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.