Devanagari
अद्याहं निशितैर्बाणैर्गोपालस्य सुदुर्मते: ।
नेष्ये वीर्यमदं येन स्वसा मे प्रसभं हृता ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
adyāhaṁ niśitair bāṇair
gopālasya su-durmateḥ
neṣye vīrya-madaṁ yena
svasā me prasabhaṁ hṛtā
Synonyms
adya
—
today
;
aham
—
I
;
niśitaiḥ
—
sharp
;
bāṇaiḥ
—
with my arrows
;
gopālasya
—
of the cowherd
;
su
—
durmateḥ — whose mentality is most wicked
;
neṣye
—
I will remove
;
vīrya
—
in His power
;
madam
—
the intoxicated pride
;
yena
—
by which
;
svasā
—
sister
;
me
—
my
;
prasabham
—
violently
;
hṛtā
—
abducted .
Translation
“This wicked-minded cowherd boy, infatuated with His prowess, has violently abducted my sister. But today I will remove His pride with my sharp arrows.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"This wicked-minded cowherd boy, infatuated with His prowess, has violently abducted my sister. But today I will remove His pride with my sharp arrows."
KB 10.54.22
“This cowherd boy has become proud of His tricky way of fighting with kṣatriyas, but today I shall teach Him a good lesson. Because He had the impudence to kidnap my sister, I, with my sharp arrows, shall teach Him very good lessons indeed.”
Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that
gopālasya
actually means “of the protector of the
Vedas,
” while
durmateḥ
means “of Him whose beautiful mind is compassionate even toward the wicked.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī adds that the real meaning of what Rukmī said is that today, fighting with Lord Kṛṣṇa, Rukmī would relieve himself of his pretensions to being a great hero.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Today I will take away (nesye) the heroic pride of the stupid cowherd boy who has forcibly taken my sister with my sharp arrows." The other meaning is: ‘I will have my pride in my own heroism removed today by the sharp arrows of the cowherd boy who is merciful to even the wicked (su dur mateh)."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
What is the purpose of doing this? I will take away his pride in his prowess. How could the honorable Śukadeva repeat such insulting words about Kṛṣṇa, since his lotus feet are worshipped by all the devotees? Śrīdhara Svāmī has given another meaning to the words gopālasya and su-durmateḥ so that Kṛṣṇa is praised. Gopalasya means “of he who protects the Vedas.” Sudurmateḥ means “having a mind merciful even to the demons.” He does this to show that the meaning presented by Rukmī was not appropriate. The meaning is this. Gopālasya refers to Svayam Bhagavān, the subject of the ten syllable and eighteen syllable mantras, representing the Vedas which have no beginning and no end, whose perfect, extraordinary sweetness and powers are presented in his pastimes and form. Why do many people have inclinations elsewhere? He is very hard to understand (sudurmateḥ). I will destroy my own pride in my prowess (me vīrya-madam) by his sharp arrows. His power is shown. By him my sister was taken and all kings will be defeated (prasabham). Or by him I am defeated (me prasabham).
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
What is the purpose of doing this? I will take away his pride in his prowess. The other meaning is this. I will offer my pride with arrows to the Lord, Gopāla, famous as the devatā of the mantra, since he has made me his younger brother.