• vatsa-rūpeṇa — appearing as if another calf
  Compound: vatsa (calf) + rūpa (form). The asura mimics what Kṛṣṇa loves most. Disguise as the beloved is the deepest mode of attack — and the one most surely seen through by Bhagavān, who knows His own.
• jighāṁsayā — wanting to kill
  Desiderative of √han. The intent is murder; the result is liberation. Gauḻīyas teach that hatred fixed on Kṛṣṇa, though hellish, still binds the mind to Him — and binding, however dark, eventually saves.
• kapitthāni — the kapittha fruits
  Plural of kapittha (wood-apple, Limonia acidissima). Kṛṣṇa's killing of the demon doubles as a fruit-shaking — the asura's body becomes prasāda. Vraja's economy converts every encounter into food.
• līlayā — as a sport
  Instrumental of līlā. The same word as in v.3 — the chapter's refrain. Demon-killing is not Kṛṣṇa's labor but His play; the gopas' difficulty is that they cannot bear to see their boy at such 'sport.'
• hatvā — killing him
  Gerund of √han. In Bhāgavatam usage, when Kṛṣṇa hatvā an asura it is mokṣa-dāna, the granting of liberation. The verb sounds violent; the act is mercy.

Among a herd of calves nuzzling at a pond, one stands a little too stiff, eyes a little too sharp — a wolf in fur. Kṛṣṇa picks it up by the legs and uses its body to knock kapittha fruits from the trees, turning an assassin into a stick for the harvest.