TEXT 17
evam sva-geha-damani
yasoda sandadhaty api
gopinam susmayantinam
smayanti vismitabhavat
SYNONYMS
evamin this manner; sva-geha-damaniall the ropes available in the household; yasodamother Yasoda; sandadhati apialthough she was joining one after another; gopinamwhen all the other elderly gopi friends of mother Yasoda; su-smayantinamwere all taking pleasure in this funny affair; smayantimother Yasoda was also smiling; vismita abhavatall of them were struck with wonder.
TRANSLATION
Thus mother Yasoda joined whatever ropes were available in the household, but still she failed in her attempt to bind Krsna. Mother Yasodas friends, the elderly gopis in the neighborhood, were smiling and enjoying the fun. Similarly, mother Yasoda, although laboring in that way, was also smiling. All of them were struck with wonder.
PURPORT
Actually this incident was wonderful because Krsna was only a child with small hands. To bind Him should have required only a rope not more than two feet long. All the ropes in the house combined together might have been hundreds of feet long, but still He was impossible to bind, for all the ropes together were still too short. Naturally mother Yasoda and her gopi friends thought, How is this possible? Seeing this funny affair, all of them were smiling. The first rope was short by a measurement the width of two fingers, and after the second rope was added, it was still two fingers too short. If the shortness of all the ropes were added together, it must have amounted to the width of hundreds of fingers. Certainly this was astonishing. This was another exhibition of Krsnas inconceivable potency to His mother and His mothers friends.

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/10/9/17

Previous: SB 10.9.16     Next: SB 10.9.18

If you Love Me Distribute My Books -- Srila Prabhupada