FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.11.17

ప్రతీక్షతేత్వాం దాశార్హ భోక్ష్యమాణో వ్రజాధిప: । ఏహ్యావయో: ప్రియం ధేహి స్వగృహాన్యాత బాలకా: ॥ ౧౭ ॥
pratīkṣate tvāṁ dāśārha
[prateekshate tvaam daashaarha]
bhokṣyamāṇo vrajādhipaḥ
[bhokshyamaano vrajaadhipah]
ehy āvayoḥ priyaṁ dhehi
[ehy aavayoh priyam dhehi]
sva-gṛhān yāta bālakāḥ
[sva-grihaan yaata baalakaah]
pratīkṣate — is waiting tvām — for both of You (Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma) dāśārha — O Balarāma bhokṣyamāṇaḥ — desiring to eat vraja - adhipaḥ — the King of Vraja, Nanda Mahārāja ehi — come here āvayoḥ — our priyam — pleasure dhehi — just consider sva - gṛhān — to their respective homes yāta — let them go bālakāḥ — the other boys .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
pratīkṣate tvāṁ dāśārha
pratīkṣate
is waiting
tvām
for both of You (Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma)
dāśārha
O Balarāma
bhokṣyamāṇo vrajādhipaḥ
bhokṣyamāṇaḥ
desiring to eat
vraja - adhipaḥ
the King of Vraja, Nanda Mahārāja
ehy āvayoḥ priyaṁ dhehi
ehi
come here
āvayoḥ
our
priyam
pleasure
dhehi
just consider
sva-gṛhān yāta bālakāḥ
sva - gṛhān
to their respective homes
yāta
let them go
bālakāḥ
the other boys .
  • pratīkṣate — is waiting
    Prati-īkṣ — to look toward, await. Nanda is actively looking-out-for, not merely delayed. The Gauḍīya reading: Bhagavān is also pratīkṣamāṇa — He waits for His devotees too. Nanda's waiting is the human face of Kṛṣṇa's own.
  • dāśārha — O Balarāma (descendant of Daśārha)
    Dāśārha — of the Daśārha line (Yadu dynasty). The honorific names Balarāma's noble lineage, dignifying the call. Gauḍīya commentators: even in the simplest household summons, lineage is preserved — bhakti does not abolish vaṁśa but completes it.
  • vraja - adhipaḥ — the King of Vraja
    Adhipa — overlord, king. Nanda is Vraja's king and also Kṛṣṇa's father. The Gauḍīya theology: in Vraja, kingship and fatherhood collapse into one role because the king's child is the Supreme. Adhipatya is service when the throne serves Kṛṣṇa.
  • sva - gṛhān — to their own homes
    Sva-gṛha — one's own home. The verse closes with Yaśodā ensuring the other boys go home — care for them is not optional politeness but part of her vātsalya. Gauḍīya teaching: real love does not absorb the beloved away from his other duties; it sends everyone home cared-for.
Nanda Mahārāja, the King of Vraja, is now waiting to eat. O my dear son Balarāma, he is waiting for You. Therefore, come back to please us. All the boys playing with You and Kṛṣṇa should now go to their homes.

It appears that Nanda Mahārāja regularly took his food with his two sons, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Yaśodā told the other boys, “Now you should go to your homes.” Father and son generally sit together, so mother Yaśodā requested Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to return, and she advised the other boys to go home so that their parents would not have to wait for them.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Nanda Mahārāja, the King of Vraja, is now waiting to eat. O my dear son Balarāma, he is waiting for You. Therefore, come back to please us. All the boys playing with You and Kṛṣṇa should now go to their homes.
Commentary

"Your father is sitting but without you he cannot eat (bhoksyaman.) Why are you giving your father hunger pangs? All you boys should go to your houses. Your parents are also in difficulty like us. Please make them happy." She said all this to stop them from playing.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

O descendent of Dāśārha! Nanda, thinking highly of you as the son of his friend, will not eat without you. Make Rohiṇī and myself happy, or make Nanda and myself happy. Seeing Balarāma absorbed in playing out of prema for Kṛṣṇa, who was attached to playing, she ordered the other boys to go home. She did not mention the individual homes of the other boys (sva-sva-gṛheṣu) because she spoke quickly. Seeing the other boys did not go home because of their affection for Kṛṣṇa, she falsely called him for a special reason.

Related values
Dana (Charity / Generosity)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Adambhitva (Non-hypocrisy / Authenticity)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)
Related verses
Even Kṛṣṇa returns home when called to the family meal — honor the small daily duties that hold household life together.
Practical Applications
  • Show up for one shared family meal today without phone, work, or distraction — simply eat together as Kṛṣṇa did with Nanda Mahārāja.
  • Notice when you keep parents or housemates waiting on small things, and refuse the self-importance that says your task matters more than their peace of mind.
  • Before leaving any gathering today, send the others home gently and on time, the way Yaśodā did — care for them includes not letting their people worry.

Even the universe's host pauses to be present at His own father's plate — the king of the entire dynasty waits for his sons to come home to eat, and the proper order of the household holds even Kṛṣṇa within it. Nanda's pratīkṣā (waiting) is itself a form of seva that the Lord honors by coming.

Kṛṣṇa eating with Nanda in Vraja

Throughout Vraja-līlā, Kṛṣṇa shares meals with Nanda Mahārāja in a way He does not later share with anyone in Mathurā or Dvārakā. The Gauḍīya saints (especially Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī in Vraja-vilāsa-stava) meditate on these meals as among the most poignant rasa-tableaux of all līlā.

The verse's small instruction — Nanda is waiting; come — is the household scaffolding inside which the highest rasa is staged. Gauḍīya tradition: the seemingly mundane discipline (eating at the right time, with the right elder) is the trellis on which prema climbs. Without trellis, the vine falls.

📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 11