Devanagari
श्रीशुक उवाच
गर्ग: पुरोहितो राजन् यदूनां सुमहातपा: ।
व्रजं जगाम नन्दस्य वसुदेवप्रचोदित: ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
śrī-śuka uvāca
gargaḥ purohito rājan
yadūnāṁ sumahā-tapāḥ
vrajaṁ jagāma nandasya
vasudeva-pracoditaḥ
Synonyms
śrī
—
śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said
;
gargaḥ
—
Garga Muni
;
purohitaḥ
—
the priest
;
rājan
—
O King Parīkṣit
;
yadūnām
—
of the Yadu dynasty
;
su
—
mahā — tapāḥ — highly elevated in austerity and penance
;
vrajam
—
to the village known as Vrajabhūmi
;
jagāma
—
went
;
nandasya
—
of Mahārāja Nanda
;
vasudeva
—
pracoditaḥ — being inspired by Vasudeva .
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, namely Garga Muni, who was highly elevated in austerity and penance, was then inspired by Vasudeva to go see Nanda Mahārāja at his home.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, namely Gargamuni, who was highly elevated in austerity and penance, was then inspired by Vasudeva to go see Nanda Mahārāja at his home.
KB 10.8.1
After this incident, Vasudeva asked his family priest, Garga Muni, to visit the place of Nanda Mahārāja in order to astrologically calculate the future life of Kṛṣṇa. Garga Muni was a great saintly sage who had undergone many austerities and penances and been appointed priest of the Yadu dynasty.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The eighth chapter describes the name ceremony, crawling, stealing butter, and eating dirt and displaying the universal form. After describing how Krsna killed a serious of demons up to Trnavarta, remembering the name giving ceremony which took place previous to Tranvarata’s killing, he begins this story.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Having described a pastime showing Kṛṣṇa’s greatness as the Lord through reciting pastimes of the child killing demons (somewhat out of order), Śukadeva now returns to the topic to discuss sequentially the most attractive childhood pastimes. According to astrological texts the name giving ceremony should be held a hundred days after birth. This is now described. O king! Śukadeva announced another topic to the king who was absorbed happily in listening to the previous pastimes. Garga was most fortunate, having performed great austerities (sumahā-tapāḥ), by which he attained an intimate relationship to Vasudeva, Nanda and Kṛṣṇa.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Having described infant pastimes showing Kṛṣṇa’s greatness, Śukadeva now returns to the topic to discuss sequentially the most attractive childhood pastimes. The name giving is now described. O king! The saṁskāras of kṣatriyas are performed by a priest. You know the customary actions. Sumahā-tapāḥ means he had performed great austerities. However, mahātapā is also a name of the Lord. Thus addressing Garga by this name means he was most fortunate or he was the best of devotees. He was sent by Vasudeva to perform the saṁskāra.