Rāsa-pañcādhyāyī IV - Kṛṣṇa Reappears

Chapter-summary verses

In the thirty-second chapter, Hari's heart melted by the gopīs' lamentation in separation. Appearing there, He honored and consoled them.

The gracious son of Nanda arose and delighted the gopīs, whose minds had been overwhelmed by surging waves of the nectar of their own love.

Bhāgavata 10.32.1

O King, as the gopīs sang in this way and lamented in many different ways, they wept in beautiful tones, intensely longing to see Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"In this way" means in the manner already described and in still other ways. "In many different ways" means in numerous ways, and "in beautiful tones" means aloud. They possessed lālasā, an exceedingly intense longing, to see Kṛṣṇa.

Bhāgavata 10.32.2

Then Śauri appeared among them, His lotus face smiling. He wore a yellow garment and a garland and was directly the enchanter of the god of love.

Śrīdhara's commentary

He was directly "the enchanter of the enchanter." Desire arises even in the mind of Kāma, who bewilders the world, yet Kṛṣṇa directly bewilders even him. This is the meaning.

Bhāgavata 10.32.3

Seeing their dearest beloved return, the women's eyes blossomed with love. All of them rose at once, like bodies when life returns to them.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Bodies" refers to the hands, feet, and other limbs.

Bhāgavata 10.32.4, mūla-only supplement

One joyfully took Śauri's lotus hand in her joined palms, while another placed His sandalwood-adorned arm upon her shoulder.

The commentary TEI supplies no separate gloss on this verse.

Bhāgavata 10.32.5

One slender gopī received the betel He had chewed in her cupped hands. Another, burning with longing, placed His lotus feet upon her breasts.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"In her joined palms" means with her two hands brought together.

Bhāgavata 10.32.6

One gopī knitted her brows, overwhelmed by the agitation of love. Biting her lip, she looked at Him with sidelong reproaches as though striking Him.

Śrīdhara's commentary

She bound her brows into a frown by making them crooked. Powerless under the force of loving indignation, she bit her lower lip. With the rebukes conveyed by her sharp sidelong glances, she looked at Him as if beating Him.

Bhāgavata 10.32.7

Another relished the lotus of His face with unblinking eyes. Though she had drunk it in fully, she was not satisfied, just as the saints are never satisfied with His feet.

Editorial note 56

The saints, firmly established in devotional service, provide the comparison for never becoming satisfied.

Śrīdhara's commentary

With eyes that did not blink or close, she relished His face again and again. Even after drinking it in, that is, seeing it completely, she was not satisfied.

Bhāgavata 10.32.8

One gopī drew Him through the aperture of her eyes into her heart and then closed them. Her limbs thrilled with horripilation, she embraced Him within and remained flooded with bliss like a yogī.

Editorial note 57

The comparison with a yogī concerns an inner manifestation.

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Placed Him in her heart" means that she led Him into her heart.

Bhāgavata 10.32.9

All those gopīs, fulfilled by the supreme festival of beholding Keśava, abandoned the anguish born of separation, as people do upon attaining the wise one.

Śrīdhara's commentary

This may mean that seekers of liberation attain the wise one, the Lord. Or, just as worldly people obtain a knower of Brahman. Or prājña may mean the deep-sleep state: beings in the waking and dreaming conditions become free from distress when they attain it.

Editorial note 58

Here "the deep-sleep state" means the witness of deep sleep.

Bhāgavata 10.32.10

Surrounded by those gopīs whose sorrow had been cast away, the infallible Bhagavān shone all the more, dear King, as the Supreme Person shines with His powers.

Śrīdhara's commentary

One explanation is that the Supreme Person shines with powers such as sattva. Or the worshiping person shines through knowledge, strength, valor, and similar qualities. Or the indwelling person appears more resplendent when surrounded by limiting adjuncts such as primordial nature. In the same way, Kṛṣṇa shone all the more.

Bhāgavata 10.32.11

Taking the gopīs with Him, the all-powerful Lord entered a bank of the Yamunā where bees gathered in a breeze fragrant with blossoming jasmine and mandāra flowers.

Editorial note 59

"Entered" means occupied or settled upon.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Bees gathered there because the breeze was fragrant with blossoming jasmine and mandāra flowers.

Bhāgavata 10.32.12

The bank was auspicious and delightful, its nocturnal darkness dispelled by masses of autumn moonbeams. The Yamunā's handlike rippling waves had spread its soft sand.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Masses of autumn moonbeams had destroyed the darkness belonging to the night, and therefore the place was auspicious and pleasure-giving. Its soft sand was spread by rippling waves that resembled hands. Taking the gopīs to such a riverbank and entering it, He shone still more brightly surrounded by them, as connected with the preceding verse.

Bhāgavata 10.32.13

Their heartache dispelled by the joy of seeing Him, the gopīs attained the fulfillment of their desires, as the revealed scriptures do. For their intimate friend they fashioned a seat from their upper garments, which were marked with the kuṅkuma from their breasts.

Śrīdhara's commentary

They reached the end of their desires, meaning that every desire was fulfilled. "As the revealed scriptures do" has this sense: in the ritual portion, the scriptures do not behold the Supreme Lord and therefore appear unfulfilled because of their attachment to one desire after another. In the knowledge portion, however, they behold the Supreme Lord, become full through that joy, and abandon attachment to desires. The gopīs did likewise.

Although all their desires were fulfilled, they still served Him out of love. This is expressed by "from their own upper garments." They fashioned the seat for their intimate friend, the indwelling Lord.

Bhāgavata 10.32.14

There Bhagavān, the Lord Himself, sat upon the seat conceived within the hearts of the masters of yoga. Worshiped in the assembly of the gopīs, He shone while manifesting a form that is the one abode of all the beauty of the three worlds.

Editorial note 60

"A seat conceived within the heart" is an irregular compound in which the case ending is retained.

Editorial note 61

"Worshiped" means honored with betel, playful smiles, and other offerings.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Having entered the gopīs' assembly and been honored by them, He shone splendidly. He displayed the form that is the sole abode of the beauty and splendor found throughout the three worlds.

Bhāgavata 10.32.15

They honored Him, who kindles desire, with brows expressive of smiling, playful glances, by touching and massaging His hands and feet placed upon their laps, and by praising Him. Then, slightly angry, they spoke.

Editorial note 62

"They spoke" implies that they asked the question that follows.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Their brows conveyed the graceful play of smiling, sportive glances. "By touching" means by gently massaging Him.

Bhāgavata 10.32.16

The gopīs said: Some reciprocate only with those who love them. Some act in the opposite way and love even those who do not love them. Others love neither group. Dear one, please explain these types to us clearly.

Editorial note 63

An alternate reading is: "Others love neither group."

Śrīdhara's commentary

With a concealed intention, they wished to establish the Lord's ingratitude from His own answer, so they asked as if merely inquiring about ordinary worldly behavior. Some people respond to a living being who loves them, loving in return according to the service first shown to them. Others act contrary to this: without regard for whether they are loved, they love even one who does not love them. Still others love neither group.

Editorial note 64

"Both" means those who love them and those who do not.

Bhāgavata 10.32.17

Śrī Bhagavān said: Friends, those who reciprocally love one another are intent solely upon their own advantage. There is neither true friendship nor dharma in such an exchange, for it is performed for self-interest and not for another's sake.

Editorial note 65

"Not otherwise" means not for the sake of another.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Knowing their intention, He replied: O friends, those who serve one another by an exchange of favor for favor do not truly serve someone else; they serve only themselves. Why? Because their effort is directed exclusively toward their own visible benefit. Since such an exchange contains no genuine friendship, it produces no true happiness. Nor is it dharma, just as tending cows and buffaloes for an evident material end is not in itself dharma.

Editorial note 66

"Their own advantage" means their own directly visible result.

Editorial note 67

There is no true friendship because the relationship is filled with deceit.

Bhāgavata 10.32.18

Those who love even people who do not love them are compassionate persons, like parents. O slender-waisted ones, in such love both dharma and friendship are faultless.

Editorial note 68

"Faultless" means unobstructed. The adjective also qualifies friendship.

Śrīdhara's commentary

Those who love people who do not love them are of two kinds: the compassionate and the affectionate, such as parents. In these two respectively, dharma and loving desire are present. This is taught by the verse beginning "Those who love even people who do not love them."

Bhāgavata 10.32.19

Some do not love even those who love them, what then of those who do not? They are either self-delighting, fully satisfied, ungrateful, or hostile to their benefactors.

Śrīdhara's commentary

This answers the third question. Such people are of four kinds. Some are ātmārāmas, inward-looking persons who delight in the Self. Some are āptakāmas: although they perceive sense objects, their desires are already fulfilled and they have no wish to enjoy them. Others are ungrateful fools. Still others are hostile to their benefactors and exceedingly hard-hearted. According to the maxim "the one who nourishes is a father," a benefactor is equal to a guru, yet such people injure even him.

Bhāgavata 10.32.20

But, O friends, I do not immediately reciprocate even with living beings who worship Me, so that their devotion may continue and increase. A poor man who gains wealth and then loses it becomes so absorbed in thinking of that wealth that he notices nothing else.

Śrīdhara's commentary

The gopīs regarded Him as belonging to the last and worst class. Seeing them exchange concealed smiles while narrowing their eyes, He said: "I am none of those four. Rather, I am supremely compassionate and the supreme friend. How so? I do not immediately reciprocate with those who worship Me, precisely so that their continuous meditation upon Me may develop."

He illustrates this: the poor man becomes completely filled and pervaded by the thought of that wealth alone. He does not even notice hunger, thirst, or anything else.

Bhāgavata 10.32.21

Thus, O gopīs, because for My sake you abandoned worldly convention, Vedic injunction, and your own relatives, I lovingly remained out of sight so that your devotion to Me might continue. Therefore, My beloveds, you should not resent Me, your beloved.

Śrīdhara's commentary

For My sake you abandoned worldly convention by paying no regard to what was proper or improper, Vedic authority by paying no regard to dharma or adharma, and your own relatives by relinquishing attachment to them. To ensure that your devotion to Me continued, I loved you while remaining out of sight: hidden from view, I stood there listening to your loving lamentations. Therefore, O gopīs, O beloveds, you should not look upon Me with resentment by imputing fault to Me.

Editorial note 69

Alternatively, the verse may contain two prohibitions: "Do not resent Me; and do not resent the beloved who is none other than Me." Rather, because I caused you pain, it is fitting that you should do exactly that. This is the suggested playful sense.

Bhāgavata 10.32.22

Even with the lifetime of the gods, I could not repay the noble deed of you whose union with Me is faultless. You worshiped Me after cutting through the unbreakable chains of household life. May your own goodness be the repayment for that deed.

Editorial note 70

An alternate reading has the singular "chain" instead of "chains."

Śrīdhara's commentary

"Enough of this; now hear the highest truth," He says. Even over the long lifetime of the gods, I am not able to perform a fitting return for your good deed, for your union with Me is irreproachable. You completely severed the enduring and difficult-to-break chains of household life and worshiped Me.

My own heart is not fixed upon one alone, because it bears love for many. Therefore, may your own noble conduct repay your noble deed. Let your gracious character alone free Me from My debt, for no return made by Me can do so. This is the meaning.

Editorial note 71

Alternatively, "with the lifetime of the gods" may mean with an endless lifetime, one in which no wise person capable of counting its years can be found.

Colophon

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