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TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTĪ
ourselves in Kṛṣṇa consciousness always, we cannot be influenced by the darkness of ignorance; rather, we shall always walk very freely in the bright sunshine of Kṛṣṇa. Kuntīdevī therefore prays that Kṛṣṇa continue to be present with her and the Pāṇḍavas.
In fact, however, Kṛṣṇa was not leaving the Pāṇḍavas, just as He never left Vṛndāvana. In the  śāstra , the Vedic literature, it is said,  vṛndāvanam parityajya no padam ekam gacchati : Kṛṣṇa never goes even one step from Vṛndāvana. He is so much attached to Vṛndāvana. How is it, then, that we see that Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana and went to Mathurā and then far away to Hastināpura and did not return for many years? Actually, Kṛṣṇa did not leave, for all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, after Kṛṣṇa left, were always thinking of Him and crying. The only engagement of mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, Rādhārāṇī, and all the  gopīs , cows, calves, and cowherd boys was to think of Kṛṣṇa and cry, and in this way they felt Kṛṣṇa to be present, because Kṛṣṇa's presence can be felt more strongly in separation from Him. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching: to love Kṛṣṇa in separation.  Śūnyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-viraheṇa me . Caitanya Mahāprabhu thought, "Everything is vacant without Govinda, without Kṛṣṇa." Everything was vacant, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness was there.
When we see everything as nothing, but have only Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we shall have attained the highest perfection. Therefore the  gopīs  are so exalted. Having attained this perfection, they could not forget Kṛṣṇa even for a single moment. When Kṛṣṇa went to the forest with His cows and calves, the minds of the  gopīs  at home were disturbed. "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is walking barefoot," they thought. "There are so many stones and nails on the path, and they must be pricking Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, which are so soft that we think our breasts hard when Kṛṣṇa puts His lotus feet upon them." Thus they would cry, absorbed in these thoughts. The  gopīs  were so anxious to see Kṛṣṇa back home in the evening that they would stand on the path, looking to see Kṛṣṇa returning with His calves and cows. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Kṛṣṇa cannot be absent from a devotee when the devotee is intensely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought. Here Kuntīdevī is very much anxious, thinking that Kṛṣṇa will be absent, but the actual effect of Kṛṣṇa's physical absence is that He becomes more intensely present within the mind of the devotee. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by the example of His actual life, taught  vipralambha-sevā , service of Kṛṣṇa in separation. Tears would come from His eyes like torrents of rain, for He would feel everything to be vacant for want of Kṛṣṇa.