FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.34.24

గోప్యస్తద్గీతమాకర్ణ్య మూర్చ్ఛితా నావిదన్నృప । స్రంసద్దుకూలమాత్మానం స్రస్తకేశస్రజం తత: ॥ ౨౪ ॥
gopyas tad-gītam ākarṇya
[gopyas tad-geetam aakarnya]
mūrcchitā nāvidan nṛpa
[moorchchitaa naavidan nripa]
sraṁsad-dukūlam ātmānaṁ
[sramsad-dukoolam aatmaanam]
srasta-keśa-srajaṁ tataḥ
[srasta-kesha-srajam tatah]
gopyaḥ — the gopīs tat — of Them gītam — the singing ākarṇya — hearing mūrcchitāḥ — stunned na avidan — were not aware of nṛpa — my dear King sraṁsat — slipping dukūlam — the fine cloth of their garments ātmānam — themselves srasta — disheveled keśa — their hair srajam — the garlands tataḥ — (slipping) from that .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
gopyas tad-gītam ākarṇya
gopyaḥ
the gopīs
tat
of Them
gītam
the singing
ākarṇya
hearing
mūrcchitā nāvidan nṛpa
mūrcchitāḥ
stunned
na avidan
were not aware of
nṛpa
my dear King
sraṁsad-dukūlam ātmānaṁ
sraṁsat
slipping
dukūlam
the fine cloth of their garments
ātmānam
themselves
srasta-keśa-srajaṁ tataḥ
srasta
disheveled
keśa
their hair
srajam
the garlands
tataḥ
(slipping) from that .
  • gopyaḥ — the gopīs (cowherd women)
    Plural of gopī. In Gauḍīya rasa-tattva the gopīs are the topmost class of bhaktas — vraja-vanitā-jana-vallabhāya — and Kṛṣṇa is the lover par excellence (CC Ādi 4). Their mūrcchā here is rasa-evidence, not weakness.
  • mūrcchitāḥ — stunned, in a state of mūrcchā
    Past participle from √mūrch. Mūrcchā is one of the eight sāttvika-bhāvas listed in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (stambha, sveda, romāñca, svara-bheda, vepathu, vaivarṇya, aśru, pralaya/mūrcchā). The gopīs display it without effort — Bhagavān's voice is its sufficient cause.
  • sraṁsat-dukūlam — slipping fine garment
    Sraṁsat (present participle: slipping) + dukūla (fine silk-like cloth). The body's careful presentations come undone when prema rises — a Gauḍīya emblem of bhāva overriding lokācāra. What the lokācāra calls disorder, rasa-śāstra calls perfect order.
  • srasta-keśa-srajam — disheveled hair and garlands
    Srasta (loosened, fallen) + keśa (hair) + sraj (garland). Three syllables earlier Śuka used srak-vinau of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma's perfectly tied garlands; here the gopīs' garlands fall. The verse stages, in costume, the contrast between the unmoved Bhagavān and the moved devotees.
The gopīs became stunned when they heard that song. Forgetting themselves, O King, they did not notice that their fine garments were becoming loose and their hair and garlands disheveled.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The gopīs became stunned when they heard that song. Forgetting themselves, O King, they did not notice that their fine garments were becoming loose and their hair and garlands disheveled.
Commentary

Krsna and Balarama sang together, improvising melodies (svara mandala murchana) making what was impossible possible.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

The two groups of gopīs separately heard the songs sung by the two and fainted. Because of this they were not aware that their garments had become loose and that their hair and garlands had fallen off.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

After hearing Kṛṣṇa’s song, the gopīs fainted. But first they made attempts to remain composed. Or they fainted because of the song, which was most attractive, not depending on anything else. O king! You can understand this. Their fainting was not improper.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Prema (Divine Love)
Related verses
Concepts
Jiva

The gopīs, hearing Kṛṣṇa's song, lose track of their own bodies — garments slipping, hair unbinding, garlands sliding off — not because they are careless, but because hearing the Name in the Beloved's own voice rewrites the inventory of what one cares about. Mūrcchā in mādhurya-rasa is not unconsciousness; it is consciousness reorganized around its true object.

Caitanya at Jagannātha Purī

Caitanya-caritāmṛta records Mahāprabhu losing external awareness during kīrtana — limbs going slack, garment falling, eyes streaming — at the bare mention of Kṛṣṇa's name. The Six Gosvāmīs document such states as the higher rungs of bhāva: sāttvika-vikāra arising spontaneously.

Gauḍīyas read the gopīs' mūrcchā in this verse as the prototype of that experience. Where Mahāprabhu's contemporaries needed sustained sādhana to taste a drop of it, the gopīs receive it directly from Kṛṣṇa's voice in the Vraja night — they are themselves the standard against which all bhāva is measured.

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