FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.1

श्रीशुक उवाच तयोस्तदद्भ‍ुतं कर्म दावाग्नेर्मोक्षमात्मन: । गोपा: स्त्रीभ्य: समाचख्यु: प्रलम्बवधमेव च ॥ १ ॥
śrī-śuka uvāca
[shree-shuka uvaacha]
tayos tad adbhutaṁ karma
[tayos tad adbhutam karma]
dāvāgner mokṣam ātmanaḥ
[daavaagner moksham aatmanah]
gopāḥ strībhyaḥ samācakhyuḥ
[gopaah streebhyah samaachakhyuh]
pralamba-vadham eva ca
[pralamba-vadham eva cha]
Word-for-word
śrī - śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said tayoḥ — of the two of Them, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma tat — that adbhutam — amazing karma — action dāva - agneḥ — from the forest fire mokṣam — the deliverance ātmanaḥ — of themselves gopāḥ — the cowherd boys strībhyaḥ — to the ladies samācakhyuḥ — they described in detail pralamba - vadham — the killing of Pralambāsura eva — indeed ca — also .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
śrī-śuka uvāca
śrī - śukaḥ uvāca
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said
tayos tad adbhutaṁ karma
tayoḥ
of the two of Them, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma
tat
that
adbhutam
amazing
karma
action
dāvāgner mokṣam ātmanaḥ
dāva - agneḥ
from the forest fire
mokṣam
the deliverance
ātmanaḥ
of themselves
gopāḥ strībhyaḥ samācakhyuḥ
gopāḥ
the cowherd boys
strībhyaḥ
to the ladies
samācakhyuḥ
they described in detail
pralamba-vadham eva ca
pralamba - vadham
the killing of Pralambāsura
eva
indeed
ca
also .
Important Words
  • adbhutam — amazing, wondrous
    Adbhuta-rasa as a colour inside the larger Vraja-bhāva. The boys do not narrate the fire-rescue as a problem solved; they narrate it as wonder, because Kṛṣṇa is the wonder-object even to those who eat and sleep with Him.
  • karma — action, deed
    Here karma means līlā — divine action that is not bound by karma in the technical sense (cf. Gītā 4.14). Gauḍīyas distinguish jīva-karma from līlā-karma carefully; Kṛṣṇa's deeds bind the hearer, not the doer.
  • mokṣam — deliverance
    Significantly, mokṣa here is from a forest fire — not from saṁsāra in the abstract. Vraja's mokṣa is always concrete: the Lord pulls His own out of the specific danger in front of them, and that is the prayojana the boys actually speak of.
  • gopāḥ — the cowherd boys
    The sakhya-bhakta archetype. They are not philosophers; they are eyewitnesses who cannot stop talking about their friend. Gauḍīyas treasure their voice as a model for Vaiṣṇava witness: tell what you saw of Him.
  • samācakhyuḥ — they related fully
    From sam + ā + √cakṣ — to recount completely, leaving nothing out. The very shape of kīrtana: not a summary, but a full retelling. Compare Śuka's mode throughout the Bhāgavatam.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said:To the ladies of Vṛndāvana, the cowherd boys then related in full detail Kṛṣṇa’s and Balarāma’s wonderful activities of delivering them from the forest fire and killing the demon Pralamba.
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said:To the ladies of Vṛndāvana, the cowherd boys then related in full detail Kṛṣṇa's and Balarāma's wonderful activities of delivering them from the forest fire and killing the demon Pralamba.
Commentary

In the twentieth chapter Sukadeva , describing the beauty of the monsoon and autumn seasons, shows the excellent qualities of the sky, rivers and forests through various analogies.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

The boys related to the women Kṛṣṇa rescuing them from the fire and Balarāma killing Pralamba. The time order is reversed to show the relative importance of the two events. They told their mothers since they could tell them without any hesitation. They told them all the details (sam—ācakhyuḥ)

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Though Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma performed the pastimes separately, they are mentioned together (tayoḥ) to indicate that one assisted the other. Or Kṛṣṇa swallowed the fire and Balarāma killed Pralamba. The pastimes were most unusual (adbhutam). They told the women like Yaśodā because of the women’s intense affection for the boys. The word ca indicates Nanda and others. The boys told them with all the details (sam- ācakhyuḥ). The word eva (even) indicates that Balarāma’s killing Pralamba was secondarily narrated. Though the killing took place before the forest fire, it is thus mentioned in second place. Or swallowing the forest fire was told first because of the greatness of that act involving the boys’ personal rescue. Then the word eva indicates the total of the events.

Related values & verses
Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Apaishunam (Non-slander)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)
Related verses
BG 15.9 BG 12.13 BG 18.64 BG 2.62 BG 3.11 BG 12.3 SB 4.29.2 BG 9.11 BG 7.8 BG 10.3 BG 13.1 BG 5.18 BG 6.1 BG 6.5 BG 1.1
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
The boys recount in full detail how Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma saved them from the forest fire and killed Pralamba. Telling the rescue story to family afterward is itself an act of devotion — testimony keeps the pastime alive.
Reflection Questions
  • Whose rescue by the Lord have I lived through but never told someone in detail?
  • Where could I let a story become testimony rather than private memory?
Analogy

When children come home wide-eyed from a near-disaster, the family hears the rescuer's name in every breath of the retelling. The gopas pouring out Kṛṣṇa's and Balarāma's deeds to their mothers is śravaṇa-kīrtana in its natural Vraja form — kathā about the Lord precedes, and quietly produces, kathā addressed to Him.

Stories
Sūta speaking the same way at Naimiṣāraṇya

Sūta Gosvāmī, asked by the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya for what is most beneficial in Kali-yuga, simply began telling Kṛṣṇa's deeds — exactly as the cowherd boys do here, without philosophical preamble. The Bhāgavatam frames this transmission as the canonical pattern: Bhagavān's līlās are first reported, not argued.

Gauḍīyas read these gopas as miniature ācāryas. They had no śāstra to cite; they had eyewitness affection, and that is enough when the subject is Kṛṣṇa.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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