Hare Kṛṣṇa,
Writing this forum post has not been easy, as the subject is profoundly deep and multi-layered. I found myself wrestling to grasp the essence and inner flow of these two verses. At last, I felt inspired to contemplate more closely on why some of the gopīs had to undergo a period of purification before joining Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the divine Rāsa dance.
It appears that there were two groups of gopīs. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa played His enchanting flute that night, one group immediately rushed to join Him in the Rāsa dance, while the others were restrained by their husbands, brothers, fathers, and family members. Those who were unable to go experienced an unbearable agony of separation from Kṛṣṇa, their beloved Lord.
For those gopīs who could not go to see Kṛṣṇa, intolerable separation from their beloved caused an intense agony that burned away all impious karma. The intense agony purified them completely. All inauspicious things were removed from the gopis’ hearts by enduring the suffering of intense separation from Kṛṣṇa. And all their auspicious karmic reactions were removed by their blissfully embracing Kṛṣṇa in meditation. Having thus destroyed all their prarabdha karmas (manifest acts caused by previous deeds), the gopis thought of Kṛṣṇa as their paramour, attained the Paramatma and gave up their bodies. This is explanation for materialists. (SB 10.29.10-11 Sārārtha-darśini)
However, Srila Sukadeva Goswami explains the internal confidential meaning for devotees. By meditation on Kṛṣṇa the gopis experienced both meeting and separation, unlimited happiness and distress. The intense pain caused by intolerable separation from Kṛṣṇa removed all the inauspiciousness from within the gopis. Their separation purified their hearts, and through meditation they directly experienced Kṛṣṇa’s presence, achieving pure prema (love) — a far higher state than mere liberation.
“The gopis directly achieved the supreme goal of prema (paramatma) by thinking of Kṛṣṇa as their illicit lover.” ((SB 10.29.10-11 Sārārtha-darśini)
There is also a special display of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy and the divine arrangement of Yogamāyā behind these events. My understanding is that Yogamāyā orchestrated the situation so that some gopīs were temporarily held back to complete their purification. When their love became fully matured and their bodies completely spiritualized, Yogamāyā then allowed them to join Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Rāsa dance—perhaps on another night. Others who still retained a trace of material identification were further purified through the intense fire of separation before they too were granted Kṛṣṇa’s association. These restrained gopīs were not nitya-siddha gopīs but muni-cārī gopīs. As we learned in the previous lesson, such gopīs are sādhana-siddha devotees—those who attained perfection through practice. Having once been in touch with the material world, they still carried a subtle layer of material contamination, which Yogamāyā compassionately removed before allowing them to participate in the divine Rāsa dance.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura gives a relatable analogy. A tree has many mangoes — some fully ripe, some ripening, some still raw. The fully ripe ones are immediately ready for the king to taste (these are the eternally perfect gopīs). The partially ripe ones need a few more days of sun (these are the sādhana-siddha or muni-cārī gopīs, purified by separation). In time, all become perfect and offered to the King — Kṛṣṇa.
As for the “giving up the body” mentioned in the lesson, the “body” (deha) mentioned in the verse means their material, guṇa-maya (mode-based) body, not their actual life. They didn’t die; rather, their spiritual bodies emerged fully — like iron becoming red-hot in fire and taking on the fire’s nature.
The main takeaway I received from this profound and intricate lesson is that separation from Kṛṣṇa serves as one of the greatest instruments of purification. The fire of separation burns away all traces of material attachment, leaving only pure longing for His divine association. Through deep meditation on Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs experienced direct spiritual union with Him within their hearts. This realization beautifully aligns with the message that Uddhava later conveys on behalf of Kṛṣṇa to the gopīs in the Tenth Canto (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.34–37).
“But the actual reason why I, the beloved object of your sight, have stayed far away from you is that I wanted to intensify your meditation upon Me and thus draw your minds closer to Me.”
“When her lover is far away, a woman thinks of him more than when he is present before her.”
“Because your minds are totally absorbed in Me and free from all other engagement, you remember Me always, and so you will very soon have Me again in your presence.”
“Although some gopīs had to remain in the cowherd village and so could not join the rāsa dance to sport with Me at night in the forest, they were nonetheless fortunate. Indeed, they attained Me by thinking of My potent pastimes.”
There are other similar verses in Srimad Bhagavatam.
SB 10.14.8: My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.
SB 11.14.19: My dear Uddhava, just as a blazing fire turns firewood into ashes, similarly, devotion unto Me completely burns to ashes sins committed by My devotees.
SB 11.2.42: Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things — these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.
Across these verses, the Bhāgavatam teaches that separation from Kṛṣṇa is not punishment — it is the fire of purification that burns away karma and ego. Union through remembrance in separation (smaraṇa-sambhoga) is spiritually superior to physical proximity. Pure love (prema) reaches its highest intensity only in separation — as shown by the gopīs, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and great devotees like Uddhava and the residents of Vṛndāvana.
Reflecting on this, I am deeply moved by how the Lord uses both union and separation to uplift His devotees. What appears as distance is actually His tender arrangement to purify the heart and deepen our love for Him. Just as the gopīs’ separation became the gateway to their highest realization, our own moments of longing and helplessness can become sacred opportunities to remember Kṛṣṇa more intensely. May we learn to welcome such moments—not with despair, but with faith that the Lord is working within our hearts, refining our love and drawing us ever closer to His eternal embrace
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 