When Kṛṣṇa left the arena of the rāsa dance, He took Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī with Him to a secluded corner of the Vṛndāvana forest. There She worshiped Him with great love and devotion. Meanwhile, as the gopīs searched for Kṛṣṇa in the forest, they suddenly came upon His footprints. One gopī said, “The marks of a flag, lotus, thunderbolt, elephant goad, barleycorn, and so forth on these footprints clearly distinguish them as belonging to that great soul, the son of Nanda Mahārāja.”
The gopīs began following Kṛṣṇa’s path, as shown by His many footprints, but when they saw that these prints were thoroughly intermixed with those of His dearmost consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, they became perturbed and spoke as follows: “Here we see the footprints of some gopī who must have been walking along with the son of Nanda Mahārāja. He must have put His arm on Her shoulder, just as an elephant rests His trunk on the shoulder of an accompanying she-elephant. Certainly this particular gopī has perfectly worshiped the all-powerful Personality of Godhead, Govinda, since He was so pleased with Her that He abandoned the rest of us and brought Her to a secluded place, where He is now enjoying pastimes with Her.”