Devanagari
श्रीगोप्य ऊचु:
भजतोऽनुभजन्त्येक एक एतद्विपर्ययम् ।
नोभयांश्च भजन्त्येक एतन्नो ब्रूहि साधु भो: ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
śrī-gopya ūcuḥ
bhajato ’nubhajanty eka
eka etad-viparyayam
nobhayāṁś ca bhajanty eka
etan no brūhi sādhu bhoḥ
Synonyms
śrī
—
gopyaḥ ūcuḥ — the gopīs said
;
bhajataḥ
—
to those who respect them
;
anu
—
reciprocally
;
bhajanti
—
show respect
;
eke
—
some
;
eke
—
some
;
etat
—
to this
;
viparyayam
—
the contrary
;
na ubhayān
—
with neither
;
ca
—
and
;
bhajanti
—
reciprocate
;
eke
—
some
;
etat
—
this
;
naḥ
—
to us
;
brūhi
—
speak
;
sādhu
—
properly
;
bhoḥ
—
O dear one .
Translation
The gopīs said: Some people reciprocate the affection only of those who are affectionate toward them, while others show affection even to those who are indifferent or inimical. And yet others will not show affection toward anyone. Dear Kṛṣṇa, please properly explain this matter to us.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The gopīs said: Some people reciprocate the affection only of those who are affectionate toward them, while others show affection even to those who are indifferent or inimical. And yet others will not show affection toward anyone. Dear Kṛṣṇa, please properly explain this matter to us.
KB 10.32.16
“Dear Kṛṣṇa, we are ordinary women of Vṛndāvana, and we do not know much about Vedic knowledge—what is right and what is wrong. We therefore put a question to You, and since You are very learned, You can answer it properly. In dealings between lovers, we find that there are three classes of men. One class simply receives, another class reciprocates favorably, even if the lover is very contrary, and the third class neither acts contrary nor answers favorably in dealings of love. So out of these three classes, which do You prefer, or which do You call honest?”
Purport
By this apparently polite question, the
gopīs
want to expose Lord Kṛṣṇa’s failure to properly reciprocate their love. They were very disturbed when Śrī Kṛṣṇa left them in the forest, and they want to know why He caused them to suffer in these loving affairs.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Each gopi began to consider personally this issue. If, though he is the crown jewel of prema, he has put us into such an unfortunate condition, it is better that we ask him about this.
"O Krnsa, do you have affection for us, indifference to us, or hostility towards us? Though there are three possibilities, on considering things, none of them stand up. Moreover, is your love conditional or unconditional? It cannot be conditional, because the person with conditional love has attraction for those who help him fulfill his desires, and therefore does not give them misery. And you threw us into the fire of separation to kill us.
"Your love is neither unconditional, for seeing our suffering when you left us alone in the dense forest in the late night, you did not feel any sadness. In that we see some motive. Therefore it is not unconditional. We can also understand that you are not indifferent to us, because we see that you try to make us both happy and sad. And you are also not hostile to us, neither permanent dislike or from some unfavorable quality in us. It is not permanent hostility, because we don’t see it in you. It is also not from unfavorable qualities in us because we do not have such unfavorableness to you.
"It is not proper to accuse you directly of desiring to kill trusting women servants, but it is proper to ask such questions in the form of riddles, so that Krsna himself will clearly answer whether he desires to kill trusting women or not."
Because all the gopis were of similar mind, they reflected in a similar way. These gopis of similar mind then spoke. "O greatly wise one! Considering the meaning of this riddle please speak.
"There are some people who only respect those who respect them. Their respect is conditional. They give respect, expecting something, and if they do not get that, then they no longer give respect. This is conditional love. There are other persons who are the opposite, and give respect to those who do not respect them. They have unconditional respect. Not expecting any results for themselves, they have unconditional love.
The third type of people are those who do not respect anyone, whether that person respects them or not. There is no question of conditional or unconditional here. Those persons are indifferent. Malice and hatred fall in this category of non respect."
Though not mentioned here clearly, it will become somewhat evident in Krnsa’s answers. "Who are these people about whom we speak? (Or what is this respect and non-respect?) Please tell us that. Answer correctly without wandering from the subject (sadhu)."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
They ask the question in order to prevent his giving them up again. There are three questions. Some respond to those who show affection. Some respond even to those who do not show affection. Some do not respond to anyone. Please explain this properly. Who are these types of people? Considering the results they get, please tell us. Please pay attention (bhoḥ)! They say this because they see that he is pretending to be inattentive, since he fears they will try to find fault in him.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
They ask the question in order to prevent his giving them up again and to negate his ingratitude. There are three questions. Please explain what these situations are, or what their result is, clearly. Thinking carefully about this, explain to us so that it is easy to understand. They say this because they see that he is pretending to be inattentive, since he fears they will try to find fault with him.