Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.65.1

sri-suka uvaca

balabhadrah kuru-srestha

bhagavan ratham asthitah

suhrd-didrksur utkanthah

prayayau nanda-gokulam

SYNONYMS

sri-sukah uvaca -- Sukadeva Gosvami said; balabhadrah -- Lord Balarama; kuru-srestha -- O best of the Kurus (King Pariksit); bhagavan -- the Supreme Lord; ratham -- on His chariot; asthitah -- mounted; suhrt -- His well-wishing friends; didrksuh -- wishing to see; utkanthah -- eager; prayayau -- traveled; nanda-gokulam -- to the cowherd village of Nanda Maharaja.

TRANSLATION

Sukadeva Gosvami said: O best of the Kurus, once Lord Balarama, eager to visit His well-wishing friends, mounted His chariot and traveled to Nanda Gokula.

PURPORT

As Srila Jiva Gosvami points out, Lord Balarama's journey to Sri Vrndavana is also described in the Hari-vamsa (Visnu-parva 46.10):

kasyacid atha kalasya

smrtva gopesu sauhrdam

jagamaiko vrajam ramah

krsnasyanumate sthitah

"Remembering the deep friendship He once enjoyed with the cowherd folk, Lord Rama went alone to Vraja, having taken Lord Krsna's permission." The simple residents of Vrndavana were aggrieved that Lord Krsna had gone to live elsewhere, so Lord Balarama went there to console them.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura addresses the question of why Lord Krsna, the great ocean of pure love, did not also go to Vraja. In explanation the acarya provides the following two verses:

preyasih prema-vikhyatah

pitarav ati-vatsalau

prema-vasyas ca krsnas tams

tyaktva nah katham esyati

iti matvaiva yadavah

pratyabadhnan harer gatau

vraja-prema-pravardhi sva-

liladhinatvam iyusah

"The Yadus thought, 'The Lord's beloved girlfriends are famous for their pure, ecstatic love, and His parents are extremely affectionate toward Him. Lord Krsna is controlled by pure love, so if He goes to see them, how will He be able to leave them and come back to us?' With this in mind, the Yadus prevented Lord Hari from going, knowing that He becomes subservient to the pastimes in which He reciprocates the ever-increasing love of the inhabitants of Vraja."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari