Sanatana Gosvami says that only in Vraja can the sweet form of Krsna as the essence of loveliness and the emporium of rasa be seen and only in Vraja can such a sweet bhava be experienced. Outside Vraja Krsna’s original form cannot be seen directly, and this bhava cannot be directly relished. In other places one may possibly see Krsna by meditation or in one of His expansions, but direct experience of Him is not possible.
Next comes this verse:
ya dohane ’vahanane mathanopalepa
prekhenkhanarbha-ruditoksana-marjanadau
gayanti cainam anurakta-dhiyo ’sru-kathyo
dhanya vraja-striya urukrama-citta-yana ̇
Srimad-Bhag. 10.44.15 and Brhad-bhag. 2.7.136
“The gopis are extremely fortunate, because their hearts are always so absorbed in Sri Krsna that while milking cows, churning yoghurt, applying candana and other decorations to their bodies, comforting crying babies, washing their floors, and performing all other household duties, tears of love flow from their eyes as they continuously sing about His purifying fame.”
Generally, when a kanistha-adhikari goes to visit a maha-bhagavata Vaisnava, he first thinks “He is a kanistha-adhikari just like me.” At first, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya ridiculed Raya Ramananda, thinking that he spoke too highly about women. Sarvabhauma considered the gopis to be ordinary women. He only respected the jnana of the four Kumaras, the vairagya of Sukadeva Gosvami, and the nirvisesa conception of Sankaracarya. Therefore if one isn’t of a higher type himself, he won’t be able to understand the bhava of higher devotees.
And only a great, perfected personality who is ragatmika, or a devotee who is in the final stage of raganuga-sadhana, will understand the prema of the gopis. Even devotees such as Bhisma who were contemporary with them could not fully understand the exalted nature of their prema. Only those who were near them could understand something of it. For instance, Uddhava had to leave Dvaraka and go to Vraja to understand something about how exalted the gopis were; if he had remained in Dvaraka, he would have never understood.
Exerpted from "Bhakti Rasayana" page 103 - 104
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