Chapter 33 · Class prep
A printable handout for teaching this chapter. For each verse with Personal Guidance, you'll see Prabhupāda's translation, the essence, two or three practical applications, and a discussion prompt. Press ⌘P / Ctrl P to print as a handout.
BG 33.1
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When the cowherd girls heard the Supreme Personality of Godhead speak these most charming words, they forgot their distress caused by separation from Him. Touching His transcendental limbs, they felt all their desires fulfilled.
Essence. Hearing Kṛṣṇa's charming words, the gopīs forget separation's pain and, touching His transcendental limbs, feel every desire fulfilled. The Lord's voice and presence together resolve what nothing else can.
BG 33.2
There on the Yamunā’s banks Lord Govinda then began the pastime of the rāsa dance in the company of those jewels among women, the faithful gopīs, who joyfully linked their arms together.
Essence. On the Yamunā's bank Kṛṣṇa begins the rāsa dance with the faithful gopīs, jewels among women, who joyfully link arms. The dance is intimate but communal — devotion flowers when devotees willingly join hands.
BG 33.3
The festive rāsa dance commenced, with the gopīs arrayed in a circle. Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself and entered between each pair of gopīs, and as that master of mystic power placed His arms around their necks, each girl thought He was standing next to her alone. The demigods and their wives were overwhelmed with eagerness to witness the rāsa dance, and they soon crowded the sky with their hundreds of celestial airplanes.
Essence. Kṛṣṇa expands Himself between each pair of gopīs, so every girl feels He is hers alone. The Lord is not divided when shared — He meets each devotee fully, however many others He also meets fully.
BG 33.4
Kettledrums then resounded in the sky while flowers rained down and the chief Gandharvas and their wives sang Lord Kṛṣṇa’s spotless glories.
Essence. Drums sound, flowers rain, and Gandharvas sing Kṛṣṇa's spotless glories as the demigods receive the rāsa as the highest religious affair. What looks like romance to the world is, on the spiritual plane, the most sacred event.
BG 33.5
A tumultuous sound arose from the armlets, ankle bells and waist bells of the gopīs as they sported with their beloved Kṛṣṇa in the circle of the rāsa dance.
Essence. Armlets, ankle bells, and waist bells of the gopīs ring tumultuously as they sport with Kṛṣṇa in the rāsa circle. Devotion has sound as well as silence — the body itself becomes an instrument of worship.
BG 33.6
In the midst of the dancing gopīs, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared most brilliant, like an exquisite sapphire in the midst of golden ornaments.
Essence. Among dancing gopīs Kṛṣṇa shines like a sapphire among gold ornaments. The Lord is most beautiful not in isolation but surrounded and set off by those who love Him; devotees frame Him.
BG 33.7
As the gopīs sang in praise of Kṛṣṇa, their feet danced, their hands gestured, and their eyebrows moved with playful smiles. With their braids and belts tied tight, their waists bending, their faces perspiring, the garments on their breasts moving this way and that, and their earrings swinging on their cheeks, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s young consorts shone like streaks of lightning in a mass of clouds.
Essence. The gopīs dance with moving eyebrows, perspiring faces, swinging earrings, tightened then loosened braids — shining like lightning streaks in clouds. Devotional ecstasy is visible, embodied, and unapologetically alive.
BG 33.8
Eager to enjoy conjugal love, their throats colored with various pigments, the gopīs sang loudly and danced. They were overjoyed by Kṛṣṇa’s touch, and they sang songs that filled the entire universe.
Essence. Eager for conjugal love, the gopīs sing loudly enough to fill the universe; tradition says they manifested 16,000 musical rāgas. Pure love is not minor or private — it is a creative force that reshapes culture.
BG 33.9
One gopī, joining Lord Mukunda in His singing, sang pure melodious tones that rose harmoniously above His. Kṛṣṇa was pleased and showed great appreciation for her performance, saying “Excellent! Excellent!” Then another gopī repeated the same melody, but in a special metrical pattern, and Kṛṣṇa praised her also.
Essence. One gopī sings a melody rising above Kṛṣṇa's; He calls out, 'Excellent!' Another varies the meter; He praises her too. The Lord is delighted by skill and variety in devotion — He is genuinely pleased to be musically answered.
BG 33.10
When one gopī grew tired from the rāsa dance, She turned to Kṛṣṇa, standing at Her side holding a baton, and grasped His shoulder with Her arm. The dancing had loosened Her bracelets and the flowers in Her hair.
Essence. A tired gopī rests her arm on Kṛṣṇa's shoulder as He stands beside her holding a dance master's baton. Even fatigue, in His presence, becomes intimacy; weariness with Him is closer than energy without Him.
BG 33.11
Upon the shoulder of one gopī Kṛṣṇa placed His arm, whose natural blue-lotus fragrance was mixed with that of the sandalwood pulp anointing it. As the gopī relished that fragrance, her bodily hair stood on end in jubilation, and she kissed His arm.
Essence. One gopī kisses Kṛṣṇa's blue-lotus-fragranced arm anointed with sandal paste, her hair standing on end. Pure devotion notices small sensory details others miss and responds with full-body delight.
BG 33.12
Next to Kṛṣṇa’s cheek one gopī put her own, beautified by the effulgence of her earrings, which glittered as she danced. Kṛṣṇa then carefully gave her the betel nut He was chewing.
Essence. Cheek to cheek with Kṛṣṇa, one gopī sparkles with her earrings; He carefully gives her the betel He has been chewing. The Lord shares what He Himself is enjoying with His devotees — His mercy is intimate, not theoretical.
BG 33.13
Another gopī became fatigued as she danced and sang, the bells on her ankles and waist tinkling. So she placed upon her breasts the comforting lotus hand of Lord Acyuta, who was standing by her side.
Essence. A fatigued, dancing gopī places Kṛṣṇa's lotus hand on her breasts for comfort. Worship sometimes looks like asking the Lord to touch the exact place of our exhaustion or ache.
BG 33.14
Having attained as their intimate lover Lord Acyuta, the exclusive consort of the goddess of fortune, the gopīs enjoyed great pleasure. They sang His glories as He held their necks with His arms.
Essence. Having attained Acyuta — Lakṣmī's exclusive consort — as their intimate lover, the gopīs sing His glories as He embraces their necks. The deepest joy is not getting Kṛṣṇa privately but praising Him together with His arm around you.
BG 33.15
Enhancing the beauty of the gopīs ’ faces were the lotus flowers behind their ears, the locks of hair decorating their cheeks, and drops of perspiration. The reverberation of their armlets and ankle bells made a loud musical sound, and their chaplets scattered. Thus the gopīs danced with the Supreme Lord in the arena of the rāsa dance as swarms of bees sang in accompaniment.
Essence. Lotus flowers behind ears, cheek-locks, perspiration, ringing bells, scattering chaplets — the gopīs dance with Kṛṣṇa while bees sing along. Even nature joins the choreography when devotion is real.
BG 33.16
In this way Lord Kṛṣṇa, the original Lord Nārāyaṇa, master of the goddess of fortune, took pleasure in the company of the young women of Vraja by embracing them, caressing them and glancing lovingly at them as He smiled His broad, playful smiles. It was just as if a child were playing with his own reflection.
Essence. Kṛṣṇa, original Nārāyaṇa, enjoys the gopīs as if a child plays with his own reflection. The infinite Lord and His potencies are non-different; the rāsa is the Absolute delighting in His own loving capacity.
BG 33.17
Their senses overwhelmed by the joy of having His physical association, the gopīs could not prevent their hair, their dresses and the cloths covering their breasts from becoming disheveled. Their garlands and ornaments scattered, O hero of the Kuru dynasty.
Essence. Overwhelmed by Kṛṣṇa's touch, the gopīs' hair, dresses, ornaments, and garlands all become disheveled. Real ecstasy doesn't tidy itself; surrender disturbs our careful arrangements.
BG 33.18
The wives of the demigods, observing Kṛṣṇa’s playful activities from their airplanes, were entranced and became agitated with lust. Indeed, even the moon and his entourage, the stars, became astonished.
Essence. Demigods' wives, watching from airplanes, become agitated with lust, while moon and stars look on astonished. Even the high-born are affected; the rāsa exposes everyone's actual standing before Kṛṣṇa's sweetness.
BG 33.19
Expanding Himself as many times as there were cowherd women to associate with, the Supreme Lord, though self-satisfied, playfully enjoyed their company.
Essence. Though already self-satisfied, Kṛṣṇa expands Himself for each gopī and playfully enjoys their company. Self-sufficiency does not prevent love — the Lord's fullness is precisely what makes His pastimes pure play.
BG 33.20
Seeing that the gopīs were fatigued from conjugal enjoyment, my dear King, merciful Kṛṣṇa lovingly wiped their faces with His comforting hand.
Essence. Seeing the gopīs tired, merciful Kṛṣṇa lovingly wipes their faces with His comforting hand. The Lord pays attention to His devotees' fatigue and responds with tender, particular care.
BG 33.21
The gopīs honored their hero with smiling glances sweetened by the beauty of their cheeks and the effulgence of their curly locks and glittering golden earrings. Overjoyed from the touch of His fingernails, they chanted the glories of His all-auspicious transcendental pastimes.
Essence. Honored by the gopīs' smiling glances, Kṛṣṇa thrills them with the touch of His fingernails, and they chant the glories of His pastimes. Worship moves naturally from receiving His touch to praising what He does.
BG 33.22
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s garland had been crushed during His conjugal dalliance with the gopīs and colored vermilion by the kuṅkuma powder on their breasts. To dispel the fatigue of the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa entered the water of the Yamunā, followed swiftly by bees who were singing like the best of the Gandharvas. He appeared like a lordly elephant entering the water to relax in the company of his consorts. Indeed, the Lord had transgressed all worldly and Vedic morality just as a powerful elephant might break the dikes in a paddy field.
Essence. Garland crushed, smeared with kuṅkuma from the gopīs' breasts, Kṛṣṇa enters the Yamunā to dispel their fatigue, like a lordly elephant with his consorts. The Lord who appears to transgress moral codes is actually beyond them, caring for His own.
BG 33.23
My dear King, in the water Kṛṣṇa found Himself being splashed on all sides by the laughing gopīs, who looked at Him with love. As the demigods worshiped Him by showering flowers from their airplanes, the self-satisfied Lord took pleasure in playing like the king of the elephants.
Essence. In the water, splashed by laughing gopīs and worshiped by demigods with flowers, the self-satisfied Lord plays like the king of elephants. Joy is appropriate before God — laughter is not less reverent than silence.
BG 33.24
Then the Lord strolled through a small forest on the bank of the Yamunā. This forest was filled to its limits with breezes carrying the fragrances of all the flowers growing on the land and in the water. Followed by His entourage of bees and beautiful women, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared like an intoxicated elephant with his she-elephants.
Essence. After the water, Kṛṣṇa strolls through a Yamunā-bank forest filled with fragrances and bees, like an intoxicated elephant with his she-elephants. The Lord lingers; His pastimes are not rushed transactions but unhurried strolls.
BG 33.25
Although the gopīs were firmly attached to Lord Kṛṣṇa, whose desires are always fulfilled, the Lord was not internally affected by any mundane sex desire. Still, to perform His pastimes the Lord took advantage of all those moonlit autumn nights, which inspire poetic descriptions of transcendental affairs.
Essence. The gopīs are firmly attached, but Kṛṣṇa is internally untouched by mundane sex desire; He uses the autumn moonlit nights to perform pastimes that inspire poets across ages. The Lord's outer involvement and inner purity coexist perfectly.
BG 33.26-27
Parīkṣit Mahārāja said: O brāhmaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord of the universe, has descended to this earth along with His plenary portion to destroy irreligion and reestablish religious principles. Indeed, He is the original speaker, follower and guardian of moral laws. How, then, could He have violated them by touching other men’s wives?
Essence. King Parīkṣit, on behalf of doubters, asks: how can the Lord who descends to uphold religion appear to violate it by touching others' wives? Honest questions about scripture are not faithless — they are how clarity reaches future generations.
BG 33.28
O faithful upholder of vows, please destroy our doubt by explaining to us what purpose the self-satisfied Lord of the Yadus had in mind when He behaved so contemptibly.
Essence. Parīkṣit asks Śukadeva to destroy his doubt by explaining what purpose the self-satisfied Lord had in seemingly contemptible behavior. Doubts about the Lord's actions deserve to be dissolved by clear knowledge, not by guilt or repression.
BG 33.29
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The status of powerful controllers is not harmed by any apparently audacious transgression of morality we may see in them, for they are just like fire, which devours everything fed into it and remains unpolluted.
Essence. Powerful controllers, Śukadeva says, are not harmed by apparent moral transgressions, just as fire consumes everything yet stays pure. Spiritual potency does not function on the moral level of ordinary humans.
BG 33.30
One who is not a great controller should never imitate the behavior of ruling personalities, even mentally. If out of foolishness an ordinary person does imitate such behavior, he will simply destroy himself, just as a person who is not Rudra would destroy himself if he tried to drink an ocean of poison.
Essence. An ordinary person who is not a great controller must never imitate such behavior — like drinking poison thinking he is Rudra, he will simply destroy himself. The Lord descends to show He is God and we are not.
BG 33.31
The statements of the Lord’s empowered servants are always true, and the acts they perform are exemplary when consistent with those statements. Therefore one who is intelligent should carry out their instructions.
Essence. The statements of the Lord's empowered servants are true, and their consistent acts are exemplary; the intelligent follow their instructions, not their personal liberties. Spiritual authority is recognized by what they say to us, not what they themselves may do.
BG 33.32
My dear Prabhu, when these great persons who are free from false ego act piously in this world, they have no selfish motives to fulfill, and even when they act in apparent contradiction to the laws of piety, they are not subject to sinful reactions.
Essence. Great souls free of false ego have no selfish motives; even when they appear to break the laws of piety, they incur no sinful reaction. Freedom from ego — not freedom of action — is what removes karmic bondage.
BG 33.33
How, then, could the Lord of all created beings — animals, men and demigods — have any connection with the piety and impiety that affect His subject creatures?
Essence. How could the Lord of all created beings — animals, humans, demigods — be bound by the piety and impiety that affect His creatures? Karma is His law; He authored it, He is not subject to it.
BG 33.34
Material activities never entangle the devotees of the Supreme Lord, who are fully satisfied by serving the dust of His lotus feet. Nor do material activities entangle those intelligent sages who have freed themselves from the bondage of all fruitive reactions by the power of yoga. So how could there be any question of bondage for the Lord Himself, who assumes His transcendental forms according to His own sweet will?
Essence. Material activities don't entangle His devotees or sages free by yoga; how then could they bind the Lord, who takes His forms by His own sweet will? Bondage comes from false identification, not from action itself.
BG 33.35
He who lives as the overseeing witness within the gopīs and their husbands, and indeed within all embodied living beings, assumes forms in this world to enjoy transcendental pastimes.
Essence. The witness within the gopīs, their husbands, and all embodied beings assumes forms here to enjoy transcendental pastimes. Since He dwells within everyone, His 'touching' is not the contact of a stranger but the act of the indweller.
BG 33.36
When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.
Essence. When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to bless His devotees, His pastimes are designed to attract listeners to dedicate themselves to Him. The very stories that may shock the prude are spiritually engineered to bring us home.
BG 33.37
The cowherd men, bewildered by Kṛṣṇa’s illusory potency, thought their wives had remained home at their sides. Thus they did not harbor any jealous feelings against Him.
Essence. Bewildered by Kṛṣṇa's illusory potency, the cowherd husbands believed their wives stayed home; māyā produced doubles so the gopīs' exclusive love for Kṛṣṇa was never violated. The Lord protects the integrity of pure love through his own arrangements.
BG 33.38
After an entire night of Brahmā had passed, Lord Kṛṣṇa advised the gopīs to return to their homes. Although they did not wish to do so, the Lord’s beloved consorts complied with His command.
Essence. After an entire night of Brahmā — a thousand ages stretched into twelve hours — Kṛṣṇa tells the gopīs to return home, and they comply. Even unimaginable intimacy is followed by ordinary duty; bhakti returns us to daily life transformed.
BG 33.39
Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.
Essence. Faithfully hearing or describing Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with the gopīs grants pure devotional service and quickly conquers lust — the disease of the heart. Where pornography increases desire, kṛṣṇa-kathā does the opposite: it dissolves it.