FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.7

పాదన్యాసైర్భుజవిధుతిభి: సస్మితైర్భ్రూవిలాసై- ర్భజ్యన్మధ్యైశ్చలకుచపటై: కుణ్డలైర్గణ్డలోలై: । స్విద్యన్ముఖ్య: కవరరసనాగ్రన్థయ: కృష్ణవధ్వో గాయన్త్యస్తం తడిత ఇవ తా మేఘచక్రే విరేజు: ॥ ౭ ॥
pāda-nyāsair bhuja-vidhutibhiḥ sa-smitair bhrū-vilāsair
[paada-nyaasair bhuja-vidhutibhih sa-smitair bhroo-vilaasair]
bhajyan madhyaiś cala-kuca-paṭaiḥ kuṇḍalair gaṇḍa-lolaiḥ
[bhajyan madhyaish chala-kucha-pataih kundalair ganda-lolaih]
svidyan-mukhyaḥ kavara-rasanāgranthayaḥ kṛṣṇa-vadhvo
[svidyan-mukhyah kavara-rasanaagranthayah krishna-vadhvo]
gāyantyas taṁ taḍita iva tā megha-cakre virejuḥ
[gaayantyas tam tadita iva taa megha-chakre virejuh]
pāda — of their feet nyāsaiḥ — by the placement bhuja — of their hands vidhutibhiḥ — by the gestures sa - smitaiḥ — smiling bhrū — of their eyebrows vilāsaiḥ — by the playful movements bhajyan — bending madhyaiḥ — by their middles cala — moving kuca — covering their breasts paṭaiḥ — by the cloths kuṇḍalaiḥ — by their earrings gaṇḍa — on their cheeks lolaiḥ — rolling svidyan — perspiring mukhyaḥ — whose faces kavara — the braids of their hair rasanā — and their belts āgranthayaḥ — having tightly tied kṛṣṇa - vadhvaḥ — the consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa gāyantyaḥ — singing tam — about Him taḍitaḥ — bolts of lightning iva — as if tāḥ — they megha - cakre — in a range of clouds virejuḥ — shone .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
pāda-nyāsair bhuja-vidhutibhiḥ sa-smitair bhrū-vilāsair
pāda
of their feet
nyāsaiḥ
by the placement
bhuja
of their hands
vidhutibhiḥ
by the gestures
sa - smitaiḥ
smiling
bhrū
of their eyebrows
vilāsaiḥ
by the playful movements
bhajyan madhyaiś cala-kuca-paṭaiḥ kuṇḍalair gaṇḍa-lolaiḥ
bhajyan
bending
madhyaiḥ
by their middles
cala
moving
kuca
covering their breasts
paṭaiḥ
by the cloths
kuṇḍalaiḥ
by their earrings
gaṇḍa
on their cheeks
lolaiḥ
rolling
svidyan-mukhyaḥ kavara-rasanāgranthayaḥ kṛṣṇa-vadhvo
svidyan
perspiring
mukhyaḥ
whose faces
kavara
the braids of their hair
rasanā
and their belts
āgranthayaḥ
having tightly tied
kṛṣṇa - vadhvaḥ
the consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa
gāyantyas taṁ taḍita iva tā megha-cakre virejuḥ
gāyantyaḥ
singing
tam
about Him
taḍitaḥ
bolts of lightning
iva
as if
tāḥ
they
megha - cakre
in a range of clouds
virejuḥ
shone .
  • kṛṣṇa-vadhvaḥ — the consorts of Lord Kṛṣṇa
    Vadhū = bride, wife. Śuka calls the gopīs Kṛṣṇa's wives at the deepest tattvic level — their parakīya appearance is overlay; svakīya-svarūpa is the inner truth (Rūpa Gosvāmī, Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi).
  • taḍitaḥ — bolts of lightning
    Taḍit = lightning. The standard Gauḍīya simile: Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa = lightning around a fresh raincloud (Caitanya-caritāmṛta). Here applied collectively to all gopīs — each is a flash from the one cloud.
  • megha-cakre — in a range of clouds
    Megha (cloud) + cakra (range, circle). Note: cakra echoes rāsa-maṇḍala — the dance itself becomes a meteorological event. Kṛṣṇa's līlā re-figures even the sky.
  • gāyantyaḥ tam — singing about Him
    Present participle feminine plural — the gopīs do not pause to sing; the dance and the song are one act. Gauḍīyas: kīrtana and līlā are not sequential but co-present.
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.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that according to the analogy of lightning flashing in clouds, the perspiration on the lovely faces of the gopīs resembled drops of mist, and their singing resembled thunder. The word āgranthayaḥ may also be read agranthayaḥ, meaning “loosened.” This would indicate that although the gopīs began the dance with their hair and belts tightly drawn, these gradually slackened and loosened. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that the gopīs were expert at exhibiting mudrās (precise hand gestures that express feelings or convey meanings associated with the theme of a performance). Thus sometimes Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs would artistically move their interlocked arms together, and sometimes they would separate arms and exhibit mudrās to act out the meaning of the songs they were singing. The word pāda-nyāsaiḥ indicates that the gopīs artistically and gracefully placed the steps of their dancing feet in an enchanting way, and the words sa-smitair bhrū-vilāsair indicate that the romantic movements of their eyebrows, smiling with love, were most charming to behold.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

Just as Krsna attained additional beauty in association with the gopis, so the gopis also attained additional beauty in association with Krsna. Tha foot movements of the gopis coordinated with the songs’ rhythm and rasa. In this way the gopis manifested more and more colorful dances and songs. Though the gopis were all holding each other or Krsna, their hands made exquisite movements. Sometimes they also freed their hands, and then quickly showed various mudras to express the subject of the song. In order to indicate the rasa and confirm the skill of their song or dance, they moved their eyebrows and smiled. Because their waists were thin by nature, they appeared bent during the movements of dancing. They picked up the cloths that they had laid on the ground for Krsna to sit on after he got up, and waved those cloths in the air while they sang. These women are called krsna vadhva. Vadhu can mean, women, wife and daughter in law. If we take the meaning as wife, then this will contradict what Bhisma stated. "Let me surrender to Krsna whose mood was attained by the wives of the gopas during the rasa lila." (sb 1.9.40) Bhisma did not say wives of Krsna. Thus Sanantana Goswami also does not interpret vadhu as wife in this verse. He describes vadhu as a golden complexioned woman who has taken complete shelter of Krsna, who is embraced by him as in the rasa lila, who is to be enjoyed only by him. Thus those gopis are described as vadhu, because they were similar to wives. This is explained in Vaisnava Tosini.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Not only did he become more beautiful with the gopīs, they became more beautiful in association with him. They stepped on the ground using dance steps (pāda-nyāsaiḥ). They made various gestures with their hands. Though they could not gesture because their arms were locked together in the circle, sometimes they released their hands to make the gestures. Skilful dancing employs smiling and moving the brows. Their waists were thin by nature, but by the transformation of dancing, they seemed to break in the middle. Or their waists became bent. This took place in all of them, constantly. When Kṛṣṇa stood up, they again took all the clothes they had laid on the ground for him to sit upon (cala-kuca-paṭaiḥ). They tied their braids and belts fearing they would come loose. Or their braids and belts became loose while dancing. The words kṛṣṇa-vadhvaḥ should be explained as follows. Singing about Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs, as Kṛṣṇa’s wives, appeared like lightning in a mass of clouds. Someone could propose as follows. “In the previous verse, Kṛṣṇa was like a sapphire among golden gems. Since the relationship between a sapphire and other gems in temporary, the example suggests that Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs are not married. They do not have an innate relationship.” The secret is then revealed in this verse from absorption in bliss. They were Kṛṣṇa’s wives (kṛṣṇa-vadhvaḥ). Because of their innate relationship (like lightning with rain clouds) they were married. Thus there was excellence in all their qualities without them having to cultivate anything.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Not only did he become more beautiful with the gopīs, they became more beautiful in association with him. They stepped on the ground using dance steps (pāda-nyāsaiḥ). They made various gestures with their hands. Though they could not gesture because their arms were locked together in the circle, they would gesture with two hands joined together, or sometimes they released their hands to make the gestures. Or interrupting certain dance steps they could gesture though their arms had been bound together. Skilful dancing employs smiling and moving the brows. Their waists were thin by nature, but by the transformation of dancing, they seemed to break in the middle. Or When Kṛṣṇa stood up, they again took all the clothes they had laid on the ground for him to sit upon (cala-kuca-paṭaiḥ). The golden women who had taken complete shelter (vadhvaḥ) of Kṛṣṇa, dark blue, sang. The example of the cloud with lightning hints at this. Or they were the dearmost (vadhvaḥ) of Kṛṣṇa. Their similarity to Kṛṣṇa in skill and bewilderment in prema was suitable. They sang about him. Parāśara describes this: Kṛṣṇaḥ śarac-candramasaṁ kaumudīṁ kumudākaram Jagau gopījanas tv ekaṁ kṛṣṇa-nāma punaḥ punaḥ Kṛṣṇa is the autumn moon, the moonlight, and a lotus. The gopīs sang one name of Kṛṣṇa repeatedly. Viṣṇu Purāṇa They shone brilliantly (virejuḥ). The skill in dancing with intoxication and prema of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs mixed together, and his powers and his human nature becoming one, produced the brilliance. The image of lightning suggests that by their mutual beauty, his beauty increased. The megha-cakra (circle of clouds) suggests that by his skill in dancing or by his special power he became many. Or it means a group of clouds. Without being black, the beauty would not be produced. After he reached the peak of beauty they became most beautiful. The rāsa dance became most astonishing because of the wealth of excellent beauty of the women who had reached the height of beauty.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Udyama (Industriousness / Effort)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)
Related verses

Lightning flashing within a circle of clouds — that is how the gopīs looked dancing with their dark Kṛṣṇa. The cloud does not own the lightning; the lightning needs the cloud to be visible. So Kṛṣṇa needs His devotees to display His own beauty.

📝 My note

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