Question: During the one year following Brahma Vimohana lila, was Krsna feeling separation from His eternal cowherd boyfriends, while manifesting Himself as each of these boys in their homes in the village of Vraja? Was Krsna covered by His own Yogamaya, to not feel their separation? [SB 10.14.42 VCT: “After one year’s time, the original cowherd boys – who were different from the cowherd boy expansions who performed pastimes for one year with Krsna – were returned by Yogamaya to the exact place where they had been having lunch with Krsna one year prior. By the influence of Yogamaya, their sense of passage of time was one moment only, not one year, with no memory of having spent one full year apart from Krsna.”]
Answer by Romapada Swami:
VCT 10.13.35 – “Baladeva is the elder brother of the cause of the universe, and His dear friend, so Kṛṣṇa should not have deceived Him. Though Kṛṣṇa should have revealed everything to Baladeva before this, He did not because He did not want Balarāma to suffer any separation from Śrīdāmā and His other friends for the period of a year. Kṛṣṇa Himself did not suffer from any separation because He was close to them in an expanded form that searched for their calves. Balarāma did not appear in any expanded form during this pastime. Then, after a year passed, when the Lord desired, yogamāyā gradually withdrew her cover from Balarāma. It was done gradually so that Baladeva could take the viewpoint of the devotee, and also to immerse Him in the ocean of the Lord’s power.”
