Srimad Bhagavata Purana

Gopika Gita - The Song of the Gopis in Separation

गोपिका गीता

श्रीगोपीगीतम्

19 versesChapter 1

Themes

Verses · श्लोक

Verses 1–3

Glory of Vrindavan

Vṛndāvana-Mahimā

Verse 1The opening invocation - Vraja glorified by Krishna's birth

opening with praiseplace blessed by presencename the gift firstbhakti grammarviraha opening

जयति तेऽधिकं जन्मना व्रजः श्रयत इन्दिरा शश्वदत्र हि । दयित दृश्यतां दिक्षु तावकाः त्वयि धृतासवस्त्वां विचिन्वते ॥३१-१॥

jayati te 'dhikaṁ janmanā vrajaḥ śrayata indirā śaśvad atra hi | dayita dṛśyatāṁ dikṣu tāvakāḥ tvayi dhṛtāsavas tvāṁ vicinvate ||31-1||

Vraja shines more brightly because you were born here, and Lakshmi dwells here permanently for that reason. Beloved, show yourself. Your women have searched every direction. Our breath is sustained only by you.

Modern Reflection

The Gopika Gita opens not with sorrow but with praise. The gopis are wandering the forest in pain, and the first thing they say is: this place is blessed because you were born here. Indian devotional logic shows itself in that order. Before complaint, gratitude. Before demand, recognition. The place itself, Vraja, gets the first sentence. Krishna gets the second. The grammar of bhakti puts the gift before the giver.

Verse 2

without a priceaśulkagiven freelythe accusationlord of love

शरदुदाशये साधुजातसत्- सरसिजोदरश्रीमुषा दृशा । सुरतनाथ तेऽशुल्कदासिका वरद निघ्नतो नेह किं वधः ॥३१-२॥

śarad-udāśaye sādhu-jāta-sat- sarasijodara-śrī-muṣā dṛśā | surata-nātha te 'śulka-dāsikā vara-da nighnato neha kiṁ vadhaḥ ||31-2||

Lord of love, your glance steals the beauty of the most perfect lotus in the autumn pond. We gave ourselves to you without asking a price. Bestower of boons, when you kill us this way, is it not murder?

Modern Reflection

The Sanskrit word aśulka-dāsikā does the work here. Aśulka means without a price, without a dowry, without having been bought. The gopis are saying: we came to you for free. We did not negotiate. We did not ask what we would receive. And now you have left. The accusation in the second half, is this not murder, is sharper in Sanskrit than in English. The verse refuses the polite registers of devotional literature. The women are angry, and they say so.

Verse 3

list of rescuescompressed praiseremembering the patternviśvato bhayātkrishna protector

विषजलाप्ययाद्व्यालराक्षसाद् वर्षमारुताद्वैद्युतानलात् । वृषमयात्मजाद्विश्वतो भयाद् ऋषभ ते वयं रक्षिता मुहुः ॥३१-३॥

viṣa-jalāpyayād vyāla-rākṣasād varṣa-mārutād vaidyutānalāt | vṛṣa-mayātmajād viśvato bhayād ṛṣabha te vayaṁ rakṣitā muhuḥ ||31-3||

From poisoned water, from the serpent demon, from the storm and the lightning fire, from the bull demon and the son of Maya, from danger on every side, you, greatest one, have protected us again and again.

Modern Reflection

After the accusation of verse 2, the third verse pivots. The gopis recite the list of times Krishna protected them. The poisoned Yamuna when Kaliya lived in it. The python demon Agha. The forest fire. The storm Indra sent. The bull demon. The verse is a public list of receipts. The structure is common in Indian prayer: complain, then remember. The remembering does not erase the complaint. It places the complaint inside a longer story. The gopis are not saying Krishna was always wrong. They are saying: you have been the protector before, so this absence is the breach of a pattern.

Verses 4–8

Surrender & Protection

Śaraṇāgati-Rakṣā

Verse 4The gopis name Krishna's full identity

double recognitionantar ātma dṛkthe beloved is the lordcosmic and personaldoctrinal anchor

न खलु गोपिकानन्दनो भवान् अखिलदेहिनामन्तरात्मदृक् । विखनसार्थितो विश्वगुप्तये सख उदेयिवान्सात्वतां कुले ॥३१-४॥

na khalu gopīkā-nandano bhavān akhila-dehinām antarātma-dṛk | vikhanasārthito viśva-guptaye sakha udeyivān sātvatāṁ kule ||31-4||

You are not in truth only the son of a cowherd woman, friend. You are the witness who sees within every embodied being. When Brahma petitioned for the universe to be protected, you came forth in the Sātvata line.

Modern Reflection

Suddenly the tone shifts. The gopis have been speaking to their lover. In this verse they speak to the cosmic Lord. You are not just the boy Yashoda raised. You are the inner witness of every breathing thing. The shift is deliberate and theological. Indian devotion never forgets that the beloved is also the Lord. The gopis are not confused. They are stating, with precision, that the one they love and the one who upholds the universe are the same person. The verse is the doctrinal anchor of the whole song.

Verse 5

hand on headblessing gestureśirasi dhehifearlessnesskrishna hand

विरचिताभयं वृष्णिधूर्य ते चरणमीयुषां संसृतेर्भयात् । करसरोरुहं कान्त कामदं शिरसि धेहि नः श्रीकरग्रहम् ॥३१-५॥

viracitābhayaṁ vṛṣṇi-dhūrya te caraṇam īyuṣāṁ saṁsṛter bhayāt | kara-saroruhaṁ kānta kāma-daṁ śirasi dhehi naḥ śrī-kara-graham ||31-5||

Chief of the Vṛṣṇis, your foot gives fearlessness to those who approach it out of fear of samsara. Beloved, place your lotus hand, the wish-granting hand that holds Sri's hand, on our heads.

Modern Reflection

Two body-parts are named in this verse: the foot and the hand. The foot is for those afraid of samsara, the wheel of birth and death. The hand is for those afraid right now. The gopis are asking for the second. They are not seeking liberation from rebirth. They want the hand on their heads tonight. The Sanskrit compound śrī-kara-graham is specific: the hand that has held the hand of Sri, of Lakshmi. The gopis are saying: you have promised yourself to the goddess of fortune; now reach across and touch us.

Verse 6

smile that breaks pridepost lesson reintegrationbhaja sakhewe are already yoursask by definition

व्रजजनार्तिहन्वीर योषितां निजजनस्मयध्वंसनस्मित । भज सखे भवत्किङ्करीः स्म नो जलरुहाननं चारु दर्शय ॥३१-६॥

vraja-janārti-han vīra yoṣitāṁ nija-jana-smaya-dhvaṁsana-smita | bhaja sakhe bhavat-kiṅkarīḥ sma no jalaruhānanaṁ cāru darśaya ||31-6||

Hero who destroys the suffering of Vraja's people, you whose smile breaks the pride of your own. Accept us, friend. We are indeed your maidservants. Show us your lotus face.

Modern Reflection

The verse contains a precise self-diagnosis. The gopis say Krishna is the one whose smile destroys the pride of his own people. They are admitting that pride was the cause of his disappearance. When he was dancing with them, each one thought she alone was special. He withdrew to break that thought. The verse names this with the compound nija-jana-smaya-dhvaṁsana-smita, a smile that ends the self-importance of one's own. The gopis are not asking for the lesson to be undone. They are asking to be admitted back, now that the lesson has landed.

Verse 7The Kaliya-feet verse - one foot, four destinations

kaliya feetfoot on chestremind of other deedskṛndhi hṛc chayamritual of the foot

प्रणतदेहिनां पापकर्षणं तृणचरानुगं श्रीनिकेतनम् । फणिफणार्पितं ते पदाम्बुजं कृणु कुचेषु नः कृन्धि हृच्छयम् ॥३१-७॥

praṇata-dehināṁ pāpa-karṣaṇaṁ tṛṇa-carānugaṁ śrī-niketanam | phaṇi-phaṇārpitaṁ te padāmbujaṁ kṛṇu kuceṣu naḥ kṛndhi hṛc-chayam ||31-7||

Your lotus foot draws away the sin of those who bow down. It follows the cows. It is the dwelling-place of Sri. You set it on Kaliya's hood. Place it on our breasts. Cut away the lust lying in our hearts.

Modern Reflection

This verse lists four places Krishna's foot has been. On the heads of those who bow. Following cows through grass. Held in Lakshmi's lap as her dwelling. Pressed on the hood of the serpent Kaliya. Then the gopis ask for a fifth destination: their own chests. The list is precise and unsentimental. Each placement is a known story. The Sanskrit phrase kṛndhi hṛc-chayam, cut away the heart-lying thing, names lust directly. The gopis are not asking for the foot to be placed for romance. They are asking for the same foot that defeated Kaliya to defeat the disturbance they carry.

Verse 8

sweet words no longer enoughadhara sīdhupromise of presenceobedient but askingnext register

मधुरया गिरा वल्गुवाक्यया बुधमनोज्ञया पुष्करेक्षण । विधिकरीरिमा वीर मुह्यतीर् अधरसीधुनाप्याययस्व नः ॥३१-८॥

madhurayā girā valgu-vākyayā budha-manojñayā puṣkarekṣaṇa | vidhi-karīr imā vīra muhyatīr adhara-sīdhunāpyāyayasva naḥ ||31-8||

Your sweet speech, your gracious words pleasing even to wise minds, lotus-eyed one, are bewildering your obedient servants. Hero, revive us with the nectar of your lips.

Modern Reflection

The first time the gopis met Krishna in the forest that night, before he disappeared, he spoke to them with sweet courtly words. He told them to go home. The words were kind. They were also a refusal. The gopis are calling that moment back. They are saying: your speech bewildered us, but words are not enough now. The Sanskrit verb āpyāyayasva means to fill back up, to satisfy. Sweet voice no longer fills them. They want the next register: physical presence, the nectar of the lip.

Verses 9–11

The True Identity of Krishna

Kṛṣṇa-Satya-Svarūpa

Verse 9THE FAMOUS kathāmṛtam verse - the praise of Krishna's story

kathāmṛtastory as giftbhūri dāḥgreat giversfamous verse

तव कथामृतं तप्तजीवनं कविभिरीडितं कल्मषापहम् । श्रवणमङ्गलं श्रीमदाततं भुवि गृणन्ति ये भूरिदा जनाः ॥३१-९॥

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham | śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad ātataṁ bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūri-dā janāḥ ||31-9||

The nectar of your story is life-water to those who are burning. Poets sing it. It washes away every stain. It blesses the listener. It is the most generous gift on earth: those who tell your story are the great-givers of this world.

Modern Reflection

This is one of the most quoted verses in Vaishnava literature. It is recited daily in temples, printed at the start of Bhagavata commentaries, and sung at every kathā event. The compound tava kathāmṛtam, the nectar of your story, is the technical title for what every devotional discourse since has tried to be. The verse calls those who tell the story bhūri-dāḥ, great-givers. Not those who fund the temple. Not those who endow the gurukula. The givers are the storytellers. The verse establishes the entire Indian tradition of kathā as a form of generosity.

Verse 10

smaraṇa jvārafever of rememberingkuhakasweetness as trapmeditation and agitation

प्रहसितं प्रियप्रेमवीक्षणं विहरणं च ते ध्यानमङ्गलम् । रहसि संविदो या हृदि स्पृशः कुहक नो मनः क्षोभयन्ति हि ॥३१-१०॥

prahasitaṁ priya-prema-vīkṣaṇaṁ viharaṇaṁ ca te dhyāna-maṅgalam | rahasi saṁvido yā hṛdi spṛśaḥ kuhaka no manaḥ kṣobhayanti hi ||31-10||

Your laughter, the loving glance of the beloved, your play, the private conversations in secret that touched the heart: all of these are auspicious to meditate on, and they agitate our minds, you trickster.

Modern Reflection

Two emotions live in the same verse. The memory is sacred. The memory is unbearable. Indian devotional language has a term for this state: smaraṇa-jvāra, the fever of remembering. The Sanskrit word kuhaka, trickster, is the central accusation. The trick was that the meetings were sweet enough to leave the memory permanently active. The gopis are saying: you knew this would happen. You knew the private conversations would not fade. You set the fire and walked away from it.

Verse 11

lotus foot rough groundeveryday worrykalila manasdepartures add upthe old fear

चलसि यद्व्रजाच्चारयन्पशून् नलिनसुन्दरं नाथ ते पदम् । शिलतृणाङ्कुरैः सीदतीति नः कलिलतां मनः कान्त गच्छति ॥३१-११॥

calasi yad vrajāc cārayan paśūn nalina-sundaraṁ nātha te padam | śila-tṛṇāṅkuraiḥ sīdatīti naḥ kalilatāṁ manaḥ kānta gacchati ||31-11||

When you walk out of Vraja to graze the cows, lord, your foot is as beautiful as a lotus. We feel it is pained by the pebbles, grass-tips, and sharp shoots. Beloved, our minds fall into thick distress.

Modern Reflection

The gopis are not in Vraja right now. They are in the forest, alone, searching. So why does this verse describe what happens when Krishna leaves Vraja in the morning to graze the cows? Because they are saying: even on ordinary days, when you walked out of the village, we worried about your feet. We watched you go. We imagined the rough ground. If we hurt that much on a regular morning, can you imagine what we feel now? The verse moves the complaint backward in time. The pain of separation is older than tonight.

Verses 12–15

The Pain of Love

Prema-Vedanā

Verse 12

evening returnsmaralove and memorythe daily imageinterior weather

दिनपरिक्षये नीलकुन्तलैर् वनरुहाननं बिभ्रदावृतम् । घनरजस्वलं दर्शयन्मुहुर् मनसि नः स्मरं वीर यच्छसि ॥३१-१२॥

dina-parikṣaye nīla-kuntalair vanaruhānanaṁ bibhrad āvṛtam | ghana-rajasvalaṁ darśayan muhur manasi naḥ smaraṁ vīra yacchasi ||31-12||

When the day closes, you show us, again and again, your lotus face covered by dark blue curls and thickly dusted from the forest. Hero, with that face you set the god of love working in our minds.

Modern Reflection

Every evening when Krishna returned from grazing the cows, his hair was tangled and his face was dusty from the forest. The gopis would be at their doors. The image of him returning, sweat and dust on his face, became the moment of the day. The verse is saying: this daily arrival is what set us on fire. Smara, the Sanskrit name of the god of love, is also literally the word for memory. The verse plays the pun. The god of love and the act of remembering are the same word in Sanskrit. You ignited both.

Verse 13

ādhi hanmental anguish curestructured argumentfoot on heartayurvedic grammar

प्रणतकामदं पद्मजार्चितं धरणिमण्डनं ध्येयमापदि । चरणपङ्कजं शन्तमं च ते रमण नः स्तनेष्वर्पयाधिहन् ॥३१-१३॥

praṇata-kāma-daṁ padmajārcitaṁ dharaṇi-maṇḍanaṁ dhyeyam āpadi | caraṇa-paṅkajaṁ śantamaṁ ca te ramaṇa naḥ staneṣv arpayādhi-han ||31-13||

Your lotus foot grants the desires of those who bow. Brahma worships it. It ornaments the earth. It is the thought to turn to in calamity. It gives the deepest peace. Lover, destroyer of mental anguish, place it on our breasts.

Modern Reflection

Five attributes are listed for the foot in five compound phrases. Grants desires. Worshipped by Brahma. Ornament of earth. Meditation-object in disaster. Bringer of deepest peace. Then the request: place it on our breasts. The structure is rhetorical. By the time the request arrives, the listener has had to agree five times to the foot's qualifications. The gopis are not pleading. They are arguing. The Sanskrit term ādhi-han, destroyer of mental anguish, names the role they are asking him to play. The verse is a closing argument.

Verse 14

lip nectarthe flute as rivalitara rāga vismāraṇastructural lossruined by the best

सुरतवर्धनं शोकनाशनं स्वरितवेणुना सुष्ठु चुम्बितम् । इतररागविस्मारणं नृणां वितर वीर नस्तेऽधरामृतम् ॥३१-१४॥

surata-vardhanaṁ śoka-nāśanaṁ svarita-veṇunā suṣṭhu cumbitam | itara-rāga-vismāraṇaṁ nṛṇāṁ vitara vīra nas te 'dharāmṛtam ||31-14||

The nectar of your lip is the increaser of love and the destroyer of grief. Your sounding flute kisses it well. It makes a person forget every other attachment. Hero, give us that nectar.

Modern Reflection

The verse contains a famous Sanskrit observation: the flute gets to touch the lip the gopis cannot reach. The Sanskrit phrase svarita-veṇunā suṣṭhu cumbitam, well kissed by the sounding flute, makes the flute the object of envy in Vaishnava poetry for the next thousand years. The argument is wry: even the bamboo gets what we do not. The verse names lip-nectar as itara-rāga-vismāraṇam, the forgetter of every other attachment. That phrase is the key. Once tasted, every other taste is forgotten. The gopis are saying: that is why we cannot want anything else.

Verse 15THE MOST FAMOUS verse - 'a moment becomes an age'

truṭi yugāyatemoment becomes agefamous verseblink as lossviraha time

अटति यद्भवानह्नि काननं त्रुटिर्युगायते त्वामपश्यताम् । कुटिलकुन्तलं श्रीमुखं च ते जड उदीक्षतां पक्ष्मकृद्दृशाम् ॥३१-१५॥

aṭati yad bhavān ahni kānanaṁ truṭi yugāyate tvām apaśyatām | kuṭila-kuntalaṁ śrī-mukhaṁ ca te jaḍa udīkṣatāṁ pakṣma-kṛd dṛśām ||31-15||

When you wander into the forest during the day, a single moment lengthens into an age for us who cannot see you. And when we do look up at your beautiful face circled by curls, the one who made eyelashes for our eyes is a hindrance.

Modern Reflection

This is the most quoted verse of the Gopika Gita. The compound truṭi yugāyate, a moment lengthens into an age, is one of the perfect lines in Sanskrit literature. Truṭi is the technical name for the smallest unit of time in Indian chronology. Yuga is the longest. The verse places them in a single phrase, with the verb āyate, becomes. The smallest becomes the largest. Time itself stretches when the beloved is absent. The verse then turns to a wry complaint about the second face: even when Krishna does appear, the eyelash blocks the sight every time the eye blinks. Brahma, who made the eyelash, is to blame.

Verses 16–19

Complete Self-Offering

Pūrṇa-Ātma-Samarpaṇa

Verse 16The naming of social cost - what the gopis crossed to come

ativilaṅghyasocial cost of lovethe acyuta paradoxkitavaabandonment in the night

पतिसुतान्वयभ्रातृबान्धवान् अतिविलङ्घ्य तेऽन्त्यच्युतागताः । गतिविदस्तवोद्गीतमोहिताः कितव योषितः कस्त्यजेन्निशि ॥३१-१६॥

pati-sutānvaya-bhrātṛ-bāndhavān ativilaṅghya te 'nty acyutāgatāḥ | gati-vidas tavodgīta-mohitāḥ kitava yoṣitaḥ kas tyajen niśi ||31-16||

We have stepped past husbands, sons, the family line, brothers, and other relatives to come to your presence, Acyuta. You know exactly where we have come from. We were drawn by your high flute-song. Cheat, who abandons women in the night?

Modern Reflection

Five categories of relationship are named in two Sanskrit words. Husbands. Sons. The patriline. Brothers. Other relatives. The gopis are saying: we did not leave one thing. We left five. The verb ativilaṅghya, having transgressed, is strong in Sanskrit. It is the verb used for crossing a moral boundary, not just a physical one. The accusation is precise: you knew the social cost when you played the flute. You know it now. The closing line, who abandons women in the night, is a piece of folk wisdom turned into a courtroom question.

Verse 17

five returning imageshṛt śayathe loop of memoryphenomenology of lossnaming the images

रहसि संविदं हृच्छयोदयं प्रहसिताननं प्रेमवीक्षणम् । बृहदुरः श्रियो वीक्ष्य धाम ते मुहुरतिस्पृहा मुह्यते मनः ॥३१-१७॥

rahasi saṁvidaṁ hṛc-chayodayaṁ prahasitānanaṁ prema-vīkṣaṇam | bṛhad-uraḥ śriyo vīkṣya dhāma te muhur ati-spṛhā muhyate manaḥ ||31-17||

The secret conversations, the rising of love in the heart, your laughing face, your loving glance, your broad chest that is the home of Sri: looking at all of this in memory, great longing arises again and again, and the mind is bewildered.

Modern Reflection

This is the third verse in the song that names memory as the source of suffering. The list is fuller now. Five things from the past appear: the secret talks, the rise of love, the laughing face, the loving glance, the broad chest. The repetition is intentional. The gopis are showing what the mind does in viraha: it returns, again and again, to a small set of images. The Sanskrit phrase ati-spṛhā muhur muhyate manaḥ, 'great-longing-again-and-again-bewilders the mind', has the rhythm of obsession built into it.

Verse 18

tyaja manākjust a littletvat spṛhā ātmanāmindividual doseheart disease cure

व्रजवनौकसां व्यक्तिरङ्ग ते वृजिनहन्त्र्यलं विश्वमङ्गलम् । त्यज मनाक्च नस्त्वत्स्पृहात्मनां स्वजनहृद्रुजां यन्निषूदनम् ॥३१-१८॥

vraja-vanaukasāṁ vyaktir aṅga te vṛjina-hantry alaṁ viśva-maṅgalam | tyaja manāk ca nas tvat-spṛhātmanāṁ sva-jana-hṛd-rujāṁ yan niṣūdanam ||31-18||

Your appearance to those who live in Vraja's forests destroys all suffering and is wholly auspicious for the world. Release just a little of it to us, whose being is longing for you. It is the medicine for the heart-disease of your own people.

Modern Reflection

The Sanskrit verb tyaja, release, has a precise feel. It is the verb used for handing out medicine, for releasing an arrow, for letting go of something held tightly. The gopis are saying: you are holding back. Release a portion. The compound tvat-spṛhā-ātmanām, those whose being is longing for you, is one of the most compact descriptions of bhakti in the Bhagavata. The self has been replaced by the longing. There is no person left over. The request is calibrated: not full presence, just a little. Even a little, the verse says, is the medicine.

Verse 19The famous closing verse - in vasantatilaka metre, the worry about Krishna's feet

sujāta caraṇāmburuhamvasantatilakafamous closing versehis feet not our breastsbhavad āyuṣām

यत्ते सुजातचरणाम्बुरुहं स्तनेषु भीताः शनैः प्रिय दधीमहि कर्कशेषु । तेनाटवीमटसि तद्व्यथते न किं स्वित् कूर्पादिभिर्भ्रमति धीर्भवदायुषां नः ॥३१-१९॥

yat te sujāta-caraṇāmburuhaṁ staneṣu bhītāḥ śanaiḥ priya dadhīmahi karkaśeṣu | tenāṭavīm aṭasi tad vyathate na kiṁ svit kūrpādibhir bhramati dhīr bhavad-āyuṣāṁ naḥ ||31-19||

Beloved, your exquisitely-formed lotus foot is so soft that we are afraid to place it gently on our own hard breasts. And yet you wander the wilderness with it. Does the foot not get hurt? Pebbles and sharp things must trouble it. Our minds, whose life depends on you, lose themselves in this thought.

Modern Reflection

The Gopika Gita closes with a metrical shift. The first eighteen verses are in trishtubh, a balanced metre. Verse 19 moves into vasantatilaka, the metre Sanskrit poets use for the highest moments of feeling. The choice is deliberate. The song has been building. The closing verse is, by long tradition, the most beautiful in the song. The image is small. Their own breasts feel too rough for his foot. And yet he wanders barefoot in the wilderness. The verse names the impossibility at the core of love: the beloved's body is more precious than one's own, and the beloved exposes it to the world.

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