Devanagari
स विस्मयोत्फुल्लविलोचनो हरिं
सुतं विलोक्यानकदुन्दुभिस्तदा ।
कृष्णावतारोत्सवसम्भ्रमोऽस्पृशन्
मुदा द्विजेभ्योऽयुतमाप्लुतो गवाम् ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
sa vismayotphulla-vilocano hariṁ
sutaṁ vilokyānakadundubhis tadā
kṛṣṇāvatārotsava-sambhramo ’spṛśan
mudā dvijebhyo ’yutam āpluto gavām
Synonyms
saḥ
—
he (Vasudeva, also known as Ānakadundubhi)
;
vismaya
—
utphulla — vilocanaḥ — his eyes being struck with wonder at the beautiful appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
harim
—
Lord Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
sutam
—
as his son
;
vilokya
—
observing
;
ānakadundubhiḥ
—
Vasudeva
;
tadā
—
at that time
;
kṛṣṇa
—
avatāra — utsava — for a festival to be observed because of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance
;
sambhramaḥ
—
wishing to welcome the Lord with great respect
;
aspṛśat
—
took advantage by distributing
;
mudā
—
with great jubilation
;
dvijebhyaḥ
—
to the brāhmaṇas
;
ayutam
—
ten thousand
;
āplutaḥ
—
overwhelmed, surcharged
;
gavām
—
cows .
Translation
When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental jubilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brāhmaṇas as a transcendental festival.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental jubilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brāhmaṇas as a transcendental festival.
KB 10.3.11
Due to the extraordinary features of the child, Vasudeva was struck with wonder. How could a newly born child be so decorated? Vasudeva could therefore understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa had now appeared, and he became overpowered by the occasion. Vasudeva very humbly wondered that although he was an ordinary living entity conditioned by material nature and was externally imprisoned by Kaṁsa, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, was appearing as a child in his home, exactly in His original position. No earthly child is born with four hands, decorated with ornaments and nice clothing, fully equipped with all the signs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Over and over again Vasudeva glanced at his child, and he considered how to celebrate this auspicious moment: “Generally, when a male child is born,” he thought, “people observe the occasion with jubilant celebrations, and in my home, although I am imprisoned, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has taken birth. How many millions and millions of times should I be prepared to observe this auspicious ceremony!”
When Vasudeva, who is also called Ānakadundubhi, was looking at his newborn baby, he was so happy that he wanted to give many thousands of cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas. According to the Vedic system, whenever there is an auspicious ceremony in the kṣatriya king’s palace, out of joy the king gives many things in charity. Cows decorated with golden ornaments are delivered to the brāhmaṇas and sages. Vasudeva wanted to perform a charitable ceremony to celebrate Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, but because he was shackled within the walls of Kaṁsa’s prison, this was not possible. Instead, within his mind he gave thousands of cows to the brāhmaṇas.
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has analyzed the wonder of Vasudeva upon seeing his extraordinary child. Vasudeva was shivering with wonder to see a newborn child decorated so nicely with valuable garments and gems. He could immediately understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead had appeared, not as an ordinary child but in His original, fully decorated, four-handed form. The first wonder was that the Lord was not afraid to appear within the prison house of Kaṁsa, where Vasudeva and Devakī were interned. Second, although the Lord, the Supreme Transcendence, is all-pervading, He had appeared from the womb of Devakī. The third point of wonder, therefore, was that a child could take birth from the womb so nicely decorated. Fourth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was Vasudeva’s worshipable Deity yet had taken birth as his son. For all these reasons, Vasudeva was transcendentally jubilant, and he wanted to perform a festival, as
kṣatriyas
do to celebrate the birth of a child, but because of his imprisonment he was unable to do it externally, and therefore he performed the festival within his mind. This was just as good. If one cannot externally serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can serve the Lord within one’s mind, since the activities of the mind are as good as those of the other senses. This is called the nondual or absolute situation (
advaya jṣāna
). People generally perform ritualistic ceremonies for the birth of a child. Why then should Vasudeva not have performed such a ceremony when the Supreme Lord appeared as his son?
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
What was Vasudeva’s wonder? 1. That form which is rarely seen by liberated souls, I am seeing with my material eyes. I am a soul bound by ignorance, externally also bound up in the prison of Kamsa. 2. The Lord has taken birth in a human womb. 3. When the child came out of the womb, he was ornamented in all his limbs with weapons, cloth, belt, earrings and crown. 4. The Supreme Lord, whom fear itself fears, has taken me as a father out of fear.
The Lord is addresses as Hari (god) and suta (son) because simultaneously Vasudeva knew Him to be the Lord and his son. On the birth of ordinary children a father will celebrate with charity and meditation. What should I do in this condition, when the Lord is born as my son? Thinking like this respectfully, and filled with joy (muda), submerged in an ocean of bliss (apluta), he gave cows in charity to brahmanas through his mind (asprsat-without touching).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Seeing directly (vilokya) the Lord who took away (harim) all knowledge from Kaṁsa and appeared as his son, Vasudeva became astonished, with wide eyes and made the decision (asprśat) to donate to the brāhmaṇas. But how could he donate since Kaṁsa afflicted him, bound him up and took away all his possessions? And how could he donate without first taking a bath? His mind was excited because of joy at the appearance of a son. Thus he did not consider this. He remained dumbfounded (mudā) for a moment. Or overcome with joy (mudā) he made the decision to donate.