Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.22.7
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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nadyāḥ
—
of the river
Genitive of nadī. The Yamunā is not background — she is a person, a sakhī, the witness who has carried every cowherd-boy's footprint downstream. The river bears the gopīs' clothes as she bears Kṛṣṇa's name in her current.
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vāsāṁsi
—
their clothing
Accusative plural of vāsas. Vāsas (cloth) becomes the load-bearing word of this whole chapter — laid down at verse 7, stolen at 9, demanded back from 14 onward, granted at 21. Cloth = the last layer of self the gopī surrenders to her Lord.
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gāyantyaḥ
—
singing
Present participle feminine plural of √gai. Even at play in the water their song does not stop. Continuous kīrtana through every activity is the Gauḍīya ideal of nirantara-bhakti.
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vijahruḥ
—
they played
Perfect of vi-√hṛ (to sport). Līlā-vāci verb. The gopīs' play in the water is itself a līlā — the kind that the Lord watches from a kadamba tree before joining.
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mudā
—
with pleasure
Instrumental of mud (joy). Their ānanda is not merely permitted but constitutive of the līlā — Kṛṣṇa is drawn precisely by their joyful absorption.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, this incident occurred on the day the young gopīs completed their vow, which was a full-moon day. To celebrate the successful completion of their vow, the girls invited young Rādhārāṇī — the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu and the special object of their affection — along with other important gopīs, and brought them all to the river to bathe. Their playing in the water was meant to serve as the avabhṛtha-snāna, the ceremonial bath taken immediately upon the completion of a Vedic sacrifice. Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “It is an old system among Indian girls and women that when they take a bath in the river they place their garments on the bank and dip into the water completely naked. The portion of the river where the girls and women bathe was strictly prohibited to any male, and this is still the system. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, knowing the minds of the unmarried young gopīs, awarded them their desired objective. They had prayed for Kṛṣṇa to become their husband, and Kṛṣṇa wanted to fulfill their desires.”
Kadacit (some time) here means on the full moon day when the vrata was completed after one month. This was mentioned in the fifth verse. These unmarried gopis also invited Radha and others who were objects of Krsna’s love, and could help fulfil their wishes. After completing the worship, the unmarried gopis sported with them in the water, as bathing is part of the yajna rites.
One day, on the full moon day at the end of the month, this event took place. They always went into the water since they were children. Thus, as previously, they entered. They played in bliss because they sang about Kṛṣṇa: by the bliss of their singing they did not become cold even though they were in the winter water. Or they were blissful because the vow was now complete. They played in the water singing about Kṛṣṇa. This shows their absorption in Kṛṣṇa, without thinking of their bodies. This shows oneness of their minds, voices and bodies.
A festival procession at the end of a long fast, where bathing in the holy river is the final ritual (avabhṛtha-snāna) that seals the sacrifice. The girls put down their clothes on the bank as one places worldly identity at the threshold of a temple — what they came to do can only be done unencumbered.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura specifies that this was the full-moon day of Mārgaśīrṣa — the day the vow ended. The gopīs invited Rādhārāṇī and the principal sakhīs and brought them all to the Yamunā for the avabhṛtha-snāna, the closing bath of a Vedic sacrifice.
Gauḍīya commentators note: the sacrifice the gopīs have just completed is no ordinary Vedic yajña — it is the yajña of asking for Kṛṣṇa as husband. The avabhṛtha-snāna therefore becomes the moment at which Kṛṣṇa Himself comes to receive the offering.
My note
Source: vedabase.io