Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 83: Draupadī Meets the Queens of Kṛṣṇa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.83.43

vraja-striyo yad vāñchanti

pulindyas tṛṇa-vīrudhaḥ

gāvaś cārayato gopāḥ

pada-sparśaḿ mahātmanaḥ

SYNONYMS

vraja — of Vraja; striyaḥ — the women; yatas; vāñchanti — they desire; pulindyaḥ — the women of the aborigine Pulinda tribe in Vraja; tṛṇa — from the grass; vīrudhaḥ — and plants; gāvaḥ — the cows; cārayataḥ — who is grazing; gopāḥ — the cowherd boys; pāda — of the feet; sparśam — the touch; mahā-ātmanaḥ — of the Supreme Soul.

TRANSLATION

We desire the same contact with the Supreme Lord's feet that the young women of Vraja, the cowherd boys and even the aborigine Pulinda women desire — the touch of the dust He leaves on the plants and grass as He tends His cows.

PURPORT

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī reminds us of the jealous rivalry that always existed between the queens of Dvārakā and the gopīs of Vraja. The gopīs considered the sophisticated women of Dvārakā the most serious threat to their hold on Śrī Kṛṣṇa, confessing their anxiety to Uddhava: kasmāt kṛṣṇa ihāyāti prāpta-rājyo hatāhitaḥ/ narendra-kanyā udvāhya.

"Why should Kṛṣṇa come back here after winning a kingdom, killing His enemies and marrying the daughters of kings?" (Bhāg. 10.47.45)

Rukmiṇī and her seven chief co-wives considered themselves so fortunate in their relationship with Kṛṣṇa as He appeared in Dvārakā that they did not especially desire to see Him as He is in Vṛndāvana. But the sixteen thousand lesser queens, after hearing Uddhava describe Śrī Rādhā's superexcellent qualities, became attracted to touch the dust that falls from Kṛṣṇa's feet onto the grass and plants of Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī indicates that some commentators give this as the reason why, after the mauṣala-līlā, these sixteen thousand queens were stolen from Arjuna on the road by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in the disguise of sixteen thousand cowherds, who then took them away to Gokula.

Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Draupadī Meets the Queens of Kṛṣṇa."

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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