ŚB 10.32.1
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, having thus sung and spoken their hearts out in various charming ways, the gopīs began to weep loudly. They were very eager to see Lord Krishna.
The Reunion
ŚB 10.32.2
Then Lord Krishna, a smile on His lotus face, appeared before the gopīs. Wearing a garland and a yellow garment, He directly appeared as one who can bewilder the mind of Cupid, who himself bewilders the minds of ordinary people.
ŚB 10.32.3
When the gopīs saw that their dearmost Krishna had returned to them, they all stood up at once, and out of their affection for Him their eyes bloomed wide. It was as if the air of life had reentered their bodies.
ŚB 10.32.4
One gopī joyfully took Krishna’s hand between her folded palms, and another placed His arm, anointed with sandalwood paste, on her shoulder.
ŚB 10.32.5
A slender gopī respectfully took in her joined hands the betel nut He had chewed, and another gopī, burning with desire, put His lotus feet on her breasts.
ŚB 10.32.6
One gopī, beside herself with loving anger, bit her lips and stared at Him with frowning eyebrows, as if to wound Him with her harsh glances.
ŚB 10.32.7
Another gopī looked with unblinking eyes upon His lotus face, but even after deeply relishing its sweetness She did not feel satiated, just as mystic saints are never satiated when meditating upon the Lord’s feet.
Purport ▼
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura explains that the analogy given here of saintly persons meditating upon the Lord’s feet is only partially applicable, since the ecstasy the gopīs felt when Krishna came back was actually unparalleled. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī also reveals that this particular gopī is the most fortunate of all, Śrīmatī Rādhārānī.
ŚB 10.32.8
One gopī took the Lord through the aperture of her eyes and placed Him within her heart. Then, with her eyes closed and her bodily hairs standing on end, she continuously embraced Him within. Thus immersed in transcendental ecstasy, she resembled a yogī meditating upon the Lord.
Purport ▼
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura states that the seven gopīs mentioned so far in this chapter are the first seven of the eight principal gopīs, whose status allowed them to immediately approach Śrī Krishna upon His reappearance. The ācārya quotes a verse from the Śrī Vaishnava-toshanī that gives the names of these seven as Candrāvalī, Śyāmalā, Śaibyā, Padmā, Śrī Rādhā, Lalitā and Viśākhā. The eighth is understood to be Bhadrā. Śrī Vaishnava-toshanī itself quotes a verse from the Skanda Purāna that declares these eight gopīs to be the principal among the three billion gopīs. Detailed information about the hierarchy of gopīs is available in Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Ujjvala-nīlamani.
The Padma Purāna confirms that Śrī Rādhā is the foremost of the gopīs:
yathā rādhā priyā vishnos
tasyāh kundam priyam tathā
sarva-gopīshu saivaikā
vishnor atyanta-vallabhā
tasyāh kundam priyam tathā
sarva-gopīshu saivaikā
vishnor atyanta-vallabhā
“Just as Śrīmatī Rādhārānī is most dear to Krishna, Her bathing pond is similarly dear. Of all the gopīs, She is the most beloved of the Lord.”
The Brihad-gautamīya-tantra also names Śrīmatī Rādhārānī as Krishna’s foremost consort:
devī krishna-mayī proktā
rādhikā para-devatā
sarva-lakshmī-mayī sarva
kāntih sammohinī parā
rādhikā para-devatā
sarva-lakshmī-mayī sarva
kāntih sammohinī parā
“The transcendental goddess Śrīmatī Rādhārānī is the direct counterpart of Lord Śrī Krishna. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord.” (This translation is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Caitanya-caritāmrita, Ādi 4.83.)
Additional information about Śrī Rādhā is given in the Rig-pariśishta (the supplement to the Rig Veda): rādhayā mādhavo devo mādhavenaiva rādhikā/ vibhrājante janeshu. “Among all persons, it is Śrī Rādhā in whose company Lord Mādhava is especially glorious, as She is especially glorious in His.”
ŚB 10.32.9
All the gopīs enjoyed the greatest festivity when they saw their beloved Keśava again. They gave up the distress of separation, just as people in general forget their misery when they gain the association of a spiritually enlightened person.
ŚB 10.32.10
Encircled by the gopīs, who were now relieved of all distress, Lord Acyuta, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, shone forth splendidly. My dear King, Krishna thus appeared like the Supersoul encircled by His spiritual potencies.
Purport ▼
The gopīs are Lord Krishna’s internal potency, and therefore when they were relieved and happy again the Lord shone forth even more brilliantly than before, and His transcendental bliss increased. Krishna loves the gopīs with pure transcendental love, and they love Him in the same pure way. The whole affair, conducted on the transcendental platform, is inconceivable to those bound in material existence.
ŚB 10.32.11-12
The almighty Lord then took the gopīs with Him to the bank of the Kālindī, who with the hands of her waves had scattered piles of soft sand upon the shore. In that auspicious place the breeze, bearing the fragrance of blooming kunda and mandāra flowers, attracted many bees, and the abundant rays of the autumn moon dispelled the darkness of night.
ŚB 10.32.13
Their heartache vanquished by the ecstasy of seeing Krishna, the gopīs, like the personified Vedas before them, felt their desires completely fulfilled. For their dear friend Krishna they arranged a seat with their shawls which were smeared with the kunkuma powder from their breasts.
Purport ▼
In the Eighty-seventh Chapter of this canto (text 23), the śrutis, or personified Vedas, pray as follows:
striya uragendra-bhoga-bhuja-danda-vishakta-dhiyo
vayam api te samāh samadriśo ’nghri-saroja-sudhāh
vayam api te samāh samadriśo ’nghri-saroja-sudhāh
“These women fully absorbed their minds in meditation on Lord Krishna’s powerful arms, which are like the bodies of great serpents. We want to become just like the gopīs and render service to His lotus feet.” The śrutis had seen Krishna during His appearance in the previous day of Brahmā and had become full of the most intense desire to associate with Him. Then in this kalpa they became gopīs. And since the Vedas are eternal in human society, the śrutis in this kalpa also become full of desire for Krishna and in the next kalpa will also become gopīs. This information is given by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura.
ŚB 10.32.14
Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for whom the great masters of mystic meditation arrange a seat within their hearts, took His seat in the assembly of gopīs. His transcendental body, the exclusive abode of beauty and opulence within the three worlds, shone brilliantly as the gopīs worshiped Him.
Purport ▼
The masters of mystic meditation include Lord Śiva, Ananta Śesha and other exalted personalities, all of whom keep the Lord seated within the lotus of their hearts. This same Lord, conquered by the intense, selfless love of the gopīs, agreed to become their boyfriend and dance with them in Vrindāvana, after sitting upon their fragrant shawls on the bank of the Yamunā River.
ŚB 10.32.15
Śrī Krishna had awakened romantic desires within the gopīs, and they honored Him by glancing at Him with playful smiles, gesturing amorously with their eyebrows, and massaging His hands and feet as they held them in their laps. Even while worshiping Him, however, they felt somewhat angry, and thus they addressed Him as follows.
ŚB 10.32.16
The gopīs said: Some people reciprocate the affection only of those who are affectionate toward them, while others show affection even to those who are indifferent or inimical. And yet others will not show affection toward anyone. Dear Krishna, please properly explain this matter to us.
Purport ▼
By this apparently polite question, the gopīs want to expose Lord Krishna’s failure to properly reciprocate their love. They were very disturbed when Śrī Krishna left them in the forest, and they want to know why He caused them to suffer in these loving affairs.
ŚB 10.32.17
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: So-called friends who show affection for each other only to benefit themselves are actually selfish. They have no true friendship, nor are they following the true principles of religion. Indeed, if they did not expect benefit for themselves, they would not reciprocate.
Purport ▼
The Lord here reminds the gopīs that in pure loving friendship there is no sense of selfish interest but rather only love for one’s friend.
ŚB 10.32.18
My dear slender-waisted gopīs, some people are genuinely merciful or, like parents, naturally affectionate. Such persons, who devotedly serve even those who fail to reciprocate with them, are following the true, faultless path of religion, and they are true well-wishers.
ŚB 10.32.19
Then there are those individuals who are spiritually self-satisfied, materially fulfilled or by nature ungrateful or simply envious of superiors. Such persons will not love even those who love them, what to speak of those who are inimical.
Purport ▼
Some people, being spiritually self-satisfied, do not reciprocate others’ affection because they want to avoid entanglement in mundane dealings. Other persons do not reciprocate simply out of envy or arrogance. And still others fail to reciprocate because they are materially satisfied and thus uninterested in new material opportunities. Lord Krishna patiently explains all these things to the gopīs.
ŚB 10.32.20
But the reason I do not immediately reciprocate the affection of living beings even when they worship Me, O gopīs, is that I want to intensify their loving devotion. They then become like a poor man who has gained some wealth and then lost it, and who thus becomes so anxious about it that he can think of nothing else.
Purport ▼
Lord Krishna states in Bhagavad-gītā, ye yathā mām prapadyante tāms tathaiva bhajāmy aham: “As people approach Me, I reciprocate with them accordingly.” Yet even if the Lord is approached by someone with devotion, to intensify the devotee’s love the Lord may not immediately reciprocate fully. In fact, the Lord is truly reciprocating. After all, a sincere devotee always prays to the Lord, “Please help me to love You purely.” Therefore the Lord’s so-called neglect is actually the fulfillment of the devotee’s prayer. Lord Krishna intensifies our love for Him by apparently separating Himself from us, and the result is that we achieve what we really wanted and prayed for: intense love for the Absolute Truth, Krishna. Thus Lord Krishna’s apparent negligence is actually His thoughtful reciprocation and the fulfillment of our deepest and purest desire.
According to the ācāryas, as Lord Krishna began to speak this verse the gopīs looked at one another with squinting eyes, trying to hide the smiles breaking out on their faces. Even as Lord Krishna was speaking, the gopīs had begun to realize that He was bringing them to the highest perfection of loving service.
ŚB 10.32.21
My dear girls, understanding that simply for My sake you had rejected the authority of worldly opinion, of the Vedas and of your relatives, I acted as I did only to increase your attachment to Me. Even when I removed Myself from your sight by suddenly disappearing, I never stopped loving you. Therefore, My beloved gopīs, please do not harbor any bad feelings toward Me, your beloved.
Purport ▼
Here the Lord indicates that though the gopīs were already perfect in their love for Him, still, to inconceivably increase their perfection and show an example for the world, He acted as He did.
ŚB 10.32.22
I am not able to repay My debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahmā. Your connection with Me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped Me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation.
Purport ▼
The translation and word meanings for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrita (Ādi 4.180).
In conclusion, the gopīs became eternally glorious by their behavior in the Lord’s temporary absence, and the mutual love between them and the Lord was wonderfully enhanced. This is the perfection of Krishna and His loving devotees.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Thirty-second Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Reunion.”