राधाद्यास्ताः परमभगवत्यस्तु पत्यात्मजादीन्
लोकान्धर्मान्ह्रियमपि परित्यज्य भावं तमाप्ताः ।
येनाजस्रं मधुरकटुकैर्व्याकुलास्तद्विकारै-
र्मुग्धाः किञ्चित्तरुगतिमिता नानुसन्धातुमीशाः ॥
rādhādyās tāḥ parama-bhagavatyas tu paty-ātmajādīn
lokān dharmān hriyam api parityajya bhāvaṁ tam āptāḥ |
yenājasraṁ madhura-kaṭukair vyākulās tad-vikārair
mugdhāḥ kiñcit taru-gatim itā nānusandhātum īśāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.147)
“They, the supremely fortunate Rādhā and company, however, have completely relinquished [their] husbands, sons, and so forth, the worlds [i.e., the prospects of conventional weal in this life on Earth and future lives in other planes such as Svarga], duties, and even shyness and reached to that bhāva by which they become as a result of the pungent and sweet transformations thereof constantly unsettled, bewildered, possessed of the condition of trees [i.e., transfixed], and unable to understand anything.”
Commentary
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda comments that ‘supremely fortunate’ (parama-bhagavatyaḥ) is stated with the intent of indicated that Rādhā and company are superior even to Mahālakṣmī and to Śrī Rukminī and so forth [i.e., the queens of Dvārakā] (parama-bhagavatya iti Mahālakṣmyā api Śrī-Rukmiṇy-ādibhyo’pi ca śreṣṭhyābhiprāyeṇa). ‘Pungent and sweet’ (madhura-kaṭukaiḥ) is stated to indicate that the transformations of the bhāva attained by Rādhā and other gopīs of Vraja is both sweet like nectar and pungent like deadly poison on account of such bhāva’s being a cause of both paramount delight and paramount sorrow (madhurā amṛta-sadṛśāś ca te kaṭukāś ca kāla-kūṭa-sadṛśāś ca parama-harṣa-śoka-pradatvāt taiḥ).
The state stated to be reached by the gopīs in this verse is described by the gopīs themselves in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.35.16–17:
nija-padābja-dalair dhvaja-vajra-
nīrajāṅkuśa-vicitra-lalāmaiḥ |
vraja-bhuvaḥ śamayan khura-todaṁ
varṣma-dhurya-gatir īḍita-veṇuḥ ||
vrajati tena vayaṁ sa-vilāsa-
vīkṣaṇārpita-manobhava-vegāḥ |
kuja-gatiṁ gamitā na vidāmaḥ
kaśmalena kavaraṁ vasanaṁ vā ||
“He with the bodily gate of an elephant
Moves about playing the flute
And relieving from the land of Vraja
The pain from the hoofs [of the cows]
With the petals of the lotuses of his own feet
Bearing the variegated emblems
Of a flag, lightning bolt, lotus, and goad,
And thereby we into whom the mind-born urge [i.e., kāma] is cast
By his playful glances
Enter the condition of [being] trees,
And in confusion,
Are not aware of our braids or garments
[i.e., whether they have fallen down or not].”
Śrī Sanātanapāda concludes his commentary on this verse as follows:
yadyapi gopa-gopī-prabhṛtīnāṁ tatratyānāṁ teṣāṁ svabhāvata eva bhagavati prema-bharo nityaṁ dedīpyate tenaiva kila sadā moho ghaṭeta tathāpi śrī-bhagavad-asādhāraṇa-parama-madhura-māhātmya-bhara-rūpeṇa vaṁśī-vādyenaiva tasyātyanta-vistāraṇena tasyā eva parama-moha-hetutvād atra tan-māhātmya-prasaṅge varṇyata iti dik |
“Although an abundance of prema for Śrī Bhagavān on the part of the gopas, gopīs, and others present there [in Vraja] is always indeed naturally resplendent and just because of it bewilderment (moha) can occur all the time, still because of its [i.e., their abundance of prema’s] verily being a cause of paramount bewilderment as a result of extreme expansion of that [abundance of prema] just by means of the sound of the flute, which is a form of the abundance of the extraordinary and paramount sweet greatness of Śrī Bhagavān, it [i.e., that abundance of prema] is described here in the section of the greatness of that [i.e., of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s flute]. This is the direction.”