Devanagari
वीक्ष्यालकावृतमुखं तव कुण्डलश्री-
गण्डस्थलाधरसुधं हसितावलोकम् ।
दत्ताभयं च भुजदण्डयुगं विलोक्य
वक्ष: श्रियैकरमणं च भवाम दास्य: ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
vīkṣyālakāvṛta-mukhaṁ tava kuṇdala-śrī
gaṇḍa-sthalādhara-sudhaṁ hasitāvalokam
dattābhayaṁ ca bhuja-daṇḍa-yugaṁ vilokya
vakṣaḥ śriyaika-ramaṇaṁ ca bhavāma dāsyaḥ
Synonyms
vīkṣya
—
seeing
;
alaka
—
by Your hair
;
āvṛta
—
covered
;
mukham
—
face
;
tava
—
Your
;
kuṇḍala
—
of Your earrings
;
śrī
—
with the beauty
;
gaṇḍa
—
sthala — having the cheeks
;
adhara
—
of Your lips
;
sudham
—
and the nectar
;
hasita
—
smiling
;
avalokam
—
with glances
;
datta
—
bestowing
;
abhayam
—
fearlessness
;
ca
—
and
;
bhuja
—
daṇḍa — of Your mighty arms
;
yugam
—
the pair
;
vilokya
—
glancing upon
;
vakṣaḥ
—
Your chest
;
śrī
—
of the goddess of fortune
;
eka
—
the only
;
ramaṇam
—
source of pleasure
;
ca
—
and
;
bhavāma
—
we must become
;
dāsyaḥ
—
Your maidservants .
Translation
Seeing Your face encircled by curling locks of hair, Your cheeks beautified by earrings, Your lips full of nectar, and Your smiling glance, and also seeing Your two imposing arms, which take away our fear, and Your chest, which is the only source of pleasure for the goddess of fortune, we must become Your maidservants.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Seeing Your face encircled by curling locks of hair, Your cheeks beautified by earrings, Your lips full of nectar, and Your smiling glance, and also seeing Your two imposing arms, which take away our fear, and Your chest, which is the only source of pleasure for the goddess of fortune, we must become Your maidservants.
KB 10.29.39
“Dear Kṛṣṇa, we have simply been captivated by seeing You with tilaka and with earrings and by seeing Your beautiful face covered with scattered hair and bearing Your extraordinary smile. Not only that, but we are also attracted by Your arms, which always give assurance to the surrendered souls. And although we are also attracted by Your chest, which is always embraced by the goddess of fortune, we do not wish to take her position. We shall simply be satisfied by being Your maidservants.
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura envisions the
gopīs’
dealings with Kṛṣṇa as follows:
“Kṛṣṇa says, ‘You want to become My servants; so do I have to buy you with some payment, or are you giving yourselves freely?’
“The
gopīs
reply, ‘Since the beginning of our youthful womanhood You have been purchasing us with a payment millions and millions of times more than enough. That payment is Your gemlike smiling glance, which constitutes a great treasure we have never heard about or seen anywhere else.’
“‘When You put Your golden turban on Your head, Your maidservant will act as Your valet, pulling up the turban bit by bit until it is in just the right position. And even while You shake a chastising finger at her, trying hard to prohibit her, she will put her hand beneath Your turban and take the opportunity to glance at Your face. Thus we, Your maidservants, will relish with our eyes Your abundant sweetness.’
“Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Your husbands will not tolerate this behavior of ours. They will complain bitterly to King Kaṁsa, thus producing a fearful situation for Me and for you as well.’
“The
gopīs
say, ‘But Kṛṣṇa, Your two mighty arms make us fearless, just as they did when You held up Govardhana Hill to protect us from the pride of Mahendra. Those arms will certainly kill that beast Kaṁsa.’
“‘But being a religious person, I cannot make others’ wives My maidservants.’
“‘O dear crest jewel of religious personalities, You may say that You refuse to make the cowherds’ wives Your maidservants, but by force You have already taken Lakṣmī, the wife of Nārāyaṇa, from Vaikuṇṭha and are carrying her around on Your chest. Out of shame she has assumed the form of a golden line on Your chest, and she takes her only pleasure there. Besides, within all the fourteen worlds and even above these worlds — in Vaikuṇṭhaloka, beyond this universe — You never reject any beautiful woman, no matter who she is or whom she belongs to. We know this quite well.’”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"You are saying that you will be my servants. Why are you giving yourselves as servants, without my paying any price?"
"You have already purchased us at the beginning of youth with the precious cintamani jewel of your smiling glance, more valuable than anything we had seen or heard about, millions of times more than we are worth. You brought us to your grove, and showing the beauty of your limbs, like the city of Kuvera, Alaka, with sapphire temples, the object of enjoyment of laksmi (chest), with pillar of jewels (arms), cintamani floors (face), and two gold makaras (earrings), and the jewels nilanidhi and padmanidhi (eyes), and made us eat every day the nectar rare to the devatas.
"When you bind your gold turban on your head, your girl servants place the hair back with a comb and with your hands you tuck in the curls under the turban. The curls of hair become visible only on the left and right sides of the forehead, not covering the face .We look about that face. When you tie up your topknot, the locks are visible on the top of the forehead and the sides. We look upon that face. We look upon that face covered with locks of hair while applying oil or during the last stages of enjoying together. Seeing this face, relished by our eyes, filled with that sweetness, we will become servants. What kind of face is this? This face displays various types of beauty (sri) because sometimes the earrings are completely visible, sometimes they are partially visible and sometimes completely covered by locks of hair, sometimes the earrings are stationary, sometimes slightly moving, and sometimes completely agitated. Your face displays sweet cheeks when you open your lips and smile or laugh. You face has sweet lips. The gopis’ eyes like cakora birds, having climbed upon your cheeks, from there drink the nectar of your lips; and at other private times and places those lips place themselves on the gopis’ cheeks. And at other times the gopis lips are placed upon his cheeks. (or the face whose sweet cheeks and lips give beauty to his earrings). His face is filled with smiling glances. These glances please or make blossom the gopis and the lotuses."
"But your husbands, being intolerant of this situation, will threaten both yourselves and me with fears of Kamsa."
"Your arms are the strongest, destroying all fear, as they destroyed the pride of Indra by lifting Govardhana." In this way srngara rasa is nourished by a hint of virya rasa.
"You belong to others. As I follow the path of dharma, I cannot accept the wives of others as my servants." Pointing his index finger at himself he asked, "Can you understand who I am?"
The gopis said, "Yes certainly we can, you are the jewel of religious principles. You cannot make the wives of the cowherd men your servants. But you can forcibly take Laksmi away from Vaikuntha and walk around with Laksmi on your chest. (sriyaika ramanam) Laksmi, out of modesty, has taken the form of a golden line and sports prominently on your chest."
The suggestion is : "We know for certain that at this time, when you are this age, you do not reject any beautiful woman, belonging to anyone, in the fourteen worlds, or outside the universe in Mahavaikuntha.."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
“You gopīs cannot be purchased for a price or hired. How can you be servants?” This is the behavior amongst individuals elsewhere. Showing your face is the price. Seeing you in a special way (vīkṣya) with your locks of hair, we become your servants. The locks of hair playfully cover his forehead above. There are earrings on the two sides and between is the smiling glance. All of these features display beauty. The cheeks are broad like an arena, shining because of the earrings. His lips are compared to nectar since just seeing them induces greed and they emit special fragrance. His two arms destroy fear for the devotees by killing demons and indicate his strength. They also remove fear of their husbands. They also take away fear arising from their desires by giving embraces to the gopīs. His arms are compared to poles (daṇḍa) since they are well-shaped, broad and long. His chest gives the best (eka) pleasure to Lakṣmī who takes the form of a golden line on the left side of his chest. This indicates that Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of the wealth of the greatest beauty. The word ca is repeated to indicate taking shelter of the left arm and left side of the chest. They both have the same verb vilokya (seeing) to show their relationship: they desire to kiss the face with its lips and cheeks and to embrace the arms and chest. From the order of the words the following should be understood. In seeing the beauty of his face, they did not look with full gaze because of shyness but then looked with strong desire at his two arms. Then they looked at his chest. Because of taking themselves as servants, his body became most enchanting. In this world, a price can be given for some item. That price is self evident in attaining you with your beauty, the nectar of your lips, the touch of your attractive arms, and your chest which gives shelter to Lakṣmī. The word vīkṣya suggests that their eyes were captured like khañjana birds. His locks of hair were like ropes. His earrings were like coils. His cheeks were like the cage. His lips were like the delicious bait. His smiling eyes were like trained khañjana birds acting as lures by giving trust. His arms dispelled fear since he had fingers like leaf-like shoots. His chest was like an attractive place to rest.
Or his face made his earrings beautiful. Another version has kuṇḍala-śri. He had cheeks made beautiful by earrings and sweet lips. He had a smile and glances. His chest was attractive (vilokya). Seeing all these prominent features we have become your servants.
Indifference is expressed as follows. “If you do not care for me, why do you remain standing there gazing at me?” Then angrily they speak this verse. They deny him with plaintive voices.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
“O tasters of service! Please accept service like that of Śrīdāma and Subala, who are such servants.” Emotionally they pray for a special type of servitude. They look closely (vīksya) at his beauty. They describe his face arms and chest to suggest kissing his cheeks and drinking nectar from his lips as well as embracaing him. His locks are on the upper portions of his face, the earrings are on the sides and his smile is on the lower portion of his face. This indicates the beauty of all of his face. His cheeks are like flat areas (sthala), more beautiful than mirrors. His two arms destroy fear by killing demons for the devotees, since they are strong, and they remove fear of husbands. They actually indicate that they want to be deeply embraced by the arms. The arms are called sticks because they are round, thick and long. His chest has the highest beauty (ramaṇam) because of Lakṣmī or its own beauty. The two words ca indicate the special beauty of these items. The word vīksya and vilokya with the meaning “seeing” indicate the prominent position of the face, arms and chest. Or they show the gopis’ great confusion by indicating that just by seeing him they desire to be his servants. Let us become servants by directly experiencing the special rasa of being your servant. The present imperative is used.
The deep meaning is this. The highest happiness in worship is for the married women to have an illicit lover. That is well known from Bhāgavatamṛta and Kāvyālaṅkāra. Thus the gopīs pray for a special type of servitude. Let us be servants. Or your face makes the earrings beautiful. The nectar of the lips is situated on your cheeks which have the beauty of the earrings. We see your smiles and your glances. These are the main items indicated by repetition of ca.
Your chest is most beautiful (vilokya) or is to be seen in a special way by the world. It is even attractive to men. Kapila says:
vakṣo 'dhivāsam ṛṣabhasya mahā-vibhūteḥ
puṁsāṁ mano-nayana-nirvṛtim ādadhānam
One should meditate on the Lord’s chest, the special residence of Mahā-lakṣmī, which bestows pleasure to the minds and eyes of men. SB 3.28.26
One should mediate on the chest of Kṛṣṇa which is pleasurable for the eyes of men, what to speak of women. He does not mention women directly because Kapila is speaking to his mother. The chest is the only playground (ramaṇam) of Lakṣmī since she dwells there. Ca indicates only. Or the chest gives happiness since it always embraces her. Or the chest is the best playground of beauty. Omission of the visarga in śriyah is poetic license.
The first ca means “and” and the second means “though.” The face and arms are secondary. The chest has exceptional beauty and happiness. But because of envy in competition with Lakṣmī it becomes secondary. Or the two cas indicate that all are equally important. They are each causes of their being servants.
Or the previous prayer for being a servant is actually a prayer for illicit love. “How can you request this, O lusty women? Why do you not desire that all of you can be my wives by marriage, like the young girls who performed Kātyāyanī vows?” They speak with coyness. Looking at your face, arms and chest, we desire to enjoy you as our illicist lover (dāsyaḥ bhavāma). The imperative form indicates a desire. By an appearance of intense prema rasa they experience madhura-rasa. This is described in Bhāgavatamṛta and Kāvyālaṅkāra.
This is a reply to verse 26. (For a woman from a respectable family, petty adulterous affairs are always condemned. They bar her from heaven, ruin her reputation and bring her difficulty and fear.)
By seeing your face, illicit love arises. What fault do we have? But one attains happiness by this illicit which is greater than that from liberation, Vaikunṭha and Lakṣmī’s worship. What is the use of heaven and reputation? You should respond to us cultured women.
The meaning by puns is as follows. Even if we look at your beautiful face, arms and chest, should we engage ourselves in your service (dāsyaḥ)? Imperative cases represents possibility. No. We should not. Your chest, arms and face are the playground for unsteady persons, not for us women who have firm vows of chastity.
Or when you show your face with locks and earrings, and show your two arms, and show your chest, we become fearful (dattā bhayam). To make ourselves fearless, have faces devoid of passion (bhava amada āsyaḥ).