kṛṣṇa-vatsair asaá¹…khyÄtair
yÅ«thÄ«-ká¹›tya sva-vatsakÄn
cÄrayanto 'rbha-lÄ«lÄbhir
vijahrus tatra tatra ha
kṛṣṇa - of Lord Kṛṣṇa; vatsaiḥ - along with the calves; asaá¹…khyÄtaiḥ - unlimited; yÅ«thÄ«-ká¹›tya - assembled them; sva-vatsakÄn - personal calves; cÄrayantaḥ - executing; arbha-lÄ«lÄbhiḥ - by boyhood pastimes; vijahruḥ - enjoyed; tatra tatra - here and there; ha - indeed.
Along with the cowherd boys and their own groups of calves, Kṛṣṇa came out with an unlimited number of calves assembled. Then all the boys began to sport in the forest in a greatly playful spirit.
In this verse the words kṛṣṇa-vatsair asaá¹…khyÄtaiḥ are significant. The word asaá¹…khyÄta means “unlimited.†Kṛṣṇa’s calves were unlimited. We may speak of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, trillions, tens of trillions, and so on, but when we go further to speak of numbers impossible for us to count, we are speaking of unlimited numbers. Such unlimited numbers are indicated here by the word asaá¹…khyÄtaiḥ. Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, His potency is unlimited, His cows and calves are unlimited, and His space is unlimited. Therefore He is described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ as Parabrahman. The word brahman means “unlimited,†and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Unlimited, Parabrahman. Therefore, we should not consider the statements of this verse to be mythological. They are factual, but inconceivable. Kṛṣṇa can accommodate an unlimited number of calves and an unlimited measurement of space. This is neither mythological nor false, but if we study Kṛṣṇa’s potency with our limited knowledge, that potency will never be possible to understand. Ataḥ Å›rÄ«-kṛṣṇa-nÄmÄdi na bhaved grÄhyam indriyaiḥ (Bhakti-rasÄmá¹›ta-sindhu 1.2.109). Our senses cannot perceive how He could keep an unlimited number of calves and cows and have unlimited space in which to do so. But this is answered in the Bá¹›had-bhÄgavatÄmá¹›ta:
evaá¹ prabhoḥ priyÄnÄá¹ ca
dhÄmnaÅ› ca samayasya ca
avicintya-prabhÄvatvÄd
atra kiñcin na durghaá¹am
ÅšrÄ« SanÄtana GosvÄmÄ«, in the Bá¹›had-bhÄgavatÄmá¹›ta, states that since everything about Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, nothing is impossible for Him. It is in this sense that we have to understand this verse.
