SB 1.10.20

SB 1.10.20

Devanagari

अन्योन्यमासीत्सञ्जल्प उत्तमश्लोकचेतसाम् । कौरवेन्द्रपुरस्त्रीणां सर्वश्रुतिमनोहर: ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

anyonyam āsīt saṣjalpa uttama-śloka-cetasām kauravendra-pura-strīṇāṁ sarva-śruti-mano-haraḥ

Synonyms

anyonyam among each other ; āsīt there was ; saṣjalpaḥ talking ; uttama śloka — the Supreme, who is praised by selected poetry ; cetasām of those whose hearts are absorbed in that way ; kaurava indra — the king of the Kurus ; pura capital ; strīṇām all the ladies ; sarva all ; śruti the Vedas ; manaḥ haraḥ — attractive to the mind .

Translation

Absorbed in the thought of the transcendental qualities of the Lord, who is sung in select poetry, the ladies on the roofs of all the houses of Hastināpura began to talk of Him. This talk was more attractive than the hymns of the Vedas.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Kuru women, fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, conversed about him with words attractive to all ears and minds.

Purport

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that in all the Vedic literatures the goal is the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Factually the glories of the Lord are depicted in such literature as the Vedas, Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. And in the Bhāgavatam they are specifically mentioned in respect to the Supreme Lord. Therefore, while the ladies on the tops of the houses in the capital of the kings of the Kuru dynasty were talking about the Lord, their talk was more pleasing than the Vedic hymns. Anything sung in the praise of the Lord is śruti-mantra. There are songs of Ṭhākura Narottama dāsa, one of the ācāryas in the Gauḍīya sampradāya, composed in simple Bengali language. But Ṭhākura Viśvanātha Cakravartī, another very learned ācārya of the same sampradāya, has approved the songs by Ṭhākura Narottama dāsa to be as good as Vedic mantras. And this is so because of the subject matter. The language is immaterial, but the subject matter is important. The ladies, who were all absorbed in the thought and actions of the Lord, developed the consciousness of Vedic wisdom by the grace of the Lord. And therefore although such ladies might not have been very learned scholars in Sanskrit or otherwise, still whatever they spoke was more attractive than the Vedic hymns. The Vedic hymns in the Upaniṣads are sometimes indirectly directed to the Supreme Lord. But the talks of the ladies were directly spoken of the Lord, and thus they were more pleasing to the heart. The ladies’ talks appeared to be more valuable than the learned brāhmaṇas ’ benedictions.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Their conversation was attractive to all ears and minds (sarva-śruti-mano-haraḥ). Another meaning is “their conversation was attractive to all the śruti scriptures.” Since their words were the embodiment of the Upaniṣads, the śrutis were happy with the conversation.