Devanagari
अहो श्रीमदमाहात्म्यं गोपानां काननौकसाम्
कृष्णं मर्त्यमुपाश्रित्य ये चक्रुर्देवहेलनम् ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
aho śrī-mada-māhātmyaṁ
gopānāṁ kānanaukasām
kṛṣṇaṁ martyam upāśritya
ye cakrur deva-helanam
Synonyms
aho
—
just see
;
śrī
—
because of opulence
;
mada
—
of intoxication
;
māhātmyam
—
the great extent
;
gopānām
—
of the cowherds
;
kānana
—
in the forest
;
okasām
—
who dwell
;
kṛṣṇam
—
Kṛṣṇa
;
martyam
—
an ordinary human
;
upāśritya
—
taking shelter of
;
ye
—
who
;
cakruḥ
—
have committed
;
deva
—
against the demigods
;
helanam
—
offense .
Translation
[Indra said:] Just see how these cowherd men living in the forest have become so greatly intoxicated by their prosperity! They have surrendered to an ordinary human being, Kṛṣṇa, and thus they have offended the gods.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
[Indra said:] Just see how these cowherd men living in the forest have become so greatly intoxicated by their prosperity! They have surrendered to an ordinary human being, Kṛṣṇa, and thus they have offended the gods.
KB 10.25.3
Indra said, “Just see the impudence of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana! They are simply inhabitants of the forest, but being infatuated with their friend Kṛṣṇa, who is nothing but an ordinary human being, they have dared to defy the demigods.”
Kṛṣṇa has declared in the Bhagavad-gītā that the worshipers of the demigods are not very intelligent. He has also declared that one has to give up all kinds of demigod worship and simply concentrate on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa’s invoking the anger of Indra and later on chastising him is a clear indication to His devotees that those who are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness have no need to worship any demigod, even if it is found that the demigod has become angry. Kṛṣṇa gives His devotees all protection, and they should completely depend on His mercy.
Purport
Of course, Indra was really saying that the cowherd men had offended him, Indra, by taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, whom Indra considered to be
martya,
a mortal. This was certainly a gross miscalculation on Indra’s part.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Indra speaks "How astonishing to see the amount of wealth and bliss of these cowherd men!" According to Sarasvati : krsna is called martyam because he appears to give auspiciousness to the ignorant souls of the material world. The gopas have taken shelter of that Krsna, and ignored me, the lowly devata.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
[Indra said:] Just see how these cowherd men living in the forest have become so greatly intoxicated by their prosperity! They have surrendered to an ordinary human being, Kṛṣṇa, and thus they have offended the gods.
This is astonishing (aho)! They are lowly forest people, ignorant. The prefix upa has a negative connotation as in upapati (paramour lover). Upāśrityā indicates falling from dharma, reputation and family rules. By saying this, he shows his superiority over humans as a devatā. Thus he mentions that the offense is against the devatās, not just himself. He expresses himself in this way to show that it is not proper to give up the status of a devatā and accept qualities of a human. The people of Vraja did not think of Indra as a devatā what to speak of being the head of the devatās. However another meaning can be found in his words. The people of Vraja as dwellers in the forest and cowherds were most sattvic in qualities. They surrendered to Kṛṣṇa who was the parabrahman in human form (matryam), who was most affection to his devotees. Therefore it was proper that they ignore the devatās.