"O Uddhava, by this news, you have doubled our pain. What can we say about messengers who are ignorant of time, place and person? What can we say about you, who have no sense of discretion? You have brought this burden of brahma jnana this far, but who will buy it in Vraja? Can the gopis, who from birth have been drinking the nectar of Krsna’s beauty, now drink the bitter juice of brahma jnana? In time of great famine, better that the women give up their lives in starvation than eat grass. Hear this great fool! This brahma jnana is certainly medicine for the sickness of material existence, lying in the hearts of great saintly physicians. But can it be the cure for the great sickness of Krsna prema? Did those doctors ever research this disease? Learning the scriptures on diagnosis and cure from Sandipani Muni, Krsna has taught you, and sent the medicine to relieve the fever of prema. You can now be our messenger. Take this medicine and go back to its sender. Drinking it, he will extinguish his fever of prema for us. Make him drink it so that no trace of fever remains. But may our fever from prema remain for a hundred births! We will not touch that medicine. Is it possible for torrents of water that could extinguish the forest fire to extinguish the fire of the lightning bolt? If we find within his message something a little favorable to us, is that his intention or is it just an accident? We have no faith in him." When the gopis began to speak in this angry mood, Uddhava spoke to them. "O ladies, just hear a moment with attention. As well as braham jnana, I have also brought some other message." After speaking this, he then began to offer to them Krsna‘s words, as they listened eagerly, with faith. The general meaning of the message is as follows. "Though dear to your eyes, I am now far from them. The reason for this is that I desire that you continually meditate on me. By that meditation your minds get closer to me. Therefore, now I am very close to your minds." Another meaning for the gopis is as follows. "Though you are dear to my eyes, you are now situated far away from my eyes. But you are near my mind. From this it should be understood that if one is withinin eyesight, then one is far from that person’s mind. And if one is close to someone’s mind, one is far from their sight. Since between the two, the mind is more important, I desire that you remain close in my mind. May that be your desire also."

There is no separation in the aprakaṭa manifestation. Even in the prakaṭa manifestation the separation is only external, for the sphūrti becomes a direct meeting. Understand that this separation arises because of my natural sense of whimsy. That whimsy is described in two verses. The word tu indicates a different topic: Kṛṣṇa had gone to Mathurā on the request that he kill Kaṁsa. Though it is proper that I come even though I have duties in Mathurā, I have remained far from your eyes. This does not happen to you in the aprakaṭa pastimes. I am there (varte) only, but I am not happy remaining there. I do this with a desire to meditate on you. It is well known that they meditated on him from previous times: gopīnāṁ paramānanda āsīd govinda-darśane kṣaṇaṁ yuga-śatam iva yāsāṁ yena vinābhavat The young gopīs took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda, since for them even a moment without his association seemed like a hundred ages. SB 10.19.16 Accordingly I should do similarly and meditate on you. Later the gopīs will say: āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhai saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs. SB 10.82.48 He desired to think of them in the same way. He desired to meditate on them in order to bring his mind close to them. He wanted to feel qualified to be close to them. Without that, he would always feel ashamed. na pāraye ’haṁ niravadya-saṁyujāṁ sva-sādhu-kṛtyaṁ vibudhāyuṣāpi vaḥ yā mābhajan durjara-geha-śṛṅkhalāḥ saṁvṛścya tad vaḥ pratiyātu sādhunā I am not able to repay my debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahmā. Your connection with me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation. SB 10.32.22 By worshipping you in this way I will become qualified. For this reason I tolerate my suffering in separation from you. The sages say: na vinā vipralambhena sambhogaḥ puṣṭim aśnute | kāṣāyite hi vastrādau bhūyān evābhivardhate || Sambhoga is not strong without vipralambha. It increases in strength just as cloth increase in beauty by repeatedly dying with red color. (quoted in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.3)

“Do not cheat us. We want to see you directly. Why do you delay so long?” Two verses answer. The word tu indicates a different topic. Since he is dear (priyah) he should not stay far away. Yet I remain far away (dūre varte) from your eyes (dṛśām). But I am present to your other senses. I desire to meditate on you always in order bring my mind near you. The meaning is this. You, giving up everything, concentrate your minds on me, but I do not do so to the same extent. Thus in great shame I remain in Mathurā in order to attain closeness with you always in my mind.