Verse Text
saṅkīrtitaṁ, yathā –
ḍimbāḥ svarṇa-nibhāmbarā ghana-ruco jātāś caturbāhavo
vatsāś ceti vadan kṛto ’smi vivaśaḥ stambha-śriyā paśyata |
āścaryaṁ kathayāmi vaḥ śṛṇuta bhoḥ pratyekam ekaikaśaḥ
stūyante jagad-aṇḍavadbhir abhitas te hanta padmāsanaiḥ ||10||
Translation
By speaking about Kṛṣṇa’s superhuman acts: All the boys and calves has four arms. They were dark in complexion like clouds, and wore yellow cloth. See, speaking in this way, I have lost control and become stunned. I will tell you something astonishing. Please listen. Each of the masters of the universes on lotus seats, all the Lord Brahmās, were praising every one of these four-armed forms.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
These are the words of Brahmā at his assembly in Satyaloka. Of the various versions stambha-śriyā paśyata is the preferred version. It is implied that Brahmā had experienced what he is describing quite recently by the use of the present tense stūyante (they praise). This is according to the rule vartamāna-samīpye vartamānavat va: present tense can be used to indicate actions in the immediate past or future. (Pāṇini 3.3.131)
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
There is another example of indirect astonishment. Trying to test Kṛṣṇa to see if He were truly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Brahmā stole all the cowherd boys and cows from Him. But after a few seconds, he saw that Kṛṣṇa was still present with all the cows, calves and cowherd boys, exactly in the same way as before. When Lord Brahmā described this incident to his associates on the Satyaloka planet, they all became astonished. Brahmā told them that after taking away all the boys, he saw Kṛṣṇa again playing with the same boys in the same fashion. Their bodily complexion was blackish, almost like Kṛṣṇa’s, and they all had four arms. The same calves and cows were still present there, in the same original fashion. Even while describing this incident, Brahmā became almost overwhelmed. “And the most astonishing thing,” he added, “was that many other Brahmās from many different universes had also come there to worship Kṛṣṇa and His associates.”