Devanagari
उलूखलं विकर्षन्तं दाम्ना बद्धं स्वमात्मजम् ।
विलोक्य नन्द: प्रहसद्वदनो विमुमोच ह ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
ulūkhalaṁ vikarṣantaṁ
dāmnā baddhaṁ svam ātmajam
vilokya nandaḥ prahasad-
vadano vimumoca ha
Synonyms
ulūkhalam
—
the wooden mortar
;
vikarṣantam
—
dragging
;
dāmnā
—
by the rope
;
baddham
—
bound
;
svam ātmajam
—
his own son Kṛṣṇa
;
vilokya
—
by seeing
;
nandaḥ
—
Mahārāja Nanda
;
prahasat
—
vadanaḥ — whose face began to smile when he saw the wonderful child
;
vimumoca ha
—
released Him from the bonds .
Translation
When Nanda Mahārāja saw his own son bound with ropes to the wooden mortar and dragging it, he smiled and released Kṛṣṇa from His bonds.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Nanda Mahārāja saw his own son bound with ropes to the wooden mortar and dragging it, he smiled and released Kṛṣṇa from His bonds.
KB 10.11.6
Nanda Mahārāja smiled to hear about the extraordinary abilities of his son. He came forward and untied the knot just to free his wonderful child.
Purport
Nanda Mahārāja was surprised that Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa’s mother, could have bound her beloved child in such a way. Kṛṣṇa was exchanging love with her. How then could she have been so cruel as to bind Him to the wooden mortar? Nanda Mahārāja understood this exchange of love, and therefore he smiled and released Kṛṣṇa. In other words, as Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, binds a living entity in fruitive activities, He binds mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja in parental affection. This is His pastime.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Glancing constantly over all of Krsna’s limbs, Nanda smiled. "Your mother, whose lap you prefer to mine, has bound you up because of your small offense. So how can I release you?" Thinking in this way he was smiling. In the same way that you bind the jivas with maya, you bind your mother and father with prema.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
This verse shows Nanda’s strong vātsalya. The description of Kṛṣṇa with the mortar is repeated in this verse to indicate that Nanda saw the sweetness of the pastime. It awaked his prema when he considered that his child was young but healthy, in spite of pulling the mortar. He examined his son in all his limbs (vilokya). He smiled in order to make the frightened, bound up child happy. He had a smile on his face, because internally he was angry at Yaśodā on seeing his son tied up and feared the fall of the two trees. Another version has prahasad- vadanam. He saw the smiling face of his son. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says navodgatālpa-dantāṁśu-sita-hāsaṁ ca balākam: he saw the child who smiled, showing his tiny, new, white teeth. Kṛṣṇa was afraid of his father, but on seeing Nanda smile, the child also smiled in order to have his father understand that he was not fearful and thus satisfy him. His father freed him from the rope tied to the mortar. He first of all untied the rope binding him to the mortar. The word ha expresses joy. Just as Yaśodā was able to tie up Kṛṣṇa, Nanda was able to untie him. Thus Nanda had similar prema. Nanda did not notice the huge quantity of rope used for tying Kṛṣṇa.