Bhagavatapurana 10.30
English (machine translation) 10.30
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Contents
10.30.1
Śrī Śuka said: / When the Lord suddenly vanished, the women of Vraja, / not seeing him, burned with sorrow like cow elephants [deprived of] their herd's leader.
10.30.2
With their minds captivated by his gait, loving smiles, playful glances, / charming speech, and graceful pastimes, the enraptured women, absorbed in him, imitated his various actions.
10.30.3
With his beloved form imprinted upon their gaits, smiles, glances, speech, and movements, / those women, absorbed in him, their movements matching Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, proclaimed: “I am he!”
10.30.4
Singing loudly of him alone, gathered together, they searched from forest to forest like madwomen; / and they questioned the trees about the Person who, like space, exists inside and outside all beings:
10.30.5
“Have you seen, O aśvattha, plakṣa, nyagrodha, Nanda’s son, / who has gone away stealing our minds with loving smiles and glances?
10.30.6
Did Rāma’s younger brother, whose smile removes the pride of proud women, / go by this way, O kurabaka, aśoka, nāga, punnāga, and campaka?
10.30.7
O auspicious tulasī, dear to Govinda’s feet, / was your most beloved Acyuta seen by you, bearing you along with swarms of bees?
10.30.8
Was Mādhava seen by you, O mālatī, mallikā, jāti, and yūthikā, / passing by and bringing you joy with the touch of his hand?
10.30.9
O cūta, priyāla, panasa, āsana, kovidāra, jambū, arka, bilva, bakula, āmra, kadamba, and nīpa, / and whatever other trees live for the sake of others on the bank of the Yamunā, tell the path of Kṛṣṇa to us who are bereft of our life-breath!
10.30.9.p1
What austerity have you performed, O earth, that you shine with the hair of your body bristling with the joy of touching Keśava’s feet?
10.30.10
Or is this born of the stride of the Wide-Striding One, or through the embrace of the Boar-bodied Lord?
10.30.10.p1
[…]
10.30.10.p2
O wives of the deer, did Acyuta pass by here with his beloved, bringing great delight to your eyes with his limbs, O friends?
10.30.10.p3
Did Acyuta pass by here with his beloved, bringing great delight to your eyes with his limbs, O friends?
10.30.11
For here wafts the scent of the kunda garland of the master of our race, tinged with the saffron from the breasts of his beloved through contact with her body.
10.30.11.p1
[…]
10.30.11.p2
Resting his arm on his beloved’s shoulder and holding a lotus, Rāma’s younger brother, followed by swarms of bees intoxicated by tulasī,
10.30.11.p3
Resting his arm on his beloved’s shoulder and holding a lotus, Rāma’s younger brother, followed by swarms of bees intoxicated by tulasī,
10.30.12
as he wandered here, did he, O trees, acknowledge your homage with loving glances?
10.30.12.p1
[…]
10.30.13
Ask these creepers! Though embracing the arms of the lord of the forest, / surely, touched by his fingernails, they bristle with delight—ah!
10.30.14
Speaking such frenzied words, distressed in their search for Kṛṣṇa, / the cowherd women imitated the various pastimes of the Lord, absorbed in him.
10.30.15
One woman, acting like Kṛṣṇa, drank from the breast of another who acted like Pūtanā; / another, acting as an infant and crying, kicked with her foot one who acted like the cart demon.
10.30.16
One, acting like the demon [Tṛṇāvarta], carried off another who felt herself to be the child Kṛṣṇa; / another crawled about, dragging her feet with the jingling sound of ankle bells.
10.30.17
Two acted as Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, while some acted as cowherd boys; / one slew another who acted like the calf demon, and another slew one acting like the crane demon.
10.30.18
Just as Kṛṣṇa called those [cows] who had wandered far, one woman imitated him; / sounding her flute and playing, the others praised her: 'Well done!'
10.30.19
Resting her arm on another's shoulder, one walked about and said: / 'Look, I am Kṛṣṇa, see my charming gait!'—her mind entirely absorbed in him.
10.30.20
'Do not fear the wind and rain, protection against it has been made by me!' / Saying this, she exerted herself to lift up her upper garment with one hand.
10.30.21
Climbing upon another and treading with her foot on her head, O King, one said: / 'Go away, wicked serpent! Truly, I have appeared to punish the vile!'
10.30.22
There, one said: 'O cowherds, behold the fierce forest fire! / Quickly close your eyes; I shall easily bring about your safety.'
10.30.23
Bound to a mortar with a garland by another, a slender maiden / said: 'I am binding the breaker of pots, the thief of freshly churned butter!' / and terrified, with beautiful eyes, she covered her face, imitating fear.
10.30.24
Thus questioning the creepers and trees of Vṛndāvana about Kṛṣṇa, / they beheld in a part of the forest the footprints of the Supreme Self.
10.30.25
'These footprints clearly belong to the noble son of Nanda, / for they are distinguished by the flag, lotus, thunderbolt, elephant-goad, barleycorn, and other marks.'
10.30.26
Tracing his path by those various footprints, the distressed women, / seeing them intimately mingled ahead with the footprints of a woman, spoke together:
10.30.27
'Whose footprints are these, walking with the son of Nanda, / her forearm resting upon his shoulder, like a female elephant with a bull elephant?'
10.30.28
'Surely the Lord, Hari the Supreme Master, was fully worshiped by this woman, / since Govinda, pleased, has abandoned us and led her into secret!'
10.30.29
'Ah, blessed are these particles of dust from Govinda's lotus feet, companions! / Which Brahmā, Śiva, and the goddess Ramā place upon their heads to wash away sins.'
10.30.30
'These footprints of hers cause us great agitation, / since she alone, stealing him away from the cowherd women, savors Acyuta's lower lip in secret.' / 'Her footprints are no longer seen here; surely the beloved lifted up his darling / whose delicate soles were hurting from the sprouting grasses.'
10.30.31
'Look, cowherd women, at these deeper sunk footprints of passionate Kṛṣṇa, / carrying his bride, weighed down by her burden!' / 'Here the beloved woman was set down by the noble one for the sake of flowers.'
10.30.32
'Here blossoms were plucked by the lover for the sake of his beloved: / look, these footprints are incomplete because he stepped on the tips of his toes!'
10.30.33
'And here the styling of the passionate maiden's hair was done by the passionate lover: / surely he sat down here while arranging flowers in his beloved's braid.'
10.30.34
Delighting in his own self, satisfied in himself, whole and unbroken, he sported with her, / showing the subservience of lustful men and the cunning obstinacy of women.
10.30.35
Pointing out these signs in this way, the cowherd women wandered bewildered. / As for that cowherd woman whom Kṛṣṇa had taken into the forest, leaving the other women behind—
10.30.36
She then considered herself superior to all women: / 'Leaving behind the cowherd women who were pursued by desire, this beloved cherishes me!'
10.30.37
Going to a part of the forest, she became proud and said to Keśava: / 'I cannot walk any further; carry me wherever you wish!'
10.30.38
Addressed in this manner, he said to his beloved: 'Climb onto my shoulder.' / And then Kṛṣṇa vanished; that young woman was filled with remorse.
10.30.39
'Alas, my lord! O lover! O dearest one! Where are you, where are you, mighty-armed one? / To me, your miserable handmaid, O friend, reveal your presence!'
10.30.40
Śrī Śuka said: / Seeking the path of the Lord, not far away the cowherd women / saw their friend bewildered and grieving over separation from her beloved.
10.30.41
Hearing her recount the honor she had received from Mādhava / and the humiliation [she suffered] due to her pride, they were filled with the greatest astonishment.
10.30.42
Then they entered the forest as far as the moonlight was visible; / noticing that darkness had set in, the women then turned back.
10.30.43
Their minds fixed on him, their talk of him, their movements imitating his, their selves absorbed in him, / singing only of his virtues, they did not remember their own homes.
10.30.44
Coming once again to the sandy bank of the Kālindī, their thoughts wholly on Kṛṣṇa, / assembled together, they sang of Kṛṣṇa, longing for his arrival.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Commentaries (1)
- Bhāvārthadīpikā — Śrīdhara Svāmin, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit