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ŚB 10.21.12

Devanagari

कृष्णं निरीक्ष्य वनितोत्सवरूपशीलं
श्रुत्वा च तत्‍क्‍वणितवेणुविविक्तगीतम् ।
देव्यो विमानगतय: स्मरनुन्नसारा
भ्रश्यत्प्रसूनकबरा मुमुहुर्विनीव्य: ॥ १२ ॥

Text

kṛṣṇaṁ nirīkṣya vanitotsava-rūpa-śīlaṁ
śrutvā ca tat-kvaṇita-veṇu-vivikta-gītam
devyo vimāna-gatayaḥ smara-nunna-sārā
bhraśyat-prasūna-kabarā mumuhur vinīvyaḥ

Synonyms

kṛṣṇam — Lord Kṛṣṇa; nirīkṣya — observing; vanitā — for all women; utsava — a festival; rūpa — whose beauty; śīlam — and character; śrutvā — hearing; ca — and; tat — by Him; kvaṇita — vibrated; veṇu — of the flute; vivikta — clear; gītam — song; devyaḥ — the wives of the demigods; vimāna-gatayaḥ — traveling in their airplanes; smara — by Cupid; nunna — agitated; sārāḥ — their hearts; bhraśyat — slipping; prasūna-kabarāḥ — the flowers tied in their hair; mumuhuḥ — they became bewildered; vinīvyaḥ — their belts loosening.

Translation

Kṛṣṇa’s beauty and character create a festival for all women. Indeed, when the demigods’ wives flying in airplanes with their husbands catch sight of Him and hear His resonant flute-song, their hearts are shaken by Cupid, and they become so bewildered that the flowers fall out of their hair and their belts loosen.

Purport

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments: “[This verse indicates] that the transcendental sound of the flute of Kṛṣṇa extended to all corners of the universe. Also, it is significant that the gopīs knew about the different kinds of airplanes flying in the sky.”

In fact, even while sitting on the laps of their demigod husbands, the demigoddesses became agitated by hearing the sounds of Kṛṣṇa’s flute. Thus the gopīs thought that they themselves should not be blamed for their ecstatic conjugal attraction for Kṛṣṇa, who after all was a cowherd boy from their own village and thus a natural object of their love. If even demigoddesses became mad after Kṛṣṇa, how could poor, earthly cowherd girls from Kṛṣṇa’s own village avoid having their hearts completely conquered by His loving glances and the sounds of His flute?

The gopīs also considered that the demigods, although noting their wives’ attraction to Kṛṣṇa, did not become envious. The demigods are actually very refined in culture and intelligence, and therefore when flying in their airplanes they regularly take their wives along to see Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs thought, “Our husbands, on the other hand, are envious. Therefore even the inferior deer are better off than we, and the demigoddesses are also very fortunate, whereas we poor human beings in an intermediate position are most unfortunate.”