to be gradually promoted to the stage of rendering transcendental service unto the Supreme Lord. Attainment of this stage of pure spiritual life is the highest perfection, and this stage is called
svarūpa,
or the factual identity of the living being. Liberation means renovation of this stage of
svarūpa.
In that perfect stage of
svarūpa,
the living being is established in five phases of loving service, one of which is the stage of
mādhurya-rasa,
or the humor of conjugal love. The Lord is always perfect in Himself, and thus He has no hankering for Himself. He, however, becomes a master, a friend, a son or a husband to fulfill the intense love of the devotee concerned. Herein two classes of devotees of the Lord are mentioned in the stage of conjugal love. One is
svakīya,
and the other is
parakīya.
Both of them are in conjugal love with the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The queens at Dvārakā were
svakīya,
or duly married wives, but the damsels of Vraja were young friends of the Lord while He was unmarried. The Lord stayed at Vṛndāvana till the age of sixteen, and His friendly relations with the neighboring girls were in terms of
parakīya.
These girls, as well as the queens, underwent severe penances by taking vows, bathing and offering sacrifices in the fire, as prescribed in the scriptures. The rites, as they are, are not an end in themselves, nor are fruitive action, culture of knowledge or perfection in mystic powers ends in themselves. They are all means to attain to the highest stage of
svarūpa,
to render constitutional transcendental service to the Lord. Each and every living being has his individual position in one of the above-mentioned five different kinds of reciprocating means with the Lord, and in one’s pure spiritual form of
svarūpa
the relation becomes manifest without mundane affinity. The kissing of the Lord, either by His wives or His young girlfriends who aspired to have the Lord as their fiance, is not of any mundane perverted quality. Had such things been mundane, a liberated soul like Śukadeva would not have taken the trouble to relish them, nor would Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu have been inclined to participate in those subjects after renouncing worldly life. The stage is earned after many lives of penance.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse describes the women with mādhurya-rasa. Certainly Kṛṣṇa was worshipped by vows, bathing and sacrifices by his wives who drink the nectar of his lips constantly. Let us also, not having performed vows or bathing, drink the nectar of his beauty right now. Those wives are much superior to us, even with our millions of good qualities. But they are much inferior to the women of Vraja! Those whose minds were absorbed (āśayāḥ) in the sweetness of those lips fainted in bliss (sammumuhuḥ) by remembering that sweetness in the morning. What kind of condition they attained on actually drinking that nectar at night we do not know! In this way the gopīs’ extreme bliss arising from their extreme prema is indicated.