dhanyāḥ sma mūḍha-gatayo 'pi hariṇya etā
yā nanda-nandanam upātta-vicitra-veśam
ākarṇya veṇu-raṇitaḿ saha-kṛṣṇa-sārāḥ
pūjāḿ dadhur viracitāḿ praṇayāvalokaiḥ
dhanyah -- fortunate, blessed; sma -- certainly; mudha-gatayah -- having taken birth in an ignorant animal species; api -- although; harinyah -- she-deer; etah -- these; yah -- who; nanda-nandanam -- the son of Maharaja Nanda; upatta-vicitra-vesam -- dressed very attractively; akarnya -- hearing; venu-ranitam -- the sound of His flute; saha-krishna-sarah -- accompanied by the black deer (their husbands); pujam dadhuh -- they worshiped; viracitam -- performed; pranaya-avalokaih -- by their affectionate glances.
Blessed are all these foolish deer because they have approached Maharaja 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 Srila Prabhupada's Caitanya-caritamrita (Madhya 17.36).
According to the acaryas, the gopis were thinking as follows: "The female deer can approach Krishna along with their husbands because Krishna is the ultimate object of affection for the male deer. Because of their affection for Krishna, 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 Krishna, and, following along, they urge their wives to go to the Lord. On the other hand, our husbands are jealous of Krishna, 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?"
