Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.7.3
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kṛṣṇasya
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of child Kṛṣṇa
Possessive of Kṛṣṇa — the name itself means 'all-attractive' (from kṛṣ, to attract). The Bhāgavatam (1.3.28) declares kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam — Kṛṣṇa is svayaṁ-bhagavān, the source from whom all other avatāras emerge, not a derivative.
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toka-ācaritam adbhutam
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wonderful childhood pastimes
Toka (child) + ācarita (conduct) + adbhuta (wonderful). The Vraja-līlās are simultaneously human-seeming and impossible — the adbhuta-rasa runs underneath every bāla-līlā, marking it as transcendental, not merely cute.
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mānuṣam
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as if playing as a human child
'As if' is key. Kṛṣṇa's mānuṣa-līlā is not a real assumption of human nature; it is His sweetness (mādhurya) appearing in human shape. The Gītā's avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (9.11) warns against mistaking the mānuṣa appearance for limitation.
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anurundhataḥ
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who was imitating
From anu-rudh, to follow closely, to imitate. Kṛṣṇa follows the human form — the verb is active. He chooses the imitation; it does not constrain Him. This is the Gauḍīya frame against any view that the avatāra is bound by the role.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to narrate other childhood pastimes exhibited by Kṛṣṇa while playing as a human child. The Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnates at different times in different planets and universes, and according to the nature of those places, He exhibits His unlimited potency. That a child sitting on the lap of his mother was able to kill the gigantic Pūtanā is extremely wonderful for the inhabitants of this planet, but on other planets the inhabitants are more advanced, and therefore the pastimes the Lord performs there are still more wonderful. Kṛṣṇa’s appearance on this planet like a human being makes us more fortunate than the demigods in the higher planets, and therefore Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very much interested in hearing about Him.
In his enthusiasm, Pariksit repeats his request to make clear his intention. Being requested by mankind the Lord appeared on earth (rather than being requested by devas and appearing on svarga). In this way he particularly gave blessings to the humans on earth.
“What is the form of the Lord in your mind?” Without delays or introductions, now (atha), speak of the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, who attracts the heart by his sweet pastimes. He explains that the pastimes are astonishing because they have sweetness of form, qualities and pastimes sometimes mixed with inconceivable powers. Kṛṣṇa has made these pastimes visible to give mercy to us humans. Descending to the human world, he identifies completely with his pastimes (tajjātim).
The childhood pastimes of Krsna are also of this nature. For this reason (ataḥ), describe the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣna, who is directly bhagavān, after he killed Pūtanā. They are amazing, though they are actions of a small child, showing great power and sweetness. He appeared in the material world or with a human form, accepting or respecting birth as a cowherd (jātim), indescribable with the highest rasa. Or he respected all the cowherd people. Though he was the supreme lord, by his infant pastimes he controlled them all by spreading prema. Or he was astonishing because, even as a small child, he displayed powers of the Lord. Or please describe the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa who attracts all hearts. These pastimes are most bewildering (adbhūtam).
- Set aside ten unhurried minutes today to hear or read one of Kṛṣṇa's bāla-līlās aloud, treating the hearing itself as sādhana.
- When you next meet a small child, remember Kṛṣṇa on Yaśodā's lap killing Pūtanā, and let that memory soften your heart toward the Lord's mādhurya.
- Refuse the dull thought that this human birth is ordinary — name one concrete way today that you are more fortunate than the demigods because Kṛṣṇa appeared here.
When a king walks the marketplace dressed as a common boy, the merchants still get a glimpse of royal carriage in the way He holds the reins of a toy chariot. Kṛṣṇa imitates a human child, yet the killing of Pūtanā shows the boy is svayaṁ-bhagavān — the disguise hides only as much as He wishes.
Rāma too played the role of a mortal — eating, sleeping, weeping for Sītā — and yet in single moments (lifting Śiva's bow, killing Tāḍakā as a boy with Viśvāmitra) the disguise lifted and the supreme Personality showed Himself.
The Rāmāyaṇa, like the Bhāgavatam, alternates between mānuṣam līlā and aiśvarya-prakāśa. Parīkṣit's hunger here is for both — the sweetness of the human-seeming child and the wonder of His unconcealable Godhood.
My note
Source: vedabase.io