Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.7.25
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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gopyaḥ
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the gopīs
Plural of gopī — Vraja's cowherd-women. In Gauḍīya theology, the gopīs embody the highest reach of bhakti — mādhurya-rasa, the topmost of the five primary rasas. Even in this vātsalya-flavored episode, the gopīs' response prefigures the prema-vilāpa of the later Vraja-līlā.
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anutapta
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lamenting sympathetically
Anu (after, along with) + tapta (heated, pained). The gopīs do not lament their own loss — they lament after Yaśodā, joining her grief. Caitanya's principle of sādhu-saṅga as shared lamentation for Kṛṣṇa traces directly to this anutapta-dhī of the gopīs.
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aśru-pūrṇa-mukhyaḥ
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their faces full of tears
Aśru (tears) + pūrṇa (full) + mukha (face). Tears for Kṛṣṇa, in Rūpa Gosvāmī's analysis (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.3.18), are one of the eight sāttvika-bhāvas — involuntary bodily signs of awakened bhāva. The gopīs' tears are not symptoms of grief; they are ornaments of prema.
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nanda-sūnum
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the son of Nanda Mahārāja
Nanda (the father) + sūnu (son). The verse names Kṛṣṇa by His Vraja-relationship, not by His cosmic title. This is the Gauḍīya signature: in Vraja, Kṛṣṇa is approached through His mādhurya-relations (son of Nanda, beloved of Rādhā), not through His aiśvarya-titles.
This attachment of the gopīs to Kṛṣṇa is wonderful and transcendental. The center of all the activities of the gopīs was Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was there they were happy, and when Kṛṣṇa was not there, they were unhappy. Thus when mother Yaśodā was lamenting Kṛṣṇa’s absence, the other ladies also began to cry.
When the dust cleared from the blowing wind, the gopis heard crying from Yasoda’s house, they all came from far off and also began crying.
When the wind filled with dust died down, the neighboring gopīs, hearing repeatedly crying within Yaśodā’s house (tatra), and going to the house and not seeing Kṛṣṇa, became filled with sorrow and, shedding tears, wept. Instead of anutapta-dhiyaḥ sometimes anurakta-dhiyaḥ (they were attached to Nanda and Yaśodā) is seen. The son of Nanda is mentioned. This indicates that following Nanda’s lamentation everyone lamented.
In that place which was continually full of bliss (tatra), they heard Yaśodā crying, since the loud noise of the wind had stopped. They became greatly aggrieved and their eyes filled with tears. They went to the place (tatra) where Yaśodā was crying, when the wind ceased to shower dust. Not finding the son of Nanda who gave joy to Vraja at the side of Yaśodā, all the gopīs cried. Instead of anutapta-dhiyaḥ sometimes anurakta-dhiyaḥ (they were attached to Nanda and Yaśodā) is seen. Nanda and all the people of Vraja cried.
- Notice this evening which absence in your day caused real grief — and ask honestly whether Kṛṣṇa's absence registers with even a fraction of that weight.
- Speak to one fellow devotee today about Kṛṣṇa specifically, so that your saṅga becomes, like the gopīs', a circle whose center is Him.
- Refuse to let a day pass in which you do not consciously feel His presence in chanting or His absence in distraction — train the heart to track Him.
Around a single flame, the lamps drawn near catch fire one after another, and when the central flame seems to gutter, every lit lamp flickers. The gopīs are the lamps; Kṛṣṇa is the flame. His absence ripples through their bodies as tears, because every joy in their lives has been lit from Him.
In Gambhīrā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His latter years entered the gopīs' mood of separation so completely that He would weep, cry out Kṛṣṇa's names, and lacerate His face on the walls in His sleep (CC Antya 14). The Six Gosvāmīs preserved this as the highest reach of vipralambha-mādhurya.
The gopīs in 10.7.25 are the original source-material for what Caitanya later embodied: when Kṛṣṇa cannot be found, true love does not console itself; it weeps with His devotees and refuses to be separated alone.
My note
Source: vedabase.io