Devanagari
नायं श्रियोऽङ्ग उ नितान्तरते: प्रसाद:
स्वर्योषितां नलिनगन्धरुचां कुतोऽन्या: ।
रासोत्सवेऽस्य भुजदण्डगृहीतकण्ठ-
लब्धाशिषां य उदगाद् व्रजवल्लभीनाम् ॥ ६० ॥
Verse text
nāyaṁ śriyo ’ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ
svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto ’nyāḥ
rāsotsave ’sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha-
labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-vallabhīnām
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
ayam
—
this
;
śriyaḥ
—
of the goddess of fortune
;
aṅge
—
on the chest
;
u
—
alas
;
nitānta
—
rateḥ — who is very intimately related
;
prasādaḥ
—
the favor
;
svaḥ
—
of the heavenly planets
;
yoṣitām
—
of women
;
nalina
—
of the lotus flower
;
gandha
—
having the aroma
;
rucām
—
and bodily luster
;
kutaḥ
—
much less
;
anyāḥ
—
others
;
rasa
—
utsave — in the festival of the rāsa dance
;
asya
—
of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
;
bhuja
—
daṇḍa — by the arms
;
gṛhīta
—
embraced
;
kaṇṭha
—
their necks
;
labdha
—
āśiṣām — who achieved such a blessing
;
yaḥ
—
which
;
udagāt
—
became manifest
;
vraja
—
vallabhīnām — of the beautiful gopīs, the transcendental girls of Vrajabhūmi .
Translation
When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the gopīs in the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs were embraced by the arms of the Lord. This transcendental favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or other consorts in the spiritual world. Indeed, never was such a thing even imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the lotus flower. And what to speak of worldly women who are very beautiful according to material estimation?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the gopīs in the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs were embraced by the arms of the Lord. This transcendental favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or other consorts in the spiritual world. Indeed, never was such a thing even imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the lotus flower. And what to speak of worldly women who are very beautiful according to material estimation?
KB 10.47.60
Uddhava continued: “The supreme benediction attained by the gopīs in spite of their being born in the families of cowherd men was never attained even by the goddess of fortune herself, and certainly not by the denizens of heaven, though the bodily scent of the women there is exactly like the scent of the lotus. The gopīs are so fortunate that during the rāsa-līlā Kṛṣṇa personally embraced them with His arms and kissed them face to face. Certainly it is not possible for any women in the three worlds to achieve this except the gopīs.
Purport
The word meanings and translation for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
(
Madhya
8.80)
.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments as follows: Lord Kṛṣṇa, the best of all
avatāras,
exists on the highest platform of purity and morality, and thus He always remained praiseworthy by all, even while accepting worldly criticism for His cow-tending, wandering in the forest, taking meals with young monkeys, stealing yogurt, seducing other men’s wives, and so on. Similarly, the
gopīs,
who are constituted of the Lord’s pleasure potency, achieved the highest standard of purity and auspiciousness, even in comparison to the goddesses of fortune, and thus the
gopīs
are supremely glorious, even though they were criticized by worldly people because they were mere cowherd women living in the forest and behaving in an apparently improper way.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as Krsna, though he is the best of all avataras, performs acts criticized by society, such as herding cows, eating with the monkeys and cowherd boys, stealing yoghurt, and taking others wives, and achieves the most praiseworthy, highest position, so the gopis, the essence of the hladini sakti, criticized as being cowherd women, wandering in the forest, and being deviant in the eyes of the people of Vraja, achieved the highest position, higher than of even Laksmi. That is the intention of this verse.
"Oh, even Laksmi, situated on the chest of Narayana (ange), attained a position of enjoying with the Lord exclusively, did not ever get such mercy. The wives of Upendra and other avataras (svar yositam) endowed with the fragrance and beauty of the lotus, with all beauty and good qualities, did not get such mercy. What to speak of the wives of the lord in his other avatara forms."
In this verse the gopis are established in the supreme position as they achieved the rare mercy of being embraced around their necks by the arms of Krsna during the rasa dance. This implies that rasa lila is established in the supreme positionamong all auspicious events.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The Lord of Vaikuṇṭha and Kṛṣṇa are non-different. Lakṣmī, the best of devotees, is always situated in his chest. Why is her love not glorified? On the other hand, the excellence of love in separation of the gopīs is glorified everywhere.
yathā dūra-care preṣṭhe mana āviśya vartate
strīṇāṁ ca na tathā cetaḥ sannikṛṣṭe ’kṣi-gocare
When her lover is far away, a woman thinks of him more than when he is present before her. SB 10.47.35
If the gopīs’ union with the Lord is superior to that, it should also be described. Lakṣmī is superior because she is always in union with the Lord. However, Lakṣmī is his svarūpa-śakti, not less than his svarūpa. How can the gopīs be the object of praise? Uddhava speaks boldly.
Lakṣmī definitely (hi) does not get the joy (prasādaḥ) of intimately associating with Kṛṣṇa though she is very attached to Kṛṣṇa’s special form (aṅge). The women of Svarga have the fragrance and beauty (rucām) of heavenly, golden lotuses. But the word svarga also means Vaikuṇṭha as in the following verse:
svaś-cūḍāmaṇiṁ subhagayantam ivātma-dhiṣṇyam
Thus it appeared that the Lord was personally spreading the beauty and good fortune of the spiritual world. SB 3.15.39
Thus the meaning is “Among all the women of Vaikuṇṭha (svar-yoṣitām) such as Bhū and Līlā, endowed with the beauty and fragrance of golden lotuses, Lakṣmī had the greatest prema (nitānta-rateḥ) for the Lord. But she could not get the joy of intimate association.” What then to speak of others? All other women are completely excluded. The Lord’s mercy is shown. That mercy, eternally present, manifested (udagat) in the rāsa dance, for the women of Vraja. Their desires were fulfilled (labdhāśiṣām) by having their throats embraced lightly (out of fear) by the arms of Kṛṣṇa, who is directly realized by me now as superior to the lord of Vaikuṇṭha (on seeing the gopīs’ love).
yan martya-līlaupayikaṁ sva-yoga-
māyā-balaṁ darśayatā gṛhītam
vismāpanaṁ svasya ca saubhagarddheḥ
paraṁ padaṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇāṅgam
Kṛṣṇa possesses that form suitable for human pastimes to show the full capacity of his yoga-māyā. That form astonishes even the lord of Vaikuṇṭha. It is the pinnacle of auspicious qualities and enhances the beauty of his ornaments. SB 3.2.12
Thus the extraordinary nature of the gopīs’ love for him is shown by showing their difference from Lakṣmī. With the words vraja-sundarīṇām, Uddhava shows that the gopīs’ beauty is superior to that of Lakṣmī. This verse indicates that according to the degree of bhakti various degrees of qualities develop.
yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā
sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā
manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ
The devatās constantly dwell with all good qualities in that person who has pure bhakti for the Lord. There are no good qualities in the non-devotee who chases after temporary material objects with desire for material pleasure. SB 5.18.12
Instead of vraja-sundarīṇām sometimes the phrase vraja-vallabhīnām is seen. This indicates that the gopīs were famous in Vraja.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Though Lakṣmi is famous as being dear to the Lord (nitānta-rateḥ), she does not have the prema of these gopīs. The word na is placed first to emphasize the negation. That mercy was not given to Lakṣmī (śriyaḥ). The heavenli women such as Vimala, Utkarṣiṇī and Jñānā have the aroma of lotuses as well as being tender and golden (rucām). This should have qualified them for the rāsa dance, but they could not enter. Humans also could not enter (anyāḥ). The gopīs were embraced firmly by his arms. Vraja-striyo ramādibho ‘py uru-mādhurya-maṇḍitāh: the women of Vraja had greater sweetness than Lakṣmī. (Bṛhad-vāmana Purāṇa) Thus the gopīs were qualified for the rāsa dance by their sweetness in form and nature, more than Lakṣmī and others.
Or the word u indicates astonishment. The extent of excellence of prema (nitānta-rateḥ) shown to the gopīs at the rāsa dance was not given to even Lakṣmī (śriyaḥ).
gopyo labdhvācyutaṁ kāntaṁ śriya ekānta-vallabham
gṛhīta-kaṇṭhyas tad-dorbhyāṁ gāyantyas tam vijahrire
Having attained as their intimate lover Acyuta, the exclusive consort of the goddess of fortune, the gopīs enjoyed great pleasure. They sang his glories as he held their necks with his arms. SB 10.33.14
The gopīs attained Kṛṣna, who was the dearmost (ekānta-vallabham) lover (kāntam) of Lakṣmī (śriyaḥ). This indicates that the gopīs prema was the highest of all. Thus the gopīs say:
aṭati yad bhavān ahni kānanaṁ
truṭi yugāyate tvām apaśyatām
kuṭila-kuntalaṁ śrī-mukhaṁ ca te
jaḍa udīkṣatāṁ pakṣma-kṛd dṛśām
When you go off to the forest during the day, a tiny fraction of a second becomes like a millennium for us because we cannot see you. And even when we can eagerly look upon your beautiful face, so lovely with its adornment of curly locks, we think the creator was foolish in making eyelids. SB 10.31.15
If Lakṣmī has this position, what to say of the women of heaven? And what to say of the women of
Vaikunṭha such as Dharaṇī and Līlā or others such as Kānti and Dakṣiṇā?