SB 10.8.23 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तन्मातरौ निजसुतौ घृणया स्‍नुवन्त्यौ पङ्काङ्गरागरुचिरावुपगृह्य दोर्भ्याम् । दत्त्वा स्तनं प्रपिबतो: स्म मुखं निरीक्ष्य मुग्धस्मिताल्पदशनं ययतु: प्रमोदम् ॥ २३ ॥

Verse text

tan-mātarau nija-sutau ghṛṇayā snuvantyau paṅkāṅga-rāga-rucirāv upagṛhya dorbhyām dattvā stanaṁ prapibatoḥ sma mukhaṁ nirīkṣya mugdha-smitālpa-daśanaṁ yayatuḥ pramodam

Synonyms

tat — mātarau — Their mothers (Rohiṇī and Yaśodā) ; nija — sutau — their own respective sons ; ghṛṇayā — with great affection ; snuvantyau — allowed to suck the flowing milk from their breasts very happily ; paṅka — aṅga — rāga — rucirau — whose beautiful transcendental bodies were covered with muddy cow dung and urine ; upagṛhya — taking care of ; dorbhyām — by their arms ; dattvā — delivering Them ; stanam — the breast ; prapibatoḥ — when the babies were sucking ; sma — indeed ; mukham — the mouth ; nirīkṣya — and seeing ; mugdha — smita — alpa — daśanam — smiling with little teeth coming out of Their mouths (they were more and more attracted) ; yayatuḥ — and enjoyed ; pramodam — transcendental bliss .

Translation

Dressed with muddy earth mixed with cow dung and cow urine, the babies looked very beautiful, and when They went to Their mothers, both Yaśodā and Rohiṇī picked Them up with great affection, embraced Them and allowed Them to suck the milk flowing from their breasts. While sucking the breast, the babies smiled, and Their small teeth were visible. Their mothers, upon seeing those beautiful teeth, enjoyed great transcendental bliss.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Dressed with muddy earth mixed with cow dung and cow urine, the babies looked very beautiful, and when They went to Their mothers, both Yaśodā and Rohiṇī picked Them up with great affection, embraced Them and allowed Them to suck the milk flowing from their breasts. While sucking the breast, the babies smiled, and Their small teeth were visible. Their mothers, upon seeing those beautiful teeth, enjoyed great transcendental bliss. KB 10.8.23 … Yaśodā and Rohiṇī would take Them on their laps and, covering Them with the lower portion of their saris, allow Them to suck their breasts. When the babies were sucking their breasts, the mothers would see small teeth coming in. Thus their joy would be intensified to see their children grow.

Purport

As the mothers cared for their respective babies, by the arrangement of Yoga-māyā the babies thought, “Here is My mother,” and the mothers thought, “Here is my son.” Because of affection, milk naturally flowed from the mothers’ breasts, and the babies drank it. When the mothers saw small teeth coming in, they would count them and be happy, and when the babies saw Their mothers allowing Them to drink their breast milk, the babies also felt transcendental pleasure. As this transcendental affection continued between Rohiṇī and Balarāma and Yaśodā and Kṛṣṇa, they all enjoyed transcendental bliss.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The two mothers would take the two children in their arms and experience bliss. The two mothers took both children as their own and the two children took both mothers as their own. Their breasts were flowing with milk (snuvantau) in motherly affection (ghrnaya). The dust on their bodies became beautiful like cosmetics and that dust increased their beauty, using the metaphor of sundare kim na sundaram (on someone who is beautiful an ornament looks more beautiful.) Mouth (mukhan ) is in the singular, as each mother concentrated on the mouth of one child. They derived pleasure from seeing one or two small teeth ( alpadasana mukham) in their innocent, smiling mouths (mugdha smita).

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Their bodies shone with mud and cosmetics. It is said, “What is not beautiful in the Sundara-khaṇḍa of Rāmāyaṇa?” Similarly here it is said what was not beautiful in the infant boys? This follows the example “a lotus becomes more beautiful when covered by śaivala plants.” This was the particular beauty of their infant age from that time onward. Each regarded the other’s son as their own (nija-sutau), and sometimes out of affection gave the other child their breast to feed him. Out of great bliss they looked carefully in their children’s mouths and felt the greatest pleasure because of their bliss. nemaṁ viriñco na bhavo na śrīr apy aṅga-saṁśrayā prasādaṁ lebhire gopī yat tat prāpa vimuktidāt Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Lord, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā. SB 10.9.20 nāyaṁ sukhāpo bhagavān dehināṁ gopikā-sutaḥ jñānināṁ cātma-bhūtānāṁ yathā bhaktimatām iha Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but he is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-realization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self. SB 10.9.21 Sma expresses joy or wonder. Mukham is in the singular since each mother looked at the mouth of one child at a time with love. The soft or beautiful smile showed small teeth or few teeth.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Their sons were beautiful with the mud of Vraja, which was their cosmetics. Their actual cosmetics were covered by crawling in the mud. Nija-sutau indicates their great affection for the boys. Looking intensely (nirīkṣya) at their faces as they drank the milk eagerly (prapibatoḥ), they derived bliss (pramodam) greater than the bliss of brahman. Sma indicates joy. Mukham is in the singular though there were two faces, since a class is indicated. Other examples of use of the singular to represent the plural are found in SB 10.10.39, 10.29.34 and 10.31.5. They fed the boys with affection (ghṛṇayā). Their mouths had five or six (alpa) beautiful (mugdha) teeth seen when they smiled.