Devanagari
नद्यस्तदा तदुपधार्य मुकुन्दगीत-
मावर्तलक्षितमनोभवभग्नवेगा: ।
आलिङ्गनस्थगितमूर्मिभुजैर्मुरारे-
र्गृह्णन्ति पादयुगलं कमलोपहारा: ॥ १५ ॥
Verse text
nadyas tadā tad upadhārya mukunda-gītam
āvarta-lakṣita-manobhava-bhagna-vegāḥ
āliṅgana-sthagitam ūrmi-bhujair murārer
gṛhṇanti pāda-yugalaṁ kamalopahārāḥ
Synonyms
nadyaḥ
—
the rivers
;
tadā
—
then
;
tat
—
that
;
upadhārya
—
perceiving
;
mukunda
—
of Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
gītam
—
the song of His flute
;
āvarta
—
by their whirlpools
;
lakṣita
—
manifest
;
manaḥ
—
bhava — by their conjugal desire
;
bhagna
—
broken
;
vegāḥ
—
their currents
;
āliṅgana
—
by their embrace
;
sthagitam
—
held stationary
;
ūrmi
—
bhujaiḥ — by the arms of their waves
;
murāreḥ
—
of Lord Murāri
;
gṛhṇanti
—
they seize
;
pāda
—
yugalam — the two lotus feet
;
kamala
—
upahārāḥ — carrying offerings of lotus flowers .
Translation
When the rivers hear the flute-song of Kṛṣṇa, their minds begin to desire Him, and thus the flow of their currents is broken and their waters are agitated, moving around in whirlpools. Then with the arms of their waves the rivers embrace Murāri’s lotus feet and, holding on to them, present offerings of lotus flowers.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the rivers hear the flute-song of Kṛṣṇa, their minds begin to desire Him, and thus the flow of their currents is broken and their waters are agitated, moving around in whirlpools. Then with the arms of their waves the rivers embrace Murāri's lotus feet and, holding on to them, present offerings of lotus flowers.
KB 10.21.15
Even the river Yamunā, very much desiring to embrace the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa after hearing the transcendental vibration of His flute, broke her fierce waves to flow very nicely with lotus flowers in her hands, just to present flowers to Mukunda with deep feeling.
Purport
Even such sacred bodies of water as the Yamunā and the Mānasa-gaṅgā are enchanted by the flute-song, and thus they are disturbed by conjugal attraction for young Kṛṣṇa. The
gopīs
are implying that since many different types of living beings are overwhelmed by conjugal love for Kṛṣṇa, why should the
gopīs
be criticized for their intense desire to serve Kṛṣṇa in the conjugal relationship?
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One may say that the attractiveness of the flue is mainly among women. This verse answers. "All the rivers exhibited whirlpools, indicating their course had been interrupted by the influence of kama. They stopped flowing towards the ocean, their husband, because they had lost all shyness and control. With swelling of the excess water into waves, they embraced the two feet of Murari standing motionless on the river bank, held him in their bodies and offered him lotuses."
Kamala besides meaning lotus can mean water according to Amara kosa. So the sentence can also mean that they offered him water. In other words they used their own water to offer him padya, foot wash. Or kamala can also mean wealth. "In order to please Krsna they offered all their wealth to him. The ocean did not hold any hatred towards those rivers for their love of Krsna, unlike our husbands. How unfortunate we are."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Unable to hide their emotions as previously, they attribute their emotions to an inanimate object out of intensity of attraction in attempting to describe their rasa. The rivers like Yamunā and Mānasa-gaṅgā come close and listen with attention (upadhārya) to the attractive sound at that moment. That song, having a rāga of the highest bliss, frees one from all suffering by his association (Mukunda), since he is the crest jewel of all bliss. The whirlpools indicate their agitated state. They offer lotuses in their waves acting as arms. They grasp Murāri’s feet with their waves, covering (sthagita) them by their embrace. The sequence is this. They first offer cut lotuses by the currents. Then they grasp his feet. Then they embrace him surrounding him with water up to his chest by increasing the flow of water. The rivers, hearing the song of the enchanting flute, give up their natural course flowing to the ocean and, offering lotuses dear to Kṛṣṇa, born from the rivers and particularly born in Vṛndāvana, become fixed by embracing with their waves acting as arms the feet of Kṛṣṇa. According to Vāmana Purāṇa, the Lord killed the ancient demon named Mura. The gopīs thus allude to the fact that Kṛṣṇa is like Nārāyaṇa, according to Garga’s words. In worshipping him, their vow of chastity is not broken. The rivers are most fortunate and we are not, since hearing his flute does not help us reach perfection. We cannot stop our course of household duties. We do not have many long arms by which we can embrace even one of his feet to our breasts. The truth is this. When the moon of Kṛṣṇa played his flute song, dry branches blossom, rocks melt and rivers stop flowing. When the water stops, the rivers swell and their waves overflow with lotuses, touching his lotus feet. Seeing this, the gopīs see the rivers as conscious entities.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Enough of speaking about conscious beings. One should describe the fortune of the rivers which are unconscious entities. The rivers like Yamunā and Mānasa-gaṅgā come close and listen with attention (upadhārya) to the attractive sound at that moment. At that moment (tadā), on hearing the sound of his flute, the rivers’ currents stopped and went in whirlpools.
Mura was a powerful demon. By a boon from Śiva, he was able to kill anyone by placing his hand on their chest. This is related in Vāmana Purāṇa. He was an enemy of Nārāyaṇa. tasmān nandātmajo ’yaṁ te nārāyaṇa-samo guṇaiḥ: this child of yours is as good as Nārāyaṇa. SB 10.8.19) Because of this information from Garga the people in Vraja called Kṛṣṇa by these names of Nārāyaṇa and because of being similar in qualities. As you previously killed Mura, you prevent death from attacking us. Grasping his two lotus feet in great pain, they take lotuses, his favorite flower, and offer them to him as a gift. As we cannot do that, we are unfortunate. The rest is according to Śrīdhara Svāmī.
Or, the song of Murārī gives the greatest happiness (mukunda) or is enchanting. It is filled with nectar. The waves break their course because of transformations (āvarta) of desire.
Or mukundagīta-māvarta: the waves stop their course by their manifestation of desire indicated by turning around in circles or move to and fro because of the wealth (mā) of Kṛṣṇa’s song. The waves move erratically in one place because of deep emotion for Kṛṣṇa, and cannot proceed elsewhere. The word tat is used, not mentioning the flute sound directly, for fear of becoming bewildered. By the embrace of the waves, Kṛṣṇa becomes stunned.
Or though he moves about in a variegated way, he becomes situated beautifully in one place to respond to the embrace. They make offerings of Lakṣmī (kamala), though she is to be worshipped as well. They have such fortune, but we are miserable.
There is another meaning. Hearing the enchanting song of the flute, the rivers give up their natural, swift course to the sea and taking on forms with ornaments. Ornamented with the necklaces (upahāra) of the girls of Vraja (kamala), they stop the lotus feet of Murāri from moving and embrace them by their many long arms resembling waves. They are fortune and we are not, because the result of hearing the flute cannot be fulfilled by us. We cannot give up our household chores and service to our husbands. We cannot publicly wearing ornaments to please Kṛṣṇa. We cannot bring his feet to stop moving with our arms and embrace him on our chests.