Devanagari
वैमानिका: सललनाश्चरितानि शश्वद्
गायन्ति यत्र शमलक्षपणानि भर्तु: ।
अन्तर्जलेऽनुविकसन्मधुमाधवीनां
गन्धेन खण्डितधियोऽप्यनिलं क्षिपन्त: ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
vaimānikāḥ sa-lalanāś caritāni śaśvad
gāyanti yatra śamala-kṣapaṇāni bhartuḥ
antar-jale ’nuvikasan-madhu-mādhavīnāṁ
gandhena khaṇḍita-dhiyo ’py anilaṁ kṣipantaḥ
Synonyms
vaimānikāḥ
—
flying in their airplanes
;
sa
—
lalanāḥ — along with their wives
;
caritāni
—
activities
;
śaśvat
—
eternally
;
gāyanti
—
sing
;
yatra
—
in those Vaikuṇṭha planets
;
śamala
—
all inauspicious qualities
;
kṣapaṇāni
—
devoid of
;
bhartuḥ
—
of the Supreme Lord
;
antaḥ
—
jale — in the midst of the water
;
anuvikasat
—
blossoming
;
madhu
—
fragrant, laden with honey
;
mādhavīnām
—
of the mādhavī flowers
;
gandhena
—
by the fragrance
;
khaṇḍita
—
disturbed
;
dhiyaḥ
—
minds
;
api
—
even though
;
anilam
—
breeze
;
kṣipantaḥ
—
deriding .
Translation
In the Vaikuṇṭha planets the inhabitants fly in their airplanes, accompanied by their wives and consorts, and eternally sing of the character and activities of the Lord, which are always devoid of all inauspicious qualities. While singing the glories of the Lord, they deride even the presence of the blossoming mādhavī flowers, which are fragrant and laden with honey.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Alighting from the planes and entering the water, the devotees constantly sing the glories of the lord which are devoid of all faults, while criticizing the wind, since it distracts their minds with its perfume of mādhavī blossoms filled with honey.
The activities of the Lord are devoid of all contaminations of present in jīvas of the material world (śamala-kṣapanāni), and they destroy the grief arising from separation from the Lord. The servants descend from their airplanes in order to produce special notes in their singing. They sing while immersed in the lakes up to their throats. Or, placing their consorts on the trees on the bank of the water, they cover them with leaves, and then have them enter the water. Their attention fixed only on the describing the Lord may be disturbed by the fragrance of the blossoming mādhavī flowers filled with honey, but they continue to sing. They do not give up singing. They revile the wind. “O cool, gentle, murmuring breeze filled with the fragrance of mādhavī flowers! Why do you try to divert the attention of your minds absorbed in the sweetness of the Lord’s pastimes? Do you think you are sweeter than those pastimes? How foolish you are!” Because the previous verse described the trees as being the personification of kaivalya, there is a suggestion that though the fragrance of the flowers is the personification of impersonal Brahman, the bliss of worshipping the Lord is superior to the bliss of Brahman.
Purport
It appears from this verse that the Vaikuṇṭha planets are full of all opulences. There are airplanes in which the inhabitants travel in the spiritual sky with their sweethearts. There is a breeze carrying the fragrance of blossoming flowers, and this breeze is so nice that it also carries the honey of the flowers. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, however, are so interested in glorifying the Lord that they do not like the disturbance of such a nice breeze while they are chanting the Lord’s glories. In other words, they are pure devotees. They consider glorification of the Lord more important than their own sense gratification. In the Vaikuṇṭha planets there is no question of sense gratification. To smell the fragrance of a blossoming flower is certainly very nice, but it is simply for sense gratification. The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha give first preference to the service of the Lord, not their own sense gratification. Serving the Lord in transcendental love yields such transcendental pleasure that, in comparison, sense gratification is counted as insignificant.