pītvā mukunda-mukha-sāragham akṣi-bhṛṅgais
tāpaṁ jahur viraha-jaṁ vraja-yoṣito 'hni
tat sat-kṛtiṁ samadhigamya viveśa goṣṭhaṁ
savrīḍa-hāsa-vinayaṁ yad apāṅga-mokṣam
pītvā - drinking; mukunda-mukha - of the face of Lord Mukunda; sāragham - the honey; akṣi-bhṛṅgaiḥ - with their beelike eyes; tāpam - distress; jahuḥ - gave up; viraha-jam - based on separation; vraja-yoṣitaḥ - the ladies of Vṛndāvana; ahni - during the day; tat - that; sat-kṛtim - offering of respect; samadhigamya - fully accepting; viveśa - He entered; goṣṭham - the cowherd village; sa-vrīḍa - with shame; hāsa - laughter; vinayam - and humbleness; yat - which; apāṅga - of their sidelong glances; mokṣam - the release.
With their beelike eyes, the women of Vṛndāvana drank the honey of the beautiful face of Lord Mukunda, and thus they gave up the distress they had felt during the day because of separation from Him. The young Vṛndāvana ladies cast sidelong glances at the Lord — glances filled with bashfulness, laughter and submission — and Śrī Kṛṣṇa, completely accepting these glances as a proper offering of respect, entered the cowherd village.
In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda describes this incident as follows: “All the gopīs in Vṛndāvana remained very morose on account of Kṛṣṇa’s absence. All day they were thinking of Kṛṣṇa in the forest or of Him herding cows in the pasture. When they saw Kṛṣṇa returning, all their anxieties were immediately relieved, and they began to look at His face the way drones hover over the honey of the lotus flower. When Kṛṣṇa entered the village, the young gopīs smiled and laughed. Kṛṣṇa, while playing the flute, enjoyed the beautiful smiling faces of the gopīs.”
The Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the supreme master of romantic skills, and thus He expertly exchanged loving feelings with the young cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana. When a chaste young girl is in love, she glances at her beloved with shyness, jubilation and submission. When the beloved accepts her offering of love by receiving her glance and is thus satisfied with her, the loving young girl’s heart becomes filled with happiness. These were exactly the romantic exchanges taking place between beautiful young Kṛṣṇa and the loving cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana.
