SB 10.47.21

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Tenth Canto - Chapter 47: The Song of the Bee

SB 10.47.20 - SB 10.47.22

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Please note: The synonyms, translation and purport of this verse were composed by disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda

TEXT 21

api bata madhu-puryām ārya-putro 'dhunāste

smarati sa pitṛ-gehān saumya bandhūṁś ca gopān

kvacid api sa kathā naḥ kiṅkarīṇāṁ gṛṇīte

bhujam aguru-sugandhaṁ mūrdhny adhāsyat kadā nu

SYNONYMS

api — certainly; bata — regrettable; madhu-puryām — in the city of Mathurā; ārya-putraḥ — the son of Nanda Mahārāja; adhunā — now; āste — resides; smarati — remembers; saḥ — He; pitṛ-gehān — the household affairs of His father; saumya — O great soul (Uddhava); bandhūn — His friends; ca — and; gopān — the cowherd boys; kvacit — sometimes; api — or; saḥ — He; kathāḥ — talks; naḥ — of us; kiṅkarīṇām — of the maidservants; gṛṇīte — relates; bhujam — hand; aguru-su-gandham — having the fragrance of aguru; mūrdhni — on the head; adhāsyat — will keep; kadā — when; nu — maybe.

Translation and purport composed by disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda

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TRANSLATION

O Uddhava! It is indeed regrettable that Kṛṣṇa resides in Mathurā. Does He remember His father's household affairs and His friends, the cowherd boys? O great soul! Does He ever talk about us, His maidservants? When will He lay on our heads His aguru-scented hand?

PURPORT

The translation and word meanings for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda's Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Adi 6.68).

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes very poetically, with deep spiritual insight, about the emotions expressed in this and the previous nine verses. He interprets Rādhārāṇī's feelings as follows:

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī thought, "Since Kṛṣṇa was once satisfied in Vraja but left for Mathurā City, won't He also develop a desire to leave that place and go somewhere else? Mathurā is so close to Vṛndāvana that it's possible He may even come back here.

"Kṛṣṇa is the son of a respectable gentleman, Nanda Mahārāja, so He must be staying in Mathurā because of His sense of obligation to His father, who authorized His going there. On the other hand, while Nanda's whole life is dedicated exclusively to Kṛṣṇa, Nanda is so innocent that he allowed himself to be tricked by the Yadus, who brought Kṛṣṇa to Mathurā. Kṛṣṇa must be thinking, 'Alas, alas! Since even My father could not bring Me back to Vraja, what can I do to return there?' Thus Kṛṣṇa must be impatient to come back here, and so He has sent you, a messenger.

"It is only because Nanda is so innocent that he allowed his son to leave. If Nanda had allowed Kṛṣṇa's mother, the queen of Vraja, to do so, she would have climbed onto Akrūra's chariot and, holding her son by the neck, gone off to Mathurā with Him, followed by all the gopīs. But this was not possible.

"Ever since Kṛṣṇa left, Nanda has been stunned by separation from Him, and Nanda's treasury rooms, storehouses, kitchens, sleeping quarters, opulent houses and so on are now vacant. Unswept and uncleansed, they are littered with grass, dust, leaves and cobwebs. Does Kṛṣṇa ever remember His father's houses? And does He sometimes remember Subala and His other friends, who are now lying stunned in other neglected houses?

"The women in Mathurā who now associate with Kṛṣṇa cannot know how to serve Him in the way that pleases Him most. When they see He is not satisfied and ask how they can make Him happy, does He tell them about us gopīs?

"Kṛṣṇa must tell them, 'You city ladies cannot please Me as much as the gopīs of Vraja. They are most expert in stringing flower garlands, perfuming their bodies with ointments, playing various rhythms and melodies on stringed instruments, dancing and singing in the rāsa performance, displaying their beauty, charm and cleverness, and skillfully playing at questions and answers. They are especially expert in the pastimes of meeting one's lover and showing jealous anger and other signs of pure love and affection.' Surely Kṛṣṇa must know this. Therefore He'll probably tell the women of Mathurā, 'My dear women of the Yadu clan, please go back to your families. I no longer desire to associate with you. In fact, I'm going back to Vraja early tomorrow morning.'

"When will Kṛṣṇa speak like this and come back here to place His hand, fragrant with aguru, on our heads? Then He will console us, saying, 'O beloveds of My heart, I swear to you that I will never abandon you again and go elsewhere. Indeed, I have not been able to find anyone in all the three worlds with even a trace of your good qualities' "

Thus Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets the feelings of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The ācārya further explains that the present text displays the speech called sujalpa, as described by Rūpa Gosvāmī:

yatrārjavāt sa-gāmbhīryaṁ

sa-dainyaṁ saha-cāpalam

sotkaṇṭhaṁ ca hariḥ pṛṣṭaḥ

sa sujalpo nigadyate

"When, out of honest sincerity, a lover questions Śrī Hari with gravity, humility, unsteadiness and eagerness, such speech is known as sujalpa." (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.200)

Concluding this section of Chapter Forty-seven, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that there are ten divisions of divine madness (divyonmāda), which are expressed by the ten divisions of citra-jalpa, or variegated speech. Such divine madness is shown in the special pastime of bewilderment, which is itself part of the supreme bliss, mahā-bhāva, of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The ācārya quotes the following verses from Rūpa Gosvāmī's Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.174, 178-80) to explain these ecstasies:

prāyo vṛndāvaneśvaryāṁ

mohano 'yam udañcati

etasya mohanākhyasya

gatiṁ kām apy upeyuṣaḥ

bhramābhā kāpi vaicitrī

divyonmāda itīryate

udghūrṇā citra-jalpādyās

tad-bhedā bahavo matāḥ

preṣṭhasya suhṛd-āloke

gūḍha-roṣābhijṛmbhitaḥ

bhūri-bhāva-mayo jalpo

yas tīvrotkaṇṭhitāntimaḥ

citra-jalpo daśāṅgo 'yaṁ

prajalpaḥ parijalpitaḥ

vijalpo 'jjalpa-sañjalpaḥ

avajalpo 'bhijalpitam

ājalpaḥ pratijalpaś ca

sujalpaś ceti kīrtitaḥ

"It is virtually only within the princess of Vṛndāvana [Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī] that the ecstasy of bewilderment arises. She has attained to a special stage of this bewilderment, a wonderful state that resembles delusion. Known as divyonmāda, it has many aspects, which come and go unsteadily, and one of these manifestations is citra-jalpa. This talk, induced by Her seeing Her beloved's friend, is filled with covered anger and comprises many different ecstasies. It culminates in Her intense, anxious eagerness.

"This citra-jalpa has ten divisions, known as prajalpa, parijalpa, vijalpa, ujjalpa, sañjalpa, avajalpa, abhijalpa, ājalpa, pratijalpa and sujalpa."

Finally, some authorities say that Kṛṣṇa Himself, eager to drink the sweetness of His beloved's speech, assumed the form of the messenger bee.

SB 10.47.20 - SB 10.47.22