Verse Text
yathā prathame –
uddāma-bhāva-piśunāmala-valgu-hāsa-
vrīḍāvaloka-nihato madano ’pi yāsām |
saṁmuhya cāpam ajahāt pramadottamās tā
yasyendriyaṁ vimathituṁ kuhakair na śekuḥ ||106||
Translation
This is illustrated in the First Canto:- Although the queens’ beautiful smiles and furtive glances were all spotless and exciting, and signified deep love, and although they could conquer Cupid himself by making him give up his bow in frustration, other women who approached Kṛṣṇa with false smiles and glances could not agitate the senses of the Lord. SB 1.11.37
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Cupid (madanaḥ) was smitten by the queens’ smiles and bashful glances (hāsa-vrīḍāvaloka), indicating (piśuna) deep love (uddāma-bhāva), which were pure and attractive (amala-valgu). The strength of Cupid’s weapons which cause desire disappeared on seeing the queens’ intense love. This means that, being bewildered, he did not use his bow for firing arrows to inflame passion (saṁmuhya capām ajahāt). Thus, it is also said bhrū-pallavaṁ dhanur apāṅga-taraṅgitāni vāṇaḥ: their brows were bows and their glances were the arrows. (Gīta-govinda 3.13) This is an image to show the great attractiveness of the queens. Such queens had reached the most excellent position by their display of bliss arising from their exalted prema (pramadottamāḥ). In their group, some women, desiring a position similar to those queens who had a high level of spontaneous prema, could not bewilder the senses of Kṛṣṇa to the same degree as the queens did, with their smiles and glances, which were somewhat false because of lacking the prema of the exalted queens (kuhakaiḥ). However, they could bewilder the senses of Kṛṣṇa according to their level of prema.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
In this connection it is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, “All the sixteen thousand wives of Kṛṣṇa were so exquisitely beautiful that their smiling and shyness were able to captivate the minds of great demigods like Lord Śiva. But still they could not even agitate the mind of Kṛṣṇa, in spite of their attractive feminine behavior.” Every one of the thousands of wives of Kṛṣṇa was thinking that Kṛṣṇa was captivated by her feminine beauty, but this was not the case. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the supreme controller of the senses, and this is admitted in Bhagavad-gītā, where He is addressed as Hṛṣīkeśa—the master of the senses.