Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.24.29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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su - alaṅkṛtāḥ
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well-decorated
Compound: su (well) + alaṅkṛta (ornamented). The cowherds are to ornament themselves before pradakṣiṇā. Gauḍīya weight: bhakti dignifies the body; the devotee dresses for the Lord, not for himself. Even the gopīs in later chapters approach Kṛṣṇa fully ornamented.
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su - anuliptāḥ
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well-anointed
Compound: su + anu + lipta (smeared, anointed). Smeared with sandalwood (candana). Gauḍīya ritual: candana on the body is a vaiṣṇava signature — fragrant, cooling, marked. The verse is encoding what will become standard ārcana practice.
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pradakṣiṇām
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circumambulation
Compound: pra (forward) + dakṣiṇā (to the right). The body's loop, keeping the worshipped object on one's right. Even today, Govardhana-parikramā re-enacts this verse precisely — 21 km of devotees still walking the circuit Kṛṣṇa Himself prescribed.
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go
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cow
From √gam — that which goes. Cows are named first in the list of objects circumambulated. The order — cow, brāhmaṇa, fire, hill — is itself a Gauḍīya hierarchy: the cow is the visible form of dharma, named before even the priest.
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parvatān
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mountains (the hill)
Accusative plural of parvata — mountain. The plural is honorific; the single Govardhana is named in the plural form, the way Gauḍīyas address Him as 'Giri-Govardhana' or 'Girirāja.' Singular hill, plural reverence.
Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted all the human beings and even the animals to eat nice bhagavat-prasādam, sanctified foods offered to the Lord. To enthuse His relatives with a festive mood, He requested them to dress beautifully with fine clothes and ornaments and to refresh their bodies with luxurious sandalwood paste. The essential activity, however, was the circumambulation of the holy brāhmaṇas, cows, sacrificial fires and especially Govardhana Hill.
This ceremony is not full of hardships like others, but can be done most comfortably. The prefix su should be added to bhuktavantaḥ just as it is seen with the previous and following words. It indicates that the poor should be fed to full satisfaction. Though the usual method is to circumambulate the cows, fires, brāhmaṇas and Govardhana simultaneously they are mentioned separately here it is prescribed to worship each of them separately, followed by circumambulation of each. Separate parikrama of Govardhana is mentioned. “Then, placing the cows, bulls and calves in front of them, they circumambulated Govardhana.” (verse 33) One cannot concoct another process since the words of Hari-vaṁśa are also clear. Being nicely decorated is not a specific rule but is mentioned to encourage them to perform the ceremony. Even if one is not decorated or dressed nicely, or with no such desires, the ceremony can be completely successfully. The parikrama should take place after feeding the cows and others, after feeding Govardhana with many offerings. Not all the cows should be worshipped but only the main ones, since they are unlimited in number. And only some of them should to parikrama for the same reason.
After that, decorating yourselves nicely you should eat the remnants. Or unlike other activities this does not give suffering, but rather great joy. He then gives instructions which show their happiness. Su is not added to bhuktavantaḥ, as with the words before and after, since eating milk produces was in itself most excellent.
- Where in my devotional life is aesthetic and bodily care missing?
- What small act of beauty around my next sacred moment could deepen it?
After a great wedding feast the family does not scatter; they wash, dress in their best, and walk in slow circuit around the elders' seats with folded hands. Kṛṣṇa designs the close of Govardhana-pūjā in this same vein: bathing, decoration, and pradakṣiṇā around cows, brāhmaṇas, fires, and hill — the four sustainers of Vraja's life, each receiving the body's circumambulation as an embodied praṇāma.
My note
Source: vedabase.io