Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.19.12
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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mīlita-akṣeṣu
—
their eyes closed
Compound: mīlita (closed) + akṣa (eye). The boys' obedience is total: a one-word instruction, immediate compliance. Gauḍīyas read this as the model speed of śaraṇāgati — no negotiation, no delay.
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agnim-ulbaṇam
—
the terrible fire
Noun-adjective pair: agni (fire) + ulbaṇa (terrible). Not a poetic fire but the real, raging Iṣīkāṭavī blaze. The horror is preserved so that the rescue is not abstract.
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pītvā
—
drinking, having drunk
Gerund of √pā (to drink). Kṛṣṇa does not extinguish the fire from outside — He drinks it. The same verb is used of the gopīs drinking the nectar of His face. The Bhāgavatam's vocabulary is consistent: in Vraja, the highest action is drinking.
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yoga-adhīśaḥ
—
the supreme controller of all mystic power
Compound: yoga (mystic power) + adhīśa (supreme controller). The title appears precisely at the moment of the miracle. The Gītā's yogeśvara (BG 18.78) and the Bhāgavatam's yoga-adhīśa are the same Person — and Vraja is His native ground, not an exception to His sovereignty.
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vyamocayat
—
He delivered, He freed
Causative of vi + √muc — caused to be released. The same verbal root as mukti. Vraja's surface narrative — saving boys from a fire — is the Bhāgavatam's inner narrative — Bhagavān releasing the surrendered from saṁsāra.
The cowherd boys were suffering from extreme fatigue, hunger and thirst, and were about to be consumed by a horrible forest fire. All this is indicated here by the word kṛcchrāt.
"Friends! Krsna knows everything about the powers of jewels and mantras to take away the effects of poison and fire. But the methods are not effective in everyone’s presence. Therefore, if you close your eyes he will be alone. That is why he is telling us to close our eyes." The boys then agree. Bhagavan here indicates that Krsna was full of all great powers. Thought the fire was fierce he could swallow it. There is one story. Krsna was thirsty. The fire, unable to do anything against the will of Krsna, and being afraid, turned into very cool fragrant drink. It became a small drop on Krsna’s tender hand, and then as yogadisa, he drank it. Some say that yogamaya appeared at this time and she herself took it from his hand and drank it, but this interpretation gives sorrow to the real devotee. Yoga means yoga maya and adisa means the master. Krsna is the master of yoga maya. Therefore Krsna drank the fire in his mouth. Another meaning of mukha is method. Krsna drank the fire by some method. What method? As he is yogadhisa, he used yoga, his aisvarya sakti. By that means he drank the fire. Krsna delivered the boys from all difficulties (krscchra)-- from fatigue and thirst from entering the dense forest. He did this by immediately bringing them to the base of the bhandira tree. "O friends! You can open your eyes now. I have prevented the fire." The boys could understand they and the cows had been saved when they opened their eyes and were astonished.
Having said (iti) “Yes we agree (tathā)” they closed their eyes. “How could he swallow such a fire with his mouth?” He is the master of inconceivable powers (yogādhiśaḥ)--by his power the fire became like dope of a sweet beverage. He freed the boys from danger in a special way (vi -amocayat), since he brought them to Bhāṇḍīra.
- How fast is my 'all right' to His simple instructions?
- What miracle might be waiting behind eyes I refuse to close?
The boys say "all right" and close their eyes; Kṛṣṇa opens His mouth and drinks the fire. The mouth that the gopīs feed with butter, that Yaśodā saw the universes in, here swallows the saṁsāra-fire whole. This is yoga-adhīśvara in one gesture: the master of all mystic power dispatches a cosmic emergency between two blinks.
Later, in SB 10.20–24, Kṛṣṇa will perform the same protection in a different forest under different conditions. The Bhāgavatam keeps returning to this image because Vraja's whole theology of saṁsāra-protection rests on it: the Lord's mouth is large enough for any fire.
Gauḍīyas connect it forward to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mouth in saṅkīrtana — the same mouth that drank the dāva-fire is the mouth that, as Gaurāṅga, drinks the saṁsāra-fire of Kali-yuga through the holy name.
My note
Source: vedabase.io