॥॥
In plain words
This Narakāsura went on spending his life in many sins. He held women captive and went on tormenting them terribly. However much all their kinsfolk wept, he did not listen to their cries. They were the very sixteen thousand Gopīs. The Gopīs were the ones who, held in his power, in a wretched state, came to look on life itself with distaste. They had come to feel a kind of distaste for life. They could neither die nor live. They went on living out their lives in the midst of this death and life. After Narakāsura was slain, all of them felt joy. ‘How many women he used to kill, to slay, to torment!’ they grieved among themselves. Kṛṣṇa called them all to Him: ‘Now go, each of you, to your own homes; I have set you free from your bondage. Live in comfort and in peace,’ He told them. Then the Gopīs said: ‘Lord! After all this time in the custody of this Narakāsura, how are we to go back to our kinsfolk and live? It will pass as a life without honour. Our honour and good name will be burned to ashes. You alone must protect us. Keep us right by You,’ they said. The sixteen thousand Gopīs were those who gave themselves up to Kṛṣṇa and came under His care; that is just why it is said that there were sixteen thousand Gopīs. Just then the Gopīs said:
Calling You beyond the reach of speech, could even Brahmā and the gods praise Your deeds? O Kṛṣṇa! I have been waiting for Your grace; hear my plea and save me. You brought back and restored the guru's son whom Kāla had carried off; You crushed the pride of Kāma; You freed Vasudeva and Devakī from prison; when Draupadī, forsaken and alone, cried out, ‘Hā Kṛṣṇa!’ You saved her, well done, well done! You protected the Pāṇḍavas; You relieved Kucela's distress; You took away the crookedness of the misshapen Kubjā; You freed the sixteen thousand fair women from captivity. ‖Vācā‖