Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.38
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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brahma-rātre
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the nighttime of Brahmā
Brahmā's night = 1000 caturyugas (Gītā 8.17). Gauḍīyas: invoking Brahmā's night here makes the time-frame explicit — the rāsa lasted what is, by ordinary count, billions of years, compressed into one night of Vraja.
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vāsudeva-anumoditāḥ
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advised by Lord Kṛṣṇa
Vāsudeva = son of Vasudeva, the cosmic name. Anumodita = advised/permitted. Viśvanātha: this word indicates Kṛṣṇa told them, 'These pastimes will continue eternally — go home now, and we shall meet again.' Gauḍīyas: the rāsa is nitya-līlā, not a once-over event.
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anicchantyaḥ yayuḥ
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unwilling, they went
Anicchat (not willing) + yayuḥ (they went). Their obedience under unwillingness is the highest mādhurya — to obey His command while wanting otherwise. Gauḍīyas: this is the precise structure of dāsya-within-mādhurya, the gopīs' singular gift.
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bhagavat-priyāḥ
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the dear consorts of the Lord
Bhagavat (the Lord) + priyā (dear ones). The closing epithet of the chapter's narrative section. Gauḍīyas: priyā is the rāsa-śāstric title — not 'gopī' or 'wife' but priyā, the beloved who corresponds to His priya-tva.
In the Bhagavad-gītā (8.17) Lord Kṛṣṇa explains, “By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” Thus one thousand ages entered within a single twelve-hour night when Lord Kṛṣṇa performed His rāsa dance. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī compares this inconceivable impression of time to the fact that many universes fit neatly within the forty-mile range of earthly Vṛndāvana. Or one may consider that mother Yaśodā could not encircle the small abdomen of child Kṛṣṇa with numerous ropes, and that at another time He manifested many universes within His mouth. The transcendence of spiritual reality above and beyond mundane physics is concisely explained in Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Laghu-bhagavatāmṛta: evaṁ prabhoḥ priyāṇāṁ ca dhāmnaś ca samayasya ca avicintya-prabhāvatvād atra kiñcin na durghaṭam “Nothing is impossible for the Lord, His dear devotees, His transcendental abode or the time of His pastimes, for all these entities are inconceivably powerful.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further explains that the word vāsudevānumoditāḥ indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa advised the gopīs, “To assure the success of these pastimes, you and I should keep them secret.” The word vāsudeva, a name of Kṛṣṇa, also indicates Lord Kṛṣṇa’s plenary expansion who acts as the presiding Deity of consciousness. When the word vāsudeva is understood in this context, the word vāsudevānumoditāḥ indicates that the presiding Deity of consciousness, Vāsudeva, manifested embarrassment and fear of their elders within the gopīs’ hearts, and therefore it was only with great reluctance that the young girls returned home.
When the duration of Brahma’s night (one thousand yuga cycles) passed, the gopis returned home to their houses. Because Krsna, whose every desire is fulfilled, desired that the pastimes of one night should extend up to one night of Brahma, the time it took to complete the singing and dancing pastimes he desired to enjoy on a particular occasion filled up one thousand yuga cycles. But this one thousand yuga cycles also fit within the duration of the four praharas of human calculation at the place of the rasa dance, just as within one small area of Vrndavana which spreads for five yojanas Brahma saw the universe which measures five hundred koti yojana, during the pastime of stealing the cows. Similarly, it took unlimited length of rope to bind up the small waist of the small child Krsna, and yet within that small child resided the whole universe. Therefore one should not think that the such duration of time for the rasa lila was impossible. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta it is said, "Since Krsna, his gopis, the dhama and its time all possess inconceivable powers, nothing is impossible for them." In order to keep the gopis’ love secret, for perfecting those pastimes of the rasa, Krnsa, the son of Nanda, who is visuddha sattva (vasudeva), permitted the gopis to return home. In other words, the presiding deity of the heart, Vasudeva, sent them home, by giving them thoughts of fear and embarrassment before their elders.
After completing the side issue, the main pastime is concluded. The gopīs, though immersing themselves in the sweet ocean of supreme bliss, were still unsatisfied. Though they were unwilling, the gopīs went home. Performing pastimes with Kṛṣṇa, they had come close to their homes. They thus took the paths to their houses. The reason is given. It was suitable to go just before the dawn, at brahma-muhūrta. “Since they had given up everything for him, why should they be expected to go home?” In his previous birth Nanda was Droṇa, a Vasu. That Vasu was within Nanda for the Gokula pastimes. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is called Vāsudeva, the son of Nanda. He, the son of Nanda (Vāsudeva) permitted them to go in the early morning when it was suitable to remember him, after he praised them and promised to meet them again. With embraces he pleased them, promising that he would always have pastimes with them. In this way he pleased each one of them. Taking the meaning of Vāsudeva as the son of Vasudeva, his permitting them go indicates their greatness. Or vasudeva can refer the pure antaḥkaraṇa of the gopīs. Śukadeva says sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditaṁ yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ: the pure antaḥ-karaṇa is called Vasudeva, because there the Supreme Lord appears without coverings. (SB 4.2.23) Prema (vāsudeva) was the presiding deity of the gopīs. Thus the meaning is “By prema, they were permitted to go home.” Since they had pure hearts (sattva), one may ask, “How was it possible for him to permit them to go, when they experienced bliss in his association difficult to achieve?” Since their hearts were controlled by prema, one may ask “Association with him was a result of prema. How was it possible to control their hearts by meditation on him (and leave him)?” The answer is that the Lord was dear to them (bhagavat-priyāḥ) or they were dear to the Lord: they could bear their own suffering, but could not bear any restrictions on Kṛṣṇa. Though gentlemen are usually controlled by their beloveds, the beloveds tolerate it when their lovers give them up in order to maintain their shyness, respect and compliant nature.
Inspired in their hearts by the presiding deity of their hearts (vāsudevānumoditāḥ), they returned home. Or Vasudeva means he who shines among the eight Vasus. Droṇa was the principal Vasu. He was Nanda. Thus Vāsudeva means the son of Nanda. Ordered by Kṛṣṇa (vāsudeva) who revealed his nature as Bhagavān, for the auspiciousness of Vraja, they went home. Or full of joy (moditāḥ) constantly (anu), though they did not want to, even so, they returned home. Why? They considered the happiness of Kṛṣṇa (bhagavat-priyaḥ). If they did not go home, he could not continue to tend to the cows to satisfy his father and mother and friends, and thus the happiness of rāsa dance would be imperfect. And consequently, with this unaccomplished, the Lord special sweetness would not be accomplished.
A thousand ages fit into Brahmā's one night — and that night fit into the gopīs' single rāsa. Just as Yaśodā's small rope could not bind Kṛṣṇa, ordinary time cannot measure His pastimes. The clock outside the gate keeps its own time; inside Vraja, time is what Kṛṣṇa lets it be.
When Yaśodā tried to bind Kṛṣṇa in SB 10.9, no length of rope was sufficient — He was inconceivably more than any cord could span. Viśvanātha Cakravartī, commenting on 10.33.38, makes the exact parallel: a thousand yugas fit into one night because the Lord's pastimes do not obey created time.
Gauḍīyas place these two moments side by side — dāmodara-līlā and rāsa-līlā, both demonstrations of avicintya-prabhāva. The same Person, the same impossibility, two registers of love.
My note
Source: vedabase.io