They would sometimes jump around like frogs, sometimes play various jokes, sometimes ride in swings and sometimes imitate monarchs.

TRANSLATION

While Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were thus enjoying life in Vṛndāvana in the guise of ordinary cowherd boys, the summer season gradually appeared. This season is not very pleasing to embodied souls.

COMMENTARY

Kṛṣṇa’s herding cows was just a pretense for going to the forest and playing with His cowherd boy friends. By cheating materialistic men with this pretense, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma actually played with Their personal gopīs. In ānanda Vṛndāvana Campū, Kavi-karṇapūra describes that Balarāma had separate gopīs from Kṛṣṇa. This will also be described later in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

 

|| 10.18.3 ||

sa ca vṛndāvana-guṇair vasanta iva lakṣitaḥ

yatrāste bhagavān sākṣād rāmeṇa saha keśavaḥ

TRANSLATION

Nevertheless, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead was personally staying in Vṛndāvana along with Balarāma, summer manifested the qualities of spring. Such are the features of the land of Vṛndāvana.

COMMENTARY

This and the next three verses describe how Vṛndāvana manifested the features of spring, even during the summer season. “During the summer in Vṛndāvana, the resounding of the waterfalls (nirjhara nirhrāda) covered the crickets’ cacophony. The entire area was beautified by groups of trees constantly moistened by spray from the waterfalls.”

 

|| 10.18.4 ||

yatra nirjhara-nirhrāda-nivṛtta-svana-jhillikam

śaśvat tac-chīkararjīṣa-druma-maṇḍala-maṇḍitam

TRANSLATION

In Vṛndāvana, the loud sound of waterfalls covered the crickets’ noise, and clusters of trees constantly moistened by spray from those waterfalls beautified the entire area.

 

|| 10.18.5 ||

sarit-saraḥ-prasravaṇormi-vāyunā kahlāra-kañjotpala-reṇu-hāriṇā

na vidyate yatra vanaukasāṁ davo nidāgha-vahny-arka-bhavo ’ti-śādvale

TRANSLATION

The wind wafting over the waves of the lakes and flowing rivers carried away the pollen of many varieties of lotuses and water lilies and then cooled the entire Vṛndāvana area. Thus the residents there did not suffer from the heat generated by the blazing summer sun and seasonal forest fires. Indeed, Vṛndāvana was abundant with fresh green grass.

COMMENTARY

“Vṛndāvana was cool in the summer because of the breezes wafting over the waves of the rivers. The wind, like a thief, silently and invisibly stole the pollen from the lotuses, and then gave relief from the heat with its fragrant, gentle breezes. Though the scorching summer sun usually dries up everything, it did not do so in Vṛndāvana, and thus the place was full of tender green grass.”

 

|| 10.18.6 ||

agādha-toya-hradinī-taṭormibhir dravat-purīṣyāḥ pulinaiḥ samantataḥ

na yatra caṇḍāṁśu-karā viṣolbaṇā bhuvo rasaṁ śādvalitaṁ ca gṛhṇate

TRANSLATION

With their flowing waves the deep rivers drenched their banks, making them damp and muddy. Thus the rays of the sun, which were as fierce as poison, could not evaporate the earth’s sap or parch its green grass.

COMMENTARY

No one felt the heat of the summer sun because of the tall shade-giving trees. This verse mentions another reason. “The deep flowing rivers made their banks wet and muddy. Thus the sun could not parch the green grass.”

 

|| 10.18.7 ||

vanaṁ kusumitaṁ śrīman nadac-citra-mṛga-dvijam

gāyan mayūra-bhramaraṁ kūjat-kokila-sārasam

TRANSLATION

Flowers beautifully decorated the forest of Vṛndāvana, and many varieties of animals and birds filled it with sound. The peacocks and bees sang, and the cuckoos and cranes cooed.

 

|| 10.18.8 ||

krīḍiṣyamāṇas tat krṣṇo bhagavān bala-saṁyutaḥ

veṇuṁ viraṇayan gopair go-dhanaiḥ saṁvṛto ’viśat

TRANSLATION

Intending to engage in pastimes, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accompanied by Lord Balarāma and surrounded by the cowherd boys and the cows, entered the forest of Vṛndāvana as He played His flute.

 

|| 10.18.9 ||

pravāla-barha-stabaka-srag-dhātu-kṛta-bhūṣaṇāḥ

rāma-kṛṣṇādayo gopā nanṛtur yuyudhur jaguḥ

TRANSLATION

Decorating themselves with newly grown leaves, along with peacock feathers, garlands, clusters of flower buds, and colored minerals, Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa and Their cowherd friends danced, wrestled and sang.

COMMENTARY

Here Balarāma is also addressed as a gopa to indicate that even He became absorbed in His identity as an ordinary cowherd boy.

 

|| 10.18.10 ||

kṛṣṇasya nṛtyataḥ kecij jaguḥ kecid avādayan

veṇu-pāṇitalaiḥ śṛṅgaiḥ praśaśaṁsur athāpare

TRANSLATION

As Kṛṣṇa danced, some of the boys accompanied Him by singing, and others by playing flutes, hand cymbals and buffalo horns, while still others praised His dancing.

COMMENTARY

In this verse the genitive absolute, kṛṣṇasya nṛtyataḥ, appears in place of the locative absolute, kṛṣṇe nṛtyati. “When Kṛṣṇa danced, some boys sang and some played flutes, karatālas and buffalo horns, while others gave praise.”

 

|| 10.18.11 ||

gopa-jāti-praticchannā devā gopāla-rūpiṇau

īḍire kṛṣṇa-rāmau ca naṭā iva naṭaṁ nṛpa

TRANSLATION

O King, demigods disguised themselves as members of the cowherd community and, just as dramatic dancers praise another dancer, worshiped Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, who were also appearing as cowherd boys.

COMMENTARY

If the demigods had appeared in their natural forms, the cowherd boys would have recognized them and worshiped them. Therefore the demigods came as cowherd boys, like Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. In this way, Śiva, Nārada and other demigods disguised themselves as cowherd boys to taste the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. The phrase gopāla-rūpiṇau means that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma eternally have the forms of cowherd boys.

 

|| 10.18.12 ||

bhramaṇair laṅghanaiḥ kṣepair āsphoṭana-vikarṣaṇaiḥ

cikrīḍatur niyuddhena kāka-pakṣa-dharau kvacit

TRANSLATION

Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma played with their cowherd boyfriends by whirling about, leaping, hurling, slapping and fighting. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma would pull the hair on the boys’ heads.

COMMENTARY

The boys played by arm wrestling (niyuddhena), and by making sounds with their palms in their arm pits (āsphoṭana). According to Śrīdhara Swami, kāka pakṣa dharau means the locks of hair remaining on the sides of the head after the Cūḍā-karaṇa ceremony. Others say it means hair tied in three braids, or the locks hanging in front of the ears. [Cūḍā-karaṇa is one of the ten saṁskāras, wherein a child’s head is shaved to leave a sikhā]

 

|| 10.18.13 ||

kvacin nṛtyatsu cānyeṣu gāyakau vādakau svayam

śaśaṁsatur mahā-rāja sādhu sādhv iti vādinau

TRANSLATION

While the other boys were dancing, O King, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma would sometimes accompany them with song and instrumental music, and sometimes the two Lords would praise the boys, saying, “Very good! Very good!”

 

|| 10.18.14 ||

kvacid bilvaiḥ kvacit kumbhaiḥ kvacāmalaka-muṣṭibhiḥ

aspṛśya-netra-bandhādyaiḥ kvacin mṛga-khagehayā

TRANSLATION

Sometimes the cowherd boys would play with bilva or kumbha fruits, and sometimes with handfuls of āmalaka fruits. At other times they would play the games of trying to touch one another or of trying to identify somebody while one is blindfolded, and sometimes they would imitate animals and birds.

COMMENTARY

The boys would throw bilva, kumbha or āmalaki fruits into the air and then throw other fruits to try to hit them. Netra-bandha (bound eyes) indicates a game in which a blindfolded boy would have to identify a friend simply by feeling the boy’s hands over his blindfolded eyes. In all their games the boys put up wagers for the winner, such as flutes or walking sticks. Sometimes they imitated the various fighting methods of the forest animals, and at other times they would chirp like birds.

 

|| 10.18.15 ||

kvacic ca dardura-plāvair vividhair upahāsakaiḥ

kadācit syandolikayā karhicin nṛpa-ceṣṭayā

TRANSLATION