Vasudeva, overwhelmed with deep affection, embraced Krishna warmly. As he held his beloved son, memories flooded his heart—he recalled the hardships inflicted by Kaṃsa and the days when he had entrusted Krishna’s safety to Gokula, hoping to shield him from danger. Krishna and Balarāma, in turn, embraced their parents and bowed in reverence, but such was the depth of their love and emotion that tears choked their voices, leaving them unable to speak a word. Yaśodā and her husband, blessed indeed, seated Krishna and Balarāma on their own seats and embraced them with both arms. In that loving closeness, all the sorrows they had ever felt for their sons melted away. Rohiṇī and Devakī then approached the queen of Vraja, Yaśodā, and embraced her warmly. Remembering the unwavering friendship and love she had shown, their throats too filled with tears as they spoke: “O Queen of Vraja, who could ever forget your steadfast friendship? Even if one were to attain and relinquish the sovereignty of Indra, such devotion cannot be repaid in this world. Your parents delighted in you, prospered, nourished, and protected you, thus fulfilling their duty. Just as eyelashes shield the eyes, so too do the virtuous live without fear, for heaven is not their ultimate goal.” Meanwhile, the gopīs, having finally beheld their beloved Krishna again, felt their longing so intense that they cursed their own eyelashes for interrupting their vision with every blink. With their eyes, they embraced Krishna, drawing him deep into their hearts, and thus attained a state of devotion rarely achieved, even by those who are ever united with him. Krishna, the Blessed Lord, approached the gopīs in solitude. He embraced them, inquired after their well-being, and, smiling gently, spoke to them: “Do you remember the friendship we shared? We, intent on fulfilling our own purposes, were absorbed in destroying the enemy’s faction and so departed for a long time. Did you perhaps resent us, suspecting us of ingratitude? Truly, it is the Lord who unites and separates all beings. Just as the wind gathers and scatters clouds, grass, cotton, and dust, so too does the Creator unite and disperse all living beings. “Devotion to me leads to immortality. By great fortune, your affection for me has arisen, dispelling all obstacles. I am the beginning, the end, and the inner and outer essence of all beings, just as space, water, earth, air, and light pervade all material elements. Thus, these beings exist within beings, through the Self and the Supreme Self. Both are seen in me and in the transcendent, by those who perceive the imperishable.” Hearing Krishna’s words of spiritual wisdom, the gopīs’ vital energies dissolved in remembrance of him, and they transcended their individual selves. They prayed, “May the lotus-footed Lord, whose feet are contemplated by the wise in their hearts and who is the support for deliverance from worldly existence, always arise in our minds, even as we dwell in our homes.” Thus ends the eighty-second chapter, “The Meeting of the Vṛṣṇis and Gopas,” in the tenth book, the second half, of the glorious Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the scripture of the supreme paramahaṃsa. After blessing the gopīs, Krishna, their teacher and refuge, inquired after Yudhiṣṭhira and all his steadfast friends. Those thus questioned by the Lord of the worlds, honored by his attention, replied with joyful hearts, their sins washed away by the sight of his feet. “O great one,” they declared, “how could anything inauspicious arise from the nectar of your lotus feet, the words that sometimes flow from your mouth? Those who drink this nectar with the cups of their ears find it sufficient to sever the bondage of embodied existence and the forgetfulness caused by the body. Having abandoned the threefold states of self, purified of all actions, we have attained uninterrupted bliss and unimpeded knowledge. Through yoga, established by the scriptures and time, we have bowed to your form, the supreme path of the paramahaṃsa, though fashioned by māyā.” The sage continued: The wives of the Andhaka and Kaurava clans, having gathered together, praised Krishna, the crown-jewel of noble fame among people. Meeting together, they sang stories of Govinda, celebrated throughout the three worlds. Listen, I shall describe them to you. Śrī Draupadī spoke: “O Vaidarbhī, O Bhadrā, O Jāmbavatī, O Kauśalā, O Satyabhāmā, O Kālindī, O Śaibyā, O Rohiṇī, O Lakṣmaṇā—O wives of Krishna, please tell us: how did the Lord Himself marry you, imitating worldly ways by His own divine power?” Śrī Rukmiṇī replied, “When warriors with drawn bows tried to offer me to the king of Cedi, the dust of whose feet crowned the heads of their soldiers, Krishna carried me away like a lion seizing his share from a herd of goats. May the feet of that Lord, the abode of Śrī, be worshipped by me.” Śrī Satyabhāmā said, “To remove the curse smeared upon me by my co-wife, Krishna defeated the king of the earth and brought the jewel, frightening my father and others. Though I was given to another, He took me for Himself.” Śrī Jāmbavatī added, “Recognizing Him as the maker of bodies and my destined Lord, the husband of Sītā fought with my father for twenty-one days. Knowing Him to be tested, my father offered me to Him, and grasping His feet with the jewel, I became His servant.” Śrī Kālindī recounted, “Knowing I was performing austerities with the desire to touch His feet, He approached me as a friend, took my hand, and I became the sweeper of His house.” Śrī Mitravindā shared, “He came to my svayaṃvara, defeated the kings, and carried me away like an elephant seizing his mate from a herd. He drove away my brothers and brought me to His own city, the abode of fortune. May I have the privilege of serving His feet.” Śrī Satyā said, “My father, to test the strength and valor of the kings, had seven fierce, sharp-horned bulls. Krishna, destroyer of the pride of heroes, subdued them with ease and bound them as a child binds young calves. He won me, given as the price of valor, along with my maidservants and army, by defeating the kings on the road—may I become His servant.” Śrī Bhadrā said, “My father, inviting my maternal uncle, gave me to Krishna, the dark one, whose mind was set on Him, along with an army and companions. May I have the touch of His feet in every birth, for by that, one who is wandering in the cycle of karma attains the highest good for the soul.” Śrī Lakṣmaṇā spoke, “Hearing again and again from Nārada the stories of Krishna’s birth and deeds, my mind was firmly drawn to Mukunda, the lotus-handed one, abandoning even the guardians of the world. Knowing my mind, my father, the affectionate Bṛhatsena, devised a means for my marriage. As in the svayaṃvara of the princess, a fish was set up for the sake of the Pāṇḍava’s desire, so here, one was concealed outside but could be seen in the water below. Hearing this, kings from all sides, skilled in all weapons and missiles, came by the thousands with their teachers to my father’s city. All were honored by my father according to their strength and age; those who desired me took up bows with arrows to shoot in the assembly. Some, taking up the bow, tried to string it but were unable; some, drawing the bowstring to their chest, fell, struck by it. Other heroes, like the kings of Magadha, Ambashṭha, and Cedi, as well as Bhīma, Duryodhana, and Karṇa, managed to string the bow but did not understand the true challenge.” Thus, the blessed wives of Krishna recounted the wondrous ways by which the Lord had chosen each of them, revealing both his divine play and his immeasurable grace.