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Kṛṣṇa is just like the brilliant sun, and māyā, ignorance, is just like darkness. When the sun is present, there cannot be darkness. So if we keep ourselves in Kṛṣṇa consciousness always, we cannot be influenced by the darkness of ignorance; rather, we shall always walk very freely in the bright sunshine of Kṛṣṇa. Kuntīdevī therefore prays that Kṛṣṇa continue to be present with her and the Pāṇḍavas.

In fact, however, Kṛṣṇa was not leaving the Pāṇḍavas, just as He never left Vṛndāvana. In the śāstra, the Vedic literature, it is said, vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya padam ekaṁ na gacchati: Kṛṣṇa never goes even one step from Vṛndāvana. He is so much attached to Vṛndāvana. How is it, then, that we see that Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana and went to Mathurā and then far away to Hastināpura and did not return for many years? Actually, Kṛṣṇa did not leave, for all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, after Kṛṣṇa left, were always thinking of Him and crying. The only engagement of mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, Rādhārāṇī, and all the gopīs, cows, calves, and cowherd boys was to think of Kṛṣṇa and cry, and in this way they felt Kṛṣṇa to be present, because Kṛṣṇa’s presence can be felt more strongly in separation from Him. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s teaching: to love Kṛṣṇa in separation. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. Caitanya Mahāprabhu thought, “Everything is vacant without Govinda, without Kṛṣṇa.” Everything was vacant, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness was there.

When we see everything as nothing, but have only Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we shall have attained the highest perfection. Therefore the gopīs are so exalted. Having attained this perfection, they could not forget Kṛṣṇa even for a single moment. When Kṛṣṇa went to the forest with His cows and calves, the minds of the gopīs at home were disturbed. “Oh, Kṛṣṇa is walking barefoot,” they thought. “There are so many stones and nails on the path, and they must be pricking Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, which are so soft that we think our breasts hard when Kṛṣṇa puts His lotus feet upon them.” Thus they would cry, absorbed in these thoughts. The gopīs were so anxious to see Kṛṣṇa back home in the evening that they would stand on the path, looking to see Kṛṣṇa returning with His calves and cows. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Kṛṣṇa cannot be absent from a devotee when the devotee is intensely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought. Here Kuntīdevī is very much anxious, thinking that Kṛṣṇa will be absent, but the actual effect of Kṛṣṇa’s physical absence is that He becomes more intensely present within the mind of the devotee. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by the example of His actual life, taught vipralambha-sevā, service of Kṛṣṇa in separation. Tears would come from His eyes like torrents of rain, for He would feel everything to be vacant for want of Kṛṣṇa.

There are two stages of meeting Kṛṣṇa. Being personally present with Kṛṣṇa, personally meeting Him, personally talking with Him, and personally embracing Him is called sambhoga, but there is another way to be with Kṛṣṇa – in separation from Him – and this is called vipralambha. A devotee can benefit from Kṛṣṇa’s association in both ways.

Because we are now in the material world, we do not see Kṛṣṇa directly. Nonetheless, we can see Him indirectly. For example, if one sees the Pacific Ocean one can remember Kṛṣṇa immediately, if one is advanced in spiritual life. This is called meditation. One may think, “The Pacific Ocean is such a vast mass of water, with many large waves, but although I am standing only a few yards from it, I am confident that I am safe, however powerful this ocean may be and however fearful its waves. I am sure that it will not go beyond its limits. How is this happening? By the order of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa orders, ‘My dear Pacific Ocean, you may be very big and powerful, but you cannot come beyond this line.’ ” In this way one can immediately remember Kṛṣṇa, or God, who is so powerful that even the Pacific Ocean abides by His order. In this way one can think of Kṛṣṇa, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Similarly, when one sees the sunrise one can immediately remember Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (7.8), prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: “I am the shining of the sun and the moon.” If one has learned how to see Kṛṣṇa, one can see Him in the sunshine. Our scientists have not created the sun, and although they may juggle words, it is beyond their ability to know what the sun actually is. But the Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.3) says, śāstra-yonitvāt: one can know everything through the śāstra, the Vedic literature. For example, if one studies the Vedic literature one can know what the sun is, for the sun is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.52):