Devanagari
कस्मान्मुकुन्दो भगवान् पितुर्गेहाद् व्रजं गत:
क्व वासं ज्ञातिभि: सार्धं कृतवान् सात्वतांपति: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
kasmān mukundo bhagavān
pitur gehād vrajaṁ gataḥ
kva vāsaṁ jṣātibhiḥ sārdhaṁ
kṛtavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ
Synonyms
kasmāt
—
why
;
mukundaḥ
—
Kṛṣṇa, who can award liberation to everyone
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
pituḥ
—
of His father (Vasudeva)
;
gehāt
—
from the house
;
vrajam
—
to Vrajadhāma, Vrajabhūmi
;
gataḥ
—
went
;
kva
—
where
;
vāsam
—
placed Himself to live
;
jṣātibhiḥ
—
His relatives
;
sārdham
—
with
;
kṛtavān
—
did so
;
sātvatām patiḥ
—
the master of all Vaiṣṇava devotees .
Translation
Why did Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, leave the house of His father, Vasudeva, and transfer Himself to the house of Nanda in Vṛndāvana? Where did the Lord, the master of the Yadu dynasty, live with His relatives in Vṛndāvana?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Why did Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, leave the house of His father, Vasudeva, and transfer Himself to the house of Nanda in Vṛndāvana? Where did the Lord, the master of the Yadu dynasty, live with His relatives in Vṛndāvana?
Purport
These are inquiries about the itinerary of Kṛṣṇa. Just after His birth in the house of Vasudeva in Mathurā, Kṛṣṇa transferred Himself to Gokula, on the other side of the Yamunā, and after some days He moved with His father, mother and other relatives to Nanda-grāma, Vṛndāvana. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very much eager to hear about Kṛṣṇa’s activities in Vṛndāvana. This entire canto of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
is full of activities performed in Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā. The first forty chapters describe Kṛṣṇa’s Vṛndāvana affairs, and the next fifty describe Kṛṣṇa’s activities in Dvārakā. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, to fulfill his desire to hear about Kṛṣṇa, requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to describe these activities in full detail.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He went from Vasudeva’s house to Vraja. Here Vraja means Mahavana. After going to Vraja he left the house of Nanda. Where did he go and establish his house along with the cowherd men?
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Mukunda means giver of liberation. Kṛṣṇa should have stayed in Mathurā to give liberation to Kaṁsa instead of going to Vraja. This question will be answered in the eighth and ninth chapters.
Or since Mukunda means the happiness of liberation, as derived from mukti with dā (to give) with elision of syllables as in words like pṛṣodara from pṛṣat and udara and since that happiness is useless, the real meaning of Mukunda must be “the giver of the bliss of prema.” Therefore it is suitable that he went to Vraja to give prema, but he still must have produced a pretext for going. Later it will be understood that the Lord made Kaṁsa fear his father and mother by his going to Vraja. Parīkṣit uses the word “father” to indicate Vasudeva because of the apparent birth from Vasudeva, and out of respect because of his relationship with the Yadus. Śukadeva however later identifies Kṛṣṇa’s actual father with the words nandaḥ sva-putram ādāya pretyāgatam udāra-dhīḥ: generous Nanda immediately took his son Kṛṣṇa on his lap as if Kṛṣṇa had returned from death. (SB 10.6.43)
Kva means “what particular place.” Jñātibhiḥ means the cowherds and the Yādavas. Giving up Mahāvana where did he live with the cowherds? Giving up Mathurā, where did he live with the Yādavas? Thus the word has a different meaning in reference to Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā.
However Kṛṣṇa considered the cowherds to be his main relatives.
yāta yūyaṁ vrajaṁn tāta vayaṁ ca sneha-duḥkhitān
jñātīn vo draṣṭum eṣyāmo vidhāya suhṛdāṁ sukham
Now you should all return to Vraja, dear father. We shall come to see you, our dear relatives who suffer in separation from us, as soon as we have given some happiness to your well-wishing friends. SB 10.45.23
It is understood that Śukadeva would explain the significance of leaving Mahāvana and living in Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa is described as the protector of the devotees (sātvatāṁ patiḥ). He lived with his devotees to protect them with suitable pastimes. The answers to this question will be found later in the words of Upananda and the Lord.