Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.32.3
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
preṣṭham
—
their dearmost
Superlative of priya. Not 'one of the loved' but 'most loved' — a technical Gauḍīya superlative. Rūpa Gosvāmī classifies preṣṭha as the highest grade of priyatama within mādhurya-rasa, the relationship Kṛṣṇa holds with the gopīs alone.
-
prīti
—
out of affection
From √prī — to please, to love. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, prīti is one of the names of bhāva-bhakti when it has matured; here it is unmediated, the eyes themselves blossoming under its pressure.
-
abalāḥ
—
the girls
Literally 'those without strength' — a tender term for women. The choice is deliberate: their physical weakness during separation makes Kṛṣṇa's return the literal restoration of prāṇa, not a poetic flourish.
-
prāṇam
—
the life air
Prāṇa is the first of the five vital airs sustaining the body. The Upaniṣads use prāṇa for Brahman; the gopīs use it for Kṛṣṇa. For Gauḍīyas this substitution is not figurative — Kṛṣṇa is literally the prāṇa-nātha (Lord of life) of those who have fixed their hearts in mādhurya.
-
yugapat
—
all at once
Adverb: simultaneously. Their rising is one motion, not many — the unanimity Gauḍīyas read as the hallmark of perfectly attuned love. Where individual self-consciousness remains, motions stagger; where prema is complete, the response is single.
Like life airs returning (agatam) to the hands and feet (tanvah-bodies), the gopis stood up on seeing Krsna come (agatam). Agatam is repeated to make clear that the swooning gopis recovered only because of Krsna’s coming.
They saw him coming. First out of eagerness, he appeared suddenly at a distance, and then gradually came close to them. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says tato daḍśur āyāntaṁ vikāśī-mukhapaṅkajam: then they saw him coming with smiling lotus face. They saw him in a particular way: because of their crying they could not see him clearly and were unsure. Though they saw him, because of lack of faith due to great pain, they stared at him. Though they were incapable of rising because of intolerable separation (abalāḥ—weak women), they rose up simultaneously because he was their dearest (preṣṭham), since he was the cause of their living and dying, being the only dear one to them. This is explained through an example. The word āgatam is mentioned twice since his coming was the only reason for their ability to stand up. This is the anubhāva called vilāsa. gati-sthānāsanādīnāṁ mukha-netrādi-karmaṇām | tātkālikaṁ tu vaiśiṣṭyaṁ vilāsaḥ priya-saṅgajam || The immediate gestures of the face, eyes, walking, sitting, and standing, caused by meeting with the lover, are called vilāsa. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 11.31
They saw him coming, according to their desire. Or he just appeared among them (āgatam). Or first he appeared suddenly at a distance, and then gradually came close to them. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says tato daḍśur āyāntaṁ vikāśī-mukhapaṅkajam: then they saw him coming with smiling lotus face. They saw him in a particular way (vilokya): because of their crying they could not see him clearly or though they saw him, they were unsure because of great pain, and thus looked carefully at him. Their eyes opened wide out of joy and affection. Though they were incapable of rising because of intolerable separation (abalāḥ—weak women), they rose up simultaneously because he was their dearest (preṣṭham). “How was it possible for them to rise together, since they were almost dead?” It was as if the life air had returned to their bodies. He was their reason for living or dying. Or first their eyes became wide with joy, and then they stood up, just as after stretching the body one engages in activities. The word āgatam is mentioned twice since his coming was the only reason for their ability to stand up.
- When have you noticed life returning to you in the presence of Kṛṣṇa or His devotees?
- What part of you is currently waiting for that life-air to return?
The gopīs stood up 'as the body stands up when life-air returns.' Their bodies through the night of separation had been corpses kept warm by memory only. When Kṛṣṇa walks in, prāṇa returns — not metaphor but the literal Vraja-truth that Kṛṣṇa is the life of His devotees' life.
My note
Source: vedabase.io