SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 10

S'rî S'uka said: 'You've asked very good questions and that way you are most fortunate, o best of the devotees, because you lend a new charm in your wish to hear the stories about the Lord again and again.

S'rîla S'ukadeva Gosvâmî said: O best of devotees, most fortunate Parîkshit, you have inquired very nicely, for although constantly hearing the pastimes of the Lord, you are perceiving His activities to be newer and newer. (Vedabase)

Text 2

It is this what sets apart the truthful who accepted the essence of life: that which is the aim of life, the purpose of their understanding and comes first in their mind, appears, when they talk it over in relation to the Infallible One, every time, despite of the repetition, to be new to them, just like every woman seems to be new to a womanizer.

Paramahamsas, devotees who have accepted the essence of life, are attached to Krishna in the core of their hearts, and He is the aim of their lives. It is their nature to talk only of Krishna at every moment, as if such topics were newer and newer. They are attached to such topics, just as materialists are attached to topics of women and sex. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Please listen carefully o King, I'll relate it to you even though it is a confidential subject, for even the hidden things are by gurus described to a loving disciple.

O King, kindly hear me with great attention. Although the activities of the Supreme Lord are very confidential, no ordinary man being able to understand them, I shall speak about them to you, for spiritual masters explain to a submissive disciple even subject matters that are very confidential and difficult to understand. (Vedabase)

Text 4

After He had saved all the boys and calves from the mouth of that deadly Agha, brought the Supreme Lord them to the river bank and spoke He these words:

Then, after saving the boys and calves from the mouth of Aghâsura, who was death personified, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, brought them all to the bank of the river and spoke the following words. (Vedabase)

Text 5

'Oh how beautiful this bank is, dear friends, with all its opportunity to play, its soft and clean sands, the aroma of the blooming lotuses attracting the bumblebees and the sounds of the chirping birds all around in the many trees!

My dear friends, just see how this riverbank is extremely beautiful because of its pleasing atmosphere. And just see how the blooming lotuses are attracting bees and birds by their aroma. The humming and chirping of the bees and birds is echoing throughout the beautiful trees in the forest. Also, here the sands are clean and soft. Therefore, this must be considered the best place for our sporting and pastimes. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Let's eat here, it is late now and we're weak from hunger; after drenching the calves in the water, can they at ease eat from the grasses nearby.'

I think we should take our lunch here, since we are already hungry because the time is very late. Here the calves may drink water and go slowly here and there and eat the grass. (Vedabase)

Text 7

As said allowed they the calves to drink from the water, took they them to the tender grasses, opened they their lunch bags and enjoyed they happily eating together with the Supreme Lord.

Accepting Lord Krishna's proposal, the cowherd boys allowed the calves to drink water from the river and then tied them to trees where there was green, tender grass. Then the boys opened their baskets of food and began eating with Krishna in great transcendental pleasure. (Veda b ase)

Text 8

In a wide circle facing inward with a happy face grouped the boys of Vraja around Krishna and looked they thus sitting down in the forest as beautiful as the petals and leaves that make up the whorl of a lotus flower.

Like the whorl of a lotus flower surrounded by its petals and leaves, Krishna sat in the center, encircled by lines of His friends, who all looked very beautiful. Every one of them was trying to look forward toward Krishna, thinking that Krishna might look toward him. In this way they all enjoyed their lunch in the forest. (Vedabase)

Text 9

To enjoy their meal made some of them use of flowers as a plate while others used bunches of leaves, twigs, fruits, their own packets, the bark of trees or a slab of rock.

Among the cowherd boys, some placed their lunch on flowers, some on leaves, fruits, or bunches of leaves, some actually in their baskets, some on the bark of trees and some on rocks. This is what the children imagined to be their plates as they ate their lunch. (Vedabase)

Text 10

Each of them allowing the others a taste of their own favorite food, amused they themselves having fun in taking their lunch with the Lord.

All the cowherd boys enjoyed their lunch with Krishna, showing one another the different tastes of the different varieties of preparations they had brought from home. Tasting one another's preparations, they began to laugh and make one another laugh. (Vedabase)

Text 11

With His flute tucked away in His belt and with the horn and the prod at His left side, took He the yogurt rice and tasty fruits between His fingers. Keeping Himself in the middle of the circle of His comrades made He them laugh telling His jokes. And thus saw the denizens of heaven how the Enjoyer of all Sacrifices was enjoying His childhood pastimes.

Krishna is yajña-bhuk - that is, He eats only offerings of yajña - but to exhibit His childhood pastimes, He now sat with His flute tucked between His waist and His tight cloth on His right side and with His horn bugle and cow- driving stick on His left. Holding in His hand a very nice preparation of yogurt and rice, with pieces of suitable fruit between His fingers, He sat like the whorl of a lotus flower, looking forward toward all His friends, personally joking with them and creating jubilant laughter among them as He ate. At that time, the denizens of heaven were watching, struck with wonder at how the Personality of Godhead, who eats only in yajña, was now eating with His friends in the forest. (Vedabase)

Text 12

O scion of Bharata, while the Infallible One this way was eating together with the cowherds so close to Him, had the calves looking for grass wandered deep into the forest.

O Mahârâja Parîkshit, while the cowherd boys, who knew nothing within the core of their hearts but Krishna, were thus engaged in eating their lunch in the forest, the calves went far away, deep into the forest, being allured by green grass. (Veda b ase)

Text 13

Seeing that said Krishna, the Fear of Fear, to the boys caught in anxiety: 'O friends, remain seated, I'll bring the calves right back here!'

When Krishna saw that His friends the cowherd boys were frightened, He, the fierce controller even of fear itself, said, just to mitigate their fear, "My dear friends, do not stop eating. I shall bring your calves back to this spot by personally going after them Myself." (Vedabase)

Text 14

Saying this went Krishna, the Supreme Lord, with a bit of food in His hand, out to look for the calves of His friends everywhere in the mountains, the caves, the bushes and the bowers.

"Let Me go and search for the calves," Krishna said. "Don't disturb your enjoyment." Then, carrying His yogurt and rice in His hand, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, immediately went out to search for the calves of His friends. To please His friends, He began searching in all the mountains, mountain caves, bushes and narrow passages. (Vedabase)

Text 15

He born from the lotus [Brahmâ] residing in the beyond was very charmed by the way the Lord enchanted the boys and just to see more of it took He the boys and their calves to hide them elsewhere, o man of the Kuru bond. This authority from heaven who before had witnessed the deliverance of Aghâsura had grown very astonished of the All-potent Personality [see footnote*].

O Mahârâja Parîkshit, Brahmâ, who resides in the higher planetary system in the sky, had observed the activities of the most powerful Krishna in killing and delivering Aghâsura, and he was astonished. Now that same Brahmâ wanted to show some of his own power and see the power of Krishna, who was engaged in His childhood pastimes, playing as if with ordinary cowherd boys. Therefore, in Krishna's absence, Brahmâ took all the boys and calves to another place. Thus he became entangled, for in the very near future he would see how powerful Krishna was. (Vedabase)

Text 16

When He couldn't spot the calves and cowherd boys anywhere searched Krishna every nook and corner of the forest.

Thereafter, when Krishna was unable to find the calves, He returned to the bank of the river, but there He was also unable to see the cowherd boys. Thus He began to search for both the calves and the boys, as if He could not understand what had happened. (Vedabase)

Text 17

Nor finding the calves or their caretakers elsewhere in the woods understood Krishna, well aware of everything going on in the universe, immediately that this was the work of Vidhi [Lord Brahmâ].

When Krishna was unable to find the calves and their caretakers, the cowherd boys, anywhere in the forest, He could suddenly understand that this was the work of Lord Brahmâ. (Vedabase)

Text 18

Thereupon expanded Krishna, as the Controller managing the entire universe, Himself to both the forms [of cow and calf], so as to please as well their mothers as him [Brahmâ].

Thereafter, just to create pleasure both for Brahmâ and for the mothers of the calves and cowherd boys, Krishna, the creator of the entire cosmic manifestation, expanded Himself as calves and boys. (Vedabase)

Text 19

Perfectly alike the cowherd boys and their tender calves with the same size of legs and hands, with likewise bugles, flutes, sticks and bags and such; with the same ornaments and dress in all respects; with exactly their character, habits, features, attributes and traits, and of the same games and play, assumed the Unborn One as Vishnu expanding similar in every detail the words and physique of their identity.

By His Vâsudeva feature, Krishna simultaneously expanded Himself into the exact number of missing cowherd boys and calves, with their exact bodily features, their particular types of hands, legs and other limbs, their sticks, bugles and flutes, their lunch bags, their particular types of dress and ornaments placed in various ways, their names, ages and forms, and their special activities and characteristics. By expanding Himself in this way, beautiful Krishna proved the statement samagra-jagad vishnumayam: "Lord Vishnu is all-pervading." (Vedabase)

Text 20

Personally thus in different ways enjoying the company He offered Himself in the form of the calves and the herding boys, entered He, the Soul of All, next Vraja.

Now expanding Himself so as to appear as all the calves and cowherd boys, all of them as they were, and at the same time appear as their leader, Krishna entered Vrajabhûmi, the land of His father, Nanda Mahârâja, just as He usually did while enjoying their company. (Vedabase)

Text 21

Separately bringing Himself as different calves to different cowsheds entered He, in His expanding having divided Himself in different persons, thus the different houses o King.

O Mahârâja Parîkshit, Krishna, who had divided Himself as different calves and also as different cowherd boys, entered different cow sheds as the calves and then different homes as different boys. (Vedabase)

Text 22

Their mothers, as soon as they heard the sound of their flutes, immediately abandoned what they were doing and lifted them as feathers up in their arms to hug them and allow them, being wet of affection, to drink from their nectarean breast milk; and thus feeding their sons were they of respect for the Supreme Lord.

The mothers of the boys, upon hearing the sounds of the flutes and bugles being played by their sons, immediately rose from their household tasks, lifted their boys onto their laps, embraced them with both arms and began to feed them with their breast milk, which flowed forth because of extreme love specifically for Krishna. Actually Krishna is everything, but at that time, expressing extreme love and affection, they took special pleasure in feeding Krishna, the Parabrahman, and Krishna drank the milk from His respective mothers as if it were a nectarean beverage. (Vedabase)

Text 23

Every time Mâdhava thus in the evening came home, o ruler of man, having finished what He had to do, took they care of Him by massaging, bathing, oiling and decorating Him, chanting mantra's for His protection, marking Him with tilaka and sumptuously feeding [all the boys He was].

Thereafter, O Mahârâja Parîkshit, as required according to the scheduled round of His pastimes, Krishna returned in the evening, entered the house of each of the cowherd boys, and engaged exactly like the former boys, thus enlivening their mothers with transcendental pleasure. The mothers took care of the boys by massaging them with oil, bathing them, smearing their bodies with sandalwood pulp, decorating them with ornaments, chanting protective mantras, decorating their bodies with tilaka and giving them food. In this way, the mothers served Krishna personally. (Vedabase)

Text 24

Also the calves who were taken to their sheds were directely called by their loudly mooing mothers who, each followed by their own calf, licked them time and again and fed them with the milk flowing from their udders.

Thereafter, all the cows entered their different sheds and began mooing loudly, calling for their respective calves. When the calves arrived, the mothers began licking the calves' bodies again and again and profusely feeding them with the milk flowing from their milk bags. (Vedabase)

Text 25

Cow and gopî were in this of their usual motherly affection, but there was an increase of love for them they hadn't felt before, as well as a direct response from their children which, having now Him for their son, was without the bewildering [of the 'I' and 'mine'].

Previously, from the very beginning, the gopîs had motherly affection for Krishna. Indeed, their affection for Krishna exceeded even their affection for their own sons. In displaying their affection, they had thus distinguished between Krishna and their sons, but now that distinction disappeared. (Vedabase)

Text 26

For the time of a year increased thus with all inhabitants of Vraja gradually but constantly the creeper of the dedication for their children the way they now, unlike before, were as loving with their children as they had been with Krishna.

Although the inhabitants of Vrajabhûmi, the cowherd men and cowherd women, previously had more affection for Krishna than for their own children, now, for one year, their affection for their own sons continuously increased, for Krishna had now become their sons. There was no limit to the increment of their affection for their sons, who were now Krishna. Every day they found new inspiration for loving their children as much as they loved Krishna. (Vedabase)

Text 27

This was the way how the Supreme Soul, who all by Himself in the form of the cowherd boys tended Himself as the calves, maintained Himself for a whole year, playing happily in the community and the forest.

In this way, Lord S'rî Krishna, having Himself become the cowherd boys and groups of calves, maintained Himself by Himself. Thus He continued His pastimes, both in Vrindâvana and in the forest, for one year. (Vedabase)

Text 28

One day, five or six days before a whole year had passed, entered the Unborn Lord, together with Balarâma taking care of the calves, the forest.

One day, five or six nights before the completion of the year, Krishna, tending the calves, entered the forest along with Balarâma. (Vedabase)

Text 29

In the vicinity of Vraja looking for grass with their calves, were they next spotted by the mother cows who nearby were pasturing on top of Govardhana hill.

Thereafter, while pasturing atop Govardhana Hill, the cows looked down to find some green grass and saw their calves pasturing near Vrindâvana, not very far away. (Vedabase)

Text 30

The moment they saw them forgot they, driven by their love, the herd and broke they, despite of the difficult path, with their necks raised to their humps in gallop away from their caretakers, heads and tails up and dripping milk while they loudly mooing sped for them.

When the cows saw their own calves from the top of Govardhana Hill, they forgot themselves and their caretakers because of increased affection, and although the path was very rough, they ran toward their calves with great anxiety, each running as if with one pair of legs. Their milk bags full and flowing with milk, their heads and tails raised, and their humps moving with their necks, they ran forcefully until they reached their calves to feed them. (Vedabase)

Text 31

As the cows with their calves united at the foot of the hill licked they, despite of having calved again, their limbs and fed they them anxiously with the milk flowing from them as if they were newly born calves.

The cows had given birth to new calves, but while coming down from Govardhana Hill, the cows, because of increased affection for the older calves, allowed the older calves to drink milk from their milk bags and then began licking the calves' bodies in anxiety, as if wanting to swallow them. (Vedabase)

Text 32

The gopas frustrated of trying to keep them from the difficult and dangerous path, felt greatly ashamed of having gotten angry when they, reaching there, saw their sons with the cows and calves.

The cowherd men, having been unable to check the cows from going to their calves, felt simultaneously ashamed and angry. They crossed the rough road with great difficulty, but when they came down and saw their own sons, they were overwhelmed by great affection. (Vedabase)

Text 33

With their minds bathing in a mood of utter, transcendental love melted with that great attraction their anger away as snow before the sun and experienced they, lifting their boys next up in their arms to embrace them, smelling their heads, the highest pleasure.

At that time, all the thoughts of the cowherd men merged in the mellow of paternal love, which was aroused by the sight of their sons. Experiencing a great attraction, their anger completely disappearing, they lifted their sons, embraced them in their arms and enjoyed the highest pleasure by smelling their sons' heads. (Vedabase)

Text 34

Thereafter, overjoyed with the embraces, could the elderly gopas only with difficulty tear themselves away from them and had they tears in their eyes upon the memory.

Thereafter the elderly cowherd men, having obtained great feeling from embracing their sons, gradually and with great difficulty and reluctance ceased embracing them and returned to the forest. But as the men remembered their sons, tears began to roll down from their eyes. (Vedabase)

Text 35

When Balarâma saw the abundance of love and the constant attachment of all the inhabitants of Vraja, however grown away their children were from the mother breast, couldn't He phathom the reason for this and wondered He:

Because of an increase of affection, the cows had constant attachment even to those calves that were grown up and had stopped sucking milk from their mothers. When Baladeva saw this attachment, He was unable to understand the reason for it, and thus He began to consider as follows. (Vedabase)

Text 36

'What is this wonder happening? The divine love [prema] of all here in Vraja and including Me for the children and Vâsudeva, the Soul of the Perfect Complete, has never been that big!

What is this wonderful phenomenon? The affection of all the inhabitants of Vraja, including Me, toward these boys and calves is increasing as never before, just like our affection for Lord Krishna, the Supersoul of all living entities. (Vedabase)

Text 37

Who would be behind this, what is its origin; is it a divine being, is it a woman or a she-devil? In any case must it be the special grace [Mâyâ-devî] of My Sustainer, who else could bewilder Me this way?'

Who is this mystic power, and where has she come from? Is she a demigod or a demoness? She must be the illusory energy of My master, Lord Krishna, for who else can bewilder Me? (Vedabase)

Text 38

Thinking it over saw He through the eye of transcendence all the calves along with their companions as [none other than] the Lord of Vaikunthha.

Thinking in this way, Lord Balarâma was able to see, with the eye of transcendental knowledge, that all these calves and Krishna's friends were expansions of the form of S'rî Krishna. (Veda b ase)

Text 39

'These boys are no [incarnated] masters of enlightenment, nor are these calves great sages. You alone, o Supreme Controller, are the One manifesting in all the diversity of existence. How can You at the same time be everything that exists, tell Me, what exactly is Your word to this?'; and by that mastery and presence of mind arrived Baladeva at an understanding of the situation [**].

Lord Baladeva said, "O supreme controller! These boys are not great demigods, as I previously thought. Nor are these calves great sages like Nârada. Now I can see that You alone are manifesting Yourself in all varieties of difference. Although one, You are existing in the different forms of the calves and boys. Please briefly explain this to Me." Having thus been requested by Lord Baladeva, Krishna explained the whole situation, and Baladeva understood it. (Vedabase)

Text 40

The selfborn one [Brahmâ] after so long a time returning, even though it was but a moment to his own reckoning [see kalpa], saw that one year later the Lord along with His expansions was playing like He did before.

When Lord Brahmâ returned after a moment of time had passed (according to his own measurement), he saw that although by human measurement a complete year had passed, Lord Krishna, after all that time, was engaged just as before in playing with the boys and calves, who were His expansions. (Veda b ase)

Text 41

[He said to himself:] 'Because the many of all the boys in Gokula along with their calves are fast asleep on the bed of my deluding power can it not be so that they today would have risen again.

Lord Brahmâ thought: Whatever boys and calves there were in Gokula, I have kept them sleeping on the bed of my mystic potency, and to this very day they have not yet risen again. (Vedabase)

Text 42

Therefore I wonder where these ones came from; they are different from the ones bewildered by my power of illusion, yet there is the same number of them for a whole year playing together with Vishnu!'

A similar number of boys and calves have been playing with Krishna for one whole year, yet they are different from the ones illusioned by my mystic potency. Who are they? Where did they come from? (Vedabase)

Text 43

This way for a long time contemplating the difference between them could he, the selfborn one, by no means determine who now was real and who not.

Thus Lord Brahmâ, thinking and thinking for a long time, tried to distinguish between those two sets of boys, who were each separately existing. He tried to understand who was real and who was not real, but he couldn't understand at all. (Vedabase)

Text 44

And so was even he, the one unseen, by his own mystic power in fact bewildered - he indeed who wanted to mystify Vishnu, the One who Himself, being above all misconception, mystifies the entire universe.

Thus because Lord Brahmâ wanted to mystify the all-pervading Lord Krishna, who can never be mystified, but who, on the contrary, mystifies the entire universe, he himself was put into bewilderment by his own mystic power. (Vedabase)

Text 45

As futile as the obscurity of a fog during the night and the light of a glowworm during the day will a person of a lesser mystic potency realize nothing but his own destruction if he tries to use his power against a great personality.

As the darkness of snow on a dark night and the light of a glowworm in the light of day have no value, the mystic power of an inferior person who tries to use it against a person of great power is unable to accomplish anything; instead, the power of that inferior person is diminished. (Vedabase)

Text 46

And as he, the one self-born, watched them were calf and cowherd the very moment seen by him as having a complexion of rain clouds and being dressed in yellow silk.

Then, while Lord Brahmâ looked on, all the calves and the boys tending them immediately appeared to have complexions the color of bluish rainclouds and to be dressed in yellow silken garments. (Vedabase)

Text 47-48

With four arms, with the conch, the disc, the club and the lotus, with helmets, earrings, necklaces and garlands of forest flowers; with the s'rîvatsa, the jewel to Their conch-striped necks and with bracelets around Their wrists; with ornaments at Their feet and bangles on Their ankles appeared They most beautiful with Their belts and rings around Their fingers.

All those personalities had four arms, holding conchshell, disc, mace and lotus flower in Their hands. They wore helmets on Their heads, earrings on Their ears and garlands of forest flowers around Their necks. On the upper portion of the right side of Their chests was the emblem of the goddess of fortune. Furthermore, They wore armlets on Their arms, the Kaustubha gem around Their necks, which were marked with three lines like a conchshell, and bracelets on Their wrists. With bangles on Their ankles, ornaments on Their feet, and sacred belts around Their waists, They all appeared very beautiful. (Vedabase)

Text 49

From head to toe were all Their limbs covered by strings of fresh, soft tulsî that was offered by those of great merit [see also 10.12: 7-11].

Every part of Their bodies, from Their feet to the top of Their heads, was fully decorated with fresh, tender garlands of tulasî leaves offered by devotees engaged in worshiping the Lord by the greatest pious activities, namely hearing and chanting. (Vedabase)

Text 50

With Their smiles bright as moonshine and the clear glances of Their reddish eyes were They, like the modes of [white] goodness and [reddish] passion, the creators and protectors of the desires of Their own devotees [compare 10.3: 20].

Those Vishnu forms, by Their pure smiling, which resembled the increasing light of the moon, and by the sidelong glances of Their reddish eyes, created and protected the desires of Their own devotees, as if by the modes of passion and goodness. (Vedabase)

Text 51

The Laudable Primal Being [of Vishnu thus] was by the first being [of Brahmâ] down to the smallest clump of grass, with forms moving and not moving, in different ways worshiped with dance and song.

All beings, both moving and nonmoving, from the four-headed Lord Brahmâ down to the most insignificant living entity, had taken forms and were differently worshiping those vishnu-mûrtis, according to their respective capacities, with various means of worship, such as dancing and singing. (Vedabase)

Text 52

Each of Them was surrounded by all the glory of the perfections [being like the smallest etc.], the mystic potencies with Ajâ [***] in front and the twenty-four elements of the creation with the complete of them [the mahat-tattva] first.

All the vishnu-mûrtis were surrounded by the opulences, headed by animâ-siddhi; by the mystic potencies, headed by Ajâ; and by the twenty-four elements for the creation of the material world, headed by the mahat- tattva. (Vedabase)

Text 53

They were being worshiped by the time factor [kâla], the individual nature [svabhâva], reform [samskâra], desire [kâma], fruitive action [karma], the modes [guna] and others of whom, with each having assumed a form, the greatness was defeated by His glory [see also B.G. 13: 22].

Then Lord Brahmâ saw that kâla (the time factor), svabhâva (one's own nature by association), samskâra (reformation), kâma (desire), karma (fruitive activity) and the gunas (the three modes of material nature), their own independence being completely subordinate to the potency of the Lord, had all taken forms and were also worshiping those vishnu-mûrtis. (Vedabase)

Text 54

They being nothing but eternity, spiritual knowledge, the unlimited and the blissful, present in forms of the One Rapture, were in their glory of a greatness that is even out of reach for the seers engaged in philosophy [see also 1.2: 12 and *4].

The vishnu-mûrtis all had eternal, unlimited forms, full of knowledge and bliss and existing beyond the influence of time. Their great glory was not even to be touched by the jñânîs engaged in studying the Upanishads. (Vedabase)

Text 55

Thus saw the selfborn Brahmâ, all at the same time, the complete of Them as expansions of the Supreme Absolute Truth [para-brahman] by whose effulgence all of this, moving or not moving, is manifested.

Thus Lord Brahmâ saw the Supreme Brahman, by whose energy this entire universe, with its moving and nonmoving living beings, is manifested. He also saw at the same time all the calves and boys as the Lord's expansions. (Vedabase)

Text 56

Then by their glare stunned in bliss and shaken in all his eleven senses, fell the one selfborn silent just like a child's doll in the presence of the village deity.

Then, by the power of the effulgence of those vishnu-mûrtis, Lord Brahmâ, his eleven senses jolted by astonishment and stunned by transcendental bliss, became silent, just like a child's clay doll in the presence of the village deity. (Vedabase)

Text 57

Understanding that the lord of Irâ [Brahmâ's consort Sarasvatî] thus was mystified by the refutation of all the irrelevant, by that [Supreme Brahman] what is known in the Vedas, by that self-manifest blissfulness above the material energy superseding his own glory and that he could not fathom what this all was, tore the One Never Born [Krishna] all at once away the veil of yogamâyâ [see also 7.7: 23].

The Supreme Brahman is beyond mental speculation, He is self-manifest, existing in His own bliss, and He is beyond the material energy. He is known by the crest jewels of the Vedas by refutation of irrelevant knowledge. Thus in relation to that Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead, whose glory had been shown by the manifestation of all the four-armed forms of Vishnu, Lord Brahmâ, the lord of Sarasvatî, was mystified. "What is this?" he thought, and then he was not even able to see. Lord Krishna, understanding Brahmâ's position, then at once removed the curtain of His yogamâyâ. (Vedabase)

Text 58

Then, with his external consciousness revived, stood he like a dead man up with difficulty and opened he his eyes to behold this universe along with himself.

Lord Brahmâ's external consciousness then revived, and he stood up, just like a dead man coming back to life. Opening his eyes with great difficulty, he saw the universe, along with himself. (Vedabase)

Text 59

That moment looking in all directions saw he situated in front of him Vrindâvana so dense with its trees and pleasing in all seasons sustaining the inhabitants.

Then, looking in all directions, Lord Brahmâ immediately saw Vrindâvana before him, filled with trees, which were the means of livelihood for the inhabitants and which were equally pleasing in all seasons. (Veda b ase)

Text 60

There, in that residence of the Invincible One do man and beast, by nature inimical, live together like friends and has all anger, thirst and all that fled away.

Vrindâvana is the transcendental abode of the Lord, where there is no hunger, anger or thirst. Though naturally inimical, both human beings and fierce animals live there together in transcendental friendship. (Vedabase)

Text 61

There saw he, the one residing in the beyond [Brahmâ], Him, the Absolute Truth without a second, the Supreme unlimited of unfathomable knowledge, in having assumed the role of a child in a cowherd family, the way He was before all alone searching everywhere for His calves and boys with a morsel of food in His hand [*5].

Then Lord Brahmâ saw the Absolute Truth - who is one without a second, who possesses full knowledge and who is unlimited - assuming the role of a child in a family of cowherd men and standing all alone, just as before, with a morsel of food in His hand, searching everywhere for the calves and His cowherd friends. (Vedabase)

Text 62

Seeing this he quickly came down from his carrier and fell with his body to the ground like a golden rod with the tips of his four crowns touching His two feet and performed he bowing a bathing ceremony with the pure water of his tears of joy.

After seeing this, Lord Brahmâ hastily got down from his swan carrier, fell down like a golden rod and touched the lotus feet of Lord Krishna with the tips of the four crowns on his heads. Offering his obeisances, he bathed the feet of Krishna with the water of his tears of joy. (Vedab a se)

Text 63

Over and over thinking of what he had previously seen, rose and fell he for a long time again and again at the feet of Krishna, the greatness there present.

Rising and falling again and again at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna for a long time, Lord Brahmâ remembered over and over the Lord's greatness he had just seen. (Vedabase)

Text 64

By and by then getting up again wiped he his eyes looking up at Mukunda and with his head bent over, a trembling body and a faltering voice extolled he Him humbly with folded hands and a concentrated mind.'

Rising and falling again and again at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna for a long time, Lord Brahmâ remembered over and over the Lord's greatness he had just seen. (Vedabase)

*: S'rîla Prabhupâda comments: 'Anyone materially born is subject to bewilderment. This pastime is therefore called brahma-vimohana-lîlâ, the pastime of bewildering Brahmâ. Mohitam nâbhijânâti mâm ebhyah param avyayam (B.G. 7: 13). Materially born persons cannot fully understand Krishna. Even the demigods cannot understand Him (muhyanti yat sûrayah). Tene brahmâ hridâ ya âdi-kavaye (S.B. 1.1: 1). Everyone, from Brahmâ down to the small insect, must take lessons from Krishna.'

**: S'rîla Prabhupâda comments: 'We should be careful to note that although the supreme source is one, the emanations from this source should be separately regarded as inferior and superior. [meaning unconscious and conscious - ed.] The difference between the Mâyâvâda and Vaishnava philosophies is that the Vaishnava philosophy recognizes this fact. S'rî Caitanya Mahâprabhu's philosophy, therefore, is called acintya-bhedâbheda - simultaneous oneness and difference.' [see also the dual position taken by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gîtâ 7: 3-6]

***: Ajah means unborn but Ajâ, the she-goat, is a nickname of His deluding power by Mâyâ-devî or Durgâ. According to Prabhupâda [the paramparâ] namely the word ajâ means mâyâ, or mystic power: everything mysterious is in full existence in Vishnu. Ajâ Taulvali is, according the Cologne lexicon, the name of a Muni who lived on the milk of a she goat [an ajâ]. The term aja [the he-goat] itself refers to the leader of the flock, the driver, mover, instigator, and is used for indicating Indra, Rudra, one of the Maruts, Agni, the sun, Brahmâ, Vishnu and S'iva.

*4: S'rîla Prabhupâda comments: 'Yet although Krishna cannot be seen through the Upanishads, in some places it is said that Krishna can in fact be known in this way. Aupanishadam purusham: "He is known by the Upanishads." This means that when one is purified by Vedic knowledge, one is then allowed to enter into devotional understanding (mad-bhaktim labhate parâm [B.G. 18: 54]).'

*5: S'rîla Prabhupâda comments: 'A similar incident occurred when Brahmâ went to see Krishna in Dvârakâ. When Krishna's doorman informed Lord Krishna that Lord Brahmâ had arrived, Krishna responded, "Which Brahmâ? Ask him which Brahmâ." The doorman relayed this question, and Brahmâ was astonished. "Is there another Brahmâ besides me?" he thought. When the doorman informed Lord Krishna, "It is four-headed Brahmâ," Lord Krishna said, "Oh, four-headed. Call others. Show him".'