Rāsa-pañcādhyāyī I - The Flute's Summons and the Gopīs' Arrival

Chapter-summary verses

In the twenty-ninth chapter are Hari's words and the gopīs' replies concerning the rāsa dance, their preparation for rāsa, and His wondrous disappearance.

All glory to Śrīpati, ornament of the circle of the gopīs' rāsa, who destroys the pride of Kandarpa, whose pride had grown from conquering Brahmā and the other gods.

Bhāgavata 10.29.1

Śrī Śuka said: Bhagavān beheld those autumn nights when the jasmine flowers had blossomed. Desiring to sport, He resolved to do so under the shelter of Yogamāyā.

Editorial note 1

Although autumn is not itself the cause of jasmine blossoming, calling it the cause suggests freshness and, through that, the blossoming of every flower.

Śrīdhara's commentary

One might object that this is contrary: how could amusement with others' wives demonstrate conquest of Kandarpa? Not so. Expressions such as "He took shelter of Yogamāyā," "though self-delighting, He sported," "the enchanter of the god of love," and "with passion restrained within Himself" declare His complete independence. The truth is that His imitation of rāsa play proclaims His conquest of desire. We shall also make clear that, beneath the appearance of an erotic tale, these Five Chapters especially teach withdrawal.

"Those nights" means the nights He had promised when He said, "Return to Vraja, girls. Your vow is fulfilled; you will sport with Me during these nights."

Bhāgavata 10.29.2

At that moment the lord of the stars arose. With his soothing rays and the red glow of moonrise, he anointed the face of the eastern horizon as a long-absent beloved anoints his beloved's face with red kuṅkuma. He removed the people's sorrow.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The moon rose at that very instant, making the moment evident. As a beloved seen after a long absence anoints his beloved's face with red kuṅkuma, the famous lord of the stars colored the face of the eastern quarter red with the most soothing rays and the crimson glow of his rising. He also removed the heat, weariness, and sorrow of humankind.

Bhāgavata 10.29.3

Seeing the full, unbroken moon, opening the night lotuses, glowing red like Lakṣmī's face freshly adorned with kuṅkuma, and seeing the forest colored by its gentle rays, Kṛṣṇa played a soft melody that stole the hearts of the lovely-eyed women.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The moon possessed blooming night lotuses, an unbroken disk, the luster of Lakṣmī's face, and the redness of fresh kuṅkuma. Seeing it and the forest colored by its gentle beams, Kṛṣṇa sang a soft and sweet melody in such a way that it captivated the women whose eyes were beautiful.

Bhāgavata 10.29.4

Hearing that song, which aroused love, the women of Vraja, their minds seized by Kṛṣṇa, hurried to where their beloved stood. Concealing their intentions from one another, they ran so quickly that their earrings swung.

Śrīdhara's commentary

To avoid rivalry, each concealed her intention from the others. Following the path of the song's sound, they came to where their beloved stood, their earrings restless from their speed.

Editorial note 2

Instead of merely saying "they went," Śuka says "they came," revealing his vivid inner awareness of standing near Kṛṣṇa.

Bhāgavata 10.29.5

Some eagerly left their cows half-milked and ran to Him. Others left milk boiling on the stove, while still others went without removing cooked wheat porridge from the fire.

Editorial note 3

"Others" connects with both the preceding and following actions.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Hearing the sound that signified Śrī Kṛṣṇa, their minds turned wholly toward Him, and at once they ceased duties aimed at the three worldly goals, abandoning work half-finished. Some left milk in a pot over the stove without waiting for it to boil. Others left cooked wheat-grain porridge without taking it down.

Bhāgavata 10.29.6, mūla-only supplement

Some left while serving food, others while feeding milk to infants. Some abandoned service to their husbands, and others left their own meals uneaten.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.29.7

Some left while applying cosmetics, massaging their bodies, or painting their eyes. Others hurried to Kṛṣṇa with clothes and ornaments worn in the wrong places.

Editorial note 4

"Applying" means applying fragrant color to the body.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Others were cleansing and massaging their limbs. The statement about disordered clothes and ornaments suggests that, for minds absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, even an act done incorrectly bears fruit. Their garments and ornaments were reversed in position or kind, upper and lower pieces having exchanged places.

Bhāgavata 10.29.8

Their husbands, fathers, brothers, and relatives tried to stop them, but the gopīs, their very selves carried away by Govinda, were enchanted and did not turn back.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Obstacles have no power over minds attracted by Kṛṣṇa. This is taught by the words "though they were being restrained."

Bhāgavata 10.29.9

Some gopīs were confined inside their homes and could not get out. Closing their eyes, they meditated upon Kṛṣṇa with minds absorbed in Him.

Editorial note 5

They closed their eyes. Alternatively, all awareness other than Kṛṣṇa had closed for them.

Śrīdhara's commentary

They were those who obtained no way out. Their minds had been absorbed in Him before; at that moment they meditated with still greater intensity.

Bhāgavata 10.29.10-11

The unbearable, fierce anguish of separation from their dearest Lord swept away their inauspicious karma. The supreme bliss of embracing Acyuta, attained in meditation, exhausted their auspicious karma. Though approaching the very Supreme Self with the conception of a paramour, their bonds were immediately destroyed and they relinquished bodies made of the guṇas.

Śrīdhara's commentary

These two verses say that at that very moment the faithful gopīs attained Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Self, through meditation and relinquished material bodies. How could they do so without knowing Him as the Supreme Self? The words "even with the conception of a paramour" answer: the intrinsic power of a real thing does not depend upon one's conception of it, just as nectar gives immortality even when drunk under another idea.

How could they relinquish their bodies while bound by already-fructifying karma? Their bonds were immediately exhausted. But such karma ends only through experience. The verse therefore shows that it was exhausted through experience itself: the intolerable anguish of separation from their dearest beloved burned away their sins, while the supreme happiness of Acyuta's meditative embrace exhausted the bondage of merit. Through this joy and grief accompanying meditative attainment of the Supreme Self, all karma was destroyed, and they left the guṇa-made body.

Editorial note 6

As in the expression "even through hatred of Hari," the word "even" censures the conception of a paramour yet reveals the unsurpassed power of the object Himself.

Editorial note 7

Relinquishing the guṇa-made body suggests their attainment of Him in Goloka or another divine realm through a spiritual body.

Bhāgavata 10.29.12

The King said: O sage, they knew Kṛṣṇa only as their supreme beloved, not as Brahman. How could women whose understanding was fixed upon His qualities bring the flow of the guṇas to an end?

Editorial note 8

Alternatively, their awareness was made entirely of love bound solely to Śrī Kṛṣṇa's qualities. How could the spiritually formed embodiment that supports an endless succession of conscious qualities cease through liberation by merger, as happens to worshipers of undifferentiated Brahman?

Śrīdhara's commentary

The King raises this doubt: although husbands and sons are in reality Brahman, worshiping them does not bestow liberation because that awareness is absent. Likewise, without awareness of Kṛṣṇa as Brahman, how could union with Him cause liberation? They knew Him only as param kāntam, their exclusively beautiful beloved.

Bhāgavata 10.29.13

Śrī Śuka said: I already explained to you how the hostile king of Cedi attained perfection by hating Hṛṣīkeśa. How much more, then, must those dear to Adhokṣaja attain it?

Śrīdhara's commentary

Śuka resolves the doubt. Brahmanhood is covered in ordinary beings, whereas it is uncovered in Kṛṣṇa because He is Hṛṣīkeśa, Lord of the senses. Awareness of His Brahmanhood is therefore not required.

Bhāgavata 10.29.14

O King, the imperishable, immeasurable, guṇa-transcending Bhagavān who governs the guṇas becomes manifest for the highest good of human beings.

Editorial note 9

"Immeasurable" means unlimited.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Someone might ask how one who appears embodied can remain uncovered. "The governor of the guṇas" explains guṇātmā. Bhagavān's manifestation is of this nature, so one cannot properly compare it to an ordinary body.

Bhāgavata 10.29.15

Those who constantly direct desire, anger, fear, affection, kinship, or loving devotion toward Hari attain complete absorption in Him.

Editorial note 10

An alternate reading has "they direct."

Editorial note 11

Absorption in Him may mean liberation through union or likeness, and also the manifestation of Him alone within consciousness.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Thus attachment to Him in any manner can cause liberation. "Kinship" means relationship, and "loving friendship" means devotion.

Bhāgavata 10.29.16

You should not be astonished at this power of unborn Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, the Lord even of the masters of yoga, for through Him this entire world is liberated.

Śrīdhara's commentary

This is no excessive burden for Bhagavān. Through Śrī Kṛṣṇa even this world of stationary beings and the rest is liberated.

Bhāgavata 10.29.17

Seeing the women of Vraja arrive near Him, Bhagavān, the finest of speakers, enchanted them with graceful words.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The verse returns to the narrative. "Graceful words" means playful eloquence.

Editorial note 12

Śuka himself eagerly resumes the subject, as if suggesting that the King's question and its elaborate answer were unfitting because they obstructed the rasa-filled account of the rāsa līlā.

Bhāgavata 10.29.18

Śrī Bhagavān said: Welcome, most fortunate ladies. What pleasing service may I perform for you? Is all well in Vraja? Please tell Me the reason for your coming.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Seeing that all had arrived in agitation, He spoke about Vraja as though apprehensive for them.

Bhāgavata 10.29.19

This night is terrifying and frequented by fearsome creatures. Return to Vraja, slender-waisted women. Women should not remain here.

Editorial note 13

The verse may be read through playful implication in the opposite sense: the night is not terrifying, because moonrise has dispelled the darkness; it is almost daylike in the moonlight and frequented by harmless bees and cuckoos. Or the night is attended by Me, whose formidable power frightens the wicked. Therefore, by every consideration, do not return to Vraja. The imperative can express a request. Similar inversions may be understood in the following phrases "let them not search for you" and "do not go."

Śrīdhara's commentary

Noticing their gentle smiles born of modesty, He spoke the verse beginning "this night."

Bhāgavata 10.29.20

Your mothers, fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands are searching for you because they cannot find you. Do not cause your relatives distress.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"They search" means they seek you. Do not produce anxiety or hardship for your relatives.

Bhāgavata 10.29.21

You have seen the flowering forest, colored by the full moon's rays and beautified by tree leaves trembling in the playful breeze from the Yamunā.

Śrīdhara's commentary

As they looked elsewhere with a touch of loving anger, He replied with this verse. The forest was colored by the rays of the full moon and beautified by leaves that moved in the gentle play of the breeze touching the Yamunā.

Bhāgavata 10.29.22

Therefore, faithful wives, return without delay to the cowherd settlement and serve your husbands. Your calves and children are crying; feed the children and milk the cows.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The address satīḥ means "O faithful women."

Bhāgavata 10.29.23

Or perhaps you have come because intense affection for Me has brought your hearts under its control. That is indeed fitting, for every living being feels affection for Me.

Śrīdhara's commentary

He spoke this verse in response to their eyes agitated with loving indignation. Their hearts had been controlled; their coming was proper, because living beings become pleased and loving toward Him.

Bhāgavata 10.29.24

O virtuous women, a woman's highest dharma is sincere service to her husband, kindness to his relatives, and care for her children.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Through the three verses beginning here, He seeks to turn them back by showing dangers visible in this world and invisible in the next.

Bhāgavata 10.29.25, mūla-only supplement

A husband who is immoral, unfortunate, old, dull, sick, or poor must not be abandoned by women who seek a place in the world, provided he is not fallen through grievous sin.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.29.26

For a woman of good family, adultery is everywhere condemned. It bars heaven, destroys reputation, is petty, difficult, dangerous, and repugnant.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Petty" means trifling. "Difficult" means hard to accomplish, and adultery means the enjoyment of a paramour.

Bhāgavata 10.29.27

Love for Me arises through hearing, seeing, meditating upon, and repeatedly glorifying Me, not so much through physical proximity. Therefore return to your homes.

Śrīdhara's commentary

He gives one more reason in the verse beginning "through hearing."

Bhāgavata 10.29.28, mūla-only supplement

Śrī Śuka said: Hearing these unwelcome words spoken by Govinda, the gopīs became dejected. Their hopes shattered, they entered an anguish impossible to cross.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.29.29

Their heads bowed in grief, their bimba-red lips drying from hot sighs, they scratched the earth with their toes. Tears darkened by collyrium washed the kuṅkuma from their breasts. Bearing the weight of immense sorrow, they stood silently.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The verse describes the state of those overcome by anguish. They lowered faces whose bimba-like lips were dried by sighs arising from sorrow and traced the ground with their big toes. Their tears, carrying away their collyrium, washed the kuṅkuma from their breasts. Silent, they stood beneath the burden of immense grief.

Bhāgavata 10.29.30

Kṛṣṇa was their dearest beloved, and for His sake they had turned away from every other desire, yet He spoke as if He were not dear. Wiping their eyes, damaged by weeping, the deeply attached gopīs answered in voices slightly choked by indignant love.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Their voices were choked by a measure of loving anger. Its cause was that their dearest beloved spoke as though rejecting them and treating them as strangers.

Bhāgavata 10.29.31

The gopīs said: All-powerful Lord, You should not speak so cruelly. We abandoned every object of the senses and served the root of Your feet. O independent one, accept us and do not forsake us, just as the primeval Lord accepts those who seek liberation.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Cruelly" means pitilessly. O one difficult to restrain, O independent Lord, accept us who have served the root of Your feet; do not abandon us.

Bhāgavata 10.29.32

You, the knower of dharma, have said that a woman's own duty is service to husband, children, and friends. Let that teaching be fulfilled in You alone, O Lord, for You are the dearest friend and very Self of all embodied beings.

Editorial note 14

The phrase may also mean "You whose Self is charming."

Śrīdhara's commentary

They repeat His teaching with gentle irony: let it apply to You, the very object and destination of all instruction. Why? Because You are the Lord. Statements that awaken knowledge reveal that every teaching ultimately concerns the Lord. And why are You Lord? Because You are indeed the Self, the enjoyer of everything enjoyed; therefore You alone are the dearest beloved and friend. Let every duty owed to every friend be performed in You.

Alternatively: since You are present as teacher of dharma, and we are present desiring to know it, let what You, the knower of dharma, have said stand. Yet You are not merely a teacher; You are the Self. Or let the teaching apply to the ordinary man who is its object, but when You, the sovereign Lord, are present, how could it apply in the same way? You are the Self and final fruit of all embodied beings.

Or again: let the teaching that service to husband and others is dharma be fulfilled in You, because You are the ground in which husband and all others who are prescribed as objects of service abide. Without the Lord as their ground, no husband or son can exist as such. The remaining sense is the same. Enough elaboration.

Bhāgavata 10.29.33

Those who discern the good direct their love toward You, their own Self and eternal beloved. What use have they for husbands, sons, and others who only give pain? Therefore, Supreme Lord, lotus-eyed one, be gracious to us. Do not cut down the hope we have long cherished in You.

Editorial note 15

The vocative ātman means "O Self."

Editorial note 16

An alternate reading addresses Him as "Lord who bestows boons."

Editorial note 17

An alternate reading has "may He not cut down our hope," with "Bhagavān" understood, or with an archaic change of grammatical person.

Śrīdhara's commentary

They support their appeal by the conduct of the wise. Those skilled in scripture love Him. Scripture itself says, "What shall we do with offspring, we for whom this Self is this world?"

Bhāgavata 10.29.34

You easily stole the mind that had rested in our homes, and also our hands that had engaged in household work. Our feet will not move one step from the root of Your feet. How can we return to Vraja, and what could we do there?

Śrīdhara's commentary

They say that His command to return is impossible because He Himself has stolen their minds and faculties. The mind that had long rested comfortably at home was carried away by Him, as were the hands that entered into household duties. Or He stole them by being the very essence of happiness.

Bhāgavata 10.29.35

Dear Kṛṣṇa, pour upon the fire of desire in our hearts the flood of nectar from Your lips, accompanied by Your smiling glance and sweet song. Otherwise, our bodies consumed by the fire of separation, we shall reach the path to Your feet through meditation, O friend.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The fire of love in their hearts was born from His own smiling glance and gentle song, preceded by the nectar of His lips. They ask Him to quench it with that same flood. Otherwise a second fire, born of separation, will burn their bodies, and like yogīs they will attain His feet and presence through meditation.

Bhāgavata 10.29.36

Lotus-eyed one, Lakṣmī is granted only rare opportunities to touch Your feet. Yet because You love the people of the forest, we once touched those soles there and You filled us with joy. From that moment, alas, we have been unable even to stand before another man.

Śrīdhara's commentary

If told that their husbands could extinguish this fire, they answer otherwise. Lakṣmī receives a festival or opportunity to touch His feet only at rare moments, not always. Because He loves forest dwellers, they once touched Him in the forest and He delighted them. From then onward they could not even remain in another's presence, because such men appeared insignificant and no longer pleased them.

Bhāgavata 10.29.37

Lakṣmī herself desired the dust of Your lotus feet together with Tulasī, though she had gained the unrivaled place upon Your chest, served by Your devotees. For the sake of one glance from her, Brahmā and other gods undergo austerities. Like her, we have taken refuge in the dust of Your feet.

Śrīdhara's commentary

They describe the extraordinary fortune of His feet. Although Lakṣmī obtained a place upon His chest without a rival, she desired the dust of His lotus feet together with her co-wife Tulasī. That dust is honored by every servant, which declares its surpassing fortune. Brahmā and the other gods labor in austerity for Lakṣmī's single glance, hoping that she will look upon them. Like Lakṣmī, the gopīs have taken refuge in that dust.

Bhāgavata 10.29.38

Destroyer of suffering, be gracious to us. Hoping only to worship You, we abandoned our dwellings and came to the root of Your feet. O ornament among men, our hearts burn with fierce desire born from Your beautiful smiling glance. Grant us Your service.

Śrīdhara's commentary

O destroyer of pain, like yogīs we left our homes and came with hope fixed only upon worshiping You. Our minds burn with the intense longing born from Your beautiful, playfully smiling glance. O jewel among men, grant us servitude.

Bhāgavata 10.29.39

After beholding Your face framed by curling locks, the splendor of earrings upon Your cheeks, the nectar of Your lips, and Your smiling glance; after beholding Your two arms that grant fearlessness and Your chest, the sole delight of Lakṣmī, we have become Your maidservants.

Editorial notes 18-20

Under a deliberately negative reading, the address can be divided as "do not destroy our suffering," and the preceding verse can say that they did not abandon home and come. Here "the sole delight of Lakṣmī" involves an archaic sandhi. The same negative reading may make the gopīs ask ironically whether they have become maidservants, with the implied answer "surely not."

Śrīdhara's commentary

Why ask for servitude after giving up mastery of their own homes? Because they beheld His face surrounded by locks, His cheeks carrying the beauty of earrings, the nectar in His lips, and His smile and glance. They also beheld the pair of arms that grants fearlessness and the chest that alone awakens Lakṣmī's love. Therefore they became maidservants indeed.

Bhāgavata 10.29.40

Dear Kṛṣṇa, what woman in the three worlds would not depart from respectable conduct after being enchanted by the long, swelling melody of Your sweet notes, and after beholding this form, the good fortune of all three worlds, at whose sight cows, birds, trees, and deer thrill with horripilation?

Editorial notes 21-23

Alternate readings mention the extended song of the flute with its sweet words. Under the playful negative reading, the sense is: what woman, fearing the breach of honorable conduct, would not go away? Another variant explicitly describes the flute-song as nectar made of sweet notes.

Śrīdhara's commentary

He had called adultery repugnant, so they answer. The long musical movement contains sweet notes and variations. What woman, enchanted by it, would not leave her own dharma? Even men enchanted by it abandon theirs. Moreover, this form is the fortune of the three worlds, for cows, birds, trees, and deer developed horripilation upon seeing it. If merely hearing a sound that points to Him justifies abandoning ordinary duty, how much more direct experience of Him does so.

Bhāgavata 10.29.41

It is certain that, like the primeval Lord who protects the divine realm, You have appeared to remove the fear and suffering of Vraja. O friend of the distressed, place Your lotus hand upon the burning breasts and heads of Your maidservants.

Editorial notes 24-25

An alternate reading says "remover of the suffering of Vraja's people." Under the playful negative reading, the gopīs ask Him not to place His hand even upon the heads of His maidservants.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"It is certain" means firmly established.

Bhāgavata 10.29.42

Śrī Śuka said: Hearing their helpless lamentation, the Lord of the masters of yoga smiled compassionately and sported with the gopīs, although He delights within Himself.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Their words were a helpless outpouring under love's control. He gave the gopīs delight and sported with them.

Bhāgavata 10.29.43

Infallible Kṛṣṇa, noble in every gesture, shone among the gopīs whose faces blossomed at the sight of their beloved. The brilliance of His generous smile and jasmine-like teeth made Him resemble the moon surrounded by stars.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Their faces blossomed through seeing their beloved. In His expansive smile, His teeth shone like jasmine flowers. He resembled the moon marked with the deer, surrounded by stars.

Bhāgavata 10.29.44, mūla-only supplement

Praised in song, Kṛṣṇa sang in return. Leader of hundreds of groups of women, He wandered wearing a Vaijayantī garland and adorned the forest.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.29.45, mūla-only supplement

With the gopīs He entered the riverbank, whose cool sands were delighted by a breeze carrying the fragrance of night-blooming lotuses stirred by its ripples.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.29.46

By extending His arms, embracing them, touching their hands, hair, thighs, waistbands, and breasts, by joking and lightly scratching with His fingernails, and by playful glances and laughter, Kṛṣṇa awakened desire in the beautiful women of Vraja and delighted them.

Śrīdhara's commentary

He delighted them by extending His arms, embracing them, touching their hands and other limbs, joking, and touching them with the tips of His nails. Through play, glances, and laughter, He kindled their love.

Bhāgavata 10.29.47

Thus honored by magnanimous Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the proud gopīs considered themselves the most fortunate of all women on earth.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Magnanimous" means His consciousness is free and unattached.

Bhāgavata 10.29.48

Seeing the intoxication and pride born from their great fortune, Keśava disappeared there in order to pacify their pride and bestow His grace.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The intoxication born of their fortune was the feeling that He was under their control; their māna was pride. He is called Keśava because He brings Ka, Brahmā, and Īśa, Śiva, under His control.

Colophon

Thus ends the commentary called Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on the twenty-ninth chapter in the first half of the Tenth Canto of the great Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa.