tan -- these signs; alakshya -- seeing; bhaya-udvignah -- agitated by fear; gopah -- the cowherds; nanda-purah-gamah -- headed by Nanda Maharaja; vina -- without; ramena -- Balarama; gah -- the cows; krishnam -- Krishna; jnatva -- understanding; carayitum -- to herd; gatam -- gone; taih -- from those; durnimittaih -- bad omens; nidhanam -- destruction; matva -- considering; praptam -- attained; atat-vidah -- not knowing His opulences; tat-pranah -- having Him as their very source of life; tat-manaskah -- their minds being absorbed in Him; te -- they; duhkha -- by pain; soka -- unhappiness; bhaya -- and fear; aturah -- overwhelmed; a-bala -- including the children; vriddha -- old persons; vanitah -- and ladies; sarve -- all; anga -- my dear King Parikshit; pasu-vrittayah -- behaving as an affectionate cow does toward her calf; nirjagmuh -- they went out; gokulat -- from Gokula; dinah -- feeling wretched; krishna-darsana -- for the sight of Lord Krishna; lalasah -- anxious.

Seeing the inauspicious omens, Nanda Maharaja and the other cowherd men were fearful, for they knew that Krishna had gone to herd the cows that day without His elder brother, Balarama. Because they had dedicated their minds to Krishna, accepting Him as their very life, they were unaware of His great power and opulence. Thus they concluded that the inauspicious omens indicated He had met with death, and they were overwhelmed with grief, lamentation and fear. All the inhabitants of Vrindavana, including the children, women and elderly persons, thought of Krishna just as a cow thinks of her helpless young calf, and thus these poor, suffering people rushed out of the village, intent upon finding Him.