SB 10.23.42
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Please note: The synonyms, translation and purport of this verse were composed by disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda
TEXT 42
- aho paśyata nārīṇām
- api kṛṣṇe jagad-gurau
- duranta-bhāvaṁ yo 'vidhyan
- mṛtyu-pāśān gṛhābhidhān
SYNONYMS
aho paśyata — just see; nārīṇām — of these women; api — even; kṛṣṇe — for Lord Kṛṣṇa; jagat-gurau — the spiritual master of the entire universe; duranta — unlimited; bhāvam — the devotion; yaḥ — which; avidhyat — has broken; mṛtyu — of death; pāśān — the bonds; gṛha-abhidhān — known as family life.
Translation and purport composed by disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda
TRANSLATION
Just see the unlimited love these women have developed for Lord Kṛṣṇa, the spiritual master of the entire universe! This love has broken for them the very bonds of death—their attachment to family life.
PURPORT
Superficially, the husbands, fathers, fathers-in-law and so on were the ladies' gurus, or teachers. Yet the women had become perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas the men had fallen into the darkness of Ignorance.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, upon returning home the ladies showed transcendental ecstatic symptoms, such as trembling of the body, shedding of tears, standing of the bodily hairs on end, discoloration of the complexion, crying out "O pleasure of my life, O Kṛṣṇa!" with faltering words, and so forth.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī goes on to state that while one may object that it is not fitting for a woman to love anyone other than her husband, here the husbands themselves point out that they are gurus only in imitation of the Supreme Lord, who is jagad-guru, the universal teacher and spiritual master. The husbands noted that the women, having perfected their transcendental attachment for Kṛṣṇa, did not have even a trace of attachment left for home, husband, children and so forth. Therefore from that day on the husbands accepted those ladies as their worshipable spiritual masters and no longer thought of them as their wives or property.