SB 11.12.8
kevalena hi bhavena
gopyo gavo naga mrgah
ye ’nye mudha-dhiyo nagah
siddha mam iyur añjasa
Translation:
The inhabitants of Vrndavana, including the gopis, cows, unmoving creatures such as the twin arjuna trees, animals, living entities with stunted consciousness such as bushes and thickets, and snakes such as Kaliya, all achieved the perfection of life by unalloyed love for Me and thus very easily achieved Me.
Purport:
Although innumerable living entities achieved liberation by association with the Lord and His devotees, many such personalities also executed other processes such as austerity, charity, philosophical speculation, and so on. As we have already explained, such procedures are secondary. But the inhabitants of Vrndavana such as the gopis did not know anything except Lord Krsna, and their whole purpose in life was simply to love Lord Krsna, as indicated here by the words kevalena hi bhavena. Even the trees, bushes and hills such as Govardhana loved Lord Krsna. As the Lord explains to His brother, Sri Baladeva, in the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.15.5):
aho ami deva-varamararcitam
padambujam te sumanah-phalarhanam
namanty upadaya sikhabhir atmanas
tamo-’pahatyai taru-janma yat-krtam
“My dear brother Baladeva, just see how these trees are bowing down with their branches and offering obeisances to Your lotus feet, which are worshipable even by the demigods. Indeed, My dear brother, You are the Supreme God, and thus these trees have produced fruits and flowers as an offering to You. Although a living entity takes birth as a tree due to the mode of ignorance, certainly by such a birth in Vrndavana these trees are destroying all darkness in their lives by serving Your lotus feet.”
Although many living entities achieved the mercy of Lord Krsna by associating with the Lord and His devotees in various ways, those who take Lord Krsna as everything are situated in the highest process of spiritual realization. Therefore the Lord has not bothered to mention in this verse those who achieved perfection through mixed processes, but rather glorifies the unalloyed devotees of Vrndavana, headed by the gopis, who knew nothing but Lord Krsna. The residents of Vrndavana were so satisfied in their relationships with Lord Krsna that they did not pollute their loving service with mental speculation or fruitive desires. The gopis served Lord Krsna in the conjugal rasa, or relationship, whereas according to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura the cows loved Lord Krsna in vatsalya-rasa, or the love of parents for a child, because the cows were always supplying milk to child Krsna. Unmoving objects like Govardhana Hill and other hills and mountains loved Lord Krsna as a friend, and the ordinary animals, trees and bushes of Vrndavana loved Lord Krsna in dasya-rasa, or with love of a servant for his master. Snakes like Kaliya also developed this love in servitude, and after relishing their loving service to Lord Krsna, all of them went back home, back to Godhead. According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, all those inhabitants of Vrndavana should be considered eternally liberated souls, as expressed by the word siddhah, which means “having achieved the perfection of life.”