Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 33: The Rasa Dance

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.33.38

brahma-ratra upavrtte

vasudevanumoditah

anicchantyo yayur gopyah

sva-grhan bhagavat-priyah

SYNONYMS

brahma-ratre -- the nighttime of Brahma; upavrtte -- being completed; vasudeva -- by Lord Krsna; anumoditah -- advised; anicchantyah -- unwilling; yayuh -- went; gopyah -- the gopis; sva-grhan -- to their homes; bhagavat -- of the Supreme Lord; priyah -- the dear consorts.

TRANSLATION

After an entire night of Brahma had passed, Lord Krsna advised the gopis to return to their homes. Although they did not wish to do so, the Lord's beloved consorts complied with His command.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gita (8.17) Lord Krsna explains, "By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma's one day. And such also is the duration of his night." Thus one thousand ages entered within a single twelve-hour night when Lord Krsna performed His rasa dance. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti compares this inconceivable impression of time to the fact that many universes fit neatly within the forty-mile range of earthly Vrndavana. Or one may consider that mother Yasoda could not encircle the small abdomen of child Krsna with numerous ropes, and that at another time He manifested many universes within His mouth. The transcendence of spiritual reality above and beyond mundane physics is concisely explained in Srila Rupa Gosvami's Laghu-bhagavatamrta:

evam prabhoh priyanam ca

dhamnas ca samayasya ca

avicintya-prabhavatvad

atra kincin na durghatam

"Nothing is impossible for the Lord, His dear devotees, His transcendental abode or the time of His pastimes, for all these entities are inconceivably powerful."

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti further explains that the word vasudevanumoditah indicates that Lord Krsna advised the gopis, "To assure the success of these pastimes, you and I should keep them secret." The word vasudeva, a name of Krsna, also indicates Lord Krsna's plenary expansion who acts as the presiding Deity of consciousness. When the word vasudeva is understood in this context, the word vasudevanumoditah indicates that the presiding Deity of consciousness, Vasudeva, manifested embarrassment and fear of their elders within the gopis' hearts, and therefore it was only with great reluctance that the young girls returned home.

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