Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.39.29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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rāsa
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the rāsa dance
The supreme līlā of mādhurya-rasa. Gauḍīya theology holds the five chapters SB 10.29-33 as the literal apex of all śāstra — what Caitanya called the prema-vivarta. The gopīs invoke it here as their lost paradise.
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valgu - mantra
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charming confidential talk
Valgu = beautiful, charming; mantra = secret consultation. The whispered, private words exchanged in the rāsa-night — not public discourse but the intimate speech of love.
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kṣaṇadāḥ
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nights
Kṣaṇadā literally 'giver of instants' = night. Beautiful pun: those rāsa-nights, the kṣaṇadās, themselves passed as a single kṣaṇa. Time collapsed inside His company.
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tamaḥ durantam
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insurmountable darkness
Double meaning: literal night-darkness without His company, and the cosmic darkness of saṁsāra. Without Kṛṣṇa, even Vraja becomes the dark realm bhakti was supposed to dispel.
For the gopīs, a long time in Kṛṣṇa’s association passed like a moment, and a single moment in His absence seemed like a very long time.
"There are other reasons for stopping him also. We spent all our nights as if they were a few seconds at the rasa mandala full of intimate discussions of rasa and sweet smiles tinged with love. Without Krsna, how can we cross the dark ocean of separation whose shore we cannot fathom? As much as we spent so many nights as if they were seconds, so now a moment of separation is a thousand yugas. So how will we pass the many nights that now await us in the future?"
Though they were eager to stop him, seeing the impenetrable crowd of people, they could not find a means to approach him. In fear they speak. Though they speak of the rāsa dance, other pastimes are also included. Valgu-mantra means sweet messages secretly conveyed through hints. Sma indicates surprise. Nu indicates conjecture. Atitarema means “how will we cross over the dense darkness which is impossible to cross.” Just as many nights passed in a moment in the happiness of the rāsa dance, in the sorrow of separation a moment will become like a hundred yugas. We will not be able to tolerate that.
His gentle smiles were filled with anurāga, with intense prema of the rāsa dance. This conquered us. He brought us to the rāsa dance filled with his smiles, his conversations filled with hints of madhura-rasa (valgu-mantra), and his bewildering glances. Sma means certainly. Nu indicates lamentation. How will we cross the most expansive ocean of darkness? O gopīs! It is most difficult for us, so soft with prema. Or “Misfortune due to karma should be tolerated by discrimination with determination.” This verse answers. Just as many nights passed with the happiness of the rāsa dance as if it were a second, so now with the sorrow of separation from him, a moment will be like a hundred yugas. We will not be able to tolerate it. Though his smiles, talks, glances and embraces out of love produced the highest bliss, in separation, remembering those features produces the greatest pain.
Like one who has tasted the moonlight nectar of a single perfect night and is told that all future nights will be moonless — the gopīs remember the rāsa-circle, the secret talk, the affectionate glance, the embrace, the playful smile. Each night with Him passed like an instant; how will they cross the unending darkness without Him?
On the full-moon nights of autumn Kṛṣṇa played the flute at the edge of Vṛndāvana's forest and the gopīs left their homes to dance in the circle He multiplied Himself into — each gopī believing He stood with her alone (SB 10.29–33).
Those nights are what verse 29 refers to as rāsa-goṣṭhām. The gopīs say those nights passed kṣaṇam iva — as a single instant. Now without Him, every coming night will pass like an aeon — the inversion of time Caitanya Mahāprabhu lived for the rest of His life at Jagannātha Purī.
My note
Source: vedabase.io