Verse 1.7.157-158

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.7.157-158:

अहो कृष्ण-रसाविष्टः सदा नामानि कीर्तयेत् ।
कृष्णस्य तत्-प्रियाणां च भैष्म्यादीनां गुरुर् मम ॥ १५७ ॥
गोपीनां वितताद्भुत-स्फुटतर-प्रेमानलार्चिश्-छटा-दग्धानां किल नाम-कीर्तन-कृतात् तासां विशेषात् स्मृतेः ।
तत्-तीक्ष्ण-ज्वलनोच्छिखाग्र-कणिका-स्पर्शेन सद्यो महा-वैकल्यं स भजन् कदापि न मुखे नामानि कर्तुं प्रभुः ॥ १५८ ॥

aho kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣṭaḥ sadā nāmāni kīrtayet |
kṛṣṇasya tat-priyāṇāṃ ca bhaiṣmyādīnāṃ gurur mama || 157 ||
gopīnāṃ vitatādbhuta-sphuṭatara-premānalārciś-chaṭā-dagdhānāṃ kila nāma-kīrtana-kṛtāt tāsāṃ viśeṣāt smṛteḥ |
tat-tīkṣṇa-jvalanocchikhāgra-kaṇikā-sparśena sadyo mahā-vaikalyaṃ sa bhajan kadāpi na mukhe nāmāni kartuṃ prabhuḥ || 158 ||

Alas, although my Gurudeva is deeply absorbed in the mellows of constantly chanting and singing Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s names, of beloved Śrī Rukmiṇī and so forth, nonetheless, he is unable to utter the names of the Vraja gopīs.

The reason is that the gopīs are always smoldering in the blazing fire of an unreserved and remarkable form of prema that has reached its utmost limit. Thus in the process of glorifying the gopīs, a special remembrance awakens, and Gurudeva becomes agitated by a mere touch of a spark of the poignant blazing hearts of the gopīs, so much so that he cannot even chant the gopīs’ names.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

What to speak of singing the glories of the gopīs, my Gurudeva, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, is unable to utter their names. If even reminded of them, a timid helplessness in prema (premavivaśatā) arises in him from simply singing their names, and as a result, a fear of creating an obstacle in his śrī-bhagavad-kīrtana (bhāgavata-kathā), which is his very life. Therefore he confides in these two ślokas beginning with aho. "My Gurudeva, Śrī Bādarāyaṇi (Śrī Śukadeva), always sings the names of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, beloved Śrī Rukmiṇī and others.” The reason is that he always remains absorbed in deep attachment (anurāga) towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Rather, he remains absorbed in the mellow of topmost bliss of Śrī Kṛṣṇa (paramānandarasa).

"My master can never allow the names of such gopīs as Śrī Rādhā and Śrī Candrāvalī issue forth from his lips aloud. The reason is that the splendid glories of the gopīs culminate in the utmost limits with the blazing flames of extraordinary, vast and deeply apparent prema. This helplessness arises by performing full glorification (saṅkīrtana) of the names of such gopīs. This state of helplessness comes about by their remembrance, and simply by the touch of the tip of the flame of that poignant fire which arises by their special memory. Therefore, my Gurudeva would become disturbed at that moment (as soon as he would perform nāma-kīrtana of their names). Thus he would never allow their names to issue forth from his mouth.

In the Tenth Canto their names are expressed in a covert way, not openly.

For example (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.29.5, 15, 26):

दुहन्त्यो’भिययुः काश्चिद् दोहं हित्वा समुत्सुकाः
पयो’धिश्रित्य संयावम् अनुद्वास्यापरा ययुः

duhantyo’bhiyayuḥ kāścid dohaṃ hitvā samutsukāḥ
payo’dhiśritya saṃyāvam anudvāsyāparā yayuḥ

“One gopī was milking the cow, and without finishing the milking, she left. Another gopī was boiling the milk, and when the milk had almost boiled, she left without taking off the milk. Another was preparing daliyā (a type of bulgar wheat porridge) on the oven, and when almost finished, she went away without removing it from the oven.”

कस्याश्चित् पूतनायन्त्याः कृष्णायन्त्य् अपिबत् स्तनम्
तोकयित्वा रुदत्य् अन्या पदाहन् शकटायतीम्

kasyāścit pūtanāyantyāḥ kṛṣṇāyanty apibat stanam
tokayitvā rudaty anyā padāhan śakaṭāyatīm

“A gopī who imitated Kṛṣṇa, began to act as if she sucked the bosom of the gopī who imitated Pūtanā. Another gopī began imitating the śakaṭa-bhañjana, the breaking of the cart, that is, imitating Śakaṭāsura by standing on her hands and feet on the ground, while facing downwards and raising the trunk of her body upwards, and another gopī lay on the gound like Bala-Kṛṣṇa and while crying, kicked the other gopī by her feet.”

तैस् तैः पदैस् तत्-पदवीम् अन्विच्छन्त्यो’ग्रतो’बलाः
वध्वाः पदैः सु-पृक्तानि विलोक्यार्ताः समब्रुवन्

tais taiḥ padais tat-padavīm anvicchantyo’grato’balāḥ
vadhvāḥ padaiḥ su-pṛktāni vilokyārtāḥ samabruvan

“Though all these feeble cowherd girls (abala gopīs) became helpless due to their separation and search, still they followed the footprints along the path during their search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And upon seeing those signs (of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s nineteen symbols such as a flag, shark, lotus, thunderbolt and elephant goad for driving elephants} they began to speak together in great distress on seeing the footprints of Śrī Kṛṣṇa mixed with the footprints of His pure beloved vallabhā. Having taken darśana of the footprints of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, they could not see the footprints of that most fortunate gopī (Śrī Rādhā), because Śrī Kṛṣṇa had brought her by carrying her in His lap. Now, in the beginning, they had darśana of the nectar of her lotus feet. They followed those footprints, decorated by the marks of the flag. The footprints disappeared in the midst of their search due to the grass on the earth. Then, after searching at another place, they found the footprints of the divine couple…”

Then it is recorded in Bhāgavatam 10.30.35, 36 and 38:

यां गोपीम् अनयत् कृष्णो विहायान्याः स्त्रियो वने
सा च मेने तदात्मान, वरिष्ठं सर्व-योषिताम्

yāṃ gopīm anayat kṛṣṇo vihāyānyāḥ striyo vane
sā ca mene tadātmāna, variṣṭhaṃ sarva-yoṣitām

“In this way all the gopīs, having pointed out all those footprints to one another, began to wander in a maddened condition. Śrī Kṛṣṇa abandoned all other gopīs in the forest and calmly brought one particular gopī to a solitary place. When that beautiful gopī thought herself to be superior to all the other ramaṇīs, her mind nevertheless became full of fortunate pride like the other gopīs. In other words, she thought that beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose glories are limitless, has abandoned all the gopīs who had come to the forest for loving pastimes, and He is performing loving pastimes with me alone in this solitary place…”

ततश् चान्तर्दधे कृष्णः सा वधूर् अन्वतप्यत

tataś cāntardadhe kṛṣṇaḥ sā vadhūr anvatapyata

“Thinking like this, on going some distance with Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the forest, she very proudly told Śrī Keśava, "I am unable to walk now. Please, lift me on Your shoulders and carry me as before. You can take me to a grove where no one can enter or to a kusuma kānana, a saffron flowery forest, and decorate me with flowers or whatever you like."

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, hearing these words of His beloved, replied, "Then climb upon my shoulders." Then when the beautiful ramaṇī
tried to climb upon His shoulder, Śrī Kṛṣṇa disappeared. That beautiful ramaṇī became agitated to get the darśana of Kṛṣṇa and began to lament repeatedly.”

Telling of their meeting he then says (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.32.4, 5):

काचित् कराम्बुजं शौरेर् जगृहे’ञ्जलिना मुदा
काचिद् दधार तद्-बाहुम् अंसे चन्दन-भूषितम्

kācit karāmbujaṃ śaurer jagṛhe’ñjalinā mudā
kācid dadhāra tad-bāhum aṃse candana-bhūṣitam

“Upon meeting, some gopī went to the left side of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and put her hand, anointed by sandalwood paste, upon His shoulder….”

काचिद् अञ्जलिनागृह्णात् तन्वी ताम्बूल-चर्वितम्
एका तद्-अङ्घ्रि-कमलं सन्तप्ता स्तनयोर् अधात्

kācid añjalināgṛhṇāt tanvī tāmbūla-carvitam
ekā tad-aṅghri-kamalaṃ santaptā stanayor adhāt

“Some vraja-sundarī spread her prayerful palms to accept the chewed tāmbula from Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus mouth. Someone, agitated by her kāma (divine passion), placed the right foot of Śrī Kṛṣṇa over her heart.”

In addition it says (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.33.9, 14):

काचित् समं मुकुन्देन स्वर-जातीर् अमिश्रिताः
उन्निन्ये पूजिता तेन प्रीयता साधु साध्व् इति
तद् एव ध्रुवम् उन्निन्ये तस्यै मानं च बह्व् अदात्

kācit samaṃ mukundena svara-jātīr amiśritāḥ
unninye pūjitā tena prīyatā sādhu sādhv iti
tad eva dhruvam unninye tasyai mānaṃ ca bahv adāt

“Some gopī sang in a pure musical meter with Mukunda, and though she sang the svarālāpa melody along with Śrī Mukunda, still her melody remained distinct from Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s. Śrī Kṛṣṇa became pleased and honored her by exclaiming, “Sādhu, sādhu!”

काश्चित् तत्-कृत-हृत्-ताप श्वास-म्लान-मुख-श्रियः
स्रंसद्-दुकूल-वलय केश-ग्रन्थ्यश् च काश्चन

kāścit tat-kṛta-hṛt-tāpa śvāsa-mlāna-mukha-śriyaḥ
sraṃsad-dukūla-valaya keśa-granthyaś ca kāścana

“Some gopīs felt so pained at heart their faces turned pale from heavy sighing. Others became so anguished that their dresses, bracelets and braids loosened.”

Still further on in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.47.11):

काचिन् मधुकरं दृष्ट्वा ध्यायन्ती कृष्ण-सङ्गमम्
प्रिय-प्रस्थापितं दूतं कल्पयित्वेदम् अब्रवीत्

kācin madhukaraṃ dṛṣṭvā dhyāyantī kṛṣṇa-saṅgamam
priya-prasthāpitaṃ dūtaṃ kalpayitvedam abravīt

“Some gopī (upon seeing a bumblebee and supposing it to be a messenger sent by her beloved to break her māna) spoke as follows, “O madhukara (bumblebee), friend of a cheater! Do not touch my feet! I see that your whiskers are smeared with the kuṅkuma that rubbed off of Kṛṣṇa’s garland when crushed by the bosom of a rival spouse!”

In this way, Śrī Śukadeva in so many ślokas merely used such words as kāścit, kasyāścit and so on to refer to the gopīs and ended his narration with their glories; yet he could not utter their names openly.

If the question then comes, “Could he not utter the names of the gopīs out of awe and reverence?” He replies, “It is not proper to make such an assumption since our Śrī Gurudeva, being fully absorbed in the divine mellows of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, was unable to utter their names.” Therefore, by using the term kṛṣṇa rasāviṣṭa—absorbed in the divine mellows of Śrī Kṛṣṇa—he removed the doubt about awe and reverence. In other words, he could never utter their names because he was fully absorbed in the divine mellows of Kṛṣṇa.