FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.11.16

हे रामागच्छ ताताशु सानुज: कुलनन्दन । प्रातरेव कृताहारस्तद् भवान्भोक्तुमर्हति ॥ १६ ॥
he rāmāgaccha tātāśu
[he raamaagachcha taataashu]
sānujaḥ kula-nandana
[saanujah kula-nandana]
prātar eva kṛtāhāras
[praatar eva kritaahaaras]
tad bhavān bhoktum arhati
[tad bhavaan bhoktum arhati]
he rāma — my dear son Balarāma āgaccha — please come here tāta — my dear darling āśu — immediately sa - anujaḥ — with Your younger brother kula - nandana — the great hope of our family prātaḥ eva — certainly in the morning kṛta - āhāraḥ — have taken Your breakfast tat — therefore bhavān — You bhoktum — to eat something more arhati — deserve .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
he rāmāgaccha tātāśu
he rāma
my dear son Balarāma
āgaccha
please come here
tāta
my dear darling
āśu
immediately
sānujaḥ kula-nandana
sa - anujaḥ
with Your younger brother
kula - nandana
the great hope of our family
prātar eva kṛtāhāras
prātaḥ eva
certainly in the morning
kṛta - āhāraḥ
have taken Your breakfast
tad bhavān bhoktum arhati
tat
therefore
bhavān
You
bhoktum
to eat something more
arhati
deserve .
  • he rāma — O Balarāma
    Vocative with the particle 'he' — formal address. Yaśodā calls Balarāma first and formally before calling Kṛṣṇa. Gauḍīya teaching: even in Vraja's most intimate love, the senior is addressed first. This is the seed of the sampradāya principle of approaching Kṛṣṇa through Balarāma (the original guru-tattva).
  • āśu — immediately
    Āśu — quickly, without delay. The same word the Gītā uses for swift action (BG 4.39: śraddhāvāl labhate jñānaṁ … āśu). Yaśodā's call invokes the same urgency: when love calls, delay is the only impropriety.
  • kula - nandana — delight of the family
    Kula-nandana — He who gives delight (nanda) to the kula (family line). Balarāma is so addressed because His mere presence sustains the family's spiritual atmosphere. Gauḍīya tradition: every family that hopes to hold bhakti needs a Balarāma-figure — a senior who anchors and delights.
  • kṛta - āhāraḥ — having eaten
    A compound — 'one for whom eating has been done.' The grammatical passive matters: in Vraja, Kṛṣṇa's eating is Yaśodā's act as much as His. The doer is the offerer; the recipient is the Lord; bhakti dissolves the line between.
My dear Baladeva, best of our family, please come immediately with Your younger brother, Kṛṣṇa. You both ate in the morning, and now You ought to eat something more.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
My dear Baladeva, best of our family, please come immediately with Your younger brother, Kṛṣṇa. You both ate in the morning, and now You ought to eat something more.
Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

She addressed Balarāma as the son of the dynasty, so that Kṛṣṇa would come quickly out of envy. It can also be an address to him. Another version has krīḍā-śrānto si putraka: O son! You are tired from playing. Putraka (little son) indicates a show of mercy out of affection.

Related values
Dana (Charity / Generosity)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Satya (Truthfulness)Adambhitva (Non-hypocrisy / Authenticity)Raksha (Protective Responsibility)Saurya (Heroism / Bravery)
Related verses
Yaśodā's call to Rāma and Kṛṣṇa to come eat reveals that the Supreme accepts the seva of those who love Him in vātsalya — pure parental affection.
Practical Applications
  • Offer your next meal to Kṛṣṇa with the affection of one feeding a beloved child, not the formality of a ritual checklist.
  • Notice when you serve others (family, juniors, dependents) with calculation, and replace it today with the unconditional care Yaśodā shows here.
  • Refuse the impersonalist habit of treating Kṛṣṇa as an abstraction — speak to Him directly, by name, the way mother Yaśodā calls 'tāta, āśu, āgaccha.'

A grandmother calls both grandchildren in from the field — the older one first, by his honorific, because addressing the senior with respect is itself how you reach the junior who walks at his side. Yaśodā summons Rāma as kula-nandana, knowing Kṛṣṇa walks beside Him, and bhakti always honors the elder to reach the beloved.

Balarāma honored first

Throughout the Tenth Canto, Yaśodā addresses Balarāma with formal honorifics — kula-nandana, dāśārha, Rāma — even as she calls Kṛṣṇa with intimate diminutives (tāta, putraka, aravindākṣa). The grammatical asymmetry is doctrinal.

Gauḍīya theology: Balarāma is Kṛṣṇa's original ādi-guru and elder; even in the most intimate vātsalya-rasa, He is approached through the register of respect, while Kṛṣṇa is approached through the register of love. Devotees who skip over Balarāma — and gurus generally — to reach Kṛṣṇa miss the structure that Yaśodā herself observes.

📝 My note

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