Devanagari
गायन्ति ते विशदकर्म गृहेषु देव्यो
राज्ञां स्वशत्रुवधमात्मविमोक्षणं च ।
गोप्यश्च कुञ्जरपतेर्जनकात्मजाया:
पित्रोश्च लब्धशरणा मुनयो वयं च ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
gāyanti te viśada-karma gṛheṣu devyo
rājṣāṁ sva-śatru-vadham ātma-vimokṣaṇaṁ ca
gopyaś ca kuṣjara-pater janakātmajāyāḥ
pitroś ca labdha-śaraṇā munayo vayaṁ ca
Synonyms
gāyanti
—
they sing
;
te
—
Your
;
viśada
—
spotless
;
karma
—
deeds
;
gṛheṣu
—
in their homes
;
devyaḥ
—
the godly wives
;
rājṣām
—
of the kings
;
sva
—
of their
;
śatru
—
enemy
;
vadham
—
the killing
;
ātma
—
of themselves
;
vimokṣaṇam
—
the deliverance
;
ca
—
and
;
gopyaḥ
—
the cowherd girls of Vraja
;
ca
—
and
;
kuṣjara
—
of the elephants
;
pateḥ
—
of the lord
;
janaka
—
of King Janaka
;
ātma
—
jāyāḥ — of the daughter (Sītādevī, the wife of Lord Rāmacandra)
;
pitroḥ
—
of Your parents
;
ca
—
and
;
labdha
—
who have attained
;
śaraṇāḥ
—
shelter
;
munayaḥ
—
sages
;
vayam
—
we
;
ca
—
also .
Translation
In their homes, the godly wives of the imprisoned kings sing of Your noble deeds — about how You will kill their husbands’ enemy and deliver them. The gopīs also sing Your glories — how You killed the enemy of the elephant king, Gajendra; the enemy of Sīta, daughter of Janaka; and the enemies of Your own parents as well. So also do the sages who have obtained Your shelter glorify You, as do we ourselves.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In their homes, the godly wives of the imprisoned kings sing of Your noble deeds—about how You will kill their husbands' enemy and deliver them. The gopīs also sing Your glories—how You killed the enemy of the elephant king, Gajendra; the enemy of Sīta, daughter of Janaka; and the enemies of Your own parents as well. So also do the sages who have obtained Your shelter glorify You, as do we ourselves.
KB 10.71.9
“My dear Lord, when Jarāsandha is killed, the queens of all the imprisoned kings will be so joyful at their husbands’ being released by Your mercy that they will all sing Your glories, being as pleased as the gopīs were when released from the hands of Śaṅkhacūḍa. All the great sages; the King of the elephants, Gajendra; the goddess of fortune, Sītā; and even Your father and mother were all delivered by Your causeless mercy. We also have been thus delivered, and we always sing the transcendental glories of Your activities.
Purport
Great sages and devotees had informed the grief-stricken wives of the imprisoned kings that Lord Kṛṣṇa would arrange for the killing of Jarāsandha and would thus save them from their crisis. These godly women would thus sing the glories of the Lord at home, and when their children would cry for their fathers, their mothers would tell them, “Child, do not cry. Śrī Kṛṣṇa will save your father.” In fact, the Lord has saved many devotees in the past, as described here.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though the devotees have already perfectly sung your glories in punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous, now, in killing of Jarasandha your glories will be even greater. This is expressed in this verse.
"The wives of the imprisoned kings sing of your splendid activities, in their houses while doing their jobs such as taking care of children. What are those activities? They sing about your future killing of Jarasandha and freeing of their husbands, having been informed of this by the omniscient sages. "O child, do not cry. Krsna, after killing Jarasandha will free your father." An example is given. It is just as the gopis console themselves by singing about the killing of your enemy Sankhacuda, and liberating them from his confinement. "O friends, be calm. Do not give up your lives by crying endlessly. He, an ocean of mercy, who protected us from the devouring tiger called Sankhacuda, remembering us, will protect us from the bite of snake of time, bringing great calamity in separation from him. And just as these wives are to be protected by killing Jarasandha and uniting them with their husbands, after completely the Raja suya sacrifice, on returning you should secretly go to Braja and protect the gopis by giving them your company. Then we and others will sing your glories."
Having taken the opportunity, Uddhava gave this advice that was in his mind. "Moreover just as the wives and gopis sing about you, the sages who have surrendered to you, the self satisfied devotees and we, your servant devotees, also sing, having relished your friendship. What is that ? You killed the crocodile, the enemy of the king of elephants, and liberated the elephant. You killed Ravana, enemy of Sita, and Kamsa enemy of your parents, and freed Sita and your parents. O fellow tapasvis, do not lament. Just as he delivered Gajendra from the crocodile, or Sita from Ravana, or Vasudeva and Devaki from Kamsa, he will also deliver us from the material bondage. O friends, just as, after delivering them, he awarded desired service to Gajendra and others with closeness to himself, he will also give us similar service."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
You destroy the suffering of persons who surrender only to you, whose only hope in life is you.
All the devotees sing at all times about your spotless activities concerned with killing the sinful and protecting the righteous. Understand the present situation. The wives of the kings, situated in their homes, feeling humble before you, offer prayers while singing of freedom for their husbands from the enemy and their own liberation from being separated from the Lord. Giving a general prayer of liberation for their husbands, they announce their own desire of freedom from separation, displaying the gopīs’ mood secretly. Suppressing hopes of destroying the enemy in the form of separation from Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs instead sing of the killing of Śaṅkhacūḍa, and then their own liberation from that demon--even though the event has long passed. The protection of their husbands is reinforced by the other examples. We sing of these two subjects (killing demons and protection of selves) in relation to different devotees in your different births in this world. We will sing whenever the queens and the gopīs reveal their desires for having demons killed and being protected by you. Like the queens, the gopīs’ desires should be fulfilled. Similarly the surrendered souls sing of your killing the enemy of Gajendra and saving him, the sages sing of your killing the enemy of Sītā and saving her, and we Yadus sing of your killing the enemies of Vasudeva and Devakī and saving them. We do not sing of freeing the gopīs since their desires for you have not been fulfilled. This indicates Uddhava’s increasing anxiety for the gopīs. Though liberated persons are situated beyond this world-- pariniṣṭhito ’pi nairguṇya (SB 2.1.9), they surrender because of the Lord’s glories and become devotees. The Pāṇḍavas are included. Therefore everyone who takes shelter of you should be protected. That is the conclusion.
The gopīs should be listed at the end, being the highest with the most intimate relationship, they are mentioned in the middle because they are women and because of the great fervor generated by remembering them. Uddhava suddenly mentioned the gopīs with this intention. Starting from leaving Vraja, but not getting opportunities, on some pretext he wanted Kṛṣṇa to remember them. Thus he scolds Kṛṣṇa by saying, “You are advised by me to protect everyone. Why do you not remember the gopīs?” It will be explained later that the Lord decided in his mind, “I will go to Vraja after the Rājasūya sacrifice is completed and I kill Dantavakra.” It should not be considered a fault that he mentioned the gopīs in the assembly of the Yādavas, since he indicates gopīs in general, which included Yaśodā.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
To spread your fame you should quickly kill him. The wives sing of your pure activities. The gopīs sing of killing their enemy and freeing them. The sages, who are liberated, and we, devotees, also sing about freeing Gajendra and killing the crocodile, freeing Sītā and killing Rāvaṇa, and freeing your parents and killing Kaṁsa. The reason for singing is that they are surrendered (labdha-śaraṇāḥ). Hearing of your pure activities, they surrendered to you.
Or the gopīs sing all four topics. Just as you previously killed Śaṅkhacūḍa, and freed us just as you freed Gajendra and Sītā, and now destroy the sickness of separation from parents, you should free us. In this way they sing. More than liberation of the sages, by surrender the devotees attain bliss. But Uddhava places himself after the sages, out of humility as a devotee.
Or the present indicates the near future. The word ca indicates that the cowherd boys like Śrīdāmā also will sing. Just as the gopis and cowherds sing we also sing about killing the enemy of Gajendra and freeing him etc.
Or the queens sing about killing Bhaumāsura and freeing them from prison. The gopīs sing about killing Ṣaṅkhacūḍa and freeing them. Similarly the sages will sing about killing the enemy Jarāsandha and freeing the kings and themselves, just as Gajendra and Sītā were freed. Therefore quickly kill him.