Text 42
api smarati naḥ sādho
govindaḥ prastute kvacit
goṣṭhi-madhye pura-strīṇām
grāmyāḥ svaira-kathāntare
api — moreover; smarati — remembers; naḥ — us; sādho — O pious one; govindaḥ — Kṛṣṇa; prastute — brought up in discussions; kvacit — ever; goṣṭhi — the assembly; madhye — within; pura-strīṇām — of the city women; grāmyāḥ — village girls; svaira — free; kathā — conversation; antare — during.
O saintly one, does Govinda ever remember us during His conversations with the city women? Does He ever mention us village girls as He freely talks with them?
The gopīs were so completely in love with Kṛṣṇa, without selfish motive, that even in their great disappointment they never considered giving their love to another. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets their feelings as follows.
The gopīs might say, “Surely Kṛṣṇa has abandoned us because we deserve to be abandoned. Indeed, we are the most insignificant women in the world and have been rejected after having been enjoyed. Still, do we sometimes enter into His memory on account of some good quality of ours, or even because of something we did wrong? Kṛṣṇa must speak very freely with the city women. He and they must sing, joke, make riddles and talk about so many things. Does Kṛṣṇa ever say, ‘My dear city women, your sophisticated singing and speech is unknown to the gopīs in My home village. They couldn’t understand these things.’ Does He ever speak about us even in that way?”