Chapter 31 - Gopīs’ song (prayer for Kṛṣṇa’s return)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Introductory:

(a). Ch. 29 in Padaratnāvalī’s Text. According to Padaratnāvalī, this chapter shows that for those who are not eligible to study the Vedānta and yet aspire after Mokṣa, singings His glory is the way of propitiating the Lord. It brings about His Grace. This chapter describes Gopīs’ (women, not eligible to Vedic studies) way of propitiating the Lord. The Gopīs are addressing Kṛṣṇa directly, as He is all the while present in their hearts.

Bhāgavata Candrikā The request for revelation may be treated as the burden of the song.

(b). [Gopīs’ song]—This is not a chorus but one Gopī after another (or one group of Gopīs after another) is expressing herself.

Gopīs sang:

1. It is due to your birth here that the goddess of affluence and beauty (Lakṣmī) abides here permanently and the Vraja outshines in progressive prosperity. But dear Lord! We, your beloveds, who have with difficulty managed to be alive for your sake (in the hope of visualizing you) are searching for you in every direction. Be pleased to reveal yourself to us, Oh darling.^[1]

2. Oh Lord of amorous enjoyment! Is this not killing us en mass by disappointing us, your gratuitous maid-servants, with your eyes that surpass (lit. steal) the splendour of the interior of a beautiful full-blown lotus in a translucent lake in the autumn, Oh Bestower of boons?

3.^[2] Oh mighty Lord (lit. Bull among men)! We have been so often protected by you from death through drinking of poisonous water, from Aghāsura, the demon disguised as a boa-constrictor, from heavy showers, stormy winds and the fire of lightening, from the demon^[3] (Ariṣṭa) in the form of a bull) and from the son of Mayāsura (the demon Vyoma)^[4] and from perilous situations all over. (Why are you so indifferent to us now? We still hope to secure your protection.)

4.^[5] Oh friend! As a matter of fact you are not the son of a Gopī (Yaśodā) but you are the witness, dwelling in the soul (i.e. hearts) of embodied beings. When prayed by god Brahmā for the protection of the universe, you appeared in the clan of Sātvatas (or the family of devotees). (Hence, it is improper for you to show indifference to your devotees).

5. Oh Leader of Vṛṣṇis! Place on our head your lotuslike palm that graciously assures protection to those who resort to your feet through fear of saṃsāra—Your palm which bestows all desires and has espoused the hand of Śrī, the goddess of prosperity, Oh Beloved.

6. Oh Mighty Hero! The Annihilator of the afflictions of the inhabitants of Vraja! Oh friend whose beguiling smile humiliates the pride of your people (votaries)! Be pleased to accept us who have been your bonded servants. Show unto us—poor women—your charming lotus-like countenance.

7. Be pleased to place on our bosoms your lotus-feet which totally dissipates the sins of those who prostrate themselves (in complete submission) at them (your feet) that (affectionately) follow the herbivorous animals (cows), which are the abode of Śrī, the goddess of beauty and prosperity, and which were placed on the hoods of the serpent Kāliya—and thereby remove completely the pangs of passion from our hearts.^[6]

8. Oh lotus-eyed Lord! With your melodious words consisting of charming expressions delightful (and appealing even) to the minds of the wise and with the nectar from your lips, revive us who are charmed with you and are swooning for you—and are but your slaves doing your biddings, Oh Valiant hero!

9. (We did not die of separation from you but are alive due to listening to your nectarlike stories).

Highly meritorious (due to their liberality in the previous existence) must be those persons^[7] who extol your nectarlike stories which are not only life-giving to the afflicted but are superior to the nectar (itself), inasmuch as, they are highly eulogized by the knowers of the Brahman (to whom nectar is negligible) and which remove all sins, are the most auspicious to hear, and the source of all prosperity and are spread all over the world.^[8]

10. Darling Kṛṣṇa! Your hearty laughs, your loving oglings, your sports and pastimes so auspicious to contemplate on, and your enchanting jokes and acts in privacy all go down into our heart and agitate it, Oh Deceitful Love!

11. Oh Loving Lord! When you go out of Vraja to graze the cattle, our heart gets agitated (with the thought that) your lotus-like beautiful feet will be pricked and pained by the gravel and stubs and blades of grass, Oh Darling.

12. When at the close of the day you now and then present your countenance overhung with dark-blue curly locks of hair, soiled with the dust raised by cows (in the forest), it appears like a lotus (surrounded by black bees and over- strewn with pollen), and thereby you provoke the passion of Love in our hearts (and do not satisfy it) Oh Cheat!

13. Oh delightful Enchanter! Pray be pleased to place on our bosom your lotus-feet, bestowers of desires^[9] to prostrating supplicants, worshipped by the lotus-born deity,^[10] the very ornament of the earth (enhancing its beauty by footprints), the most blissful ones which ought to be meditated in times of distress, Oh Remover of mental anguishes.

14. Oh Hero!^[11] Pray, condescend to grant to us the nectar of your lips which enhances the charm of amorous enjoyment and destroys all griefs—the nectar which has been enjoyed fully by the flute kissed by you in sounding, making people forget all other passions and attachments.

15. During day-time, while your Lordship is away- wandering in the woods, and we are not able to see you, even a quarter of a moment is felt by us as an age. (But when you return in the evening we feel that) god Brahmā must be dull-witted in creating our eye-lashes which, while winking, deprive us even for a moment of the joy of looking at you, when we are eagerly gazing at your beautiful countenance, graced with curly locks of hair.

16. Oh crafty Deceiver! Who would abandon poor women like us who, being enchanted by the loud melodious music of a musical expert like you and who know that we are sure to come to you—us who have completely set at nought our husbands, children, followers, brothers and relatives and knowing your way, have sought your presence, Oh Acyuta!

17. Remembering your secret amorous promises and beholding your smiling countenance provoking the passion of love in our heart, your loving glances, your broad chest, the abode of Śrī (goddess of affluence and beauty), our hearts get excited with excessive longing every now and then, and becomes infatuated.

18. Darling Kṛṣṇa! Your incarnation is for dispelling the sins and miseries of the inhabitants of Vraja (viz. Gopas) and of the forests viz. sages, as well as for conferring the highest auspiciousness on the universe. Be pleased, therefore, to impart to us who entertain a strong yearning for you in our hearts, something of that balm (of your company) which will relieve all the mental anguish of your people (votaries).

19.^[12] As your Lordship constitutes our very life, our mind reels to think whether your lotus-feet on which you wander in the forest, are not pained while walking on the gravels etc., for (on our part) we, being afraid (of injuring your tender feet) place them gently on our hard breasts, Oh tender Darling!

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

SG. states modestly that he explains the “crumbs” of the noblesoul Bhāvāratha Dīpikā who has deeply drunk the essence of the nectarlike song. SG quotes a Prākrit verse (Text corrupt) which means that a beloved does not survive her separation from her lover, but as their lives are entrusted to Him, they are alive.

[2]:

In Padaratnāvalī’s text, Bhāvāratha Dīpikā’s 6th verse is 2nd and Bhāvāratha Dīpikā’s 2nd verse as 3rd.

[3]:

Vide infra 10.36.16

[4]:

Vide infra 10.37.28

The anachronism is obvious. SG. defends it by saying that Gopīs developed omniscience due to their devotion to Kṛṣṇa. Hence, these future acts are quoted here. Subodhinī asserts that Gopīs being omniscient, the chronological sequence is not binding on them!

[5]:

This is verse 5th in Padaratnāvalī (as per Vṛndāvan edition).

Padaratnāvalī: You are verily the delight of the Gopīs, Oh friend! For the protection of the universe you have appeared in the family of Yadus (i.e. Sātvatas). You are the Inner Controller of all embodied creatures and witness to all (or you are ever realizing your ownself). You are worshipped by god Brahmā, the creator or the preceptor of the Universe.

[6]:

Bhāvāratha Dīpikā, Bhāgavata Candrikā & Padaratnāvalī unanimously explain kṛndhi hṛcchayam as kāmaṃ chindhi—‘cut down, destroy the passionate love in our hearts’. Subodhinī’s imaginative explanation is interesting. For example—The Gopīs submit: ‘Our breasts are not soft but you have trodden upon the hard hood of Kāliya. We may be uncultured but your feet followed cows. The request is made by all Gopīs and hence plural kuceṣu.

[7]:

They are the most liberal persons on the earth (Bhāvāratha Dīpikā)

[8]:

or Those who sing of your glory broad-cast all over the world are the most munificent donors.

[9]:

Subodhinī—Kāmaṃ dyati khaṇḍayati cuts down, removes kāma

[10]:

God Brahmā—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā; goddess Lakṣmī—SG.

[11]:

Hero in erotics—SG.

Hero in munificent gifts like puruṣārthas—Subodhinī

[12]:

Deleted in Padaratnāvalī’s text.