Text 61
evaṁ vihāraiḥ kaumāraiḥ
kaumāraṁ jahatur vraje
nilāyanaiḥ setu-bandhair
markaṭotplavanādibhiḥ
evam — thus; vihāraiḥ — with pastimes; kaumāraiḥ — of boyhood; kaumāram — the childhood age up to five years; jahatuḥ — they passed; vraje — in the land of Vṛndāvana; nilāyanaiḥ — with sports of chasing about; setu-bandhaiḥ — with the building of bridges; markaṭa-utplavana — with the jumping around of monkeys; ādibhiḥ — and so on.
In this way the boys spent their childhood in the land of Vṛndāvana playing hide-and-go-seek, building play bridges, jumping about like monkeys and engaging in many other such games.
According to Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, the word nilāyanaiḥ refers to games such as hide-and-go-seek or cops and robbers. Sometimes the boys would jump around like the monkeys in Lord Rāmacandra’s army and then enact the building of the bridge to Śrī Laṅkā by constructing play bridges in lakes or ponds. Sometimes the boys would imitate the pastime of churning the Ocean of Milk, and sometimes they would play catch with balls. We can find full pleasure in the spiritual world, with the simple condition that everything be performed in pure love of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Brahmā’s Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa.”