Verse Text
atha ujjvale preyaso, yathā –
mad-veṣa-śīlita-tanoḥ subalasya paśya
vinyasya maṣju-bhuja-mūrdhni bhujaṁ mukundaḥ |
romāṣca-kaṣcuka-juṣaḥ sphuṭam asya karṇe
sandeśam arpayati tanvi mad-artham eva ||
atra mukhye mukhyasya | ||33||
Translation
An example of madhura-rasa (primary) as aṅgī with sakhya-rasa (primary) as aṅga: Look, thin-waisted woman! Placing His hand on the attractive shoulder of Subala, who is dressed in my clothes, and whose hairs are standing on end, Kṛṣṇa is speaking with him, thinking that He is talking to me.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Subala put on Rādhā’s clothing as a joke.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
There is an example of a mixture of conjugal love and fraternal affection when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said, “My dear friends, just see how Kṛṣṇa is resting His hand on the shoulder of Subala, who is dressed up just like a young girl! I think He must be sending some message to Me through Subala.” The purport is that the superiors of Rādhārāṇī do not like Kṛṣṇa or His cowherd friends to associate with Her; therefore these friends sometimes clothe themselves in female dress so they can give Rādhārāṇī a message from Kṛṣṇa. In this example the whole is conjugal love, and the part is fraternity.