Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.11.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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majjanam āvaha
—
now take Your bath
Majjana — immersion, bath. The same root as majj (to plunge). Gauḍīya commentators see this as the daily seed of dīkṣā: regular bodily śuddhi prepares the consciousness for the inner śuddhi of mantra-japa. Bhakti honors the body's role; it does not skip it.
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janma - ṛkṣam
—
the auspicious star of Your birth
Janma-ṛkṣa — the nakṣatra under which one is born. In Vedic culture, the recurrence of one's birth-star each month is an auspicious day for dāna and observance. Gauḍīya tradition: time itself has structure, and bhakti operates through that structure rather than against it.
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viprebhyaḥ
—
unto the brāhmaṇas
Vipra — the learned brāhmaṇa, specifically. Gauḍīya theology elevates the Vaiṣṇava above the merely-born vipra (na śūdrā bhagavad-bhaktās…), but in this verse the principle is preserved: dāna flows toward those preserving Veda and Kṛṣṇa-jñāna. Today's vipra is the devotee preserving Kṛṣṇa-kathā.
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dehi
—
give in charity
Dehi — imperative of dā (to give). The Gītā's threefold tapaḥ-yajña-dāna (BG 17.20–22) is condensed here in the single act Yaśodā prescribes. The proper sāttvika-dāna is to the deserving, at the proper time, without expectation of return — exactly the structure of this verse.
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gāḥ
—
cows
Go — the cow, central to Vraja's economy and Kṛṣṇa's identity (Govinda, Gopāla). To give cows is to give what Kṛṣṇa Himself protects. Gauḍīya teaching: dāna of cows is dāna into Kṛṣṇa's own household and therefore has special potency on His janma-ṛkṣa.
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śuciḥ
—
being purified
Śuci — pure, bright. Etymologically related to fire (śoc, to shine). Gauḍīya commentators: external śaucha (bath, clean cloth) and internal śaucha (mind fixed on Hari) are not alternatives — the first prepares for the second. The verse asks for both.
It is a custom of Vedic culture that whenever there is any auspicious ceremony, one should give valuable cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas. Therefore mother Yaśodā requested Kṛṣṇa, “Instead of being enthusiastic in playing, now please come and be enthusiastic in charity.” Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat. As advised in Bhagavad-gītā (18.5) , sacrifice, charity and austerity should never be given up. Yajño dānaṁ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām: even if one is very much advanced in spiritual life, one should not give up these three duties. To observe one’s birthday ceremony, one should do something in terms of one of these three items ( yajña, dāna or tapaḥ ), or all of them together.
He still did not come. In order to make him give up his enthusiasm for playing she tried to kindle his enthusiasm in giving charity.
Take your bath according to the rules. She made him excited since he was enthusiastic to give gifts. Clean yourself since the moon is in your birth constellation. Instead of bhavati, sometimes bhavataḥ (your) is seen. You are constantly growing. When he still did not come, she showed that the other boys had now gone home, to make him envious.
Seeing that the other boys could give up playing because of affection for Kṛṣṇa, she explained a special purpose in going home. You have to bathe completely (majjanam āvaha). This should be done with water purified by mantras chanted by brāhmaṇas, because today the moon is in Rohiṇī constellation. Instead of bhavati, sometimes bhavataḥ (your) is seen. You are constantly growing. The goal is explained. You have to be pure by bathing in order to give gifts to the brāhmaṇas.
- On your next birthday or auspicious tithi, give something of real value (cows are rare; offer to a brāhmaṇa, temple, or devotee who is preserving Kṛṣṇa-kathā) rather than treating the day as personal celebration.
- Before sitting for sādhana today, bathe and put on clean cloth — refuse the modern habit of approaching Kṛṣṇa dust-covered from the day's play.
- Pick one of yajña, dāna, or tapaḥ and perform it deliberately today, so the day is marked by Kṛṣṇa-conscious action and not merely consumed.
A jeweler does not adorn his greatest gem on an ordinary day; he reserves the polish, the cloth, the offering for a marked star. Yaśodā waits for Kṛṣṇa's birth-star and turns the day into a small yajña — bath, cleansing, brāhmaṇa-dāna, cows. Auspicious time becomes a vessel into which bhakti is poured.
Throughout the Bhāgavatam, devotees mark birth-stars (janma-nakṣatra) with specific observances: Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira gave cows, gold, and land to brāhmaṇas; Vidura performed tīrtha-yātrā; even Ambarīṣa structured his Ekādaśīs around such observances. The śāstric pattern of dāna on auspicious tithis is not Vedic ritualism — it is bhakti's calendar.
Gauḍīya tradition continues this through Janmāṣṭamī, Nityānanda Trayodaśī, Gaura Pūrṇimā, and the appearance days of the Six Gosvāmīs. The discipline Yaśodā teaches Kṛṣṇa here — make the marked day a day of dāna and śuddhi — is the same discipline by which the sampradāya marks its sacred calendar.
My note
Source: vedabase.io