Answers are paraphrased for easy reading

[Are Brajvasis and Gopis ekanti devotees] You mentioned that Uddhava was an ekānti devotee. When he went to Vṛndāvana, sent by Kṛṣṇa, he saw the devotion of the Vrajavāsīs and the gopīs, which appeared even higher. So were they also ekānti devotees?

Category: Devotional Service | Speaker: Suvyakta Narasimha Dasa | Date: 2026-04-09 | Time Stamp: 41:07 | Shloka: SB 6.13.3
Answer
Yes, all the Vrajavāsīs are ekānti devotees. The point is that even among pure devotees there are gradations. Just as there are Nārāyaṇas and Nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas, and among the Nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇas there are further gradations, the ekānti-bhaktas are considered the highest.

Even among the ekānti devotees, there are distinctions: those in śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, and then those in mādhurya-rasa. The ekānti-bhaktas in mādhurya-rasa are considered the topmost.

Among those in mādhurya-rasa with Kṛṣṇa, there are two varieties: svakīya-rasa and parakīya-rasa. Those in parakīya-rasa are considered even higher. Within parakīya-rasa there are two groups — one headed by Candrāvalī and the other by Rādhārāṇī. Among them, eight gopīs are considered especially prominent, and among those eight, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the highest.

Thus, even among pure devotees there are various gradations — in fact, unlimited gradations are possible.