SB 10.22.20 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

इत्यच्युतेनाभिहितं व्रजाबला मत्वा विवस्त्राप्लवनं व्रतच्युतिम् । तत्पूर्तिकामास्तदशेषकर्मणां साक्षात्कृतं नेमुरवद्यमृग् यत: ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

ity acyutenābhihitaṁ vrajābalā matvā vivastrāplavanaṁ vrata-cyutim tat-pūrti-kāmās tad-aśeṣa-karmaṇāṁ sākṣāt-kṛtaṁ nemur avadya-mṛg yataḥ

Synonyms

iti — in these words ; acyutena — by the infallible Supreme Lord ; abhihitam — indicated ; vraja — abalāḥ — the girls of Vraja ; matvā — considering ; vivastra — naked ; āplavanam — the bathing ; vrata — cyutim — a falldown from their vow ; tat — pūrti — the successful completion of that ; kāmāḥ — intently desiring ; tat — of that performance ; aśeṣa — karmarṇām — and of unlimited other pious activities ; sākṣāt — kṛtam — to the directly manifest fruit ; nemuḥ — they offered their obeisances ; avadya — mṛk — the cleanser of all sins ; yataḥ — because .

Translation

Thus the young girls of Vṛndāvana, considering what Lord Acyuta had told them, accepted that they had suffered a falldown from their vow by bathing naked in the river. But they still desired to successfully complete their vow, and since Lord Kṛṣṇa is Himself the ultimate result of all pious activities, they offered their obeisances to Him to cleanse away all their sins.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Thus the young girls of Vṛndāvana, considering what Lord Acyuta had told them, accepted that they had suffered a falldown from their vow by bathing naked in the river. But they still desired to successfully complete their vow, and since Lord Kṛṣṇa is Himself the ultimate result of all pious activities, they offered their obeisances to Him to cleanse away all their sins. KB 10.22.20 The gopīs were all simple souls, and whatever Kṛṣṇa said they took to be true. In order to be freed from the wrath of Varuṇadeva, as well as to fulfill the desired end of their vows and ultimately to please their worshipable Lord, Kṛṣṇa, they immediately abided by His order. Thus they became the greatest lovers of Kṛṣṇa, and His most obedient servitors. Nothing can compare with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the gopīs. Actually, the gopīs did not care for Varuṇa or any other demigod; they only wanted to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Purport

The transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is clearly described here. The gopīs decided that it was better to renounce their so-called family tradition and traditional morality and simply surrender unto the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. This does not mean that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement advocates immoral activities. In fact, the devotees of ISKCON practice the highest standard of restraint and morality, but at the same time we recognize the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is God and therefore has no material desire to enjoy young girls in sexual affairs. As will be seen in this chapter, Lord Kṛṣṇa was not at all attracted to enjoying the gopīs; rather He was attracted to their love and wanted to satisfy them. The greatest offense is to imitate the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In India there is a group called prākṛta-sahajiyā, who imitate these affairs of Kṛṣṇa and try to enjoy naked young girls in the name of worshiping Kṛṣṇa. The ISKCON movement sternly rejects this mockery of religion, because the greatest offense is for a human being to ludicrously imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the ISKCON movement there are no cheap incarnations, and it is not possible for a devotee of this movement to promote himself to the position of Kṛṣṇa. Five hundred years ago Kṛṣṇa appeared as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who practiced strict celibacy throughout His student life and at the age of twenty-four took sannyāsa, a lifelong vow of celibacy. Caitanya Mahāprabhu rigidly avoided contact with women in order to carry out His vow of loving service to Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa personally appeared five thousand years ago, He exhibited these wonderful pastimes, which attract our attention. We should not become envious or shocked when we hear that God can perform such pastimes. Our shock is due to our ignorance, because if we tried to perform these activities our bodies would be afflicted by lust. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, is the Supreme Absolute Truth and is therefore never disturbed by any material desire whatsoever. Thus, this incident — in which the gopīs gave up normal standards of morality and, raising their hands to their head, bowed down in compliance with Kṛṣṇa’s order — is an example of pure devotional surrender and not a discrepancy in religious principles. In fact, the gopīs’ surrender is the perfection of all religion, as Śrīla Prabhupāda describes in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “The gopīs were all simple souls, and whatever Kṛṣṇa said they took to be true. In order to be freed from the wrath of Varuṇadeva, as well as to fulfill the desired end of their vows and ultimately to please their worshipable Lord, Kṛṣṇa, they immediately abided by His order. Thus they became the greatest lovers of Kṛṣṇa, and His most obedient servitors. “Nothing can compare with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the gopīs. Actually, the gopīs did not care for Varuṇa or any other demigod; they only wanted to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Deciding that the results of their vrata should not be useless, even if they had to sacrifice their modesty, they decided to do as their beloved Krsna said. This is explained in this verse. When krsna had pointed out that bathing naked was an offense, they decided that their vow had become useless. Desiring the results of their vrata, they offered respects to Krsna who can bestow the results of all actions, not just this vrata. If the sum of all results, Krsna, is satisfied, what else remains to be gained? You may gain the results, but what about the sin incurred? To answer this the verse says: avadya mrg. Krsna is the purifier (mrj) of all sins. For those who obtain the mercy of the Lord, there is no fault.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

The gopīs had never deviated in the least from the true meaning of his words. Thus the word acyuta indicates their true intentions. Because they were young girls of Vraja (abalāḥ), they could not understand his words. They obeyed him out of prema. Because there was actually no fault since they were young girls and local customs permitted it, Kṛṣṇa had deceived them. They offered respects to he who was the result (sākṣāt krṭam), their husband. Because of that, their sin was absolved by him (avadya-mṛk). That was how they saw him.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

The gopīs had never deviated in the least from the true meaning of his words. Thus the word acyuta indicates their true intentions. Because they were young girls of Vraja (abalāḥ), they could not understand his words. They heard what he said (abhihitam) and then considered the fault in their vrata (vrata-cyutim). Actually they did not have any fault in bathing naked at the place of the vow since they were children. Śrīdhara Svāmī explains this later in verse 22. Or desiring fulfillment of their unlimited actions of worshipping Kātyāyanī they offered respects because Kṛṣṇa could destroy faults (avadya-mṛk) in unlimited acts of bathing naked.