Devanagari
कृष्णाय वासुदेवाय देवकीनन्दनाय च ।
नन्दगोपकुमाराय गोविन्दाय नमो नम: ॥ २१ ॥
Verse text
kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya
devakī-nandanāya ca
nanda-gopa-kumārāya
govindāya namo namaḥ
Synonyms
kṛṣṇāya
—
the Supreme Lord
;
vāsudevāya
—
unto the son of Vasudeva
;
devakī
—
nandanāya — unto the son of Devakī
;
ca
—
and
;
nanda
—
gopa — Nanda and the cowherd men
;
kumārāya
—
unto their son
;
govindāya
—
unto the Personality of Godhead, who enlivens the cows and the senses
;
namaḥ
—
respectful obeisances
;
namaḥ
—
obeisances .
Translation
Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who has become the son of Vasudeva, the pleasure of Devakī, the boy of Nanda and the other cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, and the enlivener of the cows and the senses.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I repeatedly offer respects to Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, who gave joy to Devakī, who was the child of Nanda and satisfier of the senses of the gopīs.
Purport
The Lord, being thus unapproachable by any material assets, out of unbounded and causeless mercy descends to the earth as He is in order to show His special mercy upon His unalloyed devotees and to diminish the upsurges of the demoniac persons. Queen Kuntī specifically adores the incarnation or descent of Lord Kṛṣṇa above all other incarnations because in this particular incarnation He is more approachable. In the Rāma incarnation He remained a king’s son from His very childhood, but in the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, although He was the son of a king, He at once left the shelter of His real father and mother (King Vasudeva and Queen Devakī) just after His appearance and went to the lap of Yaśodāmāyī to play the part of an ordinary cowherd boy in the blessed Vrajabhūmi, which is very sanctified because of His childhood pastimes. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is more merciful than Lord Rāma. He was undoubtedly very kind to Kuntī’s brother Vasudeva and the family. Had He not become the son of Vasudeva and Devakī, Queen Kuntī could not claim Him to be her nephew and thus address Kṛṣṇa in parental affection. But Nanda and Yaśodā are more fortunate because they could relish the Lord’s childhood pastimes, which are more attractive than all other pastimes. There is no parallel to His childhood pastimes as exhibited at Vrajabhūmi, which are replicas of His eternal affairs in the original Kṛṣṇaloka, described as the
cintāmaṇi-dhāma
in the
Brahma-saṁhitā.
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended Himself at Vrajabhūmi with all His transcendental entourage and paraphernalia. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore confirmed that no one is as fortunate as the residents of Vrajabhūmi, and specifically the cowherd girls, who dedicated their everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. His pastimes with Nanda and Yaśodā and His pastimes with the cowherd men and especially with the cowherd boys and the cows have caused Him to be known as Govinda. Lord Kṛṣṇa as Govinda is more inclined to the
brāhmaṇas
and the cows, indicating thereby that human prosperity depends more on these two items, namely brahminical culture and cow protection. Lord Kṛṣṇa is never satisfied where these are lacking.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Among all the avatāras you are the best. Though all those who have prema are fortunate, my brother Vasudeva was most fortunate, since you selected him as your father. That is the significance of the word Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva. And your mother, endowed with even more prema is most fortunate. You made her more successful than all others by situating yourself in her womb alone. Thus Kuntī addresses Kṛṣṇa as devakī-nandana: he who gives joy to Devakī. Nanda, endowed with more prema is most fortunate. You let him alone experience the sweetness of your infant (kumāra) pastimes (nanda-gopa-kumāra). Yaśodā with abundant prema is most fortunate. This will be explained in verse 31. The pastimes of your kaiśora age have even more sweetness than the kaumāra pastimes. Thus Kuntī addresses Kṛṣṇa as Govinda. Kṛṣṇa got the name Govinda at the beginning of his kaiśora age after he was bathed by the Surabhi cow. You take possession (vinda) of all the senses (go) of all people. The enjoyers of this form of Kṛṣṇa are not mentioned because of their extraordinary nature, the esoteric nature of this love and the lack of qualification of others to taste it.