tās tu tasya vilāsāṁs tān gāyantyo viviśur vrajam |
dinam ārebhire netuṁ dhyāyantyas tasya saṅgamam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.190)
“They [i.e., the gopīs], however, singing of those pastimes of his, entered Vraja and began to spend the day meditating on his companionship.”
śrī-gopyas tv anugacchantyo bāṣpa-samruddha-kaṇṭhikāḥ |
gānāśaktāḥ skhalat-pādā aśru-dhārāsta-dṛṣṭayaḥ ||
kartuṁ vaktuṁ ca tāḥ kiñcid aśaktā lajjayā bhiyā |
mahāśokārṇave magnās tat-pratikāraṇe’kṣamāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.178–179)
“They—
The blessed gopīs—
However,
Following [him] further,
Their throats choked by weeping,
Unable to sing,
Their feet stumbling,
Their eyes obscured by streams of tears,
Unable to do or even say anything
Because of their shyness and fear,
Became submerged in an ocean of great sorrow
And unable to alleviate it.”
Namaḥ 53–54 in Kṛṣṇa-līlā-stavaḥ
A summary of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.21—the Veṇu-gītā
By Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda
niśamya gītāṁ tad anaṅga-vardhanaṁ
vraja-striyaḥ kṛṣṇa-gṛhīta-mānasāḥ |
ājagmur anyonyam alakṣitodyamāḥ
sa yatra kānto java-lola-kuṇḍalāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.29.4)
“Upon hearing that song [of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s flute] intensifying of kāma [i.e., of prema for Śrī Kṛṣṇa], the women of Vraja, their minds stolen by Kṛṣṇa, their departing [from wherever they were upon hearing the flute’s song] unseen by one another, and their earrings swinging from [the] swiftness [of their running through the forest to meet Kṛṣṇa], arrived where he, their lover, was present.”
tadīya-nāmehita-gāna-tatparā
vicitra-veśāmbara-kānti-bhūṣitāḥ |
ramātisaubhagya-mada-prahārikā
javena kṛṣṇā-taṭam āśrayanta tāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.53)
“Absorbed in singing his names and of his acts,
Adorned with extraordinary ornaments, garments, and embellishments,
And demolishing Ramā’s pride in her great beauty,
They swiftly converged on the bank of the Yamunā.”
viyoge tv adbhutānanda-vivartatvaṁ dadhaty api |
tanoty eṣā pragāḍhārti-bharābhāsatvam ūrjitā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.109)
“In separation [i.e., when a dear one of Kṛṣṇa is separated from him], however, although retaining the nature of being a transformation of astonishing bliss, this powerful [rati] produces the state of a semblance of an abundance of intense distress.”
trailokye pṛthivī dhanyā yatra vṛndāvanaṁ purī |
tatrāpi gopikāḥ pārtha tatra rādhābhidhā mama ||
(Ādi Purāṇa; cited in Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.46; Prīti Sandarbha: 109)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] In the three worlds, the earth [particularly], where the abode of Vṛndāvana is present, is blessed; therein, furthermore, the gopīs [are blessed], O Pārtha, and therein mine [i.e., the gopī most dear to me] by the name of Rādhā [is (most) blessed].”
aprākṛte tu paroḍha-ramaṇī-ratir eva sarvottamatayā bhūyasī śrūyate, na tasyā anaucitya-pravartitattvam alaukikatva-siddher bhūṣaṇam eva na tu dūṣaṇam iti nyāyāt, tarkāgocaratvāc ca, tathā ca ‘alaukikāś ca ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet’ iti ca | vraja-vadhūnāṁ kṛṣṇaikatāna-mānasatvena sva-pati-niṣṭhatvābhāvāt teṣāṁ ca māyā-kalita-tac-chāyānuśīlanena tad-aṅga-saṅgamāt, pratyuta kevalānurāga-mātropādhitayā ceto-rañjakatāyāḥ śuddhatvam eva |
(Alaṅkāra-kaustubha: 5.13)
“In the case of the supramundane [i.e., supramundane rasa], however, love (rati) for a woman married to another is heard to be greater [than love for a wife] on account of [its] being the most excellent of all [types of love]. It’s not being prompted by impropriety is (1) because of the principle that its accomplishment on the basis of otherworldliness is verily an ornament and not rather a fault, (2) because of [its] being beyond the scope of argument (tarka), and (3) because [it is said in Mahābhārata], ‘Do not assess otherworldly states of being [e.g., such otherworldly love] with argumentation;’ on the contrary the veritable purity of that delighter of the heart [i.e., of that supramundane love (rait) which Kṛṣṇa has for a woman married to another] on account of [its] having an adjunct only of pure loving desire (anurāga) is (1) because of the ladies of Vraja’s absence of having attachment to their own husbands by virtue of [their] being of one-pointed mind upon Kṛṣṇa and (2) because of their [i.e., the gopīs’] contact with their [i.e., those husbands’] bodies [having occurred only] by means of lying with a shadow form of themselves fabricated by māyā.”
bhavet saundaryam aṅgānāṁ sanniveśo yathocitam ||
yathā—
mukhaṁ te dīrghākṣaṁ marakata-taṭī-pīvaram uro
bhuja-dvandvaṁ stambha-dyuti suvalitaṁ pārśva-yugalam |
parikṣīṇo madhyaḥ prathima-laharī-hāri jaghanaṁ
na kasyāḥ kaṁsāre harati hṛdayaṁ paṅkaja-dṛśaḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.336–337)
“Formation as is felicitous of the parts and sub-parts [of the body] shall be [called] beauty (saundarya), as [is described] in [the following verse],
‘Your face with wide eyes,
Chest firm like a swathe of emerald,
Two arms like pillars of light,
Flanks finely ridged,
Midsection lean,
And loins captivating with burgeoning waves [of sweetness],
O Enemy of Kaṁsa,
The heart of which lady of lotus eyes
Do [these] not attract?’”
sāmānyataḥ kiñcid idaṁ mayoktaṁ
vaktuṁ viśeṣeṇa na śakyate tat |
premā tu kṛṣṇe vraja-yoṣitāṁ yas
tat-tattvam ākhyātum alaṁ kathaṁ syām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.231)
“This much [about prema] is said by me in general. I am not able to describe that in depth. Indeed how would I be able to describe the essential nature of the prema for Kṛṣṇa of the ladies of Vraja?”
