Passage 8

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In plain words

All the Gopīs were running after that Kṛṣṇa. Afraid that her own daughter-in-law too might leave the household and go astray somehow, the mother-in-law would not send her; she would come herself, light the lamp and go. But the young woman had to see the form of Kṛṣṇa. Everyone was describing it. They had all seen Kṛṣṇa as He moved about inside Yaśodā's house. ‘What is my lot? What is this misfortune of mine?’ she would grieve. Ever and always she kept reciting to herself the eight powers of the eight limbs. ‘Śabdabrahmamayī, carācaramayī, jyotirmayī, vāgmayī, nityānandamayī, parāparamayī, māyāmayī, śrīmayī,’ she would recite, poor thing. Even that she recited within herself, without letting a sound come out. Her fear was that her parents-in-law might hear. But one day Kṛṣṇa, who had accepted her prayer, to bring her good fortune: the mother-in-law fell ill with a fever. Unable to move or stir, she told the daughter-in-law: ‘My dear! Just for today, this one day only, you go and light the lamp and bring it back!’ she said. Hearing those words, the daughter-in-law was overjoyed; she took her lamp and ran to Yaśodā's house. Every day Yaśodā used to set that lamp in a niche on the veranda. There was no going inside. So, lighting her lamp from that flame right there outside: ‘Ah! Yaśodā's house is the very place where Kṛṣṇa dwells!’ Thinking of Kṛṣṇa, she forgot her own body. The lamp was lit, but her hand too began to burn, her clothes began to burn. At the smell of burning cloth Yaśodā came running out from inside and saw the sight: ‘What is this, child, have you gone mad? Did you not sleep last night? This fire is burning you and you do not even stir!’ When she asked this, the young woman was smiling, full of joy. All the Gopīs came to light their lamps. Why was she smiling? Right within that flame Kṛṣṇa was appearing to her. Beholding that Kṛṣṇa, she had forgotten her own body. This girl's name was Suguṇa. They heard the news. All the Gopīs too, dancing along the bazaar,