Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.27.13
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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tvayā-īśa-anugṛhītaḥ-asmi
—
O Lord, I have been favored by You
Verb phrase: tvayā (by You) + īśa (O Lord) + anu-√grah (favored) + asmi (I am). Indra reframes the storm as Kṛṣṇa's anugraha, not nigraha. The same act seen rightly: discipline is mercy.
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dhvasta-stambhaḥ
—
my false pride shattered
Compound: dhvasta (destroyed) + stambha (pillar, stiffness, pride). Stambha is the bodily metaphor — pride as a stiff pillar — and dhvasta is its breaking. The body of the prayer matches the body of the gesture (folded palms, head down).
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vṛthā-udyamaḥ
—
my fruitless attempt
Compound: vṛthā (useless) + udyama (effort, undertaking). Indra calls the Govardhana flood a failed enterprise; he refuses to dignify it as a war. The Bhāgavatam's vocabulary of māda-failure.
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īśvaram-gurum-ātmānam
—
the Supreme Lord, the spiritual master, the true Self
Three appositives — Indra crowns Kṛṣṇa with three titles he had wrongly claimed for himself: he had been the īśvara of svarga, the guru of devatās, the ātman of his own pride. Now all three return to their owner.
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śaraṇam-gataḥ
—
I have come for shelter
Compound verb: śaraṇa (shelter) + gata (gone). The technical term for prapatti / śaraṇāgati. The single phrase that Caitanya-tradition reads as the seed of the whole Gītā (BG 18.66) — and here a devatā speaks it.
"Though I have caused great disturbance to Vraja, I have received mercy from you, like a sick person getting diagnosed by the doctor. Thus, I am now cured of the disease, having given up the urge to release my lightning bolts. Because you control everything, you are the lord. Because you create benefit for all, you are guru. Because you are the object of love, you are atma."
O supreme controller (īśa)! Because you are the regulator of all beings, though you could have very well punished me, you have been merciful to me. This is not superficial mercy. That mercy has destroyed my pride, since now I have lost all eagerness to disturb you. My pride has completely disappeared since you have destroyed it and the desire for such acts has also disappeared. Thus this great offender surrenders to you, since you are the guru. Two other reasons for surrender are mentioned: you are the controller (īśvaram) and you are the root of all beings (ātmānam) like the sun in relation to its rays. Thus for three reasons I surrender.
- Which past 'defeat' could I now reframe as His mercy?
- Where am I still mourning a break that was actually liberation?
A man saved from drowning kisses the hand of the swimmer who held him down so the wave would not take him out further. Indra calls his own defeat anugraha — mercy. The shattered pride is itself the gift; the failed attempt is itself the rescue. And the words that follow are the formal saraṇāgati: tvām aham śaraṇam gataḥ.
When the crocodile had Gajendra's leg, the elephant-king's pride was utterly broken — and only then did the words come: 'I surrender to that Person from whom this world has come' (SB 8.3.2). Viṣṇu came at once.
Indra's verse follows the same arc, in reverse: where Gajendra was saved at the moment of total weakness, Indra is humbled at the height of his power. Both end at the same place — śaraṇaṁ gataḥ. Gauḍīyas read this as the universal pattern of prapatti.
My note
Source: vedabase.io