Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.70.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sa-vrīḍa-prema
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shy and loving
Vrīḍa (shyness) plus prema (love) — the technical pair the Gauḍīyas analyse as the gopīs' signature mood. The queens of Dvārakā partake in mahiṣī-bhāva, which in Gauḍīya theology is itself a refraction of Vraja mādhurya.
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kṛcchrāt visṛṣṭaḥ
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released with difficulty
Even Bhagavān finds it hard to leave them — His own form is held by the bhāva of His devotees. This is the doctrine of bhakta-vatsala: Kṛṣṇa is captive to His devotees' love, not its master.
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jāta-hāsaḥ
—
a smile having arisen
The smile of departure — Kṛṣṇa-smita — is the Gauḍīya signature image. From it Rūpa Gosvāmī begins his rasa-analysis: nothing wounds the devotee more, nothing sustains them more, than that smile.
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haran manaḥ
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stealing the mind
Manohara — mind-stealer — is one of Kṛṣṇa's epithets. He is the original thief: of butter in Vraja, of vastra at Cīraghāṭa, and here of the queens' minds. Bhakti is the consent of the stolen one.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī describes this scene as follows: “The shy, loving glances of the palace women, hinting at their agitation, implied, ‘How can we tolerate this torment of being separated from You?’ The idea here is that because the Lord was captured by their affection, He smiled, indicating ‘My dear restless ladies, you are so overwhelmed by this little bit of separation. I am coming back later today to enjoy with you.’ And then, with His smile captivating their minds, He got away only with difficulty, freeing Himself from the bondage of their loving glances.”
First the queens glanced at Krsna, though he was accompanied by Satyaki, Uddhava and others, with shy loving glances. This indicated their pain of separation from him "How can we endure this?" By this hint of perplexity, he became bound. He smiled to pacify them. "O unsteady women, just by this little separation you are disturbed. I will return very soon to eat." Then bewildering their minds with just a smile, he got out of difficulty: freed from the bondage of their loving glances (krcchrat visrstah) he went off.
His verse shows the situation before he mounted the chariot. This verse describes the prema of the women who were holding articles for the auspiciousness of the journey inside and outside the palace, for Kṛṣṇa, the object of auspiciousness in performing daily duties, who came out alone, after all the people who had come from outside the city had left. The palace women glanced at him with prema, trying to stop him from leaving with their glances. Then by slightly lowering their glances they would allow him to depart (visṛsṭaḥ). After that he would smile, signifying, “Oh! O woman your intelligence has been covered by prema. Why do you tremble? I will come for a meal at noon.” He desired to pacify them with his smile.
A smile would manifest because his heart was always pleased. Or he produced another rasa by smiling to lighten the pain of separation. Thus he attracted their minds. He would free himself with difficult and depart or depart with auspicious calls from others such as “Be victorious!” (visṛṣṭaḥ).
- Do I leave my loved ones honestly, with affection, or briskly to avoid feeling the parting?
- What gesture would honor the tenderness even as I go?
The queens' shy glances at the departing Kṛṣṇa are the gopīs' parting glances at the rāsa transposed to Dvārakā — like a flame catching the corner of a curtain as the door closes. The smile He turns back over His shoulder is the same smile that left Vṛndāvana once and never stopped haunting it.
In SB 10.39, when Akrūra's chariot bore Kṛṣṇa away from Vṛndāvana, the gopīs ran behind it weeping, holding it back with their glances when their hands could not. Kṛṣṇa's last smile to them entered the heart of the Gauḍīya tradition as the seed of all vipralambha-bhakti.
Here at Dvārakā the wives play the same role each morning. Every separation rehearses that first separation; every smile of His remembers it.
My note
Source: vedabase.io