tÄá¹ tÄ«kṣṇa-cittÄm ativÄma-ceá¹£á¹itÄá¹
vÄ«ká¹£yÄntarÄ koá¹£a-paricchadÄsivat
vara-striyaá¹ tat-prabhayÄ ca dhará¹£ite
nirÄ«ká¹£yamÄṇe jananÄ« hy atiá¹£á¹hatÄm
tÄm - that (PÅ«tanÄ RÄká¹£asÄ«); tÄ«kṣṇa-cittÄm - having a very fierce heart for killing the child; ati-vÄma-ceá¹£á¹itÄm - although she was trying to treat the child better than a mother; vÄ«ká¹£ya antarÄ - seeing her within the room; koá¹£a-paricchada-asi-vat - like a sharp sword within a soft sheath; vara-striyam - the very beautiful woman; tat-prabhayÄ - by her influence; ca - also; dhará¹£ite - being overwhelmed; nirÄ«ká¹£yamÄṇe - were seeing; jananÄ« - the two mothers; hi - indeed; atiá¹£á¹hatÄm - they remained silent, without prohibiting.
PÅ«tanÄ RÄká¹£asī’s heart was fierce and cruel, but she looked like a very affectionate mother. Thus she resembled a sharp sword in a soft sheath. Although seeing her within the room, YaÅ›odÄ and Rohiṇī, overwhelmed by her beauty, did not stop her, but remained silent because she treated the child like a mother.
Although PÅ«tanÄ was an outsider and although she personified fierce death because the determination within her heart was to kill the child, when she directly came and placed the child on her lap to offer the child her breast to suck, the mothers were so captivated by her beauty that they did not prohibit her. Sometimes a beautiful woman is dangerous because everyone, being captivated by external beauty (mÄyÄ-mohita), is unable to understand what is in her mind. Those who are captivated by the beauty of the external energy are called mÄyÄ-mohita. Mohitaá¹ nÄbhijÄnÄti mÄm ebhyaḥ param avyayam (Bg. 7.13). Na te viduḥ svÄrtha-gatiá¹ hi viṣṇuá¹ durÄÅ›ayÄ ye bahir-artha-mÄninaḥ (BhÄg. 7.5.31). Here, of course, the two mothers Rohiṇī and YaÅ›odÄ were not mÄyÄ-mohita, deluded by the external energy, but to develop the pastimes of the Lord, they were captivated by Yoga-mÄyÄ. Such mÄyÄ-moha is the action of Yoga-mÄyÄ.
