nÄsmatto yuvayos tÄta
nityotkaṇṭhitayor api
bÄlya-paugaṇá¸a-kaiÅ›orÄḥ
putrÄbhyÄm abhavan kvacit

 na - not; asmattaḥ - because of Us; yuvayoḥ - for you two; tÄta - O dear father; nitya - always; utkaṇṭhitayoḥ - who have been in anxiety; api - indeed; bÄlya - (the pleasures of) the toddler age; paugaṇá¸a - boyhood; kaiÅ›oraḥ - and youth; putrÄbhyÄm - because of your two sons; abhavan - there were; kvacit - at all.


Text

[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] Dear Father, because of Us, your two sons, you and mother Devakī always remained in anxiety and could never enjoy Our childhood, boyhood or youth.

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« discusses this verse as follows: “One may object that at this point Lord Kṛṣṇa had not actually passed the kaiÅ›ora stage [age ten to fifteen], since the women of MathurÄ had stated, kva cÄti-sukumÄrÄá¹…gau kiÅ›orau nÄpta-yauvanau: ‘Kṛṣṇa and BalarÄma have very tender limbs, being still at the kiÅ›ora stage, not having reached adolescence.’ (BhÄg. 10.44.8) The definition of the different stages of growing up is given as follows:

kaumÄraá¹ pañcamÄbdÄntaá¹
 paugaṇá¸aá¹ daÅ›amÄvadhi
kaiÅ›oram Ä-pañcadaÅ›Äd
 yauvanaá¹ tu tataḥ param

‘The kaumÄra stage lasts until the age of five, paugaṇá¸a up to age ten and kaiÅ›ora to age fifteen. From then on, one is known as yauvana.’ According to this statement, the kaiÅ›ora period ends at the age of fifteen. Kṛṣṇa was only eleven years old when He killed Kaá¹sa, according to Uddhava’s words: ekÄdaÅ›a-samÄs tatra gÅ«á¸hÄrciḥ sa-balo ’vasat. ‘Like a covered flame, Lord Kṛṣṇa remained there incognito with BalarÄma for eleven years.’ (BhÄg. 3.2.26) And since Kṛṣṇa and BalarÄma never took brahminical initiation in Vraja-bhÅ«mi, it was at the time [of Their going to MathurÄ] that Their kaiÅ›ora stage began rather than ended.

“This objection to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s statement in the present verse — that His parents could not enjoy His kaiśora stage — is based on ordinary measurement of age. Yet we should consider the following statement:

kÄlenÄlpena rÄjará¹£e
 rÄmaḥ kṛṣṇaÅ› ca go-vraje
aghṛṣṭa-jÄnubhiḥ padbhir
 vicakramatur añjasÄ

‘O King ParÄ«ká¹£it, within a short time RÄma and Kṛṣṇa began to walk very easily in Gokula on Their legs, by Their own strength, without the need to crawl.’ Sometimes we see that the son of a king, even while in his paugaṇá¸a stage of life, undergoes exceptional physical growth and exhibits activities appropriate to a kaiÅ›ora. Then what to speak of Lord Kṛṣṇa, whose exceptional growth is established in the Vaiṣṇava-toá¹£aṇī, Bhakti-rasÄmá¹›ta-sindhu, Ä€nanda-vá¹›ndavana-campÅ« and other works?

“The three years and four months that Lord Kṛṣṇa stayed in MahÄvana were the equivalent of five years for an ordinary child, and thus in that period He completed His kaumÄra stage of childhood. The period from then to the age of six years and eight months, during which He lived in Vá¹›ndÄvana, constitutes His paugaṇá¸a stage. And the period from the age of six years and eight months through His tenth year, during which time He lived in Nandīśvara [NandagrÄma], constitutes His kaiÅ›ora stage. Then, at the age of ten years and seven months, on the eleventh lunar day of the dark fortnight of the month of Caitra, He went to MathurÄ, and on the fourteenth day thereafter He killed Kaá¹sa. Thus He completed His kaiÅ›ora period at age ten, and He eternally remains at that age. In other words, we should understand that from this point on the Lord remains forever a kiÅ›ora.â€

Thus ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« analyzes the intricacies of this verse.