Bhagavata Purana 10.47.12-21 (Canto 10

Bhramara Gita - The Song to the Bee

भ्रमर गीता

श्रीभ्रमरगीता

10 versesChapter 1

Themes

Verses · श्लोक

Verses 1–3

Arrival of Divine Messenger

Divya-Dūta-Āgama

Verse 1Opening verse - The bee as Krishna's accomplice

betrayaldisplaced angerrejectionpridegrief

मधुप कितवबन्धो मा स्पृशाङ्‍घ्रिं सपत्न्याः कुचविलुलितमालाकुङ्कुमश्मश्रुभिर्नः । वहतु मधुपतिस्तन्मानिनीनां प्रसादं यदुसदसि विडम्ब्यं यस्य दूतस्त्वमीदृक् ॥४७-१२॥

madhupa kitava-bandho mā spṛśaṅghriṁ sapatnyāḥ kuca-vilulita-mālā-kuṅkuma-śmaśrubhir naḥ | vahatu madhu-patis tan-māninīnāṁ prasādaṁ yadu-sadasi viḍambyaṁ yasya dūtas tvam īdṛk ||47-12||

O honeybee, friend of a cheater. Do not touch my feet. Your antennae are stained with the vermilion that rubbed off another woman's breasts onto Krishna's garland. Let the Lord of Mathura keep his favor for those proud city-women. And let the whole assembly of the Yadus laugh at him, since he chose a messenger like you.

Modern Reflection

A friend of someone who hurt you walks in. You notice a small detail on them: a shirt, a cologne, a turn of phrase. The detail belongs to the one who hurt you. Your reproach has nowhere to go, so it lands on the visitor. The Sanskrit catches this displaced anger exactly. The gopi cannot scold Krishna; he is gone. So she scolds the bee.

Verse 2Krishna as the fickle bee - nectar drunk only once

abandonmentmemorydefining momentlongingloss

सकृदधरसुधां स्वां मोहिनीं पाययित्वा सुमनस इव सद्यस्तत्यजेऽस्मान् भवादृक् । परिचरति कथं तत्पादपद्मं नु पद्मा ह्यपि बत हृतचेता ह्युत्तमःश्लोकजल्पैः ॥४७-१३॥

sakṛd adhara-sudhāṁ svāṁ mohinīṁ pāyayitvā sumanasa iva sadyas tatyaje 'smān bhavādṛk | paricarati kathaṁ tat-pāda-padmaṁ nu padmā hy api bata hṛta-cetā hy uttamaḥ-śloka-jalpaiḥ ||47-13||

He let us drink the bewildering nectar of his lips once. Then, like a bee that flits from one flower to the next, he dropped us at once. How can Lakshmi still serve those lotus feet? She too, alas, must have been bewitched by the speeches of the One who is praised in the highest verses.

Modern Reflection

There is a particular cruelty in being given something extraordinary once and then having it withdrawn forever. A single perfect afternoon at someone's home. A late-night conversation that meant more than years of others. One piece of attention that ruined every later piece of attention. The gopi names this in a single Sanskrit word: sakṛt. Once. The whole verse balances on it.

Verse 3

sarcasmwearinessold griefredirectionself protection

किमिह बहु षडङ्‍घ्रे गायसि त्वं यदूना- मधिपतिमगृहाणामग्रतो नः पुराणम् । विजयसखसखीनां गीयतां तत्प्रसङ्गः क्षपितकुचरुजस्ते कल्पयन्तीष्टमिष्टाः ॥४७-१४॥

kim iha bahu ṣaḍ-aṅghre gāyasi tvaṁ yadūnām adhipatim agṛhāṇām agrato naḥ purāṇam | vijaya-sakha-sakhīnāṁ gīyatāṁ tat-prasaṅgaḥ kṣapita-kuca-rujas te kalpayantīṣṭam iṣṭāḥ ||47-14||

Why are you singing so much here, O six-footed bee, about the master of the Yadus, before us, the women without a home? It is an old story to us. Go and sing it to the girlfriends of Arjuna's friend, the women whose burning breasts he has soothed. They are the favored ones now. They will give you whatever you wish.

Modern Reflection

When someone tries to update you about a person you used to love, you want to interrupt. You are not the audience for this. You lived the original. Tell it to someone who has never heard it. The gopi makes the same move: take this story to the new audience. We are not new.

Verses 4–5

Bitter Realization of Distance

Dūrī-Kaṭvī-Anubhūti

Verse 4The challenge to Krishna's title Uttama-shloka

characterreputationself worthaccountabilityfairness

दिवि भुवि च रसायां काः स्त्रियस्तद्दुरापाः कपटरुचिरहासभ्रूविजृम्भस्य याः स्युः । चरणरज उपास्ते यस्य भूतिर्वयं का अपि च कृपणपक्षे ह्युत्तमःश्लोकशब्दः ॥४७-१५॥

divi bhuvi ca rasāyāṁ kāḥ striyas tad-durāpāḥ kapaṭa-rucira-hāsa-bhrū-vijṛmbhasya yāḥ syuḥ | caraṇa-raja upāste yasya bhūtir vayaṁ kā api ca kṛpaṇa-pakṣe hy uttamaḥ-śloka-śabdaḥ ||47-15||

In heaven, on earth, and in the underworld, what woman is beyond his reach? Who can resist that cunning sweet smile and the arch of his eyebrows? Lakshmi herself worships the dust of his feet. What are we beside her? And yet, his name Uttama-śloka, the one praised in the highest verses, will mean nothing unless he also stands by the wretched.

Modern Reflection

Charm is common. Anyone with a few good lines and a careful smile can collect admirers. The harder test is whether the same person remembers who they hurt when no one is watching. The gopi makes this argument with full clarity: a great title is only as good as its weakest application. The man called Uttama-śloka must answer for the homeless women in Vrindavan, or the title is empty.

Verse 5

refusing reconciliationboundariesself respecthonestycarelessness

विसृज शिरसि पादं वेद्म्यहं चाटुकारै- रनुनयविदुषस्तेऽभ्येत्य दौत्यैर्मुकुन्दात् । स्वकृत इह विसृष्टापत्यपत्यन्यलोका व्यसृजदकृतचेताः किं नु सन्धेयमस्मिन् ॥४७-१६॥

visṛja śirasi pādaṁ vedmy ahaṁ cāṭu-kārair anunaya-viduṣas te 'bhyetya dautyair mukundāt | sva-kṛta iha viṣṛṣṭāpatya-paty-anya-lokā vyasṛjad akṛta-cetāḥ kiṁ nu sandheyam asmin ||47-16||

Take your head off my foot. I know what you are doing. You have come learned in flattery, skilled in conciliation, taught the craft of diplomacy by Mukunda himself. We left our children, our husbands, every other world, for him alone. And he, with an unmade mind, abandoned us. What reconciliation could possibly be made with such a man?

Modern Reflection

When a mutual friend arrives with a softened message, you can see the strings. You know who wrote the script. The diplomacy was learned from the person who broke you. The gopi refuses the performance. Her pride is not stubborn. It is honest. Reconciling with someone who never acknowledged the wound is reconciling with an empty room.

Verses 6–8

The Transience of Material Relationship

Bhautika-Sambandha-Naśvaratā

Verse 6The list of Krishna's wrongs - and the admission of attachment

indictmentambivalencehonest attachmentcomplicated loveself awareness

मृगयुरिव कपीन्द्रं विव्यधे लुब्धधर्मा स्त्रियमकृत विरूपां स्त्रीजितः कामयानाम् । बलिमपि बलिमत्त्वावेष्टयद् ध्वाङ्‍क्षवद् यस्तदलमसितसख्यैर्दुस्त्यजस्तत्कथार्थः ॥४७-१७॥

mṛgayur iva kapīndraṁ vivyadhe lubdha-dharmā striyam akṛta virūpāṁ strī-jitaḥ kāma-yānām | balim api balim attvāveṣṭayad dhvāṅkṣa-vad yas tad alam asita-sakhyair dustyajas tat-kathārthaḥ ||47-17||

As Rama he shot Vali, the king of the monkeys, from hiding, like a common hunter. He disfigured a woman who came to him in love, because he was ruled by his wife. As Vamana he accepted Bali's offering and then tied Bali up like a crow tying down its prey. Enough of friendship with that dark man. And yet, the matter of his stories is hard to give up.

Modern Reflection

You can recite the list of every wrong a person did. You can rank the wrongs by severity. The list is accurate. You will still stop scrolling when their name appears in a group chat. The gopi has given the full case against Krishna across three avatars, and in the same breath admits the hook is still in. Honesty about both halves is the only way through.

Verse 7The famous ear-nectar verse - hearing once changes you forever

transformationirreversible changerenunciationear nectarbhakti trap

यदनुचरितलीलाकर्णपीयूषविप्रुट्- सकृददनविधूतद्वन्द्वधर्मा विनष्टाः । सपदि गृहकुटुम्बं दीनमुत्सृज्य दीना बहव इह विहङ्गा भिक्षुचर्यां चरन्ति ॥४७-१८॥

yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa-vipruṭ- sakṛd-adana-vidhūta-dvandva-dharmā vinaṣṭāḥ | sapadi gṛha-kuṭumbaṁ dīnam utsṛjya dīnā bahava iha vihaṅgā bhikṣu-caryāṁ caranti ||47-18||

His stories are nectar for the ears. A single drop, tasted only once, dissolves the dharma of duality, and the listener is undone. Many such people in Vrindavan itself have given up their wretched homes and families, and now wander like birds, helpless, practising the life of a beggar.

Modern Reflection

Some people change the shape of you. The change does not undo itself when they leave. You cannot return to the version of yourself who lived before you met them. The before-version is gone. The gopi names this with a single phrase: vidhūta-dvandva-dharma. The framework that held opposites in place has been shaken loose. You do not recover. You only continue.

Verse 8

trust brokenmemory of touchwearinesschange the subjectremembered pain

वयमृतमिव जिह्मव्याहृतं श्रद्दधानाः कुलिकरुतमिवाज्ञाः कृष्णवध्वो हरिण्यः । ददृशुरसकृदेतत्तन्नखस्पर्शतीव्र- स्मररुज उपमन्त्रिन् भण्यतामन्यवार्ता ॥४७-१९॥

vayam ṛtam iva jihma-vyāhṛtaṁ śraddadhānāḥ kulika-rutam ivājñāḥ kṛṣṇa-vadhvo hariṇyaḥ | dadṛśur asakṛd etat tan-nakha-sparśa-tīvra- smara-ruja upamantrin bhaṇyatām anya-vārtā ||47-19||

We trusted his crooked words as if they were the truth, like untaught does trusting the fowler who imitates the call of the black stag. We have felt again and again the sharp pain of desire left by the touch of his nails. O messenger, change the subject. Speak of something else.

Modern Reflection

In the old hunting traditions of India, a hunter would imitate the call of the male deer to lure the females close. The females trusted the sound. The Sanskrit captures the whole trap in three words: trust, deception, pain. The gopi pleads, twice over: first, with herself, to stop turning back to the wound; then with the messenger, to please talk about something else. Anyone who has tried to manage a heartbreak in a public conversation knows that second plea.

Verses 9–10

Overwhelming Ecstasy and Devotion

Apāra-Ānanda-Bhakti

Verse 9The shift - the gopi addresses the bee as 'dear friend'

softeningletting gorespect without returnacceptancelove that protects

प्रियसख पुनरागाः प्रेयसा प्रेषितः किं वरय किमनुरुन्धे माननीयोऽसि मेऽङ्ग । नयसि कथमिहास्मान् दुस्त्यजद्वन्द्वपार्श्वं सततमुरसि सौम्य श्रीर्वधूः साकमास्ते ॥४७-२०॥

priya-sakha punar āgāḥ preyasā preṣitaḥ kiṁ varaya kim anurundhe mānanīyo 'si me 'ṅga | nayasi katham ihāsmān dustyaja-dvandva-pārśvaṁ satatam urasi saumya śrīr vadhūḥ sākam āste ||47-20||

Dear friend, you have come again. Has my Beloved sent you? Ask for any boon. You are honoured by me, gentle one. But why do you propose that we go back with you? It would pain him even to step away from his marriages. His consort Sri is always with him, upon his chest.

Modern Reflection

There comes a moment in a long aftermath when the anger runs out of fuel. What replaces it is quieter. Not forgiveness, not yet. Just: I will not ask him to choose. He has already chosen. The gopi's voice softens here for the first time. She calls the bee priya-sakha, dear friend, and saumya, gentle one. She is no longer fighting. She is also no longer pretending she could return.

Verse 10The closing verse - the small question beneath all the reproach

final questionmemorysmall wishtendernessviraha bhakti

अपि बत मधुपुर्यामार्यपुत्रोऽधुनास्ते स्मरति स पितृगेहान् सौम्य बन्धूंश्च गोपान् । क्वचिदपि स कथा नः किङ्करीणां गृणीते भुजमगुरुसुगन्धं मूर्ध्न्यधास्यत् कदा नु ॥४७-२१॥

api bata madhu-puryām ārya-putro 'dhunāste smarati sa pitṛ-gehān saumya bandhūṁś ca gopān | kvacid api sa kathā naḥ kiṅkarīṇāṁ gṛṇīte bhujam aguru-sugandhaṁ mūrdhny adhāsyat kadā nu ||47-21||

Alas, gentle one. The noble son lives now in Mathura. Does he remember his father's house here? Does he remember his cowherd kin? Does he ever, even in passing, speak of us, his maidservants? When, oh when, will his arm, fragrant with aloe-wood, be placed once again upon our heads?

Modern Reflection

All the reproach was protecting one question. The question is small and a little shameful, which is why it could not be asked directly. The question is: does he ever say my name when no one is listening? Every line of complaint in the nine earlier verses was a shield for this. The Bhramara Gita ends not with a conclusion but with a wish so soft it is almost not spoken. When, oh when, will his hand be placed on my head again?

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