Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 47: The Song of the Bee |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.47.11
kācin madhukaraḿ dṛṣṭvā
dhyāyantī kṛṣṇa-sańgamam
priya-prasthāpitaḿ dūtaḿ
kalpayitvedam abravīt
SYNONYMS
kācit — one (of the gopīs); madhu-karam — a honeybee; dṛṣṭvā — seeing; dhyāyantī — while meditating; kṛṣṇa-sańgamam — on Her association with Kṛṣṇa; priya — by Her beloved; prasthāpitam — sent; dūtam — a messenger; kalpayitvā — imagining it; idam — the following; abravīt — spoke.
TRANSLATION
One of the gopīs, while meditating on Her previous association with Kṛṣṇa, saw a honeybee before Her and imagined it to be a messenger sent by Her beloved. Thus She spoke as follows.
PURPORT
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is referred to in this verse as kācit, "a certain gopī."To establish that this particular gopī is in fact Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī quotes the following verses from the Agni Purāṇa:
gopyaḥ papracchur ūṣasi
kṛṣṇānucaram uddhavam
harī-līlā-vihārāḿś ca
tatraikāḿ rādhikāḿ vinā
rādhā tad-bhāva-saḿlīnā
vāsanāyā virāmitā
sakhībhiḥ sābhyadhāc chuddha-
vijñāna-guṇa-jṛmbhitam
ijyānte-vāsināḿ veda
caramāḿśa-vibhāvanaiḥ
"At dawn the gopīs inquired from Kṛṣṇa's servant, Uddhava, about the Lord's pastimes and recreation. Only Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, immersed in thought of Kṛṣṇa, withdrew Her interest in the talks. Then Rādhā, who is worshiped by the residents of Her Vṛndāvana village, spoke up in the midst of Her girlfriends. Her words were full of pure transcendental knowledge and expressed the ultimate portion of the Vedas."
In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa states, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: "By all the Vedas, I am to be known." To know Kṛṣṇa is to love Kṛṣṇa, and thus Rādhārāṇī, by Her own example and words, revealed Her supreme love for the Lord.
Having quoted the above verses from the Agni Purāṇa, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī also quotes the following from the Nṛsiḿha-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Pūrva-khaṇḍa 2.4): yaḿ sarve devā namanti mumukṣavo brahma-vādinaś ca. "All the demigods and all the transcendental philosophers who desire liberation bow down to the Supreme Lord." We should follow suit.
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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