Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.41
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kāla-antara-kṛtam
—
done in a previous time
Compound: kāla (time) + antara (different, intervening) + kṛta (done). Done at a different time — i.e. a year ago. The very structure of the verse foregrounds the time-anomaly that will be explained in 10.13. Gauḍīyas: kāla in Kṛṣṇa-līlā is yoga-māyā-conditioned, not absolute.
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kaumāre
—
in the kaumāra age
Locative of kaumāra (childhood, 1-5). When the act happened. Gauḍīyas: age-stratification of Kṛṣṇa's līlā is canonical — kaumāra, paugaṇḍa, kaiśora; each age has its own bhāva-prevalence.
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hari-kṛtam
—
done by Hari
Compound: Hari (Kṛṣṇa) + kṛta (done). The act done by Hari — i.e., the killing of Aghāsura. Hari is Kṛṣṇa's general avatāra-name; here used for the boy in Vraja. Gauḍīyas: every Hari is Kṛṣṇa, but not every kṛṣṇa-līlā is performed under the Hari-mood; Vraja-Kṛṣṇa is more than Hari, He is svayam bhagavān.
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paugaṇḍake arbhakāḥ
—
the boys in paugaṇḍa age
Compound: paugaṇḍa (age 6-10) + arbhaka (boy). 'The boys at paugaṇḍa age told.' The time-displacement is exact: act at kaumāra, telling at paugaṇḍa. Bhāgavatam tracks this carefully because the answer is doctrinal.
"How can past events appear as if they happened very recently? How can Krsna make the pastimes which happened when the boys were in their kaumara age (five years) appear to have happened later, when they were six years old?"
How could activities which occurred in the past be seen in the present time? How could the boys say that what Kṛṣṇa did in his kaumāra period was done in his paugaṇḍa period? Knowing the activities took place in the kaumāra period how could they say otherwise? How could this happen?
How could activities which occurred in the past be seen in the present time? That is explained. It seemed impossible. You alone know. O direct form of the Vedas (brāhmaṇa)!
- What question about scripture or my own path have I been embarrassed to ask my teacher?
- Where could I model Parīkṣit by bringing a genuine doubt to a senior devotee instead of carrying it silently?
Picture a historian noticing a chronological seam — a story told in present-tense about an event that happened a year ago, by witnesses who were there. The seam matters. Parīkṣit, sharp listener, refuses to gloss over it. His question opens chapter 13: how did time itself behave in Vraja?
My note
Source: vedabase.io