Text 66
nandas tu sakhyuḥ priya-kṛt
premṇā govinda-rāmayoḥ
adya śva iti māsāṁs trīn
yadubhir mānito ’vasat
nandaḥ — Nanda; tu — and; sakhyuḥ — to his friend; priya — affection; kṛt — who showed; premṇā — out of his love; govinda-rāmayoḥ — for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma; adya — (I will go later) today; śvaḥ — (I will go) tomorrow; iti — thus saying; māsān — months; trīn — three; yadubhiḥ — by the Yadus; mānitaḥ — honored; avasat — he remained.
And on his part, Nanda was also full of affection for his friend Vasudeva. Thus during the following days Nanda would repeatedly announce, “I will be leaving later today” and “I will be leaving tomorrow.” But out of love for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma he remained there for three more months, honored by all the Yadus.
After settling that he would leave first thing in the morning, Nanda would then decide, “I’ll go later today,” and then, when the afternoon came, he would say, “I’ll just stay until tomorrow.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī suggests one possible reason for his procrastination: Nanda secretly intended to bring Kṛṣṇa back with him to Vraja but did not want to break Vasudeva’s heart. Thus his indecision continued for three months.