Shloka 2
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma’s Forest Games and the Slaying of Pralamba
व्रजे विक्रीडतोरेवं गोपालच्छद्ममायया । ग्रीष्मो नामर्तुरभवन्नातिप्रेयाञ्छरीरिणाम् ॥ २ ॥
vraje vikrīḍator evaṁ gopāla-cchadma-māyayā grīṣmo nāmartur abhavan nāti-preyāñ charīriṇām
As Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma thus enjoyed themselves in Vraja, concealed by the guise of ordinary cowherd boys, the season called summer gradually arrived, a time not very pleasing to embodied beings.
In Chapter Eighteen, of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “The summer season in India is not very much welcomed because of the excessive heat, but in Vṛndāvana everyone was pleased because summer there appeared just like spring.”
FAQs
This verse states that Kṛṣṇa (with Balarāma) plays in Vraja while, by His own divine potency, He is “covered” in the guise of an ordinary gopāla—revealing intimate sweetness while concealing majesty.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks this narration to King Parīkṣit as part of the Vraja-līlā account in Canto 10.
Remembering the Lord’s līlā and presence helps one endure bodily discomforts with steadiness—seeing hardships as temporary conditions of the body rather than the self.