ŚB 10.29.24
Devanagari
भर्तु: शुश्रूषणं स्त्रीणां परो धर्मो ह्यमायया ।
तद्बन्धूनां च कल्याण: प्रजानां चानुपोषणम् ॥ २४ ॥
तद्बन्धूनां च कल्याण: प्रजानां चानुपोषणम् ॥ २४ ॥
Verse text
bhartuḥ śuśrūṣaṇaṁ strīṇāṁ
paro dharmo hy amāyayā
tad-bandhūnāṁ ca kalyāṇaḥ
prajānāṁ cānupoṣaṇam
paro dharmo hy amāyayā
tad-bandhūnāṁ ca kalyāṇaḥ
prajānāṁ cānupoṣaṇam
Synonyms
bhartuḥ — of one’s husband; śuśrūṣaṇam — faithful service; strīṇām — for women; paraḥ — the highest; dharmaḥ — religious duty; hi — indeed; amāyayā — without duplicity; tat-bandhūnām — to the relatives of their husbands; ca — and; kalyāṇaḥ — doing good; prajānām — of their offspring; ca — and; anupoṣaṇam — the care.
Translation
The highest religious duty for a woman is to sincerely serve her husband, behave well toward her husband’s family and take good care of her children.
Purport
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī astutely points out here that the gopīs’ real, eternal husband is Lord Kṛṣṇa, not their so-called husbands at home, who falsely considered the gopīs their property. Thus a strict interpretation of the word amāyayā, “without illusion,” reveals that the supreme religious duty for the gopīs is to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa, their real lover.