Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.31

nandam ca mokshyati bhayād varunasya pāśād

gopān bileshu pihitān maya-sūnunā ca

ahny āpritam niśi śayānam atiśramena

lokam vikuntham upaneshyati gokulam sma

SYNONYMS

nandam — unto Nanda (the father of Krishna); ca — also; mokshyati — saves; bhayāt — from the fear of; varunasya — of Varuna, the demigod of water; pāśāt — from the clutches of; gopān — the cowherd men; bileshu — in the caves of the mountain; pihitān — placed; maya-sūnunā — by the son of Maya; ca — also; ahni āpritam — being very engaged during the daytime; niśi — at night; śayānam — lying down; atiśramena — because of hard labor; lokam — planet; vikuntham — the spiritual sky; upaneshyati — He awarded; gokulam — the highest planet; sma — certainly.

TRANSLATION

Lord Krishna saved His foster father, Nanda Mahārāja, from the fear of the demigod Varuna and released the cowherd boys from the caves of the mountain, for they were placed there by the son of Maya. Also, to the inhabitants of Vrindāvana, who were busy working during daytime and sleeping soundly at night because of their hard labor in the day, Lord Krishna awarded promotion to the highest planet in the spiritual sky. All these acts are transcendental and certainly prove without any doubt His Godhood.

PURPORT

Nanda Mahārāja, the foster father of Lord Krishna, went to take his bath in the River Yamunā in the dead of night, mistakenly thinking that the night was already over; thus the demigod Varuna took him to the Varuna planet just to have a look at the Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna, who appeared there to release His father. Actually there was no arrest of Nanda Mahārāja by Varuna because the inhabitants of Vrindāvana were always engaged in thinking of Krishna, in constant meditation on the Personality of Godhead in a particular form of samadhi, or trance of bhakti-yoga. They had no fear of the miseries of material existence. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that to be in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead by full surrender in transcendental love frees one from the miseries inflicted by the laws of material nature. Here it is clearly mentioned that the inhabitants of Vrindāvana were extensively busy in the hard labor of their day's work, and due to the day's hard labor they were engaged in sound sleep at night. So practically they had very little time to devote to meditation or to the other paraphernalia of spiritual activities. But factually they were engaged in the highest spiritual activities only. Everything done by them was spiritualized because everything was dovetailed in their relationship with Lord Śrī Krishna. The central point of activities was Krishna, and as such the so-called activities in the material world were saturated with spiritual potency. That is the advantage of the way of bhakti-yoga. One should discharge one's duty on Lord Krishna's behalf, and all one's actions will be saturated with Krishna thought, the highest pattern of trance in spiritual realization.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness