Verse 29

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 29:

चिन्तामणि-प्रकर-सद्मसु कल्प-वृक्ष-लक्षावृतेषु सुरभीर् अभिपालयन्तम्
लक्ष्मी-सहस्र-शत-सम्भ्रम-सेव्यमानं गोविन्दम् आदि-पुरुषं तम् अहं भजामि

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṃ govindam ādi-puruṣaṃ tam ahaṃ bhajāmi

aham bhajāmi—I perform bhajana; tam—of that; ādi-puruṣam govindam—primeval person, Śrī Govinda; abhipālayantam—who is tending with great care; surabhīḥ—the wish-fulfilling cows; āvrteṣu—amidst; lakṣa—hundreds of thousands; kalpa-vṛkṣa—of wish-fulfilling trees; sevyamānam—He is served; sambhrama—with special care and attention; laksmī-sahasra-śata—by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune, i.e. the gopīs, who are all Mahā-Lakṣmīs; sadmasu—in abodes; prakara—constructed; cintāmaṇi—from wish-fulfilling gems.

“The transcendental realm is eternally adorned by millions of wish-fulfilling trees, by pavilions made of desire-fulfilling jewels and by innumerable wish-fulfilling cows. There, thousands upon thousands of Lakṣmīs, or gopīs, are rendering services to the Supreme Personality with great affection. I worship that original Supreme Personality, Śrī Govinda.” (29)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s Ṭīkā commentary (bhāvānuvāda):

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

Beginning with this verse 29, Brahmājī praises the primeval personality, Śrī Govinda, with thirty-one verses describing the glories of His name, form, qualities, pastimes, opulence, sweetness, transcendental abode and so on.

The pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa are endless, and among them His daily pastimes are also innumerable. Those pastimes are called aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā, the pastimes performed throughout the eight periods of the day and night. In these pastimes, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s associates who have taken shelter of the transcendental mellows of parenthood, friendship and amorous love simultaneously relish the pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s infancy, childhood and adolescence respectively according to their own moods. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s svarūpa is that of an eternal adolescent, a fresh youth, the best of dancers, dressed in the attire of a cowherd boy with a flute in His hands (nava-kiśora-naṭavara, gopa-veśa veṇukara). This is His eternal and original svarūpa, which every devotee realizes according to his own transcendental sentiment.

In śāstra we find that His worship is of two kinds. One type is svārasikī and the other mantramayī-upāsanā, and they are understood as follows. The pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in various places in Goloka Vṛndāvana are of many types; therefore, the worship that is performed through the limbs of bhakti, such as remembering, hearing and chanting about those pastimes, is called svārasikī-upāsanā. The term mantramayī-upāsanā applies to the forms of hearing, contemplation and formal worship with auspicious articles, in which a mantra is employed in order to apply the consciousness to one particular pastime that occurs in one particular location in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s place of pastimes. In this method of worship, there is meditation upon only one of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in one place, and therefore it has been called mantramayī-upāsanā.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa has unlimited pastimes, such as the pastimes of Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa and other expansions in the realm of transcendental opulence; the pastimes of the puruṣa-avatāra Kāraṇodakaśāyī Mahā-Viṣṇu; the pastimes of the occasional incarnations such as Matsya and Kūrma; the pastimes of the presiding deities of the material modes such as Brahmā and Śiva; the pastimes of the empowered incarnations such as Pṛthu and Vyāsa; the pastimes of Paramātmā, who is endowed with attributes (saviśeṣa); and the pastimes of the formless undifferentiated Brahman, which is devoid of specific attributes.^[1] First of all, Brahmājī has praised the supermost of all pastimes of the unlimitedly sportive Bhagavān, namely Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Gokula Vṛndāvana. This is the object of his soul’s deepest yearning.

The place of pastimes that are the object of mantramayī-upāsanā, which are situated in one particular place, as well as the settings of innumerable pastimes (such as the rāsa-līlā) that occur in many different locations and are the object of svārasikī-upāsanā, are both present in Goloka. Nevertheless, in this first verse beginning cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu, Brahmājī prays by describing the superior meditation on svārasikī-līlās that occur in the central, most prominent seat of pastimes (yoga-pīṭha).

What kinds of pastimes occur there? Surabhīr abhipālayantam: Śrī Kṛṣṇa takes the cows from the village to the forest to graze on very green, soft grass. He makes them drink and take bath in lakes such as Pāvana-sarovara, and then again He brings them back to the cowsheds. In this way He protects and nourishes them with much affection. Sometimes, in a solitary place, He also engages in exceptionally confidential pastimes. What are those astonishing, secret activities? Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata: I render service to the primeval personality who, in a pavilion made of desire-fulfilling gems which is completely hidden among countless surrounding desire-trees, is intimately served with elation by unlimited numbers of beautiful vraja-gopīs. The word lakṣmī should be understood to mean charming cowherd girls.

Purport by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura (tātparya):

Here the word cintāmaṇi indicates transcendental, desirefulfilling jewels. Just as the illusory potency has created the mundane world from the five inert gross elements, similarly the spiritual potency has produced the spiritual world from a transcendental substance, namely cintāmaṇi. Furthermore, the cintāmaṇi jewels used as the materials in the construction of Bhagavān’s chambers in Goloka are infinitely more rare and resourceful than ordinary touchstone. Whenever one milks the ordinary wish-fulfilling cows of the heavenly planets (kāmadhenus), they give ordinary milk. However, an ocean of milk, which is actually a transcendental current of prema, is constantly cascading from the udders of the wish-fulfilling cows of Goloka to allay the hunger and thirst of the jīvas engaged in pure bhakti. In this verse the words lakṣa-lakṣa and sahasra-śata indicate an infinite or uncountable number. The word sambhrama, meaning “with veneration,” is used to indicate “saturated with unconditional love.” One should understand the word lakṣmī to refer to the beautiful cowherd maidens. The words ādi-puruṣa indicate that Śrī Govindadeva is the origin of all existence, though He Himself, being eternal, has no origin.

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’ explanations (vivṛti):

Śrī Brahmā has glorified Śrī Kṛṣṇa with this śloka beginning with the words cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. In this verse he has expressed profound moods of immense longing. Regarding the most effective sādhana for a sādhaka-bhakta, there are two methods, each appropriate to the sādhaka in different stages. One is mantramayī-upāsanā, which entails contemplating one specific pastime situated in one place. The other is the method of svārasikī, which entails contemplation on all the pastimes collectively. In this prayer, Brahmājī has first of all described the subject of the superior meditation, svārasikī-līlā.

Brahmājī has also offered similar prayers in the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (1.37):

नमो विज्ञान-रूपाय परमानन्द-रूपिणे
कृष्णाय गोपीनाथाय गोविन्दाय नमो नमः

namo vijñāna-rūpāya paramānanda-rūpiṇe
kṛṣṇāya gopīnāthāya govindāya namo namaḥ

O Bhagavān, You are the foundation of that realized knowledge, by whose power all things are illuminated. You are the original reservoir of all pleasure, and You attract all and bestow joy upon all. O Gopīnātha! O Govinda! I offer my praṇāma unto You again and again.

Furthermore:

O Prabhu, Your two eyes expand like the petals of a lotus flower, and a garland of forest flowers hangs down gracefully from Your neck. O Govinda, the creation of the universe has sprung up from the lotus of Your navel, and You maintain the life-breath of all the gopīs. May You accept my obeisances unto You.

बर्हापीदाभिरामाय रामायाकुण्ठ-मेधसे
रामा-मानस हंसाय गोविन्दाय नमो नमः

barhāpīdābhirāmāya rāmāyākuṇṭha-medhase
rāmā-mānasa haṃsāya govindāya namo namaḥ

Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (1.39)

O Bhagavān, Your head is decorated with a crown bedecked with peacock feathers. You delight the hearts of all, and there is no anxiety at all within You. You are the embodiment of immeasurable knowledge. You are the king of swans, who always plays upon the lake of the gopīs’ hearts. Therefore, O Govinda, may You kindly accept my praṇāma at Your lotus feet.

वेणु-वादन-शीलाय गोपालायाहि-मर्दने
कालिन्दी-कूल-लोलाय लोल-कुण्डल-धारिणे

veṇu-vādana-śīlāya gopālāyāhi-mardane
kālindī-kūla-lolāya lola-kuṇḍala-dhāriṇe

Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (1.41)

O Śrī Kṛṣṇa, You frolic eternally in the forest of Vṛndāvana, and at every moment You attract the devotees by playing sweetly upon Your flute. You are the guardian of the Vedas, Mother Earth and the cows. Your splendid presence in the form of a cowherd boy, protecting the land, cowherd boys, gopīs and cows is eternal. You give life to all the gopas and gopīs by vanquishing wicked demons such as Kāliya, Agha and Baka. O Yamunā-taṭa-bihārī, You engage in delightful revelry on the banks of the River Yamunā. Your dangling earrings swing to and fro. O Govinda, may You kindly accept my humble obeisances.

In this way Brahmājī has offered prayers while immersed in the waves of a variety of wonderful bhāvas.

When the lotus-eyed Śrī Kṛṣṇa, surrounded by all His friends, leaves the cowherd village and enters the forest to tend the cows, He increases the bliss of the residents of Vraja, especially the vraja-gopīs, and steals their hearts, minds and life-breath. The unprecedented aura of His cowherd-boy attire and His attractive, dark, fresh raincloud complexion seems to expand in all directions. As a blue sapphire fills its surroundings with its brilliant luster, similarly Śyāmasundara’s radiant hue makes the entire forest of Vṛndāvana azure.

In the arbors of Vṛndāvana forest, the trees, which are covered with flowering vines, observe a grand festival to welcome Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Immediately upon His return to the forest, the friendly creatures and birds become submerged in the highest bliss of prema. On the pretext of dripping streams of honey, all the trees weep tears of joy. They experience bhāvas such as horripilation by sprouting new thorns.

Brahmājī saw such love-laden trees of Vṛndāvana as desiretrees (kalpa-vṛkṣa); therefore, to indicate that thousands upon thousands of such desire-trees adorn the transcendental forest of Vṛndāvana, he has said, kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu. Countless bowers of desire-trees stand as the concentrated embodiments of eternal, conscious and euphoric rasa, fulfilling all the desires of those who take shelter of them. Their different colors are astonishing, and their various shapes cause one to be struck with wonder. They produce exquisite fruits, flowers and tender buds (mañjarīs) that perfume the forest with amazing fragrances. For the sake of facilitating Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s loving affairs, the bowers of Vṛndāvana’s desire-trees are manifest in many varieties. Some are the highest transformation of the essence of nectar; some appear to be artistically fashioned from transcendental butter; and some hold intoxicating condensed nectar in their branches. There are also some that have a brilliant white appearance–one type resembles crystal, while others are like camphor.

Another idea is conveyed by the words kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu: the trees, which are covered with flowering vines, are animate and possessed of ecstatic emotions. 

Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has also stated:

हे माधवी-मधुराङ्ग-तरुण-तमाल

he mādhavī-madhurāṅga-taruṇa-tamāla

“O young tamāla tree, in the empire of the Vṛndāvana forest, Rājya-lakṣmī, the empress in the form of the flowering mādhavī vine, has enveloped you from head to toe, and thus she is enhancing the exceptionally enchanting beauty of your trunk, branches, twigs and other features. All directions of Śrī Vṛndāvana are fully permeated by your fragrance, and all the burning distress of the people of this world is relieved by the cooling shade of your fame.”

The trees of Vṛndāvana are studded with horripilation in the form of newly-sprouted shoots, due to their intense transcendental affection (anurāga) for Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. On the pretext of dropping honey, they rain down streams of tears. When the gentle breezes blow, the trees strike comical poses by moving their leaves, and they begin to perform a transcendental dance in the bliss of prema. When the trees appear to bring forth a profusion of blossoming flowers, they are actually bursting out laughing. The desire-trees also perfectly sing the praises of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava through the chirping of the birds residing in their branches. By bending down due to the burden of so many fruits, they offer praṇāma to the lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. May the bowers of Śrī Vṛndāvana confer the supreme transcendental bliss upon us all.

Thus all the trees and creepers of Vṛndāvana are desire-trees and desire-creepers. They cannot be compared with ordinary desire-trees and vines that fulfill the worldly desires of mortal beings in the spheres of religiosity, economic development and sense gratification. By taking shelter of these transcendental desire-trees and desire-creepers, all material ambitions and desires are dispelled from the heart, which becomes completely filled with the mood of divine service to Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. These trees and creepers bestow prema for the Divine Couple upon those who are under Their shelter, thus allowing such surrendered souls to become supremely fortunate.

In this regard Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda has commented:

या राधाया वर-तनु-नतेत्य् उक्ति-मात्रेण नृत्येद्
गायेत्य् उक्त्या मधुकर रुतैर् विज्ञ-गानं तनोति
क्रन्देत्य् उक्त्या विसृजति मधुत्फुल्लिता स्याद् धसेति
प्रोक्ता श्लिष्य-द्रुमम् इति गिरा सस्वजे धृष्ट-गुच्छा

yā rādhāyā vara-tanu-natety ukti-mātreṇa nṛtyed
  gāyety uktyā madhukara rutair vijña-gānaṃ tanoti
krandety uktyā visṛjati madhutphullitā syād dhaseti
  proktā śliṣya-drumam iti girā sasvaje dhṛṣṭa-gucchā

Śrī Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta (5.37)

When Śrī Rādhā says to those creepers of Vraja, “O beautifullimbed ones, you should dance,” they begin to dance by moving their leaves. When She says, “Now sing,” they begin to sing by means of the humming of bumblebees. When She says, “Now weep,” they at once shower streams of honey, and when She says, “Now smile,” they immediately burst into bloom. On hearing Śrī Rādhā say, “Embrace this tree,” they become utterly overjoyed, and wind around the tree.

Sometimes Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī Śrī Rādhā conceals Herself in a kuñja (bower) during a game of hide-and-seek. Śyāmasundara then tries to find Her by taking help from the creepers, who enable Him to discover Her by hinting at Her whereabouts through the trembling of their newly sprouted foliage. In this way, wherever the confidential pastimes of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava take place in the kuñjas and hidden bowers, all the residents of Vraja are forever immersed in the waves of the topmost bliss of prema. I render service to the primeval personality, Śrī Govinda, who resides eternally in that supreme abode of Vṛndāvana.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

What are the pastimes of the formless undifferentiated Brahman? This Brahman is the effulgence of the personal form of Govinda, and pervades the entire cosmic manifestation, as described in Bhagavad-gītā (14.27): “brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham—I am the basis of that formless and undifferentiated Brahman.”