Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 Chapter 6 Verse 18

Canto 11: General History | Chapter 6: The Yadu Dynasty Retires to Prabhāsa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.6.18

smāyāvaloka-lava-darśita-bhāva-hāri-

bhrū-maṇḍala-prahita-saurata-mantra-śauṇḍaiḥ

patnyas tu ṣoḍaśa-sahasram anańga-bāṇair

yasyendriyaḿ vimathituḿ karaṇair na vibhvyaḥ

SYNONYMS

smāya — smiling; avaloka — of a glance; lava — by fractions; darśita — having shown; bhāva — their feelings; hāri — enchanting; bhrū-maṇḍala — by which arch of the eyebrows; prahita — launched; saurata — of conjugal love; mantra — messages; śauṇḍaiḥ — by the impudent advances; patnyaḥ — wives; tu — but; ṣoḍaśa-sahasram — sixteen thousand; anańga — of Cupid; bāṇaiḥ — by the arrows; yasya — whose; indriyam — senses; vimathitum — to agitate; karaṇaiḥ — with all their devices; na vibhvyaḥ — they were not able.

TRANSLATION

My Lord, You are living with sixteen thousand exquisitely beautiful, aristocratic wives. By their irresistible coy and smiling glances and by their lovely arching eyebrows, they send You messages of eager conjugal love. But they are completely unable to disturb the mind and senses of Your Lordship.

PURPORT

In the previous verse it was clearly stated that no material object can attract the senses of the Lord. Now in this verse it is demonstrated that the Lord has no desire to enjoy even spiritual sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa is complete in Himself. He is the reservoir of all pleasure, and He does not lust after anything material or spiritual. The argument may by given that Kṛṣṇa, in order to please His wife Satyabhāmā, stole a pārijāta flower from heaven and thus appeared to be a henpecked husband under the control of His loving wife. But although Kṛṣṇa is sometimes conquered by the love of His devotees, He is never influenced by the desire to enjoy like an ordinary, lusty materialistic person. The nondevotees cannot understand the overwhelming loving feelings exchanged between the Lord and His pure devotees. Kṛṣṇa may be conquered by our intense love for Him, and thus pure devotees can control the Lord. For example, the elderly gopīs in Vṛndāvana would clap their hands in different rhythms to make Kṛṣṇa dance, and in Dvārakā Satyabhāmā ordered Kṛṣṇa to bring her a flower as proof of His love for her. As stated in Śrīnivāsa Ācārya's song to the six Gosvāmīs, gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhuḥ: the love between the Lord and His pure devotee is an ocean of spiritual bliss. But at the same time, Kṛṣṇa remains completely self-satisfied. Kṛṣṇa indifferently gave up the company of the incomparable young damsels of Vraja-bhūmi, the gopīs, and went to Mathurā at the request of His uncle, Akrūra. Thus neither the gopīs of Vṛndāvana nor the queens of Dvārakā could arouse an enjoying spirit in Kṛṣṇa. When all is said and done, pleasure in this world means sex. But this mundane sexual attraction is simply a perverted reflection of the transcendental loving affairs between Kṛṣṇa and His eternal associates in the spiritual world. The gopīs of Vṛndāvana are unsophisticated village girls, whereas the queens in Dvārakā are aristocratic young ladies. But both the gopīs and the queens are overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa displays the highest perfection of beauty, strength, wealth, fame, knowledge and renunciation and is thus completely satisfied by His own supreme position. He reciprocates spiritual loving affairs with the gopīs and queens simply for their sake. Only fools think that Lord Kṛṣṇa could be attracted by the perverted illusory pleasures to which we poor conditioned souls are so blindly attached. Therefore everyone should recognize the supreme transcendental position of the Personality of Godhead and surrender to Him. That is the clear implication of this statement by the demigods.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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