Devanagari
व्रजस्य राम: प्रेमर्धेर्वीक्ष्यौत्कण्ठ्यमनुक्षणम् ।
मुक्तस्तनेष्वपत्येष्वप्यहेतुविदचिन्तयत् ॥ ३५ ॥
Verse text
vrajasya rāmaḥ premardher
vīkṣyautkaṇṭhyam anukṣaṇam
mukta-staneṣv apatyeṣv apy
ahetu-vid acintayat
Synonyms
vrajasya
—
of the herd of cows
;
rāmaḥ
—
Balarāma
;
prema
—
ṛdheḥ — because of an increase of affection
;
vīkṣya
—
after observing
;
aut
—
kaṇṭhyam — attachment
;
anu
—
kṣaṇam — constantly
;
mukta
—
staneṣu — who had grown up and were no longer drawing milk from their mothers
;
apatyeṣu
—
in regard to those calves
;
api
—
even
;
ahetu
—
vit — not understanding the reason
;
acintayat
—
began to consider as follows .
Translation
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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
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.
KB 10.13.35
When Balarāma saw this extraordinary exchange of affection between the cows and the calves and between the fathers and their children—when neither the calves nor the children needed so much care—He began to wonder why this extraordinary thing had happened.
Purport
The cows had younger calves who had started sucking milk from their mothers, and some of the cows had newly given birth, but now, because of love, the cows enthusiastically showed their affection for the older calves, which had left off milking. These calves were grown up, but still the mothers wanted to feed them. Therefore Balarāma was a little surprised, and He wanted to inquire from Kṛṣṇa about the reason for their behavior. The mothers were actually more anxious to feed the older calves, although the new calves were present, because the older calves were expansions of Kṛṣṇa. These surprising events were taking place by the manipulation of
yoga-māyā.
There are two
māyās
working under the direction of Kṛṣṇa —
mahā-māyā,
the energy of the material world, and
yoga-māyā,
the energy of the spiritual world. These uncommon events were taking place because of the influence of
yoga-māyā.
From the very day on which Brahmā stole the calves and boys,
yoga-māyā
acted in such a way that the residents of Vṛndāvana, including even Lord Balarāma, could not understand how
yoga-māyā
was working and causing such uncommon things to happen. But as
yoga-māyā
gradually acted, Balarāma in particular was able to understand what was happening, and therefore He inquired from Kṛṣṇa.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
With an increase of prema there develops such longing (utkantha). Though the calves had stopped suckling, the cows who were about to bear new calves had an increase in love. Seeing this unexplainable (ahetuvit) situation, Baladeva began to think. From the day after the Brahma mohan pastime, every day at the time of milking all the cows would ignore their newly born calves and feed their calves which had stopped taking milk from the udder. Why Balarama realized this now, after seeing it for so many days, and why the other cowherd men even now did not notice this? It was because of yogamaya. Because they were all covered by yoga maya from the day of the Brahma mohana pastimes, though they saw the strange behaviour of the cows, Baladeva, the cows, gopis and gopas, did not think to investigate it.
Because Baladeva was the elder brother of the cause of the universe and Visnu sleeping on the ocean, because he was a dear friend, Krsna should not have deceived him. Though he should have desired to reveal everything to Baladeva before this, such a desire did not arise, because he did not want Balarama to suffer any separation from Sridama and the others for the period of a year. He did not suffer from separation himself, because he was close to them in an expanded form who was looking for the calves. (Balarama did not appear in any expanded form during this pastime.) Then, after a year passed, when the Lord desired, yogamaya withdrew her cover gradually from Balarama. It was not sudden, in order to make Baladeva take the viewpoint of the devotee and immerse him also in an ocean of the Lord’s power.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Balarāma saw that cows’ longing becomes of increased love of the calves. This is metaphorical (since the cows cannot express prema like people.) This indicates the extreme nature of the cows’ love. Another version according to Śrīdhara Svāmī’s commentary is utkaṭyam.