puṇyÄ bata vraja-bhuvo yad ayaá¹ ná¹›-liá¹…ga
gÅ«á¸haḥ purÄṇa-puruá¹£o vana-citra-mÄlyaḥ
gÄḥ pÄlayan saha-balaḥ kvaṇayamÅ› ca veṇuá¹
vikrÄ«dayÄñcati giritra-ramÄrcitÄá¹…ghriḥ
puṇyÄḥ - pious; bata - indeed; vraja-bhuvaḥ - the various regions of the land of Vraja; yat - in which; ayam - this; ná¹› - human; liá¹…ga - by characteristics; gÅ«á¸haḥ - disguised; purÄṇa-puruá¹£aḥ - the primeval Personality of Godhead; vana - composed of flowers and other items of the forest; citra - of wonderful variety; mÄlyaḥ - whose garlands; gÄḥ - the cows; pÄlayan - herding; saha - together with; balaḥ - Lord BalarÄma; kvaṇayan - vibrating; ca - and; veṇum - His flute; vikrÄ«á¸ayÄ - with various pastimes; añcati - He moves about; giritra - by Lord Åšiva; ramÄ - and the goddess of fortune; arcita - worshiped; aá¹…ghriḥ - His feet.
How pious are the tracts of land in Vraja, for there the primeval Personality of Godhead, disguising Himself with human traits, wanders about, enacting His many pastimes! Adorned with wonderfully variegated forest garlands, He whose feet are worshiped by Lord Åšiva and goddess RamÄ vibrates His flute as He tends the cows in the company of BalarÄma.
In this verse the devoted ladies in the audience point out the difference between MathurÄ and Vá¹›ndÄvana. They want to indicate that in Vá¹›ndÄvana Kṛṣṇa simply enjoys with His girlfriends and boyfriends, whereas here in MathurÄ the Lord is subjected to harassment by the bullying tactics of professional wrestlers. Thus the ladies are condemning the city of MathurÄ because of their pain at seeing Kṛṣṇa in what they consider an unfair wrestling match. Of course, MathurÄ is also one of the Lord’s eternal abodes, but here the women in the assembly express their love in a critical mood.
