Verse Text
yathā lalita-mādhave (9.40) –
darodaṣcad-gopī-stana-parisara-prekṣaṇa-bharāt
karotkampādīṣac calati kila govardhana-girau |
bhayārtair ārabdha-stutir akhila-gopaiḥ smita-mukhaṁ
puro dṛṣṭvā rāmaṁ jayati namitāsyo madhuripuḥ ||142||
Translation
From Lalita-mādhava: All glories to the enemy of Madhu, who made Govardhana Hill shake slightly by the weight of glancing upon the expanse of the gopīs’ upraised breasts and who hung His head in shame when He saw Balarāma smiling before Him, while He was being praised by the fearful cowherd men.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
From thinking of Kṛṣṇa’s tender body, the cowherd men became afflicted with fear (bhayārtaiḥ). From seeing Kṛṣṇa’s power, they began to offer Him praises—supplications to encourage His valor. In front, He saw Balarāma, who was smiling because Balarāma knew Kṛṣṇa’s powers. Because of His shy nature, He hung His head in embarrassment. All glories to that enemy of the Madhu demon. This means “May He appear within the hearts of the devotees with all His excellent qualities.”
The word kila in the verse has the meaning of “how is this happening?” It is said “Seeing the smiling Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa hung His head.” Thus the word kila indicates that there is the doubt whether Balarāma understood that the mountain was slightly moving because of Kṛṣṇa’s hand shaking from seeing the gopis’ breasts. Thus, because of the indication of doubt expressed by the word kila, it is understood that Balarāma actually did not know the reason for Kṛṣṇa’s hand moving. But even though His love of the gopīs was still secret, Kṛṣṇa acted bashfully out of His very nature. This is the indication. It would have been improper for Balarāma to observe Kṛṣṇa looking at the gopīs’ breasts. Also by Kṛṣṇa’s quality of inscrutability, He could make everyone unaware of His real feelings, while actually maintaining those feelings. The word kila, which indicates some doubt, placed in the first half of the verse can only indicate that perhaps the mountain was moving because of His shaking hand. Because of this, other interpretations are not accepted.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
As described in the Lalita-mādhava, Kṛṣṇa’s shyness was manifested when He lifted Govardhana Hill by the little finger of His left hand. All of the gopīs were observing Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful achievement, and Kṛṣṇa was also smiling at seeing the gopīs. When Kṛṣṇa’s glance went over the breasts of the gopīs, His hand began to shake, and upon seeing His hand shake, all of the cowherd men underneath the hill became a little disturbed. Then there was a tumultuous roaring sound, and they all began to pray to Kṛṣṇa for safety. At this time Lord Balarāma was smiling, thinking that these cowherd men had been frightened by the shaking of Govardhana Hill. But, seeing Balarāma smile, Kṛṣṇa thought that Balarāma had understood His mind in observing the breasts of the gopīs, and He immediately became bashful.