Source
Texts:
The
Gopîs' Songs of Separation
Text
1
The
gopîs said: 'By Your birth is the land of Vraja
more and more glorious and does the goddess of fortune reside
there perpetually; indeed o Beloved, may You be seen in all
dirwections, You for whom Your devotees sustain their life airs
in search of You.
The
gopîs said: O beloved, Your birth in the land
of Vraja has made it exceedingly glorious, and thus
Indirâ, the goddess of fortune, always resides here.
It is only for Your sake that we, Your devoted servants,
maintain our lives. We have been searching everywhere for
You, so please show Yourself to us.
Text
2
Not
being here, o Finest of Grace, do You, with the beauty of Your
glance - which excels the exquisite beauty of the heart of the
lotus that so perfectly grew in the pond of autumn - kill us,
the maidservants who gave themselves to You without expecting
anything in return, o Lord of Love; isn't that
murder?
O
Lord of love, in beauty Your glance excels the whorl of the
finest, most perfectly formed lotus within the autumn pond.
O bestower of benedictions, You are killing the maidservants
who have given themselves to You freely, without any price.
Isn't this murder?
Text
3
Time
and again, o Greatest Personality, have we by You been
protected from all the fearsome: from perishing by the water
[of Kâliya,
10.16],
from the demon [Agha, 10.12],
from the rains, the storm and
thunderbolts
[of Indra, 10.25]
and
from the bull and the son of Maya [the incidents with
Arishthâsura and Vyomâsura which S'uka discusses
later].
O
greatest of personalities, You have repeatedly saved us from
all kinds of danger - from poisoned water, from the terrible
man-eater Agha, from the great rains, from the wind demon,
from the fiery thunderbolt of Indra, from the bull demon and
from the son of Maya Dânava.
Text
4
O
Friend, indeed are You who arose in the dynasty of Your
devotees [the Sâtvatas] not the son of the
gopî [Yas'odâ]; Your Lordship art
the seer, the inner consciousness of all embodied beings, o You
who appeared on the request of Brahmâ [thus called
Vikhanasâ, 'the one who digs up',
see
3.8:
16 and
10.14]
who was praying for the protection of the
universe.
You
are not actually the son of the gopî
Yas'odâ, O friend, but rather the indwelling
witness in the hearts of all embodied souls. Because Lord
Brahmâ prayed for You to come and protect the
universe, You have now appeared in the Sâtvata
dynasty.
Text
5
You
who took the hand of the goddess, o best of the Vrishnis,
brought fearlessness to those who in the fear of their material
existence approached Your feet; please, o Lover fulfilling the
desires, place Your lotuslike hand on our heads.
O
best of the Vrishnis, Your lotuslike hand, which holds the
hand of the goddess of fortune, grants fearlessness to those
who approach Your feet out of fear of material existence. O
lover, please place that wish-fulfilling lotus hand on our
heads.
Text
6
O
Destroyer of the suffering of the inhabitants of Vraja, o Hero
of the women who by His own smile defeats the false smiles of
the people, please accept, o Friend, us, Your eternal
maidservants; please show Your beautiful lotus
face.
O
You who destroy the suffering of Vraja's people, O hero of
all women, Your smile shatters the false pride of Your
devotees. Please, dear friend, accept us as Your
maidservants and show us Your beautiful lotus face.
Text
7
You
who of the embodied surrendered to You remove the sins,
who is after the
grazers,
who art the abode of the goddess, who placed His feet on the
hoods of the serpent, please put Your lotus feet on our breasts
and banish the lust in our hearts.
Your
lotus feet destroy the past sins of all embodied souls who
surrender to them. Those feet follow after the cows in the
pastures and are the eternal abode of the goddess of
fortune. Since You once put those feet on the hoods of the
great serpent Kâliya, please place them upon our
breasts and tear away the lust in our hearts.
Text
8
O You with Your
lotus eyes, of Your sweet charming voice and words so
attractive to the intelligent, are these maidservants, o Hero,
losing their minds; please restore us to life with the nectar
of Your lips.
O
lotus-eyed one, Your sweet voice and charming words, which
attract the minds of the intelligent, are bewildering us
more and more. Our dear hero, please revive Your
maidservants with the nectar of Your lips.
Text
9
Your sweet
talks as described by the great thinkers do, driving away all
sins, bring the wretched back to life and give, charged with
spiritual power, upon being heard the spiritual benefit; o how
beneficent are the persons who with song spread those talks all
over the world [*].
The
nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities
are the life and soul of those suffering in this material
world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages,
eradicate one's sinful reactions and bestow good fortune
upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all
over the world and are filled with spiritual power.
Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most
munificent.
Text
10
We are happy to
meditate your affectionate smiles of divine love, Your glances
and pastimes, but the conversations in secret, which go to the
heart, o deceiver, disturb our minds!
Your
smiles, Your sweet, loving glances, the intimate pastimes
and confidential talks we enjoyed with You - all these are
auspicious to meditate upon, and they touch our hearts. But
at the same time, O deceiver, they very much agitate our
minds.
Text
11
When
you leave Vraja to herd the animals, o Master, are we pained,
feeling uncomfortable within, o lover, thinking of the husks,
grasses and sprouting plants sharp to Your feet that are more
beautiful, o Master, than a lotus.
Dear
master, dear lover, when You leave the cowherd village to
herd the cows, our minds are disturbed with the thought that
Your feet, more beautiful than a lotus, will be pricked by
the spiked husks of grain and the rough grass and
plants.
Text
12
At
the end of the day showing Your bluish black locks and lotus
face covered thick with dust, do You time and again bring Cupid
to our minds, o Hero.
At
the end of the day You repeatedly show us Your lotus face,
covered with dark blue locks of hair and thickly powdered
with dust. Thus, O hero, You arouse lusty desires in our
minds.
Text
13
Fulfilling the
desires of those who bow down, being worshiped by the one born
on the lotus [Brahmâ], being the ornament of the
earth and the object proper to meditate upon in times of
distress, are the lotus feet giving the highest satisfaction;
so please o Lover, o Remover of the Anxiety, place Your feet
upon our breasts.
Your
lotus feet, which are worshiped by Lord Brahmâ,
fulfill the desires of all who bow down to them. They are
the ornament of the earth, they give the highest
satisfaction, and in times of danger they are the
appropriate object of meditation. O lover, O destroyer of
anxiety, please put those lotus feet upon our
breasts.
Text
14
By
the vibrations of Your flute increases the happiness of love
and is the grief destroyed; abundantly kissed [by You]
are the attachments to other persons forgotten - please, o
hero, distribute to us the nectar of Your lips!
O
hero, kindly distribute to us the nectar of Your lips, which
enhances conjugal pleasure and vanquishes grief. That nectar
is thoroughly relished by Your vibrating flute and makes
people forget any other attachment.
Text
15
When You go to
the forest during the day becomes to those who do not see Your
curling locks of hair and Your beautiful face, a single moment
like an eon; and how foolish is, to the ones who was granted
the vision, he [Brahmâ] who created the
eyelids!
When
You go off to the forest during the day, a tiny fraction of
a second becomes like a millennium for us because we cannot
see You. And even when we can eagerly look upon Your
beautiful face, so lovely with its adornment of curly locks,
our pleasure is hindered by our eyelids, which were
fashioned by the foolish creator.
Text
16
Completely
neglecting our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and
other relatives sought we Your presence o Acyuta, You who know
the reasons for our movements; o cheater, how could You abandon
the women bewildered by the clear sound of Your flute in the
night!
Dear
Acyuta, You know very well why we have come here. Who but a
cheater like You would abandon young women who come to see
Him in the middle of the night, enchanted by the loud song
of His flute? Just to see You, we have completely rejected
our husbands, children, ancestors, brothers and other
relatives.
Text
17
Privately
chatting finding the lust rising in our hearts, seeing Your
smiling face and loving glances and Your broad chest that is
the abode of the goddess, have our minds, madly craving, over
and over been bewildered by You.
Our
minds are repeatedly bewildered as we think of the intimate
conversations we had with You in secret, feel the rise of
lust in our hearts and remember Your smiling face, Your
loving glances and Your broad chest, the resting place of
the goddess of fortune. Thus we experience the most severe
hankering for You.
Text
18
Your so tender
lotus feet we place, o love, gently on our breasts afraid that
the forest You roam might be rough to them; we, who consider
Your Lordship our very life, are with our minds fluttering
concerned for them not to suffer any harm from small pebbles
and so.' [see further the
S'ikshâshthaka]
O
beloved, Your all-auspicious appearance vanquishes the
distress of those living in Vraja's forests. Our minds long
for Your association. Please give to us just a bit of that
medicine, which counteracts the disease in Your devotees'
hearts.
*
The
pupils of
Prabhupâda
here
refer to the following story: 'King Pratâparudra recited
this verse to S'rî Caitanya Mahâprabhu during Lord
Jagannâtha's Ratha-yâtrâ festival. While the
Lord was resting in a garden, King Pratâparudra humbly
entered and began massaging His legs and lotus feet. Then the
King recited the Thirty-first Chapter of the Tenth Canto of the
S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam, the songs of the
gopîs. The Caitanya-caritâmrita relates that
when Lord Caitanya heard this verse, beginning tava
kathâmritam, He immediately arose in ecstatic love
and embraced King Pratâparudra. The incident is described
in detail in the Caitanya-caritâmrita (Madhya
14.4 - 18),
and in his edition S'rîla Prabhupâda has given
extensive commentary on it.'
