Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 22: Kṛṣṇa Steals the Garments of the Unmarried Gopīs

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.22.18

bhagavān āhatā vīkṣya

śuddha -bhāva-prasāditaḥ

skandhe nidhāya vāsāḿsi

prītaḥ provāca sa-smitam

SYNONYMS

bhagavān — the Supreme Lord; āhatāḥ — struck; vīkṣya — seeing; śuddhapure; bhāva — by their loving affection; prasāditaḥ — satisfied; skandhe — upon His shoulder; nidhāya — placing; vāsāḿsi — their garments; prītaḥ — lovingly; provāca — spoke; sa-smitam — while smiling.

TRANSLATION

When the Supreme Lord saw how the gopīs were struck with embarrassment, He was satisfied by their pure loving affection. Putting their clothes on His shoulder, the Lord smiled and spoke to them with affection.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda comments, "The gopīs' simple presentation was so pure that Lord Kṛṣṇa immediately became pleased with them. All the unmarried gopīs who prayed to Kātyāyanī to have Kṛṣṇa as their husband were thus satisfied. A woman cannot be naked before any male except her husband. The unmarried gopīs desired Kṛṣṇa as their husband, and He fulfilled their desire in this way."

For aristocratic girls like the gopīs, standing naked before a young boy was worse than death, and yet they decided to give up everything for the pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He wanted to see the power of their love for Him, and He was completely satisfied by their unalloyed devotion.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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