Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 33: The Rāsa Dance

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.33.37

nāsūyan khalu kṛṣṇāya

mohitās tasya māyayā

manyamānāḥ sva-pārśva-sthān

svān svān dārān vrajaukasaḥ

SYNONYMS

na asūyan — were not jealous; khalu — even; kṛṣṇāya — against Kṛṣṇa; mohitāḥ — bewildered; tasya — His; māyayā — by the spiritual potency of illusion; manyamānāḥ — thinking; sva-pārśva — at their own sides; sthān — standing; svān svān — each their own; dārān — wives; vraja-okasaḥ — the cowherd men of Vraja.

TRANSLATION

The cowherd men, bewildered by Kṛṣṇa's illusory potency, thought their wives had remained home at their sides. Thus they did not harbor any jealous feelings against Him.

PURPORT

Because the gopīs loved Kṛṣṇa exclusively, Yogamāyā protected their relationship with the Lord at all times, even though they were married. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī quotes from the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi as follows:

māyā-kalpita-tādṛk-strī

śīlanenānusūyubhiḥ

na jātu vraja-devīnāḿ

patibhiḥ saha sańgamaḥ

"The gopīs' jealous husbands consorted not with their wives but with doubles manufactured by Māyā. Thus these men never actually had any intimate contact with the divine ladies of Vraja." The gopīs are the internal energy of the Lord and can never belong to any other living being. Kṛṣṇa arranged their apparent marriage to other men simply to create the excitement of parakīya-rasa, the love between a married woman and her paramour. These activities are absolutely pure because they are the Lord's pastimes, and saintly persons since time immemorial have relished these supreme spiritual events.

<<< >>>

Buy Online Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari