Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.6.9

tāḿ tīkṣṇa-cittām ativāma-ceṣṭitāḿ

vīkṣyāntarā koṣa-paricchadāsivat

vara-striyaḿ tat-prabhayā ca dharṣite

nirīkṣyamāṇe jananī hy atiṣṭhatām

SYNONYMS

tām — that (Pūtanā Rākṣasī); tīkṣṇa-cittām — having a very fierce heart for killing the child; ati-vāma-ceṣṭitām — although she was trying to treat the child better than a mother; vīkṣya antarā — seeing her within the room; koṣa-paricchada-asi-vat — like a sharp sword within a soft sheath; vara-striyam — the very beautiful woman; tat-prabhayā — by her influence; ca — also; dharṣite — being overwhelmed; nirīkṣyamāṇe — were seeing; jananī — the two mothers; hi — indeed; atiṣṭhatām — they remained silent, without prohibiting.

TRANSLATION

Pūtanā Rākṣasī's heart was fierce and cruel, but she looked like a very affectionate mother. Thus she resembled a sharp sword in a soft sheath. Although seeing her within the room, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, overwhelmed by her beauty, did not stop her, but remained silent because she treated the child like a mother.

PURPORT

Although Pūtanā was an outsider and although she personified fierce death because the determination within her heart was to kill the child, when she directly came and placed the child on her lap to offer the child her breast to suck, the mothers were so captivated by her beauty that they did not prohibit her. Sometimes a beautiful woman is dangerous because everyone, being captivated by external beauty (māyā-mohita), is unable to understand what is in her mind. Those who are captivated by the beauty of the external energy are called māyā-mohita. Mohitaḿ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (Bg. 7.13). Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiḿ hi viṣṇuḿ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (Bhāg. 7.5.31). Here, of course, the two mothers Rohiṇī and Yaśodā were not māyā-mohita, deluded by the external energy, but to develop the pastimes of the Lord, they were captivated by yogamāyā. Such māyā-moha is the action of yogamāyā.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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