Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.27.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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aiśvarya-mada-plutasya
—
of one submerged in the intoxication of rulership
Compound: aiśvarya (lordship) + mada (intoxication) + pluta (drowned). The flood imagery is exact — Indra tried to drown Vraja and was himself drowning in mada. The Bhāgavatam returns the metaphor.
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kṛta-āgasaḥ
—
having committed offense
Compound: kṛta (done) + āgas (sin, transgression). The Vedic word āgas — older and graver than pāpa — places Indra in the lineage of confessing kings. Specific naming is the substance of repentance.
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kṣantum
—
to forgive
Infinitive of √kṣam (to forgive, to be patient). Paired in the verse with arhasi (You should). Kṣamā is Kṛṣṇa's own constitutional quality; Indra asks Him only to act on what He already is.
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mūḍha-cetasaḥ
—
of one whose intelligence is bewildered
Compound: mūḍha (bewildered) + cetas (intelligence). Indra refuses the dignified self-image; he calls his own buddhi bewildered. Bhakti requires this honesty about the instrument of perception.
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asatī
—
impure
Feminine of asat — un-real, impure. The same word used elsewhere for an unchaste wife — applied here (modifying matiḥ, consciousness) to the mind that wandered from Bhagavān. Indra prays the mind never again be asatī.
Although Lord Kṛṣṇa protected the residents of Vraja by lifting Govardhana Hill, He had not yet punished Indra himself, and Indra feared that at any moment Śrī Kṛṣṇa might call the son of Vivasvān, Yamarāja, who punishes impudent persons who defy the laws of God. Indra was quite fearful and thus begged the Lord’s forgiveness on the plea that he could be purified only by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy — that he was too stubborn to learn a good lesson through mere punishment. In fact, despite Indra’s humility in this case, his heart was not completely purified. Later on in this canto we find that when Lord Kṛṣṇa once took a pārijāta flower from Indra’s kingdom, poor Indra again reacted violently against the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus, we should aspire to go back to our eternal home in the kingdom of Kṛṣṇa, and should not become entangled in the imperfect life of the material gods.
"I lift Govardhana to protect Vraja , not to punish you. I will call Yamaraja and arrange for you punishment now." Fearing such talk, Indra in great fear speaks. "You are the most famous father and guru. Because you are most merciful and forgivingnyou can forgive the offense of this ignorant person (avidusah) immersed in the ocean of power and forgetting your powers. You should not purify me by punishment, because I am like an animal (mudha cetasa). The moment after the master has beaten the animal, it again commits the same offense. Instead you should mercifully correct my bad tendency so that my animal tendencies do not arise again." Indra does not make this prayer with a completely pure heart, for he shows submissiveness in order to save himself. In the seventh verse he mentions this. Then later, at the time of Krsna stealing the parijata flower and other pastimes, he again forgets and commits the same mistake.
O lord of all devatās like me, or one who is capable of forgiving (prabho)! Because of what I stated (atha), the benefactor of the universe (saḥ) is fit to forgive me even if I have committed offense, caused by not knowing (aviduṣaḥ) your glories, since I was devoid of discrimination (mūḍha-cetasaḥ), since I was proud of my own powers (mamaiśvarya-mada-plutasya). Or, even though I knew (viduṣaḥ) your powers, I committed offense. Thus the offense is greater. But you should forgive me because I forgot (mūḍha-cetasaḥ) about your powers. You should not consider offenses committed out of ignorance. Since you have descended to benefit the universe and are the crest jewel of mercy and generosity, it is insignificant for you to forgive my offense which was committed only once. You should forgive me since I will never again offend you or your devotees (maivaṁ punar). I have the mentality of being an offender to you and your devotees (asatī matiḥ), and I was without knowledge (mūḍha-cetasaḥ). Since I am not capable, how can such offense not occur again? But you can forgive: O person who is capable of doing this (īśa) even though I am an offender! This is the prayer of a person who is not too pure in heart. He realizes his incapability as expressed in the previous verse: being fearful of you only when I am fearful (kale tvam bhayaṁ vīkṣya). He will again forget when Kṛṣṇa takes the pārijāta tree.
- What confession of mine is missing the second clause — the prayer that I never repeat it?
- Where would adding 'may I never again' deepen my present repentance?
A child who breaks a vase in the dark and then sees, by lamplight, that it was his mother's wedding gift — that is Indra now. The crime is named, the loss is named, and the plea is simple: forgive, and let me not be this stupid again. Confession in the Bhāgavatam is never abstract; it is specific.
When Brahmā in SB 10.14 hid the calves and boys and then saw Kṛṣṇa's reply, he prayed: 'jānanta eva jānantu kim bahūktyā na me prabho — let those who think they know You go on thinking; what is the use of more words from one like me?' His confession was specific and bodily — he fell at Kṛṣṇa's feet eight times.
Indra's stuti here is the parallel devatā-confession. The Bhāgavatam stages the same pattern twice in Canto 10 — once for Brahmā, once for Indra — to teach that even cosmic office-holders need this prayer.
My note
Source: vedabase.io