dhanyÄḥ sma mÅ«á¸ha-gatayo 'pi hariṇya etÄ
yÄ nanda-nandanam upÄtta-vicitra-veÅ›am
Äkarṇya veṇu-raṇitaá¹ saha-kṛṣṇa-sÄrÄḥ
pÅ«jÄá¹ dadhur viracitÄá¹ praṇayÄvalokaiḥ
1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: CC(1)
dhanyÄḥ - fortunate, blessed; sma - certainly; mÅ«á¸ha-gatayaḥ - having taken birth in an ignorant animal species; api - although; hariṇyaḥ - she-deer; etÄḥ - these; yÄḥ - who; nanda-nandanam - the son of MahÄrÄja Nanda; upÄtta-vicitra-veÅ›am - dressed very attractively; Äkarṇya - hearing; veṇu-raṇitam - the sound of His flute; saha-kṛṣṇa-sÄrÄḥ - accompanied by the black deer (their husbands); pÅ«jÄm dadhuḥ - they worshiped; viracitÄm - performed; praṇaya-avalokaiḥ - by their affectionate glances.
Blessed are all these foolish deer because they have approached MahÄrÄja Nanda’s son, who is gorgeously dressed and is playing on His flute. Indeed, both the doe and the bucks worship the Lord with looks of love and affection.
This translation is quoted from ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda’s Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta (Madhya-lÄ«lÄ 17.36).
According to the ÄcÄryas, the gopÄ«s were thinking as follows: “The female deer can approach Kṛṣṇa along with their husbands because Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate object of affection for the male deer. Because of their affection for Kṛṣṇa, they are encouraged by seeing their wives attracted to Him and thus consider their household lives fortunate. Indeed, they become joyful upon seeing how their wives are searching after Kṛṣṇa, and, following along, they urge their wives to go to the Lord. On the other hand, our husbands are jealous of Kṛṣṇa, and because of their lack of devotion to Him they cannot even stand to smell His fragrance. Therefore what is the use of our lives?â€
