Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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puline api
—
even on the sandy bank
The very pulina of verse 4 where He had brought them — now empty. The Bhāgavatam's geographic precision turns into emotional pressure: He returns to the exact spot, and the spot itself becomes evidence of loss.
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vicikāya
—
He searched
Perfect of vi-√ci, same root as vicinvan in verse 14. The chapter's standing verb of looking. Bhagavān's omniscience is not a problem for the līlā; He consents to look.
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samantataḥ
—
all around
Adverb — in every direction. The Lord scans the entire bank. Gauḍīyas hold this image as a tender hint of how He searches for the lost jīva — not from one direction but from every direction.
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ubhau api
—
both (calves and boys)
'Both' — the calves He had gone to find, and now the boys He had left behind. The double-loss intensifies the līlā: every dependent is gone.
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vane
—
in the forest
Locative of vana. The forest that should hold them is empty. Vraja's vana is normally protective; its sudden emptiness is the līlā's pressure-point.
Kṛṣṇa could immediately understand that Brahmā had taken away both the calves and the boys, but as an innocent child He searched here and there so that Brahmā could not understand Kṛṣṇa’s māyā. This was all a dramatic performance. A player knows everything, but still he plays on the stage in such a way that others do not understand him.
In the statement "not seeing the calves, Krsna returned," one should understand that this was an appearance of not seeing them, for he knew where they were. He did this to make Brahma believe that he could bewilder anyone. Then he began looking for the boys and calves. Acting distressed like an actor, he put on the appearance of looking from them, for a later verse says "Brahma saw Krsna, the actor (natyam) in the form of a cowherd boy".10.13.61
After that (tataḥ) not seeing the calves he saw that the boys and even their meal packets were not on the river bank. “Grieved by my delay in returning, perhaps they have gone elsewhere with their food to look for me. The boys have gone somewhere and the calves are somewhere else.” Thus he searched for both in the forest. Though Kṛṣṇa is full of all knowledge, on not seeing the boys and calves, out overpowering affection, he lost his discriminating power. Thus he began searching.
- Jananivas Pr SB 10-13-16-17 - 2020-05-28 ISKCON Mayapur
- GRS SB 10-13-16 - Estabishing Vrindavan through Consciousness - 2012-03-11 Dallas
- PrahladAnS SB 10-13-16-19 - Whole material world is crazy - 2024-01-28 ISKCON Slovenia
- PrahladAnS SB 10-13-16-19 Slovenian Translation - Ves materialni svet je nor - 2024-01-28 ISKCON Slovenia
- SNS SB 10-13-16-20 - Brahma vimohana lila - 1990-06-20 Berlin DE
- SNS SB 10-13-16 - Prabhupada-9 - 1994-05-04 Beograd
- Where might Kṛṣṇa be 'pretending not to know' in my life — letting me act out what I need to see?
- Could I stop trying to outsmart His pastime and simply receive what He is showing me through it?
A man who returns from a brief errand to find his entire household vanished — even his own children — and walks the rooms calling out, half-incredulous. Kṛṣṇa here plays this exact role on the Yamunā's bank: the omniscient Lord becomes the looking father, because the līlā requires it.
My note
Source: vedabase.io