Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 33: The Rāsa Dance

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.33.8

uccair jagur nṛtyamānā

rakta-kaṇṭhyo rati-priyāḥ

kṛṣṇābhimarśa-muditā

yad-gītenedam āvṛtam

SYNONYMS

uccaiḥ — loudly; jaguḥ — they sang; nṛtyamānāḥ — while dancing; rakta — colored; kaṇṭhyaḥ — their throats; rati — conjugal enjoyment; priyāḥ — dedicated to; kṛṣṇa-abhimarśa — by the touch of Lord Kṛṣṇa; muditāḥ — joyful; yat — whose; gītena — by the singing; idam — this entire universe; āvṛtam — is pervaded.

TRANSLATION

Eager to enjoy conjugal love, their throats colored with various pigments, the gopīs sang loudly and danced. They were overjoyed by Kṛṣṇa's touch, and they sang songs that filled the entire universe.

PURPORT

According to an authoritative book on music called Sańgīta-sāra, tāvanta eva rāgāḥ sūryāvatyo jīva-jātayaḥ, teṣu ṣoḍaśa-sāhasrī purā gopī-kṛtā varā: "There are as many musical rāgas as there are species of life. Among these rāgas are sixteen thousand principal ones, which were manifested by the gopīs." Thus the gopīs created sixteen thousand different rāgas, or musical modes, and these have subsequently been disseminated throughout the world. The words yad-gītenedam āvṛtam also indicate that even today devotees throughout the world sing the praises of Kṛṣṇa, following the example of the gopīs.

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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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