kṛṣṇa-prāṇān nirviśato
nandādīn vīkṣya taḿ hradam
pratyaṣedhat sa bhagavān
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇānubhāva-vit
krishna-pranan -- the men whose very life and soul was Krishna; nirvisatah -- entering; nanda-adin -- headed by Nanda Maharaja; vikshya -- seeing; tam -- that; hradam -- lake; pratyashedhat -- forbade; sah -- He; bhagavan -- the all-powerful Lord; ramah -- Balarama; krishna -- of Lord Krishna; anubhava -- the power; vit -- knowing well.
Lord Balarama then saw that Nanda Maharaja and the other cowherd men, who had dedicated their very lives to Krishna, were beginning to enter the serpent's lake. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Balarama fully knew Lord Krishna's actual power, and therefore He restrained them.
Srila Sanatana Gosvami explains that Lord Balarama checked some of the cowherd men by speaking to them, others by physically holding them and still others by casting upon them His potent smiling glance. Distraught over the situation, they were prepared to give up their lives for Lord Krishna by entering the serpent's lake.
