Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.28.2
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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varuṇasya
—
of Varuṇa
Genitive of Varuṇa, lokapāla of waters. He is a śuddha-Vaiṣṇava demigod in this episode — his servant errs, but Varuṇa himself will worship Kṛṣṇa with elaborate offerings, modeling the correct relation of devatās to Bhagavān.
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asuraḥ
—
a demon
Even Varuṇa's establishment has rough hands. Gauḍīyas note that this asura-bhṛtya acts in ignorance (mūḍhena, v.7) — the offense is anartha, not malice, and is dissolved by the Lord's arrival without retribution.
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āsurīm
—
inauspicious, demoniac
Adjective from asura. The time of night when āsurī forces have access. Vraja's quiet kṣatriya-Vaiṣṇava king has crossed a small line of vidhi — and Bhagavān, far from punishing him, uses the breach to reveal His own dhāma.
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velām
—
the time, the appointed hour
Velā is the marked moment, the tide-hour. The verse turns on a fault in kāla, not a fault in bhakti. Gauḍīyas read this as relief: even an inadvertent slip becomes, in the hands of Vraja-Bhagavān, an avenue of grace.
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niśi
—
during the night
Locative of niśā. Night, when the lokapālas' jurisdictions tighten and the bhakta's protection appears, in form of the Lord Himself, against the apparent threat.
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gṛhītvā
—
having seized
Absolutive of √grah. The same verb-field that returns in verse 9 (ādāya — taking) when Kṛṣṇa takes His father back. One seizing is undone by another; the asura grasps the body, the Lord grasps the person.
Nanda Mahārāja was intent on breaking his fast during the Dvādaśī day, of which there remained only a few minutes. Thus he entered the water to bathe at an inauspicious time, before the first dawn light. The servant of Varuṇa who arrested Nanda Mahārāja is stated here to be an asura, or demon, for obvious reasons. First, the servant was foolishly ignorant of Nanda Mahārāja’s position as the pastime father of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Also, Nanda Mahārāja’s intention was to carry out the injunctions of scripture; therefore Varuṇa’s servant should not have arrested Nanda on the technical grounds that he bathed in the Yamunā at an inauspicious time. Later in this chapter Varuṇa himself will say, ajānatā māmakena mūḍhena : “This was done by my ignorant servant, who is a fool.” This foolish servant did not understand the position of Kṛṣṇa or Nanda Mahārāja or devotional service to the Lord. In conclusion, it is clear that Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to give His personal audience to Varuṇa and simultaneously accomplish other didactic purposes. Thus this wonderful pastime will now unfold.
One of Varuna’s asuric servants brought Nanda Maharaja to Varuna, because he, out of ignorance, speculated that Nanda had entered the water at an inauspicious time. He was wrong, however, since Nanda entered the water according to the rules of scripture. This is explained later (ajnata mamakena mudhena).
The servant was by his nature not aware of Vaiṣṇava dharma and is thus called asura. The strong demon was suitably protecting the water at a demonic time (asurīṁ velām). Since he was Varuṇa’s servant, Varuṇa was also at fault. Nanda had disregarded that time (which was usually forbidden for bathing).
- What 'arrest' in my life followed a technically devout but oddly-timed move?
- Where am I reading consequence as condemnation when it is just the law of boundaries?
Like a faithful retainer who, eager to serve the prince, snatches up the prince's own father by mistake — Varuṇa's servant grabs Nanda not as a punishment but as a misread duty. The wrong is real, yet under Kṛṣṇa's hand the mishap becomes the gate through which Varuṇa's worship of Hari, and Vraja's vision of Vaikuṇṭha, will arrive.
King Gajendra entered a lake to bathe and was caught by a crocodile sent, in deeper view, to ripen his surrender (SB 8.2–3). The grip of the water-creature became the occasion for his śaraṇāgati and Viṣṇu's swift descent on Garuḍa.
Nanda's capture follows the same grammar: a servant of the waters seizes him, and the seizure becomes the path by which Kṛṣṇa is publicly hailed as Bhagavān — first by Varuṇa, then by the gopas.
My note
Source: vedabase.io