FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.44.13

పుణ్యా బత వ్రజభువో యదయం నృలిఙ్గ-గూఢ: పురాణపురుషో వనచిత్రమాల్య: । గా: పాలయన్ సహబల: క్‍వణయంశ్చ వేణుంవిక్రీడయాఞ్చతి గిరిత్రరమార్చితాఙ్‍‍‍‍‍ఘ్రి: ॥ ౧౩ ॥
puṇyā bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayaṁ nṛ-liṅga
[punyaa bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayam nri-linga]
gūḍhaḥ purāṇa-puruṣo vana-citra-mālyaḥ
[goodhah puraana-purusho vana-chitra-maalyah]
gāḥ pālayan saha-balaḥ kvaṇayaṁś ca veṇuṁ
[gaah paalayan saha-balah kvanayamsh cha venum]
vikrīdayāñcati giritra-ramārcitāṅghriḥ
[vikreedayaanchati giritra-ramaarchitaanghrih]
puṇyāḥ — pious bata — indeed vraja - bhuvaḥ — the various regions of the land of Vraja yat — in which ayam — this nṛ — human liṅga — by characteristics gūḍhaḥ — disguised purāṇa - puruṣaḥ — the primeval Personality of Godhead vana — composed of flowers and other items of the forest citra — of wonderful variety mālyaḥ — whose garlands gāḥ — the cows pālayan — herding saha — together with balaḥ — Lord Balarāma kvaṇayan — vibrating ca — and veṇum — His flute vikrīḍayā — with various pastimes añcati — He moves about giritra — by Lord Śiva ramā — and the goddess of fortune arcita — worshiped aṅghriḥ — His feet .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
puṇyā bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayaṁ nṛ-liṅga
puṇyāḥ
pious
bata
indeed
vraja - bhuvaḥ
the various regions of the land of Vraja
yat
in which
ayam
this
nṛ
human
liṅga
by characteristics
gūḍhaḥ purāṇa-puruṣo vana-citra-mālyaḥ
gūḍhaḥ
disguised
purāṇa - puruṣaḥ
the primeval Personality of Godhead
vana
composed of flowers and other items of the forest
citra
of wonderful variety
mālyaḥ
whose garlands
gāḥ pālayan saha-balaḥ kvaṇayaṁś ca veṇuṁ
gāḥ
the cows
pālayan
herding
saha
together with
balaḥ
Lord Balarāma
kvaṇayan
vibrating
ca
and
veṇum
His flute
vikrīdayāñcati giritra-ramārcitāṅghriḥ
vikrīḍayā
with various pastimes
añcati
He moves about
giritra
by Lord Śiva
ramā
and the goddess of fortune
arcita
worshiped
aṅghriḥ
His feet .
  • vraja - bhuvaḥ — the lands of Vraja
    Compound: vraja (the cowherd region) + bhū (earth). Not 'a place' but the land — Vraja-dhāma, the highest abode in Gauḍīya geography. The dust of Vraja outranks Vaikuṇṭha in Rūpa Gosvāmī's reckoning.
  • nṛ - liṅga - gūḍhaḥ — concealed by the marks of a human being
    Compound: nṛ (human) + liṅga (mark) + gūḍha (hidden). The classic Bhāgavata formula for avatāra-rahasya: Bhagavān is fully present, but hidden under human signs. Gauḍīyas cite this exact compound for the doctrine of svarūpa-gūḍhatā.
  • purāṇa - puruṣaḥ — the primeval Person
    Compound: purāṇa (ancient) + puruṣa (Person). Cf. BG 11.38 (purāṇaḥ tvam puruṣaḥ). The women, mid-lament, accidentally name Him with one of the highest titles of the tradition. Bhakti speaks even through their fear.
  • veṇum — flute
    Accusative of veṇu. The very instrument that, in another scene, makes the gopīs run from their homes. The women in the arena, looking at the wrestling boy, see also the flute-boy — and in that double-vision is bhakti's eye.
  • giritra - ramā - arcita - aṅghriḥ — whose feet are worshiped by Lord Śiva and Lakṣmī
    Compound: giritra (Śiva, mountain-protector) + ramā (Lakṣmī) + arcita (worshiped) + aṅghri (feet). One epithet stacks three theologies: even the demigods worship the feet now bare on Vraja's roads.
How pious are the tracts of land in Vraja, for there the primeval Personality of Godhead, disguising Himself with human traits, wanders about, enacting His many pastimes! Adorned with wonderfully variegated forest garlands, He whose feet are worshiped by Lord Śiva and goddess Ramā vibrates His flute as He tends the cows in the company of Balarāma.

In this verse the devoted ladies in the audience point out the difference between Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. They want to indicate that in Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa simply enjoys with His girlfriends and boyfriends, whereas here in Mathurā the Lord is subjected to harassment by the bullying tactics of professional wrestlers. Thus the ladies are condemning the city of Mathurā because of their pain at seeing Kṛṣṇa in what they consider an unfair wrestling match. Of course, Mathurā is also one of the Lord’s eternal abodes, but here the women in the assembly express their love in a critical mood.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
How pious are the tracts of land in Vraja, for there the primeval Personality of Godhead, disguising Himself with human traits, wanders about, enacting His many pastimes! Adorned with wonderfully variegated forest garlands, He whose feet are worshiped by Lord Śiva and goddess Ramā vibrates His flute as He tends the cows in the company of Balarāma.
Commentary

In this verse the wives of the brahmanas who did yajna in Vraja or those associating with them speak. Being pained on seeing the unequal combat, and realizing that Krsna had great power, with great prema mixed with aisvarya jnana, they praise Vraja and its inhabitants, and, by that, criticize Mathura and it residents. "How astonishing it is (bata)! In Vraja, with his svarupa as a human, the material men cannot understand him (nrlinga gudha). He wanders around engaging in various playful activities by his own desires (vi krida). We in Mathura are most unfortunate, because we simply persecute him like this, and these people are simply watching. Though Vraja is just a forest, it is most fortunate, for there Krsna played his flute and blissfully engaged in pastimes, and the residents of Vraja looked on with bliss." This is the implication of their words. The word ancati (wanders) is in the present tense because the women thought that Krsna had the intention of going there again. Actually however, the words cleverly establish here that the pastimes of Krsna are eternal, as established in the scriptures.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Others speak. Or, other affectionate women like the wives of the brāhmaṇas, endowed with the highest prema mixed with knowledge of his powers, praise the land of Vraja because of its good qualities, while disrespecting Mathurā on seeing the inequality in the assembly in four verses. Bata indicates astonishment. The lands related to Vraja are most fortunate. But this is not at all surprising. The plural is used (bhuvaḥ) to indicate that all the lands of Vraja are fortunate, whereas not even one piece of other places is fortunate. In those lands (yat) Kṛṣṇa (ayam), though the oldest person (purāṇa), ever young, and the main person (puruṣaḥ), wanders about. They speak in the present tense since very recently he wandered there and intended to return there. Actually however the present tense establishes that wandering there is his eternal pastimes. Outside of Vraja Kṛṣṇa is rarely attained: his feet are worshipped according to the rules of arcana by Śiva and Lakṣmī in their minds. But they cannot serve him directly like the people of Vraja. “But now he is wandering in Mathurā also.” He plays in a special manner there (vi—krīḍayā). In Vraja he plays, whereas he has been sent to Mathurā to fight with the enemies and is surrounded by indifferent people. Here in Mathurā he does not really play since here his actions do not arise from his spontaneous desire to play. There he plays in a remarkable way because of his desire of his most cherished pastimes since that place has favourability and dearness to him. The play in the two places cannot be compared. The favourable aspects and excellence of Vraja are then described. He has various remarkable garlands made by friends endowed with zeal for special fun from flowers of most dear Vṛndāvana. The special garlands also represent his clothing and ornaments. Herding the cows, objects of the greatest affection, assists his various other pastimes and bewilders the universe when he calls out sweetly to the cows. He is assisted by Balarāma in herding the cows. His cherished pastimes are nourished by the pastimes of Balarāma. What else can be said? He constantly produces sweetness with his flute which bewilders Indra, Śiva and Brahmā, and makes the trees develop goose bumps.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses
Concepts
Punya

Vraja, the women suddenly remember, is the land where this same boy walks with cows and a flute. The blessedness of dust is the same blessedness as the courage of these Vraja-women themselves — they remember a place they have never seen, because His feet are there.

Uddhava bowing to the dust of Vraja

When Lord Kṛṣṇa later sends Uddhava to Vraja as His messenger, Uddhava — already the most exalted Yādava devotee — rolls in the dust of the cowherds' paths and prays to be born there as a blade of grass (SB 10.47.61).

The Mathurā women in this verse are saying, prematurely and from afar, what Uddhava will later say from inside Vraja itself. Their bata vraja-bhuvaḥ puṇyāḥ is the same insight; they have grasped the geography of bhakti before the geographer has been sent.

📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 44