Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.25.23
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kṣut - tṛṭ - vyathām
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the pain of hunger and thirst
kṣudh (hunger) + tṛṣ (thirst) + vyathā (distress). Three words usually applied to the conditioned soul (Gītā 13.9, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi). Kṛṣṇa accepts them voluntarily for Vraja — the līlā shows Bhagavān absorbing what He need not absorb.
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vraja - vāsibhiḥ
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by the residents of Vraja
vraja + vāsin (dweller). The same word that becomes Gauḍīya self-identification — vraja-vāsī, a resident of Vraja in mood if not in body. Caitanya and the Gosvāmīs lived in Vṛndāvana precisely to be vraja-vāsīs in this verse's sense.
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sapta - aham
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for seven days
sapta (seven) + ahan (day). The duration of the protection. Seven is the count of completion in many Vedic frames; here it marks Kṛṣṇa's full and unbroken kṛpā. Indra's rage spends itself against an immovable hand.
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na acalat
—
He did not move
From a + √cal. He did not stir — the same verb used of Govardhana itself (acala). The līlā fuses Kṛṣṇa and the hill at the verb-root: both are acala for the duration of the storm, both protective by stillness.
According to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa: vrajaika-vāsibhir harṣa- vismitākṣair niṛīkṣitaḥ gopa-gopī-janair hṛṣṭaiḥ prīti-visphāritekṣaṇaiḥ saṁstūyamāna-caritaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ śailam adhārayat “Lord Kṛṣṇa held up the mountain while His praises were chanted by the residents of Vraja, all of whom now had the opportunity to dwell together with Him, and who glanced at Him with joyful and amazed eyes. Thus the cowherd men and women were all elated, and out of loving affection they opened their eyes wide.” By continuously drinking the nectar of the beauty and sweetness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the residents of Vṛndāvana felt no hunger, thirst or fatigue, and Lord Kṛṣṇa, by seeing their beautiful forms, also forgot about eating, drinking and sleeping. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that seven days of continuous rain from the Sāṁvartaka clouds failed to flood the district of Mathurā because the Supreme Lord, simply by His potency, immediately dried up the water as it fell to the ground. Thus Kṛṣṇa’s lifting of Govardhana Hill is full of fascinating details and has for thousands of years remained one of His most famous pastimes.
The inhabitants forgot about hunger and thirst for seven days because they were immersed in bliss on seeing Krsna continuously. This is explained in the visnu purana: Krsna, watched by the inhabitants of Vraja with eyes wide with affection, held the mountain steadily. It should be understood the Krsna stood facing everyone. At this time the inhabitants hunger and thirst disappeared on seeing the youthful beauty of Krsna , and Krsna’s hunger and thirst disappeared on seeing the beauty of his beloved gopis. It should be understood that mathura mandala did not become inundated in water, because his iccha sakti dried up the water immediately. Six ghatikas make up one day. Seven days passed as if it were one ghatika for the inhabitants of Vraja.
They forgot (hitvā) about comforts like sleeping and pain caused by hunger and thirst since he was looked at specially (vi-- īkṣyamāṇaḥ), with astonishment and the highest affection by the cows, cowherds and women of Vraja who took him as their life, or made him the only object of happiness for their eyes (taiḥ). The past particle (hitvā) indicates that what follows is the cause or goal of their forgetting their own comforts. It also indicates that their hunger, thirst and discomfort disappeared immediately on looking at him. Their looking at him aided his holding up the mountain since that made him joyful at every moment. Thus Viṣṇu Purāṇa says: vrajaika-vāsibhir harṣa- vismitākṣair niṛīkṣitaḥ gopa-gopī-janair hṛṣṭaiḥ prīti-visphāritekṣaṇaiḥ saṁstūyamāna-caritaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ śailam adhārayat Kṛṣṇa held up the mountain while his praises were chanted by the residents of Vraja, all of whom now had the opportunity to dwell together with him, and who glanced at him with joyful and amazed eyes, with eyes opened wide out of affection. Or, giving up his comforts, he held up the mountain. By their glancing, he had no desire for sleeping. He did not move from the place where he fixed his feet. This indicates that holding the mountain was very easy.
- Whose 'seven-day hold' for my sake am I overlooking — His or another devotee's?
- Where am I expecting one-and-done protection when sustained presence is the actual gift?
For seven days Kṛṣṇa stands on one spot, the hill on His little finger, eating nothing, drinking nothing — and looks out at His own villagers looking up at Him. The līlā is a still photograph held for a week: the Lord is the one who does not move so His people can.
Caitanya-caritāmṛta records many of Mahāprabhu's vigils — nights without sleep before the deity, days when food was forgotten in the flood of nāma-rasa. The devotee absorbed in Kṛṣṇa forgets the body as a side-effect.
The gopas here see the same phenomenon in the reverse direction: Bhagavān absorbed in the welfare of His devotees forgets His own body. Both sides of the rasa abandon hunger; only the direction of love differs.
My note
Source: vedabase.io