Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.37
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kaumāra-jam karma
—
the act performed in kaumāra age
Compound: kaumāra (childhood, 1-5) + ja (born of) + karma (act). Gauḍīyas: Kṛṣṇa's līlā is age-stratified — kaumāra (1-5), paugaṇḍa (6-10), kaiśora (11-15). Aghāsura-vadha is technically kaumāra-līlā, the youngest stratum.
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ātma-ahi-mokṣaṇam
—
His own and the python's liberation
Compound: ātma (self / His own) + ahi (serpent) + mokṣaṇa (release). 'His own deliverance AND the python's liberation' — both effected in one act. Gauḍīyas read the double genitive: Kṛṣṇa simultaneously freed Himself, the boys, and the demon.
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paugaṇḍake
—
during paugaṇḍa age
Locative of paugaṇḍa (the age 6-10). The boys only narrate this at paugaṇḍa age though the event occurred at kaumāra. Bhāgavatam will later explain (via Parīkṣit's question) that yoga-māyā delayed the revelation by a full year.
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vismitāḥ
—
astonished
From vi + smi-. Even the boys themselves are astonished when they finally tell the tale. The vismaya-rasa of verse 35 (Brahmā) extends to the participants. Gauḍīyas: Kṛṣṇa-līlā astonishes even those who lived through it.
The word mokṣaṇam means “liberation.” For the associates of Kṛṣṇa and for Kṛṣṇa Himself, there is no question about liberation; they are already liberated, being in the spiritual world. In the material world there are birth, death, old age and disease, but in the spiritual world there are no such things because everything is eternal. As for the python, however, by the association of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, Aghāsura also achieved the same facility of eternal life. Therefore, as indicated here by the word ātmāhi-mokṣaṇam, if the python Aghāsura could receive eternal association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is to be said of those who are already associates of the Lord? Sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ ( Bhāg. 10.12.11). Here is proof that God is good for everyone. Even when He kills someone, the one who is killed attains liberation. What then is to be said of those who are already in the association of the Lord?
There was another astonishing event which you should hear about. Though Krsna performed the pastime when he was five years old (kaumara jam) the cowherd boys reported the incident when they were six years old (pauganda), but as if the incident -being freed from the mouth of the serpent--happened that day.
Thought the boys saw the liberation of the soul from Agha during Kṛṣṇa’s kaumāra period they spoke about it in Vraja at the beginning of Kṛṣṇa’s paugaṇḍa period with great astonishment. The ending ke on paugaṇḍa indicates that the paugaṇḍa age of Kṛṣṇa had just begun. Instead of hareḥ sometimes ca asya is seen. The word ca indicates “the liberation of the snake and the celebration by the devatās.” Seeing the event of killing the snake which occurred during Kṛṣṇa’s kaumāra period, the astonished boys spoke to the people of Vraja about the snake’s death a year later during the beginning of Kṛṣṇa’s paugaṇḍa age. Another meaning is that the boys had many questions about the event of the kaumāra period, and visualizing it, spoke about the puzzlement for a year among themselves as if it were in the present. What did they see? They pointed out to each other that the ātmā was liberated from the snake (ātmāhi-mokṣaṇam) when it died, since they were not aware of Kṛṣṇa’s powers as the Lord. And later it is said: adyānena mahā-vyālo yaśodā-nanda-sūnunā hato ’vitā vayaṁ cāsmād iti bālā vraje jaguḥ As the cowherd boys reached the village of Vraja, they sang, “Today Kṛṣṇa saved us by killing a great serpent!” Some of the boys described Kṛṣṇa as the son of Yaśodā, and others as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. SB 10.14.48
Thought the boys saw the liberation of the soul from Agha during Kṛṣṇa’s kaumāra period they spoke about it in Vraja at the beginning of Kṛṣṇa’s paugaṇḍa period with great astonishment. The killing of Aghāsura took place in the kaumāra period. The events were related to the people of Vraja and the beginning of Kṛṣṇa’s paugaṇḍa period (paugāṇḍake). Hareḥ means Kṛṣṇa who takes away death. They saw the killing of Agha and the celebration by the devatās during the kaumāra period.
- Which of Kṛṣṇa's acts in my own life still feels fresh enough to speak about as if today?
- What is keeping me from telling that story aloud to someone who needs to hear it?
Picture an event that happened when a boy was five years old — and which his friends only narrated in detail at age six, but with the freshness of yesterday. Vraja's relation to time is not linear. Kṛṣṇa's pastimes ripen in their telling, and the telling brings them present. The verse sets up Parīkṣit's question in 41.
My note
Source: vedabase.io