The Gopīs Glorify the Song of Kṛṣṇa’s Flute (veṇu-gīta)

TRANSLATION

The clouds, having given up all they possessed, shone forth with purified effulgence, just like peaceful sages who have given up all material desires and are thus free of all sinful propensities.

COMMENTARY

As munis become purified by giving up all sinful propensities (mukta-kilbiṣāḥ) and material desires (tyaktaiṣaṇāḥ) to attain sons, wealth and followers, similarly after expelling all their rain, the clouds become pure and white in color. This is a positive analogy.

 

|| 10.20.36 ||

girayo mumucus toyaṁ kvacin na mumucuḥ śivam

yathā jñānāmṛtaṁ kāle jñānino dadate na vā

TRANSLATION

During this season the mountains sometimes released their pure water and sometimes did not, just as experts in transcendental science sometimes give the nectar of transcendental knowledge and sometimes do not.

COMMENTARY

Jñānāmṛtaṁ here refers to teachings about the Supreme Lord, and jñāninaḥ means experts in devotional wisdom such as Nārada, Prahlāda and Jaḍa Bharata. They gave knowledge to the hunter, Rahūgaṇa, and the children of the demons but not to others. They give to those fortunate souls who desire to know. In a similar way, in autumn the clear water from the mountains only flows in some canals.

 

|| 10.20.37 ||

naivāvidan kṣīyamāṇaṁ jalaṁ gādha-jale-carāḥ

yathāyur anv-ahaṁ kṣayyaṁ narā mūḍhāḥ kuṭumbinaḥ

TRANSLATION

The fish swimming in the increasingly shallow water did not at all understand that the water was diminishing, just as foolish family men cannot see how the time they have left to live is diminishing with every passing day.

COMMENTARY

As an ignorant man attached to his family does not realize that his lifespan is decreasing at every moment, foolish fish play in the shallow water, not realizing that it is decreasing at every moment. This is a negative analogy.

 

|| 10.20.38 ||

gādha-vāri-carās tāpam avindañ charad-arka-jam

yathā daridraḥ kṛpaṇaḥ kuṭumby avijitendriyaḥ

TRANSLATION

Just as a miserly, poverty-stricken person overly absorbed in family life suffers because he cannot control his senses, the fish swimming in the shallow water had to suffer the heat of the autumn sun.

COMMENTARY

As a poor man suffers while supporting a large family, so the fish in scarce water must endure the painful heat of the autumn sun. In the previous verse a wealthy family man was described, whereas here the negative effects of a poor family man are described. Or this verse can be taken to refer to the suffering of the attached family man mentioned in the previous verse.

 

|| 10.20.39 ||

śanaiḥ śanair jahuḥ paṅkaṁ sthalāny āmaṁ ca vīrudhaḥ

yathāhaṁ-mamatāṁ dhīrāḥ śarīrādiṣv anātmasu

TRANSLATION

Gradually the different areas of land gave up their muddy condition and the plants grew past their unripe stage, in the same way that sober sages give up egotism and possessiveness. These are based on things different from the real self—namely, the material body and its by-products.

COMMENTARY

As the intelligent person gives up everything unrelated to the soul (anātmasu), the Paramātmā and Kṛṣṇa, namely the body, false ego and possessiveness, and tries to develop attachment to Kṛṣṇa, so the fields give up their muddy condition and plants give up their unripe state.

 

|| 10.20.40 ||

niścalāmbur abhūt tūṣṇīṁ samudraḥ śarad-āgame

ātmany uparate samyaṅ munir vyuparatāgamaḥ

TRANSLATION

With the arrival of autumn, the ocean and the lakes became silent, their water still, just like a sage who has desisted from all material activities and given up his recitation of Vedic mantras.

COMMENTARY

As the sage with a motionless mind stops chanting the Vedas (vyuparata āgamaḥ), with the coming of autumn, the lakes and ocean become motionless and stop roaring. This refers to a place called Satovasa, west of Mathurā. This is a positive comparison.

 

|| 10.20.41 ||

kedārebhyas tv apo ’gṛhṇan karṣakā dṛḍha-setubhiḥ

yathā prāṇaiḥ sravaj jñānaṁ tan-nirodhena yoginaḥ

TRANSLATION

In the same way that the practitioners of yoga bring their senses under strict control to check their consciousness from flowing out through the agitated senses, the farmers erected strong mud banks to keep the water within their rice fields from draining out.

COMMENTARY

The farmer keeps the water lying in the fields after the rainy season from running out with dykes, just as the yogi controls his senses to prevent his consciousness from flowing out due to agitation of the senses. This is a positive comparison.

 

|| 10.20.42 ||

śarad-arkāṁśu-jāṁs tāpān bhūtānām uḍupo ’harat

dehābhimāna-jaṁ bodho mukundo vraja-yoṣitām

TRANSLATION

The autumn moon relieved all creatures of the suffering caused by the sun’s rays, just as wisdom relieves a person of the misery caused by his identifying with his material body and as Lord Mukunda relieves Vṛndāvana’s ladies of the distress caused by their separation from Him.

COMMENTARY

As knowledge takes away the suffering arising from bodily identification, as Mukunda takes away the suffering of the women of Vraja, so the rising moon takes away the heat of the mid-day sun.

 

|| 10.20.43 ||

kham aśobhata nirmeghaṁ śarad-vimala-tārakam

sattva-yuktaṁ yathā cittaṁ śabda-brahmārtha-darśanam

TRANSLATION

Free of clouds and filled with clearly visible stars, the autumn sky shone brilliantly, just like the spiritual consciousness of one who has directly experienced the purport of the Vedic scriptures.

COMMENTARY

As the heart which directly experiences (darśanam) conclusive Vedic wisdom (sabda-brahmārtha) is endowed with spiritual goodness (sattva yuktaṁ) and shines brilliantly, so the moon and stars shine brightly in the cloudless sky of autumn. The sky is compared to the heart, the absence of clouds is compared to excellence, and the autumn season is compared to the Vedas. The stars are compared to niṣkāma karma, jñāna-yoga and tapa-yoga. And the moon, the leader of all the stars, is compared to bhakti. This is a positive comparison.

 

|| 10.20.44 ||

akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalo vyomni rarājoḍu-gaṇaiḥ śaśī

yathā yadu-patiḥ kṛṣṇo vṛṣṇi-cakrāvṛto bhuvi

TRANSLATION

The full moon shone in the sky, surrounded by stars, just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the Yadu dynasty, shone brilliantly on the earth, surrounded by all the Vṛṣṇis.

COMMENTARY

The full moon (akhaṇḍa maṇḍala) is compared to svayaṁ bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the full manifestation of the Absolute Truth. As the Lord of the Yadus (yadu-patiḥ), Kṛṣṇa was surrounded by prominent members (vṛṣṇi-cakra) of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty such as Nanda, Upananda, Vasudeva and Akrūra, who are compared to the stars in the sky. This comparison is favorable for meditation.

 

|| 10.20.45 ||

āśliṣya sama-śītoṣṇaṁ prasūna-vana-mārutam

janās tāpaṁ jahur gopyo na kṛṣṇa-hṛta-cetasaḥ

TRANSLATION

Except for the gopīs, whose hearts had been stolen by Kṛṣṇa, the people could forget their suffering by embracing the wind coming from the flower-filled forest. This wind was neither hot nor cold.

COMMENTARY

The wind of the autumn is neither hot nor cold (sama śītoṣṇa). By embracing this wind everyone felt relief from the heat, except the gopīs, who were burning in the pain of separation from Kṛṣṇa. Instead of decreasing their suffering, it increased it. Authorities explain the sequence of analogies in this verse as follows: Just like the gopīs, whose hearts had been stolen by Kṛṣṇa, could not embrace Him to reclaim their hearts, so the general masses did embrace the wind to get relief from the heat.

 

|| 10.20.46 ||

gāvo mṛgāḥ khagā nāryaḥ puṣpiṇyaḥ śaradābhavan

anvīyamānāḥ sva-vṛṣaiḥ phalair īśa-kriyā iva

TRANSLATION

By the influence of the autumn season, all the cows, doe, women and female birds became fertile and were followed by their respective mates in search of sexual enjoyment, just as activities performed for the service of the Supreme Lord are automatically followed by all beneficial results.

COMMENTARY

The cows, doe and female birds, though unwilling, were forcibly engaged in copulation by their respective mates (sva vṛṣaiḥ) and became pregnant. This is compared to the worship of the Lord (īsa-kriyā), which, though performed without desire for results, yields many material results such as happiness and enjoyment.

 

|| 10.20.47 ||

udahṛṣyan vārijāni sūryotthāne kumud vinā

rājñā tu nirbhayā lokā yathā dasyūn vinā nṛpa

TRANSLATION

O King Parīkṣit, when the autumn sun rose, all the lotus flowers blossomed happily, except the night-blooming kumut, just as in the presence of a strong ruler everyone becomes fearless, except the thieves.

COMMENTARY

The night-blooming lotus flowers (kumud) are compared to thieves (dasyūn). This idea comes from the syllable ku, which means low class, and mud, which means joy. Low class fellows like thieves find pleasure at night by stealing. Just as all people except the thieves are happy when a powerful king sits on the throne, when the sun rises in the morning, all the lotuses are happy and bloom, except the night blooming lotus.

 

|| 10.20.48 ||

pura-grāmeṣv āgrayaṇair indriyaiś ca mahotsavaiḥ

babhau bhūḥ pakva-śaṣyāḍhyā kalābhyāṁ nitarāṁ hareḥ

TRANSLATION

In all the towns and villages people held great festivals, performing the Vedic fire sacrifice for honoring and tasting the first grains of the new harvest, along with similar celebrations that followed local custom and tradition. Thus the earth, rich with newly grown grain and especially beautified by the presence of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, shone beautifully as an expansion of the Supreme Lord.

COMMENTARY

The word āgrayaṇaih refers to a Vedic sacrifice called Navānna, wherein the freshly harvested grains are offered to the Deity in the temple. The Smṛti scriptures say the Navānna ceremony should not be performed on nanda-tithi, while Viṣṇu is sleeping during Cāturmāsya, during the waning phase of the moon (kṛṣṇa-pakṣa), or during the months of Kārtika and Pauṣa. The Navānna ceremony occurs in Agrahāyaṇa month (Mārgaśīrṣa, Nov.-Dec.) just after Utthana Ekādaśī. However, because it takes place right after the autumn season it is said to take place during the autumn. The word indriyaiś refers to sacrifices for Indra to satisfy the senses.

 

This description took place before the year in which Kṛṣṇa stopped Indra’s worship. Just as the earth (bhūḥ), a potency (kalā-śakti) of Lord Hari (hareḥ), shown beautifully by the presence of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma (abhyāṁ), so the earth became resplendent with the festivals of Navānna and the worship of Indra in the villages. The word hareḥ also means moon, so kalābhyāṁ hareḥ means by the phases of the moon. Just as the earth became splendid with the festivals held by the king celebrating the phases of the moon on the first and second tithis of the waxing moon as it rose in the evening, so the earth became beautified with the many festivals held in the villages.

 

|| 10.20.49 ||

vaṇiṅ-muni-nṛpa-snātā nirgamyārthān prapedire

varṣa-ruddhā yathā siddhāḥ sva-piṇḍān kāla āgate

TRANSLATION

The merchants, sages, kings and Brahmācārī students, kept in by the rain, were at last free to go out and attain their desired objects, just as those who achieve perfection in this life can, when the proper time comes, leave the material body and attain their respective forms.

COMMENTARY

The merchants, sages, kings and students, who were confined to their rooms by the rain, left when the rain stopped (varsa ruddhā) and attained their desired goals (arthān), namely money, independence, power and knowledge. This resembles realized transcendentalists (siddhāḥ) who, at the time of death (kāle), attain forms (piṇḍān) like the eternal associates of the Lord (sva).

 

Thus ends the commentary on the Twentieth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.

 

Chapter Twenty-one

 

|| 10.21.1 ||

śrī-śuka uvāca

itthaṁ śarat-svaccha-jalaṁ padmākara-sugandhinā

nyaviśad vāyunā vātaṁ sa -go-gopālako ’cyutaḥ