Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.15.14
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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gopa-utsaṅga
—
the lap of a cowherd boy
gopa (cowherd) + utsaṅga (lap). Vraja's geography of intimacy: the lap of the sakhā becomes Balarāma's pillow. Gauḍīya: in sakhya-rasa, the body of one friend is the resting-place of another — no formality between them.
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āryam
—
His elder brother
Noble one, elder. Used as an honorific for Balarāma. Gauḍīya: Kṛṣṇa addresses His own first expansion as ārya — the noble elder. The svayaṁ-bhagavān models perfect Vaiṣṇava etiquette toward His own form.
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viśramayati
—
relieves Him from His fatigue
Causative of vi + √śram (to rest). He causes Balarāma to rest. Gauḍīya: the Lord's fatigue is līlā — He has no real exhaustion — but to make the līlā tender, He receives massage as if the fatigue were real.
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svayam
—
personally
By Himself. The strongest word in the verse. Kṛṣṇa does not delegate. Gauḍīya: when the Lord does something svayam, He is showing the bhakta what to do — sevā is not delegable in the highest forms; it must be done in one's own hand.
The word pāda-saṁvāhanādibhiḥ indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa would massage Balarāma’s feet, fan Him and bring Him river water to drink.
When Balaram became tired by playing, he lay down resting his head on other boys’ limbs as a pillow (upabaranam).
The word ādibhiḥ indicates fanning and other services.
- Whom do I revere whose tired feet I have not noticed lately?
- What act of physical service could I offer this week without anyone asking?
An elder brother who has wrestled all morning lies down for a nap on a friend's lap; the younger brother kneels at his feet and quietly massages them. No one orders this. It is the natural shape of brotherly love in Vraja. Kṛṣṇa, who is served by Lakṣmī in Vaikuṇṭha, kneels in service of Balarāma — and this is not a lower position; it is the higher one, because in Vraja, sevā outranks being served.
When Rāma slept exhausted in the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest, Lakṣmaṇa kept watch all night, bow in hand, refusing sleep for fourteen years. The younger brother's life was a continuous massage of the elder's feet — vigilance, food, protection — never claimed, never named.
The pastime in SB 10.15.14 is its Vraja-form: the same two souls, now as Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, expressing the same brotherhood — but in reversed role, with Kṛṣṇa now the servant of His elder. The mood transfers across avatāras; only the position rotates.
My note
Source: vedabase.io