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Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Say the verse. Read the transliteration aloud, slowly.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each word and its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation. Ask: what is happening here, and who is it about?
  4. 4Read the purport slowly. Read it twice. Don't rush.
  5. 5See Lord Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa. Remember who is acting in the pastime.
  6. 6Take one thing into your day. Note one point and one practice.
Read the full guide: how to read Caitanya Caritamrta ›
Ādi-līlā · Chapter 17: The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Youth
Ādi 17.280Ādi 17.282

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 17.281

গোপীনাং পশুপেন্দ্রনন্দনজুষো ভাবস্য কস্তাং কৃতী

বিজ্ঞাতুং ক্ষমতে দুরূহপদবীসঞ্চারিণঃ প্রক্রিয়াম্‌ ।

আবিষ্কুর্বতি বৈষ্ণবীমপি তনুং তস্মিন্ ভুজৈর্জিষ্ণুভি–

র্যাসাং হন্ত চতুর্ভিরদ্ভুতরুচিং রাগোদয়ঃ কুঞ্চতি ॥ ২৮১ ॥

gopīnāṁ paśupendra-nandana-juṣo bhāvasya kas tāṁ kṛtī

vijñātuṁ kṣamate durūha-padavī-sañcāriṇaḥ prakriyām

āviṣkurvati vaiṣṇavīm api tanuṁ tasmin bhujair jiṣṇubhir

yāsāṁ hanta caturbhir adbhuta-ruciṁ rāgodayaḥ kuñcati

Translation

“Once Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa playfully manifested Himself as Nārāyaṇa, with four victorious hands and a very beautiful form. When the gopīs saw this exalted form, however, their ecstatic feelings were crippled. Even a learned scholar, therefore, cannot understand the gopīs’ ecstatic feelings, which are firmly fixed upon the original form of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. The wonderful feelings of the gopīs in ecstatic parama-rasa with Kṛṣṇa constitute the greatest mystery in spiritual life.”

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The mystery of the gopīs’ ecstatic feelings

  1. 1

    Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa playfully manifested Himself as Nārāyaṇa, with four victorious hands and a very beautiful form. Seeing this form, the gopīs’ ecstatic feelings were crippled.

  2. 2

    Their ecstatic feelings are firmly fixed upon the original form of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. Even a learned scholar cannot understand these feelings.

  3. 3

    Their ecstatic parama-rasa with Kṛṣṇa constitutes the greatest mystery in spiritual life. The purport identifies this passage as a quotation from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Lalita-mādhava.

Key points from the purport
  • This is a quotation from the Lalita-mādhava (6.54), by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

How it feels

Public courage and ecstatic joy. The saṅkīrtana movement confronts opposition and moves toward recognition and expansion.

The mood of Ādi 17 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Ādi 17: The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Youth

From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The King of Vrajabhūmi is Nanda Mahārāja, and the same person in Navadvīpa is Jagannātha Miśra, the father of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Similarly, mother Yaśodā is the Queen of Vrajabhūmi, and in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya she is Śacīmātā.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 17
2

Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. gopīnāmof the gopīs
  2. paśupa-indra-nandana-juṣaḥof the service of the son of Vraja’s King, Mahārāja Nanda
  3. bhāvasyaecstatic
  4. kaḥwhat
  5. tāmthat
  6. kṛtīlearned man
  7. vijñātumto understand
  8. kṣamateis able
3

Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • Vraja-smaraṇa · Remembrance of Vṛndāvana

    The remembered sweetness of Vraja that colors Mahāprabhu’s pilgrimage, Ratha-yātrā, and later states of separation. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “gopīs”, “nanda”, “gopīs’”

Concept links are an editorial study map; only the verse is the text itself.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does the limit of scholarly understanding encourage humility in my study?

Practice

Reread the description of the gopīs’ feelings, acknowledging that this spiritual mystery exceeds scholarly understanding.

Live this todayThe mystery of the gopīs’ ecstatic feelingsThis verse's lesson: one practice and one question for today

Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.

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