SB 10.35.7 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

बर्हिणस्तबकधातुपलाशै- र्बद्धमल्लपरिबर्हविडम्ब: । कर्हिचित् सबल आलि स गोपै- र्गा: समाह्वयति यत्र मुकुन्द: ॥ ६ ॥ तर्हि भग्नगतय: सरितो वै तत्पदाम्बुजरजोऽनिलनीतम् । स्पृहयतीर्वयमिवाबहुपुण्या: प्रेमवेपितभुजा: स्तिमिताप: ॥ ७ ॥

Verse text

barhiṇa-stabaka-dhātu-palāśair baddha-malla-paribarha-viḍambaḥ karhicit sa-bala āli sa gopair gāḥ samāhvayati yatra mukundaḥ tarhi bhagna-gatayaḥ sarito vai tat-padāmbuja-rajo ’nila-nītam spṛhayatīr vayam ivābahu-puṇyāḥ prema-vepita-bhujāḥ stimitāpaḥ

Synonyms

barhiṇa — of peacocks ; stabaka — with the tail feathers ; dhātu — with colored minerals ; palāśaiḥ — and with leaves ; baddha — arranged ; malla — of a wrestler ; paribarha — the apparel ; viḍambaḥ — imitating ; karhicit — sometimes ; sa — balaḥ — with Balarāma ; āli — my dear gopī ; saḥ — He ; gopaiḥ — with the cowherd boys ; gāḥ — the cows ; samāhvayati — calls ; yatra — when ; mukundaḥ — Lord Mukunda ; tarhi — then ; bhagna — broken ; gatayaḥ — their movement ; saritaḥ — the rivers ; vai — indeed ; tat — His ; pada — ambuja — of the lotus feet ; rajaḥ — the dust ; anila — by the wind ; nītam — brought ; spṛhayatīḥ — hankering for ; vayam — ourselves ; iva — just like ; abahu — slight ; puṇyāḥ — the piety to whose credit ; prema — due to love of God ; vepita — trembling ; bhujāḥ — whose arms (waves) ; stimita — stopped ; āpaḥ — whose water .

Translation

My dear gopī, sometimes Mukunda imitates the appearance of a wrestler by decorating Himself with leaves, peacock feathers and colored minerals. Then, in the company of Balarāma and the cowherd boys, He plays His flute to call the cows. At that time the rivers stop flowing, their water stunned by the ecstasy they feel as they eagerly wait for the wind to bring them the dust of His lotus feet. But like us, the rivers are not very pious, and thus they merely wait with their arms trembling out of love.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

My dear gopī, sometimes Mukunda imitates the appearance of a wrestler by decorating Himself with leaves, peacock feathers and colored minerals. Then, in the company of Balarāma and the cowherd boys, He plays His flute to call the cows. At that time the rivers stop flowing, their water stunned by the ecstasy they feel as they eagerly wait for the wind to bring them the dust of His lotus feet. But like us, the rivers are not very pious, and thus they merely wait with their arms trembling out of love. KB 10.35.6-7 Another gopī said, “My dear friends, not only living animals but even inanimate objects like the rivers and lakes of Vṛndāvana also become stunned when Kṛṣṇa passes with peacock feathers on His head and His body smeared with the minerals of Vṛndāvana. With leaves and flowers decorating His body, He looks like some hero. When He plays on His flute and calls the cows with Balarāma, the river Yamunā stops flowing and waits for the air to carry dust from His lotus feet. But the river Yamunā is unfortunate like us; it does not get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. The river simply remains stunned, stopping its waves, just as we also stop crying for Kṛṣṇa in expectation.” In the absence of Kṛṣṇa the gopīs were constantly shedding tears, but sometimes, when they expected that Kṛṣṇa was coming, they would stop crying. But when they saw that Kṛṣṇa was not coming, then again they would become frustrated and begin to cry.

Purport

The gopīs state here that the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute causes even inanimate objects like rivers to become conscious and then stunned in ecstasy. Just as the gopīs could not always be in Kṛṣṇa’s physical association, the rivers could not come to the Lord’s lotus feet. Although they desired the Lord, their movement was checked by ecstasy, and their “arms,” their waves, trembled with love of Godhead.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"What to speak of the living creatures, even the unconscious entities become stunned on hearing the flute." One other gopi spoke. "When Mukunda, decorated with peacock feathers, or peacock feathers and flowers, imitating the appearance of wrestlers, or mocking them with his own brilliance, along with Balarama and the cowherd boys, calls the cows by name "Oh Kalindi, Gange, Sarasvati!" all the rivers such as Yamuna and Sarasvati and other rivers, though unconscious, take on consciousness and begin to think, "Oh, what good fortune we have! Krsna is calling us in order to bathe in our waters. With strong currents we will break the banks and flow towards him." Though desiring in this way, because of being stunned with bliss, with the stoppage of natural movement, currents became immobile. Another meaning of bhagna gati is as follows. The rivers’ progress in this life was stopped because they had not attained the happiness of contacting Krsna’s body, or because they became the laughing stock of other rivers. And next life’s goal was destroyed because of transgressing the vows of chastity to their husbands. What misfortune for these rivers! But they have a little good fortune. Desiring the dust from Krsna’s lotus feet carried to them by favorable breezes, they attain it, but even though attaining it, they cannot be satisfied, and desire more. Like us gopis who sometimes get Krsna’s association and sometimes are deprived of it, the rivers do not have bad fortune, but have only a little good fortune (abahu punya). The waves (arms) of the river tremble because of prema. Our arms also tremble with prema. Though the waters become solid (stimita apa) because of being stunned, again they liquefy. Our vision is clouded by the water of tears and thus we become motionless. And we also, because of being stopped by our mothers and fathers from meeting Krsna, have lost our goal in life, and because of the ridicule of others and the transgression of the rules of chastity, we have lost chances in future life also. Like the rivers, we also desire the dust from his lotus feet.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Having entered the forest, decorated with forest ornaments befitting a costumed person, he goes to rivers and lakes to give water to the cows and the rivers become bewildered with the appearance of special bhāvas because of the sound of his flute when he calls the cows. He who is skilful at playing his flute, Mukunda, calls the cows in a special way (sam), with affection, pronouncing each of their names. Sa-balaḥ indicates that Balarāma is in a secondary role. In order to increase the sound, he utilizes the sound of the flutes of Balarāma and others. By this sound, the rivers manifest emotions since they are also devoted to Kṛṣṇa. The combined sound of the flutes is used since the cows are far off and the cows are many. Because the sound carries far, the rivers also hear. O friends! You must believe that the rivers are like us! Or by mentioning friends, they indicate kinship and similarity to the rivers. Barhiṇa refers to peacock feathers. He was decorated with peacock feathers, bunches of flowers and tender leaves. In the sweetest voice he called out to the cows, “O Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī!” The rivers near Mathurā like Mānasa-gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī, thinking they are unqualified to attain Kṛṣṇa in another way, desire (spṛhayatīḥ) only a speck of dust from his feet. The spṛhayatīḥ indicates extreme desire according to the rule kartur īpsitataṁ karma: that which is most affected by the action of the agent is the object of the verb (accusative). The normal grammatical case should be dative, but because of the strong relation with the object, the accusative case is used. Because of that desire, the rivers become blocked because the flow stops. The word sarit means “to flow constantly.” Since the husband of the rivers is the ocean, by stopping their flow, the rivers indicate non-surrender to their husband, and show disregard for piety in this world and the next. In not attaining him, the rivers are unfortunate like us, having accrued scant piety since the rivers, like us, have rare opportunities of his association, though he performs pastimes there, because they are innumerable, of many similar and different types like our groups. First, with a desire for that dust, they seem to spread their trembling arms in prema, with their waves. Then, without waves, the water stops moving. The gopīs eyes are always moist but in his absence, their moistness stops (stimitāpaḥ). Or, since water is a limb of the rivers, in terms of the gopīs, stimitāpaḥ means their limbs have become stunned. In sequence, first the rivers hear the sound of flute, then the flow stops. Then only the waves move. Then the waves also stop. In terms of the gopīs, first they hear the sound of the flute, then they stop moving, then their arms trembling with desire to embrace him, and then they become stunned in sorrow on not attaining him. Then they desire only a little dust. They only desire that, without attaining him. It depends on the favorableness of the wind, which is readily available but we, like the rivers, are without sufficient pious acts. If this happens to even unconscious entities like the rivers, what fault do we have?

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Having entered the forest, decorated with forest ornaments befitting a costumed person, he goes to rivers and lakes to give water to the cows and the rivers become bewildered with the appearance of special bhāvas because of the sound of his flute when he calls the cows. Sometimes he calls the cows without Balarāma and the cowherds, in order to give them happiness of hearing him personally. And sometimes he is with Balarāma and the cowherds. Or sometimes he dresses as a wrestler. When the rivers develop bhāva even when calling the cows with the boys and Balarāma. He seems to laugh at them boldly for not being fully dedicated to him, but to others also. Or when he calls the cows with the other boys, the rivers become stunned, what to speak of when he calls the cows by himself. This means that when he calls with the others, there is some restriction in the manifestation of sweetness. Or when he calls with the cowherd boys there arises sweetness from the manifestation of special affection for the devotees. He who plays the flute, who is skillful at playing the flute, calls the cows with great affection by their various names (sam-āhvayati). Mukunda means he who has teeth white like the kuṇḍa flowers. When he plays the flute to call the cows, he reveals the great beauty of his gleaming teeth. O friends! You should have faith like the rivers. Or this is related because of our friendship with the rivers, since we have similar natures. Or it is a call made by Lalitā to Rādhā to help her recover from the pain of prema. The rivers continue to flow in spite of all obstacles. Or this is an address to all rivers as friends. “O Gaṅgā! O Yamunā! O Sarasvatī!” The word saritaḥ then means the rivers around Mathurā such as Mānasa-gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī. The rivers have broken their flow. They do not follow after their husband the ocean. Thus they ignore pious results in this life and the next. They desire just a particle (rajas) from his feet, brought by the wind. They desire dāsya from far off. This is their qualification for the dust. They desire the dust particle (rajas accusative for dative case). Like us, they do not have sufficient piety. Attaining it many times, they are not satisfied. They are similar to us. Though out of prema the flow of the rivers has stopped, by prema they tremble. Brahina-stavaka can mean bunches of peacock feathers. Or barhina can mean peacock feathers and stavaka can refer to bunches of flowers. Palāśaiḥ means leaves. Vai indicates a comparison. The rivers seem to desire the dust from his feet. The rivers have developed special bhāva for him. The wind as a messenger has brought the dust. The rivers become stunned (jāḍyam). This is a vyabhicārī bhāva. By the two descriptive elements concerning prema, trembling and being stunned, two sāttvika-bhāvas of śṛṅgara-rasa are indicated. Or the interrupted flow indicates the sāttvika-bhāva of being stunned. Vepatu is trembling, another sāttvika-bhāva. Stimitāpah indicates total lack of movement or fainting (moha). Or the rivers desire prema in the form of his foot dust brought by the wind. They desire to attain at trace of something related to him as mercy. By the desire for prema, with the arousal of bhāva in the rivers with waves of unconscious water, the rivers develop special symptoms described. Even when the causes of the rivers coming to this condition—seeing him and hearing his flute—do not occur, this condition still results, by the power of his form and the sound of the flute.