Devanagari
ता नाविदन् मय्यनुषङ्गबद्ध-
धिय: स्वमात्मानमदस्तथेदम् ।
यथा समाधौ मुनयोऽब्धितोये
नद्य: प्रविष्टा इव नामरूपे ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
tā nāvidan mayy anuṣaṅga-baddha-
dhiyaḥ svam ātmānam adas tathedam
yathā samādhau munayo ’bdhi-toye
nadyaḥ praviṣṭā iva nāma-rūpe
Synonyms
tāḥ
—
they (the gopīs)
;
na
—
not
;
avidan
—
were aware of
;
mayi
—
in Me
;
anuṣaṅga
—
by intimate contact
;
baddha
—
bound up
;
dhiyaḥ
—
their consciousness
;
svam
—
their own
;
ātmānam
—
body or self
;
adaḥ
—
something remote
;
tathā
—
thus considering
;
idam
—
this which is most near
;
yathā
—
just as
;
samādhau
—
in yoga-samādhi
;
munayaḥ
—
great sages
;
abdhi
—
of the ocean
;
toye
—
in the water
;
nadyaḥ
—
rivers
;
praviṣṭāḥ
—
having entered
;
iva
—
like
;
nāma
—
names
;
rūpe
—
and forms.
Translation
My dear Uddhava, just as great sages in yoga trance merge into self-realization, like rivers merging into the ocean, and are thus not aware of material names and forms, similarly, the gopīs of Vṛndāvana were so completely attached to Me within their minds that they could not think of their own bodies, or of this world, or of their future lives. Their entire consciousness was simply bound up in Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Their minds bound by constant association with me, they were not aware of their bodies, of this world or the next world, just as sages in samādhi are not aware of the world, and just as rivers, on entering the ocean, lose their names and forms.
Ujjvala-nīla-maṇi explains that when one experiences intense emotions, one forgets everything even though one is not in a state of illusion. That is shown in this verse. Their minds were bound to constant association with me. By his amazing pastimes Kṛṣṇa stunned all the three worlds. By his constant association he bound up the gopīs with great strength. The functions of their intelligence became like desire cows for fulfilling Kṛṣṇa’s desires, bound up by constant association. They did not know their own bodies. In going to the rāsa dance, they did not know where they were, where they had come. They were not aware of this world or then next (adaḥ), though they had transgressed dharma. They were like sages in samādhi. In that state, experiencing Brahman, the sages remember nothing. However the gopīs experienced me, not the Brahman. Thus the example is useful to show forgetfulness, but is not meant to show the attainment. There is a great difference between the gopīs’ attaining prema and the sages attaining nirvāṇa since their feelings of possessiveness are different.
Seeing a husband or sons even without good qualities gives more happiness than seeing the moon, which gives great bliss and destroys all suffering. The cause is the possessiveness. One is more possessive of husband and sons than of the moon. Then what to speak of the bliss if one is unlimitedly possessive of Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Brahman, who gives unlimited bliss by his very nature and is decorated with all good qualities! This possessiveness is the cause of the greatest bliss for the devotees.
brahmānando bhaved eṣa cet parārddha-guṇīkṛtaḥ |
naiti bhakti-sukhāmbhodheḥ paramāṇu-tulām api ||
The bliss of Brahman realization accumulated by samādhi lasting for half of Brahmā’s life cannot compare to one drop of the ocean of the happiness of bhakti. BRS 1.1.38
Brahman is attached to the devotees and under their control, but Brahman is not attached to the sages and is not under their control. Just as rivers enter the ocean and do not know their name and form, the gopīs, in relishing rasa, did not know their names and forms. The comparison does not illustrate absolute non-difference of gopīs from Brahman.
Purport
The words svam ātmānam adas tathedam indicate that while for ordinary persons one’s personal body is the most near and dear thing, the gopīs considered their own bodies to be distant and remote, just as a yogī in samādhi trance considers ordinary things around his physical body or his physical body itself to be most remote. When Kṛṣṇa played on His flute late at night, the gopīs immediately forgot everything about their so-called husbands and children and went to dance with Lord Kṛṣṇa in the forest. These controversial points have been clearly explained in the book Kṛṣṇa, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. The basic explanation is that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything, and the gopīs are the Lord’s own potency. Thus there is no discrepancy or immorality in the almighty Personality of Godhead’s loving affairs with His own manifest potency, the gopīs, who happen to be the most beautiful young girls in the creation of God.
There is no illusion on the part of the gopīs, for they are so attracted to Lord Kṛṣṇa that they do not care to think of anything else. Since all existence is situated within the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, there is no loss for the gopīs when they concentrate on the Lord. It is the nature of very deep love to exclude all objects except the beloved. However, in the material world, where we try to love a limited temporary object such as our nation, family or personal body, our exclusion of other objects constitutes ignorance. But when our love is intensely concentrated on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of everything, such concentration cannot be considered ignorance or small-mindedness.
The example of the sages in samādhi is given here only to illustrate exclusive concentration on a single object. Otherwise, there is no comparison between the ecstatic love of the gopīs and the dry meditation of the yogīs, who merely try to understand that they are not their material bodies. Since the gopīs had no material bodies to become detached from and were personally dancing with and embracing the Absolute Truth, one can never compare the exalted position of the gopīs to that of mere yogīs. It is stated that the bliss of impersonal Brahman realization cannot be compared to even an atomic fragment of the blissful ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa. Intimate attachment is like a strong rope that binds the mind and heart. In material life we are bound to that which is temporary and illusory, and therefore such binding of the heart causes great pain. However, if we bind our minds and hearts to the eternal Lord Kṛṣṇa, the reservoir of all pleasure and beauty, then our hearts will expand unlimitedly in the ocean of transcendental bliss.
One should understand that the gopīs were not in any way inclined toward impersonal meditation, in which one denies the reality of variegated creation. The gopīs did not deny anything; they simply loved Kṛṣṇa and could not think of anything else. They only rejected whatever impeded their concentration on Lord Kṛṣṇa, cursing even their own eyelids, which blinked and thus removed Kṛṣṇa from their sight for a split second. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has stated that all sincere devotees of the Lord should have the courage to remove from their lives anything that impedes their progressive march back home, back to Godhead.