FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.34

తత: ప్రవయసో గోపాస్తోకాశ్లేషసునిర్వృతా: । కృచ్ఛ్రాచ్ఛనైరపగతాస్తదనుస్మృత్యుదశ్రవ: ॥ ౩౪ ॥
tataḥ pravayaso gopās
[tatah pravayaso gopaas]
tokāśleṣa-sunirvṛtāḥ
[tokaashlesha-sunirvritaah]
kṛcchrāc chanair apagatās
[krichchraach chanair apagataas]
tad-anusmṛty-udaśravaḥ
[tad-anusmrity-udashravah]
tataḥ — thereafter pravayasaḥ — elderly gopāḥ — cowherd men toka - āśleṣa - sunirvṛtāḥ — became overjoyed by embracing their sons kṛcchrāt — with difficulty śanaiḥ — gradually apagatāḥ — ceased from that embracing and returned to the forest tat - anusmṛti - uda - śravaḥ — as they remembered their sons, tears began to roll down from their eyes .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tataḥ pravayaso gopās
tataḥ
thereafter
pravayasaḥ
elderly
gopāḥ
cowherd men
tokāśleṣa-sunirvṛtāḥ
toka - āśleṣa - sunirvṛtāḥ
became overjoyed by embracing their sons
kṛcchrāc chanair apagatās
kṛcchrāt
with difficulty
śanaiḥ
gradually
apagatāḥ
ceased from that embracing and returned to the forest
tad-anusmṛty-udaśravaḥ
tat - anusmṛti - uda - śravaḥ
as they remembered their sons, tears began to roll down from their eyes .
  • toka-āśleṣa-sunirvṛtāḥ — fully satisfied by embracing (their) children
    Compound: toka (child) + āśleṣa (embrace) + su-nirvṛta (fully-at-peace). Āśleṣa is the technical word for the loving embrace; sunirvṛta is the deepest satiation. Gauḍīyas note these stacked terms as Bhāgavata-style emotional precision.
  • kṛcchrāt — with great difficulty
    Ablative of kṛcchra (hardship, distress). The fathers leave only with difficulty. Gauḍīyas read this as the proof of prema's depth: separating from Kṛṣṇa is structurally painful, even in the gopas' unknowing form of contact.
  • śanaiḥ — gradually
    Adverb. They release the children slowly, not all at once. The body's grammar of love — fingers loosen by degrees.
  • tat-anusmṛti-uda-śravaḥ — with tears flowing as they remembered them
    Compound: tat (them) + anusmṛti (after-remembering, recurring memory) + uda (water) + śravas (flowing). The exact mechanism: memory triggers tears. Gauḍīyas read anusmṛti as the technical Gauḍīya term for the sustained recollection that characterizes high bhakti.
  • pravayasaḥ — elderly
    From pra-√vai (to grow old). These are the older gopas. Vraja-vātsalya is not the privilege of the young; aged fathers weep over their sons exactly as the young ones do.
Thereafter the elderly cowherd men, having obtained great feeling from embracing their sons, gradually and with great difficulty and reluctance ceased embracing them and returned to the forest. But as the men remembered their sons, tears began to roll down from their eyes.

In the beginning the cowherd men were angry that the cows were being attracted by the calves, but when the men came down from the hill, they themselves were attracted by their sons, and therefore the men embraced them. To embrace one’s son and smell his head are symptoms of affection.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Thereafter the elderly cowherd men, having obtained great feeling from embracing their sons, gradually and with great difficulty and reluctance ceased embracing them and returned to the forest. But as the men remembered their sons, tears began to roll down from their eyes.
Commentary

The elders (pravayasah) with great difficulty, (krchracchanaih) freed themselves from the embrace of their children (apagata) to tend the cows. Thinking of separation from them, tears flowed from their eyes (uda srava).

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Since the cowherds were elderly, it was not possible for them to become bewildered in intelligence by a short separation from their sons. However it happened at this time. It should be understood that previously the elderly used to herd the cows. Since it was the nature of cowherds to herd, the elders used to herd the cows since there were no substitutes available while Nanda’s son was young. They gave the others company.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Since the cowherds were elderly, it was not possible for them to become bewildered in intelligence by a short separation from their sons. However it happened at this time. It should be understood that previously the elderly used to herd the cows. Since it was the nature of cowherds to herd, the elders used to herd the cows since there were no substitutes available while Nanda’s son was young. They were elder in years but not withered with age (pravayasaḥ). Or they had remarkable age, being ever young. They constantly remembered (anusmṛti) their sons after ceasing the embraces.

Related values
Vairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Tejas (Inner Radiance / Vigour)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)
Related verses

Like fathers who set down a beloved child after an embrace and find the body keeps reaching back, eyes wet on the walk home — the gopas' returning bodies and turning-back faces are the ordinary face of Vraja-prema. Even routine separation breaks them.

📝 My note

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