FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.11.14

క్రీడన్తం సా సుతం బాలైరతివేలం సహాగ్రజమ్ । యశోదాజోహవీత్కృష్ణం పుత్రస్‍నేహస్‍నుతస్తనీ ॥ ౧౪ ॥
krīḍantaṁ sā sutaṁ bālair
[kreedantam saa sutam baalair]
ativelaṁ sahāgrajam
[ativelam sahaagrajam]
yaśodājohavīt kṛṣṇaṁ
[yashodaajohaveet krishnam]
putra-sneha-snuta-stanī
[putra-sneha-snuta-stanee]
krīḍantam — engaged in playing sā — mother Yaśodā sutam — her son bālaiḥ — with the other boys ati - velam — although it was too late saha - agrajam — who was playing with His elder brother, Balarāma yaśodā — mother Yaśodā ajohavīt — called (“Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, come here!”) kṛṣṇam — unto Kṛṣṇa putra - sneha - snuta - stanī — while she was calling Them, milk flowed from her breast because of her ecstatic love and affection .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
krīḍantaṁ sā sutaṁ bālair
krīḍantam
engaged in playing
sā
mother Yaśodā
sutam
her son
bālaiḥ
with the other boys
ativelaṁ sahāgrajam
ati - velam
although it was too late
saha - agrajam
who was playing with His elder brother, Balarāma
yaśodājohavīt kṛṣṇaṁ
yaśodā
mother Yaśodā
ajohavīt
called (“Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, come here!”)
kṛṣṇam
unto Kṛṣṇa
putra-sneha-snuta-stanī
putra - sneha - snuta - stanī
while she was calling Them, milk flowed from her breast because of her ecstatic love and affection .
  • ajohavīt — called repeatedly
    An intensive (frequentative) verbal form of hū (to call) — 'kept calling, called over and over.' The grammatical doubling captures vātsalya's restless repetition. Gauḍīya commentators love this verb: prema does not call once and quit; it calls again and again, like the gopīs' kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa-nāma.
  • ati - velam — although it was too late
    Ati-velā — past the proper hour. Time-pressure is the practical hinge: even Yaśodā's love operates inside dharma's clock (meals on time, baths before sunset). Bhakti does not abolish proper sequence; it enacts proper sequence with maximum tenderness.
  • saha - agrajam — with His elder brother
    Agraja — first-born, elder. Balarāma is always agraja to Kṛṣṇa in Vraja-līlā. Gauḍīya theology: Balarāma is the original guru-tattva, the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and His elder-presence in every scene marks the principle that bhakti always travels with guru.
  • putra - sneha - snuta - stanī — milk flowing from her breast from love for her son
    A compound that compresses three things into one image: putra (son), sneha (affection), snuta (flowing), stanī (with breast). Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra cites this exact phrase as evidence that vātsalya-rasa has its own sāttvika-bhāva — milk-flow — alongside the eight standard ones. The compound is a technical citation.
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, being attached to Their play, were playing with the other boys although it was very late. Therefore mother Yaśodā called Them back for lunch. Because of her ecstatic love and affection for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, milk flowed from her breasts.

The word ajohavīt means “calling them again and again.” “Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma,” she called, “please come back. You are late for Your lunch. You have played sufficiently. Come back.”

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, being attached to Their play, were playing with the other boys although it was very late. Therefore mother Yaśodā called Them back for lunch. Because of her ecstatic love and affection for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, milk flowed from her breasts.
Commentary

She began to call repeatedly (ajohavit). She called from far off, because she feared that if she came close they would run away.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

She called them repeatedly. She did not come close, fearing they would run away.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Her heart overcome with indescribable affection (sā), she called out many times (ativelam) to Kṛṣṇa who was playing with the boys (bālaiḥ saha). Or she called to Kṛṣṇa, her son and Balarāma, his elder brother, because it was getting late (ativelam). Or seeing him with Balarāma (sāgrajam), she called out.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Adambhitva (Non-hypocrisy / Authenticity)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Bhakti (Devotion)
Related verses
Yaśodā's milk-flowing call shows prema in action — Kṛṣṇa is bound by a mother's love, and our devotion ripens when service becomes that personal.
Practical Applications
  • Notice one relationship today where duty has gone cold, and re-enter it with the bodily warmth of vātsalya — call, feed, wait — instead of merely managing it.
  • When you call someone back from their absorption (a child from play, a friend from distraction), do it ajohavīt — again and again, without irritation, as Yaśodā called Kṛṣṇa.
  • Refuse the modern cult of detachment-as-coldness: today, let yourself be visibly moved — in prayer, in service, in love for Kṛṣṇa — without performing composure.

When a mother calls her child, her voice is not merely sound but body — milk lets down, hands open, breath catches. Yaśodā calls Kṛṣṇa and prema flows from her breasts visibly; love in Vraja is not concept but physiology, and Bhagavān answers what is offered with the body, not just the mind.

Devahūti hearing Kapila

When Devahūti listened to her son Kapila expound sāṅkhya and bhakti (SB 3.25–33), her body too responded — tears flowing, voice catching, the same vātsalya-prema overflowing as physiology, not merely thought. The Bhāgavatam consistently treats bodily response as evidence of rasa's reality.

Gauḍīya tradition codifies this in the eight sāttvika-bhāvas (stambha, sveda, romāñca, svara-bheda, vepathu, vaivarṇya, aśru, pralaya). Yaśodā's flowing milk in this verse is read as the vātsalya-sister of those eight: prema made visible in the body. The 'modern cult of detachment-as-coldness' the personal-guidance file flags is exactly what Gauḍīya tradition opposes.

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