Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.16.56
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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khalāḥ
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envious / wicked
Same word the chapter used for Bhagavān's targets (verse 6, khala-saṁyamana). Kāliya names himself by the very category Bhagavān's avatāra exists to address. He places himself in the demoniac's row, accurately.
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tāmasāḥ
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in the mode of ignorance
From tamas. Kāliya confesses his guṇa. Bhāgavata: confession of one's mode is the first step out of it. Identification with the body-and-guṇa is itself the bondage; naming it loosens it.
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svabhāvaḥ - dustyajaḥ
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(this) nature is hard to give up
Compound: sva-bhāva (own nature) + dustyaja (hard to abandon). The asura's honest admission: 'I cannot fix this myself.' Gauḍīya: bandhu-nāśa — destruction of bondage — comes only by His grace, not by self-effort.
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asat - grahaḥ
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clinging to the unreal
Compound: asat (unreal, perishable) + graha (grasping, holding). The Bhāgavata diagnosis of bondage. Mistaking the temporary body for the self. Recognized — even by a snake.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī points out that because of his wretched condition, Kāliya was unable to compose original prayers to the Lord, and thus he paraphrased some of the prayers offered by his wives. The word asad-graha indicates that a conditioned soul seizes upon impermanent and impure things such as his own body, the bodies of others, and other countless varieties of material sense objects. The ultimate result of such material attachment is frustration, disappointment and anguish — a fact that has now become crystal clear to the poor serpent Kāliya.
"When even the learned men become influenced by attraction and repulsion, knowing it is wrong, what fault do I have?"
Kāliya speaks four verses. By nature of the species (saha utpattyā) I am evil. O lord (nātha)! You have the ability to crush that evil nature!
Not able to speak anything else because of his suffering condition, he spoke what he heard his wives say. Thinking the Lord would be pleased, he spoke words similar to theirs. Kāliya speaks four verses. By nature of the species (saha utpattyā) I am evil. O Lord (nātha)! You have the ability to crush that evil nature!
- Which of my limitations have I been treating as personal failure rather than conditioned nature?
- What freshly named limitation could I bring to the Lord today without shame?
By birth we are envious, ignorant, full of long-standing anger. Our nature is hard to give up; living beings hold to the unreal. Kāliya's first speech is not a defense; it is a diagnosis. He has been crushed into honesty. The serpent's first prayer is the prayer of jīva-tattva: I am bound; I cannot free myself.
My note
Source: vedabase.io