SB 10.8.46 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीराजोवाच नन्द: किमकरोद् ब्रह्मन्श्रेय एवं महोदयम् । यशोदा च महाभागा पपौ यस्या: स्तनं हरि: ॥ ४६ ॥

Verse text

śrī-rājovāca nandaḥ kim akarod brahman śreya evaṁ mahodayam yaśodā ca mahā-bhāgā papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ

Synonyms

śrī — rājā uvāca — Mahārāja Parīkṣit further inquired (from Śukadeva Gosvāmī) ; nandaḥ — Mahārāja Nanda ; kim — what ; akarot — performed ; brahman — O learned brāhmaṇa ; śreyaḥ — auspicious activities, like performing penances and austerities ; evam — as exhibited by him ; mahā — udayam — from which they achieved the greatest perfection ; yaśodā — mother Yaśodā ; ca — also ; mahā — bhāgā — most fortunate ; papau — drank ; yasyāḥ — of whom ; stanam — the breast milk ; hariḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead .

Translation

Having heard of the great fortune of mother Yaśodā, Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī: O learned brāhmaṇa, mother Yaśodā’s breast milk was sucked by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What past auspicious activities did she and Nanda Mahārāja perform to achieve such perfection in ecstatic love?

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Having heard of the great fortune of mother Yaśodā, Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī: O learned brāhmaṇa, mother Yaśodā's breast milk was sucked by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What past auspicious activities did she and Nanda Mahārāja perform to achieve such perfection in ecstatic love? KB 10.8.46 Certainly Mother Yaśodā had executed many, many pious activities, as a result of which she got the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as her son who sucked milk from her breast. Similarly, Nanda Mahārāja also must have performed many great sacrifices and pious activities for Lord Kṛṣṇa to become his son and address him as “Father.”

Purport

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (7.16) , catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino ’rjuna. Without sukṛti, or pious activities, no one can come to the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is approached by four kinds of pious men ( ārto jijṣāsur arthārthī jṣānī ca ), but here we see that Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā surpassed all of them. Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja naturally inquired, “What kind of pious activities did they perform in their past lives by which they achieved such a stage of perfection?” Of course, Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā are accepted as the father and mother of Kṛṣṇa, yet mother Yaśodā was more fortunate than Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa’s father, because Nanda Mahārāja was sometimes separated from Kṛṣṇa whereas Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa’s mother, was not separated from Kṛṣṇa at any moment. From Kṛṣṇa’s babyhood to His childhood and from His childhood to His youth, mother Yaśodā was always in association with Kṛṣṇa. Even when Kṛṣṇa was grown up, He would go to Vṛndāvana and sit on the lap of mother Yaśodā. Therefore there is no comparison to the fortune of mother Yaśodā, and Parīkṣit Mahārāja naturally inquired, yaśodā ca mahā-bhāgā.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Seeing how Yasoda’s love did not waver even after hearing about and seeing the Lord’s powers, and understanding that Yasoda and Nanda’s love far surpassed that of the karmis and even the normal devotees, Pariksit in astonishment spoke. What sukrti (sreya mahdayam) Nanda must have performed to get such great results? Yasoda is called mahabhaga, because her sukrtis were even more.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Yaśodā’s great affection for the Supreme Lord has been described. Having heard of her parental affection for the Lord and astonished by her great fortune, Parīkṣit inquires about Nanda’s and Yaśodā’s good fortune. What type of pious acts which caused such complete affection (mahodayam) did Nanda perform? What did Yaśodā, even more fortunate (mahā-bhāgāḥ), do, since the Lord drank her breast milk? pītvāmṛtaṁ payas tasyāḥ pīta-śeṣaṁ gadā-bhṛtaḥ: lovingly she let her sons drink from her breast, which became wet with milk just by their touch (which Kṛṣṇa had also drunk previously). (SB 10.85.55) Thus Kṛṣṇa had drunk the milk of Devakī and other cowherd women also. However, though Devakī had fed Kṛṣṇa, her love was mixed with conceptions of Kṛṣṇa’s aiśvarya and he did so only once, not as a habit. He drank from the gopīs’ breasts, but in another form—taking the form of their cowherd sons during the Brahmā-mohana pastime. Thus they did not have the same affection for Kṛṣṇa as Yaśodā did. Thus Kṛṣṇa’ drinking from her breast is glorified more.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Yaśodā’s great affection for the Supreme Lord has been described. Having heard of her parental affection for the Lord and astonished by her great fortune, Parīkṣit inquires about Nanda’s and Yaśodā’s good fortune. O form of all the Vedas or directly the form of the supreme Brahman (brahman)! You know everything about this. What type of pious acts which caused such complete affection (mahodayam) did Nanda perform? What did Yaśodā, even more fortunate (mahā-bhāgāḥ), do, since the Lord drank her breast milk? Vā (in some versions of the text) indicates all that was said in chapters six, seven and eight. Or it refers to his pastimes of crawling. Or it refers to the covering of her knowledge on seeing the universal form and her increase of affection. Yaśodā is distinguished from Devakī though he drank from Devakī’s breast also. pītvāmṛtaṁ payas tasyāḥ pīta-śeṣaṁ gadā-bhṛtaḥ: lovingly Devakī let her sons drink from her breast, which became wet with milk just by their touch (which Kṛṣṇa had also drunk previously). (SB 10.85.55) Thus Kṛṣṇa had drunk the milk of Devakī and other cowherd women also. Kṛṣṇa who attracted the mind with special affection during his infant period (hariḥ) drank from Yaśodā’s breast.