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Canto 10 · The Summum Bonum · 90 chapters

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
  3. 3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
  4. 4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
  5. 5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
  6. 6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.
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Canto 10 · Chapter 13: The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahmā
10.13.2410.13.26

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 10.13.25

Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devotees
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Śukadeva Gosvāmīsince 10.13.1inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

गोगोपीनां मातृतास्मिन्नासीत्स्‍नेहर्धिकां विना ।

पुरोवदास्वपि हरेस्तोकता मायया विना ॥ २५ ॥

go-gopīnāṁ mātṛtāsminn

āsīt snehardhikāṁ vinā

purovad āsv api hares

tokatā māyayā vinā

Translation

Previously, from the very beginning, the gopīs had motherly affection for Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, their affection for Kṛṣṇa exceeded even their affection for their own sons. In displaying their affection, they had thus distinguished between Kṛṣṇa and their sons, but now that distinction disappeared.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Affection Grows When Kṛṣṇa Becomes Their Sons

  1. 1

    From the beginning, the gopīs had motherly affection for Kṛṣṇa greater than their affection for their own sons. Previously, they still distinguished between Him and their children.

  2. 2

    Now Kṛṣṇa had expanded as their sons, who had been taken by Brahmā. The mothers could no longer distinguish between their own sons and Kṛṣṇa.

  3. 3

    Previously, the mothers did not feel equal affection for one another’s sons, but now they treated all the boys as their own. Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains this increased affection in terms of Kṛṣṇa’s bewilderment of everyone.

Key points from the purport
  • But now the elderly gopīs could not distinguish between their own sons and Kṛṣṇa, for since their own sons had been taken by Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa had expanded as their sons.
  • Therefore, their extra affection for their sons, who were now Kṛṣṇa Himself, was due to bewilderment resembling that of Brahmā.
  • Śukadeva Gosvāmī, therefore, wanted to explain this increment of affection in terms of Kṛṣṇa’s bewilderment of Brahmā, the gopīs, the cows and everyone else.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

How it feels

Peril and pride → Friendship and humility. Divinity is revealed amid intimate childhood play.

Chapters 12–19 of Canto 10: Childhood dangers and Brahmā's amazement. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 13: The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahmā

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

A special feature of this pastime was that the mothers of the cowherd boys thus became more attached to their respective sons, and the cows became more attached to their calves. After nearly a year, Baladeva observed that all the cowherd boys and calves were expansions of Kṛṣṇa.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in chapter 10.13
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. go-gopīnāmfor both the cows and the gopīs, the elderly cowherd women
  2. mātṛtāmotherly affection
  3. asminunto Kṛṣṇa
  4. āsītthere ordinarily was
  5. snehaof affection
  6. ṛdhikāmany increase
  7. vināwithout
  8. puraḥ-vatlike before
3

Key ideas in this verse

The subject this verse serves and the themes it speaks of.

  • Īśānukathā · The science of God

    Who is the Lord, and how do His devotees live? · Subject 7 of 10

  • Vātsalya · Parental affection

    Affection and protective concern for the Lord as a child. · Theme in SB 10.13

    In this verse: “motherly”, “children”

Chapter themes come from the story phase this chapter belongs to.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does knowing that the boys were Kṛṣṇa Himself help me understand the mothers’ increased affection?

Practice

Write one sentence explaining why the mothers’ affection for the boys had become so great.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

6

Connected stories

Keep going: stories told elsewhere in the Bhāgavatam that this verse or its purport brings in.

Found where this verse or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport names them. See all of chapter 10.13's connections

Live this todayAffection Grows When Kṛṣṇa Becomes Their SonsThis verse's lesson: one practice and one question for today

Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.

Ask the BhāgavatamHave a question about SB 10.13.25? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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