It must be said, that the enjoyment of meeting is not perfected without separation., Bharata muni says that when a cloth is soiled its color becomes more outstanding. Thus a show of separation manifested by the lila sakti of the Lord to nourish rasa. Receiving from the best among all men (mahatmanah), from the Lord, from Krsna, such respect and worship, each gopi thought herself the best among all women on earth. They each became proud, thinking, " I am most fortunate."

na vinā vipralambhena sambhogaḥ puṣṭim aśnute | kāṣāyite hi vastrādau bhūyān evābhivardhate || The happiness of conjugal love cannot reach it's fullness without separation of the lovers. It increases in strength just as cloth increase in beauty by repeatedly dying with red color. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.3 Now with great prema in his heart, Śukadeva begins to describe about the special rasa of separation in order to describe the special pastimes later. Kṛṣṇa is called mahātmanaḥ because he is superior to all the greatest heroes because he is Svayam Bhagavān (bhagavataḥ) and known only as Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs were respected by Kṛṣṇa because of they controlled him with prema. Being fortunate, they felt confident. They each thought that among all the women everywhere and at that place, they were the best. They felt confident of Kṛṣṇa and felt pride in comparison to other women. dampatyor bhāva ekatra sator apy anuraktayoḥ | svābhīṣṭāśleṣa-vīkṣādi-nirodhī māna ucyate ||74|| The bhāva of the couple who are attached to each other and are either together or apart, which hinders their actions such as embraces and glances is called māna. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.74 aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet | ato hetor ahetoś ca yūnor māna udaṣcati || The movement of a snake is naturally crooked. Prema has the same nature (in māna). Māna between couples arises either with cause or without cause. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 15.102 Each felt proud because no one else in the world had attained a hero like Kṛṣṇa, and no gopī on the bank of the Yamunā had attained such great fortune as themselves. saubhāgya-rūpa-tāruṇya-guṇa-sarvottamāśrayaiḥ | iṣṭa-lābhādinā cānya-helanaṁ garva īryate || Treating others with contempt due to one’s own good fortune, due to youthful beauty, due to one’s good qualities, due to taking shelter of the Lord, or due to attaining one’s object of love, is called garva or haughtiness. BRS 2.4.41 saṣcārayanti bhāvasya gatiṁ saṣcāriṇo ’pi || unmajjanti nimajjanti sthāyiny amṛta-vāridhau | Since they set in motion (saṣcārayanti) the course of the sthāyi-bhāva, they are called saṣcāri-bhāvas. All the vyabhicāri-bhāvas rise and fall like waves in the sweet ocean of the sthāyi-bhāva, BRS 2.4.1-2 Pride is the saṣcāri-bhāva of the sthāyi-bhāva, their special prema (madhura-rasa). It sustains and gives excellence to rasa.

Now begins a description of the special rasa of separation, produced in order to have special play later, with intense prema. They had received respect from Kṛṣṇa even though he was ātmārāma (mahātmanaḥ), by his manifestation of special love skills. Or because of him they became proud, because he manifested his powers in order to experience special rasa (bhagavataḥ), since he was an ocean of great, variegated rasa (kṛṣṇāt), or the supreme attractor of hearts. Each one, being proud (māninyaḥ) thought that she was the best among all the women existing on earth. Or each thought that she was supreme amont the gopis in the playground in the forest, because each one enjoyed with him. Thus they became proud. Or though they also became angry (māninyaḥ), since in the next verse both pride and anger are mentioned. Actually this is a natural manifestation in rasa, a component of service, for the gopīs who were most skilful at love, in order to please Kṛṣṇa who is fond of playful love.