Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 33 Verse 39

Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 33: The Rāsa Dance

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.33.39

vikrīḍitaḿ vraja-vadhūbhir idaḿ ca viṣṇoḥ

śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ

bhaktiḿ parāḿ bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaḿ

hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ

SYNONYMS

vikrīḍitam — the sporting; vraja-vadhūbhiḥ — with the young women of Vṛndāvana; idam — this; ca — and; viṣṇoḥ — by Lord Viṣṇu; śraddhā-anvitaḥ — faithfully; anuśṛṇuyāt — hears; atha — or; varṇayet — describes; yaḥ — who; bhaktim — devotional service; parām — transcendental; bhagavati — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pratilabhya — obtaining; kāmam — material lust; hṛt — in the heart; rogam — the disease; aśu — quickly; apahinoti — he drives away; acireṇa — without delay; dhīraḥ — sober.

TRANSLATION

Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord's playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord's pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.

PURPORT

The extraordinary power of Lord Kṛṣṇa's conjugal pastimes is clearly revealed here. Qualitatively, the Lord's spiritual, loving pastimes are the diametric opposite of material, lusty affairs, so much so that simply by hearing about the Lord's pastimes a devotee conquers sex desire. By reading pornographic literature or hearing about material romance, we certainly do not conquer sex desire but rather increase our lust. But hearing or reading about the Lord's conjugal affairs has exactly the opposite effect because they are of the opposite nature, being purely spiritual. Therefore it is by the causeless mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa that He exhibits His rāsa-līlā within this world. If we become attached to this narration, we will experience the bliss of spiritual love and thus reject the perverted reflection of that love, which is called lust. As nicely put by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.59), paraḿ dṛṣṭvā nivartate: "Once having directly experienced the Supreme, one will not return to material pleasures."

Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Rāsa Dance."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari