Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.28.1
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ekādaśyām
—
on Ekādaśī, the eleventh lunar day
The Vaiṣṇava fast day. Gauḍīyas treat Ekādaśī as Bhagavān's own day for the bhakta, observed not for puṇya but to please Kṛṣṇa and intensify smaraṇa. Nanda's observance establishes him as a Vaiṣṇava-rāja, not a folk-cowherd.
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janārdanam
—
Lord Janārdana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Jana (people) + ardana (one who agitates / removes their distress). The aiśvarya-name of Viṣṇu. Pointedly used here: Nanda worships Janārdana in formal mode while Vraja-vātsalya hides the same Person as his son — the chapter's whole tension in a single epithet.
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nirāhāraḥ
—
fasting
Nir (without) + āhāra (food). The vrata of bhakti — not deprivation but redirection of the body's longing toward the Lord. Gauḍīyas read Ekādaśī fasting as anukūlya: removing what is unfavorable so that smaraṇa can run unobstructed.
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kālindyām
—
in the Yamunā
Kālindī, daughter of Mt. Kalinda — the Yamunā. In Gauḍīya geography she is not merely a river but a sakhī of Rādhā and the witnessing presence of Vraja-līlā. Her water will become the doorway through which Vaikuṇṭha is shown in verse 16.
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samabhyarcya
—
having thoroughly worshiped
Sam (completely) + abhi (toward) + √arc (to honor). Formal pūjā — Nanda performs the aiśvarya-mārga upacāras to the same Person he raises in vātsalya. The verse holds both modes side by side without collapsing them, the acintya-bhedābheda pattern in lived form.
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āviśat
—
he entered
Imperfect of ā-√viś. The same root that names Viṣṇu (the all-pervading one). Nanda's entry into Yamunā's water is the human-scale verb for what Bhagavān does at cosmic scale — a quiet rhyme between bhakta and Bhagavān right before the abduction.
The twenty eighth chapter describes the stealing of Nanda by Varuna and Varuna’s prayers to Krsna. Hearing what had happened from the mouth of Nanda, the cowherd men were very surprised. Because of this Krsna showed them vaikuntha. Sukadeva narrates this pastime because, in telling the story of Krsna forgiving Indra for his offense, he remembered how Krsna also forgave Varuna for his offense.
Having described an astonishing incident out of zeal, Śukadeva begins another story to relate the offense of Varuṇa similar to Indra’s, showing his bad behavior due to pride in his power. This story continues till verse 9. Ekādaśī, either short or long, had passed after lasting 6 praharas or 18 hours on that day. Dvādaśī, the day for breaking the fast, had almost passed with only 6 hours remaining on that present day. Nanda did special worship on waking up according to the rules as the best of devotees. Janārdana means he who is offered prayers (ardana) by the devotees (jana), constantly with fervor. Though Nanda was completely accomplished already, he worshipped the Lord thoroughly because of his fasting. To bathe, he entered the water the Yamunā which increases bhakti to the Lord. Nanda went alone (tu) while others bathed in their houses. This shows his eagerness to bathe in the Yamunā. Or Indra had left Kṛṣṇa and returned to Svarga, but (tu) Nanda did not give up Kṛṣṇa, having Kṛṣṇa as his son. He never gave up bhagavad-dharma. Or tu indicates that he bathed for bhakti (rather than cleanliness) in keeping with the statement previous that he worshipped the Lord.
- SB 10-28-01-17 - Krsna Rescues Nanda Maharaja from the Abode of Varuna - Gauranga Darshan Prabhu 2015-09-16
- UM SB 10-28-01 - Motives for Worship - 2021-08-16 Hillsborough
- Gauranga Darshan Pr SB 10-28-01-17 - Krsna Rescues Nanda Maharaja from the Abode of Varuna - 2015-09-16
- Padaseva Pr Seminars Oriya - SB 10-28-01
- PSarasvati Sw SB 10-28-01-02 - 2022-12-11 ISKCON Vrindavan
- PrahladAnS SB 10-28-01-02 - Interesting Tales and Quaint Stories - 2012-12-08 Dallas
- RGS SB 10-28-01 Hindi - Krishna rescues Nanda Maharaja from Varuns abode%20 - 2014-11-04 ISKCON Vrindavan
- 12 - RGS SB 10-28-01-10 - Giriraj Dharan Leela-12 - 2007 Khadia
- Romapada Sw SB 10-28-01-02 - Lord Krsna rescues Nanda Maharaj - 2020-05-04 Naperville
- Which vow's calendar do I keep loosely that would benefit from precision?
- Where am I treating ritual timing as flexible when discipline calls for exactness?
Nanda Mahārāja's fast and bath are a king's gesture of submission before a Lord he does not yet know lives in his own house — like a queen lighting a lamp at a shrine when her own son, hidden in the next room, is the deity she is invoking. Janārdana on the altar and Kṛṣṇa in the courtyard are one Person; Vraja-vātsalya wraps the very Personality the Ekādaśī vow is meant to please.
Mahārāja Ambarīṣa kept Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī so strictly that when Durvāsā's curse-mission demanded he break his fast at the wrong moment, the Sudarśana cakra itself rose to defend him (SB 9.4). The fast was not a technique; it was a thread of love that Bhagavān Himself guarded.
Nanda's Ekādaśī sets the same key. He fasts as a Vaiṣṇava, then enters the Yamunā at Dvādaśī's prescribed time — but his Kṛṣṇa, unlike Ambarīṣa's Sudarśana, is asleep nearby as his own son.
My note
Source: vedabase.io