गोपीषु च सदा तासु प्रत्येकं कोटिकोटिषु ।
परा प्रीतिः कृपासक्तिरपि सा तस्य वीक्ष्यते ॥ …
तत्रापि यां प्रति प्रेमविशेषोऽस्य यदेक्ष्यते ।
तदा प्रतीयते कृष्णास्यैषैव नितरां प्रिया ॥
सर्वास्तदुचितां तास्तु क्रीडासुखपरम्पराम् ।
सर्वदानुभवन्त्योऽपि मन्यन्ते प्रेम न प्रभोः ॥
प्रत्येकं चिन्तयन्त्येवमहो किं भविता कियत् ।
सौभाग्यं मम येन स्यां कृष्णस्याधमदास्यपि ॥
अहो स्वामिन्गभीरोऽयं दुस्तर्को महतामपि ।
गाढप्रेमरसावेशस्वभावमहिमाद्भुतः ॥
gopīṣu ca sadā tāsu pratyekaṁ koṭi-koṭiṣu |
parā prītiḥ kṛpāsaktir api sā tasya vīkṣyate || …
tatrāpi yāṁ prati prema-viśeṣo’sya yadekṣyate |
tadā pratīyate kṛṣṇāsyaiṣaiva nitarāṁ priyā ||
sarvās tad-ucitāṁ tās tu krīḍā-sukha-paramparām |
sarvadānubhavantyo’pi manyante prema na prabhoḥ ||
pratyekaṁ cintayanty evam aho kiṁ bhavitā kiyat |
saubhāgyaṁ mama yena syāṁ kṛṣṇasyādhama-dāsy api ||
aho svāmin gabhīro’yaṁ dustarko mahatām api |
gāḍha-prema-rasāveśa-svabhāva-mahimādbhutaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.214, 216–219)
“That paramount love (prīti), grace (kṛpā), and attachment (āsakti) of his towards every one of those crores and crores of gopīs is always observable. … Yet in that regard [i.e., even when he treats all of them as equally dearmost to him], when a special form of his prema is observable [on occasion] towards one [of them in particular], then by all means she alone is regarded [by the rest of them] as dear to Kṛṣṇa. Even though all of them, who are worthy of that [i.e., of the special form of prema Kṛṣṇa expresses whereby one of them in particular is regarded as dearmost to him], constantly experience a succession of the bliss of play [with him], they do not conceive of Prabhu’s prema [i.e., they do not actually think, ‘I am dearmost to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’]. Every one of them thinks [i.e., desires] thus, ‘Aho! Will some little good fortune to me whereby I can become even a lowly maidservant of Kṛṣṇa?’ Aho! Svāmī! [i.e., O Lord!] This greatness the nature of which is absorption in the rasa of intense prema is difficult to comprehend even for mahats, deep, and astonishing.”
Commentary
tāsāṁ tasmin prema-parīpāka-niṣṭhā-viśeṣaṁ darśayati—sarvā iti dvābhyām | … evaṁ gopāḥ kadācid ātmānaṁ śrī-kṛṣṇasya dāsa-varaṁ parama-priyatamam api manyeran, ataḥ sva-saubhāgya-viśeṣaṁ ca bhāvayanti, kintu paraṁ prema-viśeṣa-svabhāvato mano’tṛptyā bhagavati vividha-tṛṣṇāṁ vahanti | gopyaḥ parama-prema-niṣṭhayā sadaivātṛpti-viśeṣeṇa parama-dīnatāṁ gatāḥ | kadācid ātmānam adhamāṁ dāsīm api manyamānāḥ kevalaṁ tad-dāsya-mātrāya saubhāgyam evecchantīti gopebhyo gopīnāṁ bhāva-viśeṣo draṣṭavya iti dik | yadyapi śrī-vaikuṇṭha-pārṣadādīnām api bhakti-svabhāvena śrī-bhagavac-caraṇāravinda-bhajanānandādau tṛptir nāsty eva, tathāpi parama-śaktimataḥ śrī-bhagavataḥ kṛpā-bharo’smāsu sarveṣv eva nirviśeṣatayā vidyata iti teṣāṁ pratyekaṁ pratibhātīty evaṁ śrī-goloka-vartibhyo bhedo draṣṭavyaḥ | nanv evaṁ sarvato’dhikataraṁ śrī-kṛṣṇasya tat-tat-kāruṇya-viśeṣaṁ nirantaraṁ sākṣād anubhavatām api teṣāṁ kathaṁ tādṛśo bhāvaḥ sambhavet? tatrāha—aho iti āścarye |
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“He shows the special form of the full-fledged fixity (niṣṭhā) of their prema for him: sarvāḥ … [i.e., he speaks BB 2.6.217–218]. … In this way, the cowherds (gopas) may sometimes consider themselves the best servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and supremely dearmost [to him]. Thus, they also conceive of their own special fortune yet thereafter [continue to] feel desire of various types for Bhagavān because of the non-satiation of their minds on account of the nature of the special form of prema [they have for Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. The gopīs, who are situated in a state of paramount humility (dīnatā) by virtue of a special form of verily constant non-satiation on account of the fixity of their paramount prema [for Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa], sometimes, while considering themselves even lowly maidservants [of Śrī Kṛṣṇa], only desire specifically the fortune of pure servitude (dāsya) to him [i.e., they don’t even desire to be regarded by him as his dearest lover or friend]. Thus, the special nature of the gopīs’ bhāva in comparison to the cowherds (gopas) is to be observed. This is the direction. Although there is certainly no satiation in regard to the bliss and so forth of worship of the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān on the part of even the companions [of Śrī Bhagavān] in blessed Vaikuṇṭha on account of the nature of [their] bhakti, still it appears to all of them, ‘There is non-discriminately an abundance of the grace of Śrī Bhagavān, who is possessed of paramount potency (śakti), verily upon all of us.’ Thus, in this way a distinction in comparison to the residents of blessed Goloka is to be observed [i.e., the residents of Vaikuṇṭha all feel that they all equal receive an abundance of Śrī Bhagavān’s grace, whereas the gopas in Goloka sometimes feel that they personally are the dearmost of all to Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, who are indeed supremely dearmost to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, feel themselves to be only lowly maidservants of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and long just for the fortune of rendering such service by virtue of the paramount humility they are ornamented on account of their paramount prema for and dearness to Śrī Kṛṣṇa].
“[A question is raised:] ‘Well, how is such a bhāva on their [i.e., the gopīs’] part possible even when they in this way constantly and directly experience this particuilar special form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s graciousness that is greater than all others [i.e., all other expressions of his grace]? To that, he says aho … [i.e., he speaks this verse]. [The particle] Aho is [expressed] in the sense of amazement. [This greatness of the gopīs’ bhāva the nature of which is absorption in the rasa of intense prema is] ‘Difficult to comprehend’ (dustarkaḥ), meaning, unable to be comprehended even with difficulty, even for mahats since it is ‘deep‘ (gambhīraḥ), meaning, infinite, and ‘astonishing’ (adbhutaḥ), that is, otherworldly, or, beyond all functions of all faculties [i.e., beyond the scope of what the mind and senses can grasp].”