SB 10.33.18 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कृष्णविक्रीडितं वीक्ष्य मुमुहु: खेचरस्त्रिय: । कामार्दिता: शशाङ्कश्च सगणो विस्मितोऽभवत् ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

kṛṣṇa-vikrīḍitaṁ vīkṣya mumuhuḥ khe-cara-striyaḥ kāmārditāḥ śaśāṅkaś ca sa-gaṇo vismito ’bhavat

Synonyms

kṛṣṇa — vikrīḍitam — the playing of Kṛṣṇa ; vīkṣya — seeing ; mumuhuḥ — became entranced ; khe — cara — traveling in the sky ; striyaḥ — the women (demigoddesses) ; kāma — by lusty desires ; arditāḥ — agitated ; śaśāṅkaḥ — the moon ; ca — also ; sa — gaṇaḥ — with his followers, the stars ; vismitaḥ — amazed ; abhavat — became .

Translation

The wives of the demigods, observing Kṛṣṇa’s playful activities from their airplanes, were entranced and became agitated with lust. Indeed, even the moon and his entourage, the stars, became astonished.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The wives of the demigods, observing Kṛṣṇa's playful activities from their airplanes, were entranced and became agitated with lust. Indeed, even the moon and his entourage, the stars, became astonished. KB 10.33.18 While Kṛṣṇa was enjoying the company of the gopīs in the rāsa dance, the astonished demigods and their wives gathered in the sky. The moon, being afflicted with a sort of lust, began to watch the dance and became stunned with wonder.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The heavenly women became afflicted with love for Krsna (kamardita). The moon with the constellations became astonished. In one version karmardita is in the masculine form, modifying the moon, who is male. Thus the moon also took up the mood of a female and was filled with hankering for Krsna. Yogamaya had already covered the gopis limbs and the events of the rasa lila from the sight of males.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Seeing that the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa who is completely filled with all types of sweetness exceeded previous ones (vi—krīḍitam), since he is Svayam Bhagavān (kṛṣṇa), seeing the excellence of affectionate service, all the wives of the devatās, afflicted by desire for the Lord, became bewildered. First not considering their qualification for attaining Kṛṣṇa, and then forgetting about their bodies, they attained a special state of bewilderment. Śrīdhara Svāmī mentioned that they played in the long nights at their will. If the nights were not long, the pastimes filled with profuse joy could not be accomplished. Later it will be said that the dance lasted till the brahma-muhūrta (verse 38). Some explain that this means a night of Brahmā lasting a thousand cycles of four yugas. That is possible since unlimited contradictory conditions can be accomplished by the Lord’s śaktis. That the planets stopped moving out of astonishment is only metaphorical since the planets are dependent on the zodiac movements, their movements are very slight in one night, and sometimes move in the opposite direction anyway. Actually the whole sky became stunned by the sweetness of his pastimes, like a river stopping its flow. Śrīdhara Svāmī used the plural (nights), since verse 25 says “the Lord took advantage of all those moonlit autumn nights” and SB 10.29.1 says “upon seeing those autumn nights.” They became most astonished by the increased bhāvas for Kṛṣṇa in the rāsa dance. That astonishment was fitting because of his extreme increase of bhāvas through related dancing and singing, which were his very nature, because of direct participation of Kṛṣṇa in the dance, because of the participation of the fortunate gopīs, which was unavailable to Lakṣmī, and because of the arrangements for this dance. Kāmārditaḥ in the singular is not accepted by Śrīdhara Svāmī. He accepts that the women became afflicted with desire. He takes “the moon was astonished” as a separate statement.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Seeing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa who is completely filled with the highest bliss, or who attracts all hearts, pastimes which more extraorindary than previous ones (vi—krīḍitam), seeing with affection or directly with service (vīkṣya), pastimes which became identical to he who plays (kṛṣṇa), all the wives of the devatās, afflicted by desire for the Lord, became bewildered, forgetting everything. First not considering their qualification for attaining Kṛṣṇa, they attained a special state of bewilderment. Along with the moon and stars they became astonished, because they had never seen such an event. Śrīdhara Svāmī mentioned that they played in the long nights at their will. If the nights were not long, the pastimes filled with profuse joy could not be accomplished. Later it will be said that the dance lasted till the brahma-muhūrta (verse 38). Some explain that this means a night of Brahmā lasting a thousand cycles of four yugas. That is possible since unlimited contradictory conditions can be accomplished by the Lord’s śaktis. Śrīdhara Svāmī used the plural (nights), since verse 25 says “the Lord took advantage of all those moonlit autumn nights” and SB 10.29.1 says “upon seeing those autumn nights.” Or the devatā men and women were bewildered. Sa-gaṇaḥ means “with his wives (27 constellations) and the other stars.” The moon and the stars also became filled with desire and became bewildered (ca). Because they were all bewildered they were not restricted with shyness by the loving exchanges which will be described. The moon developed desire for the Lord, though not of the same sort as the gopīs (since he was a male). Or like the sages at Daṇḍakārāṇya, he also developed a conjugal mood. He does not have fault in desiring Kṛṣna who appeared in his dynasty. This is suggested by the word śaśa (rabbit). The moon is not a fault for being marked with a sign of a rabbit. Actually it is a good quality. This indicates that the rāsa dance was most attractive, because it increased bhāva for Kṛṣṇa. It was thus superior to all other pastimes since it increased love for the Lord by its elements like singing and dancing and even that was undertaken by the Lord himself. That was understaken with the gopīs, in this particular manner. It could not be accomplished with devatā woman or with wives like Lakṁsī endowed with reverence, or with other women, who were not qualified to kiss the Lord. It could only be accomplished with the gopīs, most highly qualified with special rati, endowed with special pure prema. The highest goal can only be accomplished using the finest setting. Thus Kṛṣṇa, accomplished at this place the rāsa dance for the rasa of pure enjoyment. Thus it was said tatrārabhata govindaḥ strī-ratnaiḥ: there Kṛṣṇa began the rāsa dance with the best of women. (SB 10.33.2)