śrīdāmā nāma gopālo
rāma-keśavayoḥ sakhā
subala-stokakṛṣṇādyā
gopāḥ premṇedam abruvan
sridama nama -- named Sridama; gopalah -- the cowherd boy; rama-kesavayoh -- of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna; sakha -- the friend; subala-stokakrishna-adyah -- Subala, Stokakrishna and others; gopah -- cowherd boys; premna -- with love; idam -- this; abruvan -- spoke.
Once, some of the cowherd boys -- Sridama, the very close friend of Rama and Krishna, along with Subala, Stokakrishna and others -- lovingly spoke the following words.
The word premna, "with love," indicates that the request the cowherd boys are about to place before Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama is motivated by love, not personal desire. The cowherd boys were eager for Krishna and Balarama to exhibit Their pastimes of killing demons and to enjoy the delicious fruits of the Tala forest, and therefore they made the following request.
