Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.8.22
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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tat - nāda - hṛṣṭa - manasau
—
their minds being delighted by that sound (of ankle bells)
Tat-nāda (that sound) + hṛṣṭa-manas (delighted-minded), dual. The verse-line that founds nāda-bhakti psychology in miniature: sound captures the heart before sight. Caitanya's nāma-saṅkīrtana inherits this fundamental sonic-pull.
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vraja - kardameṣu
—
in the mud of Vraja (made by cow-dung and cow-urine)
Vraja + kardama (mud), locative plural. The verse's frank realism: the mud is cow-product. For Gauḍīyas, Vraja's very mud is mahā-prasāda — Rūpa Gosvāmī's prayers honor every grain of Vraja-rajaḥ.
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anusṛtya
—
following (after other persons)
Gerund of anu-√sṛ — 'to go after, to follow'. The same word later names anusaraṇa, the rāgānugā path of following the rāgātmikas of Vraja. The infant Kṛṣṇa is innocently re-enacting the central verb of His devotees' path.
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mugdha
—
enchanted, bewildered
From √muh — 'to be deluded'. In rasa-shastra, mugdha names the charming bewilderment characteristic of childhood (and of mādhurya-rasa heroines). The verse plants the seed: Kṛṣṇa is the original mugdha-svarūpa.
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prabhīta - vat
—
as if afraid
Pra-bhīta (frightened) + vat (as if). The 'as if' is doctrinally critical: the Supreme Lord cannot truly fear, yet His līlā includes the appearance of fear for vātsalya's sake. Gauḍīyas: this is Yoga-māyā at work, not māyā-bhrama.
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anti mātroḥ
—
toward Their mothers
Anti (near, towards) + mātroḥ (genitive dual of mātṛ, mother). The verse closes with the return motion — the central Vaiṣṇava gesture, turning back to one's true refuge. Kṛṣṇa's bāla-līlā models śaraṇāgati through the body itself.
When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were crawling about Vrajabhūmi, They were enchanted by the sound of ankle bells. Thus They sometimes followed other people, who would enjoy the crawling of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and exclaim, “Oh, see how Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are crawling!” Upon hearing this, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma could understand that these were not Their mothers They were following, and They would return to Their actual mothers. Thus the crawling of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was enjoyed by the people of the neighborhood, as well as by mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī and the two children Themselves.
With movements of their knees and feet Krsna and Balarama moved about in a crooked way in the dirt mixed with cow urine and milk in the large courtyard. The sound of their ankle bells was pleasing like the sound of karatalas or voices of the gopis and gopas (ghosanam praghosa) . Hearing this, the cowherd men became blissful. According to Sridhara Swami ghosa means bells. When strangers came in the yard, the two boys, thinking they were their mothers, would joyfully crawl after them, and then suddenly understanding they had made a mistake, as if in fear, would crawl back to their mothers. Mugdha bhita vat means as if foolish or in fear. The suffix vat is used to indicate that they were playing the part of ordinary children who make mistakes and experience fear, though they were actually not ordinary children.
They crawled about in a crooked path. This indicates their strength even in crawling about. Śukadeva does not compare their feet to lotuses because he realized lotuses are a poor comparison to their feet. Where their feet are compared to lotuses in other places it should be understood that those words are the realization of others. The yards of many places in Vraja became muddy because of the cow urine and dung. The plural is used to indicate many places. They followed some people who came there, thinking they were their relatives and after understanding that they were not, they went to their mothers. They became very (pra) frightened (bhīta), like other small, innocent children (vat) since they were absorbed in their pastimes. Ghoṣa-praghoṣa-ruciraṁ can also mean “their feet were attractive, causeing a loud exclamations (praghoṣa) of the cowherds (ghoṣa). They said, ‘How wonderful that they are crawling!’” Or the phrase can mean “feet which loudly jangled with their ankle bells because of the commotion of the people.”
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- Notice today which 'ankle-bell sounds' — notifications, praise, novelty — pull you away from Kṛṣṇa, and turn back the moment you see they aren't Him.
- Before chasing the next attractive sound or person, pause and ask whether this is leading you toward Kṛṣṇa or away from your real shelter.
- Spend five unhurried minutes contemplating Kṛṣṇa's bāla-līlā as Yaśodā saw it, letting that vātsalya soften your hardened, busy heart.
A bee that hears the wrong bell-flower's distant chime, follows it, then realizes the scent is wrong and returns to its hive. So Kṛṣṇa, hearing other gopīs' anklet-bells, follows the sound as if His mother were there, then recovers and returns to Yaśodā — a līlā of bhrama and śaraṇa staged for vātsalya's delight.
My note
Source: vedabase.io