Text 39
vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ
śraddhānvito ’nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ
bhaktiṁ parāṁ bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ
hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ
vikrīḍitam — the sporting; vraja-vadhūbhiḥ — with the young women of Vṛndāvana; idam — this; ca — and; viṣṇoḥ — by Lord Viṣṇu; śraddhā-anvitaḥ — faithfully; anuśṛṇuyāt — hears; atha — or; varṇayet — describes; yaḥ — who; bhaktim — devotional service; parām — transcendental; bhagavati — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pratilabhya — obtaining; kāmam — material lust; hṛt — in the heart; rogam — the disease; āśu — quickly; apahinoti — he drives away; acireṇa — without delay; dhīraḥ — sober.
Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.
The extraordinary power of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s conjugal pastimes is clearly revealed here. Qualitatively, the Lord’s spiritual, loving pastimes are the diametric opposite of material, lusty affairs, so much so that simply by hearing about the Lord’s pastimes a devotee conquers sex desire. By reading pornographic literature or hearing about material romance, we certainly do not conquer sex desire but rather increase our lust. But hearing or reading about the Lord’s conjugal affairs has exactly the opposite effect because they are of the opposite nature, being purely spiritual. Therefore it is by the causeless mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa that He exhibits His rāsa-līlā within this world. If we become attached to this narration, we will experience the bliss of spiritual love and thus reject the perverted reflection of that love, which is called lust. As nicely put by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.59), paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate: “Once having directly experienced the Supreme, one will not return to material pleasures.”
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Thirty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Rāsa Dance.”