Shloka 40
Pradyumna’s Abduction, Mahā-māyā, and the Slaying of Śambara
यं वै मुहु: पितृसरूपनिजेशभावा- स्तन्मातरो यदभजन् रहरूढभावा: । चित्रं न तत् खलु रमास्पदबिम्बबिम्बे कामे स्मरेऽक्षविषये किमुतान्यनार्य: ॥ ४० ॥
yaṁ vai muhuḥ pitṛ-sarūpa-nijeśa-bhāvās tan-mātaro yad abhajan raha-rūḍha-bhāvāḥ citraṁ na tat khalu ramāspada-bimba-bimbe kāme smare ’kṣa-viṣaye kim utānya-nāryaḥ
Không có gì lạ khi các cung nữ—đáng lẽ phải có tình mẫu tử với Pradyumna—lại kín đáo cảm thấy sự cuốn hút ngây ngất đối với Ngài như đối với chính chúa tể của mình. Bởi Ngài giống hệt phụ vương: là bóng phản chiếu vẻ đẹp của Śrī Kṛṣṇa, nơi nương tựa của nữ thần Lakṣmī, hiện ra trước mắt như chính Kāmadeva. Vậy thì còn nói gì đến những phụ nữ khác!
As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains, whenever the palace women saw Śrī Pradyumna, they immediately remembered their Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has explained that in the beginning all the residents of the palace, who were all mothers and stepmothers of Pradyumna, mistook Him to be Kṛṣṇa and were all bashful, infected by the desire for conjugal love. The explanation is that Pradyumna’s personal appearance was exactly like Kṛṣṇa’s, and he was factually Cupid himself. There was no cause of astonishment, therefore, when the mothers of Pradyumna and other women mistook him in that way. It is clear from the statement that Pradyumna’s bodily characteristics were so similar to Kṛṣṇa’s that he was mistaken to be Kṛṣṇa even by His mother.”
FAQs
This verse states that Kṛṣṇa is the very prototype of beauty—so captivating that even Kāma (Cupid), who causes attraction in others, becomes attracted upon seeing Him.
He highlights how Kṛṣṇa’s presence naturally awakens deep devotion and attraction; even respectable royal women, perceiving Him as their Lord and as the likeness of their husbands, developed intense inner reverence.
Train the eyes and mind to seek the divine—through darśana, kīrtana, and remembrance—because attraction directed to Kṛṣṇa purifies desire and turns it into devotion.