vrajasya rÄmaḥ premardher
vÄ«ká¹£yautkaṇá¹hyam anuká¹£aṇam
mukta-staneá¹£v apatyeá¹£v apy
ahetu-vid acintayat
vrajasya - of the herd of cows; rÄmaḥ - BalarÄma; prema-á¹›dheḥ - because of an increase of affection; vÄ«ká¹£ya - after observing; aut-kaṇá¹hyam - attachment; anu-ká¹£aṇam - constantly; mukta-staneá¹£u - who had grown up and were no longer drawing milk from their mothers; apatyeá¹£u - in regard to those calves; api - even; ahetu-vit - not understanding the reason; acintayat - began to consider as follows.
The cows had younger calves who had started sucking milk from their mothers, and some of the cows had newly given birth, but now, because of love, the cows enthusiastically showed their affection for the older calves, which had left off milking. These calves were grown up, but still the mothers wanted to feed them. Therefore BalarÄma was a little surprised, and He wanted to inquire from Kṛṣṇa about the reason for their behavior. The mothers were actually more anxious to feed the older calves, although the new calves were present, because the older calves were expansions of Kṛṣṇa. These surprising events were taking place by the manipulation of yoga-mÄyÄ. There are two mÄyÄs working under the direction of Kṛṣṇa — mahÄ-mÄyÄ, the energy of the material world, and yoga-mÄyÄ, the energy of the spiritual world. These uncommon events were taking place because of the influence of yoga-mÄyÄ. From the very day on which BrahmÄ stole the calves and boys, yoga-mÄyÄ acted in such a way that the residents of Vá¹›ndÄvana, including even Lord BalarÄma, could not understand how yoga-mÄyÄ was working and causing such uncommon things to happen. But as yoga-mÄyÄ gradually acted, BalarÄma in particular was able to understand what was happening, and therefore He inquired from Kṛṣṇa.