Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.28
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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reme
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He enjoyed (played)
Aorist of √ram — He delighted. The same root as in v. 25's rantum. The Lord's purpose in the forest is reme — to play. Gauḍīyas refuse functionalist explanations: He plays because He is Kṛṣṇa.
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bhagavān
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the Supreme Personality of Godhead
The full name for Kṛṣṇa as svayaṁ-bhagavān (SB 1.3.28). The verse uses the loftiest title and then describes Him eating tubers in a cave — the Bhāgavatam's signature juxtaposition.
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kanda-mūla-phala-aśanaḥ
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eating roots, tubers and fruits
Long compound: kanda (root) + mūla (tuber) + phala (fruit) + aśana (eating). Renunciate diet, taken by the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha for the joy of being in Vraja. The diet is vrata, the mood is mādhurya.
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guhāyām
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in a cave
Locative. The same guhā as v. 27. Gauḍīyas note: the same cave that hides Kṛṣṇa from the rain is the cave-of-heart that hides Him from non-devotees. Both shelters.
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vanaspati-kroḍe
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in the hollow of a tree
Compound: vanaspati (lord of the forest, a fruiting tree) + kroḍa (cavity, lap). Tree-as-lap — the forest cradles Bhagavān. Gauḍīyas hear vātsalya from the forest itself: Vṛndāvana is a mother.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī explains that during the rainy season bulbs and roots are very tender and palatable, and Lord Kṛṣṇa would eat them along with wild fruits found in the forest. Lord Kṛṣṇa and His young boyfriends would sit in the hollow of a tree or within a cave and enjoy pastimes while waiting for the rain to stop.
When it rained all around (abhi varsati) Krsna would run and enter the hollow of a tree or a cave and amuse himself by eating radish. There are two types of radish: round ones and long ones.
Kvacit means sometimes or in some places. Though he was the Supreme Lord he ate the forest roots and fruits. See the sweetness of his pastimes! Kanda are round roots and mūla are long. They are mentioned before the fruit because they were most excellent, being soft in the monsoon season.
Kvacit means sometimes or in some places. Either in the cave or in holes of trees (ca) he would play and eat fruits. Or by his powers he would go at the same time into the cave and into the hole of the tree because he was bhagavān. He did this sometimes when it rained profusely (abhivarṣati). In his human pastimes he showed his special nature as bhagavān by this power. The caves and holes in the trees were similar, having broad areas. Some other boys would also sometimes be there. He played there or was happy there (reme). Why? He ate roots (kaṇdā and mūla) which can be distinguished by external and internal differences. During the monsoon they were suitable because they were plentiful and soft. The fruits were previously described (dates and jambu).
- Where am I refusing to play because shelter is improvised rather than prepared?
- What 'cave or hollow' in my circumstance could become a venue for joy?
When the rain falls, the Lord steps into a hollow tree or a cave and eats roots and fruits, playing all the while. Gauḍīyas linger on this verse: the Supreme, who has the universe for a stomach, eats kanda-mūla in a Vraja-cave because His friends are eating it. Mādhurya means He shrinks to share the menu of those He loves.
When Kṛṣṇa visited Vidura, He ate leafy vegetables prepared with love and refused the rich fare offered by Duryodhana (Mahābhārata, Udyoga-parva). The same logic: the Lord eats what His devotee can give. Here in Vraja the boys eat fruits and roots; He eats fruits and roots.
Gauḍīyas read SB 10.20.28 as the structural twin of the Vidura episode. The Lord's plate is set by His devotee's heart, not by His own appetite.
My note
Source: vedabase.io