सा होवाच गान्धर्वी—कथं वाऽस्मासु जातोऽसौ गोपालः कथं वा ज्ञातोऽसौ त्वया मुने कृष्णः को वाऽस्य मन्त्रः किं वाऽस्य स्थानं कथं वा देवक्यां जातः को वाऽस्य ज्यायान् रामो भवति कीदृशी पूजाऽस्य गोपालस्य भवति साक्षात् प्रकृतिपरोऽयमात्मा गोपालः कथं त्ववतीर्णो भूम्यां हि वै
sā hovāca gāndharvī—kathaṁ vā'smāsu jāto'sau gopālaḥ kathaṁ vā jñāto'sau tvayā mune kṛṣṇaḥ ko vā'sya mantraḥ kiṁ vā'sya sthānaṁ kathaṁ vā devakyāṁ jātaḥ ko vā'sya jyāyān rāmo bhavati kīdṛśī pūjā'sya gopālasya bhavati sākṣāt prakṛtiparo'yamātmā gopālaḥ kathaṁ tvavatīrṇo bhūmyāṁ hi vai
And Gāndharvī said: how was this Cowherd born among us? how didst thou come to know Him, O sage? what is His mantra? what is His place? how was He born of Devakī? who is His elder brother Rāma? what is the worship of this Cowherd? And how did He, truly beyond nature, the Self, descend to earth?
8bda447db505 · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:30:24 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Eight questions at once — the longest interrogation in the book. They are asked by Gāndharvī, called in mantra 12 the best among the cowherd women.
It is worth tracing what they are about. How was He born among us — that is, in Vraja. How didst thou come to know Him — a question about the source of the sage's knowledge. What is His mantra and what is His place. How was He born of Devakī — that is, about the Mathurā birth, distinct from the life in Gokula. Who is His elder brother Rāma. What is His worship.
And the last, the chief: how did He, "truly beyond nature", descend to earth? This is the very question every theology of incarnation answers: if He is outside matter, what does His birth mean?
The order of the questions is remarkable. They begin with the most personal — "born among us" — and end with the most abstract; and all of it in one breath. So asks one who knows the subject not by hearsay.
The answer to these questions will make up the rest of the book: first the account of how Nārāyaṇa revealed all this to Brahmā, then the exposition of the mantra and the names, then the description of Mathurā and the abode, and at the very end the worship and its fruit.