Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.37.29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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giri-daryām
—
in a mountain cave
Giri (mountain) + darī (cave). The dark counterpart of the heart-cave (guhā) in verse 10's stuti — there the antaryāmin sat in the heart-cave, here the asura hides his prey in a mountain-cave. Gauḍīyas note the contrast: the Lord's cave is sat, the asura's cave is asat.
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śilayā-pidadhe-dvāram
—
blocked the entrance with a stone
Śilā (stone) + pidhā (covered) + dvāra (door). The asura seals the door — only the Lord (in verse 33) will smash that seal. Gauḍīyas read pidhāna as the symbol of every covered heart: a stone the devotee cannot move alone.
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mahā-asuraḥ
—
the great demon
Mahā (great) + asura (anti-deva). Vyoma is upgraded from 'magician' (verse 28) to 'great asura' once his real work begins. Gauḍīyas note how Bhāgavatam vocabulary tracks the demon's exposure — costume to category.
Finally only four or five boys playing sheep were left.
He threw them deep within a cave. Until only four or five, or fifty-four cowherds playing sheep remained. The sandhi is poetic license (it should be catuḥ-pāñcā avaśeṣitaḥ). Or it can be catuḥ-pāñcā vaśeṣitaḥ just as vataṁsa sometimes stands for avataṁsa (where the initial a is dropped). Or of the four or five that remained, he sealed them in the cave. Kṛṣṇa was unaware till that time of Vyomāsura since Kṛṣṇa had wandered off to take away the boys he had stolen.
He threw them deep within a cave until only four or five, or fifty-four cowherds playing sheep remained. Or he put them in the cave gently. If they understood he was a demon, he would not be able to put them in the cave at all. He brought many in at the same time. He was capable because he was a powerful demon (mahāsuraḥ). He had powers of māyā. Four or five boys remained as sheep. The sandhi is poetic license. Or of the four or five that remained playing sheep, he sealed them in the cave. It would have been impossible to put all the unlimited cowherd boys quickly in the cave by himself.
- What in your inner life has been incrementally locked into a 'sealed cave' you've stopped checking?
- When did you last count whether your devotional company is still all there?
The boys vanish one by one into a mountain cave that Vyoma seals with a boulder. The cowherd play continues on the slopes; below, a stockpile of stolen friends grows in the dark. This is what unrecognized māyā does — it carries devotees off into hidden caves and seals the entrance.
My note
Source: vedabase.io