taá¹ gá¹›hÄ«tvÄnayad bhá¹›tyo
varuṇasyÄsuro 'ntikam
avajñÄyÄsurÄ«á¹ velÄá¹
praviá¹£á¹am udakaá¹ niÅ›i
tam - him; gá¹›hÄ«tvÄ - seizing; anayat - brought; bhá¹›tyaḥ - a servant: varuṇ asya - of Varuṇa, the lord of the sea; asuraḥ - demon; antikam - to the presence (of his master); avajñÄya - who had disregarded; ÄsurÄ«m - the inauspicious; velÄm - time; praviá¹£á¹am - having entered; udakam - the water; niÅ›i - during the night.
Because Nanda MahÄrÄja entered the water in the dark of night, disregarding that the time was inauspicious, a demoniac servant of Varuṇa seized him and brought him to his master.
Nanda MahÄrÄja was intent on breaking his fast during the DvÄdaśī day, of which there remained only a few minutes. Thus he entered the water to bathe at an inauspicious time, before the first dawn light.
The servant of Varuṇa who arrested Nanda MahÄrÄja is stated here to be an asura, or demon, for obvious reasons. First, the servant was foolishly ignorant of Nanda MahÄrÄja’s position as the pastime father of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Also, Nanda MahÄrÄja’s intention was to carry out the injunctions of scripture; therefore Varuṇa’s servant should not have arrested Nanda on the technical grounds that he bathed in the YamunÄ at an inauspicious time. Later in this chapter Varuṇa himself will say, ajÄnatÄ mÄmakena mÅ«á¸hena: “This was done by my ignorant servant, who is a fool.†This foolish servant did not understand the position of Kṛṣṇa or Nanda MahÄrÄja or devotional service to the Lord.
In conclusion, it is clear that Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to give His personal audience to Varuṇa and simultaneously accomplish other didactic purposes. Thus this wonderful pastime will now unfold.
