SB 10.44.13 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

पुण्या बत व्रजभुवो यदयं नृलिङ्ग-गूढ: पुराणपुरुषो वनचित्रमाल्य: गा: पालयन् सहबल: क्‍वणयंश्च वेणुंविक्रीडयाञ्चति गिरित्ररमार्चिताङ्‍‍‍‍‍घ्रि: ॥ १३ ॥

Verse text

puṇyā bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayaṁ nṛ-liṅga gūḍhaḥ purāṇa-puruṣo vana-citra-mālyaḥ gāḥ pālayan saha-balaḥ kvaṇayaṁś ca veṇuṁ vikrīdayāṣcati giritra-ramārcitāṅghriḥ

Synonyms

puṇyāḥ — pious ; bata — indeed ; vraja — bhuvaḥ — the various regions of the land of Vraja ; yat — in which ; ayam — this ; nṛ — human ; liṅga — by characteristics ; gūḍhaḥ — disguised ; purāṇa — puruṣaḥ — the primeval Personality of Godhead ; vana — composed of flowers and other items of the forest ; citra — of wonderful variety ; mālyaḥ — whose garlands ; gāḥ — the cows ; pālayan — herding ; saha — together with ; balaḥ — Lord Balarāma ; kvaṇayan — vibrating ; ca — and ; veṇum — His flute ; vikrīḍayā — with various pastimes ; aṣcati — He moves about ; giritra — by Lord Śiva ; ramā — and the goddess of fortune ; arcita — worshiped ; aṅghriḥ — His feet .

Translation

How pious are the tracts of land in Vraja, for there the primeval Personality of Godhead, disguising Himself with human traits, wanders about, enacting His many pastimes! Adorned with wonderfully variegated forest garlands, He whose feet are worshiped by Lord Śiva and goddess Ramā vibrates His flute as He tends the cows in the company of Balarāma.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

How pious are the tracts of land in Vraja, for there the primeval Personality of Godhead, disguising Himself with human traits, wanders about, enacting His many pastimes! Adorned with wonderfully variegated forest garlands, He whose feet are worshiped by Lord Śiva and goddess Ramā vibrates His flute as He tends the cows in the company of Balarāma. KB 10.44.13 Another lady in the assembly addressed her friend, “Dear friend, just imagine how fortunate is the land of Vṛndāvana, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is present, always decorated with flower garlands and engaged in tending cows along with His brother, Lord Balarāma. He is always accompanied by His cowherd boyfriends, and He plays His transcendental flute. The residents of Vṛndāvana are fortunate to be able to constantly see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, which are worshiped by great demigods like Lord Śiva and by the goddess of fortune.

Purport

In this verse the devoted ladies in the audience point out the difference between Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. They want to indicate that in Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa simply enjoys with His girlfriends and boyfriends, whereas here in Mathurā the Lord is subjected to harassment by the bullying tactics of professional wrestlers. Thus the ladies are condemning the city of Mathurā because of their pain at seeing Kṛṣṇa in what they consider an unfair wrestling match. Of course, Mathurā is also one of the Lord’s eternal abodes, but here the women in the assembly express their love in a critical mood.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In this verse the wives of the brahmanas who did yajna in Vraja or those associating with them speak. Being pained on seeing the unequal combat, and realizing that Krsna had great power, with great prema mixed with aisvarya jnana, they praise Vraja and its inhabitants, and, by that, criticize Mathura and it residents. "How astonishing it is (bata)! In Vraja, with his svarupa as a human, the material men cannot understand him (nrlinga gudha). He wanders around engaging in various playful activities by his own desires (vi krida). We in Mathura are most unfortunate, because we simply persecute him like this, and these people are simply watching. Though Vraja is just a forest, it is most fortunate, for there Krsna played his flute and blissfully engaged in pastimes, and the residents of Vraja looked on with bliss." This is the implication of their words. The word ancati (wanders) is in the present tense because the women thought that Krsna had the intention of going there again. Actually however, the words cleverly establish here that the pastimes of Krsna are eternal, as established in the scriptures.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Others speak. Or, other affectionate women like the wives of the brāhmaṇas, endowed with the highest prema mixed with knowledge of his powers, praise the land of Vraja because of its good qualities, while disrespecting Mathurā on seeing the inequality in the assembly in four verses. Bata indicates astonishment. The lands related to Vraja are most fortunate. But this is not at all surprising. The plural is used (bhuvaḥ) to indicate that all the lands of Vraja are fortunate, whereas not even one piece of other places is fortunate. In those lands (yat) Kṛṣṇa (ayam), though the oldest person (purāṇa), ever young, and the main person (puruṣaḥ), wanders about. They speak in the present tense since very recently he wandered there and intended to return there. Actually however the present tense establishes that wandering there is his eternal pastimes. Outside of Vraja Kṛṣṇa is rarely attained: his feet are worshipped according to the rules of arcana by Śiva and Lakṣmī in their minds. But they cannot serve him directly like the people of Vraja. “But now he is wandering in Mathurā also.” He plays in a special manner there (vi—krīḍayā). In Vraja he plays, whereas he has been sent to Mathurā to fight with the enemies and is surrounded by indifferent people. Here in Mathurā he does not really play since here his actions do not arise from his spontaneous desire to play. There he plays in a remarkable way because of his desire of his most cherished pastimes since that place has favourability and dearness to him. The play in the two places cannot be compared. The favourable aspects and excellence of Vraja are then described. He has various remarkable garlands made by friends endowed with zeal for special fun from flowers of most dear Vṛndāvana. The special garlands also represent his clothing and ornaments. Herding the cows, objects of the greatest affection, assists his various other pastimes and bewilders the universe when he calls out sweetly to the cows. He is assisted by Balarāma in herding the cows. His cherished pastimes are nourished by the pastimes of Balarāma. What else can be said? He constantly produces sweetness with his flute which bewilders Indra, Śiva and Brahmā, and makes the trees develop goose bumps.