SB 10.35.2 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीगोप्य ऊचु: वामबाहुकृतवामकपोलो वल्गितभ्रुरधरार्पितवेणुम् । कोमलाङ्गुलिभिराश्रितमार्गं गोप्य ईरयति यत्र मुकुन्द: ॥ २ ॥ व्योमयानवनिता: सह सिद्धै- र्विस्मितास्तदुपधार्य सलज्जा: । काममार्गणसमर्पितचित्ता: कश्मलं ययुरपस्मृतनीव्य: ॥ ३ ॥

Verse text

śrī-gopya ūcuḥ vāma-bāhu-kṛta-vāma-kapolo valgita-bhrur adharārpita-veṇum komalāṅgulibhir āśrita-mārgaṁ gopya īrayati yatra mukundaḥ vyoma-yāna-vanitāḥ saha siddhair vismitās tad upadhārya sa-lajjāḥ kāma-mārgaṇa-samarpita-cittāḥ kaśmalaṁ yayur apasmṛta-nīvyaḥ

Synonyms

śrī — gopyaḥ ūcuḥ — the gopīs said ; vāma — left ; bāhu — on His arm ; kṛta — putting ; vāma — left ; kapolaḥ — His cheek ; valgita — moving ; bhruḥ — His eyebrows ; adhara — upon His lips ; arpita — placed ; veṇum — His flute ; komala — tender ; aṅgulibhiḥ — with His fingers ; āśrita — mārgam — its holes stopped ; gopyaḥ — O gopīs ; īrayati — vibrates ; yatra — where ; mukundaḥ — Lord Kṛṣṇa ; vyoma — in the sky ; yāna — traveling ; vanitāḥ — the ladies ; saha — together with ; siddhaiḥ — the Siddha demigods ; vismitāḥ — amazed ; tat — to that ; upadhārya — listening ; sa — with ; lajjāḥ — embarrassment ; kāma — of lust ; mārgaṇa — to the pursuit ; samarpita — offered ; cittāḥ — their minds ; kaśmalam — distress ; yayuḥ — they experienced ; apasmṛta — forgetting ; nīvyaḥ — the belts of their dresses .

Translation

The gopīs said: When Mukunda vibrates the flute He has placed to His lips, stopping its holes with His tender fingers, He rests His left cheek on His left arm and makes His eyebrows dance. At that time the demigoddesses traveling in the sky with their husbands, the Siddhas, become amazed. As those ladies listen, they are embarrassed to find their minds yielding to the pursuit of lusty desires, and in their distress they are unaware that the belts of their garments are loosening.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The gopīs said: When Mukunda vibrates the flute He has placed to His lips, stopping its holes with His tender fingers, He rests His left cheek on His left arm and makes His eyebrows dance. At that time the demigoddesses traveling in the sky with their husbands, the Siddhas, become amazed. As those ladies listen, they are embarrassed to find their minds yielding to the pursuit of lusty desires, and in their distress they are unaware that the belts of their garments are loosening. KB 10.35.2-3 The gopīs used to discuss Kṛṣṇa amongst themselves, and their talks were as follows. “My dear friends,” one gopī said, “do you know that when Kṛṣṇa lies on the ground He rests on His left elbow and His head rests on His left hand? He moves His attractive eyebrows while playing His flute with His delicate fingers, and the sound He produces creates such a nice atmosphere that the denizens of the heavenly planets, who travel in space with their wives and beloveds, stop their airplanes, for they are stunned by the vibration of the flute. The wives of the demigods who are seated in the planes then become very much ashamed of their singing and musical qualifications. Not only that, but they become afflicted with conjugal love, and their hair and tight clothes immediately loosen.”

Purport

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states that this chapter consists of a collection of statements the gopīs made at various times as they stood in small groups here and there in Vṛndāvana.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

When Krsna, herding his cows in Vrndavana, played his flute to announce his coming to the trees, creepers, birds and beasts suffering in separation, the gopis, whose love increased on hearing that sound, spoke to their friends in twelve pairs of verses. Krsna rested his left cheek on the base of his left arm, in order to play gamakas (vibrato) in ascending and descending modes of the ragas. At that time he placed his left shank over his right shank and assumed a three fold bending form, which enchanted the three worlds, while tilting his neck. His eyebrows danced to attract the attention of Subala and others to the skillfulness of his songs. The flute was placed on the lower lip. What type of flute was it? It was equipped with seven holes which were covered by his fingers which were softer than those of others (because of not doing heavy labor) but somewhat harder than his other limbs. The wives of the siddhas flying in the sky, though accompanied by their husbands, on hearing the sound of the flute, became astonished. "We have never heard such enchanting flute playing before!" It was astonishing because it enchants us who are chaste women, and moreover, it enchants our husbands, who have given up their identity as males and become female." That was their first cause of astonishment. The women, being with their husbands, became embarrassed, thinking, "Our husbands, seeing our agitation, will have doubts about us." The husbands on the other hand became embarrassed, thinking, "Having given up our male identity and adopted female identities, our wives will have doubts about us." Then together with their husbands, they offered themselves to the arrows of lust. Seeing the arrows of love for Krsna approaching quickly, the wives said, "O arrows of love for Krsna! Pierce these hearts quickly which have been offered to you. Let us give up our faithfulness to our husbands and let Krsna enjoy with us!" The husbands said, "As we have given up our male and devata identities, immediately make us into gopis and enjoy with us." Then the women along with their husbands, so afflicted by the arrows of lust, became stunned (kasmalam). The same feelings appeared in both parties at once. Therefore, the women’s belts became loosened without their knowing, and the men’s clothes and hair became loose without their knowing. "If the devatas reach such a state, what can be said of humans? And what can be said of gopis? and what can be said of those who live with Krsna in the same village? And what can be said of those who attained his direct association? How can live without him? Even while our husbands and children watch and scold us, let us enter the forest of Vrndavana and enjoy with our beloved." This is the implication at the end of each pair of verses.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

It would be difficult for all the gopīs to speak simultaneously in one gathering, since there were thousands of groups with individual realizations. Thus this chapter is a collection of statements of the devoted gopīs describing daily general pastimes addressing various devotees such as Yaśodā (for instance tava sutaḥ sate in verse 14). Though the verses do not depend on relationship to other verses, Śukadeva has gathered the verses in order of the time of day. Sometimes two or three pairs are spoken in the same assembly. The descriptions are grouped in pairs of verses, and each pair consists of a description of the pastime (Kṛṣṇa playing his flute) and then the persons who are nourished by the pastime. Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes alone are the highest goal and the persons experiencing the pastimes respond to them. Thus without taking the verses in pairs there is no satisfaction. “It is so unfortunate that we cannot enter into his pastimes.” From the time he leaves in the morning until he returns, the gopīs sing about his pastimes in the forest each according their individual realizations. In the first verse, after going out in the morning he played his flute on the road. The women from heaven, desiring to see him after he has entered his house, remained in the sky at night. First saw him clearly because they were in their vehicles in the sky, he enacted beautiful pastimes while playing his flute with expression on his face. He has his left cheek resting on his left arm and looks upwards crookedly. They were strongly agitated with prema on thinking that he was looking at them. This is described in two verses. The left arm is mentioned rather than the right arm because vāma also means attractive. Because he rests his left check on his left arm, his neck slightly turns. Because his head is turned, his glance is crooked as he looks upward. He is absorbed in playing the flute. Since he is standing in the famous pose with three bends, his right foot is placed over his left foot. His brow flutters. Bhru instead of bhrū is poetic license. Some versions have bhrū. He plays his flute offered to his lips. Or he plays a flute which is always placed on or given to his lips, as a constant configuration. It is similar to the construction āhitāgni: a person who maintains a sacrificial fire perpetually, though the order of words is reversed (adharārpita instead of arpitādhara). The lips are not compared to red bimba fruits since even without the sweetness of the pink color, just by the touch of the lips to the flute, the flute playing becomes attractive. Or, because of Kṛṣṇa’s contact with the flute at all times, the lips became angry and thus changed to a pale color. A great person is said to have hands hardened without work and feet which remain soft, though he walks on the road. But Kṛṣṇa’s fingers are described as soft in this verse. Giving up their hard aspect in comparison to other limbs, the fingers out of affection displayed their soft aspect to compare to other limbs. Out of envy the gopīs say “Those soft fingers should not touch the hard flute but rather touch our soft limbs.” Though he has a natural sweetness in his beauty, in playing the flute he shows particular sweetness by his special gestures. The great attractiveness of his flute playing is shown in this verse. O gopīs! Being very intelligent, you can understand this truth. But others cannot. Yatra means “when.” The usage indicates that the flute playing was the sole and inevitable cause of the heavenly women bewilderment. This applies to later verses also. The heavenly women were riding in the airplanes with devatās controlling the planes (siddhaiḥ). Because of the astonishing scene the women along with their husbands became astonished. Thought they were with their great husbands, their hearts became desirous of Kṛṣṇa. They were embarrassed but in spite of that, they fainted because of their desire and their garments became loose (apaṣmṛta). Or, after astonishment, when they became full of desire, they became ashamed because of their womanly nature. Then they offered their minds to Kṛṣṇa, by the force of strong desire. In that state they fainted. They were ashamed not only because their desires were aroused, but because their clothing slackened in front of their husbands. If the wives of devatās become bewildered, what about us?

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Since there were many independent speakers, the verses represent different gopīs speaking. Among the groups some are present in front of Yaśodā (for instance tava sutaḥ sate in verse 14). In the first verse, after going out in the morning he played his flute on the road. The women from heaven, desiring to see him after he has entered his house, remained in the sky at night. First they saw him clearly because they were in their vehicles in the sky. He enacts beautiful pastimes while playing his flute with expression on his face. He has his left cheek resting on his left arm and looks upwards crookedly. They were strongly agitated with prema on thinking that he was looking at them. This is described in two verses. The left arm is mentioned rather than the right arm because vāma also means attractive. Because he rests his left check on his left arm, his neck slightly turns. Because his head is turned, his glance is crooked as he looks upward. He is absorbed in playing the flute. Since he is standing in the famous pose with three bends, his right foot is placed over his left foot. His brow flutters. Bhru instead of bhrū is poetic license. Some versions have bhrū. He plays his flute which is offered to his lips. Or he plays a flute which is always placed on or given to his lips, as a constant configuration. It is similar to the construction āhitāgni: a person who maintains a sacrificial fire perpetually, though the order of words is reversed (adharārpita instead of arpitādhara). The lips are not compared to red bimba fruits since even without the sweetness of the pink color, just by the touch of the lips to the flute, the flute playing becomes attractive. Or, because of Kṛṣṇa’s contact with the flute at all times, the lips became angry and thus changed to a pale color. A great person is said to have hands hardened without work and feet which remain soft, though he walks on the road. But Kṛṣṇa’s fingers are described as soft in this verse. Giving up their hard aspect in comparison to other limbs, the fingers out of affection display their soft aspect. Out of envy the gopīs say “Those soft fingers should not touch the hard flute but rather touch our soft limbs.” Though he has a natural sweetness in his beauty, in playing the flute he shows particular sweetness by his special gestures. The great attractiveness of his flute playing is shown in this verse. O gopīs! Being very intelligent, you can understand this truth. But others cannot. Yatra means “when.” The usage indicates that the flute playing was the sole and inevitable cause of the heavenly women’s bewilderment. This applies to later verses also. The heavenly women were riding in the airplanes with devatās controlling the planes (siddhaiḥ). Or they were going (yāna) in the sky. Or they were the wives of siddhas who had planes in the sky. This means that they were not close to the Lord and did not live in Vṛndāvana. They were above, at a distance. Siddha refers to a type of devatā or to jīvanmuktas, persons who would be liberated. They were devoid of bhakti-rasa. Even they were astonished since they had never experienced this. The wives of these men became embarrassed by the arousal of love and then lost control. Or the siddhas also lost control. The wives were the chief experiencers of this rasa, and the men were secondary. Thus it is said “the women with the siddhas.” The sound entered through the ears to the heart (upadhārya). First they were astonished and then by the arousal of desire, the clothing became loose. Then they became embarrassed. Their hearts, their treasures, had been offered to the five arrows of Cupid (starting with bewilderment), because of fear of death. This means their hearts were controlled by Cupid. This should be kept somewhere privately. These two verses show the great attraction of the sound of the flute and Kṛṣṇa’s form and pastimes. Though everyone should be bewildered by the flute and his beauty, particularly the wives of the siddhas are mentioned. He has his left cheek resting on his left arm and looks upwards crookedly. They were strongly agitated with prema on thinking that he was looking at them. This should be understood in later verses also. The main persons described in the verses feel the effects of Kṛṣṇa’s presence. The details are explained with each pair of verse. The two verses are connected in meaning. They feel their desires will be fulfilled when they meet with Kṛṣṇa. The first of the two verses generally describes Kṛṣṇa’s beauty and pastimes. The second verse indicates that there will be great sweetness when they can meet with him, though he is independent. All verses are filled with colorful descriptions.