nivārayāmaḥ samupetya mādhavaḿ
kiḿ no 'kariṣyan kula-vṛddha-bāndhavāḥ
mukunda-sańgān nimiṣārdha-dustyajād
daivena vidhvaḿsita-dīna-cetasām
nivarayamah -- let us stop; samupetya -- going up to Him; madhavam -- Krishna; kim -- what; nah -- to us; akarishyan -- will do; kula -- of the family; vriddha -- the elders; bandhavah -- and our relatives; mukunda-sangat -- from the association of Lord Mukunda; nimisha -- of the wink of an eye; ardha -- for one half; dustyajat -- which is impossible to give up; daivena -- by fate; vidhvamsita -- separated; dina -- wretched; cetasam -- whose hearts.
Let us directly approach Madhava and stop Him from going. What can our family elders and other relatives do to us? Now that fate is separating us from Mukunda, our hearts are already wretched, for we cannot bear to give up His association even for a fraction of a second.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti describes what the gopis thought: "Let us go right up to Krishna and pull at His clothes and hands and insist that He get down from His chariot and stay here with us. We will tell Him, 'Don't bring upon Yourself the sinful reaction for murdering so many women!' "
"But if we do that," said other gopis, "our relatives and the village elders will discover our secret love for Krishna and abandon us."
"But what can they do to us?"
"Yes, our lives are already wretched now that Krishna is leaving. We have nothing to lose."
"That's right. We will remain in the Vrindavana forest just like presiding goddesses, and then we can fulfill our true desire -- to stay with Krishna in the forest."
"Yes, and even if the elders and our relatives punish us by beating us or locking us up, we can still live happily with the knowledge that Krishna is residing in our village. Some of our girlfriends who are not imprisoned will cleverly find a way to bring us the remnants of Krishna's food, and then we can remain alive. But if Krishna is not stopped, we will certainly die."
