Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.41.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
vraja-okasaḥ
—
the inhabitants of Vraja
Compound: Vraja + okas (dweller). The Gauḍīya term for Kṛṣṇa's eternal associates in Vraja-līlā. Nanda, Yaśodā, the gopas — all marked by vātsalya and sakhya. Their presence at Mathurā's edge marks Vraja-rasa accompanying Kṛṣṇa even into Mathurā-līlā.
-
nanda-gopa-ādayaḥ
—
headed by Nanda the cowherd-king
Triple compound. Nanda is called gopa, not rāja — the Bhāgavatam preserves his identity as a cowherd even as he leads his community. Gauḍīyas hold Nanda as the supreme reservoir of vātsalya, second only to Yaśodā.
-
upavanam
—
a garden
upa + vana — a near-forest, a grove on the outskirts. Nanda stops at the city's threshold, not inside it. The geography enacts vātsalya's limit: paternal love can follow the child to the edge of his next līlā, then must wait.
-
pratīkṣantaḥ
—
waiting
Present participle of prati + √īkṣ — to look toward, await. Vātsalya is largely a posture of waiting — Yaśodā waiting for the calf-grazing son, Nanda waiting in the upavana. Bhakti's grammar includes long stretches of pratīkṣā.
Nanda and the others reached Mathurā first because the chariot carrying Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was delayed by Akrūra’s bathing.
Nanda and others remained standing, waiting for Krsna and Balarama to arrive. Not being able to keep up with the swift chariot of Akrura, they had given up the main road and taken a short cut. Thus they arrived earlier. As well, Akrura was delayed because of his bath in the Yamuna.
Nanda and others waited until Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma arrived. They stared at the road from a high vantage point, since close friends worry about the safety of friends. They did not enter the city without them. Previously they could not follow the chariot because it went more quickly. Though they did not see the marks of the chariot wheels there, they went on the straight road, but suspected that he had gone on an indirect road, from seeing the marks. They thought that by going on the straight road they would quickly meet him. When the roads joined near the city and they did not see him, they remained gazing at the road with great longing.
- Whose 'waiting at the garden' has preceded your own arrivals?
- Whom could you wait at the threshold for in your spiritual community?
A father and mother wait in a garden outside the great city, knowing they cannot follow their son inside the palace tomorrow. Nanda Mahārāja's encampment is vātsalya at its threshold — he came as far as Mathurā would let him.
My note
Source: vedabase.io