Devanagari
अपि स्मरथ न: सख्य: स्वानामर्थचिकीर्षया ।
गतांश्चिरायिताञ्छत्रुपक्षक्षपणचेतस: ॥ ४१ ॥
Verse text
api smaratha naḥ sakhyaḥ
svānām artha-cikīrṣayā
gatāṁś cirāyitāṣ chatru-
pakṣa-kṣapaṇa-cetasaḥ
Synonyms
api
—
whether
;
smaratha
—
you remember
;
naḥ
—
Us
;
sakhyaḥ
—
girlfriends
;
svānām
—
of dear ones
;
artha
—
the purposes
;
cikīrṣayā
—
with the desire of executing
;
gatān
—
gone away
;
cirāyitān
—
having remained long
;
śatru
—
of Our enemies
;
pakṣa
—
the party
;
kṣapaṇa
—
to destroy
;
cetasaḥ
—
whose intent .
Translation
[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] My dear girlfriends, do you still remember Me? It was for My relatives’ sake that I stayed away so long, intent on destroying My enemies.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] My dear girīfriends, do you still remember Me? It was for My relatives' sake that I stayed away so long, intent on destroying My enemies.
KB 10.82.41-42
“My dear friends, you know that Lord Balarāma and I left Vṛndāvana just to please Our relatives and family members. Thus We were long engaged in fighting with Our enemies and were obliged to forget you, who were so much attached to Me in love and affection. I can understand that I have been ungrateful to you, but still I know that you are faithful to Me. May I inquire if you have been thinking of Me although I had to leave you behind? My dear gopīs, do you now dislike remembering Me, considering Me to have been ungrateful to you? Do you take My misbehavior with you very seriously?
“After all, you should know that it was not My intention to leave you; our separation was ordained by Providence, who after all is the supreme controller and does as He desires. He causes the intermingling of different persons, and again disperses them as He desires.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Wanting to do some things, such as killing Kamsa, for the relatives of my father, such as Vasudeva (svanam), I went off, and for that reason I have been delayed in returning. Do you remember me, who did not have the opportunity to come back, being absorbed in killing the armies of the enemy?"
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
O friends do you not remember me (api)? The plural verb is used indicate many gopīs. He indicates that it was not possible to come quickly by his will alone by accepting many forms. O friends! I am fit to be remembered by you. With this he pacifies them. He asks them to forgive his fault. “We do not think you are fit to be remembered because of your great offense.” Ignoring you, I went away with a desire to perform an act (artha)-- to kill Kaṁsa-- for my relatives such as Vasudeva, since he is the brother of Nanda. That stay extended for a long time because I desired to destroy his allies. To help the Yādavas and others, I became known as Vasudeva’s son and had a semblance of marriages.