The Song of the Bee

The chaste gopīs were enlivened to see that a messenger had come from Kṛṣṇa. As Uddhava will discover during his stay in Vṛndāvana, the unique gopīs could not think of anything but their beloved Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains here that attractive women, like flowers, possess beauty, fragrance, tenderness, charm and so on. And as bees drink only once of a flower’s nectar and then leave it for another, fickle men abandon beautiful and devoted women to pursue other pleasures. This tendency is condemned here by the gopīs, who gave their hearts completely to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs wanted only to exhibit their charms for Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure, and in the pain of separation they questioned the motives of His friendship with them.

These are the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Both Lord Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs are completely liberated souls engaged in spiritual loving affairs. By contrast, our so-called loving affairs, being perverted reflections of the perfect loving relationships in the spiritual world, are polluted with lust, greed, pride and so on. Like all liberated souls, the gopīs — and certainly Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself — are eternally free of these lower qualities, and their intense loving affairs are motivated exclusively by unalloyed devotion.

The word bālyayoḥ here indicates that ever since their childhood, the gopīs had been completely in love with Kṛṣṇa. Thus even though social custom dictated that they not reveal their love to others, they forgot all external considerations and openly wept before Kṛṣṇa’s messenger, Uddhava.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is referred to in this verse as kācit, “a certain gopī.” To establish that this particular gopī is in fact Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the following verses from the Agni Purāṇa:

“At dawn the gopīs inquired from Kṛṣṇa’s servant, Uddhava, about the Lord’s pastimes and recreation. Only Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, immersed in thought of Kṛṣṇa, withdrew Her interest in the talks. Then Rādhā, who is worshiped by the residents of Her Vṛndāvana village, spoke up in the midst of Her girlfriends. Her words were full of pure transcendental knowledge and expressed the ultimate portion of the Vedas.”

In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa states, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: “By all the Vedas, I am to be known.” To know Kṛṣṇa is to love Kṛṣṇa, and thus Rādhārāṇī, by Her own example and words, revealed Her supreme love for the Lord.

Having quoted the above verses from the Agni Purāṇa, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī also quotes the following from the Nṛsiṁha-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 2.4): yaṁ sarve devā namanti mumukṣavo brahma-vādinaś ca. “All the demigods and all the transcendental philosophers who desire liberation bow down to the Supreme Lord.” We should follow suit.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī indirectly chastised Kṛṣṇa by chastising the bumblebee, which She took for His messenger. She addressed the bumblebee as madhupa, “one who drinks the nectar (of flowers),” and She addressed Kṛṣṇa as madhu-pati, “the Lord of Madhu.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that this and the following nine verses exemplify ten kinds of impulsive speech spoken by a lover. This verse illustrates the qualities of prajalpa, as described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in the following verse from his Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.182):

“Prajalpa is speech that denigrates the tactlessness of one’s lover with expressions of disrespect. It is spoken in a mood of envy, jealousy and pride.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that the word kitava-bandho expresses envy; the phrase from sapatnyāḥ to naḥ, jealousy; the phrase mā spṛśa aṅghrim, pride; and the phrase from vahatu to prasādam, disrespect, while the phrase from yadu-sadasi to the end of the verse decries Kṛṣṇa’s tactless treatment of Rādhārāṇī.

In this verse Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī continues to compare Śrī Kṛṣṇa to the bumblebee, and in Her distress She states that the reason the goddess of fortune is constantly devoted to His lotus feet must be that she has been fooled by Kṛṣṇa’s promises. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, this statement of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s illustrates parijalpa, as described in Śrī Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.184):

“Parijalpa is that speech which, through various devices, shows one’s own cleverness by exposing the mercilessness, duplicity, unreliability and so on of one’s Lord.”

With the words agṛhāṇām agrato naḥ, Rādhārāṇī laments that even though She and the other gopīs gave up their homes to love Kṛṣṇa in a conjugal relationship, the Lord left them and became a prince in the great royal city of the Yadus. Besides meaning “Arjuna, the victor,” the word vijaya also directly indicates Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is always victorious in His endeavors, and besides meaning “old (news),” the word purāṇam also indicates that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is glorified in the ancient Vedic scriptures of that name.

In this verse we observe in Rādhārāṇī’s mood the seed of jealous anger, which arises from an apparent disdain for Kṛṣṇa, accompanied by a sarcastic sidelong glance directed toward Him. Thus this verse fits the following description of vijalpa from the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.186):

“According to learned authorities, vijalpa is sarcastic speech that is addressed to the killer of Agha and that openly expresses jealousy while at the same time hinting at one’s angry pride.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī states that Rādhārāṇī’s speech, expressing all the feelings of a disappointed lover, indicates an intensity of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa surpassing even that of the goddess of fortune. While all the gopīs are perfectly compatible with Śrī Kṛṣṇa in terms of their beauty, temperament and so on, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is especially so. In Her forlorn state, Rādhārāṇī indicates to Kṛṣṇa, “You are called Uttamaḥśloka because You are merciful to the wretched and fallen, but if You would be merciful to Me, then You would actually deserve this exalted name.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further points out that in this verse, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī expresses Her spite born of pride, accuses Kṛṣṇa of being a cheater and finds fault with His behavior. Thus this verse contains speech known as ujjalpa, as described in the following verse of the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.188):

“The declaration of Lord Hari’s duplicitous nature in a mood of spite born of pride, together with jealously spoken insults directed against Him, has been termed ujjalpa by the wise.”

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, this verse illustrates the qualities of sañjalpa, as described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in the following verse of his Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.190):

“The learned describe sañjalpa as that speech which decries with deep irony and insulting gestures the beloved’s ungratefulness and so on.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that the word ādi, “and so on,” implies the perception in one’s lover of hardheartedness, of an inimical attitude and of a complete lack of love.

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the meaning of this verse as follows: “[Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said to the bee,] ‘You poor messenger, you are only a less intelligent servant. You do not know much about Kṛṣṇa — how ungrateful and hardhearted He has been, not only in this life but in His previous lives also. We have all heard this from our grandmother Paurṇamāsī. She has informed us that Kṛṣṇa was born in a kṣatriya family previous to this birth and was known as Rāmacandra. In that birth, instead of killing Vāli, an enemy of His friend, in the manner of a kṣatriya, He killed him just like a hunter. A hunter takes a secure hiding place and then kills an animal without facing it. So Lord Rāmacandra, as a kṣatriya, should have fought with Vāli face to face, but instigated by His friend, He killed him from behind a tree. Thus He deviated from the religious principles of a kṣatriya. Also, He was so attracted by the beauty of Sītā that He converted Śūrpaṇakhā, the sister of Rāvaṇa, into an ugly woman by cutting off her nose and ears. Śūrpaṇakhā proposed an intimate relationship with Him, and as a kṣatriya He should have satisfied her. But He was so henpecked that He could not forget Sītādevī and converted Śūrpaṇakhā into an ugly woman. Before that birth as a kṣatriya, He took birth as a brāhmaṇa boy known as Vāmanadeva and asked charity from Bali Mahārāja. Bali Mahārāja was so magnanimous that he gave Him whatever he had, yet Kṛṣṇa as Vāmanadeva ungratefully arrested him just like a crow and pushed him down to the Pātāla kingdom. We know all about Kṛṣṇa and how ungrateful He is. But here is the difficulty: in spite of His being so cruel and hardhearted, it is very difficult for us to give up talking about Him.’”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that this speech of Rādhārāṇī’s is called avajalpa, as described by Rūpa Gosvāmī in the following verse from the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.192):

“Saintly persons have concluded that when a lover, impelled by jealousy and fear, declares that Lord Hari is unworthy of her attachment because of His harshness, lustiness and dishonesty, such speech is called avajalpa.”

Material duality is based on falsely thinking, “This is mine, and that is yours,” or “This is our country, and that is yours,” or “This is my family, and that is yours,” and so on. In fact, there is one Absolute Truth, in which we all exist and to whom everything belongs. His beauty and pleasure are also absolute and infinite, and if one actually hears about this Absolute Truth, called Kṛṣṇa, one’s dedication to the illusion of mundane duality is spoiled.

According to the ācāryas, and certainly in accord with Sanskrit grammar, the last two words of the second line of this text may also be divided dharma-avinaṣṭāḥ. Then the entire line becomes part of a single compound, the meaning of which is that hearing about Kṛṣṇa cleanses one of irreligious duality and thus one is not vanquished (avinaṣṭa) by material illusion. The word dīnāḥ is then given the alternate reading of dhīrāḥ, meaning that one becomes spiritually sober and thus gives up attachment to fleeting material relationships. The word vihaṅgāḥ, “birds,” would in this case refer to swans, the symbol of essential discrimination.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī quotes Rūpa Gosvāmī as follows in connection with this verse:

“When a lover indirectly states with remorse that her beloved is fit to be given up, such speech, uttered like the plaintive crying of a bird, is called abhijalpa.” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.194)

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī categorizes this statement of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s as ājalpa, as defined by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:

“A statement spoken in disgust, describing how the male lover is deceitful and brings one misery, and also implying that He gives happiness to others, is known as ājalpa.” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.196)

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the context of this verse: “While Rādhārāṇī was talking with the bee and the bee was flying hither and thither, it all of a sudden disappeared from Her sight. She was in full mourning due to separation from Kṛṣṇa and felt ecstasy by talking with the bee. But as soon as the bee disappeared, She became almost mad, thinking that the messenger-bee might have returned to Kṛṣṇa to inform Him all about Her talking against Him. ‘Kṛṣṇa must be very sorry to hear it,’ She thought. In this way She was overwhelmed by another type of ecstasy.

“In the meantime, the bee, flying hither and thither, appeared before Her again. She thought, ‘Kṛṣṇa is still kind to Me. In spite of the messenger’s carrying disruptive messages, He is so kind that He has again sent the bee to take Me to Him.’ Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was very careful this time not to say anything against Kṛṣṇa.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the goddess of fortune, Śrī, has the power to assume many different forms. Thus when Kṛṣṇa enjoys other women, she stays on His chest in the form of a golden line. When He is not consorting with other women, she puts aside this form and gives Him pleasure in Her naturally beautiful form of a young woman.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, this statement of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s expresses pratijalpa, as described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:

“When the lover humbly states that although she is unworthy of attaining her beloved she cannot give up hoping for a conjugal relationship with Him, such words, spoken with respect for her beloved’s message, are called pratijalpa.” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.198)

Here Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has given up Her harsh feelings and humbly acknowledges the greatness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

The translation and word meanings for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 6.68).

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes very poetically, with deep spiritual insight, about the emotions expressed in this and the previous nine verses. He interprets Rādhārāṇī’s feelings as follows:

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī thought, “Since Kṛṣṇa was once satisfied in Vraja but left for Mathurā City, won’t He also develop a desire to leave that place and go somewhere else? Mathurā is so close to Vṛndāvana that it’s possible He may even come back here.

“Kṛṣṇa is the son of a respectable gentleman, Nanda Mahārāja, so He must be staying in Mathurā because of His sense of obligation to His father, who authorized His going there. On the other hand, while Nanda’s whole life is dedicated exclusively to Kṛṣṇa, Nanda is so innocent that he allowed himself to be tricked by the Yadus, who brought Kṛṣṇa to Mathurā. Kṛṣṇa must be thinking, ‘Alas, alas! Since even My father could not bring Me back to Vraja, what can I do to return there?’ Thus Kṛṣṇa must be impatient to come back here, and so He has sent you, a messenger.

“It is only because Nanda is so innocent that he allowed his son to leave. If Nanda had allowed Kṛṣṇa’s mother, the queen of Vraja, to do so, she would have climbed onto Akrūra’s chariot and, holding her son by the neck, gone off to Mathurā with Him, followed by all the gopīs. But this was not possible.

“Ever since Kṛṣṇa left, Nanda has been stunned by separation from Him, and Nanda’s treasury rooms, storehouses, kitchens, sleeping quarters, opulent houses and so on are now vacant. Unswept and uncleansed, they are littered with grass, dust, leaves and cobwebs. Does Kṛṣṇa ever remember His father’s houses? And does He sometimes remember Subala and His other friends, who are now lying stunned in other neglected houses?

“The women in Mathurā who now associate with Kṛṣṇa cannot know how to serve Him in the way that pleases Him most. When they see He is not satisfied and ask how they can make Him happy, does He tell them about us gopīs?

“Kṛṣṇa must tell them, ‘You city ladies cannot please Me as much as the gopīs of Vraja. They are most expert in stringing flower garlands, perfuming their bodies with ointments, playing various rhythms and melodies on stringed instruments, dancing and singing in the rāsa performance, displaying their beauty, charm and cleverness, and skillfully playing at questions and answers. They are especially expert in the pastimes of meeting one’s lover and showing jealous anger and other signs of pure love and affection.’ Surely Kṛṣṇa must know this. Therefore He’ll probably tell the women of Mathurā, ‘My dear women of the Yadu clan, please go back to your families. I no longer desire to associate with you. In fact, I’m going back to Vraja early tomorrow morning.’

“When will Kṛṣṇa speak like this and come back here to place His hand, fragrant with aguru, on our heads? Then He will console us, saying, ‘O beloveds of My heart, I swear to you that I will never abandon you again and go elsewhere. Indeed, I have not been able to find anyone in all the three worlds with even a trace of your good qualities.’”

Thus Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets the feelings of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The ācārya further explains that the present text displays the speech called sujalpa, as described by Rūpa Gosvāmī:

“When, out of honest sincerity, a lover questions Śrī Hari with gravity, humility, unsteadiness and eagerness, such speech is known as sujalpa.” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.200)

Concluding this section of Chapter Forty-seven, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that there are ten divisions of divine madness (divyonmāda), which are expressed by the ten divisions of citra-jalpa, or variegated speech. Such divine madness is shown in the special pastime of bewilderment, which is itself part of the supreme bliss, mahā-bhāva, of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The ācārya quotes the following verses from Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.174, 178-80) to explain these ecstasies:

“It is virtually only within the princess of Vṛndāvana [Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī] that the ecstasy of bewilderment arises. She has attained to a special stage of this bewilderment, a wonderful state that resembles delusion. Known as divyonmāda, it has many aspects, which come and go unsteadily, and one of these manifestations is citra-jalpa. This talk, induced by Her seeing Her beloved’s friend, is filled with covered anger and comprises many different ecstasies. It culminates in Her intense, anxious eagerness.

“This citra-jalpa has ten divisions, known as prajalpa, parijalpa, vijalpa, ujjalpa, sañjalpa, avajalpa, abhijalpa, ājalpa, pratijalpa and sujalpa.”

Finally, some authorities say that Kṛṣṇa Himself, eager to drink the sweetness of His beloved’s speech, assumed the form of the messenger bee.

Although other devotees have certainly surrendered their minds unto the Lord, the gopīs are unique in the intensity of their love.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains the processes described here as follows. Dāna: donations given to Lord Viṣṇu and His devotees. Vrata: observing vows such as Ekādaśī. Tapas: renunciation of sense gratification for Kṛṣṇa’s sake. Homa: fire sacrifices dedicated to Viṣṇu. Japa: privately chanting the holy names of the Lord. Svādhyāya: study and recitation of Vedic texts such as the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad.

The term pravartitā indicates that the gopīs brought to this world a standard of pure love of God that was previously unknown on the earth. Thus Uddhava congratulates them on their unparalleled contribution to the religious life.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the gopīs gave up their sense of possessiveness toward these objects. History shows that the gopīs remained in Vṛndāvana, living in their houses with their families. However, unlike ordinary persons, they entirely renounced the egoistical sense of possession of sons, husbands and so on. They never tried to enjoy them but rather gave their whole heart and mind to the Supreme Lord, as recommended in the great religious scriptures of the world. Following the example of the gopīs, we should love the Supreme Lord with all of our heart, soul and might.

The gopīs showed not only Uddhava but the whole world the joy of love of Godhead, and thus they bestowed their mercy on everyone. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, because their loving devotion was executed in an appropriate way, their love brought the Supreme Lord under their control. Still, to show the intensity of their love, He apparently left them. But now He again manifested Himself among them, becoming spiritually present through their intense devotion.

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the apparently philosophical language of the Lord’s statement conceals a deeper meaning. The Supreme Lord was secretly telling the gopīs that He, by way of reciprocating their special love for Him, was present with them, not only as the Soul of all creation but also as their special lover. In this sense of the verse, the word guṇa indicates the gopīs’ special divine qualities, which attracted Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the word sarvātmanā, which we have here translated in reference to Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself (corresponding to the word me, which is also in the instrumental case), is also understood in the sense of sarvathā, or “completely.” In other words, although in one sense Lord Kṛṣṇa was absent, He could never be completely absent, since in His spiritual form He is always in the hearts and minds of the gopīs.

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and other books, Śrīla Prabhupāda has elaborately explained that the reason Lord Kṛṣṇa separated Himself from the gopīs was to intensify their love for Him and, as Uddhava noted, to bless other devotees by revealing to them the intensity of the gopīs’ love. In fact, the Lord was spiritually present with the gopīs, since they are His eternal associates.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further points out that foolish persons will conclude that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s use of philosophical language meant that the Lord was trying to bring the gopīs to the point of liberation by explaining basic points of Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy. In truth, the gopīs are the most exalted liberated souls, and their pastimes with Śrī Kṛṣṇa must be understood with the help of authorized ācāryas. When the gopīs came for the rāsa dance, Śrī Kṛṣṇa tried to preach karma-yoga to them, emphasizing ordinary ethics and morality, but the gopīs were beyond that. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa now offers them jñāna-yoga, or metaphysical philosophy, but this is also inadequate for the gopīs, who have achieved spontaneous, unalloyed love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Although the Lord is the supreme entity, there is no absolute duality between Him and His creation, since the creation is an extension of His being. This oneness is here emphasized by the Lord.

It is clearly stated here that the soul, ātmā, is constituted of pure knowledge, pure consciousness, and is thus ontologically distinct from the material nature. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that the word ātmā may also be taken to mean “the Supreme Soul, Lord Kṛṣṇa.” Since the Lord has just explained in the previous verses that all material phenomena are expansions of Himself, the phrase māyā-vṛttibhir īyate indicates that by studying this world deeply we will come to the perception of God. From this point of view also, the gopīs were advised not to lament.

The verb pratipad means “to be perceived or restored.” The soul that is vinidra, free from the dreamlike condition of material consciousness, is restored to its constitutional position as an eternal servitor of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus the soul is directly perceived by pure consciousness.

Here the Lord states that all Vedic literature is meant ultimately to bring the soul to the point of controlling the mind and senses and fixing them in transcendental self-realization. Thus processes of so-called yoga, mysticism or religion that involve unrestricted sense gratification are not actually spiritual processes but rather convenient ways for foolish people to justify their beastly behavior.

Lord Kṛṣṇa here assures the gopīs that by fixing their minds in self-realization, they will realize their spiritual oneness with the Lord. Thus they will no longer suffer the pangs of separation.

Sometimes that which is close to our eyes is far from our heart and mind, and conversely absence makes the heart grow fonder. Although apparently going far away from the gopīs, Lord Kṛṣṇa was bringing them closer to Him on the spiritual platform.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the same holds true for men, who become more absorbed in thinking of a beloved woman when she is far away than when she is present before their eyes.

The name Gadāgraja indicates Kṛṣṇa, the elder brother (agraja) of Gada, the first son of Devarakṣitā. She was a sister of Devakī’s who was also married to Vasudeva. The gopīs, by addressing Kṛṣṇa in this way, indicate that He now thinks of Himself mostly as the son of Devakī, the implication being that His connection with Vṛndāvana has now slackened. Because of intense love, the gopīs could not stop thinking of Kṛṣṇa for a moment.

According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, each of these verses is spoken by a different gopī.

The gopīs were so completely in love with Kṛṣṇa, without selfish motive, that even in their great disappointment they never considered giving their love to another. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets their feelings as follows.

The gopīs might say, “Surely Kṛṣṇa has abandoned us because we deserve to be abandoned. Indeed, we are the most insignificant women in the world and have been rejected after having been enjoyed. Still, do we sometimes enter into His memory on account of some good quality of ours, or even because of something we did wrong? Kṛṣṇa must speak very freely with the city women. He and they must sing, joke, make riddles and talk about so many things. Does Kṛṣṇa ever say, ‘My dear city women, your sophisticated singing and speech is unknown to the gopīs in My home village. They couldn’t understand these things.’ Does He ever speak about us even in that way?”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives the following deep realization about this verse: “The gopīs knew that no place could be as beautiful as Vṛndāvana. Nowhere else in the universe could one find such a charming scene as the Vṛndāvana forest, which was scented with pious flowers and illumined by the full moon’s light reflected from the serene waves of the sacred Yamunā River. No one loved Kṛṣṇa as much as the gopīs, and thus no one else could understand Him as well. The gopīs rendered intimate service to Kṛṣṇa that only they could perfect. Thus the gopīs were distraught to think that Lord Kṛṣṇa was bereft of Vṛndāvana and bereft of their service. Free of all material lust, they were overwhelmed with disappointment because they could not give Kṛṣṇa happiness by their loving service. They simply could not imagine Kṛṣṇa enjoying anywhere else as He did in Vṛndāvana in their company.”

Although the gopīs lamented that Kṛṣṇa was associating with the city women in Mathurā, they now realize that as the absolute Personality of Godhead, He has no need for any women. It is out of His causeless mercy that He awards His association to His loving devotees.

The story of Piṅgalā is narrated in the Eleventh Canto, Eighth Chapter, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī presents the following insight into this scene: Someone might propose to the gopīs, “Why don’t you just go somewhere else? Leave Vṛndāvana, and then you won’t have to see these rivers, mountains and forests. Cover your eyes with your garments, use your intelligence to lead your minds to some other thought, and thus forget Kṛṣṇa.” The gopīs answer this suggestion in the previous verse by stating, “We no longer possess our intelligence, for Kṛṣṇa has taken it away by His supreme beauty and charm.”

Now in the present verse the feelings of the gopīs become so strong that they disregard Uddhava and, turning toward Mathurā, address Kṛṣṇa Himself with humble cries. They address Kṛṣṇa as Vrajanātha because in the past young Kṛṣṇa performed many inconceivable pastimes to protect His beloved village people, such as lifting Govardhana Hill and destroying many monstrous demons. In this heartrending verse, the gopīs cry out to Kṛṣṇa to remember the wonderful, sweet relationship they once enjoyed together as innocent village people. Indeed, Śrī Kṛṣṇa would lovingly take care of His father’s cows, and the gopīs appealed to Him to remember these duties and return so He could resume them.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that the words jñatvātmānam adhokṣajam also indicate that the gopīs recognize Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the very soul of their lives and thus spiritually one with them.

The great ācārya Jīva Gosvāmī comments in this regard that Uddhava, during his stay in Vṛndāvana, certainly took special care to enliven Kṛṣṇa’s foster parents, Nanda and Yaśodā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī points out that as Uddhava wandered about Vṛndāvana, he reminded Vraja’s residents of Kṛṣṇa by asking them questions about the pastimes the Lord had performed in each of these places, namely the rivers, forests, mountains and valleys. Thus Uddhava himself enjoyed great transcendental bliss in their association.

Viklava, “mental disturbance,” should not be confused here with ordinary material distress. It is clearly stated that Uddhava was supremely pleased, and he felt this way because he saw that the gopīs had attained the highest state of loving ecstasy. Uddhava was an exalted member of the court in Dvārakā, an important minister in world political affairs, and yet he felt the spiritual urge to offer his obeisances to the glorious gopīs, although externally they were mere cowherd girls in an insignificant village called Vṛndāvana. Thus, to explain his feelings he sang the following verses. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states that Uddhava sang these verses daily while he was in Vṛndāvana.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that here the term brahma-janmabhiḥ, “brahminical births,” refers to the threefold birth by (1) seminal parenthood, (2) sacred-thread initiation and (3) sacrificial initiation. These cannot compare to pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The use of the word kva in the first two lines indicates a sharp contrast between apparently incompatible items, in this case the apparently insignificant and even impure position of the gopīs, mentioned in the first line, and their attainment of the highest perfection of life, mentioned in the second. In this regard Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī describes three types of adulterous women. The first is a woman who enjoys both her husband and a lover, being faithful to neither. Both ordinary society and the scriptures condemn this conduct. The second type of adulterous woman is she who abandons her husband to enjoy only with her lover. Society and the scriptures also condemn this behavior, although such a fallen woman may be said to at least have the good quality of dedicating herself to a single man. The last kind of adulterous woman is she who abandons her husband and enjoys in the attitude of being a lover of the Supreme Lord alone. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that although foolish, common people criticize this position, such behavior is commended by those who are wise in spiritual science. Therefore learned members of society and the revealed scriptures praise such single-minded devotion to the Lord. Such was the gopīs’ behavior. Thus the term vyabhicāra-duṣṭāḥ, “corrupted by deviation,” indicates the apparent resemblance between the gopīs’ behavior and that of ordinary adulterous women.

The word meanings and translation for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 8.80).

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments as follows: Lord Kṛṣṇa, the best of all avatāras, exists on the highest platform of purity and morality, and thus He always remained praiseworthy by all, even while accepting worldly criticism for His cow-tending, wandering in the forest, taking meals with young monkeys, stealing yogurt, seducing other men’s wives, and so on. Similarly, the gopīs, who are constituted of the Lord’s pleasure potency, achieved the highest standard of purity and auspiciousness, even in comparison to the goddesses of fortune, and thus the gopīs are supremely glorious, even though they were criticized by worldly people because they were mere cowherd women living in the forest and behaving in an apparently improper way.

The word meanings and translation for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 7.47).

Śrī Uddhava here shows the perfect Vaiṣṇava attitude of humility. He does not pray to be equal to the gopīs in their exalted stage of love, but rather to take birth as a bush or creeper in Vṛndāvana so that when they walk upon him he will get the dust of their feet and thus be blessed. The shy gopīs would never agree to give such blessings to a great personality like Uddhava; therefore he cleverly sought to get such mercy by taking birth as a plant in Vṛndāvana.

Śrī Uddhava, having established the glories of the gopīs in the previous verses, now directly offers his obeisances to them. According to the Śrī Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī, Śrī Uddhava did not offer such respect even to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s queens in Dvārakā.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī points out that Nanda and the cowherd men did not approach Uddhava as a formality, but rather out of spontaneous affection for a dear friend of Kṛṣṇa’s.

The residents of Vṛndāvana were firmly convinced that even if they could not have direct association with their beloved Kṛṣṇa, they would never be indifferent to Him. They were all topmost pure devotees of the Lord.

The word kṛṣṇa-pālitām indicates that even though Uddhava became quite attached to the land of Vṛndāvana, he returned to Mathurā because Śrī Kṛṣṇa was personally displaying His transcendental pastimes there.