CC Madhya 15.241
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 241
- vraje jyeṭhā, khuḍā, māmā, pisādi gopa-gaṇa
- sakhā-vṛnda sabāra ghare dvisandhyā-bhojana
SYNONYMS
vraje—at Vṛndāvana; jyeṭhā—the father’s elder brothers; khuḍā—the father’s younger brothers; māmā—the mother’s brothers; pisā—the husbands of aunts; ādi—and so on; gopa-gaṇa—cowherd men; sakhā-vṛnda—hundreds of friends; sabāra—of all of them; ghare—in the houses; dvi-sandhyā—twice a day; bhojana—eating.
TRANSLATION
“In Vṛndāvana You also have Your father’s elder brothers, Your father’s younger brothers, maternal uncles, husbands of Your father’s sisters and many cowherd men. There are also cowherd boyfriends, and You eat twice a day, morning and evening, in the house of each and every one.
PURPORT
In Dvārakā, Lord Kṛṣṇa had eighteen mothers—Devakī, Rohiṇī and others. Besides these was His foster mother, Yaśodā, in Vṛndāvana. Lord Kṛṣṇa also had many uncles. As stated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bṛhat Śrī Śrī Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (32), upanando ‘bhinandaś ca pitṛvyau pūrva-jau pituḥ: "The elder brothers of Nanda Mahārāja were Upananda and Abhinanda." Similarly, in the same verse the names of the younger brothers of Nanda Mahārāja are given: pitṛvyau tu kanīyāṁsau syātāṁ sannanda-nandanau. "Sannanda and Nandana [also known as Sunanda and Pāṇḍava] were the younger brothers of Kṛṣṇa’s father, Nanda Mahārāja." Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s maternal uncles are also described in this book (in verse 46): yaśodhara-yaśodeva-sudevādyās tu mātulāḥ. “Yaśodhara, Yaśodeva and Sudeva were the maternal uncles of Kṛṣṇa.” Also mentioned in the Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (38) are Kṛṣṇa’s uncles who were the husbands of Nanda Mahārāja’s sisters: mahānīlaḥ sunīlaś ca ramaṇāv etayoḥ kramāt. “Mahānīla and Sunīla are the husbands of Kṛṣṇa’s aunts.”