Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.20.38

prahasya bhāva-gambhīraḿ

jighrantyātmānam ātmanā

kāntyā sasarja bhagavān

gandharvāpsarasāḿ gaṇān

SYNONYMS

prahasya — smiling; bhāva-gambhīram — with a deep purpose; jighrantyā — understanding; ātmānam — himself; ātmanā — by himself; kāntyā — by his loveliness; sasarja — created; bhagavān — the worshipful Lord Brahmā; gandharva — the celestial musicians; apsarasām — and of the heavenly dancing girls; gaṇān — the hosts of.

TRANSLATION

With a laugh full of deep significance, the worshipful Brahmā then evolved by his own loveliness, which seemed to enjoy itself by itself, the hosts of Gandharvas and Apsarās.

PURPORT

The musicians in the upper planetary systems are called Gandharvas, and the dancing girls are called Apsarās. After being attacked by the demons and evolving a form of a beautiful woman in the twilight, Brahmā next created Gandharvas and Apsarās. Music and dancing employed in sense gratification are to be accepted as demoniac, but the same music and dancing, when employed in glorifying the Supreme Lord as kīrtana, are transcendental, and they bring about a life completely fit for spiritual enjoyment.

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