Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.82.41
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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api smaratha naḥ sakhyaḥ
—
do you still remember Us, dear girlfriends
Phrase: api (whether) + smaratha (you remember) + naḥ (Us) + sakhyaḥ (girlfriends). The single most quoted line of this chapter in Gauḍīya literature. Kṛṣṇa addressing the gopīs as sakhyaḥ — friends — not subjects, not consorts in the courtly sense. Mādhurya-sakhī-bhāva.
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sakhyaḥ
—
dear girlfriends
Vocative plural of sakhī — female friend. Note: not 'devotees,' not 'queens.' The gopīs are addressed as the friends they were in Vraja. Gauḍīyas: this single vocative restores Vṛndāvana to Kurukṣetra in one syllable.
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śatru-pakṣa-kṣapaṇa-cetasaḥ
—
whose intent was to destroy the enemy's side
Compound: śatru (enemy) + pakṣa (party) + kṣapaṇa (destruction) + cetasaḥ (whose intent). The kṣatriya-task that kept Him away — Kaṁsa, Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla, the Mahābhārata war. The gopīs hear this as His apology, but Gauḍīyas read it as Vraja's only loss: His career.
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cirāyitān
—
having remained long
Past participle of cirāyate — to delay, to take long. The Lord names His own delay. Gauḍīyas: He is not unaware of the gopīs' viraha; He has felt it Himself.
"Wanting to do some things, such as killing Kamsa, for the relatives of my father, such as Vasudeva (svanam), I went off, and for that reason I have been delayed in returning. Do you remember me, who did not have the opportunity to come back, being absorbed in killing the armies of the enemy?"
O friends do you not remember me (api)? The plural verb is used indicate many gopīs. He indicates that it was not possible to come quickly by his will alone by accepting many forms. O friends! I am fit to be remembered by you. With this he pacifies them. He asks them to forgive his fault. “We do not think you are fit to be remembered because of your great offense.” Ignoring you, I went away with a desire to perform an act (artha)-- to kill Kaṁsa-- for my relatives such as Vasudeva, since he is the brother of Nanda. That stay extended for a long time because I desired to destroy his allies. To help the Yādavas and others, I became known as Vasudeva’s son and had a semblance of marriages.
- Where might the Lord be naming His reasons for periods of seeming absence?
- How does honoring those reasons soften my sense of having been forgotten?
A son returns from a long war and asks his mother: 'Do you still know me?' — knowing she does, asking only to hear her say it. Kṛṣṇa's api smaratha naḥ is not information-seeking; it is love's question, which knows the answer and still wants it spoken.
My note
Source: vedabase.io