FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.30.8

మాలత్యదర్శి వ: కచ్చిన్మల్లికే జాతి యూథికే । ప్రీతిం వో జనయన్ యాత: కరస్పర్శేన మాధవ: ॥ ౮ ॥
mālaty adarśi vaḥ kaccin
[maalaty adarshi vah kachchin]
mallike jāti-yūthike
[mallike jaati-yoothike]
prītiṁ vo janayan yātaḥ
[preetim vo janayan yaatah]
kara-sparśena mādhavaḥ
[kara-sparshena maadhavah]
mālati — O mālatī plant (a kind of white jasmine) adarśi — has been seen vaḥ — by you kaccit — whether mallike — O mallikā (a different kind of jasmine) jāti — O jāti (another kind of white jasmine) yūthike — O yūthikā (yet another jasmine) prītim — pleasure vaḥ — for you janayan — generating yātaḥ — has gone by kara — of His hand sparśena — by the touch mādhavaḥ — Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of the spring season .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
mālaty adarśi vaḥ kaccin
mālati
O mālatī plant (a kind of white jasmine)
adarśi
has been seen
vaḥ
by you
kaccit
whether
mallike jāti-yūthike
mallike
O mallikā (a different kind of jasmine)
jāti
O jāti (another kind of white jasmine)
yūthike
O yūthikā (yet another jasmine)
prītiṁ vo janayan yātaḥ
prītim
pleasure
kara-sparśena mādhavaḥ
vaḥ
for you
janayan
generating
yātaḥ
has gone by
kara
of His hand
sparśena
by the touch
mādhavaḥ
Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of the spring season .
  • mālati — O mālatī plant
    A white jasmine. In Gauḍīya literature mālatī is the flower Rūpa Gosvāmī uses to crown his theatrical masterpiece Vidagdha-mādhava; it is also the name of the play Mālatī-mādhava. The flower bears Kṛṣṇa's name (mādhava) on it always.
  • mādhavaḥ — Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of the spring season
    Mādhava — husband of Mā (Lakṣmī), or He of madhu (sweetness), or the Lord of spring. Gauḍīyas savor the third reading: rāsa-līlā happens in autumn, but His passage leaves spring behind in the flowers He touches.
  • kara-sparśena — by the touch of His hand
    Compound: kara (hand) + sparśa (touch). Sparśa is a technical sense-object in Sāṅkhya; in Vraja-līlā it becomes the very instrument of grace. A single touch from Kṛṣṇa's hand on a jasmine confers what tapas of ages cannot.
  • prītim — pleasure
    From √prī (to please). Rūpa Gosvāmī distinguishes prīti (gentle affection) from prema (the matured wealth). The jasmines feel the lower register; the gopīs are in the higher. They envy even the jasmines' lesser portion.
O mālati, O mallikā, O jāti and yūthikā, has Mādhava gone by here, giving you pleasure with the touch of His hand?

When even tulasī herself did not answer the gopīs, they approached the fragrant jasmine flowers. The gopīs, seeing the jasmine vines humbly bowing down, assumed that these plants must have seen Lord Kṛṣṇa and were therefore showing humility in their ecstasy.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
O mālati, O mallikā, O jāti and yūthikā, has Mādhava gone by here, giving you pleasure with the touch of His hand?
Commentary

"This tulasi, intoxicated with pride of her good fortune, is not looking at us. Therefore we will ask the jasmine plants, who like us are cowives, without such good fortune." Saying this they went off in another direction. "Because Krsna has touched you while picking flowers, you are now blooming fully in the rainy and autumn seasons." Jati is a species of jasmine.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Because she proudly feels she is respected by him she does not speak. They then ask the flowering shrubs who are servants of Kṛṣṇa without pride, bowing down and offering their flowers to him. Out of great agitation they call each flower individually. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, kaccit simply indicates a question. You have seen him. But did he touch you? We ask this particular question. Or they surmise that the flowering shrubs saw him since they see the marks of his hand on the plants. The reason is that he likes flowers just as he likes the spring season: he is called Mādhava (spring). “The touch of his hand” means that he plucked the best flowers with his hand. Tell us where he has gone since we are suffering greatly. They also joke with some envy that he has marked these flowering plants with his finger nails as if they were women.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

“Since Tulasī is a co-wife, she will not speak.” They then ask Kṛṣṇa’s servants. They call out to each one in affection, thinking of the plants as Kṛṣṇa’s servants, since they offered suitable flowers to him. He gave you (vaḥ) pleasure, or he who is yours (vaḥ) gave pleasure to you. Did he come here and give you pleasure by the touch of his hand? Or they imagine that the flowers saw him. He plucked their excellent flowers with his hand. He must have come near you. Or he injured you with his nails as a jest. Cutting off the flowers with his nail, they question his motive in plucking flowers. He plucked them for the pastimes of madhura-rasa (mādhavaḥ) or he plucked them for Lakṣmī (mādhava—husband of Lakśmī). This is uttered in hatred. Actually mādhava means the consort of Rādhā. He picked them to decorate her. Though they did not specifically search for this meaning, because of their pure natures, or because of divine arrangement the words came out of their mouths, revealing the truth spontaneously.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Apaishunam (Non-slander)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Bhakti (Devotion)
Related verses

A guest who passes through a flower-stall touches the jasmine in passing and the petals quiver in his wake. The gopīs ask the four jasmines — mālatī, mallikā, jāti, yūthikā — whether such a quiver passed through them: did Mādhava brush His hand here? Love reads the world's tremors as evidence.

📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 30