TEXT 40
lalita-gati-vilasa-valguhasa-
pranaya-niriksana-kalpitorumanah
krta-manu-krta-vatya unmadandhah
prakrtim agan kila yasya gopa-vadhvah
SYNONYMS
lalitaattractive; gatimovements; vilasafascinating acts; valguhasasweet smiling; pranayaloving; niriksanalooking upon; kalpitamentality; urumanahhighly glorified; krta-manu-krta-vatyahin the act of copying the movements; unmada-andhahgone mad in ecstasy; prakrtimcharacteristics; aganunderwent; kilacertainly; yasyawhose; gopa-vadhvahthe cowherd damsels.

By intense ecstasy of loving service, the damsels of Vrajabhumi attained qualitative oneness with the Lord by dancing with Him on an equal level, embracing Him in nuptial love, smiling at Him in joke, and looking at Him with a loving attitude.


To show the gopis His mercy and curb their false pride, Lord Krsna disappeared from the scene of the rasa dance. After searching for Him, the gopis became fatigued and began to talk like madwomen. They could satisfy themselves only by imitating the pastimes of Krsna.

TRANSLATION
Let my mind be fixed upon Lord Sri Krsna, whose motions and smiles of love attracted the damsels of Vrajadhama [the gopis]. The damsels imitated the characteristic movements of the Lord [after His disappearance from the rasa dance].
PURPORT
By intense ecstasy in loving service, the damsels of Vrajabhumi attained qualitative oneness with the Lord by dancing with Him on an equal level, embracing Him in nuptial love, smiling at Him in joke, and looking at Him with a loving attitude. The relation of the Lord with Arjuna is undoubtedly praiseworthy for devotees like Bhismadeva, but the relation of the gopis with the Lord is still more praiseworthy because of their still more purified loving service. By the grace of the Lord, Arjuna was fortunate enough to have the fraternal service of the Lord as chariot driver, but the Lord did not award Arjuna with equal strength. The gopis, however, practically became one with the Lord by attainment of equal footing with the Lord. Bhisma's aspiration to remember the gopis is a prayer to have their mercy also at the last stage of his life. The Lord is satisfied more when His pure devotees are glorified, and therefore Bhismadeva has not only glorified the acts of Arjuna, his immediate object of attraction, but has also remembered the gopis, who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities by rendering loving service to the Lord. The gopis' equality with the Lord should never be misunderstood to be like the sayujya liberation of the impersonalist. The equality is one of perfect ecstasy where the differential conception is completely eradicated, for the interests of the lover and the beloved become identical.

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