SB 10.30.3 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

गतिस्मितप्रेक्षणभाषणादिषु प्रिया: प्रियस्य प्रतिरूढमूर्तय: । असावहं त्वित्यबलास्तदात्मिका न्यवेदिषु: कृष्णविहारविभ्रमा: ॥ ३ ॥

Verse text

gati-smita-prekṣaṇa-bhāṣaṇādiṣu priyāḥ priyasya pratirūḍha-mūrtayaḥ asāv ahaṁ tv ity abalās tad-ātmikā nyavediṣuḥ kṛṣṇa-vihāra-vibhramāḥ

Synonyms

gati — in His movements ; smita — smiling ; prekṣaṇa — beholding ; bhāṣaṇā — talking ; ādiṣu — and so on ; priyāḥ — the dear gopīs ; priyasya — of their beloved ; pratirūḍha — fully absorbed ; mūrtayaḥ — their bodies ; asau — He ; aham — I ; tu — actually ; iti — speaking thus ; abalāḥ — the women ; tat — ātmikāḥ — identifying with Him ; nyavediṣuḥ — they announced ; kṛṣṇa — vihāra — caused by the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa ; vibhramāḥ — whose intoxication .

Translation

Because the beloved gopīs were absorbed in thoughts of their beloved Kṛṣṇa, their bodies imitated His way of moving and smiling, His way of beholding them, His speech and His other distinctive features. Deeply immersed in thinking of Him and maddened by remembering His pastimes, they declared to one another, “I am Kṛṣṇa!”

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Because the beloved gopīs were absorbed in thoughts of their beloved Kṛṣṇa, their bodies imitated His way of moving and smiling, His way of beholding them, His speech and His other distinctive features. Deeply immersed in thinking of Him and maddened by remembering His pastimes, they declared to one another, "I am Kṛṣṇa!" KB 10.30.3 Being so attracted to Kṛṣṇa, they imitated His dancing, His walking and His smiling, as if they themselves were Kṛṣṇa. Due to Kṛṣṇa’s absence, they all became crazy; each one of them told the others that she was Kṛṣṇa Himself.

Purport

Spontaneously, the gopīs began moving like Kṛṣṇa: they smiled as He would smile, glanced boldly as He would and spoke as He would. The gopīs were completely absorbed in the existence of Kṛṣṇa and mad with love at their sudden separation from Him, and thus their dedication to Him attained absolute perfection.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

This verse describes the gopis when they reached a deep state of unmada. Absorbed in the gait and other characteristics mentioned in the previous verse, the gopis imitated the lord (pratirudha murti). That is, their bodies became similar to Krsna’s in senses and mind. First the actions of Krsna entered the senses and mind of gopis’ bodies and then the gopis bodies entered into the various actions and qualities of Krsna. When the two mixed due to unmada, there was a loss of distinction between "I am Krsna" and "Krsna is me." Attaining the deep state of "I am Krsna (asava aham)", for tasting rasa, the gopis became identical with Krsna (tad atmika). But this is not the same as the state of aham grahopasana. They announced to each other "I am Krsna". None of them were conscious at all that they were women of Vraja. They had attained a state of unmada (vibhramah) in which they identified completely with Krsna in his pastimes.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

This verse describes their absorption in Kṛṣṇa. They imitated the movements, smiles, glance and speech of their beloved. Ādi indicates his conjugal actions and vibhrama which were mentioned in the previous verse. They imitated him with the whole bodies with all senses (mūrtayaḥ). They attained his state internally and externally. They were women (abalāḥ) and should have imitated other women. But now they imitated Kṛṣṇa. They said to each other “I am he, that fellow performing pastimes whom you desire.” They performed pastimes like Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-vihāra-vibhramāḥ) or they were bewildered by his pastimes. They identified with him because that is the nature of activities in prema (they are called priyāḥ) and not as a sādhana used by impersonalists (ahamgrahopāsana). They had natural prema (priyāḥ) for him and he had similar prema (priyasya) with remembrance of them. This anubhāva is called līlā. priyānukaraṇaṁ līlā ramyair veśa-kriyādibhiḥ: Imitating the lover by attractive garments and actions is called līlā. (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 11.28) This is illustrated in the following. Muhūr avalokita-manḍana-lilā madhu-ripur aham iti bhāvana śīlā: looking at her ornaments constantly, she thought “I am Kṛṣṇa.” (Gīta-govinda)

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

This verse describes their absorption in Kṛṣṇa. The list was mentioned in the previous verse. ādi indicates his activities and vibhrama. Since they were already mentioned, the adjectives used with them are not again mentioned. Their bodies with senses and limbs (mūrtayaḥ) were absorbed in imitating his pastimes. Internally and externally they were overcome with this bhāva. tadā pumān mukta-samasta-bandhanas tad-bhāva-bhāvānukṛtāśayākṛtiḥ nirdagdha-bījānuśayo mahīyasā bhakti-prayogeṇa samety adhokṣajam By those methods, that person, liberated from all bondage, with mind and body acting for the Lord and thinking of the Lord, having already burned up the seed of desire, achieves a direct meeting with the Supreme Lord through his rāga-bhakti. SB 7.7.36 They were women (abalāḥ). It was suitable that they imitate women. Or because of the pain they were without strength. Tu means certainly. They said “I am h” because of great pain or because of absorption in the pastimes. The reason is given. They were filled with Kṛṣṇa (tad-ātmikāḥ). They did not say “I am Kṛṣṇa” because of their separation or because they identified with him. Being filled with Kṛṣṇa is natural when one is absorbed in pastimes of prema. It does not mean that they became one with him as in jñāṇa. They were affection to him (priyāḥ priyasya) because he was Kṛṣṇa, most attractive. Or this identity with Kṛṣṇa can be part of the imitation. They show the imitation in this verse. They say, imitating Kṛṣṇa, “O women! I am that playful lover.” It is understood that previously he said this as a joke. Why is the statement not complete? It was their mental creation (tad-ātmikaḥ). Or tad-ātmikā indicates that the imitation was a complete duplicate. Their activities of kissing, embracing and vibhrama were like Kṛṣṇa’s actions. Or vihāra-vibhramā can mean that they performed his actions of losing a necklace. Kṛṣṇa-vihāra-vibhrama can also mean that they were completely bewildered about whether Kṛṣṇa was playing or not or that they imitated his playing. The incomplete sentence is because of confusion due to separation. Or she who had enjoyed with Kṛṣṇa in plenty (asau) said, “I am he.” Her identity is not revealed out of confusion in separation or out of playfulness. They spoke in this way because their minds were on death (tad-ātmikāḥ). They spoke with a desire to die out of great grief because they were mad (vibhramāḥ) for the pastimes of Kṛṣna. They became confused on remembering his pastimes.