Devanagari
ततो भक्तिर्भगवति पुत्रीभूते जनार्दने ।
दम्पत्योर्नितरामासीद् गोपगोपीषु भारत ॥ ५१ ॥
Verse text
tato bhaktir bhagavati
putrī-bhūte janārdane
dampatyor nitarām āsīd
gopa-gopīṣu bhārata
Synonyms
tataḥ
—
thereafter
;
bhaktiḥ bhagavati
—
the cult of bhakti, devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
putrī
—
bhūte — in the Lord, who had appeared as the son of mother Yaśodā
;
janārdane
—
in Lord Kṛṣṇa
;
dam
—
patyoḥ — of both husband and wife
;
nitarām
—
continuously
;
āsīt
—
there was
;
gopa
—
gopīṣu — all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopas and the gopīs, associating with Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā and following in their footsteps
;
bhārata
—
O Mahārāja Parīkṣit .
Translation
Thereafter, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the Bhāratas, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead became the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, they maintained continuous, unswerving devotional love in parental affection. And in their association, all the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopas and gopīs, developed the culture of kṛṣṇa-bhakti.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Thereafter, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the Bhāratas, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead became the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, they maintained continuous, unswerving devotional love in parental affection. And in their association, all the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopas and gopīs, developed the culture of kṛṣṇa-bhakti.
KB 10.8.51
In this way, Nanda Mahārāja and his wife, Mother Yaśodā, developed their unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, having gotten Him as their son. And all the gopīs and cowherd men who were associates of Kṛṣṇa naturally developed their own different feelings of love for Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
Although when the Supreme Personality of Godhead stole the butter, curd and milk of the neighboring
gopas
and
gopīs,
this teasing superficially seemed troublesome, in fact it was an exchange of affection in the ecstasy of devotional service. The more the
gopas
and
gopīs
exchanged feelings with the Lord, the more their devotional service increased. Sometimes we may superficially see that a devotee is in difficulty because of being engaged in devotional service, but the fact is different. When a devotee suffers for Kṛṣṇa, that suffering is transcendental enjoyment. Unless one becomes a devotee, this cannot be understood. When Kṛṣṇa exhibited His childhood pastimes, not only did Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā increase their devotional affection, but those in their association also increased in devotional service. In other words, persons who follow the activities of Vṛndāvana will also develop devotional service in the highest perfection.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Jana means gopijana. Ardana means tormenting and asking. Krsna is called janardana because he tormented the gopis by stealing butter, and other mischief, and asked them for breast milk. Nanda and Yasoda’s (dampatayor) devotion for Janardana existed from previously (asit), and was superior (nitaram) to that of all other the gopas and gopis. It is understood from this that the other gopas and gopis like Drona and Dhara, also had practiced bhakti like Drona and Dhara in previous lives.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Because of their bhakti , the Lord became their son and not the son of anyone else. Because of the purity of their bhakti he became their son. Another version has putra-bhūte. He is prayed to (janārdane) by others like Brahmā, but is not obtained by them since he was the most rare form, Svayam Bhagavān (bhagavati), Kṛṣṇa. Their bhakti was more praiseworthy than previous bhakti (nitarām). That praiseworthy bhakti also existed in the chief cowherd men and women who had naturally intense vātsalya.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Because of Brahmā’s words (tataḥ), he who is not a son became a son of Nanda and Yaśodā directly, not being born from Vasudeva and Devakī. Or he was born along with a female form, Mahāmāyā (putrī-bhūte). If he was not their son, the intense bhakti would not be possible. Another version has putra-bhūte. He had the spiritual form of a son. This indicates their qualification of eternal bhakti.
There is destruction of birth and the rest of saṁsāra by remembering him (janārdane). Or he is prayed to (janārdane) by others like Brahmā, but is not obtained by them since he is the most rare form. This indicates that he is the supreme Lord. But he also manifests sweet form, qualities and pastimes (bhagavati). This is the great fortune of Nanda and Yaśodā. Among the cowherd people, the bhakti of these two is at all times special. Or among all the cowherds with vātsalya bhāva, those two had special bhakti because he was their son directly.
O descendant of Bharata! Just as you having special bhakti for Kṛṣṇa are the chief descendant, Nanda and his wife had special bhakti for him. Or since Droṇa and Dharā are expansions of eternal Nanda and Yaśodā, their bhakti is naturally the highest. Now, they have merged into their origins, Nanda and Yaśodā. Their bhakti and the bhakti of the other cowherds (locative taken as possessive case), is constant as per the words of Brahmā. Because of Bramā’s blessings the cowherds had this bhakti, whose nature is to never be fully satisfied, but constantly endeavor to please the Lord.
Or just as Kṛṣṇa respected Śiva and accepted the blessing from him of obtaining Sāmba (Karttikeya, Śiva’s son) as a son, so Nanda respected Brahmā who was eager for the Lord to appear, following Brahmā’s instructions. Otherwise Brahmā would not say:
tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ
yad gokule ’pi katamāṅghri-rajo-’bhiṣekam
yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas
tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva
My greatest possible good fortune would be to take any birth whatever in this forest of Gokula and have my head bathed by the dust falling from the lotus feet of any of its residents. Their entire life and soul is the Lord, Mukunda, the dust of whose lotus feet is sought even today by the Upaniṣads. SB 10.14.34
This is described in detail in Bhāgavatāmṛta.