18.47
mleccha-bhaye aila gopala mathura-nagare
eka-masa rahila viththalesvara-ghare
SYNONYMS
mleccha-bhaye—because of fear of the Muslims; aila—came; gopala—the Deity Gopala; mathura-nagare—to the city of Mathura; eka-masa—one month; rahila—stayed; viththalesvara-ghare—in the temple of Viththalesvara.
Due to fear of the Mohammedans, Gopala went to Mathura, where He remained in the temple of Viththalesvara for one full month.
PURPORT
When the two brothers Srila Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami went to Vrndavana, they decided to live there.
Following Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s example, they did not climb the hill because they considered it nondifferent from Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
On some pretext, the Gopala Deity granted Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu an audience beneath the hill, and Gopala similarly favored Srila Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami.
During his ripe old age, when Rupa Gosvami could not go to Govardhana Hill because of invalidity, Gopala kindly went to Mathura and remained at the temple of Viththalesvara for one month.
It was then that Srila Rupa Gosvami could see Gopala’s beauty to his heart’s content.