FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.7.24

ఇతి ఖరపవనచక్రపాంశువర్షే సుతపదవీమబలావిలక్ష్య మాతా । అతికరుణమనుస్మరన్త్యశోచద్ భువి పతితా మృతవత్సకా యథా గౌ: ॥ ౨౪ ॥
iti khara-pavana-cakra-pāṁśu-varṣe
[iti khara-pavana-chakra-paamshu-varshe]
suta-padavīm abalāvilakṣya mātā
[suta-padaveem abalaavilakshya maataa]
atikaruṇam anusmaranty aśocad
[atikarunam anusmaranty ashochad]
bhuvi patitā mṛta-vatsakā yathā gauḥ
[bhuvi patitaa mrita-vatsakaa yathaa gauh]
iti — thus khara — very strong pavana - cakra — by a whirlwind pāṁśu - varṣe — when there were showers of dust and small dust particles suta - padavīm — the place of her son abalā — the innocent woman avilakṣya — not seeing mātā — because of being His mother ati - karuṇam — very pitifully anusmarantī — she was thinking of her son aśocat — lamented extraordinarily bhuvi — on the ground patitā — fell down mṛta - vatsakā — who has lost her calf yathā — like gauḥ — a cow .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
iti khara-pavana-cakra-pāṁśu-varṣe
iti
thus
khara
very strong
pavana - cakra
by a whirlwind
pāṁśu - varṣe
when there were showers of dust and small dust particles
suta-padavīm abalāvilakṣya mātā
suta - padavīm
the place of her son
abalā
the innocent woman
avilakṣya
not seeing
mātā
because of being His mother
atikaruṇam anusmaranty aśocad
ati - karuṇam
very pitifully
anusmarantī
she was thinking of her son
aśocat
lamented extraordinarily
bhuvi patitā mṛta-vatsakā yathā gauḥ
bhuvi
on the ground
patitā
fell down
mṛta - vatsakā
who has lost her calf
yathā
like
gauḥ
a cow .
  • abalā — the innocent woman (literally, the powerless one)
    A-balā — without strength. Standardly applied to women in classical Sanskrit. The verse uses it of Yaśodā at her most powerless moment — exactly when her power as Kṛṣṇa's mother is greatest. Gauḍīya commentaries: it is her abala-ness that pulls Kṛṣṇa back. The Lord cannot bear His devotee's helplessness.
  • ati-karuṇam — very pitifully
    Ati (very) + karuṇa (compassion-evoking). Karuṇa-rasa is one of the classical rasas; in Vaiṣṇava theology it appears as vipralambha — the bhāva of separation. Yaśodā's karuṇa-cry is vipralambha-vātsalya, an extremely high spiritual condition, though it looks only like grief from outside.
  • mṛta-vatsakā — who has lost her calf
    Mṛta (dead) + vatsaka (calf). The simile is from Vraja's own substrate — Yaśodā's grief is described in the language of the cowshed, not the philosophy hall. The Gauḍīya frame: rasa always uses substrate-imagery; vātsalya in Vraja is structurally a cow-and-calf rasa, and the verse's own simile confirms it.
  • patitā — fallen
    From pat — to fall. The same verb later used for Kṛṣṇa's prayer 'tava pāda-paṅkaja-saṁsthitaṁ patati' (CC). Yaśodā's bodily fall mirrors the surrendered devotee's prostration — vātsalya-grief and dāsya-praṇāma share a posture.
Because of the dust storm stirred up by the strong whirlwind, mother Yaśodā could find no trace of her son, nor could she understand why. Thus she fell down on the ground like a cow who has lost her calf and began to lament very pitifully.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Because of the dust storm stirred up by the strong whirlwind, mother Yaśodā could find no trace of her son, nor could she understand why. Thus she fell down on the ground like a cow who has lost her calf and began to lament very pitifully.
Commentary

Because dust showered down from the whirlwind she could not see the child (avilaksya).

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

By his powers, Kṛṣṇa made himself invisible to all. Though she was enlightened by the Lord through his līlā-śakti and her motherly affection, overcome with pain on not seeing her son, and unable to search for him at all, she began to lament. Because of the dust in the strong whirlwind and harsh wind, she could not understand the path of her son, when he was taken by the demon. She was completely incapable (abalā) of searching. She just fell on the ground. She lamented pitifully, such that even stones and wood would break. Or first she lamented since that was natural, and then she fell on the ground, since she felt great pain from not being able to find him, because of her great affection. An example is given. A cow, not seeing her calf, falls into great disturbance and worry.

Related values
Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Adambhitva (Non-hypocrisy / Authenticity)
Related verses
When Kṛṣṇa vanishes behind māyā's dust storm, even mother Yaśodā collapses — our bewilderment in His apparent absence is the call to deeper surrender.
Practical Applications
  • Notice today the moments when Kṛṣṇa seems 'lost' to you — in distraction, anxiety, dust-storms of the mind — and call out to Him by name in that exact moment.
  • Refuse to interpret obscurity as absence; when sādhana feels dry, sit and chant anyway, trusting He has not gone anywhere.
  • Speak to someone grieving a loss today not with material consolation but by quietly steadying yourself in the conviction that the soul's relationship with Kṛṣṇa is never severed.

A cow whose calf has slipped through the fence does not reason about the field's geography; she falls to her knees at the gap and bellows for the calf. Yaśodā's collapse is exactly this cow's collapse — the verse names it directly. Vātsalya-rasa, when its object disappears, abandons every philosophical consolation and becomes a sound.

Kausalyā's lament for Rāma

When Rāma left for the forest, Kausalyā did not console herself with arguments about karma or the inevitability of separation; she wept and fell upon her bed as if struck (Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa). Vālmīki preserves the sound of her grief precisely because it is the sound of pure vātsalya stripped of comfort.

The Bhāgavatam's portrait of Yaśodā fallen on the ground belongs to the same lineage. Both mothers' grief is itself a teaching: vātsalya-prema, once awakened toward the Lord, cannot be philosophized away.

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