HV 60.1
दामोदरवचः श्रुत्वा हृष्टास् ते गोषु जीविनः । तद्वाग् अमृतम् आख्यातं प्रत्यूचुर् अविशङ्कया ॥
dāmodaravacaḥ śrutvā hṛṣṭās te goṣu jīvinaḥ | tadvāg amṛtam ākhyātaṃ pratyūcur aviśaṅkayā
Hearing Dāmodara's words, those whose life was in the cows were glad. His speech, nectar-like, they answered without hesitation.
The Living Words
*Goṣu jīvinaḥ*, 'those whose life is in the cows', is the verse's careful naming of the cowherds. They are not 'cowherds by profession'; they are 'life-in-cows'. *Tad-vāg amṛtam ākhyātaṃ*, 'his speech, declared to be nectar': the child's word has already been named nectar by the ones it is spoken to. *Aviśaṅkayā*, 'without hesitation', closes the verse. The village does not debate; it agrees.
The Heart of It
The verse records the moment a community accepts a new form of worship. What is striking is not that Kṛṣṇa's word carries the day, but *how*. The Harivaṃśa refuses to make it miraculous. The village people are *goṣu jīvinaḥ*, a phrase that concedes they have every reason to be cautious about a change in ritual — their livelihoods are at stake. And yet they answer without hesitation, because a child they love has spoken. This is the social texture the Varkari tradition has always valued: agreement arrived at through love, not compelled by power. *Aviśaṅkayā* is the devotee's posture in the Haripāṭh too: without hesitation, say the Name.