Text 39]
Brahmā Stealing the Boys and Calves
39
sarvaṁ pṛthak tvaṁ nigamāt kathaṁ vadety uktena vṛttaṁ prabhuṇā balo 'vait
na—not; ete—these boys; sura-īśāḥ—the best of the demigods; ṛṣayaḥ—great sages; na—not; ca—and; ete—these calves; tvam—You (Kṛṣṇa); eva—alone; bhāsi—are manifesting; īśa—O supreme controller; bhit-āśraye—in the existence of varieties of difference; api—even; sarvam—everything; pṛthak—existing; tvam—You (Kṛṣṇa); nigamāt—briefly; katham—how; vada—please explain; iti—thus; uktena—having been requested (by Baladeva); vṛttam—the situation; prabhuṇā—(having been explained) by Lord Kṛṣṇa; balaḥ—Baladeva; avait—understood.
TRANSLATION
Lord Baladeva said, “O supreme controller! These boys are not great demigods, as I previously thought. Nor are these calves great sages like Nārada. Now I can see that You alone are manifesting Yourself in all varieties of difference. Although one, You are existing in the different forms of the calves and boys. Please briefly explain this to Me.” Having thus been requested by Lord Baladeva, Kṛṣṇa explained the whole situation, and Baladeva understood it.
PURPORT
Inquiring from Kṛṣṇa about the actual situation, Lord Balarāma said, “My dear Kṛṣṇa, in the beginning I thought that all these cows, calves and cowherd boys were either great sages and saintly persons or demigods, but at the present it appears that they are actually Your expansions. They are all You; You Yourself are playing as the calves and cows and boys. What is the mystery of this situation? Where have those other calves and cows and boys gone? And why are You expanding Yourself as the cows, calves and boys? Will You kindly tell Me what is the cause?” At the request of Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa briefly explained the whole situation: how the calves and boys were stolen by Brahmā and how He was concealing the incident by expanding Himself so that people would not know that the original cows, calves and boys were missing. Balarāma understood, therefore, that this was not  māyā  but Kṛṣṇa’s opulence. Kṛṣṇa has all opulences, and this was but another opulence of Kṛṣṇa.
“At first,” Lord Balarāma said, “I thought that these boys and calves