Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.22.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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jala-āśayāt
—
out of the river
Compound: jala (water) + āśaya (reservoir, abode), ablative. They depart their hiding place. The water that was protection becomes the boundary; they cross it because He has called.
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dārikāḥ
—
the young girls
Diminutive of dāra. A tender, almost childlike word. The poet keeps the līlā's mādhurya in view: these are not seasoned ascetics performing self-immolation; they are young girls executing the bravest act of their lives.
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śīta-vepitāḥ
—
shivering from the cold
Compound: śīta (cold) + vepita (trembling). The kampa first arose from prema (verse 13); now the cold redoubles it. Inward and outward causes converge in one body — the Gauḍīya sign that the līlā is real and embodied, not allegorical.
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yonim
—
their pubic area
Accusative of yoni. The verse is brutally specific: the gopīs cover the most intimate part of their body with their hands. Prabhupāda's purport defends them precisely here — this is not erotic display but the geometry of total surrender, retained only against Vedic offense.
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protteruḥ
—
they came up
Perfect of pra-ud-√tṝ (to come forth, to cross over). The verb of crossing — they cross the boundary between worldly modesty and total śaraṇāgati. From this verb forward they belong to Him.
The gopīs had assured Kṛṣṇa that they were His eternal servants and would do whatever He said, and thus they were now defeated by their own words. If they delayed any longer, they thought, some other man might come along, and this would be unbearable for them. The gopīs loved Kṛṣṇa so much that even in that awkward situation their attachment to Him was increasing more and more, and they were very eager to stay in His company. Thus they did not even consider drowning themselves in the river because of the embarrassing situation. They concluded that they could do nothing but go forward to their beloved Kṛṣṇa, putting aside their embarrassment. Thus the gopīs assured each other that there was no alternative and rose up out of the water to meet Him.
"Oh friends! Being defeated by our own words, if we delay any longer, some one may come here, and then we will be put into an ocean of disgrace. Our desire to attain the touch of his body also has also become even stronger, and cannot be put to death even by drowning in the water. Therefore it seems, fate has been written on our foreheads, and we cannot do otherwise. Yielding to his demands, and sending our own obstinacy to rasatala, bidding farewell to embarrassment, closing our eyes, in that darkness we cover our bodies and rise from the water." Deciding on this among themselves, they then approached Krsna, rising from the water (pratteruh).
Seeing his insistence (tataḥ) they rose from the water. Though they were shivering from the cold they covered their private parts with their hands. Thus the shivering was actually a sāttvika-bhāva arising from prema. They rose from the water because they were weakened by the cold (śīta-karśitāḥ).
- What earlier promise of mine is currently trapping me into a courage I wouldn't have chosen now?
- Where could I honor that trap as the Lord's loving arrangement to take me beyond myself?
Pilgrims who have come the long road of austerity and now must take the last step naked across the threshold — covering themselves only with their own folded palms. The shivering body is the visible cost of the surrender; modesty is left at the edge of the water because He has asked.
When Vāmana asked for three steps of land, Bali gave the world in two and offered his own head for the third — abandoning the last covering of his sovereignty (SB 8.22). The gopīs at this moment perform the same surrender in a different rasa: every layer has been removed except the body itself, and even that is offered.
Gauḍīya tattva: ātma-nivedana, the ninth limb of bhakti, is exactly this — offering of the self, with nothing held back. The gopīs do not say it; they enact it.
My note
Source: vedabase.io