SB 10.33.19 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कृत्वा तावन्तमात्मानं यावतीर्गोपयोषित: । रेमे स भगवांस्ताभिरात्मारामोऽपि लीलया ॥ १९ ॥

Verse text

kṛtvā tāvantam ātmānaṁ yāvatīr gopa-yoṣitaḥ reme sa bhagavāṁs tābhir ātmārāmo ’pi līlayā

Synonyms

kṛtvā — making ; tāvantam — expanded that many times ; ātmānam — Himself ; yāvatīḥ — as many as ; gopa — yoṣitaḥ — cowherd women ; reme — enjoyed ; saḥ — He ; bhagavān — the Supreme Lord ; tābhiḥ — with them ; ātma — ārāmaḥ — self-satisfied ; api — although ; līlayā — as a pastime .

Translation

Expanding Himself as many times as there were cowherd women to associate with, the Supreme Lord, though self-satisfied, playfully enjoyed their company.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Expanding Himself as many times as there were cowherd women to associate with, the Supreme Lord, though self-satisfied, playfully enjoyed their company. KB 10.33.19 The gopīs had prayed to the goddess Kātyāyanī to have Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Now Kṛṣṇa was fulfilling their desire by expanding Himself in as many forms as there were gopīs and enjoying them exactly like a husband. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has remarked that Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient—He is ātmārāma. He doesn’t need anyone else for His satisfaction. But because the gopīs wanted Kṛṣṇa as their husband, He fulfilled their desire.

Purport

As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out, it has already been explained that Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternally free from all material desire, perfect on the platform of spiritual self-satisfaction.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Then Krsna enjoyed with each gopi privately in a separate grove. He expanded himself into as many forms as there were gopis. Though his self satisfied (atma rama) he enjoyed with the gopis.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Now special pastimes in relaxing after the rāsa dance are described in two verses. He expanded in as many forms as there were gopīs. Since he has no inside and outside (SB 10.9.13), though of human size, he possesses all powers. He can also just by his desire produce many forms: citraṁ bataitad ekena vapuṣā yugapat pṛthak gṛheṣu dvy-aṣṭa-sāhasraṁ striya eka udāvahat It is quite amazing that in a single body Lord Kṛṣṇa simultaneously married sixteen thousand women, each in a separate palace. SB 10.69.2 This is repeated here because he became one again when they became tired and then expanded again to enjoy privately with each one of them. Both unmarried and married gopīs were there (gopa-yoṣitaḥ) since they are described separately in Chapters Twenty one and Twenty-two. Hari-vaṁśa says yuvatīr gopa-kanyāś ca ratrau saṅkalya kāla-vit: Kṛṣṇa, knowing the time, gathered the married and unmarried gopīs in the night. This is described by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. He enjoyed intimate conjugal activities (ḷīlayā). He displayed all his sweetness (bhagavān) since his essential nature was special pastimes expressing the maturity of prema-rasa and since he automatically distributed this prema-rasa by attracting the hearts of everyone in the universe. This will be clear later in the text, and is explained in Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta. He did this though he was ātmārāma. He enjoyed privately with each gopī in separate groves near the rāsa arena.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Two veres describe the ultimate goal. By his special powers he expanded himself for each gopī. Some were married (gopa-yoṣitaḥ). Some were unmarried daughters of cowherds. Or they were all wives of cowherds--some were married to cowherds and some regarded themselves as married to Kṛṣṇa by dedicating themselves to him in the Kātyāyanī vrata. This is explained by the great devotee in Lalita-mādhava and other plays. The Lord, who manifested the essence of his qualities (bhagavān), enjoyed with conjugal rasa (līlayā) or with various amorous activities. He distributed special prema himself, attracting the hearts of everyone in the universe, since he was composed of the special pastimes of the highest prema-rasa. That is revealed later and explained in Bhāgavatāmṛta. Though he was an ātmārāṁa, he enjoyed. Both these qualities were displayed separately in the nearby bowers. Or in the rāsa dance his ātmārāma nature was concealed. His nature as the Lord and as sweetness is indicated by this statement.