CC Madhya-lila 08.276 - SB 10.35.09

Expressions researched:
"This verse"

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.35.8-11, Translation:

Kṛṣṇa moves about the forest in the company of His friends, who vividly chant the glories of His magnificent deeds. He thus appears just like the Supreme Personality of Godhead exhibiting His inexhaustible opulences. When the cows wander onto the mountainsides and Kṛṣṇa calls out to them with the sound of His flute, the trees and creepers in the forest respond by becoming so luxuriant with fruits and flowers that they seem to be manifesting Lord Viṣṇu within their hearts. As their branches bend low with the weight, the filaments on their trunks and vines stand erect out of the ecstasy of love of God, and both the trees and the creepers pour down a rain of sweet sap.

Maddened by the divine, honeylike aroma of the tulasī flowers on the garland Kṛṣṇa wears, swarms of bees sing loudly for Him, and that most beautiful of all persons thankfully acknowledges and acclaims their song by taking His flute to His lips and playing it. The charming flute song then steals away the minds of the cranes, swans and other lake-dwelling birds. Indeed they approach Kṛṣṇa, close their eyes and, maintaining strict silence, worship Him by fixing their consciousness upon Him in deep meditation.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 8.276, Translation and Purport:

""The plants, creepers and trees were full of fruits and flowers due to ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, being so full, they were bowing down. They were inspired by such deep love for Kṛṣṇa that they were constantly pouring showers of honey. In this way the gopīs saw all the forests of Vṛndāvana.""

This verse (SB 10.35.9) is one of the songs the gopīs sang during Kṛṣṇa's absence. In Kṛṣṇa's absence the gopīs were always absorbed in thought of Him. Similarly, the mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, sees everything as potentially serving the Lord. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states:

prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ

mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo vairāgyaṁ phalgu kathyate

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.126)

The advanced devotee does not see anything as unconnected with Kṛṣṇa. Unlike the Māyāvādī philosophers, a devotee does not see the material world as false, because he knows that everything in the material world is connected to Kṛṣṇa. A devotee knows how to utilize everything in the service of the Lord, and this is characteristic of the mahā-bhāgavata. The gopīs saw the plants, creepers and forest trees loaded with fruits and flowers and ready to serve Kṛṣṇa. In this way they immediately remembered their worshipable Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. They did not simply see plants, creepers and trees the way a mundaner sees them.