Verse Text
yathā vā –
brahma-rātri-tatir apy agha-śatro
sā kṣaṇārdhavad agāt tava saṅge |
hā kṣaṇārdham api vallavikānāṁ
brahma-rātri-tativad virahe’bhūt ||212||
Translation
Another example: Killer of Agha! In Your association, the night of Brahmā has passed like half a moment for the cowherd women. Now, in separation from You, half a moment has become as long as Brahmā’s night for them.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
According to some people, this verse is an explanation of the verse starting brahma-rātra upāvṛte describing the end of the rāsa-līlā:
brahma-rātra upāvṛtte vāsudevānumoditāḥ
anicchantyo yayur gopyaḥ sva-gṛhān bhagavat-priyāḥ
After an entire night of Brahmā had passed, Lord Kṛṣṇa advised the gopīs to return to their homes. Although they did not wish to do so, the Lord’s beloved consorts complied with His command. SB 10.33.38
Śrīdhara Svāmī agrees with this statement in his commentary on kāmārditāḥ śaśāṅkaś ca sa-gaṇo vismito ’bhavat. (SB 10.33.18) Other statements of Bhāgavatam are not contradictory. For example, it is said:
tās tāḥ kṣapāḥ preṣṭhatamena nītā
mayaiva vṛndāvana-gocareṇa
kṣaṇārdha-vat tāḥ punar aṅga tāsāṁ
hīnā mayā kalpa-samā babhūvuḥ
Dear Uddhava, all of those nights that the gopīs spent with Me, their most dearly beloved, in the land of Vṛndāvana seemed to them to pass in less than a moment. Bereft of My association, however, the gopīs felt that those same nights dragged on forever, as if each night were equal to a day of Brahmā. SB 11.12.11
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
One gopī, expressing herself to Kṛṣṇa, says, “When we meet You at night, we consider the duration of night to be very small. And why speak of only this night? Even if we had a night of Brahmā [Note: 4,300,000,000 solar years equals twelve hours, or one night, of Brahmā.] we would consider it a very short time!” We get an idea of Brahmā’s day from the following statement of Bhagavad-gītā (8.17): “By human calculation, a thousand yuga cycles taken together is Brahmā’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” The gopīs said that even if they could have that duration of night, it would still not be sufficient for their meeting with Kṛṣṇa.