Verse Text
tan-mohanatā, yathā –
kartuṁ mugdhāḥ svayam acaṭunā na kṣamante ’bhiyogaṁ
na vyādātuṁ kvacid api jane vaktram apy utsahante |
dṛṣṭvā tās te nava-madhurima-smeratāṁ mādhavārtāḥ
sva-prāṇebhyas trayam udasṛjann adya toyāṣjalīnām ||319||
Translation
The attractiveness of the first part of youth: O Mādhava! Gazing upon the new sweetness of Your smile, the bewildered, immobilized gopīs are not able to reveal spontaneously the sentiments in their minds. And they are not able to confide in any person. What more can be said? They are so pained that today they have offered three handfuls of water to their life airs.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
These are the words of Vṛnda-devī. In the first half of the verse, discerning Kṛṣṇa’s doubt, she increases His longing by stating the effect without the cause. When He asks “Why are they in such a state?” she describes in the third line the cause and thus makes Him more sympathetic. When He asks in a choked voice, “Then what should they do?” she disturbs His mind in the fourth line with her answer. This is how the verse should be understood. Abhiyoga means “displaying their emotions.”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Kṛṣṇa’s attractive features are also described by Vṛndā, the gopī after whom Vṛndāvana was named. She told Kṛṣṇa, “My dear Mādhava, Your newly invented smile has so captivated the hearts of the gopīs that they are simply unable to express themselves! As such, they have become bewildered and will not talk with others. All of these gopīs have become so affected that it is as if they had offered three sprinkles of water upon their lives. In other words, they have given up all hope for their living condition.” According to the Indian system, when a person is dead there is a sprinkling of water on the body. Thus, the statement of Vṛndā shows that the gopīs were so enchanted by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa that because they could not express their minds, they had decided to commit suicide.