Texts 16-17
trīṇi gulmāny atīyāya
tisraḥ kakṣāś ca sa-dvijaḥ
vipro ’gamyāndhaka-vṛṣṇīnāṁ
gṛheṣv acyuta-dharmiṇām
gṛhaṁ dvy-aṣṭa-sahasrāṇāṁ
mahiṣīṇāṁ harer dvijaḥ
viveśaikatamaṁ śrīmad
brahmānandaṁ gato yathā
trīṇi — three; gulmāni — contingents of guards; atīyāya — passing; tisraḥ — three; kakṣāḥ — gateways; ca — and; sa-dvijaḥ — accompanied by brāhmaṇas; vipraḥ — the learned brāhmaṇa; agamya — impassable; andhaka-vṛṣṇīnām — of the Andhakas and Vṛṣṇis; gṛheṣu — between the houses; acyuta — Lord Kṛṣṇa; dharmiṇām — who follow faithfully; gṛham — residence; dvi — two; aṣṭa — times eight; sahasrāṇām — thousands; mahiṣīṇām — of the queens; hareḥ — of Lord Kṛṣṇa; dvijaḥ — the brāhmaṇa; viveśa — entered; ekatamam — one of them; śrī-mat — opulent; brahma-ānandam — the bliss of impersonal liberation; gataḥ — attaining; yathā — as if.
The learned brāhmaṇa, joined by some local brāhmaṇas, passed three guard stations and went through three gateways, and then he walked by the homes of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s faithful devotees, the Andhakas and Vṛṣṇis, which ordinarily no one could do. He then entered one of the opulent palaces belonging to Lord Hari’s sixteen thousand queens, and when he did so he felt as if he were attaining the bliss of liberation.
When the saintly brāhmaṇa entered the precincts of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s palaces and then actually entered one of the palaces, he completely forgot everything else, and thus his state of mind is compared to that of one who has just achieved the bliss of spiritual liberation. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī quotes from the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, wherein we learn that the brāhmaṇa actually entered the palace of Rukmiṇī: sa tu rukmiṇy-antaḥ-pura-dvāri kṣaṇaṁ tūṣṇīṁ sthitaḥ. “He stood for a moment in silence at the doorway of Queen Rukmiṇī’s palace.”