SB 1.15.20 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 20
Sa aham nripendra rahitah purushottamena Sakhya priyena suhrida hridayena sunyah. Adhyanyurukrama parigraham anga rakshan Gopair asdbhiravaleva vinirjitoshmi.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Sa—that, Aham—Myself, Nripendra—oh the emperor, Rahitam—bereft of, Purushottamena—by the Supreme Lord, Sakhya—by my friend, Priyena—by my dearmost, Suhrida—by the wellwisher, Hridayena—by the heart and soul, Sunyah—vaccant, Adhuna—recently, Urukramaparigraham—the wives of the All-powerful, Anga—body, Rakshan—while protecting, Gopair—by the cowherds, Asdbhir—by the infidels, Avaleva—like the weak woman, Vinirjitoshmi—I have been defeated.
TRANSLATION
Oh the emperor! thus I have been separated by my such friend, wellwisher, the dearmost Supreme Personality of Godhead and therefore my heart appears to be void of everything. In His absence I have been defeated by a number of infidel cowherdsmen while I was guarding the bodies of all the wives of Krishna.
PURPORT
The important point in this verse is how it was possible that Arjuna could be defeated by a gang of ignoble cowherdsmen and how such mundane cowherdsmen could touch the body of the wives of Lord Krishna who were under the protection of Arjuna. Srila Viswanath Chakravarty Thakur has justified the contradiction by research endeavour in the Vishnu Puranam and Brahma Puranam. In these Puranas it is said that sometimes the fair denizens of heaven pleased by their service to Astavakra Muni and the latter in return blessed them that they would have the Supreme Lord as their husband. Astavakra Muni was curved in eight joints of his bodily structure and thus he used to move on in a peculiar curved manner. The daughters of the demigods could not check their laughing by seeing the movements of the Muni and thus the Muni being angry upon them cursed them also that they would be kidnapped by rogues even they would get the Lord as their husband. Later on the girls again satisfied the Muni by their prayers and the Muni blessed them that they would regain their husband even after being robbed by the rogues. So in order to keep the words of the great Muni, the Lord Himself kidnapped His wives from the protection of Arjuna otherwise they would have at once vanished from the scene in the very beginning of their being touched by the rogues. Besides that some of the Gopis who prayed for becoming the better halves of the Lord and after their desire being fulfilled they returned back to their respective position. After the departure of Lord Krishna He wanted all His entourage back to Godhead and they were so called back under different conditions only.