रूपेण वेषेण रवामृतेन
वंश्याश्च पूर्वानुदितेन विश्वम् ।
सम्मोहितं प्रेमभरेण कृत्स्नं
तिष्ठन्तु दूरे व्रजवासिनस्ते ॥
आकाशयाना विधिरुद्रशक्राः
सिद्धाः शशी देवगणास्तथान्ये ।
गावो वृषा वत्सगणा मृगाश्च
वृक्षाः खगा गुल्मलतास्तृणानि ॥
नद्योऽथ मेघाः सचराः स्थिराश्च
सचेतनाचेतनकाः प्रपञ्चाः ।
प्रेमप्रवाहोत्थविकाररुद्धाः
स्वस्वस्वभावात्परिवृत्तिमापुः ॥
rūpeṇa veṣeṇa ravāmṛtena
vaṁśyāś ca pūrvānuditena viśvam |
sammohitaṁ prema-bhareṇa kṛtsnaṁ
tiṣṭhantu dūre vraja-vāsinas te ||
ākāśa-yānā vidhi-rudra-śakrāḥ
siddhāḥ śaśī deva-gaṇās tathānye |
gāvo vṛṣā vatsa-gaṇā mṛgāś ca
vṛkṣāḥ khagā gulma-latās tṛṇāni ||
nadyo’tha meghāḥ sacarāḥ sthirāś ca
sacetanācetanakāḥ prapañcāḥ |
prema-pravāhottha-vikāra-ruddhāḥ
sva-sva-svabhāvāt parivṛttim āpuḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.110–112)
“By means of my previously unmanifested
Figure, garb, and nectar—the sound of my flute,
The entire world became completely stupefied
By a profusion of prema.
Let those residents of Vraja remain aside.
Vidhi, Rudra, Śakra,
The siddhas, Śaśī, the devas,
And others moving in the sky,
The cows, the bulls, the calves, and the animals,
The trees, the birds, the shrubs, the creepers, and the grass,
The rivers and the clouds,
The mobile and the stationary,
And the sentient and the non-sentient entities
[All] Became seized by transformations
Springing forth from a stream of prema
And underwent a reversal
From their own respective natures.”
Commentary
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda explains in his commentary on these verses that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa states them for the purpose of describing the paramount greatness found specifically in Vraja (idānīṁ tatratya-parama-mahimānam āha—rūpeṇeti tribhiḥ). The mention of his “figure” (rūpa) refers to his beauty (saundarya), of his “garb” (veṣa) refers to his peacock-plume chaplet, guñja berry earrings, and the other ornaments he wears when he is in Vraja (barhāpīḍa-guñjāvataṁsādi-bhūṣaṇa), and of the “nectar” (amṛta) of the sound of his flute to a taste of the most sweet bliss (amṛtaṁ parama-madhurānanda-rasaḥ) that is experienced by hearing that sound. That these were “previously unmanifested” (pūrvānudita) means they are not manifested by Śrī Kṛṣṇa outside of Vraja and thus that Vraja is the most extraordinary of all Śrī Bhagavān’s abodes because these superlative manifestations of his sweetness (mādhurya) are found only in Vraja. That “the entire world became completely stupefied by a profusion of prema” (viśvam sammohitaṁ prema-bhareṇa kṛtsnaṁ) indicates that the stupor they entered was because of their experience of a special, tremendous relish (rasa) superior even to the bliss of Brahman, and not rather, because of māyā, the satisfaction of samādhi, or anything otherwise (prema-bhareṇa brahmānandādhikatareṇa mahārasa-viśeṣeṇa, na tu māyayā samādhi-sukhādinā vā). “Let those residents of Vraja remain aside” (tiṣṭhantu dūre Vraja-vāsinas te) indicates that since even the devas, animals, and so on in Vraja became completely stupefied by a profusion of prema as aforesaid, it goes without saying and is certainly most appropriate that the human beings there, the gopas, gopīs, and so forth, who are well aware of the relish found in the taste (rasa) of unceasing loving attachment to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, would also become completely stupefied by a profusion of prema upon perceiving Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, dress, and flute-song (te nirantara-mad-anurāga-rasāsvāda-vedino Vraja-vāsinaḥ gopa-gopikādayaḥ dūre tiṣṭhantu, te yad-rūpādinā prema-bhareṇa sammohitā bhavanti tad ucitam eva, yad vā kiṁ tad vācyam ity arthaḥ).
Vidhi refers to Brahmā, Rudra to Śiva, Śakra to Indra, and Śaśī to Candra, the devatā of the moon. “Others” (anye) refers to sages, gandharvas, vidyādharas, and others (anye muni-gandharva-vidyādharādayaḥ). That they all became “seized by transformations springing forth from a stream of prema” (prema-pravāhottha-vikāra-ruddhāḥ) indicates that perspiration, trembling, horripilation, and other sāttvika-bhāvas arose in them (vikārāṇāṁ sveda-kampa-pulakādīnāṁ jātaṁ samūho yeṣu tathā-bhūtā santaḥ). That they “underwent a reversal from their own respective natures” (sva-sva-svabhāvāt parivṛttim āpuḥ) indicates that supremely wise persons like Brahmā who move about in the sky touched the ground in Vraja and became stupefied because they could not understand what they were experiencing (ākāśa-gatayo’pi bhūmiṁ spṛśanti sma Brahmādayaḥ parama-jñānavanto’pi aniścita-tattvatayā mohaṁ prāpuḥ), moving entities like cows and other animals entered stationary states as though they had attained samādhi and the bhāva of great jñānīs (gav-ādayaḥ paśu-yonayo jaṅgamāś ca parama-jñāni-bhāvaṁ samādhiṁ prāptā iva gaty-ādi-hānyā sthāvaratāṁ), stationary entities like trees and shrubs entered a state of being mobile as a result of their trembling and so on (vṛkṣa-gulmādayaḥ sthāvarāḥ kampādinā jaṅgama-bhāvam), non-sentient entities like rivers would sometimes stop flowing and would sometimes flow backwards (acetana-jala-vāhinyo nimnagāḥ kadācit stabdha-pravāhatā kadācid utsrotastvam), and the clouds, which would normally move across the sky under the influence of the winds, entered a state of being stationary umbrellas (tatratyākāśa-sambandhino vāyu-vaśagā meghā api sthirātapatrādi-bhāvam). All these and the other descriptions in these verses of transformations in the mode of being of the various entities found in Vraja are drawn from statements of the Vraja-gopīs in the Yugala-gītā, e.g., SB 10.35.14–15 (tatra ca daśama-skandhe pañcatriṁśaikaviṁśādhyāyoktā—‘vividha-gopa-caraṇeṣu vidagdho …’ ity-ādayaḥ ślokā anusartavyāḥ).