Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.10.19
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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mādhvyā
—
by sweet liquor (Mādhvī)
Instrumental of mādhvī, a liquor distilled from honey. The very word madhu (sweet) is contaminated here — anything sweet to the senses without Kṛṣṇa becomes intoxicating in the wrong sense. Gauḍīya distinction: only Kṛṣṇa-līlā is mādhurya unmixed.
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vāruṇyā
—
by liquor named Vāruṇī
Instrumental of vāruṇī — the heavenly liquor reappears, named explicitly. Nārada lists the specific intoxicants because the cure must address each. Gauḍīya practice replaces vāruṇī with caraṇāmṛta — same act of drinking, opposite consequence.
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tamaḥ-madam
—
false prestige due to the mode of ignorance
Compound: tamas + mada. The deepest of the three madas the chapter names — beyond rajo-guṇa drunkenness (SB 10.10.8), there is tamo-guṇa pride that does not even know it is fallen. The curse aims precisely at this final layer.
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hariṣyāmi
—
I shall take away
Future first person from √hṛ, 'to take, remove.' The same root as hari (one who takes away sins). Nārada acts as Hari's hand: he removes the very thing his patient values most, because that is the disease.
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ajita-ātmanoḥ
—
of those unable to control the senses
Dual genitive of compound seen in SB 10.10.9. The diagnosis repeats — the disease is consistent. Gauḍīya frame: ajita-ātmā cannot become jita-ātmā by force of will alone; sādhu-saṅga and Vaiṣṇava chastisement together do the work.
When a sādhu chastises or punishes someone, he does not do so for revenge. Mahārāja Parīkṣit had inquired why Nārada Muni was subject to such a spirit of revenge ( tamaḥ ). But this was not tamaḥ, for Nārada Muni, in full knowledge of what was for the good of the two brothers, wisely thought of how to cure them. Vaiṣṇavas are good physicians. They know how to protect a person from material disease. Thus they are never in tamo-guṇa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ( Bg. 14.26 ). Vaiṣṇavas are always situated on the transcendental platform, the Brahman platform. They cannot be subject to mistakes or the influence of the modes of material nature. Whatever they do, after full consideration, is meant just to lead everyone back home, back to Godhead.
What then is the cure for their disease of pride? After considering, Narada decided on the cure. That is presented in four verses. Madhya means sweet. Tamo means ignorance. "I will remove the ignorance of these two intoxicated with sweet wine, blinded by pride in wealth, overly attached to women."
“Their intoxication will be over shortly.” Since they are permanently blinded by pride in their wealth, they will become repeatedly intoxicated with liquor. They are also addicted to women. “By enjoying these things their addiction will cease.” No, it will not, because they have uncontrolled minds.
- UM SB 10-10-19 - 2010-06-23
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- Mukunda Datta Pr SB 10-10-19 - 2021-07-28 ISKCON Vrindavan
- BVVNarsimhaS SB 10-10-19 - 2020-04-06 ISKCON Mayapur
- BKG SB 10-10-19 - Two types of justice - 2021-12-31 Fiji
- Notice today where wealth, position, or sensory indulgence is quietly making you 'drunk' — name one specific pride and refuse to feed it.
- When a sādhu, scripture, or honest friend chastises you, receive it as a physician's prescription rather than as an attack on your ego.
- Before correcting someone in your own life, pause and ask whether you are acting from revenge (tamas) or from real compassion for their soul — speak only if it is the latter.
A father, seeing his sons drunk and exposing themselves before guests, does not coddle them — he locks them out of the wine cellar and stands them under cold water in the courtyard. Nārada's curse is exactly this cold-water treatment: humiliating on contact, sobering by morning.
Prahlāda, a small boy, faced his father Hiraṇyakaśipu — the most opulent and intoxicated emperor in three worlds — and refused to renounce Viṣṇu. He spoke plainly, without spite, naming his father's śrī-mada and tamo-mada for what they were.
The wrath that fell on him was severe (poison, weapons, elephants, fire), but Prahlāda's words were never tamasika — they were the same anugraha-arthāya speech Nārada uses in SB 10.10.19. A pure devotee's correction wounds the false self only to wake the true one.
My note
Source: vedabase.io