Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.35
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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prema-ṛdheḥ
—
because of the swelling of love
Compound: prema (love) + ṛddhi (increase, abundance, swelling). Prema-ṛddhi is a Gauḍīya term — the unchecked growth of devotional love. Balarāma observes its anomalous presence; Gauḍīyas note this is the chapter's first explicit naming of prema as the phenomenon.
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aut-kaṇṭhyam
—
longing, ardent attachment
From ud + kaṇṭha (throat) + ya-suffix — 'throat-rising,' the somatic image of yearning. Gauḍīyas use autkaṇṭhya as one of the bhāva-bhakti markers (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu lists it). The cows are displaying a saint's symptom toward calves.
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mukta-staneṣu
—
in those who had given up sucking
Compound: mukta (released) + stana (breast, udder). The calves had stopped nursing; yet the cows still nurse them. Gauḍīyas read mukta-stana as the anomaly that betrays Kṛṣṇa's substitution to the trained eye of Balarāma.
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ahetu-vit
—
not knowing the cause
Compound: a-hetu (without-cause) + vit (knower). Balarāma does not yet know the cause. Gauḍīyas note the careful diction: He is hetu-vit by nature (knower of causes), but here, by līlā, He is briefly a-hetu-vit, so the wonder can build.
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acintayat
—
He began to consider
Imperfect of √cint. The verb pivots the chapter: Balarāma begins to reason. Gauḍīyas read this as the warrant for theology — even the Lord's own elder brother thinks, considers, asks — bhakti and inquiry are not in opposition.
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.
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.
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.
- What anomaly in my own community or family have I started to dismiss instead of asking 'why is this?'
- Where could a Balarāma-style pause open a real understanding I have been bypassing?
Like a beekeeper noticing that his bees are returning to hives they have already harvested — Balarāma, the elder brother and surveyor of the herd, sees the cows lavishing milk on calves long past weaning, and the geometry does not add up. The Bhāgavata is preparing the only mind in Vraja qualified to follow the calculation.
My note
Source: vedabase.io