Text 47
śrī-śuka uvāca
adhyātma-śikṣayā gopya
evaṁ kṛṣṇena śikṣitāḥ
tad-anusmaraṇa-dhvasta-
jīva-kośās tam adhyagan
śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; adhyātma — about the soul; śikṣayā — with instruction; gopyaḥ — the gopīs; evam — thus; kṛṣṇena — by Kṛṣṇa; śikṣitāḥ — taught; tat — on Him; anusmaraṇa — by constant meditation; dhvasta — eradicated; jīva-kośāḥ — the subtle covering of the soul (false ego); tam — Him; adhyagan — they came to understand.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Having thus been instructed by Kṛṣṇa in spiritual matters, the gopīs were freed of all tinges of false ego because of their incessant meditation upon Him. And with their deepening absorption in Him, they came to understand Him fully.
Śrīla Prabhupāda renders this passage as follows in Kṛṣṇa: “The gopīs, having been instructed by Kṛṣṇa in this philosophy of simultaneous oneness and difference, remained always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus became liberated from all material contamination. The consciousness of the living entity who falsely presents himself as the enjoyer of the material world is called jīva-kośa, which means imprisonment by the false ego. Not only the gopīs but anyone who follows these instructions of Kṛṣṇa becomes immediately freed from the jīva-kośa imprisonment. A person in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always liberated from false egoism; he utilizes everything for Kṛṣṇa’s service and is not at any time separated from Kṛṣṇa.”