Devanagari
किं नस्तत्कथया गोप्य: कथा: कथयतापरा: ।
यात्यस्माभिर्विना कालो यदि तस्य तथैव न: ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
kiṁ nas tat-kathayā gopyaḥ
kathāḥ kathayatāparāḥ
yāty asmābhir vinā kālo
yadi tasya tathaiva naḥ
Synonyms
kim
—
what (use)
;
naḥ
—
for us
;
tat
—
about Him
;
kathayā
—
with discussion
;
gopyaḥ
—
O gopīs
;
kathāḥ
—
topics
;
kathayata
—
please narrate
;
aparāḥ
—
other
;
yāti
—
it passes
;
asmābhiḥ
—
us
;
vinā
—
without
;
kālaḥ
—
time
;
yadi
—
if
;
tasya
—
His
;
tathā eva
—
in the very same way
;
naḥ
—
ours .
Translation
“Why bother talking about Him, dear gopī? Please talk of something else. If He passes His time without us, then we shall similarly pass ours [without Him].”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Why bother talking about Him, dear gopī? Please talk of something else. If He passes His time without us, then we shall similarly pass ours [without Him]."
KB 10.65.14
Another gopī, after hearing this, said, “My dear friends, what is the use of talking about Kṛṣṇa? If you are at all interested in passing time by talking, let us talk on some subject other than Him. If cruel Kṛṣṇa can pass His time without us, why can’t we pass our time without Kṛṣṇa? Of course, Kṛṣṇa is passing His days without us very happily, but we cannot pass our days happily without Him.”
Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī points out that the
gopīs
here subtly indicate that Lord Kṛṣṇa spends His time happily without them whereas they are most unhappy without their Lord. This is the difference between Him and them. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī adds the following commentary: “Considering themselves different from other women, the
gopīs
thought as follows: ‘If other women are together with their lovers, they live, and if they are separated, they die. But we neither live nor die. This is the fate Providence has written on our foreheads. What remedy can we find?’”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Other gopis, agitated by love in the mood of jealousy, spoke to the gopis who had just spoken.
"Time passes for both him and us, but the difference is that he passes time happily and we pass our time suffering. We are also different from other women because whereas they live in his presence and die in his absence, we neither live nor die. This must be our fate. What can be done about it?"
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Afflicted by intense grief, they speak to each other. There is no use in speaking about him. We will just suffer by doing so. O gopīs, with soft, innocent natures! “But it is a fact that we cannot give him up. Ah! We are afflicted with grief. What should we do?” Speak about something else. According to the principle of “the best medicine for relieving great lamentation is not thinking of it” it is possible to overcome grief by covering that subject with a different topic. We should not think that without him we cannot pass our time. Just as he can pass his time without us, we can pass time without him (tathaiva). From the time of separation till now, not one of us has died. Or, just he is happily passing his time we can also pass our time happily. Showing lack of grief in spite of great grief indicates even greater inner grief because of tolerating it.