154 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

When the girls in the water heard such joking words from Krsna, they
began to look at one another and smile. They were very joyous to hear
such a request from Krsna because they were already in love with Him.
Out of shyness, they looked at one another, but they could not come out
of the water because they were naked. Due to remaining in the water for
a long time, they felt cold and were shivering, yet upon hearing the
pleasing and joking words of Govinda, their minds were perturbed with
sreat joy. They began to tell Krsna, “Dear son of Nanda Maharaja, please
do not joke with us in that way. It is completely unjust to us. You area
very respectable boy because You are the son of Nanda Maharaja, and You
are very dear to us, but You should not play this joke on us because now
we are all shivering from the cold water. Kindly deliver our garments
immediately, otherwise we shall suffer.” They then began to appeal to
Krsna with great submission. “Dear Syamasundara,” they said, “‘we are
all Your eternal servitors. Whatever You order us to do, we are obliged to
perform without hesitation because we consider it our religious duty. But
if You insist on puttingthis proposal to us, which is impossible to perform,
then certainly we will have to go to Nanda Maharaja and lodge a complaint
against You. If Nanda Maharaja does not take action, then we shall tell
King Karsa about Your misbehavior.”

Upon hearing this appeal by the unmarried gopis, Krsna answered, “My
dear girls, if you think that you are My eternal servitors and you are
always ready to execute My order, then My request is that, with your
smiling faces, you please come here alone, one after another, and take
away your garments. If you do not come here, however, and if you lodge
complaints to My father, I shall not care anyway, for I know My father is
old and cannot take any action against Me.”

When the gopis saw that Krsna was strong and determined, they had no
alternative but to abide by His order. One after another they came out
of the water, but because they were completely naked, they tried to cover
their nakedness by placing their left hand over their pubic area. In that
posture they were all shivering. Their simple presentation was so pure that
Lord Krsna immediately became pleased with them. All the unmarried
gopis who prayed to Katyayani to have Krsna as their husband were thus
satisfied. A woman cannot be naked before any male except her husband.
The unmarried gopis desired Krsna as their husband, and He fulfilled their
desire in this way. Being pleased with them, He took their garments on
His shoulder and began to speak as follows. “My dear girls, you have
committed a great offense by going naked in the River Yamuna. Because of
this, the predominating deity of the Yamuna, Varunadeva, has become
