tÄs tÄḥ ká¹£apÄḥ preṣṭhatamena nÄ«tÄ
mayaiva vá¹›ndÄvana-gocareṇa
ká¹£aṇÄrdha-vat tÄḥ punar aá¹…ga tÄsÄá¹
hÄ«nÄ mayÄ kalpa-samÄ babhÅ«vuḥ

 tÄḥ tÄḥ - all those; ká¹£apÄḥ - nights; preṣṭha-tamena - with the most dearly beloved; nÄ«tÄḥ - spent; mayÄ - with Me; eva - indeed; vá¹›ndÄvana - in Vá¹›ndÄvana; go-careṇa - who can be known; ká¹£aṇa - a moment; ardha-vat - like half; tÄḥ - those very nights; punaḥ - again; aá¹…ga - dear Uddhava; tÄsÄm - for the gopÄ«s; hÄ«nÄḥ - bereft; mayÄ - of Me; kalpa - a day of BrahmÄ (4,320,000,000 years); samÄḥ - equal to; babhÅ«vuḥ - became.


Text

Dear Uddhava, all of those nights that the gopÄ«s spent with Me, their most dearly beloved, in the land of Vá¹›ndÄvana seemed to them to pass in less than a moment. Bereft of My association, however, the gopÄ«s felt that those same nights dragged on forever, as if each night were equal to a day of BrahmÄ.

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ« comments as follows. “The gopÄ«s suffered extreme anxiety in the absence of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and though outwardly appearing bewildered, they actually achieved the highest perfectional stage of samÄdhi. Their consciousness was intensely and intimately attached to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and by such Kṛṣṇa consciousness their own bodies seemed very far away from them, even though people normally consider their body to be their closest possession. In fact, the gopÄ«s did not think about their own existence. Although a young woman normally considers her husband and children to be her dearmost possessions, the gopÄ«s did not even consider the existence of their so-called families. Nor could they think of this world or life after death. Indeed, they were not at all aware of these things. Just like great sages who become detached from the names and forms of the material world, the gopÄ«s could not think of anything, because they were rapt in loving remembrance of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Just as rivers enter the ocean, similarly, the gopÄ«s completely merged into consciousness of Lord Kṛṣṇa through intense love.â€

Thus a day of BrahmÄ seemed like a single moment for the gopÄ«s when Lord Kṛṣṇa was present with them, and a single moment seemed like a day of BrahmÄ when Lord Kṛṣṇa was absent. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the gopÄ«s is the perfection of spiritual life, and the symptoms of such perfection are described here.