Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.61
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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nilāyanaiḥ
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by playing hide-and-seek
Instrumental plural of nilāyana — hiding-place. Children's hide-and-seek. The Vraja-līlā ends with a children's game; the cosmic stuti has been bracketed by play.
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setu-bandhaiḥ
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by building bridges
Compound: setu (bridge) + bandha (binding). Children playing at bridge-building — replaying Rāma's setu-bandha at Rāmeśvaram. Bhāgavatam folds Rāma-līlā into Kṛṣṇa-līlā as a child's game.
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markaṭa-utplavana
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by jumping like monkeys
Compound: markaṭa (monkey) + ut-plavana (leaping). Boys jumping like Hanumān's vānara army. The whole Rāmāyaṇa background made into a Vraja afternoon.
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kaumāram jahatuḥ
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they spent their childhood
Phrase: kaumāra (childhood-age) + jahatuḥ (they spent, dual past). The boys-and-Kṛṣṇa — note the dual — passed their kaumāra together. The dual grammar quietly registers Kṛṣṇa-and-friends as one unit.
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vihāraiḥ
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by pastimes
Instrumental plural of vihāra — sport, pastime, play. The standard Bhāgavata term for Kṛṣṇa's līlās in their play-aspect. The chapter ends on vihāra — Bhagavān's activity as essentially play, never duty.
According to Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, the word nilāyanaiḥ refers to games such as hide-and-go-seek or cops and robbers. Sometimes the boys would jump around like the monkeys in Lord Rāmacandra’s army and then enact the building of the bridge to Śrī Laṅkā by constructing play bridges in lakes or ponds. Sometimes the boys would imitate the pastime of churning the Ocean of Milk, and sometimes they would play catch with balls. We can find full pleasure in the spiritual world, with the simple condition that everything be performed in pure love of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Brahmā’s Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa.”
King Pariksit had asked the question" O great sage, how could things done in the past have been described as being done at the present? Lord Sri Krsna performed this pastime of killing Aghasura during His kaumara age. How then, during His pauganda age (from the 5th year), could the boys have described this incident as having happened recently? (10.12.41) The answer having been completed, Sukadeva now continues to narrate the pastimes. Krsna and Balarama spent their time secretly in Vraja (jahatuh) playing hide and seek (nilayanaih), building a bridge to Lanka and enacting pastimes of other avataras such as churning the milk ocean.
This verse summarizes the kaumāra pastimes. Evam indicates that the list is only representative of many activities. Jahatuḥ means they performed activities.They did not perform their activities in any other place, because Vraja was most attractive. Nilāyana is hide and seek. They jumped about like monkeys and imitated Rāma’s pastime of building a bridge. The plural is used to indicate they did these activities repeatedly. They imitated warriors’ postures with protection through mantras and yantras.
Having described the kaumara pastimes of the Lord, other pastimes of the two brothers following after the paugaṇḍa period which is to be described are indicated by summarizing the actions. The two boys, surrounded by friends, passed the kaumāra period in this manner. During the kaumāra period they did not go beyond Vraja. This indicates the excellence of Vraja. Nilāyana means hide and seek. Or it can refer to stealing and hiding described in SB 10.37.26. They built dams out of earth where the river was flowing. Or while playing in the water, they built a bridge in a pond, pretending to be monkeys, from Rāma’s pastime. That is west of the birth place in Mathurā. The plural is used to indicate again and again they performed these pastimes. Ādibhiḥ indicates games like playing ball. Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Brahmā's Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa." 10.15: The Killing of Dhenuka, the Ass Demon verses: Summary, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49-50, 51, 52 Chapter Summary This chapter describes how Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa, while tending Their cows in the pastures of Vṛndāvana, killed Dhenukāsura, enabled the residents of Vṛndāvana to eat the fruits of the tāla trees and saved the young cowherds from Kāliya's poison. Revealing Their boyhood (paugaṇḍa) phase of pastimes, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa were one day bringing the cows to pasture when They entered an attractive forest decorated with a clear lake. There They began playing forest sports along with Their friends. Pretending to tire, Lord Baladeva laid His head upon the lap of a cowherd boy and rested as Lord Kṛṣṇa helped relieve His elder brother's fatigue by massaging His feet. Then Kṛṣṇa also placed His head on the lap of a cowherd boy to rest, and another cowherd boy massaged His feet. In this way Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Their cowherd friends enjoyed various pastimes. During this play, Śrīdāmā, Subala, Stoka-kṛṣṇa and other cowherd boys described to Rāma and Kṛṣṇa a wicked and irrepressible demon named Dhenuka, who had assumed the form of a jackass and was living in the Tālavana forest near Govardhana Hill. This forest was full of many varieties of sweet fruits. But fearing this demon, no one dared try to relish the taste of those fruits, and thus someone had to kill the demon and all his associates. Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa, hearing of the situation, set off for this forest to fulfill the desire of Their companions. Arriving at the Tālavana, Lord Balarāma shook many fruits out of the palm trees, and as soon as He did so the jackass demon, Dhenuka, ran swiftly to attack Him. But Balarāma grabbed his hind legs with one hand, whirled him around and threw him into the top of a tree, thus slaying him. All of Dhenukāsura's friends, overcome by fury, then rushed to attack, but Rāma and Kṛṣṇa took hold of them one by one, swung them around and killed them, until the disturbance was finally finished. When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma returned to the cowherd community, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī placed Them on their respective laps. They kissed Their faces, fed Them with finely prepared food and then put Them to bed. Some days later Lord Kṛṣṇa went with His friends, but without His older brother, to the banks of the Kālindī in order to tend the cows. The cows and cowherd boys became very thirsty and drank some water from the Kālindī. But it had been contaminated with poison, and they all fell unconscious on the riverbank. Kṛṣṇa then brought them back to life by the merciful rain of His glance, and all of them, regaining their consciousness, appreciated His great mercy.
The Rāmāyaṇa is folded into the Bhāgavatam in a single line — the boys built setu-bandhas, jumping bridges, in play. Vraja's children replay Rāma's bridging of the southern ocean as a game; mythic time enters domestic time. The chapter's last image is Vraja-boys playing at being Hanumāns. The whole cosmology has shrunk to a childhood afternoon.
Hanumān, the original setu-bandha helper, appears in Bhāgavata (and Mahābhārata) lore as Rāma's eternal servant. Children playing at setu-bandhaiḥ — building bridges — are unknowingly replaying His service.
The verse closes Canto 10's first major arc with this small image: the cosmic Lord's incarnations are folded into His boys' games. Markaṭa-utplavana — monkey-jumping — even names the species. The Vraja-līlā contains all līlās.
My note
Source: vedabase.io