अहो कृष्णरसाविष्टः सदा नामानि कीर्तयेत् ।
कृष्णस्य तत्प्रियाणाञ्च भैष्म्यादीनां गुरुर्मम ॥
गोपीनां वितताद्भुतस्फुटतरप्रेमानलार्चिश्छटा-
दग्धानां किल नामकीर्तनकृतात्तासां विशेषात्स्मृतेः ।
तत्तीक्ष्णज्वलनोच्छिखाग्रकणिकास्पर्शेन सद्यो महा
वैकल्यं स भजन्कदापि न मुखे नामानि कर्तुं प्रभुः ॥
aho kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣṭaḥ sadā nāmāni kīrtayet |
kṛṣṇasya tat-priyāṇāñ ca bhaiṣmyādīnāṁ gurur mama ||
gopīnāṁ vitatādbhuta-sphuṭatara-premānalārciśchaṭā-
dagdhānāṁ kila nāma-kīrtana-kṛtāt tāsāṁ viśeṣāt smṛteḥ |
tat-tīkṣṇa-jvalanocchikhāgra-kaṇikāsparśena sadyo mahā-
vaikalyaṁ sa bhajan kadāpi na mukhe nāmāni kartuṁ prabhuḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.157–158)
“Aho!
My guru,
Absorbed in Kṛṣṇa-rasa,
Can continuously chant
The names of Kṛṣṇa
And his dear ones like Rukmiṇī.
Immediately undergoing intense overwhelmment
[However]
At the touch of the sparks
From the tips of the high flames
Of that searing fire which arises
As a result of special remembrance,
Occasioned by kīrtana of the names,
Of they who are burned
By the myriad of flames of the fire
Of their vast, astonishing, full-blown prema—
He is never able to utter with his mouth
The names of the gopīs.”
Commentary
astu tāvat tāsāṁ māhātmyaṁ kīrtanīyam iti nāmāpi viśeṣeṇa grahītum aśakyaṁ nija-jīvanaika-kāraṇa-śrī-bhagavat-kīrtanādi-vicchedaka-prema-vaivaśya-viśeṣa-śaṅkayety āśayenāha—aho iti dvābhyām | kṛṣṇasya nāmāni tasya priyāṇāṁ rukmiṇy-ādīnām api nāmāni mama guruḥ śrī-bādarāyaṇiḥ sadā kīrtayet | tatra hetuḥ—kṛṣṇe rasaḥ anurāgaḥ kṛṣṇa-rūpo vā yo rasaḥ paramānanda-viśeṣaḥ, tena āviṣṭo’bhibhūtaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[Śrī Parīkṣit Mahārāja speaks to his mother Uttarā:] ‘Let alone their [i.e., the gopīs’] greatness being able to be praised [by me], out of fear of becoming deeply overwhelmed by prema that is disruptive of praising and so forth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, he who is the sole cause of my own life, even their [i.e., the gopīs’] names are not able to be taken specifically [by me].’ With this intent, he speaks with two [verses]: aho … [i.e., he speaks BB 1.7.157–158). My guru, Śrī Bādarāyaṇi [i.e., Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmīpāda], can continuously chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and the names of his dear ones like Rukmiṇī. The cause in this regard is that he is absorbed (āviṣṭaḥ), that is, overpowered, by rasa—deep attachment (rāga)—for Kṛṣṇa, or, by the rasa—the special form of paramount bliss—the form of which is Kṛṣṇa. He is never able (prabhuḥ), however, to utter (kartum) with his mouth the names of the gopīs—Śrī Rādhā, Candrāvalī, and so on.”
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda goes on to explain that the cause of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmīpāda’s being unable to utter the names of the gopīs is that he enters a state of being completely overwhelmed (mahāvaikalyaṁ parama-vihvalatāṁ bhajan prāpnuvann) immediately (sadyas), that is, right at the time of uttering the gopīs’ names or remembering them (sadyas tan-nāma-kīrtana-samaye tat-smaraṇa-samaya eva vā). The reason for this is that special, meaning, greater or a unique form of, remembrance of the gopīs occurs as a result of uttering their personal names (tāsāṁ gopīnāṁ nāma-saṅkīrtanena saṁjñā-viśeṣa-nirdeśena kṛtāt tāsām eva smṛteḥ smaraṇasya viśeṣād ādhikyāt viśiṣṭa-rūpeṇa smaraṇād vā). The gopīs, moreover, are they who are as though burned by prema that is “vast” (vitata), meaning, situated at the apogee of ultimate greatness (vistṛtaḥ parama-mahattā-carama-kāṣṭhā-prāptaḥ), “astonishing” (adbhuta), meaning, extraordinary in comparison to all (sarva-vilakṣaṇaḥ), “full-blown” (sphuṭatara), meaning, fully manifest (parama-prakaṭaḥ), and comparable to a fire because its nature, like fire’s, is highly illuminating and highly capable of causing burning (premā sa eva analaḥ parama-prakāśatva-dāhakatvādi-svabhāvāt). Thus uttering their names and consequently remembering them in special manner is comparable to “the touch of the sparks from the tips of the high flames of a searing fire” (tīkṣṇa-jvalanocchikhāgra-kaṇikā-sparśena). Because Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmīpāda becomes as though completely overwhelmed by the touch of that searing fire, he is unable to utter the gopīs names as he is able to utter the names of Kṛṣṇa’s queens. He thus speaks of the gopīs only in general and not particularly by name in the Tenth Canto (ata eva daśama-skandhe sāmānyenaiva uktir, na tu viśeṣeṇa nāma-grahaṇādinā). It is also not that he opted not to mention the gopīs’ names out of great reverence for them (tan-nāmāgrahaṇaṁ ca parama-gauraveṇety api na mantavyam). Śrī Parīkṣit Mahārāja’s description of his guru as being “absorbed in Kṛṣṇa-rasa” (Kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣtaḥ) negates that (Kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣṭa ity anenaiva tan-nirākaraṇāt), and thus it is rightly said that Śrī Śukapāda did not utter their names specifically because he would become overwhelmed if he did so (tad yuktam uktam—vaikalya-prāptyaiveti).