Verse Text
yathā –
mayā dṛg api nārpitā sumukhi dadhni tubhyaṁ śape
sakhī tava nirargalā tad api me mukhaṁ jighrati |
praśādhi tad imāṁ mudhā cchalita-sādhum ity acyute
vadaty ajani dūtikā hasita-rodhane na kṣamā ||54||
Translation
An example: Kṛṣṇa said, “O beautiful woman! I swear to you that I have not even looked at the yogurt. But your bold friend is sniffing my mouth in vain. Give instructions to your friend so that she does not accuse innocent persons like me.” When the gopī servant heard these words, she could not restrain her laughter.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One time, a messenger, seeing that Jaṭilā had gone to the village, brought Kṛṣṇa to meet Rādhā in Rādhā’s house. Suddenly Jaṭilā appeared and saw her daughter-in-law enjoying with Kṛṣṇa. She began to scold Rādhā. In order to deceive her, Kṛṣṇa spoke these words. “O old lady! I have not even looked at your yogurt. I make that oath. Your bold daughter is sniffing my mouth in order to confirm if I have eaten the yogurt. You should teach your daughter that such hostile doubts—unsubstantiated-- should not be entertained for cultured persons such as myself.” The messenger could not stop herself from laughing.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Bringing yogurt to the forest on the pretext of performing worship of the devatās, the gopīs were moving about here and there in order to pick flowers. Kṛṣṇa was carrying on an exchange with one gopī who was assigned to safeguard the yogurt alone by staying next to it. Suddenly one coy gopī appeared and began sniffing Kṛṣṇa’s mouth to see if He had eaten the yogurt. Kṛṣṇa refers to her in this verse. Sometimes jarati (old woman) replaces sumukhi and vadhu (young woman) replaces sakhī, but this is not the accepted version.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
After He had stolen some yogurt from the pots of two gopīs, Kṛṣṇa told one of His gopī friends, “My dear beautiful friend, I can take an oath that I have not stolen even a drop of yogurt from your pot! But still your friend Rādhārāṇī is very shamelessly smelling the fragrance of My mouth. Kindly forbid Her from this devious policy of putting Her face near Mine.” When Kṛṣṇa was speaking like this, the friends of Rādhārāṇī could not check their laughter. This is an instance of laughter in ecstatic love.